Chalmers touts Aust-India ties despite spy revelations
Australia still has a good relationship with India, treasurer Jim Chalmers says, despite revelations a nest of Indian spies was disrupted by federal spy agencies, AAP reports.
The Washington Post and the ABC have reported Indian spies were kicked out of Australia after trying to steal sensitive information about defence projects as well as airport security.
The nest of spies was disrupted in 2020 by Asio, with director general Mike Burgess revealing in 2021 it had tried to target relationships with politicians, a foreign embassy and a state police service.
However, Burgess did not at the time reveal which country was behind the operation. He said during the 2021 speech:
They successfully cultivated and recruited an Australian government security clearance holder who had access to secretive details of defence technology. They asked a public servant to provide information on security protocols at a major airport.
Chalmers said Australia still had close ties with India, telling ABC News Breakfast:
We have got a good relationship with India and with other countries in the region, it’s an important economic relationship. It’s become closer … in recent years as a consequence of efforts on both sides and that’s a good thing.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi visited Australia last in May 2023, holding several large events in Sydney with the Indian diaspora.
Chalmers said he was not aware of efforts by the federal government to express concern to Indian counterparts about the nest of spies, due to the coalition being in charge at the time of the incident.
Key events
Qantas investigating issue with app after customers report seeing strangers’ data
Qantas has confirmed it is investigating an issue with its app after a number of customers have reported being able to see strangers’ data.
The Guardian has viewed screenshots where customers have logged into their profile on the Qantas app, but were presented with a stranger’s profile. This included their name and information, such as upcoming flight details and loyalty points.
A number of users are also reporting the issue on social media.
Qantas has confirmed it is aware of the issue and said in a statement:
Qantas is investigating reports of an issue impacting the Qantas app this morning. We will provide more information as soon as possible.
Probe as two Melbourne restaurants go up in flames within minutes
Detectives are investigating fires at two Italian restaurants in Melbourne’s north-west that started within minutes of each other, AAP reports.
The first blaze broke out at a La Porchetta on the Melton Highway in Taylor’s Lakes at about 2.45am yesterday.
Just minutes later, another fire started at an Italian restaurant on Mount Alexander Road in Essendon. Smoke billowed over the area but firefighters contained the fire to a small section of the venue and stopped it from spreading to a nearby car wash.
No one was inside either restaurant at the time and both were severely damaged by the flames. Officers have not revealed if they are believed to be linked.
Both restaurants have been taped off and deemed a crime scene as detectives work to establish the cause of the fires.
Charges dropped against Victorian health department over quarantine
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian health minister has confirmed public prosecutors have dropped charges against the state’s health department over its handling of the hotel quarantine program that contributed to the state’s deadly second Covid-19 wave.
WorkSafe had charged the health department with 58 breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in September 2021, alleging the department failed to provide a safe workplace for its employees and failed to ensure people were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.
Mary-Anne Thomas said the charges were dropped by the office of public prosecutions yesterday:
I’m advised that that has happened yesterday.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian health minister says she had ‘no reason to think anything was untoward’ during regional hospital visit
Continuing from our last post: Mary-Anne Thomas said she has cast her mind back to the visit and doesn’t remember anything untoward.
I visit health services all the time and I see that our health services are experiencing record demand. We know that for a fact. But I didn’t notice anything in particular, I had no reason to think that anything was untoward. It’s certainly not something that ever crossed my mind that a health service would work to deceive a government minister in such a way.
She said it was not common practice to speak to patients during a tour:
The last thing they want is a politician in their faces, so I’m very mindful and respectful of patient privacy. I don’t look to make eye contact or engage with patients.
Thomas said it was now up to Colac Area Health to take action against the staff members involved. She said this could include “counselling, training, or indeed disciplinary action”.
She said Ambulance Victoria were also conducting their own investigation after confirmation a fake patient was brought to hospital by ambulance.
Ten people posed as patients during Victorian health minister’s visit to urgent care clinic
Benita Kolovos
Victoria’s health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, is speaking to reporters at parliament after an investigation into allegations staff at a regional hospital posed as patients during a visit from her last year.
She said the department of health investigation has confirmed ten people, who were not unwell, were inside Colac Area Health’s urgent care clinic during Thomas’ visit in August 2023.
Thomas said:
The results of the investigation are in and it has confirmed that staff at Colac Area Health posed as patients during my visit on that day. These staff members were registered as patients in the urgent care centre registration system. Their registrations were later cancelled after I had left.
She said the group had been enlisted “by some management staff to help the urgent care centre appear busier than it actually was”. At least one staff member was transported to the hospital by ambulance.
Thomas said the investigation found there was no direct impact on the health and safety of “real patients”, but there could have been:
This is a very serious issue … this type of behaviour is completely unacceptable to me.
Regional and rural women face difficultly in accessing frontline services, Ley says
Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley has described the difficulty regional and rural women face when trying to access frontline services if they are experiencing domestic violence.
Speaking to ABC RN, Ley said the pain is “particularly severe” in regional areas because there aren’t always frontline services available to turn to:
It is so challenging to live your life as a woman who is in a situation like this because it’s so hard to identify yourself in a community that, unfortunately, has made judgments about you in the past. You see how visible this is in particularly our rural areas.
So I’m just sick of men. I’m sick of Mark Dreyfus, I’m sick of Anthony Albanese, I’m sick of their talking, their rhetoric, I want them to stand up today, and I want them to announce action to stop the killings. I’m so sick of the platitudes.
Host Patricia Karvelas asked:
Violence against women was also happening at high and alarming rates under your government. Are you also sick of the men in your frontbench?
Ley said:
I’m sick of all men who don’t understand this problem.
I’m not going to point the finger and I’m not going to be political, particularly on an issue like this … We’re the best country on the planet but gosh, we have to look in the mirror when half the population is saying that their country is beginning to feel unsafe. So all governments have to work to fix this.
Queensland scraps detention as last resort for young criminals
The Queensland government will scrap detention as a last resort for offenders amid growing concerns over youth crime, AAP reports.
Premier Steven Miles has confirmed the clause “detention as a last resort” in the Youth Justice Act would be amended to children should be detained in custody where “necessary” to keep Queenslanders safe.
We’ve seen a lot of misrepresentation and confusion suggesting that the courts are unable to impose detention. I am concerned that the existing wording of the principle is undermining confidence in the laws and the courts.
The clause will be redrafted to clarify young offenders should be detained in custody where necessary when other measures of prevention and intervention are not sufficient.
It also says children should not be detained for longer than necessary. Miles said:
While prevention and intervention are essential, there are cases where detention is necessary for community safety. These changes will remove any doubt that detention should be used in those circumstances.
Detention as a last resort for children is enshrined in international law, including in the United Nations’ convention on the rights of the child, which Australia has ratified.
For more around this topic, Eden Gillespie has you covered:
Politicians respond to budget airline Bonza’s voluntary administration
In case you missed it yesterday, low-cost airline Bonza has entered voluntary after abruptly cancelling all of its flights after the repossession of its entire fleet. You can read all the details below:
A number of politicians have reacted to the news on ABC News Breakfast this morning. Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley said this would be “devastating” for rural Australians, with two Bonza flights in her hometown of Albury at the NSW-VIC border.
I know city-based politicians who actually don’t understand how important it is to have flights to and from the regions… I do want to see this government are doing everything it can to get Bonza back in the air and to recognise that competition in the aviation sector and access to regional roots in regional Australia must be top of the list when they consider airline policy.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the situation was “really disappointing” and he feels for any stranded passengers.
This is a very unfortunate set of events for the workers at that company and also for people who are stuck. We are doing what we can to make sure alternative arrangements are being struck.
And Queensland premier Steven Miles said he would like to see Bonza continue operating because links between regional cities are “really important”.
Queensland is quite different to other states in that we have those regional cities that are really only accessible by air or by very long car drives.
Chalmers touts Aust-India ties despite spy revelations
Australia still has a good relationship with India, treasurer Jim Chalmers says, despite revelations a nest of Indian spies was disrupted by federal spy agencies, AAP reports.
The Washington Post and the ABC have reported Indian spies were kicked out of Australia after trying to steal sensitive information about defence projects as well as airport security.
The nest of spies was disrupted in 2020 by Asio, with director general Mike Burgess revealing in 2021 it had tried to target relationships with politicians, a foreign embassy and a state police service.
However, Burgess did not at the time reveal which country was behind the operation. He said during the 2021 speech:
They successfully cultivated and recruited an Australian government security clearance holder who had access to secretive details of defence technology. They asked a public servant to provide information on security protocols at a major airport.
Chalmers said Australia still had close ties with India, telling ABC News Breakfast:
We have got a good relationship with India and with other countries in the region, it’s an important economic relationship. It’s become closer … in recent years as a consequence of efforts on both sides and that’s a good thing.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi visited Australia last in May 2023, holding several large events in Sydney with the Indian diaspora.
Chalmers said he was not aware of efforts by the federal government to express concern to Indian counterparts about the nest of spies, due to the coalition being in charge at the time of the incident.
More information-sharing between states to help tackle violence against women, Queensland premier says
Queensland premier Steven Miles says he would like to see more information-sharing between states as a way to protect women and children facing violence.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast ahead of today’s national cabinet, Miles said:
I know that our domestic and sexual violence services they’re really stretched at the moment. We increased their funding by 20% earlier in the week but we, of course, like to see even more resources go to them.
I know also that often offenders will move between states and territories, and so information-sharing between our political forces can help them to know the history of offenders.
And then the most important thing I think is prevention and how do we, as a nation, educate our boys and young men that violence against women and children is just unacceptable.
Adam Morton
Gas strategy to be released so national discussion ‘guided by evidence and less by culture wars’
In addition to focusing on offshore wind (see earlier), Chris Bowen’s speech to the energy users association today will also include some observations about the future of gas.
The climate change and energy minister will argue there are “exaggerated claims on all sides of the gas debate”.
Slogans like ‘gas-led recovery’ and ‘no new gas’ are equally catchy – and equally unhelpful to explaining the proper role of gas in our net zero energy mix.
Bowen’s speech, released to journalists by his office, says the resources minister, Madeleine King, will release a future gas strategy in the coming weeks so that the “national discussion on gas can be guided more by the evidence and less by the culture wars”.
Bowen will say gas will play an “important role in electricity by firming and peaking renewables” as unlike coal and nuclear it could be turned on and off at short notice, that there are not yet substitutes for gas in many industrial settings, and that new gas supply will be needed “even as we electrify at pace” as current supplies are dwindling.
The International Energy Agency last year found the growth era for fossil fuels had finished, and that global investment in oil and gas would need to be cut roughly in half by 2030 to put the world on track to reach net zero emissions by mid-century.
Climate Analytics found gas was the largest source of global fossil fuel emissions growth last decade.
‘This is genuinely a national crisis’: Treasurer ahead of national cabinet on violence against women
Ahead of today’s national cabinet aimed at addressing violence against women, Jim Chalmers was asked how much he as treasurer is willing to spend on this issue.
He told ABC RN:
I think our whole government recognises that we need to do better and we need to do more. This is genuinely a national crisis and women are not safe in our community. We’re very cognisant of that, and very focused on that …
I think this is partly a story about government investment, but not solely a story about government investment. And if there are ways that we can provide more investment or invest differently in these really important services to keep women safe, then obviously that’s something that we’re prepared to consider and that’s one of the reasons why the leaders from around Australia gathering today.
He also spoke about the topic on ABC News Breakfast. He said changes to bail laws are “one of the things that needs to be considered” and also “having a look at the various legal arrangements to make sure that they’re up to scratch”.
Treasurer on falling retail figures, cost of living
The treasurer was also asked about annual growth in retail figures, which has fallen to its lowest levels since the pandemic.
You can read all the details on this in yesterday’s blog, here.
Chalmers said “this is what happens when interest rates have increased and the economy is slowing”.
And it’s no surprise to us because we know that people are under pressure. We saw that in those very weak retail figures, we’ve seen it in consumption figures, we’ve seen it in the growth figures. And that’s why in this budget, there will still be a primary focus on the fight against inflation, but also a focus on how we grow the economy, how we focus on economic security in ways that we just talked about, to make sure that we are striking the right balance, fighting inflation in the here and now but laying the foundations for future growth in our economy.
There’s no shortage of challenges, and what we’ve demonstrated the first two budgets and will demonstrate again in the third is a willingness to fight inflation as the primary focus, but not the sole focus.
Foreign investment changes will not target any one particular country: Chalmers
The treasurer is now speaking to ABC RN about the foreign investment changes, and said they are not working to target any particular country.
Jim Chalmers was asked if the laws were introduced to target China, but he denied this:
No, our foreign investment regime is non-discriminatory. We apply pretty tough tests to certain kinds of investments, no matter where they come from, from around the world.
We want to look very closely [at] who’s making the investment, what the structure of the investment is and what kinds of industries people are proposing to invest in, and those pretty tough tests – which will be even stronger [thanks] to the reforms I announced today – they will apply equally to investment from China, as from other parts of the world.