Australia news live: Anthony Albanese defends voice in fiery radio encounter with Ben Fordham over referendum | Australian politics
Albanese defends voice in fiery radio encounter with Ben Fordham over referendum
Paul Karp
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has just spoken to Ben Fordham on 2GB Radio about the Indigenous voice referendum.
Fordham repeatedly asked about why the government is not proposing constitutional recognition and legislating the voice.
Albanese said that he’s a “pragmatic guy” but noted that in the Uluru Statement from the Heart Indigenous Australians asked for the voice to go into the constitution. Nobody attempted to amend the constitutional alteration bill to shift towards recognition without voice, he said.
The interview got a bit heated, as Albanese said that discussion of Indigenous Australians getting special rights “ignores that this is the most disadvantaged group”.
Fordham quoted architects of the voice including Megan Davis, prompting Albanese to observe that the quotes were “from the No pamphlet”. Fordham rejected this characterisation – saying they were his own questions, and he was referring to written material to get the quotes right.
Albanese ruled out compensation for Indigenous Australians, moving the date of Australia Day and the voice making representations to the Reserve Bank.
Albanese said:
You have a responsibility as well … You need to not raise red herrings.
Fordham urged Albanese not to “risk it”.
He replied:
I’m not risking it. What I’m doing is supporting recognition, supporting recognition in a way that will make a practical difference. We need better outcomes. We can’t just be doing things the same way and expect different results. That’s the definition of being … dumb. If we just keep doing things the same way, we need to do things better, we need to listen to Indigenous Australians about matters that affect them.
Key events
Rio Tinto flags China economic worries
Jonathan Barrett
Rio Tinto has raised concerns over the global economic outlook which includes a faltering Chinese recovery after reporting a slight pullback in iron ore shipments from the Pilbara.
Rio said in a quarterly production report on Wednesday:
China’s economic recovery has fallen short of initial market expectations, as the property market downturn continues to weigh on the economy and consumers remain cautious despite monetary policy easing.
Manufacturing data in advanced economies showed a further slowdown and recessionary risks remain.
Iron ore prices have eased from elevated levels struck mid last year amid a mixed outlook for the steel-making commodity.
An anticipated major ramp-up in global steel manufacturing has failed to materialise as surging youth unemployment and a weak property sector hamper the Chinese economy.
While Rio mines several types of resources, iron ore is by far its biggest revenue earner.
The company said that iron ore production had increased during the June quarter compared to the previous corresponding period, even though shipments fell.
Barbie movie gets three stars
Beamingly affectionate, deliriously pink-themed and fantasy comedy-adventure is how Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw describes Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. (He also uses “bubblegum-fun-cum-feminist” which I rather enjoy.)
Bradshaw gives the film three stars – citing comedy rooted in self-consciousness that is sometimes inhibited by satire, and wary of what is “perhaps a giant two-hour commercial for a product”.
So we’ve all had our eyeballs seared pink for the last 3 months for the sake of… a solid three star comedy… https://t.co/EGd2LCWp5f
— NickdMiller ❔ (@NickdMiller) July 18, 2023
The film comes out in Australia tomorrow – I shall be in attendance, wearing all pink, ready to draw my own conclusions.
In the meantime, you can read Bradshaw’s full review here:
Christopher Knaus
Public hearing into Australia’s secrecy laws underway
Australia’s watchdog for national security laws has begun a public hearing into secrecy laws used in the high-profile criminal prosecutions of Bernard Collaery, Witness K, and Witness J.
The National Security Information Act (NSI Act) is designed to protect sensitive information during criminal prosecutions. The aim is to stop confidential material, which threatens to harm Australia’s national security, from being made public.
The law’s use in recent prosecutions – most notably the case of former spy Witness J, who was prosecuted and imprisoned completely in secret – has prompted concern that it is improperly obscuring open justice.
The Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Grant Donaldson is currently probing the effectiveness of the NSI Act and is considering whether it should be subject to significant reform or scrapped altogether.
A two-day public hearing began in Canberra on Wednesday morning, which will hear from government, the intelligence community, academics, prosecutors and a former judge, Anthony Whealy, who has sat on NSI Act cases.
Attorney-general department deputy secretary Sarah Chidgey gave evidence that the NSI Act had only been used sparingly – three times out of the more than 2,000 federal criminal prosecutions in 2021-2022.
She said it provided an “essential framework” for promoting the administration of justice in an evolving security environment.
Donaldson said it appeared that the NSI Act works “generally quite well” in terrorism cases. But he said:
Where the issues have arisen – and Alan Johns and Witness K and Collaery are perfect examples of this – are where the prosecutions have related to secrecy offences.
Noel Pearson calls out scaremongering directed at voice
“All kinds of scaremongering have been directed as to what this voice is,” Noel Pearson said at the Clean Energy Council Summit’s gala dinner in Sydney, AAP reports.
Some people have suggested that Indigenous people would be making representations about everything from nuclear submarines to parking tickets, the Indigenous lawyer said.
The voice to parliament, if successful, will make representations on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
That’s the function of the voice. That’s the purpose of the voice.
It is solely the parliament’s job after the referendum to supply the details and they will do that through the normal process of lawmaking.
Paul Karp
‘Athletes will be hurt by this’: Albanese on Commonwealth Games cancellation
Anthony Albanese also spoke on 2GB radio about the surprise decision by the Victorian government to cancel the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Asked if he was shocked by the move, Albanese replied:
I was. We did get a very short heads up that the announcement was coming but obviously, it’s not something that we were anticipating given that it’s been in the wind for some time … I think the regret is for the athletes who will be hurt by this, the idea of competing at your own games is always a positive thing. I attended the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games just a few years ago and I attended Melbourne many years ago now, and of course, the Sydney Olympics was where this great city really shone.
Albanese defends voice in fiery radio encounter with Ben Fordham over referendum
Paul Karp
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has just spoken to Ben Fordham on 2GB Radio about the Indigenous voice referendum.
Fordham repeatedly asked about why the government is not proposing constitutional recognition and legislating the voice.
Albanese said that he’s a “pragmatic guy” but noted that in the Uluru Statement from the Heart Indigenous Australians asked for the voice to go into the constitution. Nobody attempted to amend the constitutional alteration bill to shift towards recognition without voice, he said.
The interview got a bit heated, as Albanese said that discussion of Indigenous Australians getting special rights “ignores that this is the most disadvantaged group”.
Fordham quoted architects of the voice including Megan Davis, prompting Albanese to observe that the quotes were “from the No pamphlet”. Fordham rejected this characterisation – saying they were his own questions, and he was referring to written material to get the quotes right.
Albanese ruled out compensation for Indigenous Australians, moving the date of Australia Day and the voice making representations to the Reserve Bank.
Albanese said:
You have a responsibility as well … You need to not raise red herrings.
Fordham urged Albanese not to “risk it”.
He replied:
I’m not risking it. What I’m doing is supporting recognition, supporting recognition in a way that will make a practical difference. We need better outcomes. We can’t just be doing things the same way and expect different results. That’s the definition of being … dumb. If we just keep doing things the same way, we need to do things better, we need to listen to Indigenous Australians about matters that affect them.
‘Cruelty must end’: Asylum Seeker Resource Centre releases new offshore detention report
Marking ten years since former prime minister Kevin Rudd sent 3,000 men, women and children seeking asylum in Australia by sea to offshore detention centre, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre has released a new report, ‘Finish this Crisis’: Stories exposing the horrors of offshore detention.
It shares stories of seven people subjected to offshore detention since 19 July 2013. They call for the immediate evacuation of the 80 people remaining in PNG, permanent resettlement for all and a royal commission into offshore detention.
In a statement, it said:
The Albanese Government evacuated refugees from Nauru, however, people are still trapped in PNG and thousands have been denied the ability to rebuild their lives in Australia.
The cruelty must end.
Abdi Adan Muse, a human rights advocate held in PNG, said:
When I wake up, I try and keep myself busy.
It has an impact on you psychologically – always thinking and constantly worrying. When you don’t have a family with you, it is difficult to keep yourself busy.
And Abdul Aziz Adam, human rights advocate formerly held in offshore detention said:
I think the world needs to know the reality, the truth about offshore detention … I mean they designed a system based on torturing and destroying psychologically people like us. The world needs to know the reality.
You can read the full report here.
Switching to electric reduces household energy costs by 75%, new report finds
Switching from gas to electric can reduce household energy bills by 75%, new data from Environment Victoria reveals.
An average home in Melbourne’s south-east could expect to pay $716 using gas heating in an uninsulated space throughout the winter months.
The cost for the same space using efficient reverse cycle electric appliances reduces to just $169.
Sarah Rogan, Environment Victoria climate campaign manager, urges the government to “make it easier for all households to electrify”:
Victorian households are struggling under devastating cost of living increases – while massive, polluting gas companies continue to reap record profits.
Household electrification is key to reducing Victoria’s carbon emissions and household energy bills. We urge the Victorian government to set a target in this year’s updated Gas Substitution Roadmap.
The Victorian government needs to step up now with incentives for households to switch off their polluting and expensive gas heaters and switch on efficient electric heat pumps.
University support must include city suburbs not just remote areas, Clare says
More from education minister Jason Clare on ABC RN this morning, who says the funded university support skew towards remote areas needs to be realigned to include city suburbs “if we really want to close that gap in opportunity”.
Almost one in two Australians have a university degree, but that’s not the case everywhere, it’s not the case in the western suburbs or in the regions.
It’s not the case for poor families and it’s a magnitude lower for Indigenous students – only 7% of young Indigenous people in their 20s have a university degree.
Clare points to the discrepancy of funded spots across area, saying young Indigenous people are only guaranteed a funding spot at university if they live regionally, not in a big city.
If we really want to close that gap in opportunity this is the way to do it.
The evidence is if we do this we could double the number of Indigenous students at university in a decade.
Clare says new funding for uni places a tenth the cost of a jail cell
Minister for education Jason Clare said increasing access to a Commonwealth-supported place at university will cost $34m over the next four years – “That’s a pretty good investment”.
He said on ABC RN this morning:
If you’re a young Indigenous person today, you’re more likely to go to jail than you are to university.
The cost of having somebody in jail every year is about $120,000. The cost of a university place is $11,000.
We’re having a conversation about the Voice as well in this country at the moment, and about how listening to people gets better results and a better use of taxpayers money. I can’t think of a better example than that.
The comment comes amid a discussion on the Australian Universities Accord Interim Report, which Clare will speak on at the National Press Club today.
The report recommends changes to make sure the higher education sector can attract and retain staff, and to make universities more accessible to poorer students and those living outside urban centres.
You can read more from Amy Remeikis here:
Australian sailor back on land after two months stranded at sea
A 51-year-old Sydney man and his dog have been rescued after being stranded at sea for months, surviving on a diet of raw fish and rainwater.
When 7 Sunrise asked him what he wants his first meal to be, he answered:
Tuna sushi.
(He was saved by a Mexican fishing trawler – aka a tuna boat – hence the joke.)
Tim Shaddock left La Paz in Mexico in April and was attempting to reach French Polynesia, more than 5,000km away, when his boat was damaged by the storm.
The pair were rescued after a helicopter conducting surveillance for a Mexican fishing trawler found them on 12 July.
You can read the full story from Cait Kelly here:
US defence secretary and secretary of state to visit Australia
Daniel Hurst
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, and secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will soon visit Australia for annual ministerial talks.
In a statement issued this morning, the Pentagon said Austin would depart the US next week for a trip to Papua New Guinea and Australia – his eighth official visit to the Indo-Pacific region.
The Pentagon statement said the PNG visit would be first:
Secretary Austin will then travel to Australia to meet with his counterpart Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, and other government leaders.
Austin and Marles will join Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong to participate in the 33rd annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) to advance our unprecedented cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and globally. This year’s AUSMIN will highlight, among numerous other topics, the historic progress our nations are making together on force posture modernization, defense industrial base cooperation, and regional security integration.
Also in Australia, Secretary Austin will visit U.S. and Australian service members participating in Exercise Talisman Sabre, the United States’ largest military exercise with Australia. This exercise demonstrates the strong U.S.-Australia alliance, which has sustained cooperation and trust throughout decades of operating, training, and exercising together, and includes participants from every service in the DOD.
Research shows AI could add $115bn to Australian economy
Research from the Tech Council of Australia and Microsoft claims generative artificial intelligence technology could add $115bn to the Australian economy annually within seven years, AAP reports.
The bulk of those gains would come through higher productivity – like making repetitive manual tasks redundant.
The research, prepared by Accenture, has mapped out the efficiency-boosting potential of the technology – it could translate to a two to five per cent uplift in economic growth, depending on how rapidly Australia adopts it.
70 per cent of the economic value would come from an uplift in productivity across existing industries.
Another 20 per cent would come through quality gains and 10 per cent from new products and services.
Microsoft ANZ chief technology officer Lee Hickin said Australia was facing a “massive economic opportunity” and was tracking in the right direction to capture its benefits.
Australian businesses are looking to integrate the technology into their operations and the federal government is starting work on regulating the sector, which Hickin said would be critical to its successful take up.
Hickin said it would be an “additive” technology and would assist workers in their work, rather than replace them.
In order to build into that productivity growth that the country needs to move into, we actually need people to deliver more with the time they have.
And the only way we can do that is by giving them tools and technology that allow them to operate at a high level, and AI is the tool to do that.
Rafqa Touma
Good morning! Thanks to Martin Farrer for kicking off this morning’s blog.
I’m Rafqa Touma, taking the blog for the day. If you see anything you don’t want us to miss, let me know on Twitter or Threads.
Let’s go!
British cities encouraged to bid for Commonwealth Games
Ed Aarons
Our colleague on the UK sports desk, Ed Aarons, has been finding out whether a British city could step in and host the 2026 Commonwealth Games after Victoria’s shock withdrawal. Here’s what he has written:
Organisers have said they would welcome any offer from the UK to step in as hosts of the 2026 Commonwealth Games after the withdrawal of the Australian state of Victoria on Tuesday left the event’s future in serious doubt.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) said it was given only eight hours’ notice before the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, announced the state would no longer host the 2026 Games due to spiralling costs. The CGF described the decision as “hugely disappointing” but remains determined to find an alternative despite an immediate lack of obvious candidates.
The 2022 Games moved to Birmingham, the original 2026 hosts, when Durban in South Africa was stripped of its hosting rights in 2017 and another venue in the UK could be the only feasible replacement given the short timeframe.
Victoria’s decision leaves not only the 2026 Games but the entire future of the event in jeopardy, with it struggling to find its place in a crowded sporting calendar and with lingering questions about its foundation in Britain’s colonial past.
The CGF’s chief executive, Katie Sadleir, said:
The UK are fantastic hosts and we would be very open to having a conversation with them about it, if that’s something they would be interested in doing.
However, the UK prime minister’s spokesperson insisted that it hoped a “viable solution” can be found for the Games to be held in Australia.
You can read Ed’s full report here:
Two-day hearing on secret trials begins
The ability for courts to hold trials in secret to deal with national security matters will be scrutinised at a two-day hearing in Canberra, reports Australian Associated Press.
Grant Donaldson, Australia’s independent national security legislation monitor, will hear from government officials, intelligence bosses, prosecutors and human rights advocates.
There will also be a session with the legal team for Bernard Collaery, whose prosecution over allegedly leaking classified information about an alleged Australian spying operation in East Timor was dropped in 2022.
The basis of secret trials lies in the National Security Information (Criminal and Civil Proceedings) Act 2004, known as the NSI Act, which Mr Donaldson is reviewing.
The Human Rights Law Centre says while secret trials have a long history in authoritarian states, they have no place in democracies like Australia.
The attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, says completely secret trials are inconsistent with the rule of law and court cases should be as open as possible while ensuring the protection of national security information.
Chalmers on Australia-China relationship
More from Chalmers at the G20:
Going forward, the treasurer wants the Australia-China relationship managed in a pragmatic way.
Recognising that we have differences … but overwhelmingly this is a trading relationship and an economic relationship that serves both countries very well.
So the overwhelming tenor of the conversation was a friendly, constructive conversation between two countries who are very important to each other.
Chalmers also raised his “deep concern” about two Australians detained in China, writer Yang Hengjun and journalist Cheng Lei.
The pair also discussed grim global and domestic economic forecasts as the world grapples with the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chalmers said:
There’s no use pretending otherwise.
If the Chinese indicators are weak, if they’re softer than we anticipate, then obviously that has implications and consequences for us and so we’re monitoring that very closely.
Jim Chalmers meets China counterpart at G20 in India
Jim Chalmers has become the first Australian treasurer in four years to meet his Chinese counterpart, marking a historic moment for both nations, Australian Associated Press reports.
Chalmers seized the opportunity to meet Liu Kun in India on the sidelines of a G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors.
It marked the first meeting between an Australian treasurer and a Chinese finance minister since June 2019.
The treasurer, who described the conversation as friendly and free-flowing, said the pair discussed the stabilising Chinese-Australian diplomatic relationship.
Chalmers raised China’s trade restrictions with Kun and said the Australian government would like the issue resolved before prime minister Anthony Albanese visits Beijing.
China placed trade sanctions on $20bn worth of Australian products at the height of a diplomatic spat in 2020, although it has since wound back restrictions on timber and coal imports.
Chalmers told ABC 7.30:
The Albanese government has made it very clear that whilst we don’t need to pretend away the differences we have with China and with our ministerial counterparts we are much more likely to stabilise this key relationship with engagement and dialogue.
We’ve been very clear publicly and privately … that we consider it to be in the interests of both countries for those trade restrictions to be lifted. We’d like to see some progress there in advance of a prime ministerial visit.
Chalmers said Kun agreed to speak to his ministerial colleagues about the restrictions.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you the top overnight stories before my colleague Rafqa Touma picks up.
Jim Chalmers has become the first Australian treasurer in four years to meet his Chinese counterpart when he talked to Liu Kun on the sidelines of a G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in India last night. Chalmers raised China’s trade restrictions with Kun and said Australia would like the issue resolved before prime minister Anthony Albanese visits Beijing. It came as Henry Kissinger, the veteran US diplomat who helped open up China to western contact in the 1970s, paid a surprise visit to Beijing. More coming up soon.
The fallout continues from the Victorian government’s decision to pull out of hosting the Commonwealth Games. The Victorian taxpayer may be on the hook for the cost of the cancellation, reportedly to the tune of millions of dollars. The sporting world is dismayed about it all. Our sports writer Kieran Pender asks whether this is the death knell of games that some say just “aren’t what they used to be”. British cities are meanwhile being encouraged to think about bids with Birmingham considered a runner even though it hosted the 2022 Games, though Downing Street still hopes Australia can somehow host in 2026.
We’re continuing our reporting on the “gutting of Gonski” with a piece showing that the landmark report’s promise to deliver more cash for each Indigenous child appears to be failing. Figures show that funding to public schools have fallen 7.75% in real terms in the Northern Territory, with a large fall in Western Australia as well. The public middle school in Alice Springs receives $31,834 for every student in government funding, compared with $26,848 at the nearby private school, which also gets $9,382 for every student from parent contributions and fees.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2023/jul/19/australia-news-live-jim-chalmers-summit-china-trade-sanctions-commonwealth-games-australia-uk-indigenous-voice-to-parliament Australia news live: Anthony Albanese defends voice in fiery radio encounter with Ben Fordham over referendum | Australian politics
