Absence of Morrison at Uluru event ‘more than an insult’ to Indigenous Australians

Exclusive: Labor senator Pat Dodson says PM’s failure to show up to climb closure celebrations demonstrates his ‘shallowness’

Labor senator Pat Dodson has blasted the prime minister for his absence at Sunday night’s celebrations of the closing of the climb at Uluru as “more than an insult” to First Nations people.

Sitting alongside Labor colleagues Linda Burney, Malarndirri McCarthy and Warren Snowdon, Dodson chastised Scott Morrison’s failure to progress the Uluru Statement from the Heart, saying it demonstrated he’s a man in need of “an epiphany”.

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Australia denies Cameroonian journalist visa for press freedom conference

Authorities believed Mimi Mefo, an award-winning journalist who works for Deutsche Welle in Berlin, might try to stay

A Berlin-based journalist who was due to speak at a press freedom conference in Brisbane has said she was denied a visa by the Australian government because they believed she might try to stay.

Mimi Mefo, an award-winning Cameroonian journalist who currently works for Deutsche Welle, was scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the Integrity 20 conference on Friday.

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PM’s department evades question on Brian Houston’s White House invite – politics live

ALP requests documents about Barr investigation into the Mueller report. Plus, new AFP commissioner faces Senate estimates, and media companies unite against secrecy laws. All the day’s events, live

Scott Morrison adds to the answer to Warren Snowdon’s question:

On 13 September of this year, I can confirm that the tender was awarded to Australian company Oricon an engineering company that, will lead the Kakadu road strategy and they’ll work in a consortium with PwC, and PwC Indigenous consulting, beginning the work immediately.

The roads of strategy will be developed in.conjunction with the tourism master plan, access to key sites and planned upgrades. I thought the member would be interested in that additional information.

The folders are stacked.

We are done as soon as Greg Hunt finishes this dixer.

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Australian newspapers black out front pages to fight back against secrecy laws

United campaign by media companies highlights government moves to penalise whistleblowing and criminalise journalism

• Lenore Taylor: Concrete action rather than nice words are needed on press freedom

The front page of every newspaper in Australia was blacked out on Monday as part of a campaign against moves by successive federal governments to penalise whistleblowing and, in some cases, criminalise journalism.

The campaign, by the Australia’s Right to Know Coalition, follows raids on the ABC’s Sydney headquarters and the home of a News Corp journalist in June, the legality of which is being challenged in the high court.

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Scott Morrison travels to Indonesia as Labor embraces free trade agreement

PM to attend Joko Widodo’s inauguration and hold talks on FTA, which opposition leader says will be good for jobs

Scott Morrison’s whirlwind trip to Indonesia is a “good thing”, his political opponent says, as Labor embraces bipartisan support for Australia’s latest free trade agreement.

Morrison travelled to Indonesia for Joko Widodo’s second inauguration as president, with talks between the two leaders planned at the presidential palace.

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Morrison accuses Albanese of ‘throwing tantrums’ – politics live

In Question Time, the prime minister says opposition are addicted to panic and crisis. All the day’s events, live

This is not a sight you will see too often – a LNP senator sitting with the crossbench, against the government.

Susan McDonald chaired the committee that recommended the additional maintenance requirements be removed from charity flight operators – which is what Rex Patrick is calling for.

And from this, I think you can infer from this answer on the voice to parliament, Ken Wyatt has set out that the government will be pushing to legislate, before heading to the referendum

Patricia Karvelas: You do know you’ll break a lot of hearts by not putting the voice to the people?

We also have to be pragmatic and that’s a reality.

Some people have told me it will break their hearts. We have to think about whether we want to be recognised in the Constitution.

Recognition was in section 127 in the Constitution but in the sense of not allowing us to be counted. 127 was struck out.

The 1967 referendum created a number of myths around what it really meant to people. The reality was, was the striking out of that and then the amendment, the 51-26.

I’m going to wait to see what comes out.

I’ve been meeting with people and there is a degree of willingness to have recognition. I think that once we work through whatever the voice is, and that may give us another option.

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Scott Morrison grilled on Coalition funding for new dam – politics live

Anthony Albanese asks PM why he’s raising hopes on dam support. Plus Jacqui Lambie raises concerns over Turkish invasion. All the day’s events, live

Because it is only “radicals” who care about the climate, apparently.

#owningtheleft

Labor's declaration of a climate emergency is just a sop to the superglue protestors and radical greens. Labor remains desperate to receive the support of the radical activists despite what they've said since the election. Labor can't be trusted to fight for jobs.

Tony Burke jumps up to congratulate Tony Smith on the integrity award he received today (have a look a few posts down and check out Kenneth Hayne’s speech) and thanks him for some of the difficult decisions he took during the medevac debate (you may remember that Smith stuck to the parliament rules, and ensured the parliament had a vote, and also ordered the solicitor general advice Christian Porter was relying on to shut down the debate, be tabled – which revealed the advice was not iron-clad).

Scott Morrison then gets up to add his congratulations, and a few in Labor respond with “now you think about it” to which Morrison gets very upset and accuses Labor of politicising the moment.

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Q&A: Tim Wilson defends joining Hong Kong protests

Coalition MP accused of hypocrisy for disparaging Australian Extinction Rebellion protesters

Government backbencher Tim Wilson has defended his decision to join pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and said environmental protests in Australia have a right to operate “so long as they stick within the law”.

Wilson joined protesters in Hong Kong last week but was accused of hypocrisy because of previous comments disparaging protests in Australia.

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Labor MPs condemn suggestion they adopt Coalition climate change policy

Joel Fitzgibbon’s climate change ‘settlement’ is rejected but Labor will allow the government’s ‘big stick’ energy policy to pass

Joel Fitzgibbon has copped a blast in the left and right caucus meetings for declaring Labor should adopt the Coalition’s Paris emissions reduction target rather than pursue ambitious cuts to carbon pollution.

The internal unrest came as the shadow cabinet was expected to sign off on Monday night on a shift in Labor’s attitude to the controversial “big stick” policy of the Morrison government.

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Coalition refuses to say how much Scott Cam is being paid as ‘national careers ambassador’

Labor criticises government for hiring The Block star, claiming it’s cut $3bn from vocational education since coming to office

Labor has blasted Michaelia Cash for refusing to say how much taxpayers are paying The Block star Scott Cam to promote vocational education in his new role as “national careers ambassador”.

At a press conference on Thursday the skills and employment minister said Cam’s pay for the 15-month role was “commercial in confidence” but suggested spending was “about outcomes” and reflected the fact the government had secured “one of the highest profile people in Australia”.

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Australian Christian Lobby backs sacking of employees with no ‘Christian sexual ethic’

ACL director Martyn Iles says businesses should have greater powers to hire and fire, but denies Christians have a ‘special vendetta’ against LGBT people

The Australian Christian Lobby has backed calls for religious businesses such as aged care providers to gain more powers of hiring and firing employees who do not conform to religious teachings.

In a debate at the National Press Club on Wednesday the ACL director Martyn Iles backed calls from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference for greater powers to fire employees who don’t conform to a “Christian sexual ethic” but claimed Christians don’t have a “special vendetta” against the LGBT community.

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Donald Trump’s bizarre logic damages US allies’ trust in intelligence sharing | Daniel Flitton

The US president appears to believe Australian spies are part of a deep-state conspiracy. Australia should be wary of the risks of getting drawn into his defence

It really is a poke in the eye – the “Five Eyes”, that is. Donald Trump’s telephone call to Scott Morrison, revealed on Tuesday in the New York Times, where he pressed for help in investigating the origins of the Mueller inquiry, will doubtless put a further strain on what is otherwise a very close intelligence-sharing partnership between the United States and Australia.

Why? Because aside from the unwanted political distraction of putting Australia at the centre of another Trump tirade (just as Morrison was seeking to apply the blowtorch to Labor at home for what he called “naive and immature” remarks about China), the twisted logic of Trump’s allegation is truly extraordinary.

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Downer’s relaying of conversation with Trump aide caught PM and colleagues by surprise

Sources insist Alexander Downer’s talk with America’s top diplomat in London about conversation with George Papadopoulos was unauthorised

Alexander Downer relayed information to the American chargé d’affaires in London in July 2016 about his now infamous conversation with George Papadopoulos, then a foreign policy adviser to Trump – a move that took the then prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and senior colleagues by surprise.

Guardian Australia understands Downer’s conversation with Papadopoulos was recorded in a diplomatic cable back to Canberra.

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Liberal senator to outline a model for an Indigenous voice to parliament

Andrew Bragg wants to honour the Uluru Statement of the Heart and uphold parliamentary sovereignty

The Liberal senator Andrew Bragg says an Indigenous voice to parliament should be formed by a network of Indigenous communities across the country, in a “bottom-up” approach that would ensure First Nation voices had a direct say to parliament.

Bragg, who has strongly endorsed constitutional recognition, will use a speech in Canberra today to build the case for an Indigenous voice to parliament, outlining a model that he says would honour the Uluru Statement of the Heart, while also upholding parliamentary sovereignty.

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Australia’s relationship with China in a ‘terrible’ state after Morrison’s US visit, Labor says

Richard Marles accuses PM of taking ‘pot shots against our largest trading partner’ amid US-China tensions

Labor’s shadow defence minister, Richard Marles, says Australia’s relationship with China is in a “terrible” state following Scott Morrison’s visit to the United States.

Speaking fresh from a visit to Beijing, Marles said that Morrison’s “megaphone diplomacy” alongside Donald Trump about China’s status as a developing country had inflamed tensions.

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Inquiry urges Bishop and Pyne ministerial standards probe be reopened

Senate committee says investigation into former ministers Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne was flawed and should be reopened

A Senate inquiry has called for the reopening of an investigation into the former ministers Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne taking industry jobs connected with their portfolios, saying the initial probe had failed to ask “crucial questions”.

The Senate inquiry into Bishop and Pyne’s post-political appointments delivered its report on Thursday, urging that the incoming secretary of the department of prime minister and cabinet reopen an investigation into whether ministerial standards were breached.

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Ensuring integrity bill: officials contradict Christian Porter on union deregistration

Coalition bill would allow deregistration for single instances of unprotected industrial action, inquiry told

Departmental officials have contradicted Christian Porter’s claim the Coalition’s union penalty bill does not allow deregistration for single instances of unprotected industrial action or breaches of court orders.

Officials from the attorney general’s department told an inquiry on Wednesday that although the Ensuring Integrity Bill was similar to the existing law in that respect, it would expand the type of breaches courts can punish with the strictest penalties.

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Scott Morrison ducks questions on Australia’s emissions strategy for 2050

UN climate summit focus is on net zero by 2050 but Australian PM says challenge ‘not just about climate change’

Scott Morrison has ducked questions about when his government will develop an emissions reduction strategy for 2050, despite signing on at the Pacific Islands Forum to a communique pledging to develop one next year.

The Australian prime minister is also copping flak at home for his decision to signal in a speech in Chicago that China needed to be treated like a developed economy both in global trade and climate change negotiations – meaning Beijing would need to make a significant commitment towards emissions reduction.

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Angus Taylor says Josh Frydenberg knew of family interest before grasslands meeting

Then environment minister knew of Taylor family’s interest in farm being investigated for alleged illegal clearing

Josh Frydenberg, then the environment minister, knew his ministerial colleague Angus Taylor had a family interest in a farm being investigated for alleged illegal clearing of grasslands when Taylor met with environment department officials to discuss endangered grassland regulations, according to Taylor.

The 2017 meeting between Taylor – then the assistant minister for cities – and environment department officials over critically endangered grasslands came while Taylor’s family’s company, Jam Land Pty Ltd, was being investigated for allegedly illegally poisoning grasslands on property on the Monaro plains of New South Wales.

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