Health News at Your Fingertips

We’re expecting prime minister Anthony Albanese to unveil his ministry about 5.40pm.

Morrison may leave parliament early like Rudd, Gillard: Dutton

We mentioned earlier today that opposition leader Peter Dutton had flagged that former prime minister Scott Morrison may not see out the full term as the member for Cook.

AAP has filed a little more on an interview Dutton gave later where he fleshed out those comments:

Former prime minister Scott Morrison won’t be on Peter Dutton’s list when the new opposition leader finalises his shadow ministry.

Dutton is putting the finishing touches to his coalition frontbench in the wake of taking over the Liberal leadership unopposed. The former defence minister said Morrison, whose government was defeated at the 21 May election, had not sought a shadow ministry role.

Dutton also hinted his predecessor could leave parliament during the term, triggering a byelection in the NSW seat of Cook.

“The reality is, as we saw with Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and others right since federation, that you would expect to see a byelection at some stage,” Dutton told Sky News.

“But that’s an issue for Scott to work on and I’ll have those conversations with him at the appropriate time.”

Dutton said the party honoured Morrison’s service.

A large chunk of the Liberal seats lost came at the hands of inner-city independents, while the party also lost ground to the Greens in Brisbane.

Dutton said the party did not need to swing too far towards progressive politics to win back those constituencies at the next election.

“The Liberal party is not the conservative party, it’s not the moderate party, it’s not the conservative moderate party – it’s the Liberal party,” he told the ABC.

“We’re a party that will stand up for our country on many issues, including national security, including the economy, including sensible climate change policy.”

Analysis shows that while 200,000 Australians shifted towards “teal” candidates, 700,000 abandoned the Liberals in favour of minor right-wing parties, Dutton said.

“Frankly, there was a ‘pox on both your houses’ in this election,” he said.

“When you look at many of the seats where Labor’s primary vote went backwards, they lost a seat to the Greens here in Queensland.

“So plenty of lessons to learn. We’ve got to have significant policies and we’ll have that in the run-up to the election in 2025.”

Josh Taylor

Further to our post from earlier about NDIS user data being compromised, Choice’s consumer data advocate Kate Bower, told Guardian Australia that the company involved, CTARS, had done everything required under the law, but it was too little too late for people whose data may have been compromised. She said:

I think what this highlights is how the law is insufficient for these types of major data breaches. Particularly where it’s such a large amount of data, but also the type of data that has been breached is at high risk of identity theft and cyber crime.

Bower said the law should be updated, potentially through the review of the Privacy Act, to force businesses to pay compensation to people affected by data breaches.

I think if we were able to see system either through law reform or through the Privacy Act, review, that ensured that consumers have some kind of like compensation available to them from these data breaches, that would be a very big incentive for companies to do the absolute most to ensure that this doesn’t happen in the first place, but also so they act swiftly, and in consumers’ best interests.

The Liberals will retain Deakin, according to ABC projections. The incumbent Michael Sukkar had been battling to hold out Labor candidate Matt Gregg.

NDIS user data compromised, posted on deep web

Josh Taylor

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) user data including sensitive medical information has been compromised in a hack of a client management system used by providers, with some personal data found posted to the deep web.

CTARS, which provides a cloud-based client management system for NDIS providers, announced on its website that it had become aware on 15 May that an “unauthorised third party” had gained access to its systems, and the third party had claimed it had taken “a large volume” of data.

A sample of the data was later posted to a deep web forum, the company said, but it could not confirm what data had been taken. It said:

Due to the very large volume of information held by CTARS and the very lengthy time it would take to review in detail, we are unable to confirm exactly what personal information of yours was affected by the incident.

The cloud services provider is treating any information held in its database as being compromised, including health information such as details of diagnoses, treatment, or recovery of a medical condition or disability. Medicare and tax file number information may also have been compromised, CTARS said.

A spokesperson for the company refused to say how many of the company’s clients or their NDIS users were affected by the breach “in the interests of the privacy of our customers’ clients and staff”. They also refused to explain what sort of attack the company had been hit with “due to sensitivities and security concerns.”

CTARS said NDIS participants will be notified by their NDIS or out-of-home-care provider if their information has been compromised. CTARS has offered support in the form of IDCARE and other credit protection services for people who need to prevent identity theft as a result of the breach.

A spokesperson for the National Disability Insurance Agency said the breach was not of NDIA’s own systems. They said:

Business decisions, including the use of software and data storage, are a matter for individual organisations.

NDIS participants can be assured that the NDIA takes the protection of participant data and information security extremely seriously.

Since being made aware of the breach, the agency has been in contact with CTARS.

CTARS reported the attack to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

Humans undertaking biggest transformation since taming fire: Finkel

AAP has filed this report:

Former chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel has said that to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit the impact of global warming, human civilisation was undertaking the biggest transformation of energy systems since the taming of fire.

“So substantial that in the naming traditions of the stone age, the iron age, the bronze age, and the industrial age, it could be argued that we are entering the electric age,” Finkel told the Australian Hydrogen Council in Adelaide today.

“We need to use all the tools available to us to deploy renewable energy as quickly as possible.

“The key to bringing net zero [emissions] within reach will be to electrify everything.”

Finkel conceded that electricity would not be ideal in some circumstances, highlighting the need for hydrogen and other products.

But he said the urgency of the situation was underscored by the Russian invasion of Ukraine which had thrust energy security into the spotlight.

“Australia can and should play a key role as a reliable and trusted partner in exporting energy at scale, in the form of hydrogen and its derivatives, to our friends and neighbours around the world,” he said.

“Australian governments and industry are taking decisive action to make this happen.

“This will bolster our partners’ energy security and help them on the path to net-zero.”

Fairly hectic hail on the Vic-NSW border:

Lismore MP slams agency’s flood response

AAP report that the NSW agency tasked with preparation and response for natural disasters was missing in action following disastrous flooding in the state’s north, an inquiry has been told:

Janelle Saffin, the Labor MP for Lismore, told an inquiry hearing Resilience NSW were “simply not there”.

“They were missing in action and they never made their presence known,” she said.

The hearing is being held on Tuesday in Lismore, the northern NSW town hardest hit by disastrous flooding from relentless rain in February and March.

Saffin said the agency hindered instead of helping the disaster response and the role or existence of the agency needed to be reevaluated. The agency was unprepared to respond and struggled to coordinate evacuation and recovery centres, some of which had no staff when residents arrived seeking help, she said.

Steve Krieg, the mayor of Lismore, told the hearing Resilience NSW struggled with the concept that an evacuation centre would be a 24/7 operation.

Southern Cross University’s Lismore campus was transformed into an evacuation centre following the floods, housing up to 1,200 residents on campus at its peak. Schools, government agencies and charities had also been based there.

Vice-chancellor Tyrone Carlin told the hearing the university has been asked to help in previous disasters, but the 2022 floods had prompted a review of how it could do it better in the future.

Without mentioning Resilience NSW directly, he said there was a lack of leadership and coordination of various state agencies in the flood response, which is the agency’s role.

Chris Gulaptis, the Nationals MP for Clarence, told the hearing communities and government agencies were caught off guard by the scale of the flooding, which contributed to shortfalls in the response.

He said the Bureau of Meteorology’s systems should be reviewed.

Energy prices ‘apocalyptic’, industry group says

AiGroup is describing the run-up in energy prices as “apocalyptic”, which should be of concern.

Innes Willox, AiGroup’s chief executive, said:

The extraordinary price rises, including a 50-fold spike in wholesale gas prices in Victoria, have seen market price caps imposed in some of our largest local energy markets.

Coal outages and rising energy prices globally are the main factors. (Note to certain news outlets: the cost of solar and wind energy has not changed, and remains virtually zero.)

Willox said:

With Europe announcing further steps today to wean itself from Russian energy, we can expect international factors to sustain high energy price pressures for years to come – especially in natural gas.

The price pain is already intense for those businesses who’ve found themselves suddenly needing new energy contracts amid local and global turmoil.

Households will feel the punch from higher default electricity prices from July, and more pain is coming for all.

Meanwhile, energy retailer ReAmped Energy, has become the latest electricity retailer to throw in the towel. It has told its 70,000-plus customers across the eastern mainland states that they are better off getting their power from another retailer because those who don’t move their accounts can expect a doubling of their bills.

Here’s the story:

You can say it’s “extraordinary” but it might well become a common suggestion to customers from smaller retailers in the next little while. Yes, some may be hedged, but that’s not free and those contracts are often short-run, or so ReAmped tells us.

More pain, indeed, may be coming.

Investigation continues into Guide Dogs boss despite resignation

AAP have filed this update on the news we brought you earlier:

Guide Dogs Victoria’s CEO, Karen Hayes, has resigned, but an investigation continues into her endorsement of former treasurer Josh Frydenberg for re-election.

Hayes was featured in a flyer and a promotional video on social media backing Frydenberg as the member for Kooyong ahead of the May 21 federal poll.

The charity’s board confirmed it had not approved the material and requested its immediate removal while launching an internal investigation.

Hayes stood down on April 26 and on Tuesday, Guide Dogs Victoria announced it had accepted her resignation.

The flyer and video were authorised by Mr Frydenberg’s Hawthorn East office, in compliance with electoral laws.

However, charity groups are bound by regulations enforced by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission and can be stripped of their status if unable or unwilling to rectify serious breaches.

Hayes also appeared in a similar promotional video for Frydenberg before the 2019 federal election.

The then-Morrison government gave Guide Dogs Victoria $2.5m the following year to upgrade its facilities.

Guide Dogs Victoria’s chair, Iain Edwards, said Ms Hayes had made an incredible contribution, most notably on a redevelopment program to meet future needs.

The independent investigation is ongoing, he said.
Hayes described her resignation as a “difficult decision” but did not reference her reasons for leaving in a statement.

“I am overjoyed at what we’ve achieved, and will watch from the sidelines with enthusiasm and support to see the program through to finalisation,” she said.

Sam Lim: Gough Whitlam is my hero

The new Labor MP for Tangney in Western Australia, Sam Lim, is making an early charge for the title of happiest politician in Parliament House. The Malaysian-born man won headlines for knocking off Scott Morrison’s consigliere, Ben Morton, then more as people discovered his CV included time as a dolphin trainer.

But in a series of interviews across the media in recent days, Lim appears to be genuinely stoked to be here, and has been sharing some of the more profound musings on politics, life and the future that we’ve heard in Canberra in some time.

He gave an interview on Sky News today, and upon walking back out into the Parliament House press gallery, was greeted by half a dozen journalists who just wanted to hear his story. It turned into an impromptu doorstop interview, as he waxed lyrical on his time as a policeman in Malaysia and rural Western Australia, growing up in a house with dirt floors and studying homework by kerosene lamp, and the surprising emotional toll of dolphin training.

He said Gough Whitlam was his hero, adding:

He was the prime minister who removed the white [Australia] policy and because of that, we are a multicultural community… [Whitlam] is like a God to me, he introduced multiculturalism. That’s why we are so multicultural in Australia.

Without him doing that big step, none of us will be here happily taking this place.

Lim’s CV says he speaks 10 languages. He explained that he spoke Chinese, Mandarin, Malay, Indonesian and English – plus a number of regional dialects of those.

He said Morton, the former Tangney MP, called him on Monday to share congratulations. Lim said he wanted to collaborate with Morton on some things:

I said ‘you’ve got six years of experience running Tangney, and I wish I could learn from you, so can we meet up and talk?’… I wish I could catch up and learn something from him, he’s very experienced in politics, much more than me.

Lim said dolphins can “feel you”, adding that he didn’t communicate with the mammals with words – instead, with whistles, and feelings.

If you are very happy, you jump into the pool and they come and play with you. If you are very sad, they’ll come and rub you and give you affection.

If you jump in with anger, none of them come close to you.

We expect to be hearing a lot more from Sam Lim in the next three years.

Dutton ‘just a different kind of bulldozer’: Chalmers

Daniel Hurst

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the Labor government wants to work collaboratively across the parliament but intends to implement the climate policy it took to the election.

Chalmers told Sky News the government wanted to work with anybody across the parliament who shared the objective of increasing the uptake of cleaner, cheaper energy.

Labor’s medium-term target is a 43% cut in emissions by 2030, against 2005 levels – compared with the former government’s formal target of a 26% to 28% reduction.

Chalmers said if the new opposition leader, Peter Dutton, borrowed from the Scott Morrison or Tony Abbott “playbook” on emissions reduction, it would show the Coalition had “learned absolutely nothing” from the election results.

Here’s what he said about the prospect of the Coalition respecting Labor’s electoral mandate:

I hope so, but to be blunt about it, I think Peter Dutton is just a different kind of bulldozer. He’s a different bulldozer with a different coat of paint.

(That’s a reference to Morrison’s election-eve confession/line that the then prime minister could be “a bit of a bulldozer”.)

Chalmers said Labor wanted to work with the whole community, including different parts of the parliament.

He said an obstructive approach by the Coalition would be “bad for the country.”

Chalmers said the prime minister, Anthony Albanese “had indicated that “this is Australia’s opportunity to come together around these big challenges”.

Chalmers added:

It would be a shame to waste this opportunity.

Meanwhile, Chalmers said the mood in the Labor caucus room this morning was “buoyant”.

It’s snowing in central Victoria, apparently. Trentham is about 90km north of Melbourne.

Chalmers looks to ‘trim’ spending

Daniel Hurst

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has warned that there are “no shortage of economic challenges” and suggests the new government will look to “trim” spending in the October budget.

Chalmers is due to give an economic statement when parliament sits in July. He told Sky News that would be an opportunity to speak “bluntly” and not “tiptoe around” the big economic challenges the nation faced. He said he would use the statement to give Australians “our sense of expectations for the economy”.

Chalmers said he would then deliver a budget in the second half of October. He said Labor would deliver its election promises, but added a word of caution:

We’ll implement our commitments but people should expect there will be more trimming of spending, the spending that we inherited.

He said the new government’s priority was to focus spending on “more productive investments”, and it had not been contemplating a budget repair levy.