July 13, 2023

Australia news LIVE: PM offers 30 more Bushmasters to Ukraine at NATO; Voice to parliament debate continues

Key posts

Pinned post from 12.25pm

Nationals MP allegedly received death threats

By Alex Crowe

Federal member for Mildura Anne Webster has been confirmed as the parliamentarian who allegedly faced threats to kill from a man who was arrested in Brisbane on Tuesday.

Webster’s office has verified the Nationals member made a complaint to police after facing threats from a member of the public.

The MP declined to make any comment at this time, citing legal reasons, as the matter is now before the courts.

Nationals MP Dr Anne Webster at Parliament House in June.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

A 39-year-old man of no fixed address was arrested at Brisbane International Airport on Tuesday.

He has been charged with several charges relating to using a carriage service to make a threat to kill someone.

It is understood threats were allegedly made to multiple members of parliament, as well as other members of the public.

Police are yet to confirm whether there have been complaints from anyone other than Webster.

The allegations reported by the Australian Federal Police on Tuesday are not the first time Webster has allegedly been targeted by members of the public.

Webster was awarded $875,000 in damages in 2020 after a judge found against conspiracy theorist Karen Brewer who had accused her of being a member of a paedophile network.

Justice Jacqueline Gleeson ordered Brewer to pay damages over Facebook posts, shared hundreds of times, were found to be defamatory.

Latest posts

Latest posts

2.37pm

Up soon: Penny Wong in Jakarta

By Anthony Segaert

Good afternoon, Anthony Segaert with you for the rest of the afternoon.

Foreign minister Penny Wong, currently in Jakarta, is expected to speak to the media shortly as part of a days-long visit to Indonesia. South East Asia correspondent Chris Barrett will bring all the details shortly.

Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo came to Australia earlier this month. But as Matthew Knott reported, the relationship between the two countries is not quite perfect.

2.21pm

Tasmanian Greens leader resigns for state upper house tilt

Tasmania’s parliament has suffered further upheaval, with longstanding state Greens leader Cassy O’Connor resigning for a tilt in the state’s upper house.

O’Connor, one of two Greens MPs in Tasmania’s lower house, was first elected in 2008 via a countback and became leader in 2015.

She held a press conference today in Hobart, saying she was quitting as leader and stepping down as member for Clark.

Cassy O’connor will resign as Greens leader in Tasmania.Credit: Jess Hromas

“This hasn’t been an easy decision,” she told reporters.

“I love my job. I love working in parliament and especially in an exciting, dynamic, balance-of-power parliament. But it is time to go.

“It is the right time for the Greens. We need renewal in leadership and the House of Assembly.”

Her departure comes after the Liberal government was plunged into minority in May when two MPs quit to the crossbench over concerns with the state’s deal for an AFL club and stadium.

There is speculation a state election will be held well before its June 2025 due date.

O’Connor said she intended to seek pre-selection for the upper house seat of Hobart.

A recount will be held to replace her in Clark, with her seat expected to go to Greens candidate Vica Bayley.

AAP

1.55pm

This afternoon’s headlines at a glance

By Caroline Schelle

Thank you for joining us during our busy live coverage.

I’m handing over to my colleague Anthony Segaert, who will be anchoring the blog for the rest of the day.

Here’s what you need to know if you’re just joining us:

Federal member for Mildura Anne Webster has been confirmed as the parliamentarian who allegedly faced death threats from a man arrested in Brisbane on Tuesday.Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says Labor’s “negative” campaign over former opposition frontbencher Stuart Robert’s involvement in robo-debt will affect the polls on Saturday.Voice architect Noel Pearson says the referendum later this year will be the “most important vote” Australia will ever have.Pro-democracy activist and retired Sydney baker Chau Van Kham thanked Australians and the prime minister for securing his release from a Vietnamese prison.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at their meeting at NATO.Credit: ReutersThe German ambassador to Australia says a potential trade deal with the European Union is “too big to fail”, and it could go through another round of negotiations.Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese has offered Ukraine 30 more Bushmaster armoured vehicles following a meeting between the pair on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Lithuania.Mining giant Fortescue Metals Group reassured investors the split between its biggest shareholders, Andrew and Nicola Forrest, will not change control of the company.And overseas, the BBC has restarted an inquiry into presenter Huw Edwards after police announced that they were taking no further action.

Advertisement
1.40pm

Join the conversation

Our story on the average take-home pay of the chief executives falling to its lowest in nine years is generating interesting conversation with our subscribers.

@Linus says: “It would be good to see a CEO pay fixed to a defined multiple of the average salary for their employees; that way, any increases must be across the board.”

@ChrisA writes: “The problem with the ridiculously high CEO salaries is that there doesn’t seem to be an effective way to get them all reduced. Shareholders voting against the remuneration report may cause a board spill but the new board can then just rubber-stamp the same CEO remuneration.”

The fall in actual pay for CEOs last year reflects falling bonuses and the departure of highly paid bosses such as Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.Credit: Oscar Colman

@Brenda Loots says: “Quick, somebody set up a go-fund-me page for the poor darlings. Seriously – remuneration there bears no resemblance to ‘fair’ compensation. They’d be nothing without the 100s or 1000s of workers doing the actual work in their respective organisations.”

What do you think? Let us know using the link above.

1.21pm

New airline Bonza cuts routes due to weak demand

By Amelia McGuire

Australia’s newest airline, Bonza, will cut five routes from its schedule less than six months into operations due to a lack of demand and reliability issues on its more popular routes.

Bonza’s chief commercial officer, Carly Povey, sent an open letter to customers today to announce the changes to its route map, which will come into effect next month.

New airline Bonza is cutting five routes and reducing the frequency of some of its other services.

The airline will also reduce the frequency of some of its other services due to insufficient demand to enable an additional weekly service on three of its strongest routes.

Povey told this masthead the airline had not taken the decision to reduce its route map to 22 destinations lightly, but said it was important to improve the experience of customers and be responsive to demand.

Find out more about the changes here.

1.00pm

Commonwealth bank boss says renters tightening their belts the most

Renters are tightening their belts even more than mortgage holders, according to data from the Commonwealth Bank.

The bank’s data suggests those aged between 25 and 29, who are likely facing sharp rental increases, are pulling back on spending more than any other cohort.

Young renters are also likely to be saving less than normal as high costs for food, energy and rent limit the amount they can squirrel away.

Fronting a parliamentary committee today, CBA’s leadership team outlined how different cohorts are responding to higher interest rates and cost of living pressures.

CBA chief executive Matt Comyn has spoken about the pressures facing renters. Credit: Brent Lewin

CBA chief executive officer Matt Comyn echoed his counterparts from ANZ and NAB who said the number of households failing to make their repayment on time was still very low by historical standards.

But he said it was clear many households were under pressure, pulling back on discretionary spending and dipping into their savings.

While renters are hurting the most, young homeowners are also suffering, with a third who bought during the pandemic reducing their spending by more than 30 per cent year-on-year.

Those who own their own homes outright, older Australians, were recording the least financial strain, the bank boss said.

Despite a clear deterioration in financial circumstances for customers, Comyn said the strong labour market meant most people were in a position to meet their mortgage repayments.

“The employment market remains very strong and the vast majority, almost all of our customers, continue to work,” he said.

On stress testing borrowers, Comyn said the bank was offering a lower one per cent serviceability buffer to a small proportion of loans under a “very limited set of circumstances”.

AAP

Advertisement
12.41pm

Decision on Scott Morrison’s future is up to him, Dutton says

By Caroline Schelle

Returning to the opposition leader, who was asked about the future of former prime minister Scott Morrison after the fallout from the robo-debt commission findings.

Peter Dutton was asked on Sydney radio station 2GB whether it was time for Morrison to move on and get some “fresh blood” into parliament.

“There’s an expectation that people either serve out their full term or go to a byelection, depending on the circumstances,” Dutton told host Ray Hadley.

Scott Morrison has rejected the findings of the robo-debt report.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“My judgment has always been for former prime ministers to pay them respect and do that wherever it’s possible … I think it’s a decision ultimately for the individual.”

The opposition leader said it was up to Morrison to decide whether “he stays or goes”.

“He’ll make the decision that’s right for him,” he said.

Morrison had refuted some findings made by Commissioner Catherine Holmes last week, Dutton said.

“If you’ve done the wrong thing, and there’s a finding of guilt, then you should be held to account for that and answer it and cop the penalty, but we don’t find guilt before innocence,” Dutton said.

“And this is not a judge and jury process, but there are lessons to be learned and that’s the situation that we’re in at the moment.”

12.25pm

Nationals MP allegedly received death threats

By Alex Crowe

Federal member for Mildura Anne Webster has been confirmed as the parliamentarian who allegedly faced threats to kill from a man who was arrested in Brisbane on Tuesday.

Webster’s office has verified the Nationals member made a complaint to police after facing threats from a member of the public.

The MP declined to make any comment at this time, citing legal reasons, as the matter is now before the courts.

Nationals MP Dr Anne Webster at Parliament House in June.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

A 39-year-old man of no fixed address was arrested at Brisbane International Airport on Tuesday.

He has been charged with several charges relating to using a carriage service to make a threat to kill someone.

It is understood threats were allegedly made to multiple members of parliament, as well as other members of the public.

Police are yet to confirm whether there have been complaints from anyone other than Webster.

The allegations reported by the Australian Federal Police on Tuesday are not the first time Webster has allegedly been targeted by members of the public.

Webster was awarded $875,000 in damages in 2020 after a judge found against conspiracy theorist Karen Brewer who had accused her of being a member of a paedophile network.

Justice Jacqueline Gleeson ordered Brewer to pay damages over Facebook posts, shared hundreds of times, were found to be defamatory.

12.08pm

Dutton says Coalition takes responsibility for getting robo-debt wrong

By Caroline Schelle

Circling back to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who says the previous government got the robo-debt scheme wrong, and takes responsibility for it.

“We take responsibility for that which we got wrong,” he told Ray Hadley on Sydney’s 2GB radio station.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been questioned about the robo-debt scheme today. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“There’s a desire for overpayments of taxpayers’ money through any of the programs, that if people have been overpaid by the government, there’s an expectation that they refund that and return it back to the government.”

He said there were lessons to be learned from the way the scheme was designed.

“We should learn those lessons and in the programme has obviously been redesigned,” Dutton said.

Advertisement
11.46am

Activist thanks PM for role in securing release from Vietnamese jail

By Caroline Schelle

Pro-democracy activist and retired Sydney baker Chau Van Kham has spoken publicly after spending four years in a Vietnamese prison.

He returned to Australia on Tuesday and was reunited with his family after the Australian government spoke on his behalf to the Vietnamese government on a trip last month.

“The first time in front of you, so I feel so nervous, so nervous because I’m so happy, and I’m very nervous … But in front of you, very good people and very helpful people to help me bring me back home. Thank you all,” Kham said in Sydney today.

Chau Van Kham (left) being escorted into a Vietnamese courtroom in 2019.Credit: AP

He told reporters today he had a long list of people to thank who worked to return him, but his first message was to Australians.

“Thank you all … The first thing, could you please send a message, a very important message to all people, the Australian people … that helped me, supported me, for my case back, bringing me back to my home, to my beautiful wife and son.”

He also thanked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for his role in securing his release.

“Can I say thank you to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. He has personally raised my case with Vietnam,” Kham said.

Kham, an Australian citizen who was born in Vietnam, was arrested in January 2019 and sentenced to 12 years in prison on “financing terrorism” charges relating to his membership of the pro-democracy group Viet Tan.

Chau’s lawyers and human rights advocates argued that the charges were politically motivated and not grounded in fact, but the 74-year-old was sentenced to prison after a single-day trial.

Most Viewed in National

Loading

 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.