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PM appoints former Macquarie Bank boss Nicholas Moore as special envoy to south-east Asia

Katharine Murphy

Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has used his opening remarks at the Asean-Australia summit to reveal Labor will appoint a new special envoy to south-east Asia, the former Macquarie Bank boss and company director Nicholas Moore, to drive what the prime minister has characterised as a “comprehensive south-east Asia economic strategy” between now and 2040.

Continuing the courtship of the region that the government has been focused on since winning the election in May, Albanese used Saturday’s address to underscore Australia’s commitment to Asean partners and to regional values, which he characterised as “the cherished ideals of peace, freedom, social justice and economic wellbeing”.

In a clear reference to geo-strategic tensions – meaning China’s aggression in the region – Australia’s prime minister said the challenge was to uphold those values in a “complex and changing world”. Albanese said Australia remained committed to a rules based regional order with Asean partners at the centre of that peace and security. “Working in close consultation, we can forge a more secure and sustainable future,” Albanese said. “Where international law and norms are upheld, and disputes are resolved amicably through diplomacy and dialogue”.

“With confidence in our cause, let us affirm the great founding vision of this institution, and carry it forward into a new era of peace and possibility”.

As I noted on the blog earlier this morning, Asean lacks a unified approach to the rise of China in the region, and the group often faces criticism for that.

At the same time as holding the Asean group close, Australia is also attempting to execute a delicate diplomatic rapprochement with Beijing even though many irriants remain in the bilateral relationship.

In the lead-up to summit season there has been speculation Albanese could meet the Chinese leadership at some point during the next week, either here in Cambodia or at the G20 in Bali.

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, who will meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in Bali, has touched down in Phnom Penh this morning.

Jim Chalmers on G20 and B20 summits: ‘opportunity to forge deeper international collaboration’

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is travelling to Indonesia today to attend the G20 joint finance and health ministers meeting, and to accompany the prime minister to the B20 Summit from 12 to 14 November 2022.

It is summit season for government leaders around the world. Chalmers said the suite of meetings “come at a critical time for the global economy and our region, and provide an important opportunity to discuss global conditions and forge deeper international collaboration”.

The global economy faces significant challenges including from Russia’s war in Ukraine, a global energy and cost of living crisis, and the most synchronised global monetary tightening in recent decades – with a heightened risk of recession across major advanced economies.

These global challenges will be key issues at the G20, in addition to climate change and future pandemic preparedness.

I will take the opportunity to strengthen bilateral relationships with key strategic partners and engage with members of the global business community at the B20 Summit.

The B20 is a meeting of business and commercial interests, allied to the G20 summit.

Flooding update from the NSW State Emergency Service

The NSW SES is working to resupply a number of communities isolated by flooding in Collarenebri, Walgett, Lightning Ridge, Goodooga, Brewarrina and parts of Bourke.

SES assistant commissioner Nicole Hogan said this was a very complex and evolving situation.

“The size of the area is about 40,000 square kilometres – more than half the size of Tasmania,” she said.

“Roads have intermittently been cut for several weeks now, with resupply missions needing to take place by airplane to regional depots, before being loaded onto helicopters and finally transported by vehicles and boats to the desired recipients.

“With renewed flooding expected, we anticipate this remote outreach will need to continue for some time. We are conducting regular flights to ensure the 5000 or so isolated residents receive the essential foods, medicines, mail and essentials they need.

“As the flood water recedes we hope access will improve, however if people are in need of resupply they should get in touch with the NSW SES.”

Meanwhile, NSW SES volunteers have been busy in Condobolin as major flooding continues on the Lachlan River.

Volunteers have been active assisting the community with door knocking, sandbagging and conducting flood rescues.

Hogan said the NSW SES was bracing for declining weather conditions over the next 48 hours.

“Through Sunday and Monday we are prepping for a large amount of rainfall as a result of severe storms which are predicted to come through the state which unfortunately could lead to renewed riverine flooding and dangerous flash flooding.

“The NSW SES is urging residents to not drive or play in flood waters. The risk of flooded roads poses a very dangerous risk in already flood affected communities where rivers are full and all additional water will run off and cause some areas to flood very quickly,” she said.

For the last 24 hours NSW SES have performed five flood rescues and received 145 requests for assistance.

Katharine Murphy

Victory will be a ‘joint success’, says Ukraine’s foreign minister

During their conversation, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has told the Australian prime minister he understands that everybody in the world wants this war to end – the Ukrainian people most of all.

But he says Russian aggression makes peace impossible at this point in time. “The war goes on,” Kuleba said. Ukraine’s foreign minister then made a moving observation:

Ukraine will always remember this support the people of Australia extended to us. We will definitely prevail and when victory comes it will be a joint success.

Anthony Albanese meets Ukraine foreign minister in Cambodia

Katharine Murphy

Australia’s prime minister has just opened Saturday’s program with a meeting with Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who is in Phnom Penh at the invitation of the Cambodian government.

The pair had a warm conversation. Anthony Albanese characterised Russia’s conduct as “outrageous” and “reprehensible” and “illegal” and he outlined Australia’s recent military assistance and contribution to training Ukrainian forces in the UK.

Albanese, who is in Cambodia for the Asean summit, said the people of Ukraine could be assured of Australia’s ongoing support during the war, and the Ukrainian foreign minister quipped the Bushmasters (which are the Australian military vehicles supplied in the conflict) had become “the most popular” Australian brand in his home country.

The foreign minister said he understood the world wanted the conflict to end, but Ukraine was grateful to Australia and other global partners for the sustained assistance.

New flood warnings have been issued in New South Wales.

Here is a view on the weather system sweeping across country from the Bureau of Meteorology.

Australian men’s basketball team pulls out of Iran game over safety fears

Basketball Australia has cited player safety concerns for its decision to withdraw the men’s national team from an upcoming World Cup qualifier in Iran.

Following the defeat of Kazakhstan that sealed their spot in next year’s tournament, the Boomers had been due to travel to Tehran and meet Iran on Tuesday (AEDT).

Instead, the side will return to Australia and await instructions from FIBA as to whether the match will be rescheduled elsewhere.

“Basketball Australia have conducted a thorough risk assessment in conjunction with relevant authorities and as a result we will not be sending any teams into Iran at this time,” a statement read.

A series of protests erupted in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was allegedly violently arrested by the country’s Guidance Patrol in September for failing to wear her hijab properly. She died in custody three days after falling into a coma.

Currently, Iran is one of 19 countries to which the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advises Australians not to travel.

“Protests continue around the country and there’s been an increase in the number of foreign nationals arrested,” DFAT’s advice reads.

“Medical evacuation may be difficult. If you’re in Iran, we recommend you leave. Airlines may cancel or reduce their operations to and from Iran at short notice.”

A representative said Basketball Australia had informed FIBA of its safety concerns prior to the current round of qualifiers.

Basketball Australia said they would not have travelled to Iran regardless of whether they had defeated Kazakhstan to confirm their spot at the World Cup.

The decision to withdraw will not affect Australia’s qualification for the World Cup, set to be held across Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines from August next year.

Australia have won all nine of their games on the road to the World Cup and are currently set to play Bahrain and Kazakhstan in February for the sixth round of qualifiers.

FIBA has been contacted for comment.

– AAP

Expanded voting options available for those caught in Victorian floods

The Victorian Electoral Commission has announced additional voting options ahead of the state election for those still grappling with recent floods.

The VEC has released a list of “designated areas” where residents will be able to access telephone-assisted voting.

Voters who have been displaced by floods are will be eligible to vote will be able to call the VEC’s telephone assisted voting service from 19 November.

Voters will also be able to vote in person at any early voting centre or election day centre in Victoria. Postal votes will also be available with applications available on the VEC website.

People who have been displaced by flood and have been about to return can use the VEC’s online Voting Centre Locator to see if their regular voting location is available, or whether it has had to be relocated.

Voters are advised to check the list as new areas may be added based on consultations between VEC and the Emergency Management Commissioner.

The electoral commissioner, Warwick Gately, said telephone-assisted voting was only for people who had been displaced by flooding.

Telephone assisted voting is available primarily for people who face significant barriers to voting in person or by post, including blind and low vision voters, those with a physical disability and, now also, those flood-affected voters who cannot get to a voting centre from Saturday 19 November to 6pm on Saturday 26 November.

If you are flood-affected and you are still able to access the internet and receive mail, please apply online for a postal vote to conserve the telephone voting service for those with no ability to receive mail or travel to a voting centre.

A mobile voting team will also visit the Mickleham Centre for National Resilience on Thursday 17 November to take votes from Victorians who have been temporarily relocated to that location.

There will also be an election day voting centre at the Elmore Athenaeum Hall in Elmore, in close proximity to the Rochester Temporary Village (Elmore).

Flood-affected voters who qualify for telephone assisted voting, can call 13 57 23 from Saturday 19 November up to 6pm on election day (Saturday 26 November) to register to vote by phone.

Queensland government investigating allegations water contamination kept secret

The Queensland government is seeking an update from the independent regulator after revelations that dangerous levels of toxic chemicals have been found in groundwater near a site contaminated by Linc Energy.

Linc Energy was fined $4.5m following contamination caused by a joint-venture with CS Energy that involved setting fire to underground coal seams to generate gas.

The Australian reported that leaked documents from Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science showed cyanide and benzene had been detected in April last year, but land owners appear not to have been told.

The documents reportedly describe the extent of the contamination as “currently unknown”.

The minister for communities and housing, Leeanne Enoch, was asked about the incident while speaking to reporters on Saturday but declined to provide any detail, saying the environment minister was seeking an urgent briefing.

Can I just say this, this was – this whole piece with Linc Energy, this was one of the most rigorous investigations in the independent regulator’s history. The company was successfully prosecuted and was fined some $4.5m as a result of that.

Certainly the independent regulator to date has found no contaminants from Linc’s activists but of course the minister, as she has already made clear, will be seeking some urgent briefing on that matter to make sure all that information is made clear.

So from my understanding the independent regulator has been providing property owners the results of water monitoring on their properties.

Enoch said she believed landowners were notified about the results of groundwater testing on their property but did not know whether the results from neighbouring properties were shared.

She also would not be drawn on questions about whether the government avoided making news of the contamination public to avoid the risk of litigation.

What I can say is that this work is and has been the most rigorous investigation and the independent regulator, making it clear – an independent regulator – have been in conversation with property owners and the minister will get the information from the department.

Queensland state government on alert as fourth Covid Wave looms

The Queensland minister Leeanne Enoch says the state government is watching and waiting as fourth Covid wave looms.

Enoch praised the work of Queensland health workers to date and said the state had invested heavily in building capacity to deal with future waves.

“Obviously we have absolutely stood out amongst the pack over the entire time of dealing with Covid,” Enoch said.

Enoch said the government is taking advice about any further actions that may need to be taken.

Queensland website to provide ‘single source of truth’ for those moving into aged care

Queensland’s government has announced a new government website to help seniors and their families compare options for retirement living in the state.

The website will serve as a tool to allowed users to compare services, facilities and locations.

Speaking to reporters outside Southern Cross Care facility on Saturday, minister Leeanne Enoch described the website as a “single source of truth” for those who needed help to “navigate the system”.

“When people decide to think about moving to a retirement village, there’s quite a great deal of stress about that – all the usual things involved with taking that next step in life.

“It can be quite confusing.”

The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said the website was part of her government’s commitment to providing better services.

Katharine Murphy

If you’ve been following the parliamentary tussle over the Albanese government’s workplace reform package this week, you will have clocked some interesting divergences between the progressive forces in the 47^th parliament.

If you’ve missed it, let’s catch up quickly. Labor’s efforts to implement multi-employer bargaining to boost wages growth hasn’t won universal approval. The case study confirms progressivism in this parliament runs along a spectrum from centre-right to centre-left to hard left.

There’s a very old proverb in Australia: money runs Sydney and the unions run Melbourne. This is a gross generalisation, and the whole notion feels pretty antiquated in the modern economy, but I remembered it this week when the Melbourne teal independents – Monique Ryan and Zoe Daniel – voted with the government on the second reading of the industrial legislation, while the Sydney contingent opposed the policy.

For more analysis on how the new parliament is shaping up, read the full story for Guardian Australia political editor Katharine Murphy.

Billion dollar hospital redevelopment on the cards if Victorian Liberals win election

The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne would undergo a $2.4 billion redevelopment if the Coalition wins the upcoming Victorian election.

An extra 150 beds and a new hospital wing would be created, with construction set to begin in its first term.

The revamp includes more operating theatres, greater intensive care capacity, extra car parks and an updated emergency and trauma centre.

The hospital pledge is the Coalition’s single biggest election promise and Liberal Leader Matthew Guy expected it would take more than five years to complete.

Liberal health spokesperson and former midwife Georgie Crozier used to work at The Alfred and described the facilities as “crumbling”.

“A hospital that is not fit for purpose, it is not up to scratch in the 21st century. That is Labor’s failure, that is Daniel Andrews’ failure,” she said.

Jason Hennessey attended the press conference with the Liberal leadership and explained his wife Kylie, who had a brain tumour, had to travel to Adelaide to get a specialised MRI scan because the machine at the Alfred was broken.

Hennessey said there was a three month wait before his wife could get the scan at another Melbourne hospital.

“If we had to wait three months, my wife would have died,” he said.

Guy reiterated his health spending plan was possible because if elected he would shelve stage one of the $35 billion Suburban Rail Loop project from Box Hill to Cheltenham.

The Coalition will preference the Greens over Labor at the November 26 poll, which it hopes will mean the government could lose up to three seats.

So far the Coalition has committed funds to more than 20 hospitals, $125 million to triple zero and plans to recruit an extra 40,000 nurses.

Heath has become the dominant issue in the 2022 campaign, after pressures on the system were highlighted through the pandemic.

– AAP

Renewed flood warnings across parts of New South Wales.

New climate modelling suggests South Australia will grow hotter, more arid

South Australia is in for hotter days and more of them, less rain but with heavier falls, and more severe fire conditions as the world’s climate warms, AAP reports.

The forecast by the state’s department for environment and water is based on the likely effects of climate change obtained by modelling different greenhouse gas emission scenarios

The concerning projections indicate increases in maximum, minimum and average temperatures, and a decline in average annual rain despite a greater frequency of extreme falls.

They have been issued as a summary of likely changes in the decades ahead to key variables such as temperature, rainfall, evapotranspiration, days of severe fire danger and sea level rises.

Acting climate minister, Joe Szakacs, says the data will be used by government, business and communities to prepare for change.

“These projections reinforce why the state government declared a climate emergency and why South Australia can’t afford to wait any longer on real climate change action,” he said.

“They further highlight the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through our hydrogen jobs plan, which will accelerate SA’s renewable energy industry.”

The modelling’s mid-range scenario is representative of a global temperature increase of between 1.9C and 2.9C by 2100, while a high-range scenario represents a 3.6 to 5.0C increase.

Statistical tables for Adelaide and nine regional South Australian towns, along with statewide maps, provide an in-depth analysis on projected climate variables to 2030, 2050 and, for the first time, 2090.

Szakacs said the figures provided the best information available to help plan for the future.

“The time for climate change action is now and it is incumbent upon us all to support businesses and the community to adapt and reduce emissions,” he said.

SA’s deputy premier and climate minister, Susan Close, is currently attending the UN’s Cop27 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Here is the joint statement on the new cybersecurity taskforce that was announced earlier today.

Victorian Electoral Commission rejects independent candidate how-to-vote card

A community independent for a high-profile Melbourne seat is threatening court action over a dispute about her how-to-vote card design, AAP is reporting.

The Victorian Electoral Commission has told Brighton candidate Felicity Frederico her design for the 26 November state election is not permissible as it has blank boxes next to other candidates.

“Your district HTVC must not include any visuals of blank boxes next to candidate names,” a VEC candidate services officer wrote in an email to Ms Frederico.

“The reason for this is that it may induce a voter to vote 1 for you, but not number all the remaining boxes. This would mislead the voter to cast an informal vote.”

Frederico is attempting to prise the south-east Melbourne seat from Liberal MP and shadow cabinet minister James Newbury, who holds it on a notional margin of 0.5% after an electoral boundaries redistribution.

The former Bayside mayor quit the Liberal party after losing a preselection race against Newbury last year.

Under Victoria’s Electoral Act, how-to-vote cards must indicate the order of voting preference for all listed candidates or a statement that a number must be placed against each candidates name.

The Act states that the commission must refuse to register a how-to-vote card if it is likely to mislead or deceive an elector.

Frederico’s preferred design directs voters to “place a 1 in this box, then number all other boxes”.

She says the VEC’s interpretation of the legislation is wrong, with a similar design used by teal independent Monique Ryan during her successful campaign for the federal seat of Kooyong in May.

“I want an open ballot because, as an independent, I want voters to choose who their preferences go to,” she told AAP on Saturday.

How-to-vote card submissions for parties and candidates open on Monday, the same day as early voting begins across the state.

Designs must be registered with the VEC in order to be distributed on election day but it is not required at early voting centres.

Frederico plans to submit two designs on Monday, including one as a back up that does not mention any other candidate on the ballot.

“I will definitely consider legal action if my preferred how-to-vote card is not registered,” she said.

The VEC has been contacted for comment.