Key events
What we learned; Thursday 7 November
This is where we’ll leave the blog for today, but first a quick summary:
Enjoy the rest of your Thursday evening.
Australia’s big investors have been told to keep the faith on climate finance, with the United States expected to – again – dismantle climate policies under a Trump administration, AAP reports.
Chair of the Superpower Institute economist Rod Sims told an investor summit today the world must press ahead with climate action because president-elect Donald Trump will remove America from serious climate action.
He told the Investor Group on Climate Change’s annual conference in Melbourne:
The US can rejoin the ranks of like-minded countries when it is ready to do so.
Professor Sims, a former head of the competition commission, also urged the group’s members, who have $5 trillion under management in Australia, to get behind federal Labor’s Future Made in Australia program.
But be clear you are supporting its economic logic of addressing market failures, and particularly green energy intensive exports, and not supporting government funding to make things in Australia for its own sake.
If you think the world will not decarbonise, you think there will not be a sufficient market for our green energy intensive products.
But Australia can show the world what’s possible if it starts producing green iron, aluminium, fertiliser and green transport fuel, Prof Sims added.
Catie McLeod
Barden, the Australian Food and Grocery Council chief, also refused to answer a question about the major supermarkets’ profit margins while the ACCC supermarkets inquiry was being heard publicly.
During the hearing this afternoon, which is being live-streamed, the counsel assisting the inquiry, Naomi Sharp SC, told Barden that Coles and Woolworths had told the ACCC their supermarket businesses were “high volume, low margin”.
Sharp asked Barden what feedback the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) members had provided about the net price of the goods they supplied to the supermarkets compared with the retail prices of the same goods.
Barden replied:
I would prefer questions related to two major players, profit margins and pricing to be taken in private hearing.
It’s just quite a narrow question focused around two major players whom the AFGC does need to collaborate closely with for the benefit of suppliers and consumers on a number of different matters.
And I think in those interests, it would be better for us to answer those questions in a private hearing to maintain those constructive relationships.
Shrinkflation of food products a ‘difficult decision’ for companies, peak body says
Catie McLeod
The head of Australia’s peak body for grocery suppliers has defended so-called “shrinkflation”, saying it was a “difficult decision” for manufacturers and not one they “take lightly”.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council chief executive officer, Tanya Barden, has been giving evidence before the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s supermarket inquiry this afternoon.
As Guardian Australia reported last year, food companies have been regularly reducing the size of their products but not the price under a practice known as shrinkflation.
A growing list of companies were doing so to pass on costs and increase profits by avoiding a sensitive price hike that was more likely to attract the ire of customers.
Asked about shrinkflation at the hearing, Barden said:
It is often portrayed as being misleading or sneaky, but the reality is, it reflects a very difficult decision that a manufacturer has to make in light of significant cost increases.
They can put the price up for a consumer, or they can reduce the pack size, or they can cease to manufacture the product, or move the manufacturing of that product offshore.
Now, a manufacturer knows that a consumer is highly sensitive to price.
Sometimes, when faced with significant cost pressures [and] limited ability to absorb those, a manufacturer may decide that the consumer can’t bear any further price increase without ceasing to purchase a product.
Head of CDC will be separate role to chief medical officer, Senate estimates told
The head of the government’s Centre for Disease Control will be a separate role from the chief medical officer, the health department has told Senate estimates.
Blair Comley, the department secretary, is providing more details about the CDC, which is still in development and intended to be an expert advisory body:
Going forward, when the CDC is established that we will have the chief medical officer, and really the head of the CDC will be more akin to a Chief Health Officer looking at the surveillance, preventative health, etc, and information in a crisis response. But they’ll work very closely together.
So, for example, the chief medical officer would still be the chair of the AHPC [Australian Health Protection Committee], so have that direct link to the states and territories.
And the CDC head, we’d intend to be also a member of the AHPC, which is that key Coordination Group in the in the time of a crisis.
Comley said there is no suggestion the CDC will override state and territory public health decisions.
He elaborated it will be a progressive implementation of the CDC– the starting point will be communicable diseases, “setting ourselves up for the next pandemic or other shocks,” but over time it will have a focus on non-communicable diseases, including chronic diseases, as well.
Ariel Bogle
Four men arrested in Victoria in ‘day of action’ against neo-Nazi group
Four men have been arrested today after what Victoria police called “a day of action” against the Australian neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network (NSN).
Police sources have confirmed those arrested include neo-nazi leader Thomas Sewell, 31.
A 31-year-old man was charged with two counts of intimidating a police officer/family member.
The charges follow incidents alleged to have occurred in late October, police said in a statement, including “online commentary” linked to a rally on Bourke Street. He was also interviewed in relation to an incident outside an embassy where a flag was burned.
NSN members documented their attempts to disrupt a refugee rights rally in Docklands on October 22 on their social media channels, as well as a stunt outside the Chinese consulate in Toorak four days later.
The Wantirna South man was bailed to appear at Ringwood magistrates court on 18 February, and was released “pending further enquiries in relation to offences against the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act”.
A North Melbourne man, 25, along with a Baxter man, 23, and an Ashwood man, 21, were also interviewed by detectives in relation to the offences of serious racial vilification and grossly offensive public conduct. All were released and are expected to be charged on summons, police said.
The police interviews relate to an incident the evening of October 31, Halloween, when a number of men in offensive clothing are alleged to have verbally harassed two women in a Port Melbourne car park.
Man accused of stealing Eftpos machines and processing $670,000 in fraudulent reimbursements in Brisbane
A 38-year-old man has allegedly committed more than $670,000 in fraudulent reimbursement transactions using stolen Eftpos terminals.
Police say they have charged the man with 41 offences after the alleged Eftpos scam which targeted medical businesses.
It will be alleged between October 1 and November 2, the man was involved in a series of break ins, mostly on Brisbane’s southside, where he stole EFTPOS terminals.
He then committed the fraudulent reimbursement transactions using the machines, police allege.
They will further allege just before 6pm last night officers attempted to intercept a stolen motorbike travelling dangerously in Wishart.
Police took the man into custody at a fuel station.
He was subsequently charged with 17 counts of enter premises and commit by break, 13 counts of fraud, four counts of receiving tainted property, two counts of possess dangerous drugs, and one count each of unlawful use of motor vehicle, stealing, dealing identification, possess tainted property, and possess utensil.
He is due to appear at Brisbane magistrates court today.
Josh Butler
Coalition wants government to pass social media ban for children by end of the month
The Coalition is challenging the government to rush through its proposed ban on children using social media as quickly as possible, with shadow communications minister David Coleman saying they want it passed by the end of this month.
Coleman, who has long called for age restrictions on social media, told a press conference that the legislation must be “strong” and without “loopholes” – but also said the opposition wanted it drafted and passed through both houses of parliament this month. He said:
This is an issue which we believe is urgent.
One kink in that plan – the government’s $6.5m trial of age assurance technology hasn’t even begun. So we don’t yet know whether the government’s plan is feasible, or if it is, what type of technologies or information Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or Instagram would need to block their platforms to those under 16.
Anthony Albanese and communications minister Michelle Rowland this morning didn’t rule out biometric scanning or having personal documents made available to the platforms to meet that age assurance barrier.
Coleman said the Coalition wanted the plan to be bipartisan, but he didn’t say what trade-offs in terms of privacy would be acceptable for the opposition. He claimed companies like Facebook already did age verification in some circumstances, but said the government should legislate “a standard which is sufficiently strong to be meaningful”.
Coleman said:
Let’s be very clear to Instagram, let’s be very clear to Tiktok, let’s be very clear to Snapchat, you are captured by this. Your products we believe, as Australians, are not safe for younger children, and we’re going to do everything we sensibly can to require you to protect those Australian children.
It won’t be perfect. Will people be able to point to examples of imperfections, sure. Will it be infinitely better than what we have today? Absolutely. And that’s why it’s so important that we get this done.
Public sector employees reach 2.5 million people with wages of $232bn a year
Peter Hannam
Federal and state governments employed 2,517,900 public sector staff as of June, the ABS reported today, up 3.6% for the fiscal year.
According to the ABS‘s June employment figures, jobs in the economy totalled 14.406 million, up 2.8% for the year. The private sector provides the bulk of jobs but such hires obviously grew more slowly than for the public sector – perhaps at a pace of about 2.5%, give or take.
Public sector wages, meanwhile, rose 8%, to $232bn for the 2023-24 fiscal year. Overall wages were up 4.1%, according to the separate Wage Price Index, so government employees enjoyed twice that increase. (We’ll get September quarter WPI next Wednesday, which will be closely watched by employees, among others.)
Other interesting stats include the fact state governments employ about four in five public sector workers (1.94 million), with about 15% hired by the commonwealth and the rest working for local governments. The federal wage bill rose 10% for the year.
Some of the wage increase will reflect an end to some of the Covid-era wage caps (for example in New South Wales). The higher spending, though, did add to demand in the economy (and hence, make it a bit harder for the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates).
According to UBS, an investment bank, the bigger staff bill added about 2% to GDP. (Overall GDP rose 1.5%, so subtracting that contribution, the economy would have shrunk.)
“In Australia, growth in nominal government spending will soon average about 8% year on year for about a decade,” UBS said, adding the RBA “will keep interest rates higher-for-longer” as a result.
Labor will seek to publish sealed robodebt findings at ‘first appropriate opportunity’
The government will seek to publish the sealed section of the robodebt royal commission “at the first appropriate opportunity” once they have appointed and then consulted a National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) decision maker.
A statement released Thursday afternoon by attorney general Mark Dreyfus explained the process by which the government intends to still go ahead publishing the confidential additional chapter of the robodebt royal commission report:
In her 7 July 2023 letter to the Governor-General presenting the final report of the Robodebt Royal Commission, the Hon Catherine Holmes AC SC recommended an additional chapter “remain sealed and not be tabled with the rest of the report so as not to prejudice the conduct of any future civil action or criminal prosecution”.
With civil and criminal matters largely complete, the Government had planned to table the additional chapter in the House of Representatives in the current sitting week.
Last week the Inspector of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) recommended that the NACC appoint an appropriate person to remake the decision on whether to investigate six people named in the confidential additional chapter, and the NACC accepted the recommendation.
The Government will now seek advice from the NACC decision maker, once appointed, on whether the tabling of the confidential additional chapter would prejudice any current or future decision of the NACC.
Labor ‘trying to out-Dutton Peter Dutton’ on deportation, Greens say
Paul Karp
The Greens’ immigration spokesperson, David Shoebridge, has commented on Labor’s new deportation bill.
He said:
This bill gives the government fresh powers to pay countries like Nauru and PNG to take people against their will if the Minister orders them to be removed from Australia.
We already know that people who have been forcibly removed from Australia to Nauru and PNG live with untreated trauma, entrenched poverty and few if any rights. If this law passes then people who have come to Australia having fled persecution from Iran, Afghanistan or Russia will face either indefinite detention or removal to countries that have been bribed to take them.
Just 24 hours after we saw a politician take power in the US on a platform of punching down against migrants we have the Albanese government doing the same with this bill. We invite Labor to withdraw this Bill, stop trying to out-Dutton Peter Dutton on migration and respect the decision of the High Court.
Sarah Basford Canales
Penny Wong: ‘We don’t want innocent Palestinians to starve’
Returning back to Senate estimates and just after lunch the topic of Unrwa funding reared again.
In case you need a quick refresher, the UN Relief and Works Agency, or Unrwa, has been providing food, water and medicine for the more than 1.9 million displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the recent conflict began in October last year.
The Israeli parliament voted to ban the aid agency and designate it a terror group last month after a report found nine Unrwa staff in Gaza “may have been” involved in the 7 October Hamas attacks that led to the deaths of more than 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of hundreds more.
Responding to the announcement, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said Unrwa did “life-saving work” while urging Israel to “comply with the binding orders of the ICJ to enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance at scale in Gaza”.
The Liberal senator, Clare Chandler, asked what the government’s rationale behind the statement was.
Wong replied:
Well, we don’t want children to starve … we don’t want innocent Palestinians to starve. And let me just take you through some of what we know. We know that there is not enough humanitarian assistance entering Gaza. We know that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is unacceptable. We know that the ICJ [international court of justice] and international law requires Israel to facilitate aid into Gaza, but that has been getting worse. Insufficient aid has been allowed through.
Chandler said Australia’s statement was urging Israel to keep Unrwa’s “reserve privileges and immunities” untouched despite its alleged ties to Hamas.
Wong said:
One thing I never hear from you, Senator, I never hear you talk about the experience of civilians in Gaza. I never hear you talking about the children. I never hear you talking about polio, or the number of trucks entering, or the number of people displaced, or the number of people who face food insecurity. Those are the realities.
‘It does reflect data’: Ahpra chief on push for GP check ups for older doctors
The medical board’s preferred option to ensure older doctors are practicing safely would be for them to get a regular GP check up after they turn 70, the board has told Senate estimates.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation agency (Ahpra) has been consulting on the issue . The CEO of Ahpra Martin Fletcher said:
It’s really important to say this is not a mandatory retirement age, but it does reflect data.
Our data that shows an increase in complaints about the performance of doctors over 70, and also that those complaints are often more likely to result in regulatory action than for doctors under 70.
It’s fair to say there’s been a lot of interest in this consultation. We’ve had over 200 submissions, a lot of debate about this, and there is quite a lot of work to do, I think, obviously, to consider all those submissions.
One in 20 doctors practicing in Australia are over 70, according to Fletcher who said they make up 5.27% of registered practitioners.
Ranjana Srivastava has written for us on this topic, noting the absolute difference in complaints is small: in 2023, for every 1,000 doctors there were 69 complaints in the over-70 group and 38 in the under-70. Regulatory action occurred in 23% of complaints in the first group and 14% in the second. You can read more here:
Natasha May
Thank you Tory and go well! Still plenty more news coming your way this afternoon.
I’m running away to join the circus, Natasha May will be your sensible guide this afternoon. Thanks for being here!
Benita Kolovos
Melbourne lord mayor says ‘the best days for our city are ahead of us’
More on that news about Melbourne lord mayor Nicholas Reece being re-elected:
Reece is linked to the Labor party and his deputy Roshena Campbell with the Liberals, formerly running for the party at the Aston byelection. But neither was running on their party’s ticket.
Liberal Owen Guest has been elected to council, alongside Gladys Liu, who was on Anthony Koutoufides’ ticket but was formerly the Liberal MP for the federal seat of Chisholm.
Greens councillor Olivia Ball has also been re-elected, along with Kevin Louey, who has served four terms and is considered a bit of a kingmaker.
Reece is holding a press conference outside Queen Victoria Market. He says:
I am so proud and humbled to have been elected the lord mayor of Melbourne. It is truly the honour of my life to be serving our city in this role I’m looking forward to the next four years knowing that the best days for our city are ahead of us. It is truly the honour of my life to be serving our city in this role.
He thanks his deputy, Roshena Campbell, saying:
She’s been by my side through this hard fought contest, and she’s been nothing short of amazing. It is also no small thing that Roshena Campbell is the first person of Indian heritage to serve in the position of deputy lord mayor in the 182 year history of Melbourne. It’s very much a sign of modern Melbourne that we are a diverse and inclusive city and a city of opportunity, where anything is possible.
And that was that, the last question time until 18 November. Then only two weeks left this year!
Australia urges Israel to ‘allow free, unfettered humanitarian access to Gaza’
Independent MP Sophie Scamps wants to know about Israel’s banning of Unrwa and what the government can do to “ensure that the people of Gaza do not die of starvation and preventable diseases such as polio”.
Pat Conroy, the defence industry minister, says the government supports Unrwa because they don’t want civilians to starve to death:
Let me begin by condemning the attacks of October 7 and the resulting war and civilian deaths. We call for an immediate release of all hostages for an immediate ceasefire and for the free and unfettered flow of humanitarian aid. Unrwa does life-saving work, and that’s why successive Australian governments have funded it since 1951.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic. Only Unrwa has the mandate and the infrastructure to receive and distribute aid on the scale that’s needed right now.
The government will continue to urge a reversal of the decision, he says:
We call on Israel to allow free, unfettered humanitarian access to Gaza in line with the International Court of Justice ruling.
He says Australia has made its opposition clearly known, and continues to work through diplomatic channels to urge access for aid workers and supplies. “We’ve provided a total of $94.55m in humanitarian funding to the region since October 23,” he says.
This includes $6m to Unrwa, which continues to flow, along with the other partner agencies we’ve funded in Gaza, including Unicef, the World Food Programme, the Red Cross, the UN operations services and the UN Population Fund. We’ve also provided our regular annual contribution of $20 million to Unrwa.
