Victorian government loses second minister, Robin Scott, following branch stacking scandal – politics live

Labor’s national executive could audit the party membership in Victoria after the allegations of branch-stacking against Victorian MP Adem Somyurek.

The party’s national executive committee is meeting this evening to discuss how to respond – before a full meeting of the party’s national executive on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Katharine Murphy and Daniel Hurst have the story:

In sport news, AAP are reporting that coronavirus restrictions for AFL players have been relaxed.

Previously, players were effectively housebound as the competition eased into its restart.

Now, players will be able to play golf and tennis, as well as go fishing and surfing and up to five members of a player’s immediate family will be allowed over.

Last week, four AFL players were fined for breaching the stricter restrictions. Port Adelaide midfielder Ollie Wines was suspended after allowing a television news crew in his home for an interview.

Melbourne’s Charlie Spargo (two games) and Kysaiah Pickett (one), and Essendon defender Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (one) were also given bans for breaking protocols.

Scott Morrison has said the government can’t “save” every job and will need to be “extremely cautious about expenditure” in a signs that it is expecting to withdraw pandemic economic support.

Paul Karp has the full story:

A NSW public health official has said he would have assessed the Ruby Princess cruise ship as medium-risk, rather than low-risk, if he thought of a guideline change.

AAP have this report from today’s hearing:

South Eastern Sydney Local Health District’s Mark Ferson was one of several health experts involved in assessing the ship’s coronavirus risk before it docked in Circular Quay in mid-March.

In written evidence to a special commission of inquiry, Professor Ferson thought he would have assessed the ship as a medium risk if he thought of a guideline change, which included all international travel in “suspect case” criteria.

The update to Communicable Diseases Network Australia guidelines was not reflected in the risk assessment form, Prof Ferson said.

He said he had considered the Ruby Princess low risk for number of reasons, including the number of positive Influenza A diagnoses and the fact that COVID-19 tests performed when the ship was in Wellington had come back negative.

NSW Health’s communicable disease senior medical officer Sean Tobin also now believes the ship should have been classified as a medium risk, the inquiry previously heard.

Dr Tobin last week said health authorities had considered passengers’ onward travel, including flights home, when allowing them to disembark.

Prof Ferson’s written evidence said in a medium risk scenario, all passengers and crew who weren’t swabbed for COVID-19 might be allowed to disembark after the ship was boarded for health screening.

But he told the inquiry on Monday that disembarkation wouldn’t have necessarily happened in the Ruby Princess case, if the ship was assessed as medium risk.

The professor said they didn’t want people to miss travel connections but he thought “in practice we would likely have kept the whole ship until we received the (COVID-19 test) results”.

The inquiry continues.

The Australian share market fell today – for the third day in a row, following fears of a second wave infections in the US and China.

The ASX200 fell 2.19% by the close, to hit a two-week low of 5,719.8 points.

CommSec market analyst James Tao told AAP that a rise in cases in Beijing and several US states had soured hopes for a quick global recovery from the pandemic and associated lockdowns.

“Those particular facts can turn rather quickly, and that’s what we’ve seen in the last couple of days,” he said.

US share price futures are pointing to a 900-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average when Wall Street reopens later on Monday night were responsible for the final dive, Tao said.

In an update from one of our stories on the weekend, Josh Taylor has revealed Facebook is blocking and banning users who are posting a Guardian Australia article about Australia’s history of Indigenous slavery.

Earlier, we reported that Facebook had been taking down the image – of Aboriginal men in chains in 1896 – because it contained “nudity”.

The post was restored, but the Guardian Australia article about the post was still being blocked, and made unavailable, when posted.

Now it turns out that some of the people who shared the article were banned from posting on Facebook for up to 30 days.

Hi everyone, it’s Naaman Zhou here. Thanks to Amy Remeikis, as always, for her work on the blog.

For those who have been following the Ruby Princess special inquiry, tomorrow you ... won’t be able to.

The special commission of inquiry has been livestreaming its hearings for the past week, and the previous hearings in previous months. But reporters have just been told that tomorrow will be a private hearing – and won’t be livestreamed.

On Wednesday, the inquiry will return to public hearings, and will hear from Dr Vicky Sheppeard of NSW Health.

Parliament is winding down - but don’t despair (or celebrate) there are three days left.

Party room meetings are tomorrow, so we’ll bring you those highlights, as well as the never ending spark that is Australian democracy.

The wonderful Naaman Zhou is going to take you into the evening. Thank you for joining me – and please, take care of you.

Also, it looks like Nick McKenzie has a part two

AAP has an update on the Queensland border case:

Two challenges against the Queensland government’s constitutional right to keep the state’s borders closed amid the coronavirus crisis are set to return to the High Court.

Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer and a group of businesses and individuals named Travel Essence launched separate legal proceedings after the borders were closed in March.

They are intent on forcing Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to reverse her government’s decision to isolate the state, saying they want to limit the economic damage caused by keeping the borders shut.

The challenges are unlikely to be heard before the borders reopen, however.

On Friday, Chief Justice Susan Kiefel told lawyers for the parties it was unlikely the cases would be heard before the end of June after learning the opposing sides were having difficulty agreeing on the terms of the battle.

It comes as Ms Palaszczuk on Monday said the government would revisit the decision to close the borders at the end of June.

Stage three of the state’s coronavirus recovery roadmap has always planned for interstate travel to be permitted from July 10, conditional on Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young’s advice.

Currently, school students, workers and freight drivers can enter the state without an issue, but Queensland is closed to anyone else.

Mr Palmer is also challenging the Western Australian government’s right to close its border.

All three cases will return to the Brisbane courtroom for a directions hearing on Tuesday.

For those asking, the Victorian chief medical officer, Professor Brett Sutton, said the person who tested positive for Covid, and attended the Black Lives Matter protest last weekend, was unlikely to have picked up the virus at the protest, and had taken social distancing measures, including wearing a mask.

And he also said this:

It’s really in that first week that people, overwhelmingly, develop symptoms. So any cases [from the protest] really should be out there now. So if there are individuals who are symptomatic, get tested. I think a number of them will have and have tested negative, but the call is out there, ongoing, for protesters and for all Victorians.

From Mike Bowers eyeball to your eyeballs

Just another manic Monday

Tell me more, tell me more...

Welcome to the house of fun

It feels like another time.

Via AAP:

A DNA test linked a Queensland woman to a needle found in a strawberry punnet, a court has heard.

Former strawberry farm supervisor My Ut Trinh, 52, was a person of interest early in the investigation into deliberate strawberry contamination in 2018, says Detective Sergeant Gary Perrett.

But officers found there was insufficient evidence to charge Trinh until they received DNA test results linking her to a needle, he told a committal hearing in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.

Trinh is charged with six counts of contamination of goods to cause economic loss.

She was working at Berrylicious in her hometown of Caboolture, north of Brisbane, between September 2 and 7, 2018, when she allegedly inserted needles into the fruit.

A man found a needle when he bit into a contaminated strawberry on September 9, sparking a national food safety frenzy with strawberries stripped from shelves nationwide.

Det Sgt Perrett said more than 240 copycat incidents were reported after the initial incident.

“It went berserk,” he told the court.

Det Sgt Perrett was asked about leads like a report of a suspicious person seen on a road in a strawberry farm a few days before news about the contamination broke.

He was unable to provide information about any follow-up to that report, but told defence barrister Terry Morgans strawberry farms are open to the public.

“You can walk into these strawberry farms at any time at any place - he may have been stealing strawberries,” Det Sgt Perrett said.

The officer said leads provided to police were followed up and documented by other officers, while he and a colleague focused on the investigation into Trinh.

The hearing was adjourned until July 27 for information about leads provided to police and how they were followed up to be given to the defence team.

Stephen Jones is then asked if he thinks it is deliberate:

Of course it’s deliberate. Seems there is a competition between Senate members in the LNP to say the most outrageous things. Least week, it was a war on childcare. This week these really inappropriate statements and I could rattle off a dozen others as well.

It seems to me that the way to get ahead in the Queensland LNP is to say the most outrageous things, deliberately causing offence, in the hope that you garner the support of your preselectors.

I hope that the response that the – the right response that has been occurring as a result of these outrageous statements today sober the Queensland LNP up and ensure they focus on the things that matter. This sort of language is inappropriate.

Patricia Karvelas asked Julian Leeser what he thought of Amanda Stoker’s comments:

I didn’t make these particular statements. Senator Stoker is a friend of mine. What I will say is that – I think it’s – for many people – the fact that the Queensland government has taken so long to come to the party and reopen its borders, particular when you have got an economy in Queensland that is so dependent on tourism, has been a concern to Queenslanders and has been a concern to people – across the country more broadly.

I think we have a Queensland election this year. The debate on these things will be fairly willing and I think that we are going to have robust contest in Queensland.

Which doesn’t really answer the question.

PK pulls him up on that, to which Leeser responds:

It isn’t me making the statement and I wouldn’t have used that form of words.

Rachel Siewert has led a motion calling on the parliament to acknowledge slavery happened in Australia.

(That follows the “there was no slavery in Australia” comment from the prime minister last week, something he raised, then said was meaning about the principles the NSW settlement was made on, but also neglecting that just because something is illegal, doesn’t mean it’s not happening, but hey – maybe that means the statues are finally safe, because it is illegal to deface them too, so obviously, it is not happening, using that logic.)

Anyways. Back to Siewert:

I am pleased that the Senate has supported the Greens motion acknowledging the true history of Australia which despite what the prime minister might say includes slavery, indentured labour and stolen wages.

“The prime minister’s comments last week in regards to slavery were outrageous and I don’t believe he has properly apologised or engaged with the heart of the matter.

“Rather than perpetuating false history of this nation, the Australian government needs to make a concerted effort of truth telling for all Australians, including new Australians.

“It is a national shame that the broader community knows so little about First Nations history, culture and how this country was founded.

“It is time we stopped pretending that meaningful change can happen in a system that is grounded in denial.

“Change is possible when you tell the truth, when you listen deeply and acknowledge and address the impacts that continue today.”

The motion reads:
I give notice that on the next day of sitting I shall move –
That the Senate –
a) Notes that:
i. On Thursday June 11th the prime minister Scott Morrison said in a radio interview that “there was no slavery in Australia”.
b) Acknowledges that:
i. First Nations peoples worked on farms and pastoral stations for rations instead of wages. They were traded amongst settlers, with children being taken from their families and moved across the country to work
ii. First Nations peoples wages were stolen
iii. First Nations peoples had restrictions placed on them such as restrictions on movement and choice for example people had to apply for permission to travel and what they could purchase and where they could live
iv. First Nations peoples were subject to forced labour
v. At least 60,000 South Sea islanders were taken to Australia from 1857 to 1908, where they worked largely in cotton, sugar and pastoral industries in a process named blackbirding.
vi. There are many other examples of such abuse.
c) Calls on the prime minister to withdraw these comments, apologise and engage in a genuine process of truth telling about Australia’s history.

Get used to this

Malarndirri McCarthy asked Mathias Cormann about Amanda Stoker’s Sky after dark (Sad) comments in Senate question time today.

Cormann said he had not seen the comments, but would have a “private conversation” with the senator.

He’s taken on notice whether or not the prime minister was aware of them.

I see the Amanda Stoker Sky News comments are getting a bit of traction – just your semi-regular reminder that she is locked in a battle with James McGrath for the number one Queensland Senate ticket spot.

Stoker, McGrath and Matt Canavan are all up for re-election this coming election.

The Libs will get the first ticket spot and the Nationals will get the second. So Canavan, if he decides to stay in the upper house, is fine. But the third spot, Gerard Rennick aside, is a pretty rare get, election-wise.

So expect to see a lot from Stoker and McGrath in the coming six months as they play for the base’s support.

Not being racist is also excellent as a beauty and general wellbeing tip, so there is that too.

Just don’t be racist or a white supremacist. I mean, it seems pretty simple, but apparently some people still struggle with it.

Here is another bit of quiet bipartisanship from Andrew Giles:

Today the parliament united to reject racism in Australia. I moved the following motion, which was seconded by Fiona Martin MP, that the house:

1. Recognises the significant contribution made by Chinese-Australians to Australia.
2. Recognises that all people in Australia, regardless of their ethnicity, cultural or religious background, deserve to be respected in our society.
3. Recognises that Australia is the most successful multicultural society in the world and that Australia is strengthened by our diversity.
4. Recognises the important role our multicultural communities have played in stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
5. Notes that:

A. the Covid-19 crisis has seen a number of appalling racist attacks on Chinese-Australians; and
B. condemns these shocking racist attacks.

I wish to thank my parliamentary colleagues, from both sides, for their contributions today: Fiona Martin MP, Chris Hayes MP, Tim Wilson MP, Clare O’Neil MP, Katie Allen MP, Graham Perrett MP and Gladys Liu MP.

We have acknowledged the problem and now we need to commit to action.

Labor supports a national anti-racism strategy and is ready to work with the government to see this progressed as a bipartisan, unifying initiative.

Ken O’Dowd is reading a speech like it is the first time he has seen words in this particular order, if you want to know what parliament looks like right now.

We are getting to the end of the government shutting down the attempt to suspend standing orders. Ed Husic only manages to get out “it’s a disgrace” before Christian Porter closes it down again.

Question time ended (I just got up from rocking under my desk) and Anthony Albanese moved to suspend standing orders (for the Australia Post regulation), which has been opposed by the government.

Oh wait, he manages to whinge about the Queensland government (as we know, the collective noun for a group of Nationals is a whinge or a complaint) because there is a state election coming up in October, and let no chance for a sledge go unsledged is the new rule.

David Littleproud then gets three minutes to talk about the government’s latest tongue twister – building back better.

Anthony Albanese asks Scott Morrison whether he will reverse the Australia Post regulation decision (fewer postal delivery days, which the union says will mean fewer jobs)

He says he’ll get Paul Fletcher to take his remaining time, but then warms up to his theme and takes it all up (or maybe he is sparing us Fletcher’s 1950s headmaster delivery – who knows).

Morrison:

I will ask the minister of communications to answer that. As he sees fit.

The leader of the opposition is seeking to portray an issue, once again which does not accord with the facts of the situation. Australia Post is responding and managing their business to meet the needs of customers during the Covid-19 crisis.

That is what they are doing, so as they have to adjust how they deliver services, they are no different to any other business around the country who are having to do just that. And what the head of Australia Post has said as they are keeping all the jobs, protecting all the jobs, like in so many businesses across the country today, Mr Speaker, some employers are being asked to do different things, as they deal with the different types of demand that that business that organisation is faced with, I have never understood, by the leader of the opposition seems to think there is one rule for some and a different role for others.

This is an organisation working to meet the needs of Australians doing the Covid-19 crisis – that is what they are doing. The leader of the opposition seeks to make cheap political points on a daily basis in this place about the Covid-19 crisis.

That’s disappointing. What the Australia Post is doing is delivering on their service charter, delivering to customers, keeping people at work, adjusting their business model to deal with the increasing parcels and letters, and they are doing their job. I wish the leader of the opposition would do his.

Because those about him are certainly noticing that he is not up to the job of that job, let alone any others.

The Speaker has to check if we are still in question time.

Unfortunately, we are.

Or are we in purgatory?

Who can tell at this time.

Peter Dutton gets his dixer.

Nature is healing.

Joel Fitzgibbon to Scott Morrison:

My question is to the prime minister. The member for New England has called for a royal commission into the dairy sector because, he says, and I quote: “Those with markets power have utilised it at the expense of our dairy producers.” But the agriculture minister has rejected the call by the member for New England. Prime minister, who is right?

David Littleproud gets the call up:

I’m glad to see the member for Hunter actually had the time to put a question in time. He obviously has had his 20 guests for Otis this week. No one has ever ruled a royal commission out on any matter. It would be unwise to do so. But to create a royal commission you need to have the evidence that there has been malpractice. You do not simply call for a royal commission at the drop of the hat.

But if those that have evidence to suggest that there has been wrongdoing, be it supermarket, processer, than there would be evidence that would be put forward for a determination to be made. That’s a simple process that we undertake.

That’s what you do. You undertake it on fact. Not on fiction or politics. That’s what the member for Hunter is trying to do here. And it is only on this side that we become concerned about the dairy industry and trying to undertake real reform – because the ACCC report in 2018 clearly identified there was a market imbalance. And their recommendation to us was to introduce a dairy code of conduct. That is what we did.

That is what we are doing, along with complementary measures to make sure there was equity in that market. But to come in here to make rash statements, it is unwise, it is unhealthy and it’s reckless.

Each and every question time brings me closer to understanding why Nurse Ratchet was the way she was.

There is another question on a VC for Teddy Sheean – for Scott Morrison mostly, I think, because it really, really annoys him.

It is extremely 2GB and conservative areas, so it is pretty uncomfortable for Morrison to explain why Sheean hasn’t got a VC and what is being done about the review.

Chris Hayes to Scott Morrison:

Today is International Cleaners’ Day. Prime minister, why has the government deliberately excluded cleaning staff at aged care facilities for retention payment, which was given to other aged care workers during the coronavirus?

Greg Hunt gets the nod:

I want to thank the member. However, there is a very important point which he seems to be missing.

We’ve invested over $850m right across the aged care system to expand that capacity and to support that capacity. He refers to one sub-program within that, a $230m program, which was designed specifically to protect and support those who were dealing face-to-face and providing additional care at a time when around the world we were seeing those ... at a time when around the world we were seeing those carers facing both a specific risk and that we were at risk of losing their support in terms of staying on the job.

We were able to provide that retention bonus of up to $800 for each quarter, the June quarter and the September quarter, so all workers across the aged care system are supported by the $850m package. The specific program was always intended, from day one, to support our nurses and our aged carers. That is what it was set out to do, and it is doing that. What it means is that we are supporting Australian workers.

Anthony Albanese asks Scott Morrison another question on jobkeeper (when will people learn when it is to be cut off?) but there is no new information in the answer.

The session moves on to Greg Hunt using his “Trust me, I am a health minister” voice.

Ohhhhh – this is what Bob Katter was talking about.

It seems his office has decided to put out a statement to help explain the questions. Probably a good strategy.

It is also at this point that we need to point out that in March 1905 Bob Katter’s grandfather Carl Robert Katter signed a naturalisation form, saying he was born in Assyria (which would make C R Katter a migrant).

Katter’s statement:

Bob Katter used question time today to urge the government to use the coronavirus pandemic as a lever to permanently cutback visa levels.

Mr Katter said Australia was appalled at the branch stacking and perversion of democracy by newcomers from overseas, as seen on Channel 9’s 60 Minutes last night.

He said:

Surely Australia should be enriched by a small flow of diversity, rather than drowning in an inundation of foreign values.

‘Visa shop’ universities are earning $23bn per year. When will we stop the universities of this country from acting as visa shops? They claim that they create $23b in exports, but isn’t the income generated from cab drivers and after-hours cafe workers?

And when will we stop this visa program that, as we have recently learned, is being used as a recruitment pool for the ALP?

Mr Katter said we are bringing in people from countries with no democracy, (and or) no rule of law, (and or) no egalitarian traditions, (and or) no industrial awards, (and or) no Judaeo-Christian beliefs.

Australia’s immigration policy should give refuge to the persecuted minorities such as the Jews, Sikhs and Christians.

I ask the prime minister, when will you put a stop to this erosion of our democracy?

Surely it is in the nation’s best interests to return to visa entrant levels from the Hawke-Howard government era of 360,000 per annum (or less), rather than the current 640,000?

Discourse in this country really, really, really needs a clean up.

Keith Pitt is on his feet. He’s gone with two shades of blue in his tie, so you know he means business.

For completeness, we should mention what Victoria police and the state’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Ibac) have said about the Adem Somyurek controversy.

A Victoria police spokesperson said:

Victoria police will assess the complaint and work with Ibac to determine how best an investigation might proceed.

Ibac confirmed it had received a referral from the Victorian attorney general “regarding serious allegations concerning the conduct of public officers” and the referral was “currently under consideration”.

Both the police and Ibac said they could not provide any further details.

Earlier today, premier Daniel Andrews said the state’s attorney general had “referred the allegations aired on Channel 9’s 60 Minutes on Sunday 14 June and the articles published by The Age on 14 June 2020 to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and to Victoria police for investigation”.

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

(Karen Andrews was in between, but honestly, just send out a press release.)

My question is to the prime minister and I refer to his last answer. And his repeated statements that he would not accept jobseeker being portrayed as some sort of second prize to jobkeeper.

Isn’t that the case that jobkeeper recipients maintain the work relationship between worker and their employer, whereas jobseeker recipients do not? Isn’t it true that a person is better off if they have a job?

Morrison:

The challenges of jobkeeper, as time goes on, is that businesses will form views about those employees who they will be able to keep on longer term and those who they will not.

And where there are not jobs for people, Mr Speaker, it is important that they become engaged with employment service programs and other forms of income support. The purpose of that is to get them back into new jobs, to help them train for new jobs.

Mr Speaker, that is the challenge going forward, and the leader of the opposition makes the point about the financial support provided to those on jobkeeper compared to those on jobseeker. Well, Mr Speaker, the actual level of benefits when you take into account many others, the...

Albanese asks about relevance. Morrison is told to come back to the point.

Morrison:

I am simply making the point that those who are jobseeker receive an equivalence in fiscal support because of the other programs, Mr Speaker, that they have the ability to access. Now, Mr Speaker, those who are on jobkeeper retain those connections to their employment.

That is the case but, Mr Speaker, what we are now interested in as a government is those who would be able to have that connection in six months from now, in 12 months from now, and in two years from now, Mr Speaker.

The reason we put jobkeeper into place all of those months ago is because we wanted businesses to make decisions about the future of their employees when the future was uncertain, and now this is a fast-moving crisis ...

Jobkeeper been doing its job for part-time and full-time employees. It has been providing the exact support that we have designed it for. And for equivalent casuals, 12 months or more, it has been doing the same thing, Mr Speaker. And those who have not been able to access that program have been supported by jobseeker and, Mr Speaker, these programs are in accordance with the Australian way of how we do things, where we don’t provide some sort of a related level of income support based on what people’s salaries used to be.

The jobkeeper program was in a class of its own internationally, Mr Speaker, and it has been recognised as such. Those opposite have sought to undermine jobkeeper ... They say they supported and then they undermine it, Mr Speaker!

Each member of the opposition, everything he supports he also opposes. He is for something, he is against something, all at the same time, Mr Speaker. That is why they don’t trust ...

Jim Chalmers to Scott Morrison:

Can the prime minister confirmed that fewer Australians than accepted are receiving the wage subsidy, while more Australians than expected have signed up for jobkeeker?

Morrison:

Mr Speaker, only the Labor party with lament the fact that fewer people needed an economic support program than was estimated. Mr Speaker, only the Labor party would be disappointed that the need was actually less than what was estimated.

That tells you a lot about how the Labor party ... have been engaging on this issue with the Covid-19 response. And I can tell you, Mr Speaker, I’m very pleased that fewer people have had to draw down on that program. I’m very pleased, Mr Speaker, and I’m also very pleased that jobseeker has been there for those who need it – 6 million Australians who have needed that program because jobseeker has been put in place.

He [Chalmers] is young and enthusiastic, Mr Speaker. Very enthusiastic. But what he might care to do is listen to the advice which says that when there are fewer people who need economic support, that’s a good thing. That’s a good thing, Mr Speaker!

And it is a tribute and a commendation to the work that [businesses] are doing to bring us through the Covid-19 crisis.

They have been holding onto staff wherever they can and they have been supported by jobkeeper wherever they can for those who are not unable to afford not able to be supported by job. Jobkeeper then jobseeker is there for them ... and again I’m not going to demonise jobseeker. And those opposite seem to think that jobseeker is a second prize, Mr Speaker – that is not my view.

JobSeeker is there to help people who have lost their employment. The Labor party want to demonise jobkeeker and say to them, ‘If you are on jobseeker, you’re on second best and you should somehow be stigmatised because you’re on jobkeeper.’ That is what the Labor party are saying right now. And it is a shameful, shameful indictment on them that they would seek to do that to people who are on jobseeker.

We have done both of these programs to help Australians through one of the greatest times of their need.

And the good news is that, compared to countries all around the world, the economic response that this government has put in place means that we are doing better than almost any other developed economy around the world today.

Now, that is something I know Australians will be pleased about. The only ones who would be disappointed about that result sit on the opposition benches.

Because all they can see in these things is an opportunity, Mr Speaker, for themselves politically. They say they support these measures but from day one they have sought to undermine them. And for that, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Labor is torturing us all today. This is Michael McCormack’s third trip to the despatch box.

Terri Butler:

The government came to office promising 100 dams and for seven years now the last dams built were Labor projects. [What support is the government giving a particular dam, that I miss.]

McCormack:

We’re getting on with the job of building dams and the – I have never had once the shadow minister for water come to my office and say, “I’d love to see these dam projects put on the list,” Mr Speaker.

But ... rest assured – Anthony Lynham from the Queensland government had discussion with me about building dams. Haven’t had any with the shadow minister. If she’s serious about building dams, she would have raised it a lot sooner than that

The answer goes on, but honestly, the three times I was in intensive care with pneumonia were less painful.

Bob Katter starts yelling but Tony Smith hasn’t called him, so his microphone isn’t turned on. That does not cower Bob Katter, as it would take a thousand blooming crocodiles to stop Katter in his tracks, and even then, their reptilian brains would recognise the fruitlessness. And yet somehow still it is better than listening to Michael McCormack.

It seems the racket is something about relevance.

Smith tells Katter it would be impossible for the prime minister not to be relevant, given the question.

It ends on this:

Mr Speaker, he raises the important point of temporary migration and one of the important issues that has occurred in our migration program over the last decade is temporary migration has become, under the skills program, a pathway to permanent migration that ensures that we can have a greater confidence of those who move into the permanent program; that they have established the skills employment and the security in the community to be successful permanent migrants.

And there is a connection between the two and it’s been a positive connection.

So, Mr Speaker, our government will always be supportive of positive migration and also we will ensure its integrity, whether it’s protecting the integrity of our borders or protecting the integrity of the scheme on which so many Australians depend on.

Scott Morrison:

I thank the member for Kennedy for raising the important issue of migration in this country.

The member for Kennedy is, in fact, you know, a long-term product of that program. We have all come from somewhere else at some point in time in our background, unless we’re Indigenous Australians, and the member for Kennedy comes from a very proud line himself, and we are the most successful migration country in the world. There is no doubt about that, Mr Speaker.

And we’re the most successful multicultural country in the world. Migrants are overwhelmingly added to our nation and do so every single day, and points are raised around the issue of the employment of migrants in Australia.

ABS data of working aged migrants released just last week showed that 68% were employed, up from 65% in the last characteristics of recent migrant survey. Now, this compares to 65% for those born in Australia. Recent migrants are also getting more skilled, with 69% arriving with tertiary qualifications, up from 65% in the previous survey. One in three small businesses in Australia are managed or owned by migrants, and employ hundreds of thousands of people right across Australia.

The great success of Australia’s migration story is that it is a story of people who have come to make a contribution to this country, not to take one. That is the success of our migration policy and, Mr Speaker, our migration policy will continue to be not just an economic pillar of this country, but it will continue to be one of the most important social pillars of this country.

Now, Mr Speaker, no system is perfect and integrity and migration is important and that’s why I commend the minister for home affairs on the outstanding work that he has done to ensure that Australians can have confidence in our migration program regardless of what stream that migration comes from.

And we will also remain ever-vigilant – I will commit to the member for Kennedy – to ensure we maintain the integrity of that program.

Bob Katter:

Mr Speaker, the morning has been a Turkish delight, I’ve got to say. Prime minister, Covid is here to stay, warranting surely a return to 2006 visa entrant levels of 360,000 – now 640,000 – and from countries with no democracy and/or no rule of law and or no egalitarian position, and no Judeo Christian love. Everyone, make a better world.

Isn’t university claims of $23bn in exports actually income from cab drivers and after-hours cafe workers? Surely we should be enriched by annual inflows of diversity but not, as 60 Minutes highlighted, drownings in a tidal wave of foreign values.

It’s so bad, the House welcomes Bob Katter coming to his feet.

Michael McCormack is giving a stirring rendition of someone unable to find his cheeks with both hands in his backpockets.

Asked about roads by Catherine King, he starts talking about airports.

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

The Reserve Bank governor has called for infrastructure spending to be fast-tracked to support Australian jobs at least 11 times since the 2019 election. Why has it taken a pandemic for this seven-year-old government [to see] the to bring forward infrastructure investment?

Morrison:

This government has been running a $100bn rolling 10-year program for infrastructure development, Mr Speaker, and since last November we have worked with state, territory and local governments to bring forward or inject additional investment, which now totals $4.2bn for joint projects; a $1.3bn bring forward of the financial assistance grants program, which was announced by the deputy prime minister in May; $500m in new funding to establish a new program supporting all councils to undertake local road and community infrastructure upgrades in May; $1.75bn in additional funding for the Sydney metro Western Sydney airport; and $1.5bn for shovel-ready projects and targeted road safety works which I have announced, Mr Speaker.

Now, I know the interjection from the leader of the opposition about the airport, Mr Speaker. This is the Western Sydney airport. He said he believed in and he didn’t get a dozer on the site in six years, Mr Speaker.

It took this government, Mr Speaker, to make Western Sydney International Nancy Bird Walton airport a reality, while the leader of the opposition blames John Howard, Mr Speaker. The leader of the opposition is blaming everybody for his problems today.

He’s blaming everybody for his problems today, Mr Speaker. It’s the New South Wales Labor branch’s fault, it’s the Victorian branch’s fault. Apparently it’s the New South Wales Liberal Party’s fault, Mr Speaker.

But I note – I note – today we have who’s going to protect Albo on the front page of the Age, Mr Speaker. I’m simply quoting...

The speaker tells him to sit, because it is not on relevant

Morrison:

I mean that issue raises many questions. Undoubtedly the leader of the opposition will attempt to answer them with the candour that I hope he at least [can] match what is the Victorian premier has. But, Mr Speaker, the question is: who does he need to be protected from?

After being pulled up by Tony Smith again, Morrison decides he has concluded his answer.

This has been bubbling away

The ALP national executive has released a statement:

The national executive committee of the Australian Labor party met this afternoon to consider the request by the Victorian Labor leader, premier Daniel Andrews, to expel Mr Adem Somyurek from the ALP.

The conduct of Mr Somyurek is reprehensible and at odds with everything the ALP stands for.

Noting that Mr Somyurek has now resigned his membership of the Victorian ALP, the national executive committee has taken further steps to ensure that there will never be a place for Mr Somyurek in the ALP ever again.

The ALP national executive takes these matters incredibly seriously, and will be responding to the wider issues raised over the last 24 hours in the coming days.

Further to those environmental regulation changes the government wants to make is this story from AAP:

Environmental approvals for major projects should take 30 days to complete, prime minister Scott Morrison believes.

Approvals under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act took 90 days on average at the end of last year and take 40 days now.

Morrison has set a 30-day target in the hope it’s achieved by the end of the year.

He told an economic forum in Canberra on Monday:

According to departmental estimates, delays associated with these approvals alone cost industry over $300m just in 2019 and that’s not good enough.

Environmental assessments occur before it’s decided if approval is given.

The assessment time currently takes three-and-a-half years on average, which the government wants to reduce to 21 months.

EPBC Act approvals are currently in addition to any state or local council processes.

But Morrison wants to streamline the approvals into one, which will be discussed by national cabinet.

It’s the downhill slide to question time, so take these moments to grab yourself the security blanket of your choice.

In lieu of 20 cats, I shall get another coffee. It will most likely be unadulterated. Most likely.

Universities Australia has released its guide for a return to face-to-face teaching.

You’ll find that here.

The recommendations that led to this bill – which ends the dual regulation lawyers who give immigration advice were required to have (they had to be registered in both their jurisdiction and the Migration Agents Registration Authority) – was made when Scott Morrison was immigration minister, coining “on water matters”.

The bill had bipartisan support. It was just not a priority.

Hence this shade:

Earlier this morning we published revelations that three cabinet ministers, Stuart Robert, Dan Tehan and Simon Birmingham, charged taxpayers $4,500 to travel to Sydney on an overnight trip during which they went to a lucrative Liberal party fundraiser held at Channel Nine’s Willoughby studios.

The fundraiser was a big earner for the Liberals, charging $10,000 per head and bringing in an estimated $700,000. The three ministers claim they happened to be in Sydney that night for other, legitimate official business, which justified them billing taxpayers for the trip.

But all three have steadfastly refused to say whether they received invitations to the fundraiser first, and later booked official business in the hours around it.

That’s an important point.

The rules state that, to claim travel expenses, the dominant purpose of a trip must have been to conduct parliamentary business.

Party fundraising, of course, is not parliamentary business.

Tehan was on ABC radio this morning and was asked again what came first: the fundraiser invitation or the booking of the parliamentary business. He again skirted around it.

Tehan:

Well, Fran [Kelly], everything that I’ve done has been consistent with the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority. And that will continue ...

Kelly: “Yes, but did you add those to justify travelling to Sydney for the fundraiser?”

Tehan:

Fran, everything that I do is consistent with the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority. It will continue to be so. That’s why that authority is there. My office always checks with that authority to make sure that everything that I’m doing is consistent with the rules and regulations with govern, which govern MPs.

I travel around this nation constantly. I can tell you, on that night there would have, nothing would have made me happier than being at home with my family. But, obviously, part of the job is that we have to travel. We have to do a wide variety of things. And one of the things that I always check and make sure is that we’ve checked with the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority that everything we’re doing is within those rules and guidelines.

Sarah Hanson-Young says the government’s focus on “deregulation” will result in worse outcomes for the environment:

Under the EPBC Act, koalas have already lost 1m hectares of critical habitat. Rio Tinto was able to blast away 46,000 years of Indigenous heritage. Water catchments for Sydney have been polluted by dirty coal mines.

At least 7.7m hectares of critical habitat has been destroyed for mining and development over the last 20 years.

The government’s attack on the environment means more dead koalas, more logging and more pollution.

Using Covid-19 as an excuse to scrap environmental protections is an act of bastardry. Most Australians want better protection for the environment, not less. Australians want jobs and projects that look after our forests, beaches and parks, not jobs that trash our environment and kill off our native animals.

A spokesperson for federal Labor MP Anthony Byrne says he welcomes and will fully cooperate with any investigation by Victoria police relating to the Adem Somyurek matter.

As Amy mentioned earlier, Anthony Albanese was asked at the press conference whether or not he had spoken to Byrne and whether or not any recordings took place in Byrne’s office. Albanese told reporters he was not aware of all of the details.

The reason for these questions is that one of the scenes from apparent surveillance footage broadcast by 60 Minutes last night show a group of people meeting in a room that had a map of the electorate of Holt on the wall. That’s the Victorian electorate Byrne represents.

In another scene broadcast by 60 Minutes, a sign marked “Anthony Byrne MP” could be seen in the background. We have contacted Byrne’s office about the matter.

Mr Byrne’s spokesperson would not comment, except to say the MP welcomed the investigation by Victoria police and would “fully cooperate” with it, telling Guardian Australia:

These matters should be appropriately investigated.

Byrne is the deputy chair of the joint parliamentary committee on intelligence and security.

In the flesh:

How Mike Bowers saw the morning:

Honestly - if you know a cleaner, thank them. They have gone above and beyond to keep us all safe in public spaces since this pandemic began.

I’ve been pointed to this story in the Miami Herald – there are still crew members in limbo on cruise ships because of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, jury trials are to resume in Victoria:

The supreme court and the county court (the courts) decided to suspend new jury trials from Monday 16 March in light of public health advice and in the best interests of the Victorian community.

The courts are pleased to announce that, as the public health advice has allowed the resumption of several everyday activities within the community, a limited number of Melbourne-based criminal jury trials will be resuming in a measured way from 20 July 2020.

The courts will continue to monitor developments between now and then and adjust that timeframe if that becomes necessary.

Over the past few months the courts have been working on plans for the safe resumption of jury trials. The courts have consulted with health professionals, the legal profession and others involved with criminal trials. That planning has also been informed by work being done in other states and other countries.

Jury trials will resume with a range of measures in place including:

• Avoiding the need for the physical gathering of large jury pools
• Physical distancing arrangements within courtrooms and jury rooms
• Procedural changes to minimise the need for handling of objects
• Frequent cleaning of high-touch surfaces and other hygiene measures

Government has introduced modifications to jury procedures which support these measures.

The ABC is reporting a second attendee at Melbourne’s Black Lives Matter protest has tested positive for Covid-19.

We’ll have more information on that soon.

Asked about issues with branch stacking across the Australian Labor party, Anthony Albanese turns to issues across the political spectrum:

We saw 18 months ago the issue of self-described young Nazis, really, stacking out the Young Nationals in New South Wales.

Let’s not pretend here that political parties from time to time haven’t seen these issues.

We saw in the Greens political party in NSW a massive stack by the group called Left Renewal, which were involved in attacking the leadership of Bob Brown and Christine Milne and that part of the Greens.

So from time to time, you see these issues raise their heads. What’s important is that action be taken to stamp it out ... I’ve got to tell you, I’ve never given a second thought to Adem Somyurek and I’m not even sure where some of the branches are in Victoria. Action has been taken. It shows the strong leadership of Daniel Andrews and it shows my support for his strong leadership.

Anthony Albanese:

I’m of the view that the comments that are there that we heard last night weren’t just the visual footage as well. I did watch the program.

There were a range of other calls taped, somehow. I don’t know all of the circumstances of it.

That will all come out, no doubt, over a period of time. That really isn’t the story here ... The story here is about an individual who was engaged in practices that are entirely inappropriate.

At 12:30 the national executive committee will be meeting, which is the officers and the inner executive, and we’ll be acting upon correspondence from Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria – one that I support, taking action to remove Mr Somyurek from the party.

Anthony Albanese:

People who are familiar with the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor party, and my actions, over 30 years, will know where I stand on these issues. I have fought strongly for rank and file preselection and the rights of rank and file members.

And one of the problems that we see here with the scourge of branch stacking and manipulation that we saw last night is that it takes away the power and influence of people who join the Labor party overwhelmingly not to get anything for themselves but to do something for their country.

I have in my electorate. Why? My mum’s life membership of the Australian Labor party.

She joined the Labor party when she was a girl. Went along with her parents to the Camperdown branch of the Labor party that my grandfather was a president of, and I became a president of decades later.

She never held a single position in the Labor party at any time in her life. Wasn’t a delegate to anywhere. Just went along, handed out “how to votes”, bought the odd raffle ticket and contributed. That’s who makes up the Australian Labor party, overwhelmingly.

And any distortion of that, any abuse of that, should be opposed. I’ve opposed it. My entire life. I’ll continue to oppose it. I’ll continue now to use my position as leader of the Australian Labor party to make sure that that happens.

Asked about whether or not he has spoken to federal MP Anthony Byrne and whether or not any recordings took place in his office, Anthony Albanese says:

I am not aware of all of the details. So in terms of the issues resolving potential conduct, I understand Daniel Andrews has referred all of the issues to the appropriate authorities, including the police. I would have thought that was appropriate.

... That is a matter for proper examination and Daniel Andrews has sent that across. But as we are very clear here, it was the statements of this individual [that] speak for themselves about whether they are appropriate or not. That is the issue here.

Asked about the future of the memberships Adem Somyurek was involved in, Anthony Albanese says:

We will be examining all those issues and taking appropriate action to ensure that there is fair and proper processes across the board. As you are aware, I am not a member of the Victorian branch. I think I have said hello to Adem Somyurek, he has never made a contribution that I can remember, and I frankly had to be reminded that he was on the national executive.

So I am not merely with him and with some of these practices, but we will take whatever action is necessary to make sure that we have fair and clean operations of politics. I will just go around.

Anthony Albanese:

The comments that we saw last night were that of someone who was prepared to denigrate not just people who he saw as his opponents, but also people who were working with him. There were sexist comments, homophobic, they were completely inappropriate.

In particular, I have to say that the comments about the minister responsible for taking action against violence against women in Victoria, Gabrielle Williams, was just breathtaking in the ignorance and in their inappropriateness.

I have been very consistent, I will be continuing to be consistent: the Labor party will be a better party with the removal of this individual.

Anthony Albanese then confirms Murph’s report:

I think I have been pretty clear on incidents, whether it be John Setka, whether it be the intervention to restructure the New South Wales branch. I want a political system that all Australians can be proud of, and where I see something that doesn’t fit in with that view, I will take action.

The national executive committee will be meeting at 12:30pm today, convened by the national secretary and the national president. We will be meeting to take immediate action against Adem Somyurek, and from that point in time he will not be a member of the Australian Labor Party.

We will take immediate action to suspend his membership, and to therefore put in place the processes, which you should be familiar with, for anyone who followed the debate that occurred in the first weeks of my leadership of the Australian Labor party.

Ben Morton has put out the official statement on the deregulation plan he is in charge of (and of course it comes with a name):

• Modernising business communications

Commonwealth and state laws have not kept pace with the way Australians engage with digital communications and add compliance costs, for example, by mandating that businesses use certain methods of communicating or storing information – preventing them from using electronic delivery or adopting new technologies such as blockchain applications.

The Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (ETA) facilitates commerce by removing impediments to using electronic communications to satisfy legal obligations but, in the 20 years since its introduction, digital communication has proliferated while the number of exemptions, currently 147, has hardly changed. State and territory jurisdictions have similar ETAs, also with numerous exemptions.

The taskforce will also examine other legislation which can be made technology neutral.

In order to reduce business costs and better reflect the way Australians want to engage and communicate, the deregulation taskforce will work with business and consumers to identify and address these issues and, with state and territory governments, to explore complementary reforms.

• Improving occupational mobility

Occupational licensing and registration requirements often vary across states and territories, which increases costs on business and workers who operate or move across Australia.

Twenty per cent of workers in the economy are required to be licensed or registered, while there are in excess of 800 licenses in manual trades across states and territories.

The deregulation taskforce’s work area is aimed at cutting red tape by exploring greater mutual recognition of qualifications and improved information flows between jurisdictions.

State and territory treasurers have written to the commonwealth asking that the deregulation taskforce consider potential reforms to Australia’s mechanism for the mutual recognition of occupational licences.

The government is seeking to partner with state and territory governments to progress this work.

This will let business access skilled workers more quickly and provide more opportunities for people such as builders, trades workers and architects and engineers. It will also facilitate labour movement across borders in response to disasters, such as bushfires.

The work of the deregulation taskforce continues the Australian government’s commitment to reducing red tape, to make it easier for businesses to invest and create jobs. Further information is available on the deregulation taskforce webpage.

Anthony Albanese will hold a doorstop of his own at 11.45am.

The mess in Victoria with the ALP is of course reverberating in Canberra this morning.

The ALP national executive is expected to hold a phone hook-up at lunchtime to consider Adem Somyurek’s membership of the party and have a preliminary conversation about next steps.

This could be complicated by the fact that Somyurek is, in fact, on the national executive. He’s not expected to show up.

Gabrielle Williams has also responded:

On Friday the commonwealth attorney general, Christian Porter, lodged notices to intervene in three high court cases challenging the Queensland and Western Australian governments’ bans on interstate travel.

The cases are brought by Clive Palmer, his company Mineralogy, and a group of Queensland tourism operators backed by One Nation.

Porter said:

These are cases launched by tourism operators, businesses and individuals affected by the border closures. These matters raise significant questions of constitutional law concerning the constitutional freedom to cross state borders.

The purpose of the commonwealth intervention is to make constitutional arguments in support of the reopening of the borders. It is usual for the attorney general to intervene in such cases.

The commonwealth’s role when it intervenes in such cases is to assist the court on points of constitutional law.

The Morrison government’s view on border closures is clear – that borders should be open, which view is consistent with our constitutional assessment of the present situation.

The notices of intervention are very short and sharp documents that don’t explain much about which points the commonwealth will argue, but it sounds as though it’s the section 92 point (“trade, commerce and intercourse among the states ... shall be absolutely free”) that’s the focus.

And on what has suddenly become the biggest issue in this country, despite it just starting as a talking point, and not included in any Black Lives Matters advocates calls (that I can see), Daniel Andrews says:

I have been waiting for someone to ask me a question about statues. I want to be really clear about this. I understand why many people are offended by some statues. It is a deeply emotional issue for many, many people. My focus is not so much on symbols though. My focus when it comes to Indigenous affairs, Aboriginal justice in a shared pathway forward is action, not symbols. Action.

So it is wrong to be defacing things, it is wrong in some ways to be focused on symbols at the expense of being focused on direct action, and that is exactly what we need to do, and we can say that as proud Victorians delivering the only treaty in our nation, delivering the only process that in my judgment will lead to a shared, equal journey to fairness and justice and a better country, one that has reconciled with its past and one that is unified for its future.

Meanwhile, AAP has an update on Victoria’s coronavirus position:

A Victorian school has been shut after two students tested positive for coronavirus.

Pakenham Springs primary school will be closed from Monday after two students from the same family were diagnosed.

The shutdown will last at least one day while cleaning and contact tracing are carried out.

Investigations are under way to identify whether any staff or students must self-isolate, the education department said.

“We wish the students a speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming them back to school once they’ve recovered,” a department spokeswoman said in a statement.

Meanwhile, restrictions in Victoria will wind back again in a week with cinemas and theatres to reopen among the changes.

Cafes, restaurants and pubs will be able to increase their capacity from 20 to 50 patrons from 11.59pm on Sunday.

Patrons will be able to order a drink without buying a meal, but they will need to be served at a table, rather than the bar.

Non-contact sport will return for all age groups from next Monday, as will skiing, with the season to start from that date.

The announcement to ease restrictions came as the state recorded nine new coronavirus cases on Sunday.

Daniel Andrews says the member for Essendon, Danny Pearson, will be the new minister for local government and small business.

Daniel Andrews:

I think that his comments and his conduct left me very, very clear on the fact that he had to go and that’s why he went at 9am this morning, not as a resignation.

On Adem Somyurek’s statement, which said he resigned, Andrews says:

My job is to make sure that you have an accurate understanding of what occurred, and he can speak to his own statement. I had no part in the production of that statement, I am just giving you the facts.

Q: How concerned were you that it is happening and you had no idea?

Daniel Andrews:

So concerned that he was terminated at nine o’clock this morning. I can’t make it any clearer than that. I terminated his commission as a minister. It was a very short meeting, I don’t think he said much at all. He did not say very much at all and it is not my habit to be relaying private discussions. What are indicated, it wasn’t really a discussion at all, actually.

He was in the office for a very short time because the only purpose of the meeting was for me to inform him, in person, because I think that’s the appropriate thing to do, of the steps I was about to take. And then, after literally only a few minutes, he left in the letters were sent. The action that I have foreshadowed was taken. You would barely call it a discussion.

In terms of the investigation, Daniel Andrews says:

I want to be really clear with you. The scope of this will not be determined by me. The entirety of these issues have been referred by the attorney general to Ibac and Victoria police. What they look at, how they do it, the scope or otherwise, all of those issues, they are not determined by members of the government. They will be determined appropriately, at complete arms length from the government, by the anti-corruption commission and by Victoria police. That’s the way you should want this to go, it is certainly the way that I wanted to go, without fear or favour.

On whether he thinks it was a mistake to bring Adem Somyurek back into the cabinet after the first time he was sacked as a minister, Daniel Andrews says:

I am not going to pretend that I can get a do-over on, that I don’t. That decision was made. You can reflect and others can reflect on his time in ministry. What I have done today and for most of last night was reflect on his position and it was very clear to me that it was untenable. I again make it really clear, because I wouldn’t want this to be in any way confusing, he was not afforded an opportunity to resign because he didn’t deserve an opportunity to resign. He was sacked. Be really clear about.

In terms of the involvement of others in the allegations raised against Adem Somyurek, Daniel Andrews says he has been assured no one acted inappropriately.

He says he expects everyone to cooperate with the police and Ibac investigations.

Asked if he has ever branched stacked himself, Daniel Andrews says:

No. I follow the party’s rules. I’m the leader of the party and I don’t think I’ve got much more to add to that.

Here is the official statement from Daniel Andrews:

In terms of the allegations of branch stacking in the Labor party, Daniel Andrews says:

Again, I will have more to say about steps that need to be taken in my judgment and the judgment of the federal leader to deal with some of these issues. That is not for today. I will make those announces in due course …

I am not here to be a commentator. I’m talking about what I have done today and why. I will leave it to others to make their own judgments … Today I want to be very clear, this government is about delivering on our promises and working hard for every single Victorian. If that is not your focus then you are not a member of my team any more and that’s what Mr Somyurek has learnt at 9am this morning.

Daniel Andrews says it is up to Adem Somyurek to decide his future as an MP, but that he will not be sitting with the Labor caucus.

The Victorian premier says he did not enter into debate with Adem Somyurek when he sacked him this morning:

He offered no defence of his actions. It was not a meeting where I was having a debate or discussion with him. I was simply doing him the courtesy of informing him in person of the decisions that I had taken. Nothing he could have said, nothing he could is done would have deterred me from the decisions I had made. I had made them. I was simply giving him the courtesy of learning from me what I was to do and that was to essentially end his career as a minister and end his career as a member of the Australian Labor party and therefore a member of my government.

He said he first learnt of the allegations when he watched the 60 Minutes investigation (which was a collaboration with the Age newspaper).

What I’d say to you is I don’t think any fair-minded person can watch that program and not be shocked. That is my answer. The conduct, the commentary, is simply unacceptable to me. I won’t tolerate that and that is why I made the decisions I made today.

Daniel Andrews:

The key point here is that there are claims that have been made, do I not want to cut across the work that those two bodies have to do. I have not referred it there for any other reason than these are serious matters and they need to be invest gaited, not by a colleague, not by me, they should be investigated by Victoria Police, they should be investigated by IBAC and I am confident they will be. That will be done at arm’s length from Victorian Government without fear or favour and I think that is the most appropriate way to go

Daniel Andrews:

I would of course make the point that these matters are now the subject of a referral, an appropriate referral, to both Victoria police and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission.

Those inquiries will run their course. If and when they make adverse findings, if and when those frank and free inquiries are run, if they make findings we will deal with those at the appropriate time.

Based on the assurances provided by those two ministers they will continue in their duties and we will await the conclusion of appropriate investigations by Victoria police and Ibac and I am absolutely confident that both those bodies have the resources, the will, to do that job properly and without fear or favour.

Again, before we take questions, I just want to make it very clear to you there is no place for these view, there is no place for this conduct. Mr Somyurek has been sacked from my ministry, my government, my team, and it is my expectation that he will be terminated as a member of the Australian Labor party. These matters have been referred to the relevant authorities and I believe that is the appropriate step to take.

Daniel Andrews:

Now, in terms of comments, particularly in relation to my good friend and colleague Gabrielle Williams, the minister for women, the minister for Aboriginal affairs and the minister for the prevention of family violence, I have spoken to Gab a number of times since last night’s TV program and I have reassured her of the support that I’ve also provided to her, the regard I have always had for her and the fact that the things that were said about her are simply unacceptable, wicked comments and I simply will not tolerate – I will not tolerate those sorts of comments or attitudes from any member of my team. No Victorian should be tolerated if they hold those sorts of views about women and against women.

Looks like there is some movement in the room where Daniel Andrews will hold his press conference, so it should start soon.

The federal Labor leader says the focus on wage growth needs to continue - because it helps the economy as a whole

If you have a system where by waging aren’t keeping up with the cost of living, there’s been that wage stagnation for a period of time identified by the Reserve Bank, and that particularly has impacted on lower-wage workers, and if you have productivity going backwards then it seeps to me the system isn’t working for other employers or employees.

So we need to get much better outcomes that drive that change through. There are ways that you can do it.

In Government, one of the things that we did was through - we took action on community services in terms of the awards system. We legislated and that made a substantial difference to people who were out there working on the front-line of community organisations.

I do think there’s an opportunity now because of the debate and the way that it’s played out, that we shouldn’t lose and I know that that’s the view of Sally McManus and the ACTU. I know it is also the view of many in the business community. I have had this discussion with Jennifer Westacott and have been having roundtables with the BCA and ACI and AIG as well.

So it seems to me there is this opportunity at the moment to seize so that we can have a win-win going forward.

Anthony Albanese on why Labor is calling for more public housing as part of any future stimulus package:

There is a lot of talk about aspiration, I see myself as an embodiment of aspiration, a mum who … really encouraged me to go through the school system and I was the first kid in my family the finish school, let alone go to university.

And that’s about maximising the potential of individuals but it’s also about maximising the contribution to the whole national economy as well – investment in education isn’t just about an individual.

There’s a collective social benefit as well. And social housing, it seems to me that every galah in the pet shop can make money in Australia from social housing but – from investment in housing – but if you want to build a house in New South Wales you have to flog one off in The Rocks or Millers Point where we can’t have poor people mixing with wealthier people who can afford harbour views.

It seems to me – I used to drive across, I used to take – as a minister you get to escort various international visitors around, and every time I drove over the Harbour Bridge to show someone around, I always pointed towards the Sirius building at the rocks and said this is a great country.

That’s public housing, purpose-built for older people and people with disabilities. It shows that we’re a fair country.

That’s gone now. And it seems to me that the other opportunity that’s there from investment in social housing is that you can actually have built in a skills package – you can do apprenticeships, you can do all that, you can’t do any of that with the package that has been announced by the government, which will essentially mean that people who are going to rebuild anyway will be able to do it with some subsidy.

We are still waiting for Daniel Andrews – his press conference was meant to begin at 10am but it is running late.

Anthony Albanese is up at the Ceda event now.

He repeats Labor’s assertion that the economy was in trouble before the pandemic hit (which it was) and that out-of-the-box thinking will be needed to get through the coming years:

I think the government had been complacent, essentially since the May election.

There was, from my perspective a bit of a victory lap going on rather than there being actual – a plan, a strategy.

So we were calling for things like an infrastructure bring forward. We were calling for increased policy that would drive business investment. We were calling for an energy policy which would drive that certainty that was required.

Then of course we got hit by the drought had been prolonged and then the bushfires came and then the pandemic. So I think we start from a position that is much weaker than if we had taken some action last year.

So, I mean, today again, the number of times I’ve heard a bring-forward of the inland rail line over the last seven years.

I first heard it immediately after the 2013 election that was announced but it hasn’t actually led to anything happening on the ground.

So a starting point is how do we actually move out of the pandemic stronger?

How do we not just return also to what was there beforehand? How can we actually learn the lessons that have been brought, whether that be our dependence upon particular markets. How can we have advance manufacturing so we are more resilient as an economy to the potential future shocks which are there?

How can we take the listening to science on the pandemic and translate logic, which is quite right, into listening to the science on issues like climate change?

A little more from Scott Morrison on youth workers:

But young people – I remember this from when I was social services minister – you have to get young people into jobs before they are 22 and no later than 25 because the simple analysis is that if you do not, their chances of spending a lifetime on welfare go through the roof. I am conscious of that.

That has been a statistic. The first time I heard it as social services minister, it has never left my head. So how are social services operate, however employment services operate how our welfare system operates to get these young people back into jobs. For their own sake, for the sake of their families but also for the nation’s economic sake and its fiscal sake, because the impacts of lifelong welfare dependency are crippling.

(The lowest gender pay gap by the way is 13.9% – meaning that on average women are being paid $242.90 a week less than men.)

Scott Morrison on who has been hit hardest by the economic side of the pandemic:

It has been younger people and it has been women who have been more impacted from the initial shock of this crisis so much and a recession is quite different from the last in respect. It was often those going through structural transition such as middle-aged males coming out of older industries that were impacted on that.

This one is different. That is also a sign of the times and of our workforce being completely different today.

We are at record levels of female workforce participation. The lowest in the pay gap we have seen in this country before the Covid-19 crisis hit so we are making great gains there.

And those jobs have been hit very hard. And so that is a key focus and as I said, as the economy, particularly in those industries which are heavily employing of women start to revive again, then we would hope to see at least an initial improvement in that situation.

But we will need to maintain a key focus on our women’s economic security plan which we were the first to introduce and that will get a refresh and on top of that the focus we need to put on youth employment and we already have a number of programs in this area.

“Growth adventure” now seems to be part of the vernacular.

It’s going to be a long couple of years in more ways than one.

This conclusion to Scott Morrison’s speech is quite something:

In conclusion, Australia faces an immense challenge as we look to recover from our first recession in three decades.

Those words are hard to say. For many of us, I think for most Australians, it is still to sink in. We worked so hard to get Australia back on the right track, 1.5m jobs, a budget back into balance and then in the space of days – it shows how important economic resilience must be for the future.

It shows how we must never let the tension in the cord slacken when it comes to the important economic changes we need to make to secure the lives of Australians and their livelihoods.

We need to return that growth that will support real sustainable jobs, the wages that support families of all the decisions they want to make and, importantly, essential services that Australians rely on …

We are weathering the storm.

It is now time to gather the momentum and continue to build the confidence that we need to resume this great adventure.

Scott Morrison gets to the red-tape-cutting part of the speech:

Covid has shown our laws have not kept pace with digital technology when it comes to business communications, by requiring business to use paper for storing information instead of electronic delivery, or adopting new technologies like Blockchain. These laws are ripe for modernisation.

Today I announce I’m bringing the deregulation taskforce into the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet … driving of whole-of-government approach as to how regulatory policy is prosecuted, with the assistant minister Ben Morton.

This applies to the culture of regulators as much to the content of regulations. I’m sure anyone in business would understand that point.

This crisis has shown what can be achieved when regulators are pragmatic and responsive, solving problems without compromising safeguards.

The treasurer I know would reinforce, Apra in particular working with the major banks to ensure that we could be dealing with deferral of loan payments and how that effect banks capital adequacy ratios in all these issues, just working constructively together to solve quite a serious problem that was going to have a significant impact on whether businesses could keep their doors open.

The attitude of the regulator mattered as much as the regulations themselves.

So I asked the assistant minister to report back on lessons learned in recent months, highlighting cases where governments and regulators responded to the Covid crisis and its economic fallout with urgency and common sense and there are many encouraging examples beyond the ones I’ve mentioned.

Daniel Andrews will hold a press conference at 10am.

You can follow along with international Covid news here.

Back to the Ceda event for a moment –

You will be pleased to know that we are still a “positive and aspirational people”.

Scott Morrison:

The good news, and there is good news, because we are aspirational and we are a positive people.

The good news is, we are now coming back. Australia is opening up again. Australians are once again, as this chart demonstrates, on the move, as states and territories work together to implement our national cabinet three-step plan to open up the economy. And this is used in consumer confidence.

Jobkeeper and jobseeker helped with consumer confidence back in March and now recovered that lost ground in consumer confidence, both on Westpac and the ANZ indices. High-frequency spending data shows this is being increasingly translated into increased retail sales.

That’s good news for those young people and women working in hospitality and retail who will be the first to benefit from the reopening.

And this especially means those people. While trailing the improvement in consumer sentiment, business confidence and conditions are also clawing their way back.

The easing of restrictions and Australians emerging from isolation, confident in their health measures taken by governments, will continue to drive a demand and indicated businesses that they can once again open their doors and make of it.

It’s not just enough for the business is to be able to be opened, they’ve got to have confidence to open, to bring the staff back, to get the orders in, for their inventory is. You have to put investments in including through the instant asset write-off which Treasury extended out. That provides confidence.

Here is the Adem Somyurek statement in full. He says it was the comments he made about LGBTI community which led to his resignation:

This morning I advised the Premier of my resignation as a Minister.

It follows publication of numerous personal and private conversations between myself and a long term friend and factional ally of mine.

It is clear that I was taped and surveilled in a Federal electorate office without my knowledge and that this material was published without my knowledge of its existence or my consent.

I will be taking steps to seek a police investigation into these matters.

With respect to allegations made around memberships of the party, I reject those and will be providing a rigorous defence during any party process.

The conversations published without my knowledge or consent were with someone who I trusted about internal party matters.

There are many robust discussions that occur on any given day in the Labor Party across all factions.

However I accept and take full responsibility for the fact that my language on a number of occasions was simply not appropriate.

While Ms Williams and I have been at odds factionally for many years, I should not have used the language I did about her and I apologise to her unequivocally.

Further, I am deeply sorry for language I used regarding highly valued and exceptional young people who are members of the LGBTI community.

These comments have quite rightly cost me my job.

There are charts, as you would expect. It’s not an important press conference or speech these days without a PowerPoint presentation.

Scott Morrison has begun his Ceda State of the Nation address:

We are saving lives and we are saving livelihoods. We have managed to do better than our fears and even our hopes. In Australia, our actions have limited Covid-19 infections to just over 7,000, fewer than 500 active cases today. And we have reduced our daily infection rate to less than 0.2% and even lower. From a peak of more than 25%.

[Tragically] 102 Australians have died but, mercifully, this is a long way short of the predictions of hundreds of thousands of Australians contracting the virus and tens of thousands of deaths and a health system in crisis.

Our health response has been undoubtedly world-class, working together between states and territories and the commonwealth, bettering those of similar developed and sophisticated economies around the world

Queensland has recorded no new cases of Covid in the last 24 hours.

Laguna Street primary school in Sydney’s south is still closed after a teacher tested positive. Those students will switch to online learning for the time being.

Anthony Albanese talked a little about where his Ceda speech will be going, while speaking to the ABC this morning:

This government uses big figures but all the infrastructure investment’s off on the never never. Even projects like the Princes Highway has $50m allocated.

We saw during the bushfire crisis that in many cases it was simply just blocked and people couldn’t get out of those communities. So there is infrastructure projects that are ready to go. They should be invested in.

We should also look at the opportunities that are there from the clean energy revolution.

Taking action on climate change is good for jobs and good for economic growth as well, and clearly what the economy is looking for, and investors are looking for, is certainty in that area. That will be another focus of my speech this morning.

We need to be prepared to take strong action. The economy has slid into recession. The government was so busy concentrating on producing mugs saying the budget was back in black they had their hands off the wheel last year.

Mike Bowers is at the National Press Club, where Scott Morrison and then Anthony Albanese will address the Ceda State of the Nation event.

Via AAP:

Officials are doing everything they can to help an Australian man sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling.

Karm Gilespie, 56, was sentenced in the Guangzhou intermediate people’s court on Saturday and has just 10 days to appeal the verdict.

The deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, has highlighted the need for diplomacy in the case, rejecting assertions the penalty may be politically motivated.

“What we need to do is be very careful, and what we need to do is make sure that anything that’s said about this matter doesn’t affect Mr Gilespie’s cause and cases in any way, shape or form,” he told the ABC on Monday.

“We want to make sure that we give him every available assistance and we are, through the proper processes.”

Gilespie was arrested in 2013 with more than 7.5kg of methamphetamine in his check-in luggage as he was about to board an international flight from Baiyun airport in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

The court also ordered that all of his personal property be confiscated.

Meanwhile, travel expenses are once again raising eyebrows.

Obviously the most important issue facing the country right now.

Anthony Albanese also says that as a Victorian minister, it is up to Daniel Andrews to act:

This is a Victorian minister and it is appropriate that the Victorian premier respond. He will be doing that this morning. My view on tolerance of this sort of behaviour is very clear and has been very consistent over not just since I’ve been leader, my attitude towards this has been consistent for a very long period of time, which is that when someone is bringing the party into disrepute, the party has a right to take action.

Anthony Albanese says preselected MPs are safe under his leadership (we are not naming the individual for legal reasons).

I have barely met the bloke. The fact is that if he thinks that no one watching that program outside of Victoria, including my federal colleagues, would have heard of this bloke, it is as simple as that. That’s the nature of a backroom guy like this individual.

But I’ll say this, whether it’s Joe Ryan or Rob Mitchell or Julian Hill or Anthony Byrne or anyone else, Tim Watts who was named last night, their position is absolutely secure under my leadership. They are doing a good job representing their local electorates and they deserve better than to be distracted by this bloke – and that’s all it is, a distraction – they will continue to represent their electorates and do a fantastic job in their various positions that they hold. They have my absolute confidence and support.

Anthony Albanese doesn’t detail what “swift action” is, and says he will leave that to Daniel Andrews:

I have no doubt that Daniel Andrews will show the resolve that he’s shown, frankly, on a policy level to bring Victoria through the current crisis and that he’s shown in strong leadership being offered to rebuild Victoria with the infrastructure development with the economic and social program he has implemented over recent years.

That’s what he’s interested in, the people of Victoria.

One of the things that’s sad about this report is that it will further undermine people’s confidence in the political system. People seek political power, I would hope, so that they can redistribute power is my aim in favour of working people, in favour of ordinary Australians, so we can make a difference to people’s lives, improve living standards, improve the natural environment through taking action on climate change, improve social equity.

They’re the sorts of things that should drive people into politics. What we saw last night was an individual who’s driven to seek power for its own sake.

That is sad when we see it. We see it at various levels in – we have seen it from both political parties from time to time with individuals.

That’s not what drives me and that’s not the sort of people that I want to be in senior positions in the Australian Labor party.

Excuse me while I go steel wool my eyes

AAP has some more on the State of the Nation:

The prime minister is expected to tell the Ceda State of the Nation summit that 15 major projects, worth more than $72bn in public and private investment, will be accelerated.

They include the inland rail project between Melbourne and Brisbane, the Marinus underwater power cable between Tasmania and Victoria, and South Australia’s Olympic Dam extension.

Emergency town water projects in NSW as well as road, rail and iron ore projects in Western Australia are also on the list.

In all, the projects are expected to generate 66,000 direct and indirect jobs.

It comes after NSW and Victoria announced at the weekend their plans to ease a tranche of restrictions.

NSW will scrap a 50-person limit at indoor venues, including pubs and restaurants, from 1 July and move to the one person per four square metres rule.

The state’s cap on funeral attendances has been lifted, effective immediately.