Kevin Rudd credits PM with ensuring Assange’s return to Australia
Former prime minister turned ambassador to Washington Kevin Rudd says Julian Assange’s release from jail and return home is important for all Australians because anyone could find themselves overseas and needing their government’s help.
Rudd told ABC TV on Thursday:
It matters for all Australians because you don’t know when you’re going to end up in a pickle.
Speaking to journalists later, he said the responsibility of any Australian government was to deal with every consular case. Rudd said:
That’s what we’ve been doing.
He said each set of circumstances was different.
You just you never know when someone is going to a friend of yours or relative is going to end up in a pickle somewhere.
Rudd credited the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, with being the “principal linchpin” in ensuring the plea deal was reached that saw Assange released.
The truth is, doesn’t matter how good your diplomatic team is, you need prime ministerial authorisation, prime ministerial direction and frankly a clear prime ministerial mandate to engage the US system at a level of seniority, which would make a difference. That’s what made this possible.
He said knowing the Australian executive government was unwavering in its determination to resolve the case enabled him and his diplomatic colleagues to navigate the tricky points in negotiations.
Let me tell you what was absolutely fundamental – and I’m not just saying this – to engage the US administration, confident in the basis that the prime minister and the foreign minister were absolutely resolute on the need to bring this case to a close. So obviously, on the way through, you’re going to have ebbs and flows, points of things nearly being resolved and then unresolved.
But the only way this worked was not because you had me or anybody else, doing negotiations. [It was] because we could confidently look the folks that we’re dealing with in the eye and say ‘our prime minister wants this fixed’. And that’s what we did.
Rudd said his interest as a diplomat was in stopping the Assange case “being a diplomatic problem” between Australia and the United States.
I didn’t want it to end up a long-term irritant.
He and Australia’s high commissioner to Britain, Stephen Smith, accompanied Assange on the flight from London back to Australia via Saipan in the Mariana Islands.
Rudd said they spoke about a range of issues including Assange’s experiences in jail, which he called “the elephant in the room”.
Guardian photographer at large Mike Bowers has captured the Australian ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, in the press gallery of Parliament House this evening. Rudd is in Canberra after accompanying Julian Assange on his flight from Saipan, where the historic plea deal was made, back to home soil.
The Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd in the press gallery of Parliament House this evening. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Shorten says NDIS ‘too important for political games’ after Coalition and Greens block bill
Sarah Basford Canales
The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, is furious with the opposition and the Greens after they teamed up to delay a key bill in the Senate on Thursday.
After question time, the unlikely alliance teamed up for a second time in one day to send a bill that would make changes to how participants receive budgets and give the head of the National Disability Insurance Agency additional powers to knock back participant budget top-ups to a committee until early August.
Shorten, at a press conference in his ministerial office, launched a new online tracker to determine how much money has been “wasted” as a result of the bill’s delay in passing.
Bill Shorten with his ‘waste website’ in his office in Parliament House. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Shorten said the cost – estimated by the NDIS actuary to be around $1bn – was “obscene, horrific, stupid and arrogant”.
“This inquiry, to be done by the same senators effectively who’ve done the first inquiry, will be looking at the same evidence and what they’ll be finding out is the same issues. So we want to just expose that a billion dollars is what this extra eight weeks [of inquiry] is going to cost. It’s about $23m a day, according to the actuary, for nearly a million dollars an hour. This scheme is too important for political games.”
Asked whether he would consult again with states and territories, who have very publicly shared their concerns about the bill, Shorten labelled it a “circle jerk”.
“Why are we going to do a circle jerk around stuff which has already been established and provided? What’s the new state position?”
Shorten also joked he would “appreciate” if the Guardian Australia wanted to make him “NDIS minister for life” when asked if planned to stick with the portfolio until the next federal election.
Why are some Victorian hospitals saying they’re freezing recruitment and looking for ways to cut costs?
There are fears among Victorian hospitals that they will have to close beds, delay elective surgeries and sack staff as the state government works to rein in post-pandemic health spending amid its debt woes.
Despite both the premier, Jacinta Allan, and the health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, dismissing such measures as “speculation” and “fearmongering”, several major hospitals have confirmed they have imposed hiring freezes ahead of submitting their annual budgets to the health department.
The opposition leader, John Pesutto, has described the situation as “alarming” and warned “lives will be put at risk”.
But what’s actually going on? Here’s what we know:
Driver charged over minibus double-fatality gets bail
A driver has been charged over a minibus crash that killed two migrant farm workers and left many more in hospital, AAP reports.
Fua Moananu, 25, appeared before Mildura magistrates court today, with white bandages along the left side of his face, charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death and five counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury.
The bus was reportedly attempting to pass another vehicle while travelling on the Calder Highway at Carwarp, 30km south of Mildura in north-west Victoria, about 7.45am on Tuesday, when it lost control and hit a tree.
Noting the police investigation was ongoing, Magistrate Patrick Southey said it was unclear how strong the prosecution’s case for dangerous driving was. He said:
It’s not at all clear how, why, this accident happened.
The road was straight, driving conditions were good and there have been no signs of drug or alcohol use, he said.
It’s just a mystery.
Two passengers, aged 43 and 34, died at the scene of the crash, two more aged 39 and 37 remained in hospital in a critical condition and another two in their 20s were still in a serious condition.
One of the men in hospital was unlikely to survive, the state prosecution told the court.
A 40-year-old man remained in hospital in a stable condition while three other passengers in their 20s were taken to hospital for observation.
Police understand all passengers and the driver were Samoan nationals.
Moananu will be bailed once he hands his passport to police, but he will not be permitted to drive, leave the Mildura region, or go to any points of international departure.
A committal mention for the matter will be heard on 4 December.
Sydney could become a city without youth due to housing crisis, Minns says
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, is leaning on urban developers to help solve the state’s housing crisis, urging the sector to seize its responsibility and help him shape Sydney, AAP reports.
Again declaring housing is the “biggest single challenge facing the state”, Minns told the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s annual lunch that Sydney could become a city without youth if there was no urgent intervention.
The government committed $5.1bn for public housing in its budget earlier in June, while a signature planning policy involves the blanket rezoning of land around metro stations and transport hubs for higher-density properties.
Chris Minns speaks at the Urban Development Institute of Australia lunch. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
Minns described those present at the developer lobby run lunch as part of a “bigger community mission” to improve the state’s housing for generations to come.
There’s a massive opportunity for builders and developers, one I know many of you take up every single day – to design your buildings with pride, to build them to the highest standard and facilitate the kinds of communities that turn houses into homes.
It’s a massive challenge, one that sits on the government’s shoulders but also on the industry’s shoulders, the challenge to provide houses to the next generation to demonstrate and ensure that we do not become a city without grandchildren.
But the premier did not touch on some of the more controversial issues facing the industry, such as the presence of rogue operators leading to high-profile failures in a series of major housing developers.
His Labor government has been injecting funding into the Building Commission NSW to crack down on what it has described as “dodgy” operators.
During a question-and-answer session with the former Liberal state minister Stuart Ayres, who now heads the institute, Minns said his administration wanted “to have your back” and for developers to do well.
Coalition and Greens team up to block NDIS bill in parliament
Sarah Basford Canales
The NDIS bill has been sent back to a parliamentary committee for further consideration after the opposition and the Greens teamed up to block Labor’s push.
A final committee report on the bill was released last week, with the Labor-chaired committee recommending it be passed. Both the Greens and Coalition senators shared disappointment there had only be a handful of public hearings and felt like the report was rushed.
About 3pm, a Greens amendment to send the bill back to the committee for reporting in early August passed 43 ayes to 20 noes.
Thanks Amy and good afternoon everyone. As we settle into that Thursday afternoon feeling of the weekend being almost in reach, we still have plenty more news coming your way.
A very big thank you to everyone who joined us in a huge week of news – we do not take a single one of you for granted and it means a lot that you would choose to spend your time with us. Thank you.
Natasha May will take you through what is left of the evening and I will be back early on Monday morning with another politics live blog. Until then – take care of you.
We'll have a Senate Estimates spillover hearing next Thursday 4 July with the AFP and Home Affairs - plenty of outstanding questions for both! pic.twitter.com/md3NhYZPoq
Seven’s YouTube channels replaced with AI-generated streams of Elon Musk after apparent hack
Seven’s YouTube channels have gone offline after the network’s pages were apparently hacked and replaced with AI-generated streams of Elon Musk and the Tesla logo.
News.com reported that for five hours on Thursday morning, visitors to some of the network’s channels could see a Tesla-branded livestream of a deepfaked Musk accompanied by a version of his voice encouraging users to deposit cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Etherium and Dogecoin.
The videos were at one point viewed by tens of thousands of people, Sydney Morning Herald reported.
As of mid-afternoon on Thursday, 7 News Spotlight’s YouTube channel, which has 858,000 subscribers, stated it “doesn’t have any content” while its 7 News channel told visitors the page was not available.
In a statement to multiple outlets, a Seven spokeswoman said: “Seven is aware that some of its branded YouTube channels are not appearing as they should. Seven is investigating and working with YouTube to resolve the situation as soon as possible.”
Melbourne airport rail link should proceed but without underground station, report says
Construction on initial stages of a rail link to Melbourne’s airport should proceed, a commonwealth-appointed mediator has recommended, as he dealt a blow to the airport owner’s demand for an underground station that has formed the centre of a dispute that has delayed the long-promised train line.
In his report delivered to the Albanese government, Neil Scales, the mediator appointed to settle the long-running dispute between the Victorian government and Melbourne airport, made recommendations for a path forward on the stalled project, in which the government only wants to contribute finances for a cheaper above-ground station instead of the underground option preferred by the airport.
Scales’s report recommended that the federal and Victorian governments, who are funding the project with the airport, proceed with “no regrets” work at Sunshine Station “to transform it into a major transport hub and capitalise on the early works already completed for the Melbourne Airport Rail Link”.
The federal and state government will now discuss a funding arrangement for the Sunshine Station upgrade, while Scales recommended ordering fresh modelling on the timeline for capacity of the Tullamarine Freeway.
Regarding the location of a train station at the airport – the crux of the dispute that has stalled the project – Scales’s report “recommended against further commonwealth and state consideration of an underground option at this time”.
Scales’s report said if the airport’s owner and operator, Australia Pacific Airports Melbourne (APAM), “wish to progress with the option of an underground station” they should “produce a suitable and comprehensive business case, so that key stakeholders can examine the proposal in detail”.
Melbourne is considered the most populous city in the developed world without a rail link to its main airport.
There are a couple more questions, but we have heard them all before.
Anthony Albanese gets to his feet to end question time – but Ted O’Brien is on his feet! And Labor thinks this is hilarious! There are groans about possibly missing out on O’Brien’s no doubt well-researched question delivered in his trademark scintillating manner but, alas, we are to be forever bereft of this particular moment of genius.
The Liberal MP for Sturt, James Stevens, reads his own question, where he discovers how the national energy market works:
Stevens:
Over the last year, South Australia relied on electricity imports from Victoria for every single week of the year, including seven weeks where imported energy exceeded 50 gigawatt hours. During these periods, South Australia also fired up its own gas and diesel generation to keep the lights on. When Yallourn closes in 2028, where will South Australia import energy from during periods of prolonged wind droughts?
Anthony Albanese has a bit of a chat about how he had a good time in the electorate last time he was in town and had some good talks with voters. He then hands over to Chris Bowen to have some fun, because Ted O’Brien hasn’t asked a question today.
Bowen:
That question from the member for Sturt was the most successful intervention in the renewable energy debate since Josh Frydenberg and Premier Rann held a press conference. (It was Jay Weatherill but Bowen has a mind blank here, and doesn’t seem to remember his SA Labor colleague’s name).
Premier, not Premier Rann! Josh Frydenberg and the premier of South Australia had a press conference together where Josh Frydenberg was blaming renewable energy for the South Australia blackouts.
Renewable energy had nothing to do with. And I tell you what, Mr Speaker, the honorable member for Sturt might have wanted to check. He asked about the closure of a Yallourn power station, which was announced when they were in office. Mr Speaker, and what did they do? They brought down the underwriting new generation investment fund, which should have been called the unfortunately no generation involved fund, of course it delivered not one watt of energy. What we saw was four gigawatts leave the grid and one gigawatt come on. And that was result of ten years of policy [incompetence].
Liberal MP Tony Pasin has been very quiet this question time (he is usually the silver medallist in interjecting, but has not quite worked out how to get as loud as Michael Sukkar) which can only mean one thing – he has a question.
And he does!
And he’s reading it! And the chamber finds this hilarious, meaning Dugald has to step in and remind people who are paid at minimum $233,643 a year that it is not illegal to read in the chamber.
Pasin:
Mr Speaker, my question is to the prime minister. Prime Minister, Mount Gambier food based manufacturer Sugar and Spice in my seat of Barker is at breaking point since 2020. They have seen their energy costs risen, rise by 36%. That’s despite seeing usage decline. Owners Victor and Tanya have told me, and I quote, the significant rise in energy costs since Labor has come to office is very disappointing. Prime Minister, when will Australian families pay the price for Labor’s economic incompetence?
He does not get the question out in time, so Labor has a bit of a joke about it, but Dugald shuts them all up. He truly is not playing today.
But Anthony Albanese ignores the Speaker’s ire:
I thank the member for Barker for his ‘question’ and for being here after 3:00 (a reference to how often he is thrown out).
Well, well done son. Well done, well done. We know why. And it’s Thursday, so a special a special stamp for the member for Barker.
Leader of the opposition Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, 27 June, 2024. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Sophie Scamps asks Mark Dreyfus about whistleblower protection
Mackellar independent MP Sophie Scamps stands up to say she will be reading her question.
Our political system is hugely important to the people of Mackellar. And whistleblowers are a vital pillar of that integrity. Yet right now we have a whistleblower serving a lengthy jail term and one facing trial. Civil society is united in its call for a federal whistleblower protection authority, something the attorney general promised before the 2019 election. Will you recommit to establishing a whistleblower protection authority in this term of government? Thank you.
Mark Dreyfus says integrity is very important to the government and, he would hope, to every member of the parliament. He goes through what the government has done in that space so far but is then asked about the crux of the question – whistleblower protection – and says:
The government is now progressing a second, broader stage of reforms, which has included the release of a consultation paper. There has been public consultation on additional supports for public sector whistleblowers, which may include a whistleblower protection authority. There have been submissions received as part of that consultation process, and they are being used to inform the government’s next steps for reform.
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion