Asked about a gas reservation policy, Shorten takes a swipe at Malcolm Turnbull over the trigger to allow gas to be reserved for domestic gas consumption.
“The problem is – and no doubt Malcolm will be reading the transcript of this show today wherever he is in the world – the trigger is as as a basketball, it doesn’t quite work. Even if we were to pull the trigger, it doesn’t come into effect until next January.”
Interview with Minister for NDIS and Government Services Bill Shorten now. First question is about energy policy.
Shorten says “the real issue about power, in my opinion is for 10 years we’ve had a decade of denial and delay.”
“What we are suffering from this winter in the short term is floods of coal mines, outages of plant which is more than 50 years old, but the real long-term problem is that we haven’t made the transition a plan for transition to renewables, now the chickens have come home to roost.”
A lot of discussion about energy policy now in the opening discussion of the Insiders ABC panel, featuring a lot of talking points from the oil and gas industry.
A reminder that the International Energy Agency’s roadmap to limiting global warming to 1.5C means no more new coal, gas and oil investment as of last year.
Crime gangs ripping off up to $1.45bn a year from NDIS
Bill Shorten will also be asked about a story in The Herald Sun this morning about organised crime groups ripping off the NDIS for sums up to $1.45bn a year.
The Australian Crime and Intelligence Commission has warned the incoming government that as much as 5% of the $29bn scheme is being stolen annually, with some individual crime gangs ripping off tens of millions.
The ACIC warned the scheme has been hit by similar scams to those allegedly used by the Western Sydney family day care syndicates that led to the arrest of dozens in 2019.
NSW records five Covid deaths
Five people with Covid-19 have died in New South Wales overnight, with the state recording 5,387 new cases on Sunday morning, 1,255 people in hospital, and 45 in ICU.
COVID-19 update – Sunday 12 June 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 4pm yesterday:
– 96.5% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
– 95% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/r2lk7UwJ3I— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 11, 2022
– 64.1% of people have had three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine*
– 82.8% of people aged 12-15 have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
– 79.1% of people aged 12-15 have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine
– 49.8% of people aged 5-11 have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 11, 2022
– 1,255 hospitalisations
– 45 people in ICU
– 5 lives lost
– 5,387 positive tests: 2,851 RAT & 2,536 PCR*Includes both immunocompromised people who have received a third dose and all people aged 16+ who have received a booster.
More info: https://t.co/stL6XYi4Gk
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 11, 2022
Luke Henriques-Gomes
Services Australia slashes call centre contracts
Services Australia has embarked on a massive shake-up of its call centre operations, slashing the work it sends to labour hire firms as it approaches one of its busiest periods of the year.
Guardian Australia has learned the agency last week informed its outsourced “service delivery partners” it was cutting the “workload” sent to these four firms by about 30%.
The move is expected to result in job losses, and insiders and the union warned it could mean customers would wait longer for Centrelink services.
The decision, conveyed to the firms last Friday, begins as soon as 1 July.
Catch up on this exclusive by The Guardian Australia’s social affairs and inequality editor Luke Henriques-Gomes about the outsource of jobs in the country’s social services sector ahead of Bill Shorten’s appearance on ABC’s Insiders.
Meanwhile, Bill Shorten is promising to spill the tea on the NDIS to tease his upcoming interview on ABC Insiders.
Join me on @InsidersABC this morning. Looking forward to talking to Speersy about what we’ve found under the hood of the #NDIS two weeks into running the scheme.
— Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) June 11, 2022
Eden Gillespie
Nadesalingam family’s return to Biloela raises hope for change
The absence of the Nadesalingam family was deeply felt at last year’s Flourish festival – an event that celebrates Biloela’s multicultural community.
But on Saturday, the hole the family left when they were taken from the town four years ago was filled as they appeared on stage at the event.
Sitting alongside a flank of supporters, Priya wears a dark purple sari, Nades white Tamil attire, and the girls, Kopika and Tharnicaa, also don traditional dress.
Priya is softly spoken but radiates strength. The strength of a mother who has watched her children grow up in detention, saw her youngest child, Tharnicaa, rushed to hospital with a blood infection, and fought against all odds to bring her family back to the small country town she calls home.
“I am back in Bilo,” Priya declares as she addresses the packed civic centre.
“I feel fulfilled when I touch this land … I feel like I’m born again … I will dedicate my life to the Biloela community.”
As Tharnicaa Nadesalingam will celebrate her fifth birthday at home in Biloela for the first time since being detained under the previous Coalition government in 2018, The Guardian Australia’s Eden Gillespie explores how their return raises hope for change.
Private hospitals report spike in fee-paying patients in need of urgent care
Australians are paying to skip the queue in overwhelmed public hospitals after some patients have died after being left waiting for critical care, Fairfax papers report.
Private hospitals have reported a spike in fee-paying patients among people who need urgent care, with some emergency departments reporting a rise of 10%.
Patients pay up to $410 per visit on weekdays with additional tests running up even higher bills that are not covered by private health insurance.
The situation illustrates the incredible pressure on the country’s healthcare system since the start of the pandemic.
Minister for the NDIS and government services Bill Shorten will be making an appearance on ABC’s Insiders this morning.
We’ll have the details when it happens.
Good morning
And welcome to the live blog on this fine Sunday morning. It has been a chilly start to the day across the country but here is a quick look at what is making headlines.
China’s defence minister will address the Singapore security summit today as the Shangri-La regional security dialogue will enter its final day on Sunday where it will hear from China’s minister of national defence Wei Fenghe. On Saturday it heard from US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin and deputy prime minister Richard Marles who sought a reset of Australia’s relationship with China.
Tharnicaa Nadesalingam will celebrate her fifth birthday at home in Biloela for the first time since being detained under the previous Coalition government in 2018. The family returned to the Queensland outback town where they were greeted by locals, marking an end to the four-year campaign to return the family after the Morrison government attempted to deport them to Sri Lanka.
The New South Wales state government will scrap the distinction between primary and secondary carers with a plan to offer 14 weeks’ paid parental leave, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Under the plan employees will be offered an extra fortnight of paid leave if they evenly split it with their parent.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs, taking the blog through the day. With so much going on out there, it’s easy to miss stuff, so if you spot something happening in Australia and think it should be on the blog, you can find me on Twitter at @RoyceRk2 where my DMs are open.
With that, let’s get started …