Crossbench MPs pressure Labor over gas export tax – as it happened | Australian politics
Key events
What we learned, Monday 23 March
And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap the big headlines:
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Governments around the world are unprepared for the growing threat of drones being used to carry out terror attacks, the Lowy Institute said. Advances in drone technology, 3D printing and AI-assisted navigation should prompt leaders to rethink anti-extremism strategies.
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The Liberal party’s deputy leader, Jane Hume, says the South Australian election result has sent a message to her party: that the public is “looking for a change”. Speaking on RN Breakfast, One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said the South Australian election results show a “corroboration of where the polling is”.
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Mark Butler said the government is working with regional partners to secure fuel supplies, and reiterated that of the six oil shipments to Australia that have been cancelled or deferred, in most cases, replacements are “being organised”.
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Politicians around the country weighed in on whether workers should be prompted to stay home more, considering the issues with fuel supply. New South Wales Premier, Chris Minns, said asking public servants to work from home in the state “wouldn’t make much of a difference” to shortages caused by the conflict in the Middle East.
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Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, addressed the National Press Club, and said the public needs to understand the “depth of the problem” facing the globe. Birol said a list of measures, including encouraging more people to work from home, reducing speed limits and reducing air travel to save fuel, are based on “years of experience”.
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A parliamentary committee will examine the level of fraud within the National Disability Insurance Scheme as the federal government continues to look for ways to curb the rising cost of the scheme in the years ahead.
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The Brisbane Anglican archbishop, Jeremy Greaves, has apologised to survivor Beth Heinrich for the church’s handling of her abuse complaint, including for comments made by his predecessor and former governor general Peter Hollingworth. Guardian Australia revealed last month that Greaves was poised to make a historic apology to Heinrich, who has fought for justice for decades.
Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We will be back tomorrow to do it all again.
Petra Stock
Ed Husic calls for ‘comprehensive, economy-wide’ laws to manage risks of AI
Labor backbencher Ed Husic has called for national laws to manage the risks of artificial intelligence, after thousands of tech workers lost their jobs to the technology.
The move placed him at odds with the Albanese government’s approach, which recently scrapped plans for stand-alone AI laws.
Husic, who was Labor’s science minister up until the 2025 election, said:
Governments can’t just be cheerleaders for novel uses of AI, they must prepare and dilute the associated risks.
We need a comprehensive, economy-wide national AI act that identifies risks and sets out our expectations for how to manage them and build sorely needed confidence in AI.
We can’t have a hands off, laissez-faire approach to AI, or just respond in a knee-jerk, spasmodic way to the AI risks that only threaten the loudest, or most powerful, voices in society.
Husic’s comments followed the release of a set of “national data centre expectations”, a set of voluntary measures for industry players seeking priority assessment by the federal government.
Iran has western nations ‘by the balls’ in the strait of Hormuz, Hastie says
Hastie said Australian consumers are getting smashed by the US-Israeli war with Iran, with the US unprepared for the strait of Hormuz to be closed for so long.
He said:
I don’t think anyone expected the Iranians to have us by the balls – as they do – in the strait of Hormuz, and that’s squeezing a lot of countries who are allied to the United States and who are dependent on the importation of hydrocarbons out of the Middle East.
Lives are getting lost and I want to make that point, it is the most important, but for people watching, Australian consumers are getting smashed …
The longer this goes on, the harder it will get. I had $3 on the weekend for a litre of diesel, and are people talking about it going up to $4.
Hastie says Liberal party will ‘become extinct’ if it does not respond to housing pressures
Opposition industry spokesperson, Andrew Hastie, has been on Afternoon Briefing, where he said he is open to having a discussion on housing policies.
He said if the Liberal party doesn’t act on housing and helping first home buyers into the market, they will “become extinct”:
People feel like they have no control over their lives and they want to regain control … the housing market, particularly as it is, is rigged against them. There is a policy debate to be had…
Young Australians want tear down the system because it does not work for them, and if we are not responsive, we’ll become extinct. That is the reality.
Newcastle man charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing musician outside venue
A man has been charged with attempted murder following the alleged stabbing of a musician outside a sports club over an ex-partner.
The 69-year-old musician was stabbed several times in his chest and back near the venue’s entrance in Newcastle, where he had been performing on Sunday night.
Emergency crews were called to Club Merewether at 7.40pm and treated the injured man before he was taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition.
Police said the 53-year-old alleged attacker left the scene before officers arrived, but was arrested at a home in Stockton, in Newcastle’s north, early on Monday morning.
He was charged with domestic-violence-related attempted murder and contravening an AVO. He was due to face court on Monday.
– AAP
Anglican archbishop apologises for former governor general’s failures in abuse case
Christopher Knaus
The Brisbane Anglican archbishop, Jeremy Greaves, has apologised to survivor Beth Heinrich for the church’s handling of her abuse complaint, including for comments made by his predecessor and former governor general Peter Hollingworth.
Guardian Australia revealed last month that Greaves was poised to make a historic apology to Heinrich, who has fought for justice for decades.
Heinrich was abused by Reverend Donald Shearman, now dead, and was then subjected to comments in the national media by Hollingworth.
While governor general, Hollingworth appeared on ABC television in 2002 and suggested that Heinrich, 14, had instigated a sexual relationship with Shearman, a married priest. Hollingworth has also been found to have failed to act to remove Shearman after becoming aware of complaints about him.
Greaves spoke at an Evensong service on Sunday evening, which Heinrich attended.
He said:
Most grievously, those in positions of senior leadership within the Brisbane diocese, including former archbishop Peter Hollingworth, failed Beth. Rather than responding with compassion, justice and accountability, the church’s response compounded her suffering, and this was wrong. Too often, as has been the case here, a victim-survivor was blamed, rather than supported, while the person responsible was defended or excused. Beth bore the weight of injustice for many years. We did not act as we should have, and for that we are deeply sorry.
Hollingworth has previously apologised for his failures and said he was “unduly influenced by the advice of lawyers and insurance companies” when handling abuse claims.
“I made mistakes and I cannot undo them,” Hollingworth said previously. “But I committed no crimes. There is no evidence that there was any abuse because of any decisions I made, or did not make.”
Krishani Dhanji
Thank you all for joining me on the blog today, I’ll leave you with the excellent Cait Kelly for the rest of the arvo.
I’ll catch you here bright and early tomorrow morning for another busy sitting day.
TLDR: here’s what happened in question time
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Question time was (as expected) completely dominated by fuel uncertainty today with the opposition trying to hammer the government over when it found out the six fuel shipments were cancelled.
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Bowen said the shipments were cancelled at different times but would not provide an exact time.
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Several members of the crossbench pushed the government on implementing a 25% flat gas export tax, but Labor wouldn’t give anything away.
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Speaking following the South Australian election, Richard Marles said One Nation has always been about ‘stunts and the vibe’.
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Bowen gave us a rundown of how many petrol stations have closed along the east coast – but couldn’t provide any numbers for the NT, South Australia or Tasmania.
Question time ends
After a final question to the PM on Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Canberra tomorrow, Anthony Albanese wraps up question time for the day.
After questions, Albanese pays tribute to Rhoda Roberts, who died aged 66 at the weekend.
Albanese says Roberts was an inspiration and mentor to many, including the minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, and that she “never stopped working to put indigenous culture centre stage.”
Rhoda captivated and entertained. She informed and inspired. She shaped and advised.
She was often the first, including as the first Indigenous host on mainstream Australian TV, but she made sure that she wouldn’t be the last.
Claim government is forcing fuel to be exported ‘a lie’, Bowen says
Liberal frontbencher Simon Kennedy is up next and asks Bowen whether he’s been briefed over reports in the Daily Telegraph that the NSW government is war-gaming fuel rationing.
Bowen says he “literally” met with state and territory ministers on Friday where they “compared notes”.
There is no Watergate here … There is the national liquid emergency plan agreed by all governments in 2006, and endorsed by all governments since then, as things change.
He then takes a warning shot at Kennedy:
I remind the member for Cook that when he went on social media yesterday and said that Australian government is forcing diesel and petrol to be exported – that is a lie, Mr Speaker.
Has the government received advice on fuel rationing?
Liberal MP Mary Aldred asks Chris Bowen if he has received any advice from his department on fuel rationing.
Bowen doesn’t rule out advice on fuel rationing, he says he has been working with his department on contingency plans, but believes the country is a “long way” from taking that action.
He adds that states and territories have significant powers under a 2006 Coag (council of Australian governments) liquid fuel emergency response plan.
He says the plan:
Indicates public restraint, public information campaigns and requesting people to save fuel would be the first step, and that only after that, would any further actions be considered.
I made clear Mr Speaker, yesterday, I think we’re a long way from that.
Chalmers asked about funding for medical research
Back to the crossbench, Monique Ryan asks the government if it will increase funding for health and medical research.
She says every dollar invested in in Australian health and medical research “yields close to $4 for the Australian economy” – and that increasing funding would be good for health and productivity.
Ryan has been on a bit of a warpath to get the government to release more of its $20bn medical research fund.
Chalmers doesn’t commit to anything but says the government are “very substantial investors in research, including medical research”.
He says the government has received a report into the future of research investment and is considering the recommendations.
Our colleague in the other place, minister [Tim] Ayres, has received and now released some good work that we had done when it comes to the future of research and development, and obviously the medical research fund is is part of our thinking in that regard. We’re going to work through the recommendations of that report and make our views known in due course.
Bowen asked again about cancelled fuel shipments
Shadow frontbencher Melissa McIntosh tries to pin down Chris Bowen on when the government first found out about the cancelled shipments.
Bowen said earlier that the shipments weren’t all cancelled in one go, on one day, so she asks when the government was told about the first.
Bowen doesn’t say:
I refer the honourable member to my previous answers.
He receives a small groan from the opposition benches.
(His previous answers didn’t state exactly when the government was told, but said that the government was in constant communication with the industry).
Chalmers defends resources tax settings, while crossbench calls for increased gas export tax
The crossbench is continuing to put pressure on the government over gas tax revenue.
Independent MP Zali Steggall says the treasury department has downgraded predicted revenue for the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT), and asks if the government will “admit that you got it wrong”?
Jim Chalmers keeps it brief and defends the current settings of the PRRT, saying “what we’ve been able to ensure is that there is more tax paid sooner than would otherwise been the case.”
When you’re dealing with a volatile commodity that we’re talking about now, then sometimes the numbers come in lower, sometimes they come in higher than is forecast.
