Speaker warns MPs over behaviour as question time begins
It’s question time!
Before the questions begin, the speaker, Milton Dick, issues another warning to members to improve their behaviour.
There was a big flare up yesterday after Colin Boyce made some remarks to Elizabeth Watson-Brown that he had to withdraw.
But Dick says that further incidents have occurred.
This week has been a particularly combative week in the chamber and this behaviour does not reflect well on the house. I shouldn’t have to say this, seeing as I already made a statement, but further incidents have occurred, it leaves me with no other choice.
After him, independent MP Allegra Spender rises and says:
People are sick of politicians saying “Do as I say but not as I do”. If as a parliament we expect this from our country, we must start by leading by example and start by doing it here.
Key events
While the Liberals have today changed tack, the Nationals are continuing to pressure Chris Bowen on the government’s broken promise to reduce energy bills by $275 (a promise made at the 2022 election that was supposed to take effect by the end of 2025).
Bowen says Nationals MP Pat Conaghan hasn’t actually asked a question, but acknowledges that energy prices are too high.
He then turns the spotlight back onto the Coalition.
When you are dealing with higher energy prices, you can have a policy of introducing more of the cheapest most reliable form of energy available which is renewables, or you can have a $600 billion plan, the most expensive form of energy available, which is what the honourable members and his friends took to the Australian people at the last election.
Liberals press Labor on CFMEU report
The shadow workplace relations minister, Tim Wilson, takes the baton from Sussan Ley and presses Amanda Rishworth again on what the government knew about parts of a report into the CFMEU that were removed on the request of the government-appointed administrator.
Wilson asks whether the government sought a copy of the report before it received on 9 February, and whether that copy was the full version.
Rishworth says again that “at no stage has my office, in any way, requested any changes to the report”.
About 22 seconds in, Wilson makes a point of order because Rishworth hasn’t said whether her office had requested a copy of the report earlier. Milton Dick shuts him down but tells Rishworth to answer the question with her 2 minutes and 38 seconds remaining.
She again doesn’t say whether the government requested the report earlier but emphasises that the report was “to the administrator, not a report to government”.
Justice for Taree!
The Nationals MP for Lyne, Alison Penfold, has been on a QT campaign to get a medicare urgent care clinic to Taree, in her electorate. So much so that she’s been previously kicked out of QT for shouting out at Mark Butler too many times (and too loudly) when he’s been answering questions about bulk-billing.
But not today!
While answering a dixer about the bulk-billing clinics, Penfold’s colleague Darren Chester did the shouting for her, while she held up her phone with Taree written out in bright green and gold.
Butler says he “won’t respond to the provocation today” after getting “suckered in” during question time yesterday.
Albanese says he raised Zomi Frankcom’s death in Gaza with Isaac Herzog
To the crossbench, Zali Steggall asks the prime minister if he will push for accountability from the Israeli president over the death of Australian Zomi Frankcom and her six World Central Kitchen colleagues who were killed by an Israeli airstrike on their convoy in Gaza in 2024.
Anthony Albanese says he raised the issue of Frankcom and other concerns to Isaac Herzog this morning.
Albanese says that Herzog promised to come back to the government on the issues raised.
If President Herzog wasn’t here I wouldn’t have been able to raise the issue of Zomi Framkcom with him, which is what I did this morning along with a range of other government concerns.
These deaths were a tragedy and an outrage. We said that at the time. We have made it clear that remains the Australian government’s position and we’ve also made clear our expectation that there be transparency about Israel’s ongoing investigation into the incident.
Albanese adds that the government will continue to push for “full accountability” including any appropriate criminal charges over the deaths.
Government denies involvement removal of sections from CFMEU report
Sussan Ley begins question time probing the government on a report in Nine newspapers that the government-appointed administrator asked the watchdog to remove parts of his report that went to the Victorian Labor government turning a blind eye to allegations of corruption in the CFMEU.
Ley asks if the federal government had any involvement in the removal of the parts.
Workplace relations minister, Amanda Rishworth, says the report was to the administrator, not the government.
To be abundantly clear, my office received this report on 9 February and at no stage have we requested any changes to the report or made any request for amendments to the contents of the report. Any suggestion is misleading the parliament.
She says the administrator, Mark Irving, was “clear and transparent” about why parts of the report were removed, which he said was because “he was not satisfied that they were well-founded or properly tested”.
She says the government retains “full confidence” in Irving.
Those opposite have irresponsibly called for his sacking, of an administrator that has achieved more progress in cleaning up the union in 18 months than they achieved in their whole time in government.
Speaker warns MPs over behaviour as question time begins
It’s question time!
Before the questions begin, the speaker, Milton Dick, issues another warning to members to improve their behaviour.
There was a big flare up yesterday after Colin Boyce made some remarks to Elizabeth Watson-Brown that he had to withdraw.
But Dick says that further incidents have occurred.
This week has been a particularly combative week in the chamber and this behaviour does not reflect well on the house. I shouldn’t have to say this, seeing as I already made a statement, but further incidents have occurred, it leaves me with no other choice.
After him, independent MP Allegra Spender rises and says:
People are sick of politicians saying “Do as I say but not as I do”. If as a parliament we expect this from our country, we must start by leading by example and start by doing it here.
Meanjin to resume publishing after QUT takes over literary journal
Amanda Meade
In some non-politics news, the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) will become the new custodian of Meanjin, Australia’s most eminent literary journal.
It means the university will be bringing the publication back to Brisbane where it was first established in 1940, after 80 years in Melbourne.
Greens MP joins Scamps in QT boycott
Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown will also boycott question time today over Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit, alongside independent Sophie Scamps.
Watson-Brown yesterday asked the prime minister in question time yesterday to condemn the police violence seen at a protest on Monday, and said the visit was undermining social cohesion.
She told Guardian Australia:
This moment is about who we are as a country on the global stage. The world is watching. Either you’re opposed to genocide or you’re not.
Labor are welcoming a head of state found by the UN commission of inquiry to have incited a genocide to Parliament House. This is a horrifying normalisation and one we shouldn’t accept.
Herzog has denied the accusations of inciting genocide.
The Israeli president will not be at question time.
Two Chinese nationals charged under counter terrorism laws
Two Chinese nationals have been charged by the counter foreign interference taskforce, for allegedly collecting information about a Canberra Buddhist association on behalf of a “foreign principal”.
A 25-year-old man and 31-year-old woman have each been charged with one count of reckless foreign interference and will face the ACT magistrates court today.
They are the fourth and fifth individuals charged with foreign interference offences since new laws came into effect in 2018.
The AFP began Operation Autumn-Shield in March, after receiving information from Asio, which led to the arrest of a female Chinese national in August.
Federal police will allege the woman arrested in August worked with the pair “under the direction of a Public Security Bureau in China”.
Asio boss Mike Burgess said in a statement that the security environment is becoming “more dynamic, diverse and degraded.”
Multiple foreign regimes are monitoring, harassing and intimidating members of our diaspora communities. This sort of behaviour is utterly unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.
Federal police called on the public to report suspicious activity to authorities.
‘Gamechanging intervention’: ADHD sufferers in NSW to get diagnosis relief
Consulting a psychologist will no longer be required to get diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in New South Wales, with rural patients first in line to benefit, AAP reports.
NSW has expanded its push to give general practitioners more power to manage ADHD by enrolling almost 600 doctors in a special training course to enable them to diagnose the condition.
GPs have been able to dispense repeat prescriptions for ADHD medication in the state since September, with more than 5,000 patients receiving scripts.
But the state government hopes expanding training will allow people to get diagnosed sooner, saving hundreds of dollars in private psychologist appointments. Mental health minister, Rose Jackson, told reporters:
We recognise that those general practitioners … are very well placed to provide that care for a chronic but manageable condition
This is a gamechanging intervention for people living with ADHD, who can now access the treatment that they need affordably and in a timely way.
More than one million Australians – or about one in every 20 people – are living with the condition.
The bolstered training will begin with doctors in rural and regional areas in acknowledgment that patients in less populated regions face even greater struggles in securing specialist appointments.
Scamps boycotts question time in protest against Herzog visit
Independent MP Sophie Scamps won’t be at question time today, in protest against Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia.
In a statement, Scamps says she “deeply disagrees” with the visit, warning that it “normalises the atrocities that have occurred in Gaza over the past two years.”
I deeply disagree with the invitation for President Herzog to visit the Australian Parliament House today and will not be attending Question Time to illustrate that I do not condone this visit.
At the very time the Government is welcoming President Herzog into Parliament House, with the entrance being officially lined with Israeli flags, the Government of Israel is moving to extend the illegal occupation of the West Bank thus undermining the hope for a two-state solution, which has long been Australia’s bilateral position.
Scamps isn’t the only independent MP who has criticised the visit. Fellow independents including Zali Steggall and David Pocock have also said the invitation should not have been made.
Australia condemns Israel over plans to extend control over West Bank
Josh Butler
Australia has joined global condemnation of Israel over measures to tighten its control of the West Bank.
Announcing the measures, which involve extending Israeli control in areas that are currently under Palestinian administration, Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, made clear they were aimed at strengthening Israeli settlements in the West Bank and pre-empting the emergence of an independent sovereign Palestine.
The US, EU and Arab states have expressed alarm and concern over the plan. A spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade added to that global backlash.
“Australia objects to the Israel Security Cabinet’s decision to expand Israel’s control over the West Bank. This decision will undermine stability and security,” they said in a statement.
The Australian government has been clear that settlements are illegal under international law and a significant obstacle to peace. Altering the demographic composition of Palestine is unacceptable.
A two-state solution remains the only viable path to long-term peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Landmark high court win for survivors of clergy abuse
Christopher Knaus
The high court has delivered a landmark win for survivors of clergy abuse this morning, finding the Catholic church had a duty of care to protect a child from one of its paedophile priests.
Lawyers have been keenly watching the case and say it will have broader consequences for the liability of the church over historical child sexual abuse claims.
The case was brought by a boy known only as AA, who was sexually assaulted by father Ron Pickin in 1969 in a presbytery in the Newcastle-Maitland region. AA was 13.
AA had argued that the Newcastle-Maitland diocese was liable for the abuse because it had a duty of care to protect him from Pickin and breached that duty.
The church said it owed no such duty of care, because there was no evidence it knew of the risks posed by priests at that time.
The church deployed that argument successfully in the New South Wales court of appeal, prompting AA to take the case to the high court.
On Wednesday, the high court ruled in AA’s favour, saying:
The duty the Diocese owed to AA in 1969 was a duty to a child to ensure that while the child was under the care, supervision or control of a priest of the Diocese, as a result of the priest purportedly performing a function of a priest of the Diocese, reasonable care was taken to prevent reasonably foreseeable personal injury to the child.
Protest against Herzog’s visit continues outside parliament
We have more photos from the protest outside Parliament House. As my colleague Josh Butler brought you from the ground, members of the Greens and independent senator David Pocock have been down there at the rally.
Isaac Herzog is at Government House for a lunch with the prime minister, and received a ceremonial welcome earlier.
Tom McIlroy
Farrell heads back to Brussels for EU free trade talks
The trade minister, Don Farrell, is headed back to Brussels this week for more negotiations on a free trade agreement with the European Union.
Momentum is growing towards a deal and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is expected to visit Australia in the next few months.
Farrell is set to meet EU commissioner for trade and economic security, Maroš Šefčovič, while in Brussels, as well as commissioner for agriculture and food, Christophe Hansen, to progress a mutually beneficial trade agreement.
It will be the sixth meeting between Farrell and Šefčovič. Farrell said:
Australia has always been a trading nation, and the Albanese Labor government is committed to opening up new markets for our exporters, delivering more well-paying jobs across our economy, and cutting costs at the checkout for Australians.
The European Union is a potential market of 27 countries and 450 million consumers – a huge opportunity for our world-class producers, businesses and exporters.”
Labor wants to strengthen ties with the EU, amid growing global uncertainty. Farrell said:
We have been absolutely clear that any deal must be in Australia’s national interest and include new, commercially meaningful market access for our agricultural producers.
As we have demonstrated time and time again, Australia is ready to do a deal – but we will not agree to a deal, for deals sake.
Josh Taylor
eSafety tries to keep breakdown of 4.7 million social media account removals secret
The office of the Australian eSafety commissioner is exploring whether to make a public interest immunity claim to avoid having to disclose the numbers of user accounts deactivated on each of the 10 platforms under the social media ban, with investigations still ongoing into the early days of the policy.
In a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday night, Liberal senators Dean Smith and Jane Hume attempted to get the eSafety commissioner to reveal the true breakdown of the 4.7 million accounts blocked under the social media ban across the 10 platforms.
The senators pointed out that with Meta’s three platforms and Snapchat publicly disclosing their figures at being about 1 million combined, it raised questions on whether the aggregate figure could be relied on.
Officials said they “simply added” up the numbers from each platform, with commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, saying some platforms would have larger numbers than others.
Heidi Snell, eSafety’s regulatory general manager, said it would not be appropriate to disclose the individual numbers at this point as it could prejudice investigations eSafety is undertaking to assess whether the platforms are appropriately complying with the ban, and flagged eSafety might make a public interest immunity claim to avoid disclosing the numbers at this stage.
Snell said a majority of the platforms had requested confidentiality on the use of the numbers, but once the investigations are complete, eSafety may have a different view on releasing the numbers.
Inman Grant said the 4.7 million deactivations “cannot be considered anything but a stunning success”.
Minister Nita Green accused Liberal senators questioning the policy of being led by fellow Coalition senators Alex Antic and Matt Canavan, who expressed opposition to the policy, despite the Coalition pushing for it in 2024.
Governor general ‘delighted’ to welcome Herzog to Government House
Sam Mostyn says she is “delighted” to welcome Israel’s president Isaac Herzog to Government House.
The governor general presented a photo of Herzog’s father, former president Chaim Herzog, from his 1986 trip to Australia, when he was Israel’s president.
Herzog said he was “honoured to see his father’s photo here”.
Mostyn described Government House as a “place of peace where all are welcome”.
I think it’s terribly important that your visit stands with those who are grieving.
Herzog said both Australia and Israel “share the need to fight antisemitism with no doubts … so we uproot this phenomenon,” adding that he shares “the hope that we can bring the relations between our nations on a renewed path”.
