Health News at Your Fingertips

Peter Hannam

Ahead of tomorrow’s release of consumer price inflation figures for the June quarter, the ANZ/Roy Morgan weekly survey of consumer confidence has registered another modest increase.
Sentiment nudged up 0.7%, following the previous week’s 0.2% gain.

Among the mainland states, confidence improved in NSW, Victoria, SA and WA, while it dropped in Queensland.
The sentiment sub indices were also mixed.
“Increases in the expected ‘financial situation compared to a year ago’ and whether it is a ‘good time to buy a major household item’ were the main drivers of sentiment, ANZ’s Head of Australian Economics David Plank said.
“Confidence, however, remained very weak and at levels last seen during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
One other interesting result was the uptick in household inflation expectations by 0.2 percentage points to 6%.

The rise in consumer sentiment, though, could be temporary, with more “downward pressure” likely if the June CPI figures reveal another surge of inflation, Plank said.
Market economists are tipping the ‘headline’ CPI numbers will come in at about 6.2%, up from the annual rate of 5.1% reported for the March quarter.
While on the high side, that number is well short of the bold 8% prediction by one political commentator in the ‘national broadsheet’ this morning.

Shoppers everywhere will hope that he’s well off the mark.

Christopher Knaus

Supporters of tax whistleblower Richard Boyle rally in Adelaide

In Adelaide, a protest has been held in support of tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle.

Boyle, a former tax office official, blew the whistle on what he alleged was the misuse of extraordinary powers by the Australian Taxation Office to claw back debts owed by families and small businesses. His disclosures, made well after he first raised concerns internally, formed the basis of an ABC Four Corners investigation.

He was then hit with a series of criminal charges and is now facing potential imprisonment, if found guilty at trial.

Boyle was due to face the district court this morning for what is a hugely important pre-trial hearing. He is attempting to use whistleblower protections to have criminal charges against him thrown out.

It is the first major test of Australia’s Public Interest Disclosure Act, the laws that are designed to shield whistleblowers from reprisals. The hearing was delayed until next week due to Covid. But a group of protesters has shown their solidarity with Boyle regardless, turning up outside the court in support.

The Alliance Against Political Prosecutions, the Human Rights Law Centre, and the former senator Rex Patrick were all in attendance.

Natasha May

Australian airport ground crews threatening strikes over unfair enterprise agreement

Dipping away from politics for a moment:

Travellers at Australian airports could see big delays as ground crews are threatening to go on strike. Baggage handlers from the Emirates-owned group dnata (the Dubai National Air Travel Agency) are today applying to the Fair Work Commission for strike action over a new enterprise agreement they say is unfair. The airport services provider supplies handling for up to 20 airlines including Qantas and Emirates.

Andrew David, the CEO of Qantas Domestic and International appeared on the Today Show earlier this morning and said that it will impact the national carrier’s international flights but not domestic services.

If the union is going to take the action it will impact those airlines and will impact everybody in our international airports. It won’t affect our domestic business. We don’t use dnata in our domestic airports.

David denied the situation was reflective of the broader problem of airlines outsourcing activities like bag handling to other businesses.

It’s ludicrous to suggest that corners are being cut and the union’s got to take action. They are trying to link Qantas to virtually everything. Yesterday we had fog in Sydney and Virgin had a problem with its IT systems. Somehow the trade workers union connected that with Qantas outsourcing.

David is asked about a leaked memo from dnata, in which staff have been warned to politely but firmly dismiss any pressure from airlines to work faster which has previously resulted in “quite a few incidents in the space of a fortnight.”

David denies that the staff shortage is “dangerous” and says he has read the memo and “thought it was good”.

It was a reminder to everybody in dnata, in the same way we want our ground handlers to remember, safety always comes first. I didn’t see anything with that message. Unfortunately some people choose to take phrases in that and in other contexts out of context and then spread misinformation. So, certainly it is not dangerous in the industry. We always take safety as our first priority.

The potential strike comes as Sydney Airport has been named among the world’s worst airports for flight cancellations and delays in the past two months:

Murph has covered climate politics for more than two decades – there is almost no one in the building who knows as much as her about where we have been, where we are going, and what needs to happen. We are lucky to have her.

Bowen: Ratchet mechanism ‘explicit in the legislation’, no further changes from Labor likely

Katharine Murphy asks:

You said obviously you’ve made the Paris process more explicit in this bill so that targets can only go in one direction. Is that as far as you intent to go on the so-called ratchet mechanism that the Greens and others have been looking for?

Also you said a minute ago you’re not budging from Labor’s electoral mandate. Labor made no comments or promises ahead of the last federal election in relation to a climate trigger [or] another environmental laws. That’s something that David Pocock thinks should happen. It’s something the Greens think should happen and it might go some way to bridging some … gaps between the Labor Party and the Greens on a moratorium on oil and gas. What’s your position in relation to that?

Chris Bowen:

Thank you. In relation to the first question, you’re right. The Paris mechanism is very clear. The term ratchet mechanism gets used and that’s as good a term as any, that all future targets must be better than previous targets so the UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] wouldn’t accept a target which is backsliding.

We’ve made that explicit in the legislation. I think that is very clear. Certainly I don’t envisage the need to change that any further.

In relation to the other question you raised, of course that’s a matter which the minister has addressed in relation to the Saville review and that’s our position and I believe that position continues.

Chris Bowen says the Paris mechanism will be part of the bill, and the Opposition is making itself irrelevant:

There are things that we’ve made more explicit in the bill, that we’ll be introducing into the Parliament, including how the Paris mechanism works to require future targets to or higher than previous targets.

That’s appropriate. That’s what a sensible government of grown-ups does.

As I said, we have been and will continue to talk to people of goodwill. People who aren’t constructive, like the opposition, have made themselves irrelevant to the process.

The Liberal Party – at least the leader of the Liberal Party – seems to have not received the memo from the Australian people on May 21 that it’s time to end the climate wars.

They think they know more about business than the Business Council of Australia. They think they know more about the industry, Australian industry, than the Australian Industry Group, who have all called for our targets and for them to be legislated.

Mr Dutton is unfortunately making a decision to continue the climate wars. That a matter for him but he’ll be held accountable for it.

He’s making his party irrelevant and many of his members and even frontbenchers know it and you know that he’s made a captain’s call to stand aside from constructive engagement with the government.

The government will get on with the job, regardless of whether this legislation passes. We’ll get on with the job, regardless of the approach of the opposition of the day.

But the Australian people sent the parliament a message, elected in a government with a mandate, and we’re getting on with it in a way consistent with that mandate and I call on people across the Parliament regardless of their party, regardless of their historical position, to recognise the sea change in the views of the Australian people and support this legislation.

Chris Bowen is giving an update on Labor’s climate legislation – they’re having the Climate Change Authority advise on how the government should approach its emissions reduction targets:

The Climate Change Authority to advise government in an open and transparent way on future targets. The Climate Change Authority was set up by previous Labor governments to do so.

The Climate Change Authority should be a trusted voice to government in an open and transparent policymaking sense in the future.

It’ll also advise government again on progress, on complying with our targets and will do so in an open and transparent way and, of course, the legislation will require me and future ministers of the day to report transparently to parliament on progress in targets and actions and policies adopted to meet them and what actions the government is taking.

And finally, the bill will also put the nation’s targets in to the objects and functions of a range of government organisations, including Arena and CFC in my portfolio and the Northern Australian Infrastructure Fund, Infrastructure Australia and others.

This is an important opportunity, as I said, for the country. It’s also an important opportunity for the parliament. This legislation has been informed and assisted by consultations across the parliament with people of goodwill.

There was a very large crowd in the Great Hall, with the public galleries filled. For the smoking ceremony, it starts with special guests and their invited guests, before being opened up more widely for those who would like to pay their respects.

Procession to the forecourt begins for the Indigenous smoking ceremony

It really wasn’t that long ago (2008) that the smoking ceremony was thought controversial. It was not part of the official opening until the Rudd government made it part of its opening.

While those speeches of unity and needing to do better were being given, Angus Taylor was on Sky News, talking politics.

Peter Dutton finishes with this:

This, the 47th Parliament of Australia, will be an important one for Indigenous Australians, indeed for all Australians. It’s a parliament with record levels of Indigenous representation, as the prime minister rightly pointed out. We’re incredibly proud of the fact that we have eight senators, three members of the House of Representatives, as part of this 47th Parliament.

I acknowledge my colleagues today, Liberal senators Jacinta Price and senator Kerrynne Liddle. It’s a great honour to share this stage with you.

As we know, there’s an incredible of work in front of us to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians, to do what past governments, both Liberal and Labor, and leaders in our communities, have strived to do but fallen short in their endeavours.

That is to lift standards of living, to generate better educational outcomes, to address domestic violence and crime and to reduce mortality rates. So together, colleagues, let this 47th Parliament of Australia bring us together to implement practical changes which will improve the lives of Indigenous Australians. Thank you.

Dutton: ‘we will recognise the scale of our story when we recognise each other’

Peter Dutton:

Ladies and gentlemen, members of Parliament, senators, colleagues, friends and fellow Australians, as is tradition, we open Parliament with the Welcome to Country. The words we heard this morning carried a strong message of unity. A Welcome to Country made in the spirit of peace and a desire for harmony with all peoples of modern Australia.

It reminded me how lucky we are to live in a peaceful and harmonious society, particularly compared to other parts of the world this very day.

I recall the words of Noel Pearson who said our nation is in three parts. There is an ancient heritage, written in the continent and the original culture painted on its land and seascapes. There’s our British inheritance, the structures of government and society transported from the United Kingdom fixing its foundation in the ancient soil. There is our multicultural achievement, a triumph of immigration that brought together the gifts of peoples and cultures from all over the globe, forming one Commonwealth.

Noel Pearson also said Australians have an epic story. It’s one of the greatest epic stories of this planet. We will recognise the scale of our story when we recognise each other.

Dutton makes opening speech

As the opposition leader, Peter Dutton is then given the opportunity to speak:

Can I say, prime minister, thank you very much for those warm words, heartfelt words and felt by everyone here and I know that they were spoken very sincerely. So thank you very much for those fine words.

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people. I acknowledge their leaders past, present and emerging and in particular the two wonderful leaders on the stage today.

Aunty Matilda, you’ve graced this place for many years. You bring a great sense of dignity and a great sense of humour and the way in which you’ve represented your people at many ceremonies over a long period of time, you’ve shown great distinction and honour to your people and heritage.

Paul [House], thank you for your speech today, for the very powerful words and for the way in which you’ve provided leadership and we’ve enjoyed very much the conversations and the way in which you’ve engaged with parliamentarians.

I also want to acknowledge Linda Burney and the shadow minister [for Indigenous Australians], Julian Leeser. To all of my parliamentary colleagues and everyone here today to share in this moment. I want to make sure that as a parliament, and as a former defence minister, we also pay our respects to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women who have served our nation in the past and continue to do so today.

Anthony Albanese finishes with:

[Aunty] Matilda [House] gave the first Welcome to Country ceremony here at this Parliament House. And she said this: “For thousands of years, our people have observed this protocol. It is a good and honest and a decent and human act to reach out and make sure everyone has a place and is welcome.”

It says a lot.

May the humility and hope infused in her remarkable words be what guides us in the 47th Parliament.

Albanese: wounds of legalised discrimination are still recent and raw

Anthony Albanese:

We’re not talking about, you know, ancient history here. How good is it that in the last Parliament we had the honourable Ken Wyatt, an Indigenous man, representing the Parliament as the minister for indigenous affairs?

And now we have, in the new government, Linda Burney being the minister for indigenous affairs.

Linda Burney’s story underlines not just how repugnant the days of legalised discrimination were, but how recent and how raw the wounds of our past still are. But her story does also remind us of the significant changes that have occurred, just in my lifetime.

In my lifetime: the 1967 referendum, the Mabo decision, the national apology, to the Welcome to Country to mark the opening of Parliament, a testament to all those who worked so hard to awaken our national conscience, a testament to the courage and perseverance of First Nations leaders and that history inspires us to further progress.

Linda is a very dear friend of mine, and there’s no one I’m closer to in this show. And, in part, her story inspires me because if my beginnings and had [I] dealt with that hardship, you’d like to think you’d respond with generosity and kindness, but, gee, you wouldn’t blame someone for not doing that. And that’s what strikes me about reconciliation and going forward.

Anthony Albanese gets emotional at this point:

So I say to everyone here, all of my parliamentary colleagues, don’t miss the chance, because you’re not here for that long.

None of us will be.

And when you’re sitting on the porch, thinking about what you did, you can either have a source of pride, or a source of regret.

There’s no middle path, no middle path.

Make it a source of pride.