As it happened: Energy debate remains in the spotlight; key senators want more time to scrutinise workplace reforms

The Albanese government has responded to the allegations of human trafficking exposed by our investigative journalists.

This afternoon, Home Affairs Minister Claire O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles announced Australian law enforcement agencies were investigating the alleged kingpin of a human trafficking syndicate that exploited flaws in Australian border security and the immigration system to run a national illegal sex racket.

Binjun Xie, the alleged Sydney-based crime boss at the operation’s centre, was exposed in the Trafficked investigation, a project led by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, 60 Minutes and Stan’s Revealed, which revealed allegations of visa rorting, human trafficking and foreign worker exploitation in Australia, including in a booming underground.

In a joint statement, O’Neil and Giles said:

The allegations detailed repulsive and egregious abuses of human rights that have no place in Australia, or any other country.

This morning, we convened an urgent meeting of the heads of the Australian Border Force, Home Affairs, and the Australian Federal Police.

The government’s immediate response will focus on the individual elements of the conduct under investigation.

The Albanese government has no tolerance for the exploitation of migrants. Work is already being progressed on a package of reforms to address migrant worker exploitation following the Jobs and Skills Summit.

The serious problems raised by these reports are a reflection of nine years of neglect of our visa system by the previous government.

There are broader, systemic failures on show here, and these matters need urgent attention.

Thank you so much for joining me this afternoon. I’m closing the blog now and wish you all a happy Halloween – or a pleasant Monday evening for those who prefer to ignore the spooky holiday!

Here were the main headlines today:

• Australian law enforcement agencies are investigating the alleged kingpin of a human trafficking syndicate that exploited flaws in Australian border security and the immigration system to run a national illegal sex racket. This was in response to a joint investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes.
• The ACT’s top prosecutor confirmed he would proceed with a retrial of Bruce Lehrmann next year.
• Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected president of Brazil, ousting far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and vowing to reverse deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
• Education Minister Jason Clare said the NAPLAN results were better than expected, given COVID, but he wanted Australian education research organisation to drill deeper into the gap between wealthy and poor students, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.

Independent MP Helen Haines said she expects the legislation for the new federal integrity commission to pass this year, after “more than a decade in the making”.

She told ABC Radio Melbourne the report from the committee looking at the National Anti-Corruption Commission Bill 2022 would be ready to go to the Attorney-General and the parliament on November 10.

Haines unsuccessfully sponsored a private member’s bill to establish an Australian federal integrity commission under the Morrison government. The Albanese government introduced the current bill, fulfilling an election promise.

In response to a question from a listener, Haines said the legislation included clauses that would allow the commissioner to do an “exoneration report” for witnesses, clearing them of wrongdoing, either during proceedings or at the end.

She also spoke in favour of the default position being private hearings, similar to the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission rather than the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption.

“The default is for a private hearing and good reasons for that,” Haines said. “If everything’s out in the public very early, then that actually limits the investigation. In some cases ... people can be unfairly compromised by a public hearing.”

She said it was important for there to be public hearings when it was clearly in the public interest.

In case you missed it, we have published a major investigation into sex trafficking in Australia by Nick McKenzie, Amelia Ballinger and Joel Tozer.

Trafficked is a project led by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, 60 Minutes and Stan’s Revealed documentary program that casts a light on visa rorting, human trafficking and foreign worker exploitation in Australia, including in a booming underground prostitution industry.

Police involved in the case said vulnerable Asian women were being moved like “cattle” across Australia and being paid abysmally, if at all, by crime syndicates earning “hundreds of millions of dollars”.

Good afternoon, I’m Caitlin Fitzsimmons and I’m your host on the blog this afternoon, taking over from Broede Carmody.

Here are the headlines of the day so far:

• In Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the presidential elections. More on that later.
• Australian woman Grace Rached, 23, was among 150 people killed during Halloween festivities in South Korea after being crushed in a crowd. Two of her friends are being treated in intensive care.
• Assistant Minister for the Republic Matt Thistlethwaite is planning a “national listening tour” about whether Australia should become a republic. Former Liberal senator Eric Abetz, now chairman of the Australian Monarchist League’s campaign committee, described it as “a con not a consultation”.
• Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has shot down a proposal by independent senator David Pocock to split the government’s industrial relations bill to pass the less controversial elements this year.
• National NAPLAN results show the percentage of year 9 boys reading at the minimum standard has fallen to a record low as new testing data reveals the spelling skills of students in that grade are also declining.