Category Archives: Scott Morrison

Australian politics live: Facebook blocks news across the country; Victoria comes out of lockdown

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Social media giant blames proposed media bargaining code for decision; some restrictions remain in place in Victoria as businesses reopen. Follow all the developments live

Meanwhile, the government which absolutely tore apart Australia Post executive Christine Holgate for awarding executives Cartier watches as bonuses (Holgate resigned, after Scott Morrison called the combined $20,000 bonus “disgraceful” in a parliament) executives at the NBN Co received $78m in personal bonuses in the second half of last year. During a pandemic.

Paul Fletcher effectively told ABC radio he didn’t have a problem with it, as the NBN was critical with keeping Australia running during the pandemic lockdowns. (One could argue the same for Australia Post, but anyway)

The Australia Institute has reponded to Facebook’s news.

Peter Lewis, director of the Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology says it might time for people to close their accounts:

Facebook’s decision to prevent users viewing for sharing public interest journalism will make it a weaker social network,”

The social network is destroying its social license to operate. Facebook actions mean the company’s failures in privacy, disinformation, and data protection will require a bigger push for stronger government regulation.

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Google and Facebook: the landmark Australian law that will make them pay for news content

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Despite protestations from both companies, the Australian parliament is set to pass legislation it says is needed to boost public interest journalism

The Australian parliament is poised to pass a landmark media law that would make Google and Facebook pay news publishers for displaying their content.

The Australian law is separate to a deal Facebook made to pay mainstream UK news outlets millions of pounds a year to license their articles, but has a similar motivation.

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Scott Morrison pushes ‘professional behaviour’ changes after Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations

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Prime minister says his wife, Jenny, urged him to respond to Higgins’ allegation ‘as a father first’

Scott Morrison has drafted one of his own MPs and a deputy secretary of his department to develop options to improve “the environment” of Parliament House after allegations from former government staffer Brittany Higgins that she was raped by a colleague in 2019.

The prime minister told reporters on Tuesday he had asked Liberal backbencher Celia Hammond, a former university vice-chancellor, to lead a process of internal consultation about how to improve “professional behaviour” in political offices.

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Australia politics live: Daniel Andrews gives press conference update on Victoria cases; jobseeker in spotlight as parliament returns

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Pressure mounts for Coalition to announce a permanent increase to unemployment payment; Australia closes quarantine-free border to New Zealand after coronavirus cases confirmed as UK variant. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

• Victoria Covid hotspots

NSW has recorded no new locally acquired cases - or any cases in hotel quarantine.

So another zero day for NSW

Daniel Andrews:

Again, the types of cases, this UK strain, the fact that despite the amazing efforts of all of our contact traces and testers and lab workers and the work of so many genuine hard-working Victorians, we had a situation where at the same time as we are becoming aware of the primary case, they have already infected their close contacts, that is not something we’ve seen before.

The speed at which this has moved saw our public health team make the very difficult decisions based on the best of science and the best understanding you can possibly have on any outbreak, that this was a difficult but proportionate and necessary thing to do.

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Michael McCormack says agriculture could be excluded from 2050 net zero emissions target

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Deputy PM says he’s focusing on now, not 2050, as Coalition’s climate skirmishes go on

The Coalition is facing an increasingly testy party room as it struggles to land on a climate policy, with the Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, declaring he is “not worried about what might happen in 30 years’ time”.

The deputy prime minister said excluding agriculture from Australia’s attempts to reach net zero emissions by 2050 may be one option.

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Scott Morrison announces increase to international flight caps – video

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The prime minister says Australia will increase the number of international arrivals after national cabinet agreed to raise the limits in certain states. Almost 40,000 Australians registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as wanting to return remain overseas, with arrival caps and limited flights restricting their opportunities. From 15 February the number of arrivals in New South Wales and Queensland will return to previous levels while South Australia and Victoria will also increase their numbers

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Australia news live: Victoria reports no new Covid cases as national cabinet to consider raising international flight caps

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Quarantine worker who yesterday tested positive confirmed to have UK variant; federal government in talks on regional quarantine facility

Melbourne is forecast for an afternoon downpour today and parents are being urged to be careful while picking up kids from school.

Melbourne is tipped to receive between 15 and 35mm of rain this afternoon, AAP report.

Here’s the full story on the Burgess verdict.

Related: Sam Burgess, former NRL and England rugby player, found guilty of intimidation

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Scott Morrison tells Craig Kelly to rein in Covid comments after Tanya Plibersek confrontation – politics live

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Coalition MP publicly clashed with Labor frontbencher in press gallery corridor over coronavirus misinformation. Follow live

Yes, Craig Kelly has spoken to the prime minister this morning.

Scott Morrison made clear he doesn’t support the Liberal MP’s views and actions and asked him to refrain from pushing views contrary to medical advice, because they are negatively impacting the government’s vaccine strategy.

NSW has also recorded no new locally acquired cases in the past 24 hours, which makes 17 days with no local cases.

Two people in hotel quarantine have tested positive.

NSW Health continues to urge people across the state, particularly in the Liverpool area, to come forward for testing with even the mildest of symptoms that could signal Covid-19, such as a runny nose or scratchy throat. After testing, you must remain in isolation until a negative result is received.

The state’s ongoing sewage surveillance program has detected the virus that causes Covid-19 at the Ireland Park sewage network site, which serves about 88,000 people in the Liverpool catchment in south western Sydney.

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Australia politics live: RBA holds cash rate at 0.1% as government shuts down attempt to censure Craig Kelly

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Doctors’ group lashes out at Liberal MP, saying ‘all public figures’ should ‘act responsibly’; Morrison government to face pressure on jobkeeper and jobseeker. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

• Perth and WA’s Covid restrictions explained
• Perth and regional WA Covid hotspot locations; NSW hotspots
• Follow the global coronavirus liveblog

Ed Husic is also asked about the CFMEU ad that depicts Scott Morrison driving a literal bus (called the omnibus) towards workers, which is meant to illustrate workers being hit by IR changes, and whether it goes too far:

Husic:

Some of the unions, or some people will try and characterise it in that way, and whether or not that works in their favour, to be putting it bluntly, I think there is a genuine concern about what the government’s industrial relations reforms will do, what impact they will have on working people.

When you go through the detail of what they are proposing, they will be seeing the greatest burden placed on working Australians and it’s just wrong. They shouldn’t have cuts to their take-home pay.

Ed Husic is on the ABC this afternoon, where he is asked about the topic of the day – government backbencher Craig Kelly and the government’s leadership refusal to censure him.

Husic:

The prime minister occupies an important place in the country, the words of the prime minister matter, the actions mean even more, and in this case allowing Craig Kelly to just keep rolling on the way he is, to undermine the investment of taxpayer dollars, in information campaigns to embrace the inoculation process, to help us deal with a Covid-19 pandemic that has crippled the economy for the best part of 2020, resulted in 2 million Australians being unemployed or underemployed and the vaccine bringing one way to bring us closer to normal, as it were, this is just wrong, that you could have a government MP being allowed by virtue of inaction by the prime minister for that to continue.

It shouldn’t, and if he did take this matter seriously it would be reined in and it wouldn’t be an issue and you and me wouldn’t be talking about it.

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Australia politics live: Perth and WA’s south-west enter Covid lockdown as MPs quarantined in Canberra

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Much of Western Australia shut down, with politicians returning to the ACT for parliament forced to isolate. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

And you may be surprised to learn that Gladys Berejiklian has no advice for Mark McGowan over what he should do.

Surprised, because the NSW premier had a LOT of advice for her Queensland counterpart ahead of Queensland’s election. Which Annastacia Palaszczuk won, with an increased majority.

I would not presume to have any advice for any of our colleagues apart from saying that please judge New South Wales on our record of how we manage things here, it is not for me to suggest what other premiers should do, that is a matter for them. All of us have to be considerate of what is happening inWA at the moment. Our thoughts are with everyone in WA at the moment.

NSW premier Gladys Bereiklian says there will be extra screening for WA travellers - but the states borders will remain open:

I have confidence that they would do all the due diligence as we have done in the past, when New Zealand or Brisbane went through this, we make sure we had those procedures in place, the key is to make sure we act quickly and to provide as much information as possible, but also to make a proportional response. We don’t know of any community transmission within WA apart from the security guard, so we are acting according to that risk.

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Australia news live: no new local Covid cases in NSW, Queensland and Victoria, while southern states hit by heatwave

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Late February Pfizer vaccine rollout planned. Meanwhile, South Australian authorities warn residents as bushfires erupt in Adelaide Hills. Follow all the latest updates, live

• NSW hotspots; Queensland hotspots
• State-by-state restrictions and lockdown rules explained
• Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for Australian rollout
• Follow the global coronavirus liveblog

A truck carrying toilet paper has burst into flames, causing traffic chaos on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway.

It is still unclear what caused the fire, but firefighters are on the scene, attempting to bring the fire under control.

The truck exploding into flames on the Eastern Freeway, Melbourne near the Elgar Rd exit. I saw this while passing by and hope no one is hurt. The fire is now out but traffic is banked up on the city-bound lane. A terrible incident on a 40c day. #truckOnFireMelbourneFreeway pic.twitter.com/tj5MANXAQh

The Bureau of Meteorology has said the heatwave is over in Melbourne and is easing in South Australia, with rain and thunderstorms expected later this evening.

Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the BoM, warned that the focus will shift to New South Wales tomorrow, with temperatures forecast to get near 40C in Western Sydney, with the city expecting to reach 35C.

But by tomorrow night the cool change will have moved across all of south-eastern Australia and temperatures will return to near seasonal averages for the rest of the week.

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Japan dismisses ‘categorically untrue’ stories that Tokyo Olympics are doomed

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  • Sources at IOC adamant Games will go ahead in July
  • Country has surge in Covid cases centred on capital

The Japanese government has vehemently denied a story that it has privately concluded that this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo are doomed, calling them “categorically untrue”.

Sources at the International Olympic Committee have also told the Guardian that they are still planning for a “full Games” in July, despite the spiralling number of Covid-19 cases in Japan and across the globe. They also dismissed a Times report that said that government officials had resigned themselves to cancelling the Olympics and were instead hoping a wave of sympathy would help Tokyo secure the 2032 Games.

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Coronavirus Australia live: Victoria, NSW and Queensland record no local Covid cases as three new cases linked to Australian Open

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Two tennis players have tested positive, but hard lockdown of those who shared flights remains. Follow latest updates

  • NSW hotspots; Queensland hotspots
  • State-by-state restrictions and lockdown rules explained
  • Follow the global coronavirus liveblog

    • As our West Australian readers start to log-on, I bring to you news of possible secession. I have not clicked through to see what other images/tweets etc come up under #WAXIT but please feel free to do so:

    A group of business leaders in Western Australia want the state to break away from Australia… calling the campaign #WAXIT.

    Should WA be allowed to break away and form an independent nation? #9News pic.twitter.com/mtStO3Ayzh

    A $7bn funding injection into social housing would address surging homelessness caused by the pandemic, advocates say.

    This just in from AAP:

    Social housing advocates fear a surge in homelessness stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, and are urging swift action from the federal government to ensure Australians have a roof over their heads.

    A national campaign to end homelessness, Everybody’s Home, estimates a $7bn injection into social housing would make a serious dent in homelessness, while creating 18,000 jobs a year over the next four years.

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    Anthony Albanese turns up the heat on government, signalling resumption of partisan politics

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    Labor leader confirms he will dump any attempt to reform franking credits as he seeks to take the attack to Scott Morrison

    Anthony Albanese will sharpen his political attack on Scott Morrison in anticipation of a potential election later this year, and has ruled out a second shot at reforming franking credits.

    In a sign the opposition leader will muscle up to Morrison after a low-key approach early in the pandemic, Albanese will on Saturday brand the prime minister “a fake” who is obsessed with politics, shifts blame and “stands for nothing except advertising campaigns, selfies and favours for Liberal mates”.

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    ‘We are one and free’: Australia’s national anthem to change in attempt to recognise Indigenous history

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    Prime Minister Scott Morrison makes the announcement on New Year’s Eve saying the minor change will help foster a ‘spirit of unity’ after a challenging 2020

    The Australian government will remove a reference to the country being “young and free” in the national anthem, amid concerns the existing wording overlooks the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that stretches back tens of thousands of years.

    The conservative prime minister, Scott Morrison, made the surprise announcement on New Year’s Eve, saying the change would help foster a “spirit of unity” after a year of big challenges.

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    Coronavirus Australia live update: NSW records 10 new Covid cases on northern beaches as Qld and Victoria border restrictions outlined

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    Christmas travel plans up in the air after Sydney cluster grows to 28 and Qld, WA, Victoria and Tasmania announce new border restrictions and quarantine measures

    When asked why he isn’t implementing a hard border with NSW, Mcgown says it’s because the outbreak is not as “spread out” as the Adelaide outbreak, when the state did implement a hard border.

    “It’s based upon the number of cases and the spread of the cases. So if the cases are out from their existing location to other parts of Sydney or New South Wales, if the numbers grow as they have, or even more, then there may well be a requirement to go to a harder border arrangement.”

    WA health minister Roger Cook has announced one additional case in the state overnight, which takes total cases to 844.

    In relation to the clinics, he says all travellers who have arrived in WA from NSW between 11 and 17 December are required to immediately self-quarantine and be tested at a Covid clinic. They will have to remain in quarantine until they receive a negative result.

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    Australia news live: federal government takes China to WTO over barley tariffs

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    Plus: aircrew driver tests positive for coronavirus in Sydney, and heavy rain and flash flooding forecast for northern NSW. Follow the latest updates

    • Aircrew driver tests positive for Covid in NSW
    • Follow coronavirus global news live

    A severe weather warning has been issued for Wagga and much of the Riverina for flash flooding this afternoon.

    Severe thunderstorms have been forecast for the entire region, all the way from Hay in the west, right across to the east coast, and from the Queensland border down to Tumbarumba.

    ⚡SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING⚡ for HEAVY RAINFALL. Warning current for much of central and eastern NSW and the ACT.
    2hr Obs: 92mm @ Lismore.
    30min Obs: 26mm @ Glen Alice, 25mm at Mt.Werong & 22mm @ Lake Burley Griffin.
    ⚠️Warnings: https://t.co/30woSZ6O2x#ifitsfloodedforgetit pic.twitter.com/L8OXMiSlAz

    Victoria police commissioner Shane Patton has sought to differentiate between the police approach during the Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne in early June and anti-lockdown protests that were broken up during the second wave, with many more fined.

    Patton told a Victorian parliament Covid-19 committee on Wednesday that at the time of the BLM protest, the spread of Covid was not as big as it was later on in the second wave, and there weren’t the severe restrictions at the time that were seen later – in June, groups of up to 20 people could assemble.

    We eventually made a decision to reluctantly allow that Black Lives Matter to go ahead, because of the emotion that was in the community, because of the emotion that was being displayed across the world.

    And that’s what we did.

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    Sydney boy with autism loses speech while stranded in India due to Covid

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    Australian mum desperate for flight home after autistic son stops talking without vital therapy

    A four-year-old Sydney boy with autism stranded in India and separated from his father since March has missed specialist treatment for so long he has become non-verbal.

    Concerns for the health of Yuvraj Krishna and other Australians stranded overseas have been raised by Labor’s shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, who is urging the Morrison government to intervene and help reunite the family.

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    Projections suggest Australia could meet 2030 emissions target without using Kyoto credits

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    Prime minister Scott Morrison wanted to announce the policy shift at a weekend summit but he’s not yet secured a speaking spot

    The Morrison government will release updated national greenhouse gas emissions projections that claim Australia is nearly on track to meet the target for 2030 it set under the Paris agreement.

    An annual emissions projection report to be released on Thursday shows the government now estimates emissions in 2030 will fall just short – by 56m tonnes – of meeting its target of a 26-28% cut compared to 2005 levels if Australia doesn’t deploy Kyoto credits to hit the target.

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    Australian politics live: Coalition to put forward IR changes; cruise ship ban extended

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    Fair Work Commission to be given power to approve agreements that don’t guarantee workers are better off overall. Follow all the latest updates

    Earlier, the Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary, Sally McManus, set out the union movement’s objection to the “extreme” industrial relations bill.
    Those are:

    On the other side of that debate:

    Take the sand out of your ears – and let's hope we can soften your hearts. Because all this legislation does is push people further and further in the ground. Please Senators, vote no to this horrendous legislation. My full speech: https://t.co/MTYbj02hyw

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