Australia news live: ‘important reasons’ for some anti-corruption hearings to be private, attorney general says | Australia news

The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, is addressing the National Press Club in Canberra, and knows his audience. He moves onto what the Nacc will mean for press freedom.

Dreyfus:

Shortly I will be introducing separate reforms to the public interest disclosure act to improve whistleblower protections with the aim of having these reforms in place when the commission commenced operation.

Many of those present have a strong interest in press freedom. So do I. For this reason the legislation establishing the national anti-corruption commission contains strong safeguards to protect the identities of journalist sources and to uphold the clear public interest associated with a free press.

As attorney general I’m acutely conscious that any newly created power brought onto our statute books must not interfere with the important work of the press in holding those in authority to account.

At this point a member of the audience applauds (my colleague Josh Butler who’s in the room informs me this comes from the chief executive of the press club, Maurice Reilly.

Thank you, I thought this might be one audience that might appreciate those sentiments. There’s even more!

The legislation expressly provides that journalists and their employers will not be required to answer questions or provide information that will enable the identity of their sources to be identified.

The commission’s access to search and surveillance powers will be subject to additional safeguards to protect press freedom and the identity of journalist’s sources.

And the work does not end there… the Albanese government intends to progress further legislative reform as a priority, including responding to important reports on press freedom from the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security and is Senate standing committee on environment and communications both from the last parliament.

The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, is addressing the National Press Club this lunchtime.

He is speaking about one of the details in the government’s national anti-corruption commission (Nacc) which has proved most contentious – that most hearings will be private, with public hearings only held in exception circumstances.

The experience of state anti-corruption commissions is that a very small proportion of all hearings are actually public, including the well-known New South Wales independent commission against corruption.

There are important reasons why some hearings need to be conducted in private, including to avoid prejudicing an ongoing investigation or related criminal proceedings, to protect the privacy of witnesses or to ensure national security information is protected from disclosure.

The decision to hold hearings in public or in private will be made by the independent commissioner. The commission will use hearings to question witnesses and obtain critical evidence about alleged serious or systemic corruption on the way to making findings and recommendations. There will be times when the commission’s investigations will be done in public and other times investigations investigations will benefit from being done in private.

The Australian government says it has signed a $322m contract with Raytheon Australia as part of upgrades to the existing Collins-class submarines.

Defence issued a press release saying the five-year contract contract will ensure “in-service support for the Collins-class submarine combat system during Australia’s transition to nuclear-powered submarines”.

Both major Australian parties have long flagged the need to extend the life of the existing submarines given that the new nuclear-powered submarines could be decades away.

The Department of Defence’s deputy secretary for naval shipbuilding and sustainment, Tony Dalton, said the support would include a life-of-type extension beginning in 2026, ongoing sustainment, and selected capability enhancements.

Dalton said in the statement:

The ongoing sustainment and upgrade of these boats will help maintain a capability advantage and ensure our fleet is ready to meet the challenges across our strategic environment. We are committed to working closely with industry to sustain our Collins class submarines, an important task that currently supports over 1600 jobs across South and West Australia.

It’s not a new role for Raytheon Australia: the government says the company “has been providing a range of support services for the Collins-class submarine combat system since its introduction into service”.

Josh Taylor

Clive Palmer announces United Australia party’s new Victorian leader

The United Australia party founder, Clive Palmer, is trying to get some candidates up in the Victorian state election, and has announced former Liberal MP for Frankston Geoff Shaw as the party’s leader in the state.

Shaw hasn’t been in parliament for almost eight years (or two terms).

He resigned from the Liberal party in 2013, which ultimately led to the then premier, Ted Ballieu, resigning after facing internal pressure. The turmoil the Liberal party faced resulted in the party being turfed out of office after just one term, and Victoria has now had eight years of the Daniel Andrews Labor government.

Kangaroo advocates are claiming Tourism Australia is cashing in on the beloved species to lure tourists to the country, while turning a blind eye to their demise.

Tourism Australia today unveiled a computer generated souvenir kangaroom, Ruby the Roo, as the mascot for its “Come and Say G’day” campaign, voiced by Australian actor Rose Byrne.

Former Australian Test cricketer and Kangaroos Alive ambassador Jason “Dizzy” Gillespie said the federal and NSW governments are happy to use the iconic animal to promote tourism on billboards around the world, while at the same time, ignoring concerns about the commercial killing of kangaroos.

A NSW parliamentary report into the health and wellbeing of kangaroos examined the management of the commercial kangaroo industry, and found evidence of an unsustainable animal welfare crisis which forced the NSW and federal governments to admit no one is monitoring how the animals meet their end.

The inquiry recommended greater transparency of kangaroo management plans, programs and practices.

Gillespie said:

Tourism Australia even said we’re so lucky to have a globally recognisable and adorable icon in the kangaroo.

We need to learn to value these international icons and acknowledge that they are worth much more to Australia alive. Our tourist industry relies on them.

The kangaroo is on our Australian coat of arms, it’s the Australian made symbol and it is a much loved animal not just here in Australia but all over the world.

As the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, did his media rounds this morning, he revealed Australia is considering offering training to Ukraine troops.

We brought you some of his comments earlier on the blog, and now my colleagues in Canberra Amy Remeikis and Daniel Hurst bring you the full story here:

Sarah Hanson-Young says she will support ‘yes’ vote in voice referendum

Katharine Murphy

Readers following the political debate around the voice to parliament will be aware there’s been some confusion over the past 24 hours or so about the Greens. On Tuesday, a report in the Australian newspaper suggested the party’s First Nations spokesperson, Lidia Thorpe, had telegraphed backing the no case to businessman Warren Mundine. Thorpe later told my colleague Sarah Martin that report was false. She would not be backing the “no” case.

Throughout this debate, the Greens have signalled it is important for the government to act on the three elements of the Uluru statement – voice, truth and treaty. Thorpe repeated that view yesterday. Today, Thorpe’s colleague Sarah Hanson-Young was asked to clarify the Greens position. Hanson-Young again articulated the party’s position on the three elements, but also made it abundantly clear she and “my colleagues” would be supporting the yes campaign for the voice to parliament. Here, for the record, are her comments in full.

Hanson Young:

As Lidia Thorpe has said, she is not going to be backing the no campaign and the Greens support the full implementation of the statement from the heart, and we want the parliament to respond to that request from First Nations people to act, to give voice, to give treaty, to give truth. Our party is committed to backing the Uluru statement and doing everything we can to make sure First Nations people are listened to and responded to in the way they have asked [for] out of that statement of the heart. That’s a really important message to the rest of the Australian community.

As Lidia Thorpe has said, she’s not backing the no campaign, and I am looking very much forward to supporting the yes campaign. I’m going to be supporting the yes campaign, my colleagues are going to be supporting the yes campaign and we need to make sure this delivers for First Nations people. There are a lot of issues First Nations people deal with every day that this parliament has not dealt with and we need to and our leaders need to.

I want to be really clear about this: I support the yes campaign and I’ll be doing everything I can to support it.