Australia politics live: Hume claims Labor’s algorithm bill gives it too much power; embattled developer Bathla stands down 200 workers | Australian politics
Digital duty of care gives minister too much power, claims Hume
The government’s proposed digital duty of care legislation, part of its crackdown on social media, gives too much power to the communications minister, the deputy opposition leader, Jane Hume, told the ABC this morning:
We don’t feel that the minister should have the powers to determine what is and is not online harm.
You could understand why there would be a natural suspicion. When the government tries to control the internet, it inevitably fails.
Andrew Bushnell from the Institute of Public Affairs echoed Hume’s claim, quipping that Australians would be trading the algorithm for the “alborithm”.
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Abuse survivors linked to Christian Brothers schools to be paid out
Christopher Knaus
The organisation that runs former Christian Brothers schools says it has formally agreed to pay out abuse survivors and is fast-tracking payments to those who have already been promised compensation.
The Christian Brothers, a Catholic order that ran schools and orphanages across Australia, announced earlier this year that it was going broke and would no longer be able to meet the claims of child abuse survivors. The decision infuriated survivors and lawyers, particularly given the Christian Brothers horrific track record of clergy abuse and the Catholic church’s vast wealth.
It prompted scrutiny of the controversial transfer of asset wealth from Christian Brothers to the Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia (TEREA), an organisation set up in 2007 to take over the running of Christian Brothers schools.
TEREA initially resisted efforts to take on responsibility for survivors’ abuse claims but changed its position following public pressure.
On Monday, ahead of a report by the ABC on the affair, TEREA issued a statement saying it had now formally agreed to compensate Christian Brothers victims and would fast-track payments to those who had already been promised compensation, either through court decisions or settlements.
Dr Stephen Brown, chair of TEREA, said it was “simply the right thing to do”. He said:
We do not want victim-survivors with approved claims to wait any longer and are fast-tracking finance and hope to be able to make an announcement soon.
In July, Guardian Australia revealed the Christian Brothers order had kept nine convicted child abusers within its order and was providing them with financial support, including by using its properties to house two brothers with horrific histories of preying on children.
Brown told the ABC he only learnt of that fact when told by the ABC during an interview three weeks ago, despite repeated prior reporting by the Guardian.
More than 200 workers stood down at Bathla
Jonathan Barrett
More than 200 workers at Bathla Group have been stood down as the administrator of the embattled property developer seeks emergency funds to stave off a company-wide collapse.
The insolvency advisory Teneo said today that new short-term funding arrangements would only allow Bathla to continue construction on some of the 45 construction sites. It said in a statement:
Construction on other projects will be suspended today, resulting in approximately 213 employees being stood down.
Bathla is a major Sydney headquartered developer that also has operations in regional NSW, South Australia and Victoria.
Thousands of homebuyers were left in the lurch by the announcement on 25 August that the developer had gone into voluntary administration, weighed down by almost $3.6bn in debt.
Teneo has previously said its immediate priority was to finish the estimated 2,000-2,500 homes on which construction had already begun, and that it was not in a position to refund any deposits.
Administrator Stephen Longley said today that short-term funding arrangements with five lenders would allow construction to continue on some projects. He said:
Significant work remains to secure the funding required to progress and ultimately complete all projects currently under construction.
The scale of the destruction in Nepal is “almost beyond comprehension”, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, has told the senate.
Thousands of people, including 36 Australians, are still missing in the wake of the devastating flood. Wong said in the condolence motion:
Australia’s Nepali community is grieving for family, friends, and communities in the region.
Members of Australia’s Tibetan community are too experiencing great anguish.
And for many Hindu Australians, including those with connections to the pilgrimage routes and sacred places of this region, this disaster has brought deep sorrow.
To each of these communities, we extend the sympathy and solidarity of this parliament.
Australia has sent about 50 officers to the region, as well as specialist drone operators and AFP disaster victim identification specialists.
Digital duty of care gives minister too much power, claims Hume
The government’s proposed digital duty of care legislation, part of its crackdown on social media, gives too much power to the communications minister, the deputy opposition leader, Jane Hume, told the ABC this morning:
We don’t feel that the minister should have the powers to determine what is and is not online harm.
You could understand why there would be a natural suspicion. When the government tries to control the internet, it inevitably fails.
Andrew Bushnell from the Institute of Public Affairs echoed Hume’s claim, quipping that Australians would be trading the algorithm for the “alborithm”.
Tom McIlroy
How to get up to speed on the Australian political news of the day
Today Guardian Australia launches a brand new political newsletter: Politics, really. No, really!
We’ll be bringing you the latest political news – but more importantly, what it means.
NSW police to ‘smash open’ online platforms where crime is plotted
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, is holding a press conference about those organised crime laws.
He says any “wilful and deliberate attempt to either evade law enforcement or use online platforms to facilitate crime, particularly murder, in NSW … will be a criminal offence”.
Minns says criminal actors are basing themselves offshore and “pulling the strings” of people here using sophisticated technology. To combat that police will be given the latest technology themselves to “smash open and crack open online platforms to understand the full chronology of these criminal actions and their activities as they apply both here and overseas”.
NSW introducing new laws to target organised crime
New laws being introduced in New South Wales aim to tackle organised crime by giving police more power and creating a new aggravated offence for conspiracy to commit gang-related murder. The maximum penalty will be increased to life imprisonment.
Police would also be able to use new interim serious crime prevention orders to restrict people suspected of serious and organised crime. Those would be applied while the supreme court considers the full order.
Children’s indictable offences would include activities linked to organised crime, and public shootings and firebombings would be added to the scheme.
Police would also have more access to encrypted devices. The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said:
Organised crime doesn’t stand still, and neither can the laws and powers we give police to fight it.
We want to hit these criminal networks at every point – the people who organise the violence, the people who facilitate it online and the people who ultimately carry it out.
If you conspire to arrange a gangland murder, you should face the prospect of spending the rest of your life behind bars.
US access to Australian military bases
This is an extraordinary story from Ben Doherty, Andy Ball and Nick Evershed about the extent of the United States’ access to military bases across Australia.
Defence minister Richard Marles said in June that the “hugely significant American presence” in the region was a balance to China’s “very significant military buildup”.
Read more:
Next election a referendum on super, treasurer says
One Nation’s proposal for people to be able to divert some of their super into their pay packet is a “full-frontal attack” that will “make Australian workers tens of thousands of dollars worse off in retirement”, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said this morning.
One Nation is “anti-worker” and they “vote the way that [billionaire backer] Gina Rinehart tells them to”, he said, adding that the next election will be a “referendum on super”:
Every time One Nation is asked to support the financial interests of Australian workers, they oppose the financial interests of Australian workers.
By ending super as we know it, by making Australian workers poorer as a consequence, One Nation is showing once again: this is exactly why One Nation poses an unacceptable and dangerous risk to Australian workers.
Ryan to reintroduce lobbyist register bill
Kooyong MP Monique Ryan will re-introduce her “clean up politics” bill to crack down on lobbyists and increase transparency. She argues gambling, tobacco, fossil fuel and mining representatives have too much access to politicians.
Her bill would create a register for all lobbyists; stop ministers and senior public officials going straight from the government into the private sector; make ministerial diaries publicly available; and ban political donations for industries including gambling and tobacco.
There are already plans to shake up the parliamentary pass system, while Ryan argues the government hasn’t done enough. Read more:
Biggest urban solar farm in hemisphere set for Sydney’s ICC
An 18,400 square metre solar farm that can generate 2.6GWh – enough to power up to 400 homes for a year – will be expanded across Sydney’s International Convention Centre (ICC).
The state planning minister, Paul Scully, says it will be the biggest in any CBD in the southern hemisphere and will allow ICC Sydney to be 100% powered be renewables (through both the solar farm and through buying renewable energy):
This is a great example of how we can unlock greater renewable energy generation and use in urban areas and power a vibrant city by taking advantage of building rooftops.
Hosting the largest solar farm of any CBD in the southern hemisphere will help the ICC to reduce emissions and energy costs while also strengthening Sydney’s competitiveness in attracting major international conventions and events.
One Nation super plan ‘no more than a headline’
Deputy opposition leader Jane Hume has some questions about One Nation’s proposal to divert superannuation contributions into people’s pockets. On ABC News Breakfast, she said:
Well, this so far is nothing more than a headline. It hasn’t really been explained.
Does the tax status of your superannuation, your discounted tax status, does that remain? Do you get a tax discount for paying your rent? How does it affect your concessional caps? How does it affect your bring–forward provisions, carry–back provisions?
How does it affect your superannuation balance at the end of the day? Are we turning our superannuation funds into banks? None of these questions have been answered.
Social media plans to give Australians ‘more choice’: Wells
Labor will reveal draft rules that will give Australians “more choice” over what they see on their social media feeds, Anika Wells says.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, the communications minister said the government’s draft digital duty of care bill will propose significant penalties for social media giants:
We want them to observe the same basic safety standards, particularly for our children. If you walk down the toy aisle in Big W and you see plastic toys and electronic toys and iPads – you want all of those manufacturers to have abided by basic safety standards when selling something to our kids.
And that’s what big tech should have to do.
Read more:
Butler brushes off abortion moves
And finally, Butler declines to go into detail on Labor’s yet-to-be-released migration policy, and is then asked whether he’s concerned about various pushes to reduce abortion access.
He wants to “improve choice and control and access and affordability” for women’s health needs, he says:
These are debates largely happening at state level.
They’ve crept into the federal parliament once or twice over the last few years, not with any particularly good effect.
We’ve provided more support for women in their reproductive health, and we’ve got more to do in women’s health. I’m very proud of what we’ve done over the last few years.
Butler says he’s not thinking about party leadership
The health minister, Mark Butler, is canvassing a wide range of topics this morning on RN.
Asked about speculation that he is “Labor’s leader in waiting”, he says the media always runs these sorts of stories and that he doesn’t think anyone in Labor is entertaining the notion:
The only thing I think about in the morning when I’m getting ready for work … is what I can do to better support Australians in their health needs, or with disability, and with ageing. And that’s a big job. It’s a job I love.
Butler says One Nation’s super plan is ‘terrible’
Butler says One Nation’s superannuation plan – for a portion of employer’s mandatory super contribution to be redirected to pay packets – is “absolutely terrible”:
Occupational superannuation is one of the great reforms of our country over the last few decades.
It will provide security in retirement to millions and millions of Australians who otherwise would not have it.
Veterans’ anxiety understandable, Butler says
Veterans are protesting at Parliament House today, angry about a proposed cap on allied health treatments. Butler says he knows how important the services are, and understands their concern and anxiety but that there is a consultation process over that change and other proposed reforms:
These changes aren’t scheduled to take place until mid next year, and we want to make sure that the changes operate in the best interests of veterans.
Scale of illegal cigarette market changes dynamics of pricing, Butler says
Butler is asked about the ongoing barney over tobacco – the opposition and One Nation are proposing big drops in excise rates to make legal cigarettes more affordable. He says the price of cigarettes is a proven disincentive to smoking but that the scale of the illegal market has “changed the dynamics of that”:
There’s there’s no question we have a very serious challenge on our hands as a country with the scale of the illegal market.
Every country has illegal cigarettes. The scale of the illegal market here has exploded over the last three or four years, and that’s a huge law enforcement challenge for us.
‘Unremarkable’ to make big tech responsible: Butler
The health minister, Mark Butler, is up on ABC Radio National (RN). He dismisses the opposition’s claims that the government’s digital duty of care legislation amounts to censorship:
It’s pretty unremarkable, really, to expect that big companies have a duty of care not to harm Australian citizens, particularly, frankly, young Australians.
He likens it to the introduction of seatbelts in the 1970s, which people at the time saw as an infringement on civil liberties.
Further details on what constitutes harmful content will be announced this week, he says. Asked whether there’s a threat social media companies could withdraw their platforms, he says:
Well, they always make that threat, don’t they.
