source : the age
Thank you for joining our live coverage. The national blog will return tomorrow morning.
Here’s what we covered today:
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Liberal backbencher Garth Hamilton was named in the House of Representatives after he stormed out of the chamber during question time.
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Education Minister Jason Clare revealed notices were issued to 115 childcare centres over standard breaches, and that an underperforming centre in Victoria had lost its funding.
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Agriculture Minister Julie Collins confirmed that a fifth bird had been confirmed with the deadly H5N1 bird flu and was found in Western Australia.
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Federal Labor MP Josh Burns says he has no faith in social media platforms taking action to stop hate against Jews as he detailed antisemitic attacks levelled at himself, his staff and his partner, Victorian state MP Georgie Purcell.
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers mocked the Coalition in question time for its poor polling, following calls for a party “rebrand” from Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh yesterday.
- Police are urging the public to help find a person who has dubbed themselves “Scorpio” and sent more than 100 menacing letters to politicians, community leaders and religious organisations over the past decade.
Telstra has slashed the size of its claimed mobile network coverage by almost one-third under new government rules forcing telecommunications companies to measure and report signal strength using a common standard.
Previously, each telco used different metrics to calculate its coverage maps, but earlier this year the Australian Communications and Media Authority proposed a standardised approach designed to make it easier for consumers to compare, which came into effect on Tuesday.
The rules, which require each company to grade its coverage from good to absent based on specific signal strengths, have cut Telstra’s claimed coverage by almost 1 million square kilometres. The network’s coverage decreased from 3 million square kilometres to 2.14 million square kilometres. The reduction represents an area larger than NSW.
Qantas has begun notifying more than 1 million customers eligible for compensation for COVID-era flights cancelled by the airline.
The airline is responding to the class action lawsuit brought against it for tickets bought between January 1, 2020 and November 1, 2022 that were later cancelled.
A court-ordered notice is now being sent, both by email and text message, to more than 1 million Qantas customers who are potentially eligible for a payment from the $105 million settlement in the class action brought against the airline.
Echo Law, the firm contacting the eligible customers, is requesting at a minimum, they receive $50 each, but says the total could be “significantly higher”.
Qantas this year agreed to pay $105 million to settle the class action, without an admission of any liability. The sum was nearly double what the airline had set aside funds to cover.
Qantas breached its legal obligations by failing to give customers refunds for cancelled flights within a reasonable time, according to the lawsuit. Instead, it issued flight credits.
Qantas removed the expiry date from COVID credits in 2023 under fierce public and regulatory pressure. Then-chief executive Alan Joyce stepped down in September 2023, amid the storm.
Customers who are eligible to receive funds from the class action may also be entitled to funds directly from Qantas.
“In addition to these payments, customers with unclaimed COVID credits can come forward at any time to claim a refund,” a Qantas spokesman said.
“We encourage customers to claim a refund by contacting us,” he said.
Liberal backbencher Garth Hamilton has spoken after he was named following an outburst in the House of Representatives during question time.
Speaking to journalists at Parliament House shortly after question time finished, Hamilton said: “What we saw today was absolute gutter politics from this Labor government that refused to address the issues that are out there for all Australians to deal with.
“Instead of fronting up and taking responsibility for the issues that they have to deal with, they’ve turned question time into attempt just to throw mud at [Opposition Leader] Angus Taylor, and I’m actually quite happy that this draws attention to these tactics.
“The suggestions that were made today, they did rise anger in me, and I think it’s the rising anger we see across Australia right now. This government is treating Australians with disdain, refuses to acknowledge the problems that we’re facing as Australians. [Labor MP Kristy] McBain should apologise. It’s clear what’s on the record that what she said was an absolute lie.
“Now I can’t say that in parliament, I can say it here. She lied. She’s a liar, but she’s better than this, and I hope she turns this around. These tactics are unbecoming of her, they’re unbecoming of a government, she should own up and say this was wrong, ‘I made a mistake, I apologise’.”
Hamilton will be absent from question time tomorrow as he serves out the final hours of his suspension from the chamber.
Following the naming of Liberal MP Garth Hamilton, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has told the House of Representatives that he was misrepresented in the chamber during question time.
It comes after reporting in this masthead that Taylor was accused of delivering a “kick in the guts” to rural firefighters after claiming authorities deliberately allowed the devastating 2003 Snowy Mountains bushfires to burn because they were in a wilderness area.
“During question time, the member for Eden-Monaro said that I impugned RFS firefighters. I did no such thing and never would. I was referring to the failures of national park management in the lead up to the devastating 2003 fires in the Snowy Mountains,” Taylor said.
Taylor then moved to table a report on fire management, and demanded an apology from Eden-Monaro MP Kristy McBain, who promptly left the chamber.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has used another appearance in the Senate to clarify remarks she made in her National Press Club speech, this time about paid parental leave.
“According to those who were bitterly opposed to myself and One Nation, another sacred cow I supposedly slaughtered at the National Press Club was paid parental leave funded by taxpayers,” Hanson said.
Hanson made the remarks in question earlier this month. Here’s what she said:
If you’re an airline pilot, male, female, you get the same pay … you do the work, you same pay. The difference is that if women take time off and they are not paid their wages because they’re not working, fair enough, why should business pay them if they’re not at work? That’s the difference. That’s why the pay gap is there.”
Liberal backbencher Garth Hamilton has been named in the House of Representatives after he stormed out of the chamber during question time.
Immediately after question time, Speaker Milton Dick said: “A serious incident occurred during question time, and it has been brought to my attention what occurred.
“I’m deeply concerned and troubled by the incident. The member from Groom has shown severe disrespect to this house through his words and his actions. I take these matters extremely seriously.
“This is a new low that I have witnessed, and as a result of these actions, I have been left with no other choice. Because of the respect and dignity of this house, and because of his actions. I now name the member for Groom.”
Education Minister Jason Clare has revealed that notices have been issued to 115 childcare centres over standard breaches, and that an underperforming centre in Victoria has lost its funding.
Clare told the House of Representatives: “[The government warned] if you don’t meet the standards then you can have your funding cut, and that wasn’t an idle threat.
“I can tell the House that we’ve now issued notices against 115 centres. Forty-seven centres have now suddenly fixed the problems they’d refused to fix for more than five years.
“Seven centres have voluntarily relinquished their licenses, and I can inform the house that today my department has cut funding to a service in Victoria that has been warned and continued not to meet the standard.
“This is not the end, this is just the start. The truth is that this work will never end, and we will continue to take the steps we need to take to keep our kids safe.”
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has asked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about reporting in this masthead on allegations of corruption in Big Build projects in Victoria.
“Can the prime minister confirm that no Commonwealth taxpayer funds have directly or indirectly been made into the hands of convicted criminal and underworld figure Mick Gatto or any associated companies,” Taylor asked.
Albanese responded by saying that within three weeks of his election as leader of the Labor Party he had expelled former CFMEU boss John Setka from the party, excluded the CFMEU from affiliation with the party and placed the union into administration.
Taylor rose on a point of order, at which point Speaker Milton Dick asked the prime minister if he had finished his question. Albanese said if Taylor wasn’t interested in listening to his response, it should be considered complete, and proceedings moved to the next question.
We’ve just had an incredibly fiery moment during question time, as Liberal backbencher Garth Hamilton slammed his desk shut, called out “bullshit” and stormed out of the chamber as Labor frontbencher Kristy McBain sledged Opposition Leader Angus Taylor over comments made about the 2003 Snowy Mountains bushfires.
Responding to a question from the Labor backbench, McBain spoke about a report in this masthead that Taylor had been accused of delivering a “kick in the guts” to rural firefighters after claiming authorities deliberately allowed the devastating bushfires to burn because they were in a wilderness area.
“The leader of the opposition stood at a precipice in front of people and pointed the finger at rural firefighters, saying that they let the 2003 Snowy Mountains bush fires run,” McBain said.
“That is absolutely shameful. I am disgusted, and so are the first responders who have come into my office to complain about it, and I have a message for first responders-” McBain said before Hamilton called out and left the chamber.
