Australia news live: heated words between Watt and Paterson in Senate estimates as home affairs secretary questioned about Dural caravan plot
Heated exchanges over when PM was briefed on Dural caravan
Krishani Dhanji
There’s been a long back and forth in Senate estimates over when the prime minister was briefed on the Dural caravan plot.
The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, has been trying to dig out more details on when the PM was briefed on the plot, before it became public last month.
Department secretary Stephanie Foster said she wouldn’t answer as it was an “ongoing investigation”, and that questions should be directed to the agency in charge, which is the federal police (who will be in front of Senate estimates tomorrow).
The questioning from Paterson got quite heated, with the shadow minister saying the government was “embarrassed”, with Murray Watt – who’s representing the home affairs minister in the Senate – retorting that Paterson was more interested in “political point scoring” than finding those responsible.
Greens senator David Shoebridge also asked the department when it was made aware of the caravan filled with explosives. Foster said she’d take all those questions on notice.
Earlier, Paterson asked what the protocols were around informing the government and relevant minister on security incidents. The department said there were “guidelines”, but they could change on a case-by-case basis.
Key events
Emily Wind
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today, Catie McLeod will take you through the rest of our rolling coverage. Take care.
Andrew Messenger
Brisbane bus drivers to strike on Friday
Brisbane’s bus drivers have delayed industrial action to the end of the week due to “more productive negotiations”.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) said it had suspended strike action planned for Wednesday due to negotiations with Brisbane city council being “more progressive after its last stoppage”.
Drivers stopped work on Thursday last week from 4am to 6am over a pay dispute with the council. The union had planned to strike during peak hour on Wednesday, from 4pm to 6pm. There will be more negotiations on Wednesday.
The RTBU secretary Tom Brown said the union “will always bargain in good faith”.
We are not going to pass up the opportunity to reach an agreement, we will postpone our action.
The industrial action only affects drivers in the Brisbane city council, not other routes in south-east Queensland.
Josh Taylor
IVF provider says cyber-attack gained access to sensitive patient information
IVF provider Genea has said a cyber-attacker has gained access to a system containing sensitive patient information including medical history, diagnoses, treatments, doctors’ notes and medication information.
Guardian Australia reported last week that patients of IVF services provider Genea had been informed that the company had detected suspicious activity on its network and was working to figure out what had been compromised.
In an email to patients today, the Genea CEO, Tim Yeoh, revealed patient management systems had been accessed by an unauthorised third party, but it was unknown what personal information within those systems had been compromised.
Yeoh said the information in that system includes: full names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, Medicare card numbers, private health insurance details, Defence DA number, medical record numbers, patient numbers, date of birth, medical history, diagnoses and treatments, medications and prescriptions, patient health questionnaire, pathology and diagnostic test results, notes from doctors and specialists, appointment details, emergency contacts and next of kin.
Yeoh said at this stage there was no evidence that financial information such as credit card details or bank account numbers had been compromised, but the investigation is ongoing.
NZ defence minister weighs in on Chinese warships in Tasman sea
New Zealand’s defence minister, Judith Collins, has given an interview about the Chinese warships in in the Tasman Sea.
The ships undertook an apparent live-fire drill in international waters between Australia and New Zealand last week, diverting commercial flights in the skies above.
Speaking to Radio New Zealand today, Collins said China’s claim it gave sufficient warning to New Zealand and Australia was “wrong”.
There was a warning to civil aviation flights that was basically a very short amount of notice – a couple of hours – as opposed to what we would consider best practice, which is 12 to 24 hours’ notice so that aircraft are not having to be quickly diverted when they’re on the wing. So actually it is unusual and … we are seeking assurance from the Chinese embassy around that.
Collins told the outlet China was staying quiet on what else its ships might do this week:
They’re not telling us what they’re planning, but I can tell you that the ships are currently around 280 nautical miles east of Tasmania. So the ships have slightly changed their formation …
We don’t know what their intention is, but we’re taking them at face value that they are undertaking normal transits when it comes to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, that they’re not breaking the law. But as we’ve said, it is always better to give a lot more notice when it comes to live firing.
Australian shares flat as WiseTech Global plunges
The local share market has been struggling to keep its head above water, AAP reports, with losses by the market’s biggest tech company and major miners balanced by a bounce-back by the big banks.
At lunchtime the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index down 7.4 points, or 0.09%, to 8,288.8, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 29.1 points, or 0.034%, to 8,541.8.
The ASX200 had been down by as much as 79.9 points, or 0.9%, in early trading but by midday it was hovering in and out of positive territory. A finish in the red would extend its losing streak to six days – its longest streak since a seven-session stretch in June 2022.
In the technology sector, WiseTech Global plunged 22.7% to a six-month low of $94.14 after more turmoil at the cloud logistics platform:
Overall the tech sector had dropped 7.5%, also weighed down by Iress and Nuix. The former had sunk 16.2% after posting its full-year results, while the latter was down 9.2% on its half-year financials.
In the financial sector, all of the big four banks were in the green after last week’s sharp sell-off. In materials, all of the big miners were lower. BHP had dropped 1.4%, Rio Tinto had fallen 2.3% and Fortescue was down 0.2%.
The Australian dollar was buying 63.88 US cents, down from 63.95 US cents at 5pm on Friday.
Heated exchanges over when PM was briefed on Dural caravan
Krishani Dhanji
There’s been a long back and forth in Senate estimates over when the prime minister was briefed on the Dural caravan plot.
The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, has been trying to dig out more details on when the PM was briefed on the plot, before it became public last month.
Department secretary Stephanie Foster said she wouldn’t answer as it was an “ongoing investigation”, and that questions should be directed to the agency in charge, which is the federal police (who will be in front of Senate estimates tomorrow).
The questioning from Paterson got quite heated, with the shadow minister saying the government was “embarrassed”, with Murray Watt – who’s representing the home affairs minister in the Senate – retorting that Paterson was more interested in “political point scoring” than finding those responsible.
Greens senator David Shoebridge also asked the department when it was made aware of the caravan filled with explosives. Foster said she’d take all those questions on notice.
Earlier, Paterson asked what the protocols were around informing the government and relevant minister on security incidents. The department said there were “guidelines”, but they could change on a case-by-case basis.
BoM updates on Tropical Cyclone Alfred
The Bureau of Meteorology has provided an update on Tropical Cyclone Alfred (see earlier post), which is currently tracking through the Coral Sea – with a slight chance it could move towards the Queensland coast from next weekend.
Cait Kelly
Call for national approach to efficiency standards while protecting renters
Continuing from our last post: Joel Dignam, executive director of Better Renting, said “too many” renters were in “substandard housing that is too hot in summer, too cold in winter and too expensive to keep at a healthy and comfortable temperature”.
Renters across Australia should be sharing in the benefits of a transition to efficient electric homes that are healthier to live in and cheaper to run. While owner-occupiers can make choices to cut their energy bills and improve their home’s comfort, renters are entirely in the hands of their landlord.
A national approach is needed to help states and territories implement strong energy efficiency standards while ensuring protections for renters. We’re calling for federal leadership to do their part so that all Australians can have a healthy home and affordable energy bills.
Cait Kelly
Funding sought to make rental properties more energy efficient
Renting advocates have paired up with industry organisations to call for targeted funding for landlords to make their investment properties more energy efficient.
A total of 120 organisations – including Better Renting, NSW Tenants Union, Acoss and the Real Estate Institute of Australia – have called on the federal government to step in to ensure renters can access the benefits of home energy upgrades and meet climate emissions reduction targets.
The four big ticket items are support for:
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Landlords to access energy assessments or energy audits that are shared with renters.
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Establishing a “one-stop-shop” to assist landlords to access appropriate finance, subsidies, tradespeople and compliance information
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States and territories to implement mandatory energy performance disclosure at the point of lease, to support the implementation of mandatory energy performance rental standards, so that renters know the energy performance of the property before they sign.
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Real-estate industry and strata management training, education and support.
Rafqa Touma
Young Australian voters: what issues do you care about at the election?
Almost 50% of voters at this year’s federal election will be Generation Z and millennials, for the first time significantly outnumbering the baby boomers, who will make up about 33% of the electorate.
Are younger voters driven by different motives from their older counterparts? What economic and social stressors are being felt by the rising generations? What are people hoping for? And what will determine how they vote?
Are you a Gen Z or millennial voter (between the ages of 18 and 39 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics)? We want to hear from you below:
Police warn of scam targeting Mandarin speakers
Victoria police are warning of a scam targeting Mandarin-speaking communities on networks such as WeChat and WhatsApp.
The scam, which operates worldwide, has seen victims across the country lose significant sums of money after speaking to callers who pretend to be officials from courier services, government officials and police.
Victoria police said it first received reports of the scam in 2017, which predominantly targeted Chinese nationals studying in the state, but recent reports indicated at least 20% of victims were non-students.
In 2024, police received almost 200 reports of this scam in Victoria, with victims suffering an estimated financial loss of over $7m.
Scammers have allegedly provided directions to some victims to gag and bind themselves and create fake crime scenes. They then instruct students to contact their parents and tell them they’re being held hostage and demand money.
Many of these scams involve offenders stealing hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, of dollars from their victims and their families, with this money never recovered, police said.
Staff stop work at immigration detention centres over redundancies
Workers at nine onshore Australian immigration detention centres have conducted a national stoppage, as talks with outgoing contractor Serco broke down. Strike action is occurring at:
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Melbourne immigration detention centre
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Villawood immigration detention centre
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Brisbane immigration detention centre
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Adelaide immigration detention centre
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Perth immigration detention centre
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Yongah Hill immigration detention centre, WA
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Northern alternative place of detention, Darwin
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Alternative place of detention, Adelaide
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Alternative place of detention, Brisbane
The United Workers Union claims Serco has failed to address workers’ claims for redundancies as they leave Serco’s employment and start a new agreement with incoming immigration detention centre contractor Secure Journeys-MTC.
The union said today’s stoppages were an escalation from earlier two-hour national stoppages on Friday. There would be a hearing at the Fair Work Commission this afternoon assessing the Australian government solicitor’s request for workers to end their strike.
Allied Industries director Godfrey Moase said:
It’s a stinging indictment of Serco that a multibillion-dollar corporation is unable to deal fairly with workers who are seeking legitimate redundancies in a contract changeover. We need Serco and the federal government to understand these issues need to be resolved with a great deal of urgency.
Detention centre controller the Australian Border Force has been contacted for comment.
Emergency doctors raise alarm on escalating crisis
Physical violence against emergency doctors is pushing them to “breaking point”, AAP reports, with experts saying the abuse is happening so often, it needs to be dealt with as a matter of urgency before highly skilled doctors move away from the workforce.
The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine sent a snapshot survey to the directors of emergency medicine at all 131 college-accredited emergency departments. The findings of that report show that Australian emergency departments are facing an escalating crisis, and as a result the college has demanded immediate and systemic intervention.
College president Stephen Gourley said that since the Covid-19 pandemic, members had reported the public was becoming less tolerant and more aggressive, both verbally and physically.
It is time for a national conversation about violence in EDs, with urgent and co-ordinated action from all levels of government. We must act now before the damage being caused by this daily crisis in our emergency departments ends up beyond repair.
The report found that while there was no justification of violent behaviour, understanding the underlying causes was essential, particularly as those in emergency departments are often struggling with pain, grief, psychosis, dementia, delirium, intoxication and anaesthesia.
It suggested that excessively long waiting times, poorly understood triage systems and emergency department overcrowding could also be identified as contributing factors to the violence against medical staff.
Krishani Dhanji
Debate over Coalition proposal to slash federal public service pops up in Senate estimates
The debate over the size of the federal public service has surfaced in Senate estimates today, with Tasmanian Labor senator Helen Polley asking the home affairs department what it would do if it faced a 20% decrease in its staff under the Coalition.
There was a bit of back and forth over whether the department should be answering questions about hypothetical opposition policy. But department secretary Stephanie Foster told the hearing:
Typically governments will be clear with us about what outcomes they want us to produce … If there were to be a cut – and as Senator Scarr has pointed out, I’m being careful to avoid speculating – it is likely that cut would come with clear government priorities.
The department said that, of its 15,244 staff, about 36% were based in the ACT. It also told the hearing the Australian border force had 6,178 staff within the department.
Polley tried to make the point that any cuts by the Coalition to the public service would have an impact on home affairs and border force operations, but Foster replied:
It depends very much on whether those cuts are applied to home affairs and in which areas.
Adam Morton
Coalition nuclear plan hides 2bn tonne ‘carbon bomb’ that puts net zero by 2050 out of reach – new analysis
Peter Dutton’s nuclear energy policy would add huge amounts of extra climate pollution to the atmosphere and make it “virtually impossible” for Australia to reach net zero by 2050, according to new analysis by a government agency.
The Climate Change Authority found the Coalition’s proposal to slow the rollout of renewable energy, keep ageing coal-fired power plants running until after 2040 and build taxpayer-funded nuclear reactors on seven sites would increase total carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2bn tonnes.
The authority’s chair, Matt Kean, said this would be equivalent to adding “two Beetaloo basins” worth of emissions to the atmosphere – a reference to the vast Northern Territory gas basin earmarked for development, which has been described as a potential “carbon bomb”.
You can read the full story from Adam Morton and Graham Readfearn below:
Sarah Basford Canales
Senate estimates shed more light on top public servant’s early exit
The former boss of the Department of Parliamentary Services, Rob Stefanic, lost the “trust and confidence” of the presiding officers, a Senate estimates hearing has heard.
The parliamentary department has appeared before senators this morning and its top officials have shed more light on why the former long-serving secretary’s appointment was suddenly “concluded”.
The Senate president, Sue Lines, read out a short statement confirming Stefanic’s role as the department’s head on 17 December was terminated after “procedural fairness had been afforded”.
“It was a decision that was not taken lightly,” Lines said. You can read more of our coverage here:
Stefanic was re-appointed as the secretary in December 2020 for another five-year term due to end in December 2025. His tenure covered rocky periods in Parliament House, including the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins in a minister’s office by another staffer, leading to criticism of the department’s role in managing the situation in the hours, days and weeks after.
The acting secretary, Jaala Hinchcliffe, said Stefanic was provided with a sum of $153,660.64 for compensation for early loss of office.
An independent inquiry conducted by a Sydney barrister into a conflict of interest between Stefanic and his former deputy secretary, Cate Saunders, is still ongoing.
Hinchcliffe said she hoped parts of the finalised report would be made public.
Dutton claims to be election ‘underdog’ despite poll boost
The opposition leader was asked about polling showing 55% of surveyed Australians would preference the Coalition on a two-party basis, while 45% back Labor (see earlier post).
Peter Dutton said the Coalition “remain[s] the underdog in this election because a first-term opposition hasn’t won since 1931”. He went on the attack, and said:
This is the worst government since 1931, and Anthony Albanese’s the worst prime minister since 1931, and completely out of his depth …
Dutton said polling would “come and go” and the only poll that mattered was election day.
Asked if he would be ready if an election is called this Sunday, Dutton instead turned to the parliamentary schedule:
I think what’s important is that the prime minister should go back to parliament, as it’s scheduled to, in a couple of weeks so we can pass legislation to guarantee this funding in relation to Medicare, and also to make sure that the salmon industry in Tasmania can be taken care of.
With that, Dutton’s presser has wrapped up.
Dutton again flags public sector cuts
Asked if the Coalition has modelled how many thousands of public servant jobs would go to fund this, Peter Dutton responded:
The government’s put on an additional 36,000 public servants. We will reduce that number and the savings there will be about $6bn a year. That’s the advice that we have. So $24bn of savings over the four-year forward estimates period.
This policy is $9bn over that forward estimate period, so there’s obviously a much bigger save that we have identified and the $9bn not only is it counted for, but we have got a productivity gain, because I just don’t think more and more layers of approval and bureaucratic process out of Canberra is helping anyone.
Dutton says doctors ‘right to be sceptical’ on 90% bulk-billing target
Peter Dutton said doctors “are right to be sceptical” on whether 90% bulk-billing rates could be achieved.
The opposition leader said general practice needed to be made “attractive” to young doctors, “particularly … in outer metro regional and remote areas”.
So there are a lot of issues we need to get right. But I think what we have signalled is our desire to work with the sector, work with the doctors and make sure there’s a better outcome for patients and for doctors.
Asked if the move to back Labor’s plan is at odds with the Coalition’s commitment to be financially responsible, Dutton said that “we’re not supporting spending which is inflationary in the environment”.
It’s a big amount of money but we have identified the offset, the savings. Labor hasn’t done that. I think it’s a fair question for the prime minister as to where the money is going to come from.
