Government has ‘nothing to hide’ about Qatar airways decision, Marles says
Deputy prime minister Richard Marles says the government has “nothing to hide” as a cabinet colleague knocks back a Senate request to provide documents about its decision on Qatar Airways’ flights, AAP reports.
A Senate select committee on commonwealth bilateral air service agreements is due to hold hearings next week, asking senior Qantas executives, as well as former CEO Alan Joyce, to appear.
The Senate has also requested the government to release documents relating to its decision to knock back Qatar Airways’ application for a doubling of flights.
Marles told Nine’s Today show on Friday:
There’s nothing to hide.
A decision was made by the transport minister in the ordinary course of her work, as transport ministers have made over an extensive period of time, around how to apply the national interest in respect of this.
And that’s all that she’s done.
The transport minister, Catherine King, has claimed public interest immunity over documents relating to the Senate order.
She said in a letter that air services agreements were “treaty level agreements between countries”.
There is a public interest in not disclosing such discussions so [that] the government’s negotiations over air services agreements with a range of countries can continue unimpeded.
– Australian Associated Press
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Police reported that the crash, between a “tour bus” and the truck, occurred at about 9.10am this morning on Port Gregory Road in Sandy Gully, north-west of Northampton in the Gascoyne region.
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Five emergency crews from St John’s Ambulance were on the scene, with rescue efforts ongoing.
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A spokesperson for St John’s Ambulance confirmed that there were no major injuries for the passengers with only minor injuries reported so far.
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Five injuries were initially reported, before rising twice, to seven and then to 13.
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The Guardian understands the crash occurred between two towns on Port Gregory Road, and that police and emergency services were finding it challenging to reach the crash site.
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Motorists are advised to slow down and drive with caution in the area as emergency responders remain at the scene.
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Five people are believed injured after a crash between a truck and bus in Sandy Gully, north-west of Northampton, Western Australia.
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The crash happened at 9:10am on Port Gregory Road.
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WA Police advise motorists to slow down and drive with caution in the area as emergency responders remain at the scene.
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It has been confirmed the bus involved is a tour coach and not a school bus.
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More to come.
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Deputy prime minister Richard Marles says the government has “nothing to hide” as a cabinet colleague knocks back a Senate request to provide documents about its decision on Qatar Airways’ flights, AAP reports.
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A Senate select committee on commonwealth bilateral air service agreements is due to hold hearings next week, asking senior Qantas executives, as well as former CEO Alan Joyce, to appear.
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The Senate has also requested the government to release documents relating to its decision to knock back Qatar Airways’ application for a doubling of flights.
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Marles told Nine’s Today show on Friday:
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\n
There’s nothing to hide.
\n
A decision was made by the transport minister in the ordinary course of her work, as transport ministers have made over an extensive period of time, around how to apply the national interest in respect of this.
\n
And that’s all that she’s done.
\n
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The transport minister, Catherine King, has claimed public interest immunity over documents relating to the Senate order.
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She said in a letter that air services agreements were “treaty level agreements between countries”.
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\n
There is a public interest in not disclosing such discussions so [that] the government’s negotiations over air services agreements with a range of countries can continue unimpeded.
\n
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– Australian Associated Press
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Infrastructure Minister Catherine King stands in front of a departures sign at an airport”,”caption”:”Transport minister Catherine King has claimed public interest immunity over knocking back a Senate request to provide documents about the government’s decision on Qatar Airways’ flights.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Lukas 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EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1694740500000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”21.15 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1694739489000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”20.58 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”20.58″,”title”:”Government has ‘nothing to hide’ about Qatar airways decision, Marles says”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Thu 14 Sep 2023 23.42 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Thu 14 Sep 2023 16.30 EDT”},{“id”:”6503a7158f08c20e22d3d7da”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Victorians are the country’s biggest consumers of “super drug” fentanyl, AAP reports.
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The latest wastewater data from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission shows Melbourne has the highest level of heroin, ketamine and fentanyl consumption of any Australian capital city.
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In regional areas, Victoria tops the national list for heroin consumption and is second for fentanyl and oxycodone use.
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Crime Stoppers Victoria chief executive Stella Smith warned organised crime syndicates were targeting specific industries as a way to smuggle them in.
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Fentanyl is up to 100 times stronger than morphine, and drug dealers often mix it into cocaine and heroin to boost their profit margins.
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Climate minister Chris Bowen is permanently cancelling the 25-year-old Kyoto carbon credits scheme, calling them an overhang of Scott Morrison’s government.
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He will say in a speech at the Australasian Emission Reduction Summit later today:
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\n
The sector has survived a decade of federal delay, denial and dysfunction.
\n
One of the overhangs of that era is the carryover Kyoto credits – a remnant of the climate wars, a symbol of the internal division which divided the previous government and dragged Australia back on the international stage.
\n
They were never more than an accounting trick to try and make it look like we were on track to meet our commitments and targets.
\n
And while our government has long-committed to never use them to achieve our emissions reduction goals there has been nothing preventing a future government from doing so … That’s why today, I am pleased to announce those carry over credits from the last decade, equalling more than 700 million tonnes, representing more than a year’s worth of national emissions, have now been permanently cancelled.
\n
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Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney said comments made by Jacinta Nampijinpa Price that there were no negative ongoing impacts of British colonisation had caused great distress.
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Speaking in Kogarah while handing out flyers for the Yes campaign, Burney said the comments were “offensive and a real betrayal”.
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She said:
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\n
There are many people I’ve spoken to last night, this morning, that are very distressed and quite frankly, pretty disgusted. But I am going to focus on the goal here and that is a successful referendum.
\n
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Some more from shadow minister for Indigenous affairs, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
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Speaking at The Great Voice Debate hosted by The Australian in Canberra yesterday, Price rejected a treaty, saying First Nations people were never at war with British colonists.
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We note that the colonial frontier massacres have been documented by historians, and thoroughly reported by Guardian Australia.
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You can view a map here, that shows evidence of mass killings of First Nations people from 1788 until 1928 – a sustained and systematic process of conflict and expansion:
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In response to Jacinta Price, shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, controversially claiming British colonisation has had no ongoing impact on Indigenous Australians, the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, tells ABC RN:
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The no campaign strategy, Patricia, has been to ignore the proposal. It’s on the ballot paper to sow fear and division across our wonderful country, and talk about anything other than what’s on the ballot paper.
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The “official directions” of the no campaign to volunteers is to “ignore the facts,” he said.
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Hide who you are, cause fear, cause alarm, never actually discuss the actual issue on the ballot paper.
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And we need to get back to what we’ve got to do in four weeks’ time.
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Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you our top stories before Rafqa Touma takes over as a busy sitting fortnight ends.
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Australia’s top soldier has delivered a stark warning about the dangers posed to western democracies by disinformation spread from Russia and other countries. In a speech last night, ADF chief Gen Angus Campbell warned that artificial intelligence tools employed as a “a weapon of statecraft” could eventually leave citizens struggling to sift fact from fiction. Such campaigns could increasingly be used to fracture “the trust that binds us”, he said, and could induce “truth decay” that would render societies unable to resist outside influences.
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The voice to parliament referendum campaign has been marked by concerns about deliberate misinformation sowing doubts in the minds of undecided voters. As if to underline the issues highlighted by Campbell, we’re reporting this morning that anti-voice campaigners are making unfounded claims about the impact ticks and crosses on ballot papers could have on the outcome of the referendum. One leading no campaigner has claimed to volunteers that the issue could account for “5% of the vote” being discounted, but the reality is that based on the republic referendum in 1999, less than 1% were discounted.
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We also have another exclusive story about questionable government use of consultancies. We have learned that the Victorian government paid a consultancy firm to lead the state’s consultation on changes to tobacco and vaping laws – even though the firm has spent decades working for big tobacco. The state’s health department has repeatedly declined to say how much KPMG was paid for the work this year and did not answer questions about whether the firm’s long association with big tobacco and its ongoing work for the industry were declared.
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Key events
The always wonderful Weekly Beast is up. Read it here:
Proposed Airbnb levy must go to social housing, homelessness body says
The Victorian government is expected to consider a levy on short-stay accommodation such as Airbnbs at a cabinet meeting on Monday.
The Council to Homeless Persons CEO, Deborah Di Natale, welcomed the reports, saying a levy as high as 7.5% could help Victoria overcome the biggest housing crisis in recent memory.
She said the state trailed the nation on social housing.
A levy like this would be an important step in injecting more fairness into Victoria’s housing system which is in dire need of major reform.
That money should provide desperately needed accommodation for our most vulnerable people.
A levy on bookings through platforms like Airbnb has the potential to raise more than $30m a year to house people without homes, but ending the housing crisis will require billions, not millions, in new investment.
You can read more on the proposed levy here:
ACCC seeks to block Qantas-China Eastern Airlines deal extension over competition concerns
The consumer watchdog is seeking to block an extension deal between Qantas and China Eastern Airlines that could increase airfares for passengers flying between Australia and China.
The two carriers attempted to finalise an agreement that would allow them to co-ordinate passenger and transport operations between Australia and China until March 2024.
But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued a draft determination to block the deal.
ACCC commissioner Anna Brakey said the deal could breach competition laws.
She said in a statement:
We are concerned that the authorisation would provide Qantas and China Eastern with the opportunity and incentive to increase prices … by limiting or delaying the introduction of additional capacity on the Sydney-Shanghai route as passenger demand continues to grow.
At this stage we are not satisfied that the likely harm to competition from Qantas and China Eastern’s proposed coordination would be outweighed by any potential benefits.
China Eastern is the only airline with direct flights between Sydney and Shanghai, while Qantas was expected to resume flights in October.
The watchdog believes demand for flights between Australia and China will likely grow thanks to Tourism Australia’s recent campaign.
The ACCC granted interim authorisation for the carriers to co-ordinate their operation in March 2023 but remains unconvinced an extension of this deal would “lead to additional services on other routes between Australia and China”.
Qantas and China Eastern have until October 6 to respond before the ACCC makes its final decision.
The decision comes after the Australian carrier came under scrutiny for its role in the government’s decision to block Qatar Airways’ bid to double its Australian routes.
– Australian Associated Press
Photograph: Mark Baker/AP
Natasha May
Improving water quality, access to fresh food and energy security in remote Indigenous communities could help manage diabetes rates, inquiry hears
Dr Jason Agostino, a senior medical adviser for the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) is providing evidence at the parliamentary inquiry into diabetes.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are grossly over-represented in the prevalence of diabetes compared to other Australians, with rates amongst First Nations adults three times that of non-Indigenous people.
In their submission to the inquiry, NACCHO has recommended the government allocates diabetes funding based on burden of disease rather than population.
Agostino has also told the inquiry of the worse outcomes First Nations people with diabetes experience. For example, First Nations people in their thirties experiencing kidney failure due to diabetic nephropathy (a complication of diabetes that damages the kidneys) is a condition not seen in non-Indigenous populations.
Agostino says for many remote communities the factors contributing to worse diabetes outcomes are:
Thirteen injured in WA bus crash
Mostafa Rachwani
Thirteen people have been injured after a bus and a truck crashed in a remote location in Western Australia.
Police reported that the crash, between a “tour bus” and the truck, occurred at about 9.10am this morning on Port Gregory Road in Sandy Gully, north-west of Northampton in the Gascoyne region.
Five emergency crews from St John’s Ambulance were on the scene, with rescue efforts ongoing.
A spokesperson for St John’s Ambulance confirmed that there were no major injuries for the passengers with only minor injuries reported so far.
Five injuries were initially reported, before rising twice, to seven and then to 13.
The Guardian understands the crash occurred between two towns on Port Gregory Road, and that police and emergency services were finding it challenging to reach the crash site.
Motorists are advised to slow down and drive with caution in the area as emergency responders remain at the scene.
Stephanie Convery
Group homes and inclusive education in spotlight in disability royal commission final report
The disability royal commission’s final report seems likely to include strong recommendations around group homes and inclusive education when it’s handed down on 28 September.
Statements from commissioners at the final, ceremonial sitting of the inquiry in Sydney today have singled out both these areas for particular focus in their reflections on the four and half years of hearings and interim reports.
Commissioner Barbara Bennett pointed directly to the issue of group homes in her remarks, saying that the commission had heard people with disability living in these places were at “significant risk of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation”.
Bennett said:
We heard for many [that] group homes have failed to keep people with disability safe, they failed to empower people with disability to have choice and control over their lives, and they lack opportunities for people to develop and participate in their communities.
Group homes have failed to realise the rights of people with disability under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability.
She mentioned the testimony of a witness in a private hearing who described having lived in a group home since she was 18:
That resident has to get up at the same time and go to bed at the same time. All the doors were locked, residents could not go out when they wanted to. They could not choose what they wanted to eat or when they had their meals. And if they didn’t do what they were told, they were locked up. She said it was like a prison.
I believe we can do so much better than this.
Commissioner Alastair McEwin, meanwhile, said a recurring theme of the hearings was “the failure of the mainstream education system to include disabled children in their schools”.
I lost count of the many practical and easy solutions these families tried to implement with their local school and the structural and attitudinal barriers they continued to face.
… Mainstream education settings are to be inclusive of all children and the default placement for them. The reform agenda for mainstream schools to be inclusive should, at its core, be about learning and development for all children. The agenda is therefore not solely about disability, it is about universal design and access for all.
Stephanie Convery
Disability royal commission chair calls for urgent action from all levels of government when findings released
The chair of the disability royal commission has urged Australia’s federal, state and territory governments to act without delay upon the findings of the inquiry, which will be handed to the Governor General on 28 September after four and a half years of hearings and interim reports.
At the final ceremonial sitting of the commission in Sydney on Friday morning, chair the Hon Ronald Sackville QC said royal commissions and similar inquiries “do bring about significant reforms and lasting improvements in societal practices and attitudes”, but:
Whether this happens in the case of our royal mommission depends upon the responses of governments, of business, of businesses, and equally important the wider Australian community. The abuses exposed by the royal commission demand an urgent and comprehensive response from all Australian governments.
Sackville also made a brief note about the media’s interest – or lack thereof – in the commission’s work.
He mentioned the ABC’s coverage of the commission in particular, which he described as “exemplary”, particularly that of their national broadcaster’s disability affairs reporter.
He also said there had been “very worthwhile coverage provided” by us here at the Guardian and at AAP.
Other media though, according to Sackville, had not paid all that much attention:
Many other mainstream outlets have not [covered the commission]. The mainstream outlets that have largely ignored the work of the royal commission might like to ask themselves, once this commission is finished, why they took that course.
Sandy Gully WA truck and bus crash
Five people are believed injured after a crash between a truck and bus in Sandy Gully, north-west of Northampton, Western Australia.
The crash happened at 9:10am on Port Gregory Road.
WA Police advise motorists to slow down and drive with caution in the area as emergency responders remain at the scene.
It has been confirmed the bus involved is a tour coach and not a school bus.
More to come.
Paul Karp
‘Every chance’ the voice referendum will pass, Bandt says, as voters begin to consider their vote
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has responded to the shadow Indigenous affairs minister, Jacinta Price’s, statement at the National Press Club that she doesn’t believe there were lasting negative impacts of colonisation.
Bandt said that he, the Greens and its First Nations group “take a different view” but that everyone can agree that Indigenous Australians were “here first” and “that’s what the referendum is about” – recognising them in the constitution for this through an Indigenous voice.
On the fate of the referendum generally, Bandt said there is “every chance” it will be successful because although “debate in parliament has gone a certain way” many people are only now beginning to switch on and consider their vote.
Eden Gillespie
Greens propose 1000% rate hike on Brisbane Airbnb investment properties to improve long-term rental pool
The Greens are proposing to hike Brisbane City Council rates for Airbnb investment properties up by 1000% in a bid to get more long-term rental properties on the market.
Greens candidate for Brisbane lord mayor, Jonathan Sriranganathan, said the goal was “to piss off and scare away investors who would rather make money from Airbnb than make housing available to local residents”.
“Our message to them is: Get stuffed – we don’t want you in this city.”
Under the proposal, a property rented on Airbnb for more than 45 days with an annual rate bill of $1800 would be charged $18,000.
Sriranganathan said the party “conservatively” estimates that up to 1,000 additional homes would transition to long-term rentals within the space of a few months.
This is both an immediate emergency response to the housing crisis, and a long-term strategy to ensure that buildings used for short-term accommodation are fit-for-purpose and appropriately located.
Christopher Knaus
Greens senator criticises ease of movement of senior government advisers to private sector
The minister for cyber security and home affairs, Clare O’Neil’s, chief of staff, Andrew Downes, is taking a government relations job with cyber security multinational and arms manufacturer Thales.
Greens senator David Shoebridge revealed Downes’ new role last night in the Senate, and criticised the lack of restrictions on the movement of senior government advisers into private sector employment related to their former portfolios.
Thales, a French multinational, is in the middle of attempting to acquire Tesserent, an ASX-listed Australian-owned cyber security firm. The proposal has prompted calls for an intervention by the foreign investment review board.
There are no rules governing the revolving door between politics and big business, even where individuals act as in-house lobbyists or government relations officers. Guardian Australia is not suggesting Downes was not entitled to accept the job or that he contravened any rules by doing so.
In-house lobbyists and government relations officers are also not required to put themselves on a public register or comply with the lobbying code of conduct, denying the public even a basic level of transparency about their activities. Unlike third-party lobbyists, they are also not required to take a cooling-off period before taking on private employment in fields related to their former minister’s portfolio.
Shoebridge spoke about the issue in the Senate last night as it considered a motion by David Pocock to improve Australia’s flawed lobbyist regime:
There’s a matter that’s literally unfolding as this debate is unfolding and that’s in the office for the minister of home affairs, where the chief of staff for the minister for home affairs is in the process of moving … from that powerful position as a senior adviser to taking a government relations job with the international arms manufacturer Thales.
No cooling off period, literally walking out of being chief of staff one day, and being straight into being a government relations adviser for a major multinational arms manufacturer the next day.
Paul Karp
Bandt disappointed by King’s public interest immunity claim over Qatar Airways documents
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, told reporters in Canberra it is “disappointing” that transport minister Catherine King has claimed public interest immunity over documents related to her Qatar decision.
Bandt held the Greens have a “different view” to the Liberals on the issue, saying:
We don’t think Qatar [airways] will save us.”
The Greens want the government to take an equity stake in Qantas.
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