Coalition grilled over $30m Western Sydney airport land purchase – as it happened

The Department of Home Affairs has responded to Guardian Australia’s inquiries about a federal court case in which an asylum seeker is suing the government for false imprisonment. The department kept him in immigration detention for five days despite a tribunal order that his visa was valid.

As we reported earlier today, this lawsuit arises out of the same case in which a federal court judge found that the immigration minister, Alan Tudge, engaged in criminal conduct.

Here’s the department’s statement:

• The Department is aware of the claim for damages served by PDWL’s legal representatives on the Commonwealth on 16 October 2020. This is separate to the judicial review proceedings.
• The Government intends to lodge an appeal in relation to the judicial review proceedings. The Minister has stated he strongly rejects any suggestion of improper conduct in those proceedings.
• As both matters are before the Court it would not be appropriate to comment further.

If it’s a sitting week in Canberra, particularly when Senate estimates is on, you can bet the encrypted messaging app Signal is getting a hammering. This is a compelling (and long) piece on its founder published by the New Yorker this week.

He’s called Moxie Marlinspike. Except he isn’t. Anyway, worth a read.

And this just in, officials from Scott Morrison’s department have confirmed the high-powered business leaders on Nev Power’s Covid coordination commission have been given “baseline” security clearances so they can have access to confidential cabinet material.

I reckon this racing crowd news will go down particularly poorly with the many Victorians who want to have a grand final party on Saturday:

https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/owners-allowed-cox-plate-under-strict-health-protocols

In Victoria, the racing minister, Martin Pakula, has announced that up to 500 racehorse owners, or “connections” thereof, will be able to attend the Cox Plate race day on Saturday.

In a statement, Pakula said that a limited number of connections of horses running on the day, and on Manikato Stakes day, will be allowed to attend the Moonee Valley track.

Racing has continued in Victoria throughout the lockdown, although attendance has been limited to jockeys, trainers, and support staff.

Capacity at Moonee Valley on both days will be capped at 1,250 with no more than 1,000 allowed at any one time, including jockeys, staff, security, Covid-safe marshals and media – in an ordinary year the capacity is 38,000.

There will be time limits for how long each of the 500 “connections” can stick around, arrivals will be staggered, temperatures will be checked and owners won’t be allowed in the mounting yard and stalls.

Pakula said: “This will give connections the chance to see their horses compete under strict health protocols.

“We have taken the advice of the chief health officer – I know that connections will follow the lead of jockeys, trainers and stable workers and follow all protocols to the letter.”

It’s unclear how this new freedom will intersect with the 25km rule – is leaving your buffer to watch the race of a horse you own shares in an essential purpose?

It’s also unclear what the broader public reaction will be, given this freedom applies to a very limited few. The cynical (hello) could also view this as a prelude to further easing of restrictions for Melbourne Cup.

The release notes that: “The government remains in discussion with the Victoria Racing Club around arrangements for the Melbourne Cup Carnival.”

There has been a fairly steady stream of artists rebuking Donald Trump for using their songs at rallies. But it seems the Village People (and the Village People’s people) have left him alone, given he keeps using YMCA (this time at a rally in Tucson on Monday).

In case you missed this from earlier, Twisted Sister aren’t going to take it when it comes to Clive Palmer using their song.

Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, has issued a brief statement, following news earlier today regarding the extraordinary sitting of the hotel quarantine inquiry.

As expected, the inquiry is seeking some context to new evidence it has received since hearings ended in September.

The head of the inquiry, Jennifer Coate, announced earlier this afternoon that she would be seeking an affidavit from Sutton explaining how it was that he was included in an email about private security use in the hotel quarantine program well before he said he was aware of it.

Sutton said he had fully cooperated with the inquiry and took his obligations seriously.

“The board of inquiry has a job to do and I respect the work the board is doing.”

The Department of Health and Human Services issued a slightly more detailed statement, saying it would “urgently” respond to Coate’s requests for more information.

Earlier, Coate indicated the new evidence could mean the inquiry may not meet the 6 November reporting date, but could not say when its work would be completed.

Asio director general Mike Burgess told the same hearing the Covid-19 pandemic had been used as a recruiting tool by some rightwing groups.

“They see the pandemic as proof of the failure of globalisation, multiculturalism and democracy and confirmation that societal collapse and a race war are inevitable.”

Fair bit going on in Senate estimates today, including a firm reiteration of the threat posed by rightwing extremism. AFP assistant commissioner Ian McCartney said that young people were “very aggressively” being radicalised online, according to this report

Cheers Amy Remeikis. Let’s pick over some detritus ...

Well, once again, that has been a day.

I’m going to hand you over to Nino Bucci for what remains of it – but I will be back early tomorrow morning to cover parliament, estimates, Covid and whatever else 2020 throws at us.

As always, you can get me here and here – I am slowly making my way through the messages from today – and you can always make requests for what you would like to see in the blog.

I’ll see you all tomorrow – take care of you.

Christian Porter has ruled out introducing a small business award but promised to simplify conditions in the hospitality sector in a heated party room discussion on the Coalition’s industrial relations reforms.

After the collapse of roundtable negotiations in September, the industrial relations minister stressed the need to develop an incremental package that stands a “realistic” chance of passing parliament at the meeting on Tuesday.

The government will introduce an omnibus bill by year’s end including project-life pay deals for new work sites, a definition of casual employees, and more money for the fair work ombudsman to help small business use payroll software to comply with pay laws, Porter revealed.

Under questioning from Liberal MP Jason Falinski, Porter told the party room unions would not agree to reforms that cut them out of the bargaining process, such as individual pay agreements. But he also denied that his reforms would amount to boosting flexibility at the cost of increasing union involvement.

Porter left many details unclear including whether the government will agree to unions’ and the Business Council of Australia’s call for a fast-track for union-negotiated pay deals.

He confirmed the government intends to relax the “better off overall test”, which is currently strictly interpreted so that employees hypothetically disadvantaged by future roster changes can be enough to prevent a workplace pay deal being approved.

The Australian Council of Trade Union’s secretary, Sally McManus, has warned there are “concerning signs” the government could look to cut workers’ take-home pay, such as by allowing part-time workers to do extra hours without overtime rates.

But when Liberal senator Andrew Bragg asked about the possibility of a small business award, Porter ruled it out, suggesting instead that less onerous pay rules could be introduced for small businesses in existing modern awards.

According to several accounts of the meeting, the government will pursue award simplification in the hospitality sector to prevent rigid descriptions of duties and classifications imposing multiple pay rates in the one workplace.

Porter defended the prospect of getting unions to agree to project-life pay agreements for new sites, which would prevent them striking mid-project for higher wages. He claimed negotiations had revealed unions could cop the reform to boost jobs.

Other uncontentious reforms will include a definition of casual work, and an easier pathway for casual workers to convert to permanent part-time.

Ben Butler has filed this story – an Afghan asylum seeker is suing the government for false imprisonment.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in the federal court, is the latest development in a case that has seen a judge find that the immigration minister, Alan Tudge, engaged in “criminal” conduct for keeping the asylum seeker locked up.

Also from Mike Bowers’s lens today:

How it started:

How it’s going

While we are on the topic of former prime ministers, Josh Taylor has this story:

Welcome Oshy and Dash:

Over in the environmental estimates hearing, the committee has heard that “new, more accurate methods of measuring the climate damage from methane (natural gas) will mean Australia will emit the equivalent of approximately 150m tonnes more of climate pollution between 2021 and 2030 than previously estimated”.

The Greens senator Larissa Waters says that “instead of decreasing emissions faster to stay within the existing budget, they will simply increase the amount of permissible emissions”.

The logic is astounding: methane is worse for our planet than we thought, so the government will just make our carbon budget bigger to compensate and call it a day.

The government’s response might pass the accounting test, but it doesn’t pass the pub test.

This is part of the reason why the agricultural industry is working on cutting down its gases – cow farts are an actual environmental problem – and one we have underestimated for years.

The vice-chancellor and president of Swinburne University, Prof Pascale Quester, has written to staff about its financial position and the need for up to 150 redundancies.

She said:

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and related restrictions are increasing our cost of delivery and our operational costs, as well as having an impact on commercial and student revenues.

As I advised last month, we are expecting a deficit of at least $45m in 2020. This is primarily due to a reduction in revenues of $75m ...

The job-ready graduates bill will also mean the commonwealth government contribution will be reduced for Stem courses. Despite these courses likely to see significant employment growth in the coming years, there will be less total funding per student ...

The way we live and work has changed, and as we plan the complex transition to campus in 2021, it is clear that we will not be returning to the previous model of working and teaching.

Inevitably, some redundancies will be proposed as part of this process. We now anticipate a total of between 125 and 150 redundancies across the university will become necessary over the next few months.

Kevin Rudd is on Afternoon Briefing, where he is asked about his petition for a royal commission into News Corp:

The end goal of the royal commission is two things. Number one, to have a public examination of the impact of media monopoly on Australian media diversity and politics in the country. If you look carefully at the text of the petition, it deals not with just the Murdoch monopoly but other challenges as well, including the rise of Google and Facebook.

The second reason the petition exists is that for the royal commission to have time and opportunity to examine models from around the world on the best form of legislation and regulation and governing, maximising media diversity in our country, particularly given the financial challenges in the industry and particularly given the impact of the new players, Google and Facebook and others.

That’s why I believe we need this to happen and that’s why as of today – I am 10 days into launching this petition – we have 350,000 Australians who put their names to it.

Asked if he is disappointed Anthony Albanese hasn’t backed it, Rudd says:

He has his own race to run but you may also want to ask Scott Morrison if he will back it. I don’t think so because the bottom line is they act as a protection racket for the Liberal National Party, we know that.

Every day’s paper is full of the atrocities allegedly committed by the Labor government now and in the past while these other scandals, this extraordinary story in Senate estimates of $135,000 being wasted on Tony Abbott knighthoods and labels on Australians, and not a single line’s coverage in any of the Murdoch model Murdoch media today. We have to go to other sources. Why? Like John Howard and others, Tony Abbott is a protected species, and people are fed up with this. They think it has gone too far and they won’t change.

AS I WAS SAYING ONE DAY IT WILL BE SEEN AS A BARGAIN ...

After leaving the question open in question time, Scott Morrison’s office has responded to questions about whether or not he had been contacted by Daryl Maguire with this statement:

The PMO has been advised by the Department of Home Affairs that a first, complete search of its database did not identify any correspondence from Daryl Maguire or the business G8wayinternational Pty Ltd to the Prime Minister in his former role as Immigration Minister.

Additional searches conducted in the PMO indicate the Prime Minister has not received any such correspondence in his current role.

This is not a face we are used to Penny Wong making in estimates – at least not since she has sat on the inquisition side of the table:

The industrial relations minister, Christian Porter, has just released a review of industrial relations powers employers gained as part of the jobkeeper program to vary workers’ hours, duties and location of work.

The report by the Nous Group found 70% of employers used powers to direct employees, with changes to hours the most common change, whether it was to work a reduced number of hours (41%), not work on a day or days they would usually work (30%), or to work for fewer hours on a given day (28%).

It wasn’t all smooth sailing, though. The review found: “There were some concerns in how these and other provisions were invoked, however. For example, some employees who were asked to work more hours than usual felt considerable pressure to agree, even if this was difficult to accommodate (eg due to study commitments). Conversely, we heard from employer representatives of cases where employees were being unreasonable in refusing a request to work additional hours.”

In particular, employee representatives reported that “many young employees – including retail workers, receptionists and cinema workers – were asked to increase their hours to ‘work up to the amount of jobkeeper’ payments”. Because jobkeeper was a flat $1,500 fortnightly payment – the pressure was to work more hours.

Porter said:

When the pandemic began, it quickly became clear that the Fair Work Act did not have the requisite level of flexibility built into it to enable struggling businesses to quickly, effectively and with certainty make necessary changes to their operations such as requiring staff to work from different locations or to perform different duties.

Likewise, the stand-down provisions within the act were also very narrow and did not clearly support the ability to reduce employee hours to match the jobkeeper payment, which was vital for those businesses that had been forced to close or were experiencing significant turnover reductions.

“The temporary jobkeeper IR provisions gave businesses that flexibility, enabling them to quickly adapt to changing conditions and stay connected to their workforce, ensuring they would be ready to bounce back when conditions improved.

This has increased from the 30,000 we heard about last week

Over in finance estimates, Labor’s Penny Wong has just asked a series of questions about QAnon and a family friend of Scott Morrison’s. Twitter has recently suspended the account BurnedSpy34.

The owner of the account, Tim Stewart, is a family friend of the prime minister’s. According to a recent report from our colleagues Chris Knaus and Josh Taylor, a spokeswoman for Twitter said the platform is no longer serving QAnon content.

BurnedSpy34, a prominent and prolific member of the Australian QAnon scene, has been suspended.

Stewart’s wife works at Kirribilli House. Wong is interested in whether PMC has briefed Morrison about QAnon’s conspiracy theories and about a negative assessment about the movement by the FBI.

Officials say they have not briefed the prime minister, but note it is possible Asio has. Wong is on the trail of what steps were taken regarding the employment of Stewart’s partner.

She says the public interest in asking these questions is to ensure there is no “vector of influence” with Morrison.

PMC officials say all appropriate steps were taken prior to the employment taking effect. Police checks were done, and all three staff at Kirribilli House have a security clearance.

PMC officials say they were unaware of the Twitter ban. Wong notes this is curious, given the ban has been reported by both Guardian Australia and News Corp and the department has a large media monitoring capacity.

The PMC official Stephanie Foster says PMC has restricted its inquiries to date on the employee, it doesn’t keep a broader watching brief on the issue. Mathias Cormann doesn’t like the line of questioning.

He says it is obvious the employee at Kirribilli House has a husband, but it is unreasonable to reflect on her “because of the views of her husband”.

Victoria Health has released its official briefing:

Victoria has recorded one new case of coronavirus since yesterday, with the total number of cases now at 20,320.

There have been no new deaths from Covid-19 reported since yesterday. To date, 817 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.

Today’s new case is a previously reported case who tested positive in July. This case is under investigation and review. Today’s case is in the local government area of Brimbank.

This new case is being reviewed by an expert panel of clinicians and epidemiologists to determine if this is a new infection or if the person is still shedding virus from their original infection. The panel will examine a range of issues, including the cases’ movements, symptoms, epidemiological links to known cases and test results, to inform its decision.

There was also a case reported last night that is a Victorian resident quarantining interstate after returning from overseas. This case is not included in today’s figures.

The Department of Health and Human Services continues to work with local health services to contain an outbreak of coronavirus in Shepparton. There are three cases in Shepparton, which is no change from yesterday.

A further 357 tests were taken in Shepparton and surrounding regions yesterday, taking the total number of tests in Shepparton and the surrounding region to 6,680.

Details about current high-risk locations, locations of concern and testing centres open today in Shepparton and surrounding regions are available from the department’s website at:

https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/chadstone-kilmore-shepparton-outbreaks-covid-19

Labor wants to make a series of amendments to the child sexual abuse redress scheme, including to:

• Require the family and social services minister to publicly name an institution that hasn’t already signed up, and cease any commonwealth funding.
• Require the minister to remove the charitable and tax deductibility status of an institution that hasn’t already signed up.
• Introduce an advance payment scheme for elderly and ill applicants.
• Ensure governments act as funders of last resort for all institutions with no existing entities.
• Increase the maximum payment to $200,000, as recommended by the royal commission.
• Ensure that prior payments are not indexed when calculating a redress payment and payments which do not relate to institutional child sexual abuse are not deducted from redress, in particular, payments to the stolen generations.

The shadow families and social services minister, Linda Burney, said:

Eight years since the announcement of the royal commission, survivors are still waiting for redress, or dying and missing out altogether.

The scheme that was ultimately rolled out by the government did not fully realise the recommendations of the royal commission.

Labor is willing to work constructively with the government to get the scheme working and delivering redress for survivors.

We will be moving a series of amendments that better reflect the reality of survivors and the spirit of the original recommendations.

This was from Anika Wells yesterday.

Question time ends.

Anthony Albanese makes a statement on indulgence – the Lilley MP, Anika Wells, welcomed twin boys this morning. Mum and bubs are doing very well.

Albanese quotes Roy and HG with a very bad “hello boys” impression, and says the parliament looks forward to meeting them next year.

Alan Tudge answers a dixer on why there is now an English test as part of the partner visa, to which the only answer is actually – Australia has no official language.

It doesn’t. We may have a majority English-speaking population, but we have no official language.

Tony Burke:

It has been reported at the National Press Club the minister made a statement that he did not know how much the commonwealth paid for land adjacent to the approached Western Sydney airport until he read the auditor general’s report. Is this correct?

Christian Porter:

Mr Speaker, that’s clearly not with respect to the member’s present portfolio. It’s with respect to a previous portfolio.

... The exception to that rule is statements that may be made. Someone saying they didn’t know about something can hardly said to be statement on a matter of fact. The statement has to be a positive and substantial reference to something.

... They asked a question and saying you don’t know does not constitute an exception to that rule.

Tony Smith:

The practice makes very clear – and I won’t take the House right through, unless they want to, and yes, ministers can’t be asked about their – any question at all in fact about their administration of previous portfolios. But they can be asked about their public statements.

And a public statement as far as the practice is concerned is simply that. Now, I understand the point the leader of the House is making, but that doesn’t preclude the minister being asked about it. And, you know what the minister says in response is his or her business. So I will call the minister.

Fletcher:

Well, thank you, Mr Speaker. I was asked a number of questions when I appeared at the National Press Club on 23 September about this matter. I gave very comprehensive answers and I stand by my answers.

We then get a question about what Paul Fletcher said at the National Press Club.

Here is what Daniel Hurst reported from that day:

Including this:

In an outing at the National Press Club to announce a $3.5bn upgrade to the national broadband network, Fletcher said the decision to approve the sale was made by a deputy secretary, not himself as minister.

“The auditor general makes it plain that in his assessment – and I wouldn’t disagree with that assessment – information that should’ve been provided to the decision-maker was not provided,” the communications minister said.

Fletcher noted the “report uses the language ‘unethical’” and said he understood that referred to “key pieces of information that were not disclosed”. The minister endorsed the conclusion, stating: “I’ve absolutely learned things I did not know before.”

Paul Fletcher gets asked about whether or not he has confidence in the Australia Post board.

He goes on about how the changes have helped people get their packages.

Eventually we get to:

I think we can say that Australia Post is dealing with a difficult set of challenges, but in doing that, they have responded well to meeting the needs of Australia. All of us can ask, do we have confidence in the board and management of Australia Post, we say on this side House, let’s judge them by the quality of the services and the outcomes they’re delivering. That’s what we do on this side of the House.

Richard Marles to Scott Morrison:

Is the prime minister aware the federal police has told Senate Estimates today it will be engaging with Icac in the next week, about whether disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire was involved in matters related to the Leppington triangle investigation.

Morrison:

Mr Speaker, I think the AFP should investigate all these matters absolutely thoroughly. Wherever they have to take their inquiry and make those investigations they should, it’s important they do that job. And it’s important the ANAO made that [referral] and I look forward to them concluding the investigations and making the report, that is an appropriate process to follow and I fully support it.

Richard Marles to Scott Morrison:

My question is to the prime minister. Did the disgraced former New South Wales MP Daryl Maguire make any representations to the government about visas, including to your department?

There is a lot of back and forth over whether it is reasonable for the prime minister to answer the question, given that it is not just about his department.

Which leads to this answer:

Morrison:

It has been my long-established practice back when I was minister and as prime minister, you receive representations from many people in the community, from those opposite included, on many matters, including on those which the member has referred to. It is my normal practice for those matters through my office to be referred to the relevant department or my department or an appropriate response. That is the practice I have always followed.

So that leaves that WIDE open.

If I bought something for $30m and it was worth $3m, I can guarantee there would be no one, NO ONE, thinking “oh thank God she bought that now, that is the important thing”.

And yet, this is how the deputy prime minister apparently thinks about taxpayer funds.

Coooooool.

Perhaps, given his love of country homilies, someone could ask the same question, but use a steer instead of a plot of land.

I would give anything in the world to have Tony Smith’s power to sit Michael McCormack down, a power not used enough imho.

Anyways. Catherine King tries again:

Q: My question is again to the deputy prime minister. Does the deputy prime minister still say paying $30m for a piece of land valued at $3m is a bargain when the federal police are investigating and his own department says there is no evidence the purchase is a good investment?

Tip Top:

Well, I would have thought my voice was loud enough when I answered this question before, twice. And, Mr Speaker, the member for Ballarat is within earshot of me.

What I said was, in time, when – when we look back at this and we say, ‘Well, at least the land next to the Western Sydney airport is commonwealth-owned’. It will cost a lot more in the future had it not been bought now.

In that interview, Mr Speaker, in that particular interview, I was espousing also of the importance of Western Sydney airport. We are getting on with the job of building Western Sydney airport, something that never would have happened under those opposite – never would have happened, didn’t happen. You’re totally right, Mr Speaker.

... I appreciate that the member for Grayndler, back in 2009, 11 years ago ...

Tony Smith:

I just say to the deputy prime minister, that the area he is trying to go to, he can’t under this specific question. He really can’t. That is precisely why, to my chagrin a lot of the time, the questions from my right [the government] have the phrase “alternative policies” in there. That is what permits it. And this question was very specific and it deals just with the substance of the matter and he needs to be relevant to it.

Tip Top:

Well, we, thank you, Mr Speaker. Thank you. We are talking about Badgerys Creek. We’re talking about Western Sydney airport. We’re talking about the land.

Yes, well, 2012, the member for Grayndler ruled out a second airport at Badgerys Creek.

Tony Burke:

The deputy prime minister cannot possibly be directly relevant if he’s referring to 2012, because that’s not when the federal police started investigating. This is about when the federal police started investigating, and that is on your watch.

Tony Smith:

The deputy prime minister needs to return to the substance of the question. I’m in two minds about the manager of opposition business’s point of order. But where the deputy prime minister was going, I’d warned him not to and he needs to be relevant to the question or wrap up.

Tip Top:

Badgerys Creek was the preferred site that we selected. We have purchased the land, albeit ...

Oh, I know. That. You know that. We all know that – $30m. That’s why we’re looking into that – the fact of how much and why it cost that much. We’re looking into that. There will be, there is a review being done. The department asked the Australian federal police, as did the ANAO, to look into that matter. It’s being conducted by the Australian federal police, yes, there are separate inquiries going on. The department itself asked the AFP to investigate it. As did the ANAO. And the member for Ballarat knows all about the ANAO.

Keith Pitt, bless him, attempts a dixer on the Queensland resources industry which LNP candidates in central and north Queensland can cut up and put on their Facebook page for three people to look at, but the dixer isn’t the right question, so he can’t use his zinger, or get his time back.

Neither can we.

But he does get in this description:

Steve Burt, he is a typical driller, he is big, he’s bearded, he is rough as hessian underwear to be honest.

Catherine King to Michael McCormack:

The Australian audit office told Senate estimates last night that it provided AFP on 10 July potential evidence about potential defrauding of the Commonwealth.

Does the deputy prime minister still say paying $30 million for a piece of land valued at $3 million is a bargain?

Tip Top:

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Whilst I appreciate this is the subject of many inquiries being made by Senate estimates, as you would expect, this is an inquiry, the Australian Federal Police are looking into it and the ANAO has referred this matter to the AFP, as has the Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure.

And, of course, an independent investigation is also going into the matter, being conducted by the Commonwealth Ombudsman Dr Thomas, the former Inspector-general of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Dr Vivienne Thom.

They’re looking into that particular sale of land which in time, in time, people will look back at this moment and say, “Thankfully the Commonwealth investigated in that in 2020.”

Yes, as I’ve said over and over, over and over, again and again, that it was paid at way over the odds. I acknowledge that. I recognise that.

The government has said that. I’ve ... in time people will say, “Well, thankfully, the commonwealth owns this land and now we can build a second runway. Now we can build supporting infrastructure to help the Western Sydney Airport”, which, as I stated in my previous answer, 11,000 jobs during construction, 28,000 jobs within five years of opening in 2026. This is going to be, and is, a significant investment in Western Sydney.

In 2009 the member for Grayndler said, “It is vital we commence work now.” He wanted it started in 2009.

I see you’re about to jump out like a racehorse at the Spring Carnival but this is what the member for Grayndler said “It is vital we commence now.”

It took a Liberal-National government to get on with it. It took us to build it, and that’s what we’re doing!

NO ONE SAID WE DIDN’T NEED THE LAND – BUT TAXPAYERS COULD HAVE PAID $3M FOR IT, NOT $30M OMG HOW IS THIS SO DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND.

Anthony Albanese manages to keep a straight face as he says he is not sure where Angus Taylor “downloaded” a particular article he is reading as part of a dixer criticising Labor.

It’s another stunning performance from the minister for energy reduction. Well done Angus.

Does Michael McCormack still consider the Leppington triangle land purchase “a bargain”?

That would be the land which was valued at $3m, was sold to taxpayers for $30m, and leased back to the Liberal party donors for $1m, 30 years ahead of when it is actually needed.

The land sale which is now the subject of the most scathing auditor general report I have ever read, under investigation for criminality by the AFP and being brought to the attention of Icac.

“A bargain.”

The talking loaf of white bread which has been installed as the leader of the National party and therefore is the deputy prime minister of this nation, talks for a few minutes about how amazing the airport is, how Labor would never build it, some blah blah about flight plans and an attempt at a joke (why, when existence is enough) then gets pulled up on relevance.

Then he almost calls it a bargain again.

Mr Speaker, the land around western Sydney airport, the land around western Sydney airport, which was purchased by the federal government which is now the subject of several inquiries, and that is due process -we are following the due process – Mr Speaker, in time – in time ... decades from now when they’re building a second runway ... when they’re putting in place valuable infrastructure that is going to be needed, it is now in commonwealth hands, and that is a good thing.”

Why am I so hard on the DPM? Because he leads a party which represents the nations poorest electorates. Electorates which need more help than most. And deserve strong representation in the parliament, and a leader who doesn’t have to be showy, but one who is effective. I am yet to see that with McCormack. National party supporters deserve better.

I swear to Dolly, every time the deputy prime minister says “indeed” another part of me dies.

Over in estimates, Liberal senator Jim Molan is pursuing concerns about Australian academics’ participation in China’s Thousand Talents Plan – which has been the subject of ongoing coverage by the Australian newspaper.

But the head of Asio, Mike Burgess, said being a member of this program was not itself a problem, so long as participants declared it and were open about it.

Being a member, he told the committee, “is not in itself a problem for me and Australia in general”.

More broadly, Burgess noted the importance of security agencies working collaboratively with universities to address risks.

“I can tell you this is an evolving threat, one that we must continue to press in to, that’s not just the actions of my agency.”

After lobbying from Coalition backbenchers, the government (via Peter Dutton) has asked the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security to conduct an inquiry into foreign interference in Australia’s universities, publicly funded research agencies and competitive research grants agencies.

Michael McCormack is back.

Have we not suffered enough?

Jim Chalmers asks Josh Frydenberg about job losses in every state and territory, not just Victoria, after the government cut the jobkeeper rate.

Frydenberg talks on the AAA credit rating and how the jobkeeper program kept people in work.

But he doesn’t really address the question (I mean, why would he – it is not called answer time)

But the fact is, jobs were lost everywhere when jobkeeper was cut.

Indi MP Helen Haines asks Christian Porter where the federal integrity commission is.

Porter:

I’ve been very up-front with the member with respect to process, where the government is not inclined to conduct an extensive consultation process in Australia and while more recently a large and critical state was struggling to maintain the Covid-19 virus.

As the member would appreciate that is critical because of the incredible importance, whatever view you may take on them, which is retrospectivety, which is one of the standards the government will have to deal with in terms of ethical standards and/or corruption.

We’ve been very clear what our model for the integrity commission would look like. We’ve said quite clearly. There’d be two divisions. There’d be a law enforcement integrity division.

There’d be a public sector integrity division. Each of those divisions would have powers greater than a royal commission. The law enforcement division would maintain discretionary capacity to conduct public hearings.

The public sector division would run compulsory private hearings to investigate matters and build a brief to form the basis of a prosecution. Each division would have its own powers. Both division would have powers to investigate a broad, existing suite of public sector offences.

They could look at past conduct in that regard. The new commission would also be empowered to investigate with respect to newly-created offences as well as existing But the government’s view, not one shared universally, is there could not be retrospective application of new criminal laws or...new standards of corruption.

What I would note for the member’s benefit and those opposite is that that dual structure, which we’ve been very clear about, also of course live require it is very necessary preliminary step of expanding the jurisdiction of the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity which would form the first part, the first division of our model.

And in this budget, 9. 9 million was allocated to the development of this first process. 38 more staff have been allocated to expand ACLEI, to the ATO, to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. That can be achieved by regulation. It will be up and running by 1 January 2021.

The first stage of the dual structure is actually under way. It is actually under way in this budget – expanding the jurisdiction of the Law Enforcement Commission of Integrity. But these will required detailed consumption and that will follow.

Labor MP Nick Champion to Scott Morrison:

Holden had a win at the Bathurst1000 last weekend. The last time a Holden Factory team will appear at the race. One of the winning drivers said it was a sad end to a fantastic brand. Does thegovernment regret forcing the Holdenplant in Elizabeth to shut its doors, three years ago today?

Morrison:

That, indeed, was a sad day for Australia. Holden announced its decision in December 2013. But it said it was due to the competitive pressures of the global automotive market.

Mr Speaker, that’s their quote.

And Holden said at the time, “It would be wrong to simply attribute to the action or inaction on the part of the Government”... that was the statement by Holden. They said that in December 2013. That was the Holden plant, Mr Speaker, but it seems to have escaped the notice of those opposite that Mitsubishi announced an intention to stop local manufacturing in February 2008, Mr Speaker. February 2008. Ford announced its intention to stop local manufacturing in May 2013.

The reason Australians don’t trust Labor on the economy is they know that Labor doesn’t understand the economy, Mr Speaker. You can’t workout...

The point I was making is what was happening with the global automotive industry at the time of course had its impacts on Australia as it did under the previous Labor government with the closures of Mitsubishi and of Ford, and of course, has it had with this government soon after we came to government in 2013.

What I can tell you is 75% of former auto supply companies remain in business today and 82% of affected workers were able to secure other work.

One of the first acts of the Coalition government was to get rid of Labor’s $1.8 billion hit on the car industry, and too – to scrap the carbon tax which would add to the cost of every single motor vehicle in Australia.

The hundred million-dollar advanced manufacturing Fund, the $10 million automotive innovation labs, the five million auto engineering graduate program. The Volvo track at Waco ... Queensland. Ford has more than 2,000 engineers, designers and specialists in working across four different sites in Australia. As the global economy changes and there is great uncertainty, our government has put in place the policies to ensure that Australia can remain competitive. And we move on to manufacture and make things happen in Australia, Mr Speaker. The Make It Happen document released by the Minister for Industry shows our way forward for advanced manufacturing jobs in Australia. The Labor party are stuck in an economic time warp. Only the Coalition can be trusted to manage Australia’s economy

This clip is relevant to that question:

Joe Hockey to Holden in 2013:

Either you’re here or you’re not ... There’s a hell of a lot of industries in Australia that would love to get the assistance the motor vehicle industry gets,” he said.

On the hotel inquiry:

Damian Drum is the reason we get the Michael McCormack dixer today.

And of course, this was just so McCormack could pretend to be a man of the people by referencing Drum’s Geelong VFL career.

Like playing for Geelong wasn’t a big enough sin – now Drum is the reason McCormack gets to pretend he knows about real people things.

Amanda Rishworth to Scott Morrison:

Q: My question is to the prime minister: Yesterday, during question time, the government said Labor’s working family childcare boost is for the top end of town. Is the government really saying a family on a joint income of $189,000 should be penalised for taking on extra work because the government considers they earn too much?

Morrison:

Yesterday also in question time on the exact same matter, I was able to respond and tell the House that when we sought, when we sought, Mr Speaker, to make changes to childcare, those opposite considered those on $185,000 to be too rich. They, themselves. And they opposed our plan, Mr Speaker. They opposed our plan.

And for a year, Mr Speaker, those opposite delayed the implementation of our package and we went and we had to be in a position of negotiating of the crossbench in the Senate and we were able to come to an agreement with Senator Hinch that enabled our plan.

Once our plan was put in place a number of things happened. Workforce participation continued to rise to record levels. Female participation in the workforce rose to record levels. The gender pay gap, that went to record lows prior to the Covid-19 recession hitting this country. Those changes also led to out of expenses – out-of-pocket expenses falling by 3%.

These are inconvenient facts for those opposite. The fact that they opposed those changes, they opposed those changes for so long and refused to act to support what was a sensible, means-tested and targeted plan that had the desired effect of getting more people into work, getting more families into work, getting more women into work, that’s what those changes produced. The Labor Party opposed those.

That’s why you can never believe them on these things. Because they’re for and against absolutely everything. They’re for tax and they’re against taxes. For... (he is pulled up on relevance)

Let me refer to the first point I made, Mr Speaker. This is what happened in 2015. Those opposite accused me of designing a system, and I quote -this is what the Labor spokesperson said, “Wealthy families will be the big package in the winners”, wealthy families, “with families on incomes of $185,000 pocketing as much as $2,500more per year.”

Mr Speaker, the hypocrisy of those opposite on this matter speaks for itself. They’re all over the shop.

Josh Taylor is covering the extraordinary sitting of the Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry

The head of Australia’s domestic spy agency, Asio, will write to all federal MPs and senators to warn they are “attractive targets” for foreign spies trying to steal secrets and manipulate policy making.

At Senate estimates this afternoon, Mike Burgess reaffirmed his previous warnings that there were more foreign spies and proxies currently operating in Australian than at the height of the cold war.

The director general of security said almost any sector was a potential target of foreign interference.

Burgess said foreign intelligence services were seeking to “deceptively cultivate politicians at all levels” of government in Australia to advance the interests of the foreign countries.

“In the coming weeks I will write to all commonwealth parliamentarians to warn they are attractive targets for those trying to steal our secrets and manipulate our decision making. And Asio will continue to engage with the states and territories to ensure they understand the threat and what they can do about it.”

Jim Chalmers and Brendan O’Connor’s most recent release is another indication of where question time will be headed. It’s on the payroll data Paul Karp reported on a little bit earlier:

These numbers show 440,000 jobs have been lost since the virus outbreak, and the Government expects 160,000 more Australians will join the jobless queues by Christmas.

This is the consequence of a Morrison Government that cuts support even as unemployment is rising.

The Treasurer spends his time pointing the finger at Victoria in a desperate attempt to distract from his own substantial failure on jobs.

The ABS Weekly Payroll and Wages update reveals that between 19 September and 3 October, payroll jobs declined by 0.9 per cent across Australia, with total wages down 2.2 per cent.

Since the onset of the crisis, between 14 March 2020 and 3 October:

• Payroll jobs decreased by 4.1 per cent and total wages decreased by 3.3 per cent;
• Payroll jobs worked by men decreased by 5.0 per cent and those worked by women decreased by 4.2 per cent;
• Young people and older Australian workers were heavily impacted by the downturn, with payroll jobs worked by people aged 70 and over decreasing by 12.1 per cent and those worked by people aged 20-29 declining by 6.1 per cent.
• Payroll jobs in the accommodation and food services sector decreased by 17.4 per cent and the arts and recreation services industry saw a 12.9 per cent decline.

Decisions taken by the Liberals and Nationals mean that the Morrison Recession will be deeper than necessary and the unemployment queues longer than they need to be.

Mike Burgess, the head of spy agency Asio, is up at the home affairs estimates now. He said the agency had stepped up investigations into espionage and foreign interference.

Australia’s threat environment remained complex, challenging and changing, he said.

Burgess said the Covid-19 pandemic had altered some of the threats Australia had faced but not reduced them.

Australia’s terrorism level remained at probable - and he said he saw no prospect of reduction in foreseeable future.

He raised concern about “online amplification” of radicalisation. He also raised concern about battle-hardened Australians returning from Syria and Iraq.

Burgess also turned his attention to the rising threat posed by right wing extremists - which is expected to be a topic of questioning at this estimates hearing.

He said right wing extremists were more ideological and active than in previous years.

“While we have been actively monitoring the threat for some time, we are reprioritising our activities to focus additional resources on the evolving threat.”

He reaffirmed recent evidence that extreme right wing individuals now comprised between 30 and 40% of Asio’s domestic counter terrorism investigations.

He said many of these groups and individuals had seized on Covid 19 “believing it reinforces the narratives and conspiracies at the core of the ideologies”.

“They see the pandemic as proof of the failure of globalisation, multiculturalism and democracy and confirmation that societal collapse and a race war are inevitable.”

It is almost question time, which means it is time for the continued degradation of my soul.

Given the debate gag on Labor’s motion, I think we can expect quite a bit on the Leppington triangle sale today.

Which will bring a certain minister to the fore.

Brace yourself. White bread is coming.

And in case you missed this yesterday

Meanwhile:

I know people think Queensland politics is weird, but honestly, NSW continues to surprise me:

A AAA credit rating just means that money is super cheap to borrow – interest rates, which are locked in for bond terms over decades – are low, low, low.

Interestingly, the states tell me there is not that much difference in interest rates for AAA rated economies and AA or AA+ rated economies.

Which means money is really cheap for Australian governments. And those cheap interest rates are locked in for long enough, that by the time we have to start paying stuff back at a higher rate, the economy will be in a difference place.

Josh Frydenberg was excited today (from his statement):

Following Standard & Poor’s (S&P) reaffirming its AAA credit rating today, Australia remains one of only nine countries around the world to hold a AAA credit rating from all three major credit rating agencies.

Despite a once in a century pandemic, which “wreaked havoc on the global economy and government balance sheets around the world”, S&P has reaffirmed Australia’s AAA credit rating following the release of the Morrison Government’s Economic Recovery Plan to create jobs and secure Australia’s future.

In its report, S&P notes that the Morrison Government’s “balance sheet was strong before the pandemic” and that “Australia’s budget improved in recent years on the back of tight fiscal discipline, strong labour market conditions, and high commodity prices.”

S&P further states that “Australia’s typically strong fiscal performance remains a credit strength for the rating” and that “Australia’s economy is beginning to recover from its first recession in almost 30 years” and will “rebound strongly once borders open”.

Today’s decision by S&P is a further vote of confidence in the Morrison Government’s response to the health and economic crisis caused by COVID-19. The record levels of economic support we have provided has helped save 700,000 jobs.

Back to earlier this afternoon, this is what Catherine King wanted the house to debate:

That the House:

1. notes that:
1. the Audit Office found the Government paid $30 million for a piece of land that was worth $3 million;
2. the Minister for Infrastructure has described this purchase as a “bargain”;
3. last night, the Audit Office confirmed it provided information to the Australian Federal Police on 10 July this year about possible defrauding of the Commonwealth;
4. the Australian Federal Police is now investigating possible criminal conduct;
5. the Government never misses an opportunity to rort taxpayer funds; and
6. the Prime Minister announced a Commonwealth Integrity Commission years ago but has failed to introduce legislation to establish one; and
7. therefore, calls on the Minister for Infrastructure to attend the House and explain all he knows about this dirty deal and why he says it’s a “bargain”.

The government voted against suspending standing orders.

And this is what Andrew Wilkie wanted to debate:

That the House:

1. notes the allegations of Crown Resort’s links to organised crime, illegal offshore activities, insider trading, money laundering, illegal modification of gambling devices, domestic violence and drug trafficking; and
2. calls on the Australian Government to establish a Royal Commission to inquire into and report on Crown, including but not limited to:
1. the allegations of criminal activity made by the Member for Denison in the House of Representatives in October 2017;
2. the alleged criminal activity reported by Nine newspapers and 60 Minutes in July 2019;
3. the allegations of criminal activity made by the Member for Clark in the House of Representatives in July 2019;
4. the allegations of criminal activity made by the Member for Clark and the ABC in October 2019;
5. the response to these allegations by state and federal agencies;
6. the conduct of current and former associates of Crown including shareholders, managers and board members;
7. the conduct of current and former federal and state politicians and party officials relevant to the Crown matter;
8. specifically the Federal Government’s and Opposition’s refusal to endorse a motion, put by the Member for Clark on 15 October 2019, calling for a Royal Commission into the Australian casino industry; and
9. any related matters.

(this one was deferred)

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released payroll jobs data, a leading indicator that is a little more up to date than recent labour force statistics which showed unemployment nudging up to 6.9%.

The ABS found between the week ending 19 September and the week ending 3 October 2020:

• Payroll jobs decreased by 0.9%, compared to an increase of 0.5% in the previous fortnight
• Total wages paid decreased by 2.2%, compared to an increase of 1.3% in the previous fortnight

Changes to jobkeeper came into effect on 28 September, reducing the payment to $1,200a fortnight for full-time workers and less for part-time. It’s expected the changes will rip $10bn out of the economy by Christmas.

Troublingly, there was a decrease in jobs in all states and territories.

And although Victoria clearly has it worse, Australia-wide the rate of jobs recovery is tapering off, and even falling slightly in that fortnight:

For those wondering, in one of the weirder Canberra traditions, all the parties give a briefing on what happened in their respective party room meetings, which can not be attributed to anyone, as it is all on background.

Journalists can ask questions about whether something was discussed or not, but not – it is always “one member raised concerns on...” and then the phone calls start to find out who raised the concerns and what they were actually talking about.

It’s strange and didn’t happen in Queensland when I covered state politics – there you find out the legislation list after the party room meetings, but you have to make a bunch of phone calls to find out what was discussed. You still have to make a bunch of phone calls here too, but you get a small insight into what was actually talked about.

There has been some chatter about the government going to the polls in the second half of next year – which is the earliest the government can go without calling a double dissolution.

But the surest way to get people talking about something even more, is by saying it is not happening.

Anyways, in other news from the Coalition joint party room from Daniel Hurst:

Morrison also argued the budget had “hit the target” and urged colleagues to maintain their discipline, unity and focus. Christian Porter briefed the room on the industrial relations roundtables, indicated omnibus bill to be introduced to parliament by end of year.

Anyways, Daniel Hurst has a bit more on the addressing the thing that no one is talking about moment in the Coalition party room:

Scott Morrison told his colleagues at a joint party room meeting today he wasn’t thinking about the next election.

“I’m a full termer,” Morrison said, arguing elections were too difficult to win to cut terms short.

He said the next election was the furthest thing from his mind.

Which I guess means he is saying the election will be held in 2022. Still though.

Scott Morrison told the party room he was a “full termer”.

I don’t know if anyone had questioned that, so it’s a bit weird. I mean, it is Australian politics, so no prime minister’s position is entirely safe, but honestly – there has been nothing to suggest he wouldn’t be.

So why bring it up? Weird.

Just squaring the chronology circle from my last post, PMC officials have just corrected their evidence about when Simon Atkinson told them the Leppington issue had been referred to the police. PMC official Simon Duggan told the committee a minute ago he found out about the referral on September 21, but now acknowledges this can’t be possible given Atkinson didn’t refer the issue until early October.

Penny Wong finds it “a bit odd” that senior officials are confused about when a serious issue was referred to the police.

Did you take notes about your conversation with Atkinson, Wong asks Duggan?

He says there’s no record.

Former treasurer Peter Costello has given a keynote address at a Tax Institute event (doesn’t that sound like a hoot).

He spoke on the need for tax reform.

I am pretty sure we do that every second year, but here you go:

The underlying philosophy was this: that taxes should be efficient, simple and neutral.

Our argument is, it’s better to have fewer taxes, broader taxes and simpler taxes.

If you wanted to raise the base, I would say from my own point of view, and from the public’s point of view, tell us what you’re going to do with the money before we even entertain the issue.

The purpose of tax is to raise enough money to accompany other social objectives, without killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

You need tax to run your hospitals and you need it run your pensions and you need it to run your defence force. But if you take too much your economy is weakened. And your overall outcomes will be weakened. So the public good is to raise sufficient tax to run a decent society, but not so much to interfere with economic productivity.

The finance committee has moved on to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Labor’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, is leading the questions because Labor is going to the Leppington land sale (this is the controversial land purchase connected to the second Sydney airport that was castigated by the ANAO).

I should say Labor is trying to get to Leppington. Officials initially aren’t in a position to share a chronology of contact between Scott Morrison’s departmental head, Phil Gaetjens, and other senior officials about the damning ANAO assessment of the land purchase.

Wong is not amused. She says PMC is the “most unhelpful” department that appears before estimates. The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, thinks Wong is making “a political point”. Wong begs to differ. “It’s not a political point,” she says, adding that it is “either incompetence or a cover-up” that officials are appearing unprepared before the committee. She says this issue goes to potential criminality and is currently before the police for investigation.

PMC official Stephanie Foster tells the committee Gaetjens is comfortable with the way the secretary of the infrastructure department, Simon Atkinson, is handling the issue. PMC says Gaetjens has also spoken to the public service commissioner.

Foster says Atkinson called her when he was in receipt of the draft ANAO report. She says he was seeking advice from an old and trusted colleague skilled in governance issues “because it was clear to him ... that he had some serious issues to look at”.

Foster says she became aware that the Leppington issue had been referred to the AFP when Atkinson told her a couple of days ago. PMC official Simon Duggan says PMC became aware on September 21. Duggan says he was informed by Atkinson. Gaetjens (via Foster) says (presumably via a text message) that he had no knowledge prior to that.

Wong says she’s not sure those dates add up. (Based on evidence Atkinson gave yesterday, I think Wong is right because my recollection of yesterday was infrastructure didn’t refer the Leppington issues to the AFP until October).

The ANAO referred material to the AFP earlier than that.

Andrew Wilkie says the motion was provided to Labor ahead of time (and the government). He says it was given to the manager of opposition business.

Jason Clare says his advice is that Labor had not received it, but will correct the record if it turns out to be wrong.

The suspension of standing orders motion from Andrew Wilkie will fail, given the government doesn’t support it, so Jason Clare, who has been asked to explain why Labor supports the suspension of standing orders, but not the substantive motion itself, is now using the opportunity to smash up the government for previously gagging debate on everything from sports rorts to the Leppington triangle sale (that was today’s gagged motion from Catherine King).

Clare has moved on to the need for a national Icac.

Rebehka Sharkie has seconded Andrew Wilkie’s motion to suspend standing orders.

Labor supports the suspension, but not the substantive motion for an inquiry into Crown- Jason Clare says the opposition didn’t have advance warning of the motion, so it hasn’t yet had a chance to review it.

But it is supporting the motion to suspend standing orders, to encourage debate, as it does not support the “gagging” of public debate - which is what has been happening to Labor motions lately (although not yesterday, so there are exceptions)

He says Labor looks forward to the conclusion of the current inquiries and has “an open mind” if another inquiry is needed after that.

Darren Chester says the government wants to see where the current inquiries end up and does not support the suspension of standing orders.

Technically, they were already open to New Zealand travellers.

In the midst of all that, the House of Representatives started sitting.

It opened with Catherine King attempting to suspend standing orders, but that was gagged and shut down by the government (I think it was on the Leppington triangle).

We have moved on to Andrew Wilkie attempting to suspend standing orders to move a motion on the casino industry in Australia, specifically Crown casino – that follows Crown’s announcement it was being investigated over allegations of anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism breaches.

The Greens senator Jordon Steele-John, who fought for the disability abuse royal commission, has commented on the delay on granting witnesses anonymity:

This is a simple legislative fix that would be universally supported by the Australian parliament, and the attorney general has had at least eight months to get it done! There is simply no excuse for forcing disabled people to wait any longer to feel safe to tell their stories,” Steele-John said.

I have a bill before the Senate right now which could be passed in the upcoming November sitting.

The attorney general knows full well that his failure to act urgently is an impediment to the royal commission; the deliberate and ongoing delay amounts to a moral obstruction of justice.

To be able to properly investigate violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect the royal commission must be able to protect witnesses including, and especially, disabled people and other individuals who want to blow the whistle on institutions, service providers and government agencies.

Disability royal commission chair Ronald Sackville AO QC wrote to the attorney general in February formally asking him to change the law, and in the royal commission’s second progress report, released earlier this month, the chair dedicated an entire section (page 37) to the limitations this issue was placing on the scope of the royal commission.

So many people in our community have lost all faith in the system because of the violence, abuse, exploitation or neglect they, or their family, have suffered; they want to know that it is safe to tell their stories.

By delaying these important privacy protections until mid-2021 the attorney general is impeding the ability of the royal commission to do its job and he is failing disabled people.

Here is part of that exchange between Kristina Keneally and AFP deputy commissioner, Ian McCartney, in estimates:

KK: Has Icac been in contact with you?

IM: No.

KK: And you have you reached out to the Icac?

IM: Not yet.

KK: But that’s something you are intending to do?

IM: Correct.

KK: And that’s as a result of the revelation that have come out of Icac inquiry?

IM: There have been a range of revelations that have come out of it senator, yes.

KK: Yes. In this case I’m specifically referring to the fact that Mr Maguire has admitted he has engaged in this conduct of selling visas.

IM: Well I think there’s other issues in relation to Badgerys Creek in terms of just satisfy ourselves that Mr Maguire does not have any involvement in relation to the manner that we’re investigating. That’d be our or primary focus of engaging Icac at the minute Senator.

KK: Okay. So as part of your preliminary investigation into the Leppington Triangle...

IM: Correct.

KK: You would also speak to Icac about Mr Maguire’s potential involvement in land transactions there.

IM: Correct.

KK: Right. So back to my questions about the cash for visas. It does seem to me a bit strange and someone has admitted to doing that – a member of parliament no less; a former member of parliament now. So I am trying to understand is that something you’re keeping a watching brief on? Are you waiting for Department of Home Affairs to finish their audit? Because I’ve just tried to understand the status of your interest in what appears to be an admitted case of visa fraud.

IM: So we’re watching the inquiry and the outcomes of the inquiry but two aspects of the inquiry are still ongoing. And also, obviously I think the evidence is coming from the Secretary that those matters are being reviewed by the department.

We will also bring you more on this in just a moment

The Labor caucus has met without the pesky senators who are mostly in estimates committees.

On legislation, these were of note:

• Labor supports the jobmaker hiring credit, but it has been referred to a Senate inquiry so may seek to amend it after that
• Labor opposes the social security bill to extend the cashless welfare card
• On the national child sexual abuse redress scheme – Labor will support it but make amendments including that if institutions don’t join the redress scheme they lose tax deductability status.

Anthony Albanese’s speech was full of applause lines you will have heard publicly - that it is “beyond comprehension” that the government has nothing lasting to show from the budget despite public debt heading to $1tn.

Albanese said Scott Morrison is “addicted to announcement and retail politics but allergic to the hard work of national leadership and actual delivery”.

Several MPs dug into the Leppington Triangle sale and the Western Sydney airport development in general, and Mark Dreyfus said Labor should continue to call for a National Integrity Commission to address probity concerns.

There’s no final decision on how Labor will handle the nomination of Mathias Cormann to the OECD – Richard Marles said only that Labor will show “maturity” and be “adults” despite the fact the Coalition had refused to nominate Kevin Rudd to the UN secretary general.

The federal government is under fire over its failure to guarantee confidentiality to witnesses appearing at the disability royal commission.

The attorney general, Christian Porter, said on Tuesday he would introduce legislation next year to ensure the identity of witnesses would remain protected after the inquiry has concluded in 2022.

Under the current law, the commission cannot guarantee this confidentiality after it tables its final report, and the commissioner, Ronald Sackville, has called on the government to close that loophole.

The Greens’ disability spokesman, Jordon Steele-John, said on Tuesday:

This is a simple legislative fix that would be universally supported by the Australian Parliament, and the Attorney General has had at least eight months to get it done. There is simply no excuse for forcing disabled people to wait any longer to feel safe to tell their stories.

I have a bill before the Senate right now which could be passed in the upcoming November sitting.

The Attorney General knows full well that his failure to act urgently is an impediment to the Royal Commission; the deliberate and ongoing delay amounts to a moral obstruction of justice.

Disability Royal Commission Chair Ronald Sackville AO QC wrote to the Attorney General in February formally asking him to change the law, and in the Royal Commission’s second progress report, released earlier this month, the Chair dedicated an entire section (page 37) to the limitations this issue was placing on the scope of the Royal Commission.

Guardian Australia reported in June that one whistleblower who wanted to speak to the inquiry had declined to do so due to the lack of legal protections.

Power: “I’m not sure what you mean by a climate lens”

The Greens senator Larissa Waters wants to know whether the NCCC has applied a climate lens to its deliberations. Nev Power says “we’ve looked and taken input from a very wide range of sectors” including environmentalists.

But Power says the commission has been preoccupied with identifying and pursuing projects and policy that will help the country accelerate out of the downturn. So no climate lens then, Waters asks?

“I’m not sure what you mean by a climate lens,” Power says.

I’m going to impose a quick bit of analysis here: the IMF recently pointed out that one of the most effective means of boosting growth post-Covid would be a green led recovery using policy architecture that the Coalition abolished when it came to power in 2013.

The IMF.

Not the Socialist Alliance.

Power’s observations here reveal a locked mindset that’s worth highlighting.

But back to Power now.

He tells Waters the NCCC has consulted experts, including the chief scientist Alan Finkel, in shaping its advice to government.

Waters is joined by her colleague Sarah Hanson-Young who asks Power whether he came up with a list of 15 major projects the government wants to pursue (including the Olympic Dam expansion in South Australia and the Santos gas development in New South Wales).

Power says it wasn’t him. So no due diligence then?

No, Power says. Mathias Cormann says the government produced the list.

The list was “a decision by government”. Hanson-Young declares the list is a “dud”.

The Liberal senator James Paterson tells Hanson-Young to “take it to chamber”.

Nev Power has briefed the national security committee of cabinet

Over in finance, Labor’s Katy Gallagher persists with conflicts of interest.

She notes that Nev Power has stepped back from a number of boards while chairing the NCCC. Power confirms he’s not participating in board deliberations but he is still receiving board papers from the Perth Airport and Strike Energy.

Power says he’s not taken part in any decisions since he stood back from those duties. Power says he’s not recused himself from any NCCC deliberations “because there has been no direct conflicts of interest”.

Strike Energy is an oil and gas exploration company.

Mathias Cormann says Power has provided briefings in the course of his duties to the national cabinet and the NSC (the national security committee of Cabinet). Is that normal, Gallagher asks?

Cormann says these are extraordinary times. The finance minister mentions the country was at one point in danger of running out of toilet paper – which seems a distance from the weighty deliberations of the NSC – but I get what he means in the broad.

The Labor senator Tim Ayers is interested in the characteristics of this recession. He notes this is the first recession where female employment has fallen more precipitously than male employment.

Ayers wonders whether the Covid commission has provided any advice about that – boosting female employment?

“No senator, we haven’t,” Power says. The NCCC chair says they’ve looked at sectors, not gender.

During the estimates hearing, McCarney said the AFP was aware of the investigation by the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption – which has heard of matters relating to other parcels of land in the western Sydney airport area – and that was “ongoing”.

Asked if the AFP had any intention of looking into land transactions between Louise Waterhouse and the government, McCartney said: “At this stage our focus is on this matter in relation to this investigation.”

Reece Kershaw, the AFP commissioner, confirmed he had NOT received a phone call from the prime minister, Scott Morrison, about the Leppington Triangle investigation. Kristina Keneally said she had to ask the question because Morrison had previously called the NSW police commissioner over the Angus Taylor-related investigation.

There has been a bit of discussion at estimates about who knew what and when about the AFP investigation into the Leppington Triangle.

- The AFP formally decided on 27 July to initiate an investigation into the land purchase.

- The AFP says it informed the office of the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, on 22 September, when the Australian National Audit Office report was released, that an AFP investigation was underway. “We didn’t speak to any ministers’ officers before 22 September,” the deputy commissioner, Ian McCartney, said.

- The AFP did not inform the current infrastructure minister, Michael McCormack, or his office about the investigation.

- However, when the Infrastructure Department contacted the AFP on 8 October about the possibility of referring the matter to the AFP, the AFP briefed the department that police already had an active investigation based on an ANAO referral.

- The Infrastructure Department did not make a formal referral after that conversation, but the department informed an internal investigation was also underway and it offered full assistance with the AFP investigation.

- McCartney said he was unaware of whether or not there had been a leak prior to the Sydney Morning Herald submitting a media inquiry last week asking whether an investigation was underway, but noted it was a “fairly open ended” question. That was what led to the AFP’s public confirmation of its investigation.

Right, we will leave Daniel Andrews there. We will let you know what the outcome is of that case that may be someone who is shedding dead virus – if that is the case, then Victoria has no cases today.

Q: You said yesterday we were reluctantly in the New Zealand bubble. Are you open to allowing direct flights from New Zealand before other international flights?

Daniel Andrews:

That is potentially an option and we’re having a look at that, Lundy. You know, how we got to the point of being in the bubble, I think we’ve dealt with that and don’t need to go back through that again. I’m confident that we found all the people that had arrived, we’ve had a chat to them. It may be, given that’s where we find ourselves, that it’s just as easy to have international flights from New Zealand come here, so we are having a think about that and if we can get that done, then I’ll be able to confirm that at the appropriate time.

Q: Did you speak to Jacinda Ardern directly about New Zealanders potentially flying directly into Melbourne?

Andrews:

No, I haven’t. I am spoke with her on Saturday night about their election victory but I haven’t spoken to her since then. But I don’t know that I’d necessarily need a conversation with her about that. I would just make the point that none of these none of the drama or whatever you want to call it in the last few days is any reflection upon those New Zealanders who are travelling here. I want to make that point. We may finish up ... It may just be easier for us to have those flights come here, given they are from a low-virus place, but let’s look at that. You need to be obviously cautious and careful about doing that but it’s something we’re looking at.

Q: Premier, as you yourself have said it’s a low-virus place, was it a bit of an overreaction the way you responded to ...

Andrews:

No, I don’t think so. I made some comments I stand by. I don’t think it’s ever good – and I’m sure that other premiers in other states would probably have a similar view – it’s not good to have people turn up without any notice but that’s happened and ...

Q: Apparently some of those were actually shearers going into regional Victoria and they actually had the appropriate permits to go from Melbourne into the regions, so ...

Andrews:

And again I’ve made all these points and I’m not going back over ground that we’ve been well and truly over the last couple of days.

We’ve got no problem with those individuals, the challenge was about we were asked do we want to be in it, we said no, and now we find ourselves in it.

That’s fine. We’ll work it through. There’s nothing to be served I think by this sort of toing and froing. I don’t think the points I made on Saturday were unreasonable in any way but that’s in the past now and it may even be that the easiest thing for us to do, given where we’re at and given the effect of national policy settings, it may be just as easy to have those flights come here but, again, that’s not entirely a decision for me to make.

We’d need to talk to some other people, including Melbourne airport, about that. I’m pretty sure they’d be keen to have them back and have as many flights as possible. I’m not interested in going back over these things.

Q: There’s an extraordinary hotel quarantine inquiry meeting today. What are you expecting out of that today?

Daniel Andrews:

I’ve got no expectations at all. I’ve got no knowledge of what they’ll be doing. They’ll do what they need to do and after that, I think, they’ll be continuing on to get their report done and handed up to us, to all Victorians, no later than the sixth. I have no advice to the contrary.

Q: Apart from the phone records that were requested, have you been asked to hand up any further information or to appear again?

Andrews:

We’ve certainly not been asked to appear. Any requests of any other information, we, of course, as we have always done of course, we would hand that up.

Q: Has there been a request for extra information from your office following the request for phone records?

Andrews:

Following the phone records? I think there may have been a letter – I’ve not seen it – but there may have been a letter asking for clarification on a number of not new issues, but of course there have been some in recent times. I can try and come back to you on that. But I’ve certainly not been called but I don’t know whether anyone else has been called. I’ve got no knowledge of what they’re doing today because they are an independent board and they’ll do whatever they think is appropriate.

Q: Do you for see that you will not get the report on 6 November, given extra information has been requested?

Andrews:

I wouldn’t make that judgment. What you put to me could be right but we certainly haven’t been asked or been told that there will be extra time needed. So the original timeline holds as I stand here now. I don’t know what will be said today. We’ve got no involvement in that and if I could share with you thoughts on what today was about, I would, but I know no more than you do.

Q: Has the inquiry asked for any further funding?

Andrews:

No.

Daniel Andrews says he “wouldn’t be surprised” if returned travellers wearing electronic tags is spoken about at this Friday’s national cabinet meeting.

Friday’s meeting will be the first in more than a month – the fortnightly schedule was broken by first the budget, and then the prime minister’s plane breaking down, delaying his return to Sydney. (Apparently there were no available secure communications facilities in north Queensland, where he was stranded.)

Andrews:

I don’t have an update on those discussions but I know those options and many others are being looked at DJCS, who are now running the program, albeit it a tiny fraction of what it will become when flights are back, and it’s looking after different cohorts, majority of whom have chosen to isolate in that setting as opposed to their own home for instance.

I’d take you to the prime minister’s comments about a – I think he used the term a graduated or risk-based approach. We’ve got national cabinet this Friday. I wouldn’t be surprised if these things are talked about there, if not then, then at a future national cabinet meeting.

Q: Have they been discussed at a national cabinet meeting?

Andrews:

I’m not sure. I think that what I interpret – I haven’t seen the papers because we didn’t have the meeting last Friday, but what I interpret the prime minister to be saying – and I’m not if I’m not accurate, somebody will point that out – is the notion that everyone who returns from everywhere goes into 14 days of a hotel may not be the policy going forward as we look to the entirety of 2021 not knowing when a vaccine turns up.

That would then mean that you’ve got options and one of those options might to be to say to people – and other countries in the world are doing this – here is an electronic device that means we can be certain about where you are.

But there is some technology that can monitor your vital signs as well, so it becomes something that’s not just to ensure you stay where you’re supposed to stay. It’s also a way in which we can monitor whether you’re healthy or otherwise. That’s a piece of work that’s being done. I’m not sure exactly where that’s up to. The final point I’d make – it’s a simple question but the answer can’t necessarily be simple. The other point is the board will report to us early November and I’m not sure what, if anything, they might say about what an appropriate set of arrangements is, so we have to wait tour that too.

Q: Premier, just a question on Sunday and health authorities’ thinking on what might have to happen for us to open up early, we haven’t had a mystery case in a number of days and it looks like that trend could continue. If we had one mystery case this week, would that effectively rule out the bringing forward of that timetable?

Daniel Andrews:

No.

Q: Would it cause enough to rule that out?

Andrews:

No. When the numbers get this low, and when we’ve seen this amount of time pass – I made some comments ... I think it was early last week, that ultimately you may get to a point where you’ve just got to make a call that this is as good as it gets and you always hope that things could further improve and numbers could further drop. It is not ... We’re not so finely balanced that one case would throw us off. A big outbreak with many tens of people for instance could potentially cause ...

Q: Even an unknown case?

Andrews:

No. I think we have to ... We all have to accept and the public health team does accept and so do I that we will end up with additional cases and outbreak for the rest of this year and into 2021.

A percentage of those, albeit a small percentage of those, we won’t be able to work out the index case – who did they get it from and how.

That is the nature of this virus and it principally goes to the fact that you can have it, not really know you had it, not get tested and then never get tested. It’s the kind of silence of this thing that makes it as challenging, and it moves so fast as well.

So the answer to your question is no, a single case like that would not be the difference between this Sunday – and I do stress it would be Sunday for a staged opening a couple of days later – and waiting until 1 November. I’m not encouraging mystery cases but in answer to your cases, but in answer to your question, it would not be enough to throw us off course.

Q: In terms of the Covid normal, the work from home if you can policy – how long do you foresee that staying in place in Victoria?

Daniel Andrews:

Look, that’s a very difficult question to answer. It’s an important question. I know there are lots of businesses, and in talking to particularly larger employers who have significant buildings in the city city and the more people there are in the city, the more business there is for restaurants, cafes and all of that, it’s difficult to say how long ‘if you can work from home, you must work from home’ will be in place.

I’ll take you through the reasons for that. Obviously, indoors is more risky than outdoors.

This is not like a restaurant where you might be there for a couple of hours. People are there for a whole working day. You have shared spaces with much larger numbers of people – people in lifts, people in common areas – and then, of course, there is the small matter of people getting to work.

And public transport at 75%, or 85%, or 100% of patronage presents some very significant challenges to us.

Hopefully we can get to a point as soon as possible where we can say, OK, with rules, this is how you can have, for instance, a percentage of people back. But at this stage, it is best to plan, I think, for, if you can work from home, you must work from home being a feature of 2020.

If we can change that, then, of course, we will, but we just have to be safe. Otherwise, we finish up compromising everything that people have built and done.

Q: Just to clarify, most businesses should prepare, worst-case scenario is not until 2021 with everyone back?

Andrews:

I’m not making announcements on this today but you’ve asked a perfectly legitimate question. I’m trying to give you a sense of it but these are not final answers because the public health team will work through this.

There may be different settings. A high-rise office block in the centre of Melbourne is very different to perhaps an of 10 in the suburbs. We’ll have more to say in time. But if you can work from home, you must work from home will be a feature of opening-up for a period of time. I can’t say how long but as soon as I can, of course I will.

Q: Can you tell us what you’re waitling for for regional Victoria in are you waiting for the five mystery cases in Melbourne? What are you waiting for?

Daniel Andrews:

In terms of the border? I don’t think it’s necessarily a hard number because when the numbers get this low, as we’ve said a number of times, it’s very much about the story that sits behind them, not just a case, but the type of case.

For instance, yesterday, we did a report – and the day before even – we reported a small number of new cases but they were associated with somebody else who was positive in the same household so they’d been quarantining.

They’d been locked away, they don’t pose a risk to anybody else. Passage of time is very important ... The closer we can have Melbourne and regional Victoria, if they can both get to very, very numbers, the risk will be lower if we allow people a greater freedom of movement to go to regional Victoria. I understand it. I get it.

It’s not special pleadings or anything, but you and I, just two examples, I’ve not seen my family that live three hours away from where I live since Christmas. You’re probably in a similar position.

There are many, many people that desperately want to see the people they love the most and then there’s lots of other reasons, employment reasons, economic reasons, all sorts of things.

And we want those regional tourism businesses to have bookings. I get it at a very personal level and in policy terms as well. But all the feedback I get from regional communities - is they’re proud of what they’ve been able to achieve. They want Melburnians back visiting but they want it when it’s safe and sadly I can’t announce today exactly when that will be, but I can certainly reconfirm that that’s driving us.

Q: Will it be in the next month?

Andrews:

I would certainly hope so that in the next month, during November, we can get to that point. I can’t give you a day but I would point you to this - we’re all working towards a Covid-normal Christmas and a Christmas in my judgement, certainly as an aim, is for families to be able to come together and celebrate that day and the date around it as close to normal as possible, and that will require, obviously, some greater freedom of movement.

There may well still be rules, there may still be things you have to do so it is a Covid-normal Christmas, not a normal Christmas, but we’ll get that metro-regional boundary off as soon as we can.

It’s serving a really important purpose now. We’re grateful to those who have not travelling who are realised it’s not safe to travel. For anyone who thinks the odds are good, the odds are in their favour that they can sneak into regional Victoria, I wouldn’t do that, for public health reasons and because there’s every chance you will get caught.

Q: Given you’ve got two long weekends basically back to back, how confident are you that ring of steel will stop people travelling to their holiday homes this weekend?

Daniel Andrews:

I’d simply say to anybody who’s got a second residence or are is going it go and stay with friends or whatever it might be, the fines are significant and police are not mucking about with this.

There are checkpoints. They will stop you. I won’t speak to whatever operations they will put in place. That’s a matter for them. But I think there will be a heightened focus on those sorts of issues, just as is there is with traffic policing, and road safety policing, every single week.

If you get caught – and there’s every chance you will be – it’s almost a $5,000 fine. The second point is we all have to keep at this, not for that much longer. That’s what the numbers and the experts tell us. Then we can open.

And then the whole focus will move every single individual, every single family, every business, every part of the state, the focus will move to almost exclusively stay safe and stay open, no cutting corners, no, you know, I’m wearing a mask but it’s around my neck ... All that sort of stuff. People are just going to are to be vigilant about this. Otherwise we run the risk that it comes back.

Now, having got the numbers low, we’ve got every chance to keep them low but it will be down to the literally hundreds of millions of choices that millions of Victorians make every day.

Q: Premier, on restrictions being eased ahead of November 1, do you anticipate that they’re more likely to be social or economic restrictions?

Daniel Andrews:

No, no, we’ve outlined that the areas that hopefully on Sunday we can have more to say about is retail, it will be reasons to leave your home, it will be that kind of hospo sector, so pubs and restaurants and cafes, so all those sorts of things, together with other businesses that remain closed today. It won’t necessarily be every single business. Some of them will remain high risk. I know that’s challenging.

It won’t be every business that is open, open to full. That doesn’t make a lot of sense either.

We’ve got to gradually do this. We continue to work – I was having discussions with colleagues this morning about meetings and discussions they had last night and into the early hours of this morning with various industry leaders in different sectors trying to work through what Sunday’s announcements mean for them and what this coming Sunday’s announcements might mean for them also.

There was potentially a reinfection of a person in Moonee Valley – I think there have been about six document cases of re-infection of Covid reported globally, so Victoria is still working out the details of that case.

Daniel Andrews:

That stays in the numbers. So there’s that issue.

There are a number of ... And the one that I mentioned today, so the Brimbank one, who we think is a shedding rather than an active case.

So it’s a retest and there’s been very few of those across the world – literally single figures, and maybe not even five.

You’ve then got a situation where – so mystery cases plus some of these ones that are a little bit complex and not quite certain, they go to a panel and there’s a panel of people who – this is what they do.

They look at the very detailed ... Back to that point in that the science of it, to try and properly understand if it is or isn’t an active case, is a mystery case – firstly, is it actually a case?

Because some of them are very low positives, for instance, false positives as well, possibly. So they work through that in a very painstaking way.

I don’t think there’s an update. Those two mysteries that have dropped off, I think that’s through the passage of time, not through that review process, but I’ll commend to the chief health officer that he include a section in today’s release on that process and any other material updates from it.

Q: It feels like deja vu, back on Mother’s Day, there was the wait until the day after for restrictions to be eased and a lot of people ignored the rules and did what they liked for Mother’s Day. Do you fear the same will happen for the grand final?

Daniel Andrews:

I’m not sure how people behaved on Mother’s Day. Some people will draw a conclusion like that.

I think that through this, the vast majority of Victorians have done the right thing and I’m grateful to them. You don’t achieve these sorts of numbers, you don’t go from 700-plus cases a day down to one or two, you just don’t achieve that unless people are following the rules and I think there will always be examples of people who aren’t and I would just appeal to them please do the right thing because whether you like it or not, we’re all in this together, and the bad behaviour of a small group of people can have massive repercussions and consequences for everybody.

So inspect’s got the right to make what is ultimately a very selfish choice to put their interests ahead of the interests of the entire Victorian community.

No one, no one should be doing that. Let’s not have that, though, detract from the amazing work that so many people, literally millions of people, have been doing every day for months now. It is a credit to the strength and character, the resilience and basically it’s a credit to what Victorians are made of, you know in we know we’ve got to do this properly and that’s exactly what we’re doing.

Back to Daniel Andrews:

Q: You said this weekend it looks like we are geared to wind back restrictions. What are the chances that we may be able to do that before the grand final?

Andrews:

No. We’ve been very clear that we want to look at numbers as they unfold this week. I’ll stand here on Sunday and hopefully be able to confirm for Victorians that when it comes to retail, pubs, restaurants, cafes, bars, as well as a number of other settings, that we can have what’s been termed a dark opening for, say, the first one or two days of next week and then we can be up and running from then.

It’s not appropriate for us to try and bring that forward. That is already essentially based on numbers bringing things forward from 1 November.

I know it’s frustrating but the passage of time is really important this in.

You only know ... The picture on any one day is not as complete as you would like. There’s a number of reasons for that. This virus can be latent.

Not everybody who’s got symptoms gets tested as quickly as they should. There are even some people who have symptoms and don’t get tested.

We’ve got mystery cases, many of which despite literally hundreds of hours of really detailed detective work, we can’t establish how the person got it.

All of those factors have to come into play. I know people want to come together and be together to watch the grand final. That is not possible this year and if people try and do that, if people go and spend time at a friend’s place are family member’s place, then they potentially put at risk everything that we’ve built.

Ultimately, no one game of footy, no one barbecue or dinner with friends is worth all that can be on offered in a Covid-safe summer and a Covid-safe and Covid-normal 2021. I know it’s ... I know what the footy means, whether your team is in the grand final or not. I know what that means.

But it’s important we see this thing off properly. Sunday can be a day where we’ll have more to say. If this trend continues throughout the week – sadly, I can’t predict what tomorrow’s number will be or Thursday or Friday. If the trend holds up, we’re well-placed.

So the needle was changed between each person, but there were cases where the main unit, which is designed for multiple use with ONE person, was used multiple times across different people.

The risk of any transmission of anything is very low – again, the needles were changed. But still, best to get this stuff checked.

Martin Foley:

This was picked up because the Alfred’s professional nursing staff questioned the arrangements.

There is no evidence of anyone picking up any blood-borne virus from this and I stress that there is no prospect of coronavirus being shared by this. Coronavirus is not a blood-borne virus.

It is a respiratory virus.

This was picked up by the Alfred’s proper clinical processes coming to bear after an earlier clinical breakdown.

...So this issue was identified in late August. The Alfred then that to Safer Care Victoria, who, together with its staff and the Alfred’s staff and the Department of Health and Human Services records, that both electronic records and hard-copy records required 28,000 records to be carefully and methodically interrogated.

That process ended over the weekend and Safer Care Victoria and the Alfred made their comments publicly straight after that, yesterday. And that’s as it should be in quickly responding to a clinical breakdown as soon as they’ve got all the evidence in place and all the systems in place to respond to it.

Victorian health minister Martin Foley is giving an update on another potential (low risk) issue – I’ll let him explain, so I don’t muck it up:

I also wanted to touch on the Safer Care Victoria work being undertaken with the Alfred hospital, in relation to the blood glucose level work as a result of clinical errors that have been established in the hotel quarantine program.

Safer Care Victoria have launched a review into the use of the blood glucose testing devices during the quarantine accommodation period in Victoria.

A blood glucose level test is a finger-prick test to get a drop of blood. The device used had a test lancet or needle and a main body. The needles can be changed, and were changed, between use. The needle was not the issue. The device in question is designed for repeated use by one person, not one use by multiple persons.

And that seems to be the clinical breakdown in this case. I need to stress that this is, according to all the clinical advice, a very, very low risk of cross-contamination but, out of an abundance of caution, Safer Care Victoria and the Alfred are doing precisely the right thing in a very risk-avers way of seeking to contact all of the people involved.

That involved going through 28,000 individual records of care that were provided to people involved in the quarantine hotel processes between March and late August to establish what was the potential range of which people with blood glucose level issues would have been identified.

That work identified a potential 243 residents who identified as having a finger-prick test based on those health records.

As a result, the Alfred and Safer Care Victoria have established a dedicated contact line for anyone who has been involved in the hotel quarantine period for any information and support and that number is 1800 356 061 and is open from 8.00am to 8.00pm seven days a week, and has interpreter support services as a part of that.

OK, now that we have caught up on all the news, let’s go to Daniel Andrews’s press conference.

Labor’s Katy Gallagher asks Nev Power whether he was briefed on the gas-fired recovery plan?

Power says the NCCC provided significant input on the government’s manufacturing plan.

Gallagher asks whether the commission intends to release the manufacturing taskforce report that leaked earlier this year.

You can read Adam Morton’s report of that leak here.

Power says that report is with government. An official at the table says it is “a matter for government to release” the report.

Cormann is beginning to fire up now. He says Gallagher is trying to drum up a narrative about the commission having access to government documents as a “sinister” turn of events.

Gallagher says not sinister, unusual.

“I know you are trying to build this up as something you discovered this morning,” Cormann says.

The finance minister says it has “always been clear” the coordination commission plays an advisory role. Gallagher insists (correctly) that this is unusual from a governance perspective.

She moves on now to Power giving ministers a ride in his private plane. Power commutes to Canberra from Perth in his own aircraft. Cormann fires up again. He says if Power didn’t provide periodic transport, West Australian ministers (including himself) would be spending weeks in quarantine or summoning special purpose aircraft flights.

“But it gives Mr Power some special access to decision makers, doesn’t it?” Gallagher notes.

Cormann counters that Power is the head of the Covid commission. “We want advice from him to maximise Australia’s recovery,” the finance minister says. Gallagher notes that taxpayers are funding this whole exercise, but have only “limited lines of sight”.

She says “what about that manufacturing paper?” Her point is when will that be released?

“This all seems a bit cosy – isn’t it,” Gallagher says. “Find me somewhere else where this happens like this”.

Gallagher wants to know whether documents are being accessed off CabNet by commissioners.

Apparently not, but the PMC staff have access to those materials, including “green” briefs that go to the expenditure review committee of cabinet. These materials can form the basis of briefings to commissioners. Officials tell the hearing some of the briefings are verbal rather than on paper. Commissioners also have access to secure iPads. They are also required not to benefit from any privileged information they have access to in this role.

Gallagher asks the officials how many times commissioners have declared a conflict of interest.

“There have been very few instances,” an official says. Less than 10 occasions.

Greens senator, Janet Rice, has asked about a $103m top-up for the community development grant program which Labor has labelled a slush-fund.
In addition to the $23m for the Rocky Sports Club’s proposed 16,000 seat stadium in Rockhampton, there were two $5m grants in Rebekha Sharkie’s seat of Mayo.
Officials have now added a few more:

• $3.5m for a Holocaust museum in Queensland
• $2.6m for the Amy Gillett Bikeway between Mount Torrens and Birdwood
• $1.5m for the McLaren Vale to Mclaren Flat pathway
• $1m for the Mount Barker and Victor Harbour TAFE campuses; and
• $300,000 for the Yankalilla community library

The rest of the $103m has not been allocated or announced.
Rice said it was “very suspicious” that most of the grants had gone to South Australia while the government was negotiating with Centre Alliance over higher education changes.
Anne Ruston defended the $23m grant to Rocky Sports Club - claiming LNP member Michelle Landry had announced it (actually, both she and Pauline Hansonwere there); referring questions about why Hanson rocked up with a novelty cheque to Hanson; and arguing the project had the “overwhelming support of the Rockhampton community”.
Officials took on notice details of when and how they became aware of the Rocky decision.

In infrastructure estimates, Labor’s Murray Watt is probing the local government Financial Assistance Grant program, which provides $1.3bn for councils to “assist with the combined impacts of drought, bushfires and the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Watt asks officials why some areas worst hit by bushfires, including the New South Wales south coast in the seat of Eden Monaro and Blue Mountains in the seat of Macquarie missed out on funding.

Infrastructure officials explained that bushfire was just one of the factors considered, along with the hit to tourism and the potential for economic growth and recovery after Covid-19.

Departmental secretary, Simon Atkinson, said he “stands by the analysis” that resulted in 10 regions getting funding, but officials do not say whether the regions they recommended were the same 10 cabinet and ministers agreed to fund.

Watt said:

“This government has a habit of rorting for political ends. This is a fund supposed to be for drought, bushfires and Covid – it includes regions that haven’t had drought or bushfires, and happens to magically leave out regions most hit by bushfires, just magically held by Labor. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist [to worry about partisan allocation]. You’ve got form.”

The duty minister, Anne Ruston, rejected Watt’s inference that ministerial intervention had resulted in regions being selected “on some political basis”, claiming the regions selected were “based on” departmental recommendations. Ruston noted the Snowy Mountains region is in Eden Monaro and received funding. She committed to come back with more information.

Looks like the Labor caucus meeting has broken up – we will have an update on that for you soon.

The AFP has also provided an insight into the types of criminal offences that may form part of the investigation into the Leppington Triangle land purchase, during an appearance before the Senate’s legal affairs committee.

When the Labor senator Kristina Keneally asked whether the investigation would look at possible breaches of divisions 134 and 135 of the Criminal Code, which criminalises obtaining property by deception or other fraudulent conduct, the AFP’s Ian McCartney said: “Correct.”

But when she asked about division 141, saying it criminalises bribery of commonwealth public officials and solicitation and receipt of bribes, McCartney replied: “We’ve probably got more of a focus on 142 which is corruption of public officials. It’s an offence that we’ll assess.”

The Greens senator Rachel Siewart is worried the Covid commission has been asked for its input on the jobseeker payment (the effective doubling of Newstart).

What is being done for genuinely vulnerable people, Siewart asks?

Mathias Cormann launches into an explanation of labour market participation incentives.

He says a stronger economy helps vulnerable people. Economic growth is more beneficial for people at the lower-income end, Cormann says.

Siewart asks Power what evidence he used as the basis for his advice to the government about jobseeker?

Power says he distilled business feedback. He says he collected views from businesses “and a wide range of organisations”, including the Australian Council of Social Service. He says no voices were excluded.

Cormann tells Siewart the Covid commission is “one input”. Siewart appears unconvinced.

“Did you collect views on jobseeker and the concept of reducing the payment for part-time workers,” Siewart asks.

No, Power says.

Siewart asks Power whether he’s provided advice to the government about the definition of employment? No, Power says.

Siewart asks Power whether he’s worried the job creation at the moment seems to be part time?

Power says he’s worried, but “businesses are very tentative about putting long term decisions in place when there is so much uncertainty”.

The AFP’s Ian McCartney told estimates the AFP had made a decision on 27 July to initiate an investigation into the Leppington Triangle land purchase issue. He said there had been meetings between AFP officers and officers of the Australian National Audit Office.

McCartney said the ANAO had provided the AFP with 256GB of information – comprising more than 800 files – and officers were working their way through the material.

McCartney said the investigation was focused on the discrepancy between the sale price and the valuations.

He said he would still describe the investigation as being at an early stage, and the AFP was yet to identify any criminality.

McCartney said the investigation was being handled by the AFP’s eastern command (Sydney office). He said given it had been classified as a sensitive investigation, there would be oversight by a sensitive investigations board.

Labor senator Kristina Keneally asked whether the investigation was looking at persons within government and/or persons external to government.

McCartney explained the AFP’s first focus was “identifying whether we believe a criminal offence has occurred” and then it would identify the individuals allegedly involved.

Pressed on whether the AFP could rule out a focus on officials, ministers or ministerial advisers, McCartney said: “We can’t rule anybody out but we can’t rule anybody in either.”

Back in the finance committee, the Liberal senator James Paterson is pursuing a line of questioning about business frustrations with continuing Covid restrictions in Victoria. Nev Power says businesses are frustrated and want greater input into government decision-making. Paterson invites Power to reflect on the government’s budget measures.

Power says the October budget was important for promoting business confidence. “Business is more confident today than it was six months ago,” Power says.

He says business now understands that Covid is likely a long-lived phenomenon so the approach has to be adaptation rather than bunkering and waiting for the crisis to pass.

Reece Kershaw, the AFP commissioner, confirms he was first approached by the auditor general about the Leppington Triangle land purchase scandal by telephone on 10 July.

Kershaw said that was not the actual formal referral but it was a conversation to discuss “what the auditor general had discovered” and to raise some of those issues.

Kershaw says they discussed “what the process of a referral would look like … and to discuss some of the initial findings verbally and then to work out what’s the best way forward”.

He also confirmed that he received a letter around the 13 July from the auditor general. He said the letter said the auditor general considered it in public interest to provide information in the attachment and it was up to the AFP as to the investigation of the matter.

“It was in the letter – basically saying they could not find a previous referral in the last 20 years and there were no established procedures and that’s why we had a conversation prior to the letter.”

He said there was an attachment which was the valuation approach, the comparison of the price paid against nine valuations, and some other material.

Kershaw said he wrote back on 17 July to offer AFP points of contact and to raise the prospect of the AFP meeting with senior officers of the audit team to go through the material.

Picking up from the evidence in estimates this morning that business leaders have access to cabinet deliberations, Katy Gallagher asks Nev Power whether the NCCC was briefed about the budget.

He says they provided “input” to decisions like the design of income support for the pandemic: jobseeker and jobkeeper. “At various times we submitted points on jobseeker and jobkeeper,” Power says.

And in the lead-up to the budget? “Yes,” Power says.

Jobseeker didn’t get extended beyond December, Gallagher notes – was that your advice? Mathias Cormann cuts that question off at the pass.

“You know Mr Power can’t answer the question you asked him,” Cormann says.

We aren’t going to talk about confidential cabinet deliberations here, he says.

Gallagher says she’s entitled to ask Power the question and he’s entitled to answer it.

Cormann insists it’s off limits. He says there’s nothing improper about the government seeking advice to inform the budget and other deliberations.

“Why would we have an advisory body if we didn’t seek their advice,” Cormann says.

Gallagher says Power is entitled to claim public interest immunity if he doesn’t want to answer questions about their “level of influence”.

Meanwhile, Ireland is imposing many of the same restrictions Victorians saw – including a 5km radius – after case numbers exploded in that country.

When the virus is getting out of control, lockdowns appear to be the only thing that work bring it back under control (we do need to have a separate conversation on the policing of those lockdowns and the powers given to police during those lockdowns).

So for those asking, the official count for Victoria is two – one locally acquired case and one person in hotel quarantine after returning from overseas, who has a Victorian address.

The way the Australian system works is you are counted as a case of the jurisdiction you are usually a resident of – no matter which state you end up in for hotel quarantine.

So if you are usually a resident of Queensland, but arrive from overseas in Sydney, you are counted as a Queensland case.

But Victoria recorded just one locally acquired case in the last 24 hours. So technically two in terms of the record, but just one within the state.

Daniel Andrews will hold his 110th consecutive press conference at 11am.

Reece Kershaw, the AFP commissioner, says there has been an increase in many types of crime during the pandemic, including reports of online child exploitation rising 163% compared with the corresponding period last year.

He says as of 30 September, the AFP has received 28 reports of fraud against the commonwealth in relation to the support packages. He says the taskforce focusing on this issue will continue to pursue those who attempt to commit fraud.

Kershaw says the AFP has maintained an international presence during the pandemic, with members deployed across 33 countries.

More broadly, he says the biggest challenge in community confidence is helping the public to understand what the AFP does. He cites the impact of “recent public conversations” about press freedom (that would be a reference to raids on the ABC and Annika Smethurst). He says he believes in a free and open press.

Business leaders are briefed about cabinet deliberations
Back at Senate estimates and the Covid commission, the PMC official Stephanie Foster has told the committee the objective behind establishing the coordination commission was that a “clear business perspective” was being fed into government decisions.

Foster says the taskforce supporting the commissioners has “access to the same material that the rest of PMC has” – which means confidential cabinet documents.

The Labor senator Katy Gallagher wants to know if the commissioners, the business appointees, have access to cabinet submissions.

Foster says no. But she says members of the taskforce have access to cabinet documents when relevant and these officials then brief the business advisers.

Foster says PMC “initiated a process” where the commissioners had a “baseline security clearance to facilitate this”.

But she says only the information that “needs to be passed is passed”. (Pretty extraordinary, this development in governance.)

Gallagher summarises the extraordinary by noting that some members of the coordination commission would have better access to government documents and deliberations “than some members of this committee”.

She means the Coalition members. Mathias Cormann says the commission is “part of executive government”.

“You can’t ask them to do this job with two arms tied behind their back,” Cormann says.

Gallagher says this is all pretty cosy. Cormann isn’t having it.

The people need tools to do their job “for Australia” effectively, he says.

Daniel Hurst is watching the legal affairs committee:

Reece Kershaw, the AFP commissioner, is up now at estimates. He is expected to face questions about the referral of the Leppington Triangle land purchase issue from the audit office.

No surprises, but Emily’s List is in support of Tim Watts’ bid to have the Victorian electorate of Gellibrand renamed Kirner.

Morning all.

Nev Power’s Covid commission is first up at finance estimates this morning.

A quick run through the opening facts. The Covid coordination commission’s budget is $6.5m – the commission has spent $4.4m to date.

The group now has 20 full-time equivalent staff and a couple of contractors.

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet officials tell the hearing Peter Harris (a former chair of the Productivity Commission who was the chief executive of the Covid commission), has departed that role.

The membership of the Covid commission’s advisory board was recently expanded. There’s some discussion about how the new people were appointed and whether the appointments were ratified by the cabinet.

The answers from the finance minister Mathias Cormann aren’t entirely clear but it looks like the appointments touched some part of cabinet.

The engagement fee for the new board members (if they are being paid, some work pro-bono) is $2,000 a day up to two days per week.

The Labor senator Katy Gallagher asks why Harris left. The officials say Harris had told the government he was prepared to fill the CEO role for six months, and the six months is now done. Power says Harris has offered to stay on in an advisory capacity for a few months.

Harris is now on a contract.

For those who are asking, we are still waiting on the official DHHS tweet with the daily numbers, but the DHHS website was updated with the last 24 hours.

(I am being told the link is dead now – but that is where the information came from.)

Also, the ABS will be releasing its wage data today.

Meanwhile, estimates has started.

The DHHS site also reports 13 mystery cases in the 14 days leading up to 17 October.

That means there are still instances of the virus floating around the community which have not been caught as yet.

Also from the DHHS site is the rolling 14-day average.

It has the metro Melbourne average for the last 14 days between 06 October and 19 October at 6.4 and regional Victoria at 0.5

Statewide that average is 6.9.

Meanwhile, the Victorian hotel quarantine inquiry will hold an extraordinary sitting today.

Christian Porter has released some previously redacted reports from the royal commission into institutional child abuse, without redactions.

You can find those here.

That statistic of there being just 17 electorates named after women reminds me of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s meeting rooms.

The rooms were named after famous male diplomats and, when they ran out of those, they went to … flowers.

It was only when it was suggested that maybe, there were some famous female diplomats worthy of the honour (when Frances Adamson took over as head of the department under Julie Bishop as minister) that the flower rooms were renamed.

While we are in the lull, Tim Watts has launched a campaign to rename his electorate of Gellibrand, Kirner, in honour of Joan Kirner, the first woman to become premier of Victoria.

The party room meetings are being held this morning, which means parliament will be a little quieter than usual.

We’ll bring you those updates soon.

We are still waiting on the daily numbers but in the meantime here is what NSW was worried about yesterday.

Anthony Albanese also wade into the New Zealand travel bubble – which is the whole of Australia because, despite only two jurisdictions signing up to receive flights, we are one country:

I think the real concern here is just the lack of information of what was going on here.

You would have seen Scott Morrison up in Queensland last week saying, “Well, people can’t come here because they can only come to New South Wales and the Northern Territory.” And they made a big deal about what is, of course, a one-way bubble – people can’t go to New Zealand. Jacinda Ardern put in place some pretty strict restrictions, including banning people coming into New Zealand.

And then all of a sudden people found out that there were a couple of dozen people who have gone to Victoria, people who have gone to WA, people who have gone to South Australia. It wasn’t quite the restricted bubble that the federal government announced.

So, I think that was the issue, just a lack of transparency and information.

Now, state governments are dealing with it. I don’t see it as the biggest issue, but it is, certainly in terms of our international borders, I will tell you what concerns me more, is the 29,000 stranded Aussies overseas and getting them back soon.

And we’ve been raising this now for many months. And we are getting, every federal MP, I’m sure Labor and Liberal, are getting so many representations from distraught family because people are just stranded overseas.

And that is clearly the federal government that has responsibility for our international borders. And they need to be doing more about that.

Anthony Albanese has told Adelaide radio 5AA he will be a guest on Christopher Pyne’s podcast.

Pyne used to do a weekly radio slot with Albanese on that same radio station – but “two tribes” became “one tribe” after Pyne retired and no one from the Liberals stepped up to fill his radio slot.

Asio will also be questioned today.

It’s worth reading up on the latest national security legislation being proposed.

In estimates, the prime minister and cabinet department get their time in front of Penny Wong’s eyebrow.

There will be quite a bit on the western Sydney land purchase in that hearing.

I mean ...

The royal commission into the abuse and neglect of people in disability care is being amended, so people can tell their stories without being identified.

The chair of the royal commission, Ronald Sackville, asked for the amendments to be made. Christian Porter said they will be done “swiftly”.

Mark McGowan has called the ongoing arrival of freight ships in WA as the state’s “weakest link” in its Covid protection ring.

As AAP reports:

The continued arrival of ships carrying crew infected with COVID-19 is one of Western Australia’s “weakest links” and greatest risks, Premier Mark McGowan says.

Twenty-five crew from the Al Messilah livestock carrier at Fremantle Port have tested positive and there are fears others among the remaining 27 crew may also be infected.

One crew member is in hotel quarantine and the rest remain aboard.

One person has also tested positive aboard the Key Integrity bulk carrier which has arrived in Fremantle from Geraldton.

Test results for the remaining 19 crew are expected to be confirmed on Tuesday.

There have now been six COVID-19 outbreaks on ships arriving into WA, including four in the last month.

“It is becoming clear that ships arriving with COVID-19 on board is one of the weakest links and the biggest risk to our way of life in Western Australia,” Mr McGowan said.

“We have about 30 vessels arriving at WA ports each and every day which goes to show just how significant the risk is to our state.

“We need a coordinated international approach to this and we need our federal government to take international action.”

WA’s Department of Health has previously managed outbreaks aboard the Artania, Al-Kuwait, Patricia Oldendorff and Vega Dream vessels.

Authorities plan to take as many crew as possible off the Al Messilah and into hotel quarantine so the vessel can be deep-cleaned.

Tuesday’s official case tally will include the latest 24 cases confirmed aboard the Al Messilah.

The premier has also pleaded with the federal government to slow down on allowing international travellers, after 23 people entered Perth from New Zealand via Sydney.

They are all in quarantine.

And given the parliament is talking jobmaker, this story from Paul Karp is also very interesting:

Ahhhh, 2014-15. A simpler time.

As Paul Karp reports:

Tony Abbott’s decision to grant Prince Philip a knighthood cost him much embarrassment and political support – and now it has cost Australian taxpayers a wasted $135,000.

That’s the value of write-downs the governor general has made to insignia associated with knights and dames because they are deemed worthless after the awards were scrapped by Abbott’s successor, Malcolm Turnbull.

Only five people were awarded the honours Abbott introduced: the former governors general Quentin Bryce and Peter Cosgrove, the former New South Wales governor Marie Bashir, the former defence force chief Angus Houston and Prince Philip.

The fact that “medals relating to knights and dames which are no longer awarded … have been written off” was revealed in the governor general’s annual report and investigated by Labor at Senate estimates on Monday.

Paul Singer, the governor general’s secretary, told the finance and public administration estimates committee the cost of the write-downs was “in the vicinity of $135,000”.

Katharine Murphy has the latest Essential poll:

Things are going very well.

Michaelia Cash, who once hid from the media behind a whiteboard, has accused the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, of not answering questions, calling him “distraction Dan”.

I mean, there is so much silicon dioxide in that house it should probably be kept in a pillowed room, but this is where we are right now.

And heading to Victoria, AAP has this update:

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has reassured Melburnians they won’t have to wait until 2021 before they can travel to regional areas.

A so-called “ring of steel” separating metropolitan Melbourne from regional Victoria remains in place despite an easing in coronavirus restrictions in the city on Sunday night.

Mr Andrews wants that restriction and others eased before Christmas, but the premier has yet to commit to a date.

Shepparton and Kilmore have been mopping up outbreaks in recent weeks after a COVID-positive truck driver from Melbourne stopped in the regional centres.

Even as COVID-19 case numbers narrow, the premier said feedback from regional Victorians was clear.

“They don’t want a situation where that’s put at risk by people making trips to into regional Victoria that aren’t absolutely necessary,” Mr Andrews told reporters on Monday.

“There will come a time when you can have that discretionary trip - see family, see friends ... go and spent money in wonderful tourist locations - but that isn’t yet.”

Meanwhile, people living in Melbourne can now travel 25km from home and have greater freedom when it comes to social activities and exercise.

Hairdressers and other industries can also operate for the first time in months.

While retail and hospitality venues have to wait until November 2 before they can reopen, Mr Andrews said the date could be brought forward if case numbers remained low.

The premier hit back at federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, accusing him of politicking after suggesting the state government had “callous indifference” to small businesses.

Victoria recorded four new coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing the city’s 14-day rolling average down to 7.2.

A further death took the state’s death toll to 817 and the national figure to 905.

AAP has an update on the NSW testing situation:

With the daily number of COVID-19 tests undertaken in NSW falling below 7000, health authorities have again implored people to get tested if they feel ill.

NSW Health is calling on people in Sydney’s southeast with any COVID-19 symptoms to be on high alert and get tested as soon as possible.

Residents were warned about a positive case of the deadly disease in the area on Thursday but no specific venues were identified.

Now it’s believed an infectious person visited the Kingsford and Ramsgate areas in the first two weeks of October, including several cafes, to order takeaway.

Anyone who visited those suburbs, especially cafes, should monitor for symptoms like a runny nose or scratchy throat, cough, fever and immediately isolate and get tested.

“After testing, you must remain in isolation until a negative result is received,” NSW Health statement said in a statement on Tuesday.

“This is particularly important in southeastern, southwestern, and western Sydney as well as in southwestern Sydney and western Sydney where there have been recent locally transmitted cases.”

NSW testing numbers dropped below 7000 on Sunday. The desirable benchmark for the state is 20,000 tests a day.

No new locally-acquired coronavirus cases were uncovered in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, with four cases confirmed in hotel quarantine.

Meanwhile, the NSW government has announced the easing of several COVID-19 restrictions, including an increase in the limit on outdoor gatherings from 20 to 30 on Friday.

Group bookings at hospitality venues such as restaurants can also accommodate 30 people.

The permissible number of guests at weddings from December will be lifted to 300 people, provided they are seated and only the bridal party dances.

“We’re trying to make things as free as possible for our citizens but it’s really important to maintain that level of Covid safety,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Monday.

The past weekend ushered in easier restrictions for NSW outdoor venues, with up to 500 people allowed to attend open-air concerts so long as they stay seated.

Limits on outdoor dining were also relaxed, to allow one patron per two square metres.