King alleges in parliament that Liberal backbencher filmed conversation between them on GoPro
Josh Butler
The infrastructure minister, Catherine King, has alleged in a speech to parliament that Liberal backbencher Tony Pasin filmed a conversation between them on a GoPro, and has asked for the issue to be referred to the parliament’s powerful privileges committee.
Making the claims in the House of Representatives last night, King said Pasin – the member for Barker – had attended her ministerial office earlier in the afternoon for a “drop-in session” the minister regularly holds to allow politicians to speak to her about infrastructure issues.
King said Pasin and a staff member had visited her office, to give her a letter about a project in Pasin’s electorate. King told the chamber:
I started an interaction with him but he left very quickly. I also had to go to the Federation Chamber. As he was leaving the office, my staff observed that he had been filming the interaction on a GoPro in my ministerial office and I asked one of my staff to go around to the member for Barker’s office to confirm this was the case.
A member of my staff followed the member for Barker and his staff member into his office and saw that they were downloading a film on to a laptop. My member of staff said, ‘Have you been filming, did you film that interaction with the minister?’ The member of staff confirmed that it had been filmed and that filming had been undertaken in the ministerial corridor.
We have contacted Pasin’s office for comment and response.
King went on to claim in her speech that it was “a significant breach of the rules … a significant breach of the way in which we conduct ourselves in this place and the respect I believe should be shown to each other”.
The speaker of the House, Labor’s Milton Dick, said he would consider her statement and claims, and would report back to the chamber.
I reserve the matter for further consideration and, once considered, I’ll report back to the House as soon as possible.
Key events
Before going to questions from reporters, Jim Chalmers noted that NDIS minister Bill Shorten would be giving his valedictory speech today and said:
Bill Shorten has so much to be proud of and we’re so proud of him. We’re looking forward to hearing from him this afternoon, but also recognising and remembering that Bill has got still a lot of work to do and a huge contribution to make in this parliamentary term and beyond that as well.
I work really closely with Bill on the NDIS and a whole range of issues as well. As I said, he has so much to be proud of and the Labor Party is very proud of him.
Chalmers says inflation is falling in Australia
Moving to inflation, Jim Chalmers said it is “rising in the UK, the US, Canada and Europe, while it is falling here in Australia.”
We have made welcome encouraging progress in the fight against inflation [but] we know it is not mission accomplished. We know around the world inflation does not come down in a perfectly straight line. We are seeing that in major advanced economies now.
We are maintaining a primary focus in this fight against inflation and helping people with the cost of living, but we’ve made sure that the reform wheels are continuing to turn in our economy at the same time.
Jim Chalmers said the government would not start any drawdowns from the Future Fund “until at least 2032-33”.
There are no changes being proposed to the investing benchmark rate of return or the risk profile. The government will not be directing specific investments being made by the fund. The fund and its board will continue to make its decisions about investments independently.
Chalmers addresses media on changes to Future Fund
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is speaking to reporters in Canberra about the Future Fund announcement overnight.
As Paul Karp reported, the $230bn sovereign wealth fund will be retooled to help build houses, improve infrastructure and combat global heating under a new investment mandate.
Chalmers said the government is “not changing the fundamental focus of the Future Fund when it comes to maximising returns”.
The Future Fund was still focus primarily on maximising its returns, but this will make sure that we can also maximise our opportunities in the context of national interests as well.
The new investment mandate will require the fund to consider priorities like housing, the energy transformation and also making sure that when it comes to infrastructure that there is a particular emphasis on resilience and security as well …
This will mean more investment where we need it most, but without compromising the returns, which will continue to be the primary focus of the Future Fund.
Faruqi responds to NTEU report on university executives income
Greens senator and education spokesperson, Mehreen Faruqi, has responded to an NTEU report showing hundreds of university executives are raking in more money than state premiers, pointing to a “governance crisis” threatening the sector.
In a statement, Faruqi said it was “obscene that staff have been robbed of hundreds of millions in stolen wages, yet VCs and executives walk away with hefty pay packets.”
The harsh reality is that staff and students have become expendable cogs in the machine of a corporate campus where staff and students are suffering, while the executive class is splurging on consultants and largesse.
Decades of neoliberal policies by governments and universities have made a mockery of universities as democratic institutions of public good. We need an overhaul of university governance to shift the balance of power away from the managerial class and corporate executives back to staff and students.
She said the Greens support the NTEU’s call for a parliamentary inquiry.
Natasha May
Government slowly ‘mopping up’ vapes stores, Butler says
Australia is becoming a ‘much less attractive export market’ for vapes, the health minister Mark Butler says. However, he acknowledges the government is slowly “mopping up” stores across the country still selling them.
Speaking with ABC Gold Coast Breakfast Radio this morning, Butler said:
We’re hearing from source countries like China, for example, that they’re now thinking of Australia as a much less attractive export market because all of their products are getting seized. So that’s good and some of the vape stores are shutting down, some of the vape stores are shutting down as well.
Asked about a store down the road from the radio station that still sells vapes with a sandwich board out the front, the health minister responded:
Yeah, far too many of them still open. We’ve had hundreds of operations between Commonwealth authorities and state government authorities going around the country and slowly we’re mopping it up. I have been clear, at some point, we’re going to have to prosecute someone.
Adeshola Ore
Continuing on from our last post, Victorian premier Jacinta Allan said during Victoria’s treaty process there would be “regular updates along the way” about the negotiations:
There will be opportunities for the entire community to follow on with negotiations.
Allan said she would not rule in or rule out the subject matter of the negotiations.
Adeshola Ore
Victorian First People’s Assembly to begin negotiating state-wide treaty in coming days
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is talking to reporters about the commencement of the state’s nation-first Indigenous treaty negotiations.
The First People’s’ Assembly – the democratically elected Indigenous body – will begin negotiating a statewide treaty with the Allan government in the coming days. A ceremonial event will be held today in Melbourne to mark the opening of treaty talks.
Allan said treaty needs to “reset the relationship between the state of Victoria and First Peoples”:
We’re about to embark on treaty negotiations that will make our strong state even stronger, even fairer. Since colonisation, First Peoples in this state have been excluded from opportunity.
King alleges in parliament that Liberal backbencher filmed conversation between them on GoPro
Josh Butler
The infrastructure minister, Catherine King, has alleged in a speech to parliament that Liberal backbencher Tony Pasin filmed a conversation between them on a GoPro, and has asked for the issue to be referred to the parliament’s powerful privileges committee.
Making the claims in the House of Representatives last night, King said Pasin – the member for Barker – had attended her ministerial office earlier in the afternoon for a “drop-in session” the minister regularly holds to allow politicians to speak to her about infrastructure issues.
King said Pasin and a staff member had visited her office, to give her a letter about a project in Pasin’s electorate. King told the chamber:
I started an interaction with him but he left very quickly. I also had to go to the Federation Chamber. As he was leaving the office, my staff observed that he had been filming the interaction on a GoPro in my ministerial office and I asked one of my staff to go around to the member for Barker’s office to confirm this was the case.
A member of my staff followed the member for Barker and his staff member into his office and saw that they were downloading a film on to a laptop. My member of staff said, ‘Have you been filming, did you film that interaction with the minister?’ The member of staff confirmed that it had been filmed and that filming had been undertaken in the ministerial corridor.
We have contacted Pasin’s office for comment and response.
King went on to claim in her speech that it was “a significant breach of the rules … a significant breach of the way in which we conduct ourselves in this place and the respect I believe should be shown to each other”.
The speaker of the House, Labor’s Milton Dick, said he would consider her statement and claims, and would report back to the chamber.
I reserve the matter for further consideration and, once considered, I’ll report back to the House as soon as possible.
Albanese says ‘no place for antisemitism in Australia’ after vandalism overnight
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has issued a statement after up to a dozen cars have been graffitied with anti-Israel messages in Woollahra, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
I have seen the images of last night’s act of antisemitism in Sydney. These are disturbing scenes and deeply troubling to all Australians.
There is no place for antisemitism in Australia. Conflict overseas cannot be made a platform for prejudice at home.
I have trust in our law enforcement agencies to deal with this.
The prime minister arrived back in Australia this morning, after attending the Apec and G20 summit’s overseas.
Age ban legislation to set value that ‘accessing social media not defining feature of growing up’: Rowland
Wrapping up her remarks, Michelle Rowland said the government would ensure young Australians “retain access to services that primarily provide education and health services”.
[We will] work constructively with stakeholders to ensure that only services that meet the strict criteria under eSafety’s powers are able to be accessed by children under 16 years.
This bill seeks to set a new normative value in society, that accessing social media is not the defining feature of growing up in Australia.
Rowland says age ban legislation will rule certain educational platforms ‘out-of-scope’
Continuing to speak in parliament, Michelle Rowland has been speaking about the exclusion of messaging apps and online gaming from the legislation:
We are not saying that risks don’t exist on messenger apps or online gaming. While users can still be exposed to harmful content by other users, they do not face the same algorithmic curation of content and psychological manipulation to encourage near endless engagement.
Further, the inclusion of messaging apps could have wider consequences, such as making communication within families harder.
Rowland said online games are currently regulated under the National Classification Scheme, and “imposing additional age based regulation for online games [would] create unnecessary regulatory overlap”.
This categorical rule making power is expected to deem out-of-scope services such as Facebook Messenger … and WhatsApp. The rule will provide for an out-of-scope status to also be applied to services like … Google Classroom, YouTube and other apps that can be shown to function like social media in their interactivity, but operate with a significant [education tool for] young people.
Rowland introduces social media age ban legislation to parliament
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, is introducing the social media age limit legislation before parliament right now. She has told the chamber:
The Online Safety Amendment Social Media Minimum Age Bill 2024 will amend the Online Safety Act 2021 by introducing a minimum age of 16 to have an account on age restricted social media platforms, protecting young Australians at a critical stage of their development.
The bill puts the onus on social media platforms, not parents or young people to take reasonable steps to ensure fundamental protections are in place.
This is about protecting young people, not punishing or isolating them, and letting parents know we’re in their corner when it comes to supporting their children’s health and wellbeing.
She said this was “one step among many” the government will be taking to keep young people safe online.
Tanya Plibersek says youth mental health ‘dramatically worsened’ since introduction of social media
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is speaking to Sky News ahead of legislation on a social media age limit of 16 being introduced today. She told the program:
We’ve seen that youth mental health has dramatically worsened since this online world became the prominent way of [talking to one another].
Plibersek said there is a “very directly observable benefit by seeing kids online less”, and that the government would seek to preserve specific apps for children, such as Kids Helpline and educational, age-appropriate sites.
Josh Butler had the latest details on the legislation earlier in the blog, here.
Just circling back to news that up to a dozen cars have been graffitied with anti-Israel messages in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra (see earlier post).
Images show that the letters “PKK” were also graffitied on several of the vehicles, not far from the Turkish consulate.
The PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ party) has been fighting for autonomy in south-east Turkey in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and the country’s western allies.
