This blog is now closedPenny Wong accuses Coalition of ‘gunboat diplomacy’ in Senate estimates as Chinese warships sail into Great Australian BightGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGambling giant Sportsbet will no longer advertise live betting odds and multi-bet options during sport broadcasts, acknowledging strong community criticism.The decision has been made despite the federal government’s decision to defer any action on gambling ads until after the election.Sportsbet can confirm that after listening to stakeholder and community sentiment on gambling advertising, we have taken the decision to remove integrations and ‘odds style’ ads in live sporting broadcasts. Continue reading…This blog is now closedPenny Wong accuses Coalition of ‘gunboat diplomacy’ in Senate estimates as Chinese warships sail into Great Australian BightGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGambling giant Sportsbet will no longer advertise live betting odds and multi-bet options during sport broadcasts, acknowledging strong community criticism.The decision has been made despite the federal government’s decision to defer any action on gambling ads until after the election.Sportsbet can confirm that after listening to stakeholder and community sentiment on gambling advertising, we have taken the decision to remove integrations and ‘odds style’ ads in live sporting broadcasts. Continue reading…
The Godwin Grech drama has resumed at economic estimates today.
If you were following along yesterday, Labor senator Deb O’Neill brought evidence from a previous privileges committee inquiry that former Treasury official Godwin Grech had been “heavily involved” in the GFC bank package and had been sending emails from his Treasury account to senior Liberals. Here’s a recap of what she said:
The committee of privileges page 84, Mr Grech was heavily involved in the development of the Australian Business Investment Partnership, ABIP, including attending meetings and negotiations with the major banks.
The Treasury submission to the committee of privileges included emails from Mr Grech to senior Liberal party figures and this ran across the period from September 2008, roughly around collapse of the Lehman brothers, through to the period ending June 2009.
O’Neill has brought up this evidence from the privileges committee again today, while Asic is fronting estimates, to discuss the investigation of insider trading. Her questioning sparks an uproar from the Coalition, with senator Andrew Bragg shouting:
This hearing is not about your political grubby machine … you are out of order.
The committee promptly went into a 25-minute break, and decides like yesterday, the questions from O’Neill are in order.
Hi, I hope you’ve had a good day so far. I’ll be with you on the blog until this evening.
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today, Catie McLeod will be with you for the rest of the afternoon. Take care.
Students for Palestine has held a protest in Melbourne warning a definition of antisemitism agreed to by universities could have a “chilling” effect on grassroots protests.
The body, which represents a coalition of school and university students, participated in last year’s pro-Palestine encampments across Australian universities. Its members gathered outside the state library this afternoon, urging universities to reject the definition and for staff to oppose it.
The definition adopted by Universities Australia this week notes criticism of Israel is not in itself antisemitic but “can be”, including “when it calls for the elimination of the state of Israel”.
Jewish co-convener of Students for Palestine, Yasmine Johnson, said the new definition, which was adopted this week by Universities Australia members, “dangerously conflates Zionism with Judaism”.
Many Jewish students and staff members do not identify with the political ideology of Zionism and in doing so, the Universities Australia definition actually silences critical Jewish voices. Especially those of us who have, over the course of this genocide, maintained that Israel does not speak for us.
The adoption of a sector-wide definition emerged as a key recommendation of a report on antisemitism on Australian university campuses, which found there was an “urgent need for reform” to ensure the safety of Jewish students and staff.
NDIS chief says new plans will eventually be longer than 12 months
Back to the community affairs Senate estimates for a second: the chief executive officer of the National Disability Insurance Agency, Rebecca Falkingham, has clarified that new plans will eventually be longer than 12 months.
When the government announced the changes, it said each new plan would initially last for 12 months. Falkingham said this will change as time passes:
That’s a big feature … to be able to give participants a much longer plan. So we will speak to participants.
And obviously, there’s a range of factors that will go into determining those time periods, but that’s most definitely [the plan to be] not only more flexible, but [to have] longer plans.
Victorian opposition lashes government’s proposal to increase density in 25 more suburbs
The Victorian opposition’s planning spokesperson, Richard Riordan, has lashed the state government’s proposal to increase density in 25 more suburbs across the inner city.
He said the plans released by the government to seize planning controls in areas such as Prahran, South Yarra and Windsor “puts fear in homeowners and tenants and communities right across Melbourne”:
It says to them, the city, the neighbourhood, the community that you have loved … that you live in and have cherished for your life or for your family, is now under threat and will not be the same into the future.
Not only not the same, but vastly different. It’s not going to resemble the Melbourne and the city that everyone has loved and has made us one of the most livable cities for a long time.
There is more to housing and the way people want to live than being on top of a train station in a 20 storey tower or in a once leafy street now filled with six storey apartment blocks. That is not the Melbourne that people voted for.
China is pushing police into the Pacific, a Senate estimates committee has heard
A range of agreements have been struck between China and Pacific islands, some of which include policing cooperation.
Elizabeth Peak from the Department of Defence, Foreign Affairs and Trade said “we’re seeing China push into the Pacific … we see no role for China in the security sector in the Pacific”.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said it’s a situation of “permanent contest” in the region, and that policing is where “some of these matters play out”.
Here is a detailed and fascinating piece on the network of agreements and the concerns on policing:
And you can read about the recently signed China/Cook Islands agreement here.
Watch: update on Tropical Cyclone Alfred
The Bureau of Meteorology has provided an update on Tropical Cyclone Alfred, which has been tracking through the Coral Sea well off the Queensland coast this week:
Paterson asks Wong if government is ‘less supportive’ of Israel than previous one
Earlier in Senate estimates, the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, asked foreign affairs minister Penny Wong about a range of UN votes on Israel and Palestine, and how Australia’s position had shifted (short answer: it’s nuanced).
Now, after the lunch break, he gets to the nub:
Do you think it’s fair to say that the government’s position is less supportive of or less close to Israel than the previous government?
Wong says Australia’s position is more consistent with most of the international community and progress towards a two-state solution.
Paterson asks if there’s a substantive difference between the two major parties. Wong says opposition leader Peter Dutton hasn’t expressed support for the two-state solution.
Paterson protests. It continues.
Read more: Victoria moves to seize planning controls in affluent suburbs
It’s been a busy day on the blog so far. Just looking back to earlier this morning, here is our full story on the Victorian government’s move to seize planning controls of 25 suburbs and build more homes:
And here are all the details on that mysterious device – now confirmed to be a practice torpedo – that washed ashore on a Gold Coast beach and led to it being closed for a number of hours:
Fire risk remains for parts of Victoria this autumn
Large swathes of western and central Victoria, as well as south and west Gippsland, are facing an increased fire risk in early autumn, according to the latest seasonal bushfire outlook.
A statement from Victoria Emergency said a lack of rain over the past 12-24 months has led to increased fuel in forests and heathlands – which has already led to large, fast-running fires in the Grampians over summer.
Forecast warmer than average maximum temperatures might increase fuel availability, making it easier for fires to start and spread.
Across the rest of the state, Victorians can expect normal fire potential.
The emergency management commissioner, Tim Wiebusch, said:
The Grampians and Little Desert fires showed just how fast fires can start and spread. With no significant rainfall expected this autumn, we all must remain vigilant the risk of fire across the state.
Understand your local risks, never rely on one source of emergency information and tune in to your local emergency broadcaster.
In Senate estimates, the chief executive officer of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIS), Rebecca Falkingham, said 140 active cases of NDIS fraud are now being investigated, up from 100 in December.
She was answering a question from Labor senator Louise Pratt, who wanted to know how the fraud taskforce was going. Falkingham said:
At the 31st of December 2024, there were 100 active fraud operations being led by the NDIA, the NDIS Commission Services Australia and the Australian Skills and Quality Authority.
530 investigators, including 50 persons [who were] referred to the commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions or are currently before the courts. And over 18,000 customers of government services are estimated to be impacted.