Decision on Indigenous Voice to parliament ‘will be owned by the Australian people’, says Linda Burney
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, appeared on ABC News Breakfast this morning where she was asked about the Voice to Parliament referendum:
I understand that there is debate around detail. But when you have a look at the fact that there has been 10 years of expert advisory groups, of parliamentary groups, of discussions with constitutional lawyers, of discussions with First Nations people, there is a lot of information already in the public arena.
And I think Megan Davis has been making that point. And, of course, there was the Marcia Langton and Tom Calma exercise in the last government that talked about what a Voice might look like.
The prime minister was very clear, and I completely agree with him, that it is important that we now go out and consult about the Voice.
This referendum … is not a referendum of politicians, it is a referendum and a decision in the Australian public, and it will be owned by the Australian people. And that is very, very important.
Key events
Foundation launched in honour of Lowitja O’Donoghue’s 90th birthday
It is Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue’s 90th birthday today.
The Lowitja Institute is proud to launch the Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation in honour of the occasion.
From its release:
Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue is a proud Yankunytjatjara woman, and patron of Australia’s only national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled health research institute.
Chair of Lowitja Institute Mr Selwyn Button said the foundation will acknowledge, recognise and preserve the extraordinary legacy of Dr O’Donoghue’s work.
Our founding patron and namesake Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue has dedicated a lifetime to upholding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights to improve outcomes in health, education, political representation, land rights and reconciliation.
The Lowitja Institute is proud to support a foundation that represents the enduring legacy of Dr O’Donoghue who fought so hard for the rights of our peoples.
It is only fitting that her work continues to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through scholarships, a newly created suite of educational resources and annual events.
With support from the National Indigenous Australians Agency, the Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation Scholarships will be dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people interested in study, internship, and a career in nursing and the public service sector.
Labor MPs to introduce bill to give territories power to make their own laws
ACT Labor MP Alicia Payne and NT Labor MP Luke Gosling will introduce a government bill in the house today to give the ACT and NT governments the right to make their own laws. They have been unable to do so since 1997.
Andrew Leigh says it is beyond time:
In the last two parliaments, the 45th and 46th parliaments, I’ve moved motions and bills to repeal the 25-year-old ban on the territories legislating on voluntary assisted dying. In that time, every state across Australia has moved on this, and Canberra has been left behind.
It’s not fair, especially for a place that leads the country on so many counts – on clean energy, on protecting ourselves against Covid, on being just too good at Wordle.
Today’s bill is about giving the voters of the ACT and Northern Territory the same democratic freedoms as everyone else in Australia. Canberrans deserve the right to debate this issue. We shouldn’t be silenced due to an outdated law that no longer reflects who we are as a country.
Luke Henriques-Gomes has been looking into the job agencies people are forced to use as part of their unemployment payments.
I’ve been digging into the courses job agencies are making jobseekers do.
The courses are often run by the same company, and can be used to bolster their bottom line.
This is called “Understanding Body Language” and it is quite something! https://t.co/tryxRWb9AW pic.twitter.com/EIADzELtsw
— Luke Henriques-Gomes (@lukehgomes) July 31, 2022
Homelessness in the spotlight
Josh Butler
Housing minister, Julie Collins, says Australia’s rate of homelessness is “unacceptable”, as she promises a greater leadership role from the federal government in the sector.
Australia today marks the beginning of Homelessness Week, with social agencies calling on governments nationwide to do more to address housing and rental affordability, as well as the underlying factors contributing to homelessness.
Collins took over the housing portfolio following the election, and says the new Albanese government will step up the federal efforts to address homelessness.
Our reforms aim to ensure every Australian has access to safe and affordable housing to improve social and economic outcomes for all Australians, including those at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness,” she said on Monday.
According to the 2016 Census, in Australia there are over 116,000 people experiencing homelessness, and this figure is unacceptable.”
Labor’s housing policies include a $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund, which will be used to build 30,000 social and affordable homes within five years.
Collins told Guardian Australia this program is expected to commence properly from early 2023, with the federal government working with states to identify where the homes will be built and who they will go to.
The future fund will also contribute $200m to repairing, maintaining and improving housing in remote Indigenous communities.
Collins said the government would advance a new National Housing and Homelessness Plan, following what she described as “productive” meetings with state and territory governments last month.
We all need to be heading in the same direction.
We need to be ambitious … we all need to be working together to solve the housing affordability issues we have.
Collins said her approach as minister would be to collect more data on housing and homelessness, and to look more closely at how other social factors contribute to someone finding themself without a home. She welcomed the elevation of the housing portfolio to cabinet under Anthony Albanese, flagging a greater role for the federal government on housing and homelessness to ensure that “investment will be all heading in the same direction”.
What’s happened is the states and territories have been doing their own thing and I don’t think there’s been enough national leadership.
Australia facing gas shortfall in 2023 as ACCC urges producers to keep supplies onshore
Peter Hannam has looked into the ACCC interim report:
In its gas inquiry 2017-2025 interim report released on Monday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the east coast gas market is facing a gas shortfall of 56 petajoules in 2023.
This gap is about 10% of annual domestic demand, ‘signifying a substantial risk to Australia’s energy security’, the report says.
The potential shortage marked ‘a significant deterioration’ compared with the ACCC’s 2022 forecast and ‘could place further upward pressure on prices and result in some manufacturers closing their businesses, and some market exit has already occurred’, the report said.
Aid organisations lobby Albanese government to fight global famine
Australia’s leading aid and development organisations have formed a major coalition to urge the Albanese government to help fight global famine and stop an unfolding global humanitarian catastrophe.
The alliance, named Help Fight Famine, have put together a budget submission urging the Labor government to contribute more to the global food crisis caused by Covid, conflicts (including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), and climate change.
The report’s key recommendations call for the government to:
- Deliver an urgent $150m famine prevention package to stop a catastrophe in the worst-affected hunger hotspots in the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.
- Invest long-term in a targeted Global Food Security Strategy.
- Include measures to strengthen resilience of the Asia-Pacific region to climate change, disasters, and economic shocks by increasing Australia’s development assistance.
Anthony Albanese to feature as guest quizmaster on Have You Been Paying Attention?
Amanda Meade tells me that Anthony Albanese will be the guest quizmaster on Network Ten’s Have You Been Paying Attention?
From the media release:
Coming to us live from The Lodge, ‘Albo’ will show us whether he can give as good as he gets when he steps in to help Quizmaster Tom Gleisner in the honorary role of Have You Been Paying Attention? guest Quizmaster.
What a time.
Decision on Indigenous Voice to parliament ‘will be owned by the Australian people’, says Linda Burney
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, appeared on ABC News Breakfast this morning where she was asked about the Voice to Parliament referendum:
I understand that there is debate around detail. But when you have a look at the fact that there has been 10 years of expert advisory groups, of parliamentary groups, of discussions with constitutional lawyers, of discussions with First Nations people, there is a lot of information already in the public arena.
And I think Megan Davis has been making that point. And, of course, there was the Marcia Langton and Tom Calma exercise in the last government that talked about what a Voice might look like.
The prime minister was very clear, and I completely agree with him, that it is important that we now go out and consult about the Voice.
This referendum … is not a referendum of politicians, it is a referendum and a decision in the Australian public, and it will be owned by the Australian people. And that is very, very important.
Rebekha Sharkie to move motion for raising pension income test threshold
Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie is moving a motion in the parliament today to raise the income test threshold for pensioners in an opt-in model, to better support people receiving a pension who want or need to be able to work more hours.
Sharkie will be joined by Dai Le, the independent member for Fowler, Craig Sullivan, the National Seniors Australia spokesperson, Alexi Boyd from the Council of Small Business Organisations, and National Farmers Federation president, Fiona Simson.
Gina Rinehart and Helen Haines will provide comments in support.
Australian childcare costing households 20% of income compared with Sweden’s 5%, researchers find
The Australia Institute’s Nordic Policy Centre has had a look at childcare around the world and the different models Australia could adopt.
Unsurprisingly, parents and carers in Sweden, Denmark and Norway are spending a lot less on early childhood education than Australians.
Researchers found Australians spent 20% of their household income on childcare, while Swedish households spent 5%, Norway 8% and Denmark 10%.
The report recommends capping early childhood education costs as a proportion of income, and rebalancing the proportion of private providers who receive subsidies with investment in government and not for profit providers .
And of course, paying early childhood educators more.
The report has been released ahead of Jason Clare’s announcement of a Productivity Commission review into the sector and the planned strike by early childhood educators on 7 September.
Poll suggests more Australians than ever support government intervention in Julian Assange case
Support is growing for the Australian government to act and intervene in Julian Assange’s case, with Essential polling released by his supporters showing that among those aware of Assange’s circumstances, 88% either support calls for him to be returned to Australia or are undecided.
Just 12% of people oppose his return.
The results showed more than 60% of people polled were aware of Assange’s circumstances.
“The data shows that Australian citizens want the Australian government to take action in even greater numbers than the previous poll conducted by Essential research in March 2021,” the Australian Assange campaign said.
“The Australian government has the power to request that Julian is brought home, but now is the time as Julian’s life is on the line.”
The poll of more than 1,000 Australians was carried out on June 27 – just after the UK had granted permission for Assange to be extradited to the US where he faces a prison sentence of more than 170 years.
Traveller fined $2,664 after returning from Bali with undeclared McDonald’s food
The fight to keep foot-and-mouth disease out of Australia continues – which a passenger returning from Bali to Australia learned the hard way after receiving a $2,664 fine for arriving with two undeclared egg and sausage McMuffins and a ham croissant.
Sniffer dog Zinta alerted to the passenger’s backpack and the products were found, making the airport trip to Maccas twice the cost of the trip to Bali.
Minister Murray Watt says he has “no sympathy” for passengers who disobey the biosecurity rules. Zinta and her canine colleagues are part of the response to the FMD outbreak in Indonesia.
Good morning
Welcome to the second week of the first sitting.
It’s all about climate this week as Labor prepares to get its bill passed through the house. The Senate will be the tricky bit – the Greens want something more than Labor is currently offering, and without the Greens vote, the bill won’t pass.
So there is a bit to come on that. The Greens want a climate trigger and are putting legislation through the senate for it. Labor hasn’t ruled it out but it hasn’t ruled it in either.
Meanwhile, Covid has entered the parliament with Indi MP Helen Haines tweeting she has tested positive.
Given the poor airflow in the parliament, and the close-quartered working environment, Haines will not be the only one testing positive this week.
By and large the Coalition have not been wearing masks. You would have to think there will be at least a couple of absentees there too.
And of course, there will be more on the Indigenous Voice to parliament. Anthony Albanese outlined more of the Voice model at Garma, but it will be some time before it’s put to a vote with the Australian people.
We’ll cover all the day’s events as they happen. Mike Bowers is out and about, while Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp, Tory Shepherd and Josh Butler have Parliament House covered.
It’s going to be a busy morning. I’m two coffees deep and going for my third. Ready?
