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Australia news LIVE: PM says Indigenous Voice detail to come after referendum; fresh calls to work from home as COVID winter wave continues

Broede Carmody, Angus Thompson and Pallavi Singhal
Updated ,first published

Key Posts

This afternoon and evening’s top headlines
Victoria passes COVID peak, flu ‘done and dusted’
‘Sobering reading’: Treasurer responds to gas market report
This afternoon’s headlines at a glance
Senator labels Queen a coloniser during upper house oath
NSW premier responds to small business minister’s sacking
Government says it will act on gas supply concerns
Morrison fronts up to second week of parliament
Territory rights bill will ensure ‘same democratic freedoms’: Labor MP
Constitutional debate not yet about the ‘what’ but about the ‘why’: Labor

This afternoon and evening’s top headlines

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Thanks for joining us for our live coverage today. In case you missed them, here are the top headlines from the afternoon and evening:

  • The Department of Home Affairs warned the incoming Albanese government that the country faced “an extremely challenging and dynamic strategic environment”, documents released under Freedom of Information laws have shown.
  • Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney says it’s time to recognise Aboriginal Australians in the Constitution, saying: “If not now, when? Let’s get this done together.”
  • Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton says Victoria has passed the peak of the BA.4 and BA.5 wave of COVID-19, and the flu season is “largely done and dusted”.

  • A volunteer-run mutual aid has stepped in to supply free rapid antigen tests to concession card holders after a federal government program ended on Sunday.

We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest.

Bid to crowdfund RATs for low-income people

By Dana Daniel

A volunteer-run mutual aid project backed by the Antipoverty Centre has stepped in to supply free rapid antigen tests to concession card holders after a federal government program ended on Sunday.

The Ratbag project raised more than $2500 after launching on Twitter last night to ensure that welfare recipients could access RATs without having to sacrifice funds earmarked for food and other essentials.

“Without a RAT many welfare recipients will be forced to choose between leaving home while contagious or losing their poverty payment. Others will choose between food and testing,” Project coordinator Paul McMillan said.

“At a time when Covid cases are peaking and new strains are emerging, we can’t ask people who are already skipping meals, medication and other essentials to bear even more costs ... The government continues to let these people down, but the community is stepping up.”

McMillan said the ending of the program was particularly risky for people who had to do activities to get their Centrelink payment, such as those on JobSeeker.

Home Affairs warned incoming government of ‘extremely challenging’ outlook

By Sean Parnell

The Department of Home Affairs gave the incoming Albanese government a blunt assessment of Australia’s strategic outlook.

Briefing notes released under Freedom of Information laws show the department argued Australia faced “an extremely challenging and dynamic strategic environment”.

Here’s what else the department said in its briefing notes (edited for length and clarity):

In the next four years, Australia is expected to face increasingly frequent, complex and interconnected crises. Challenges to our national security and prosperity across a broad spectrum, ranging from natural disasters, to state and non-state hostile activity ... will place significant pressure on the nation.

Great power competition between the United States and China will continue to exert the most influence on the international order. These two nations will utilise the full spectrum of their statecraft and national powers with enduring ramifications in the Indo-Pacific region. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will continue to have geopolitical ripple effects.

By the early 2030s, the effects of climate change will intensify with average global temperatures expected to reach 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels. This will significantly impact global prosperity and security.

Our region will bear the brunt of rising sea-levels and climate-related security challenges. We will be required to do more to support our neighbours. Domestically, Australia will face greater demand for disaster response capabilities and coordination across industry, community and government service delivery.

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Tributes flow for Archie Roach

By Angus Thompson

Several parliamentarians have taken the opportunity to pay tribute to the life of Archie Roach. Among them was Arts Minister Tony Burke, who often wears his passion for Australian music on his sleeve. Here are some excerpts from his speech:

“I think perhaps the most powerful of tributes that artists put out there was the one I saw yesterday from Dan Sultan. Dan just looked down the camera, and started playing the guitar, and he did not sing a word, and as you listen, you realise you’re hearing the guitar backing to ‘Took the children away’, and without saying a word, reminded us that the music is there forever but the voice, the power of the voice, it’s not with us in the same way.”

He also spoke about the hip-hop duo A.B. Original, and their album Reclaim Australia. “For some people, both the music and for some the lyrics will be a bit too much, but just listen to the first track, because all the first track is, is an interview with Archie Roach and music playing behind, and him talking about activism, and the need to act ... just listen to the first track, and if the music keeps playing, then we’ve done well.”

Watch: Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe’s swearing in

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This morning, Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe, a DjabWurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara woman, was made to redo her swearing in after referring to the Queen as a coloniser.

Watch it here:

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Archer speaks in favour of restoring territory rights

By Angus Thompson

Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer is speaking in favour of restoring territory rights to enable them to vote on voluntary assisted dying.

She has told parliament that, while the issue is contentious, territorians are being denied their right to consider the euthanasia laws.

She said the denial of territory rights, “is to deny each and every citizen their right to participate in what is a democratic process, simply because of where they live.”

She pointed to the success of voluntary assisted dying legislation in Tasmania after three other unsuccessful attempts at reform.

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Victoria passes COVID peak, flu ‘done and dusted’

By Rachel Eddie

Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton says Victoria has passed the peak of the BA.4 and BA.5 wave of COVID-19, and the flu season is “largely done and dusted”.

But he said Victoria would probably see new waves of COVID-19 every “three, four, [or] five months” for a long time to come.

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He said he expected less than half of all positive cases were being publicly reported, and 8 per cent of cases were reinfections.

Half of hospitalisations were in people over the age of 75. Sutton said vulnerable people should focus on wearing masks and getting their third and fourth COVID-19 vaccinations.

Watch: Victoria’s Chief Health Officer delivers COVID-19 update

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Victoria’s Chief Health Officer delivered a COVID-19 update. Watch it here:

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Motion to debate bill on restoring territory rights has been passed

By Angus Thompson

A motion to suspend standing orders to be able to debate the private members’ bill on restoring territory rights has been passed. It will allow the ACT and Northern Territory to introduce and enact legislation to legalise voluntary assisted dying.

The bill was earlier introduced into the House of Representatives by Labor MPs Luke Gosling and Alicia Payne, who called for the support of their parliamentary colleagues to allow territorians the same rights as states in determining laws that directly affect them.

Canberra MP David Smith says the bill is about whether people living in the territories deserve the same democratic rights as those in the states.

“There can be no doubt to that question is yes,” he said. “The ACT and the city of Canberra have well and truly come of age.”

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Monique Ryan urges Coalition MPs to ‘put your masks on’

By Angus Thompson

Independent MP Monique Ryan has urged Coalition MPs to “put your masks on” as a retort to jeering during a question about the heightened health risks of repeated COVID-19 infections.

The quip lays bare the dichotomy that has emerged between opposing sides of the chamber regarding their attitudes to masks, with the vast majority of Coalition MPs opting not to wear them, while almost all government MPs are.

“COVID-19 infections in this country are at a record high and increasing. Can the minister please explain how he proposes to manage the oncoming national significant burden of disability and chronic illness from repeated infection with COVID-19?” Ryan asked, adding “put your masks on” in response to being interrupted.

Health Minister Mark Butler supported the sentiment of Labor MP Dr Ananda-Rajah during her first speech in saying Australians needed to “come to grips” with long COVID.

“Long COVID is not easy to diagnose or treat. The medical literature already reports more than 200 different symptoms being logged, most commonly involving fatigue, shortness of breath and what people are calling brain fog,” he said, adding people should wear masks indoors if they were unable to social distance.

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