As it happened: Calls to provide new passports to Optus breach victims; debate brews over corruption watchdog secrecy

The Paralympics Australia Athletes Commission on Wednesday released an open letter to the Premier asking for “respectful consideration for a change in the title of your portfolio”.

Paralympics Australia chairman Jock O’Callaghan said some athletes were furious at the discrepancy, particularly following Fearnley’s appointment to the NDIA and the recognition of Dylan Alcott, another celebrated Paralympian, as Australian of the Year.

“I simply don’t understand why we are having this discussion,” O’Callaghan told The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.

“Barriers like this, however constructed or justified, are barriers to a more inclusive society.”

Read more here.

The competing positions will define the political debate about the commission over the next six weeks when a parliamentary inquiry examines the draft law before it goes to the Senate in late November in the hope of establishing the watchdog by the middle of next year.

A smaller dispute is emerging over the membership of a parliamentary committee to oversee the NACC, with the Greens wanting more say from the crossbench and the Centre for Public Integrity suggesting the chair of the committee should be able to come from any political party, not just the governing party.

Another dispute centres on the scope of the commission’s power to examine “third parties” outside government who deceive federal officials, with the Greens pushing for greater jurisdiction on this front.

Read more here.

“There is no doubt that health systems right across the nation have experienced unprecedented demand and of course have incurred unprecedented costs ... We need to seize the opportunity that the pandemic has presented in terms of looking at longer-term funding reform to ensure that we have a viable sustainable health care system.”

She backed GPs’ call for more Commonwealth funding in the October budget, saying it was “clear for everyone to see that the Medicare rebates were not keeping up with expenses”.

Thomas said she had not received advice from her chief health officer Brett Sutton, who last month warned isolation remained “critical”, on whether it was now time to abolish the rule.

Federal health minister Mark Butler this morning denied that states and territories were on track to breach the national cap, which limits the Commonwealth contribution to higher costs to about $2 billion a year, contradicting sources who told the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age this was expected in 2022-23.

“I’m not convinced on the advice that I have that the 6.5 per cent cap is going to breach this year,” the minister told the ABC’s RN Breakfast.

“I’m not going to pre-empt what might happen at National Cabinet in relation to any matter they might have on the agenda, including hospital funding.”

If Victoria - or any other state or territory - goes over its individual 6.5 per cent cap, any surplus from the Commonwealth funding will be redistributed.

But if all states and territories exceed the cap, they will have to make up the shortfall from their own budgets.

Butler said the government’s extension of its agreement to pay for half of COVID-19 hospital costs until December 31 would help ease pressure on the public health system.

The lowdown: The ASX opened modestly higher but quickly fell in morning trade after stronger-than-expected retail sales bolstered support for the Reserve Bank to continue pushing up interest rates.

Coal stocks were among the market’s strongest performers after an upgrade in the price outlook for thermal coal.

Nuclear medicine company Telix Pharmaceutical led the losses, plunging 15.4 per cent after withdrawing an application to sell Illuccix, used to diagnose prostate cancer, in Europe. Imugene was also down as healthcare lost some ground on the week’s gains.

Elsewhere, infant formula company Bubs emerged from a trading halt to push 5 per cent higher after announcing a new joint venture that will give the company access to 80 per cent of China’s $40 million baby formula market.

Australian retail sales climbed for an eighth straight month in August in a sign households are still out spending despite rapid interest rate rises.

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With Bloomberg

“We’re asking the government to act immediately on the affordability issues of abortion care by placing medical abortion on Medicare with an appropriate subsidy of $500,” Shaw said.

Liberal Tasmanian MP Bridget Archer voiced her support, saying: “Abortion is healthcare”.

“In Tasmania, an island state, access to health care is already more difficult than it is in other parts of the country,” she said.

The US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade “has reminded us that we must be vigilant about the progress that we have made in relation to reproductive rights”, Archer said, but that “while legal and safe access to abortion is important, it’s not worth anything to you if it’s not accessible”.

Greens Senator Larissa Waters, who moved the motion to establish the inquiry, said abortion “remains expensive and inaccessible for many, especially those who already face massive healthcare barriers.”

“A lot of identification that happens over the phone and online forms just ask for your licence number,” an Ashfield resident said.

“My concern is that it is my driver’s licence number remains the same as the number leaked to the hacker - Service NSW provides no option to get a new driver’s licence number.”

Optus said on Tuesday that where the NSW government determines that a licence should be replaced, Optus would be contacting those customers in coming days.

However, Minister Dominello said that was “news to me” because Optus held the data about its customers and had given an undertaking to notify those who will require a licence replacement.

In August 2022, Optus was awarded a lucrative three-year contract to manage the inbound service business for Service NSW.

A Department of Customer Service spokesman said: “Optus have confirmed that there is no impact to Enterprise and Government customers of Optus due to this incident”.