Politics live: Victorian opposition pushes to reinstate police move-on powers; Elon Musk’s X fails to pay $610,500 Australian fine | Australia news
Elon Musk’s X fails to pay $610,500 Australian fine
Josh Taylor
Social media platform X has failed to pay a $610,500 fine issued by Australia’s e-safety commissioner last month over the company’s communications around its handling of child abuse material.
Elon Musk’s company was given 28 days last month by the e-safety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, to pay the fine or provide responses to questions raised under the Online Safety Act about how the company was tackling child abuse material on its platform.
Experts had suggested that it was unlikely X would respond to the fine.
A spokesperson for the e-safety commissioner told Guardian Australia that the deadline had passed without a payment from X.
Twitter/X has not paid the infringement notice within the allotted timeframe and eSafety is now considering further steps.
If X does not pay the fine or does not comply with the request for information, the e-safety commissioner could seek a civil penalty from the federal court, which could lead to daily fines of up to $782,000, backdated to February 2023, when the first notice was issued. It could add up to millions of dollars.
Guardian Australia received the standard auto-reply from X to emailed questions about the matter.
Key events
In the midst of *everything* you may have missed that Larissa Waters has been working with the government to change one of the Respect at Work legislation provisions that would have made taking legal action against harassment at work too expensive for many people.
The original legislation included costs provisions, which would have meant people wanting to take legal action against harassment or abuse in their work at parliament, would have had to cover costs themselves.
The government has now put through a revised bill, that includes equal-access provisions. Waters has taken that as a win.
We are pleased that the revised government bill introduced today heeds the calls of advocates, victim-survivors, legal experts and unions, the Greens and the crossbench, for equal access costs protections.
The Greens pressured the Government a year ago to dump their original costs provisions, and to review and reconsider them. We are so pleased to see that after this reflection, the government has now proposed the costs model the Greens were advocating for, which removes costs risks for people standing up for their rights at work.
Waters said the provision was an important one:
Without an equal access cost model in place, many workers, particularly women, weigh up the trauma and financial risk and decide to stay silent. Providing more options for victims of sexual harassment to make complaints doesn’t change things if women cannot afford to make complaints.
Equal access costs protections, where workers can take action without fear of paying the other side’s costs if they lose, already exist for whistleblowers. The Greens are happy to support changes that will see these same protections applied to workplace harassment.”
Sarah Basford Canales
UN expert set to speak at pro-Palestinian forum in Parliament House
The Parliamentary Friends of Palestine is hosting an event in Parliament House where UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese is expected to speak.
The group, which is co-convened by Labor’s Maria Vamvikinou, Greens senator Janet Rice and Nationals MP Mark Coulton, has organised the event for international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
In the audience, we’ve already spotted four members of the Greens and six Labor backbenchers, including Graham Perrett, Sally Sitou and Alicia Payne.
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network spokesperson Nasser Mashni is also in attendance, along with the Russian ambassador to Australia, Alexey Pavlovsky.
Angus Taylor will hold a press conference on the wage price index very soon.
The results are better than what was expected, and the ABS has reported the rises have been led by deliberate intervention, but we know what Taylor will say, because he has already said it this morning – that in real terms, wages are going backwards. Which they are, because of inflation.
But also worth mentioning, wages went backwards in real terms under the Coalition’s almost decade-long rule as well. Wages don’t keep up with inflation, because economists say that will lead to inflation (we can have that argument later).
But you often see the same MPs arguing the different side of the issue depending on what side of the chamber you sit in.
Peter Hannam
Wage growth in private sector eclipses public
Both private and public sector wages went up last quarter but a lot more in the former than the latter.
Private firms lifted wages 1.4% compared with only 0.9% on average for those working for public entities. Given the inflation rate was 1.2% for the quarter, some of the public sector unions still in wage negotiations might be digging their heels in.
On an annual basis, private firms were paying 4.2% more than in the September quarter a year ago, while the public sector was paying 3.5%. (That 0.7 percentage point gap was unchanged from the June quarter.) Given the annual inflation rate was 5.4%, those in public jobs saw their real wages shrinking at a 1.7% clip.
The Wage Price Index doesn’t track bonuses. If it did, perhaps the gap between private and public employers might be wider yet given government firms aren’t known for doling out bonuses – unless I’ve missed something.
The ABS said:
Continuing labour market pressures and the need to retain workers with skills in demand also influenced the size of increases.
While not the main driver, wages for jobs covered by awards and enterprise agreements also increased strongly and had higher percentage point contributions to wage growth than historically recorded for a September quarter.
So those awards and EBAs make a difference.
Protests continue outside Australian MPs’ offices:
For those who missed Francesca Albanese’s explanation on what “self-defence” means under international law, here is the UN expert on Palestine giving the definition:
Does Israel have a “right of self-defence” under international law? No.
As UN Special Rapporteur @FranceskAlbs explains: “Israel cannot claim the right of self-defence against a threat that emanates from the territory that it occupies, that is kept under belligerent occupation.” pic.twitter.com/BpCkpfIBKF
— Ajit Singh (@ajitxsingh) November 14, 2023
Wages grow amid tight labour market
Peter Hannam
The 1.3% increase in the Wage Price Index for the September quarter was the highest quarterly increase in the data series that goes back to 1997, the ABS says.
The annual pace, at 4%, was the highest since the March quarter of 2009.
Some solid numbers but on an annual basis at least, wages were still retreating at about 1.4% once you consider headline consumer inflation was 5.4% for the September quarter.
Markets aren’t too fussed, with the dollar initially steady against the US dollar as we all digest the figures.
Follow the story here:
Government action pushed wages rise, ABS says
Peter Hannam will have more on the wage decision soon, but the ABS release contains this tidbit – the increase in wages has been because of deliberate action by the government.
Michelle Marquardt, the ABS head of prices statistics, said:
A combination of factors led to widespread increases in average hourly wages this quarter.
In the private sector, higher growth was mainly driven by the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review decision, the application of the Aged Care Work Value case, labour market pressure, and CPI rises being factored into wage and salary review decisions.
The public sector was affected by the removal of state wage caps and new enterprise agreements coming into effect following the finalisation of various bargaining rounds.
Wage growth increased this quarter across each of the different methods that set pay. Jobs paid by individual arrangements were the main driver of wage growth, with award and enterprise agreement jobs also contributing more to wages growth than historically seen in a September quarter.
Peter Hannam
Wages rose 1.3% in the September quarter from the previous three months, and 4% from a year ago, the ABS has just reported. That compared with the 1.3% and 3.9% respective increases tipped by economists.
Has an Australian PM ever missed an Apec summit?
Given Peter Dutton thinks Anthony Albanese should skip Apec to focus on indefinite detention, we’ve checked whether an Australian prime minister has ever missed attending an Apec meeting since 1989 (when it was founded) and the answer is – just once.
In 2012, Julia Gillard didn’t attend Apec because her father had just passed away.
Dutton’s calls for Albanese to miss attending Apec and instead focus on a legislative fix following the high court decision ending indefinite detention ignore that: a) ministers introduce legislation for their own portfolios; b) legislation can be passed without the prime minister being in the country, especially when they are out of the country for official business; c) the Coalition would turn missing Apec, where Aukus will be a main topic of conversation, along with economic woes, into another political attack given that no prime minister has missed it (outside of Gillard).
That is before you get to the facts that not all of the detainees covered by the high court decision are criminals and Australia does not have indefinite detention for Australians who have been found guilty of a crime.
Greens to seek minute’s silence in Senate for Middle East civilians killed
With the news Israel is carrying out an “operation” inside the Gazan al-Shifa hospital …
… the Greens have announced senator Jordon Steele-John will move a motion in the Senate asking for a minute’s silence for the civilians lives which have been lost in Gaza later today:
I give notice that on the next day of sitting, I shall move that, at the conclusion of formal motions today, the Senate observe a minute of silence in memory of the civilian lives lost in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.
Steele-John:
Children and families have faced horrific death, injury and suffering. People in Gaza are experiencing relentless bombing. Those that survive the bombing have increasingly limited access to electricity, food or water. This cannot go on.
Today’s civilian victims could have been saved by a ceasefire. Australia must join with countries around the world in calling for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation.
Gaza deaths on ‘unfathomable’ scale, Labor’s Payne says
A search of the Hansard from yesterday (on the house) shows Alicia Payne was the only house MP to utter the word “Gaza”:
While Israel has a right to defend itself, as our foreign minister has said: the way that they defend themselves matters. We have called for the protection of civilian lives.
The scale of the death and destruction in Gaza at the moment is unfathomable.
Babies in neonatal intensive care are dying due to a lack of fuel to power hospital generators.
Families are being wiped out in their entirety.
Payne also said she had met with members of the Canberra Palestinian community:
… Including this afternoon, when I met with a group of women who wanted to tell me about what their community is going through. One woman said that 30 members of her family had been killed. I met with another Palestinian woman yesterday who said that 42 members of her family had been killed, but because many were under the rubble, and people are removing the rubble by hand because there is no other way, that number is actually far greater.
MP Alicia Payne holds Labor line as constituents urge Gaza ceasefire
In a speech to the federation chamber (the spillover chamber for the House of Representatives), Canberra Labor MP Alicia Payne said “hundreds” of constituents had written to her asking for a ceasefire in Gaza.
In response, Payne stuck to the government line:
I thank you for your concern about this situation and for writing to me about this, and I want you to know that I hear you. As our foreign minister has said, we all want to see the next steps towards a ceasefire and a political process for a just and enduring peace. We have reiterated our commitment to a two-state solution. Without an end to violence, that can never be achieved.
Of course, this cannot be one-sided. Hamas is still attacking Israel, using human shields and holding more than 200 hostages.
To quote a UN expert …
Just on Scott Morrison’s commentary there, the man who wanted to move Australia’s Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem referred to Israel’s “just defence”.
Here is what Francesca Albanese, an actual UN expert and human rights lawyer, had to say about the international legal definition of defence:
Pressed on Israel’s right to respond to the Hamas attacks in which more than 1,200 people were killed, she said that “in common language self-defence might be understood as the right to protect oneself, which Israel clearly has”.
But she said that article 51 of the UN charter was “not just the right to protect itself, it is self-defence under international law – it is a legal term of art”.
She said Israel was not threatened by another state, but by “an armed group within the occupied territory”. Israel disputes that Gaza has been occupied since it withdrew its troops and evicted 9,000 settlers in 2005. Critics argue Israel’s control of Gaza’s borders and other government functions amount to continued occupation.
Sarah Basford Canales
Israeli response to Hamas attack has been ‘just’, Scott Morrison says
Scott Morrison has said there’s no “moral equivalency” between the attacks by Hamas against Israelis on 7 October and the Israeli government’s “just defence” against civilians in Gaza as it hunts for the Palestinian militant group.
The former prime minister appeared on Sky News on Tuesday night saying a ceasefire would not be in Israel’s best interests, as the United Nations urges for a stop to the war in Gaza, which secretary general António Guterres described as “becoming a graveyard for children”.
So far, more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of the Israeli government’s response to the 7 October attacks, with at least 4,000 children believed to be a part of that figure.
The latest outbreak of conflict follows Hamas’ attack on southern Israeli settlements, where 1,200 civilians were killed and more than 200 taken hostage by the group.
Morrison, who recently returned from a trip to Israel with former UK prime minister Boris Johnson, said Israel’s response had been “just” and that it would be “simply unacceptable” to not destroy Hamas.
There would be no possibility of Israel being able to – Israelis being able to live in that part of their country and so, of course, they need to pursue this.
The member for Cook added it was also “very concerning” that Australian politicians appeared to be “speaking out both sides of the mouth” when it came to supporting the Israeli government.
I think there’s this tone which indicates that ‘oh, we have to tell Israel to play by the rules’. Well, who’s saying they’re not? And why has it been raised in such a way to imply that it’s not? I mean, they are a great friend of Australia and if you can’t stand with Israel in its darkest hour, over an atrocity, which was the single worst day for Israel and the Jewish people since the Holocaust, then when can you?
Over the weekend, Penny Wong called for steps toward a ceasefire in Gaza but added it could not be one-sided.
The federal government has continued to support Israel’s right to self-defence but has urged it to show restraint when it comes to civilian deaths.
Peter Hannam
Wage Price Index out today
We’ll shortly get the Wage Price Index figures for the September quarter from the ABS.
As always, there’ll be a flurry of quarterly and yearly numbers to assess, but it seems the much-feared price-wages or wages-price inflation will remain not much of a thing.
So the market is expecting the quarterly WPI to come in at 1.3%, which if it turns out that way, would be above the quarterly inflation figure of 1.2%. An increase, in other words, after inflation but you’ll need a magnifying glass to spy it.
On an annual basis, wages are predicted to have clocked up a 3.9% rise, which would be trailing the CPI figure of 5.4% by some measure. (Still, it’ll be less of a gap than the painful 4.5% gap for the December quarter of last year, which marked a record erosion in real terms.)
A consolation for borrowers if the WPI turns out to be on the weak side will be that the Reserve Bank will have less cause to lift interest rates again.
As of yesterday, the odds of another 25 basis-point rise in the cash rate to 4.6% at the RBA’s December meeting were only about 7%, according to the ASX. (Something else the magnifying glass will be handy for.)
Anyway, stay tuned for the data release at 11.30 AEDT.
The parliament has approved a new fit-out for leased premises for the ATO in Barton.
The Department of Defence is also getting a refresh, as is some infrastructure around Canberra which the National Capital Authority controls.
Well, that makes two Greens MPs suspended from different Labor state parliaments in the last 24 hours.
