Wed 12 Feb
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The parliament is continuing to tick over, so we are have turned our attention to the National Press Club, where Ed Husic is delivering an address.
So far it is off to a rollicking start, with his mobile phone sounding almost as soon as he got to the podium.
“I think I am getting another email,” he joked.
We’ll check in on the speech and also the Q and A and bring you anything of interest.
AAP has an update on the Antoinette Lattouf case:
The former supervisor of a fill-in ABC radio host did not see anything wrong with an anti-Israel social media post that led to the presenter’s dismissal, adding that decision was made due to pressure from higher up.
Antoinette Lattouf was recruited to host the Mornings show on ABC Radio Sydney for five days from Monday to Friday in December 2023
However, the 41-year-old was let go following three days on air after sharing an Instagram post by Human Rights Watch saying Israel used starvation as a “weapon of war” in Gaza.
Her direct supervisor Elizabeth Green, now executive producer of ABC Radio’s Sydney Drive show, took the witness box in Lattouf’s unlawful dismissal case in the Federal Court on Wednesday.
She said she learned from former head of capital city networks Steve Ahern during a meeting on December 20 that Lattouf would not be required for her final two shifts because of the Human Rights Watch post.
“You also expressed the view that you did not see anything wrong with Ms Lattouf’s post?” asked the journalist’s barrister Philip Boncardo.
“I did say that,” Ms Green replied.
After Lattouf was let go, Ms Green said she had a private conversation with the crying journalist in an ABC boardroom.
She told Lattouf she tried hard to stop her being dismissed but believed the call had been made from “higher up”.
“I said there was pressure for her to be removed from the Monday,” Ms Green told the court.
“I understood it had been referred up because she asked if it was (Mr Ahern’s) decision.”
Ms Green heard from Mr Ahern that the decision had been made from the office of now outgoing ABC managing director David Anderson.
One of the key issues in the case is who made the decision to dismiss Lattouf, with fingers being pointed at both Mr Anderson and then-ABC content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor.
Lattouf alleges she was fired because of her political opinion and race after the ABC bowed to pressure from pro-Israeli lobbyists co-ordinating a campaign of complaints.
She is seeking compensation and penalties against the broadcaster.
In its defence, the ABC says that Lattouf was taken off air because she breached a direction not to post anything in the Israel-Gaza conflict during her five-day employment.
Ms Green said she had told the freelance journalist about the complaints during a phone call on December 18.
She said she explicitly told Lattouf it would be best if she refrained from posting on anything relating to Israel or Palestine while she was working for the ABC.
However, she also agreed the 41-year-old could post on topics which were fact-based or from verified sources or reputable organisations.
The hearing continues.
Fortescue’s Chief Climate Scientist, Dr Shanta Barley, says “the trust has failed” and stressed the importance of setting ‘real zero’ targets which set clear deadlines to phase out fossil fuels.
Speaking at the Climate Integrity Summit, Dr Barley has warned that economic losses await businesses and governments that fail to set these deadlines.
She also points out that offsets are a distraction, and don’t lower emissions.
“We are being duped,” Dr Barley said.
“Even if they worked they only neutralise emissions – not reduce them”.
Yesterday the private sector and business leaders urged the federal government to adopt ‘real zero’ emissions in an open letter, highlighting that net zero frameworks allow accounting tricks and increased fossil fuels.
Those signatories included Fortescue Chair Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, Simon Sheikh CEO, Future Super, Dino Otranto CEO, Fortescue Metals, Nick J. Fairfax Managing Director and Co-CIO, Marinya Capital, Ian Melrose Co-Owner, Optical Superstore, Mark Barnaba Chairman, Greatland Gold PLC, Former Board Member of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
The battle for Labor to hold on the Tasmanian seat of Lyons is heating up, with former state Labor leader Rebecca White announcing she is retiring from state politics to focus on the federal election.
White has been preselected as the Labor candidate after Brian Mitchell announced he would not contest the next election. White led Labor across three election campaigns in Tasmania, but Labor fell short each time.
AAP reports White said she needed to concentrate her energies on the federal contest:
The time has come for me to step aside and focus my energy on the upcoming federal election campaign, where I hope to continue my service to our community of Lyons in the Australian parliament,” she said in a statement.
“It is with great excitement that I now dedicate myself to the task of winning the support of my community to represent them in the federal parliament.”
Labor is battling to hold on to Lyons, but White is seen as their best chance to retain the seat.
Given the Coalition and Labor have come to a deal to get the electoral donation and spending changes passed without pesky transparency and fairness from the crossbench, the Institute’s Josh Black and Bill Browne have taken a look at some of the justifications for the legislation:
.The government says the electoral laws changes are about limiting big spending by independents, but community independents spent less per seat than the major parties at the 2022 federal election.
The supposedly large campaigns run by community independents have been used to justify the Albanese Government’s rushed changes to electoral laws. Labor Special Minister of State Don Farrell explicitly linked the laws to an attempt to limit funding for community independents, saying “if you can’t get your message across after spending $800,000, then maybe you shouldn’t be in politics”.
Liberal MP Paul Fletcher claimed that “[t]hese amounts being spent on campaigns in individual electorates are without precedent in the Australian political system”.
Since these claims are being used to justify sweeping changes to Australian electoral law, they warrant close scrutiny.
The data reveals that the line being pushed by the two major parties does not stack up.
Despite what the Labor and Liberal parties might wish to suggest, million-dollar campaigns were not uncommon before the 2022 election.
Former Senator Kim Carr claimed that Labor spent $1 million on the 2018 Batman by-election campaign in the hope of preventing a once-safe seat from falling to the Greens and the same year, the Liberal Party reportedly spent $1 million on its Wentworth by-election campaign, which was won by independent Dr Kerryn Phelps. Her campaign cost $145,265.
Even since the 2022 election, both Labor and the Liberal Party have had a million-dollar seat campaign. The Labor Party spent $1 million on its campaign for the competitive Dunkley by-election in March 2024, and national secretary Paul Erikson predicted the Coalition had ‘easily matched this’.
However, the key issue is that while each independent candidate discloses their expenditure separately, parties report only aggregate expenditure for the year. Labor or Liberal for example do not have to disclose how much each spent trying to win a specific marginal seat. But we can calculate how much is spent, on average, per electorate.
For example, the Labor Party spent just under $116 million for 151 House of Representatives candidates in 2022, compared to $131 million for 155 candidates from the Liberal and National parties. The 22 community independents spent a combined $14.4m.
On this measure, Labor and the Coalition spent on average $112,000 and $189,000 respectively more per candidate than the community independents.
Here are some more comments from the Chair of Alliance of Small Island States and Ambassador and Permanent Representative for the Republic of Palau to the United Nations, who spoke at the Climate Integrity Summit.
Her Excellency Ilana Seid said Pacific Island nations are relying on Australia to be as a strong partner advocating for the needs of Pacific Island nations on the international stage and providing crucial support for our adaptation and mitigation efforts.
When Australia comes in and says we have to do it, it speaks volumes for the rest of the world to follow,” she said.
She also makes the point that:
Tony Burke and Mark Butler have released a joint statement in response to a video circulating on social media by an Israeli content creator speaking to two health workers from Bankstown Hospital. The creator uses the app Chatruletka which connects random people from across the world for ‘chats’ (and if you have been on it, you know what else is on there)
When the creator says he is from Israel, the two people he is speaking to respond they are upset he is Israeli and that they hope he dies, adding that they refuse to treat Israelis. The clip was then cut up and sent out across social media, leading to two Bankstown Hospital healthcare workers being stood down.
Burke and Butler:
The Albanese Government utterly condemns the appalling video that has circulated on social media of two health workers from Bankstown Hospital.
This video is as chilling as it is vile.
The comments made in this video are sickening and totally unacceptable.
We welcome the news that those responsible for the video have been stood down from their jobs and the incident has been referred to police. We fully endorse the swift and decisive action taken by the NSW Government.
Australians have a right to feel safe wherever they go and nowhere should be safer than a hospital.
Health workers have a solemn duty to treat and heal everyone who comes before them needing help. The vast majority hold to that oath.
The idea that you would single out a particular group in our community and indicate you wouldn’t care for them runs against every single principle in our health care system.
These sort of comments – and the hatred that underpins them – have no place in our health system and no place anywhere in Australia.
There is no evidence that anyone has been refused treatment. All hatred is vile and should be called out, which includes the threats and abuse Palestinians and other Arabs have received on the app when they have been connected with people from Israel.
All hatred should be addressed.
And if you want to add your voice to those already expressing their discontent at the government over its electoral donation changes that will entrench the two-party system even further, the Director of the Institute’s Democracy & Accountability Program Bill Browne has a way:
There are just days left in what may be the final sitting week before the federal election. It’s an extremely busy time in Parliament House, but here’s what you need to know:
They’ve tried this once before. Late last year, the government wanted to pass these changes to the fundamental operation of our democracy with little scrutiny and no parliamentary inquiry. It was only public pressure that stopped it.
Now, they’re trying to do the same thing again.
Let’s revisit the Commonwealth Bank’s latest profit announcement with Dave Richardson:
Based on their interim report:
Commonwealth Bank pre-tax profit for the half year to 31 December was $7,406 million.
That means on average, every Australian resident is contributing an annual equivalent of $544 to CBA’s profit.
The average Australian is paying an annualised $2,257 in interest payments to the CBA.
People with a CBA mortgage are some of the hardest hit but even those who do not bank with the CBA most likely contribute through CBA fees charged to merchants who pass that on to customers.
Stepping outside the parliament again and former Labor Senator for New South Wales Doug Cameron is addressing the Climate Integrity Summit, talking about trade, and securing Australia’s future in the context of the climate crisis.
“It is important to consider to the crisis in the context of how we improve society and create jobs,” Mr Cameron said.
He said short-term thinking is a “fundamental” problem in Australia and points out that fossil fuels are cheap because they are not held accountable.
“Fossil fuels remain cheap because they have never paid for the damage they have done,” he said.
“The has to be a shift away from coal.”
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