Anthony Albanese meets Japanese PM ahead of Shinzo Abe funeral
Anthony Albanese has held a bilateral meeting with Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida while he is in Tokyo for Shinzo Abe’s funeral.
His office has released the public opening remarks:
Well, thank you very much for the welcome on my second visit to Japan as prime minister. It is important that Australia show our condolence to yourself as prime minister, but also to the people of Japan on the tragic loss of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
He was very well respected. And as an international statesperson, it is clear that the Quad leaders’ dialogue would not have occurred without his leadership.
The relationship between Australia and Japan is so important and that importance is underlined by the fact that I am here as the sitting prime minister, even though our parliament is sitting.
I have brought with me as well the former prime ministers Turnbull, Abbott and Howard. So you have a very high-level attendance to pay our respects and show our respects to not just Mr Abe’s family but to the people of Japan.
We share such common interests, in particular for a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is so important that we continue to work together and to work with our partners as well to advance that common interest.
Key events
Anthony Albanese’s office has released the transcript of his press conference in Japan.
It was a quick one, so here’s what was covered:
Q: More than 60 Australian parents say children had been kidnapped in Japan. Did you raise this issue with Prime Minister Kishida?
Albanese:
No, but I am very conscious of this issue. And the Australian Embassy here continues to provide consular system. This is an issue that relates, of course, to Japanese law. But we will continue to provide support and assistance when requested.
Q: Do you still have confidence in the Optus CEO given how they have handled this hacking scandal?
Albanese:
I have a policy of not making comments on domestic issues.* Clare O’Neil, our Home Affairs Minister, is handling this issue. This is obviously a very serious issue which Clare O’Neil has made clear and unequivocal statements of the Government and will continue to act as necessary.
*I assume he means while overseas
Q: Did you have any discussions with the US Vice President of possible acceleration of the US submarine program? And have you seen reports that suggest this could happen?
Albanese:
The US Vice President and I discussed our relations, including the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States, our joint cooperation through the Quad Leaders’ meeting, through our alliance, through AUKUS, and of course, next year, I will be hosting, in Australia, the Quad Leaders’ meeting. We will continue to engage. AUKUS is important. And the relationship between Australia and the United States and the United Kingdom is, of course, a long one and a deep one. And we will continue to engage on those issues.
The sexual harassment bill has also been introduced to the parliament.
Tony Burke and Mark Dreyfus have described the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Bill 2022, “delivering on an important election commitment to end sexual harassment at work”.
It includes some of what Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins wanted in terms of legislative changes, which the last government didn’t get to:
The bill will:
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Place a positive duty on employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation, as far as possible;
· Strengthen the Australian Human Rights Commission with new functions to assess and enforce compliance with this new requirement, including the capacity to give compliance notices to employers who are not meeting their obligations;
· Expressly prohibit conduct that results in a hostile workplace environment on the basis of sex; and
· Ensure Commonwealth public sector organisations are also required to report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency on its gender equality indicators.
The minister for early childhood education, Anne Aly, has had a chat to the ABC about why the government won’t be bringing forward the early childhood education care subsidy – it needs time to prepare the sector, which is already going through a staff shortage (as the advocacy group the ParentHood pointed out a little earlier – as well as anyone who has ever had anything to do with any early childhood educators already can tell you)
There is a big job to get more people into this sector, given the level of burn out:
Aly:
The estimation of how many additional staff varies. Right now we know that there are around 7000 extra staff needed in early childhood education and care sector. This is not an issue that is new, the sector has been bleeding staff for a number of years now primarily because it is an undervalued sector so we are very cognisant of the fact that this is not about looking after children, it is not about babysitting children.
They are, the people who care for our most precious asset are early childhood educators so that is one thing. But we have got a national work was planned that we are implementing, we are working with states and territories on retaining, attracting and training more people in the sector.
Anthony Albanese will return to Australia in time for the last parliamentary make up day, on Wednesday, I believe.
Meanwhile in Japan:
The Optus saga continues:
Josh Butler
Peter Dutton tells Coalition party room negotiations with Labor on anti-corruption commission are continuing
In the Coalition party room meeting today, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, told his troops that negotiations continue with the government over the National Anti-Corruption Commission, with no word yet on where the party will end up on a final position.
Dutton also again accused the government of “making it up as they go along” on the Indigenous voice to parliament.
A spokesperson for the Coalition told journalists in a media briefing after the party room meeting that the party’s position on the federal integrity body was still the subject of internal processes. The spokesperson said it was too early in the piece for much else to have been discussed in the meeting.
(You might remember Paul Karp asked the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, whether the high bar of “exceptional circumstances” for public hearings was a demand that the Liberal party made in consultations. Dreyfus didn’t exactly answer.)
The spokesperson said Dutton had thanked his members for their contributions on the voice to parliament, and again criticised the government for not putting out answers to what he called “basic questions” on the body.
On the Optus data breach, we were told some Coalition members had raised concerns about their constituents and how they could help.
The opposition will seek amendments to the Jobs and Skills Australia bill, including obligations for the new agency’s director to report annually on what skills are needed in Australia each year, and for ministerial directions to the body to be tabled in parliament.
As Amy Remeikis brought to you earlier, we’re expecting the Senate to sit quite late tonight, to deal with the cashless debit card bill. The Labor government accused the Coalition of “filibustering” – delaying by using parliamentary procedural tactics to avoid a vote – but the Coalition spokesperson said members were simply asking questions they were entitled to ask.
There’s some talk around that the Senate could sit until 4am Wednesday morning. Labor sources are warning it will be a very long night, with the Senate to sit until the cashless debit card bill is finally voted on, and a long list of speakers to come before we get to that.
We are now in the downhill slide towards question time.
Yesterday was a shock – there were actual answers given to questions.
Will today follow suit? Only time will tell.
Paul Karp
How the state anti-corruption commissions deal with public hearings
There’s been a bit of interest about the “exceptional circumstances” bar before the National Anti-Corruption Commission can hold public hearings.
This is the same bar as Victoria, and appears to be a lower bar than South Australia, which has no public hearings.
But it is a higher bar than every other jurisdiction:
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NSW – inquiries are public when it is in the public interest.
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Queensland – generally hearings for crime investigations are not open, but they can be if it would “be more effective and would not be unfair to a person or contrary to the public interest”.
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Western Australia – the starting point is private hearings, but they can be opened if it is in the public interest to do so.
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Tasmania – where the starting point is public hearings.
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ACT – examinations can be public if it is in the public interest and “can be held without unreasonably infringing a person’s human rights”.
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Northern Territory – public inquiries are generally open to the public.
Legal experts warn against high threshold for public hearings for National Anti-Corruption Commission
The Centre for Public Integrity isn’t thrilled with the high threshold for public hearings included in Labor’s National Anti-Corruption Commission legislation.
From its statement:
“Exceptional circumstances” is too high a threshold for the new National Anti-corruption Commission to begin public hearings, and will lead to corruption being hidden behind closed doors, according to former judges and corruption experts.
Victoria is the only state integrity commission that has the exceptional circumstances test and it inhibits its ability to expose corruption. Analysis comparing the Victorian and NSW agencies (attached) shows:
• NSW Icac has exposed more corruption to the public than the Victorian Ibac, with 42 public hearings and 39 public reports compared to 8 hearings and 14 reports from 2012-13 to 2019-20.
• The NSW Icac public interest test does not lead to overuse of public hearings, NSW Icac held 979 private examinations and 42 public inquiries over the examined period.
“Public hearings are a crucial part of investigating corruption. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and many corruption investigations would not be successful without public hearings,” said the Hon Anthony Whealy KC, chair of the Centre for Public Integrity.
“In legal terms, ‘exceptional circumstances’ has no real meaning and it will act as a brake on the public interest test.
“It will cause those investigated to challenge the decision in court which will require the integrity commission to reveal all of its information publicly before an investigation can be finalised. This delays investigations and can lead to evidence being interfered with,” said Mr Whealy.
The former Coalition government did not want public hearings. Their proposal was steeped in secrecy. It would be a shame if the current ALP government compromises with the opposition on this point.
Peter Hannam
Robbed at Sea report warns of exploitation of ship crew within Australian waters
On a different note, the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work has released a report into the conditions of those staffing the ships plying the waters between Australia and the rest of the world.
The Robbed at Sea report argues:
Because they work in waters that are not always subject to national laws and standards, and because their work is largely hidden from the view of government regulators, the media, and the public at large, international seafarers engaged on foreign-registered ships commonly experience widespread exploitation at the hands of their employers.
While it’s hard to oversee conditions for staff entering Australian waters, the Fair Work Act and awards system (in particular, the Seagoing Industry Award of 2020) are supposed to protect them once they’re inside them.
However, a 2009 regulation (during the Kevin Rudd government) allowed for a “temporary licensed” ship to avoid being subject to the Fair Work Act or industry awards for the first two of its voyages within Australian waters.
The report argues:
This allows the ship, in certain circumstances, to operate with an international crew under standards normally applying to international voyages, even though the ship is delivering cargo from one Australian port to another.
Among other weakness is the uncertainty over what precise wages and other entitlements apply to a seafarer, “due to poorly constructed ‘work agreements’,” it said.
The result: more than half of coastal freight is now carried under temporary rather than general licences (which have stricter rules). The proportion more than doubled to about 60% in just five years between 2013-24 and 2018-19.
The report says:
In short, international shipping companies have been given effective permission to operate in the coastal trade, while often avoiding the application of Australian labour laws.
Now that there’s a Labor government back at the helm in Canberra, will this industry’s conditions get another examination? Don’t set your watch for it …
Senate to sit late to deal with cashless debit card bill
The Senate will be sitting late tonight to deal with the government’s cashless debit card bill, which has upset the Coalition, who tried to have the Senate sit on Thursday to extend the debate.
But the government said no, because there would be no way for the bill, which is likely to have an amendment in the Senate, to make it back to the house for approval in time, which would delay it being sent off for royal assent.
As usual, deals are being done all over the place in the Senate.
Bill Shorten says robodebt royal commission is ‘final chapter in a very sorry story’
Bill Shorten is in Brisbane for the opening of the robodebt royal commission:
The robodebt royal commission is about finding out why Australia’s greatest failure of public administration and social security occurred. Robodebt went from about July 2015 to November 2019. It was overseen by successive Morrison government ministers. It was a scheme which was said it was targeted at getting Centrelink cheats to pay what they owed. The truth of the matter is the scheme was unlawful. It didn’t have legal justification. It reversed the onus of proof. It said that once a machine, an algorithm, a faulty algorithm, had asserted that a debt was owed, then the onus was reversed and the citizen had to prove why the government was wrong.
These were David and Goliath struggles, but for four-and-a-half years, successive individuals, advocates, strong family members, the Labor opposition and others said the scheme was out of control. It was only with the advent of a class action and court cases that eventually the Morrison government was forced to cancel the scheme. But four-and-a-half years, despite the warnings, despite the hardship, despite the trauma, the robodebt scheme was relentlessly implemented by the Morrison government. So this royal commission is to find out how could there have been such a massive failure of public administration? How could the government of Australia unlawfully raise debts against nearly 400,000 of her fellow Australian citizens, alleging $1.7bn was owed to the commonwealth? The scheme was unlawful. The warning signs were ignored. Trauma occurred. We hope the royal commission will get to the bottom of why this happened and make sure it can never happen again. Why successive Morrison government ministers and Turnbull ministers ignored the warning signs. Why senior public servants didn’t do the proper checking to see if the scheme was lawful. Anyway that’s all before us. This royal commission is the final chapter in a very sorry story of public maladministration.