Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took a visit to the governor-general’s home in Yarralumla this afternoon for the signing of the writs for the Voice referendum, legally cementing the date and details of the proposal.
Greens leader Adam Bandt has described the housing deal – an extra $1 billion for public and community housing – with the government as proof that pressure works from the minority party.
Anthony Albanese told parliament that departed Qantas chief Alan Joyce was among many business leaders who caught a lift on the prime minister’s plane to Labor’s jobs summit at Parliament House following a Business Council dinner last year.
Transport Minister Catherine King said it wasn’t good enough that people aren’t able to get refunds for flights cancelled during the pandemic after independent MP Monique Ryan called for the government to change consumer laws to require airlines to compensate customers for delayed and cancelled flights.

My colleague Caroline Schelle will be back with you tomorrow morning. Goodbye for now.

6.26pm on Sep 11, 2023

Weakened China too poor to consider attacking Taiwan, Biden says

US President Joe Biden said China was becoming too weak to invade Taiwan, blaming the slowing economy on helping to reduce the threat of a full-scale attack.

Despite Beijing’s bellicose rhetoric and manoeuvres in the South China Sea, Biden said the slowdown would affect Beijing’s ability to seize control of Taiwan over which it has claimed sovereignty for decades.

US President Joe Biden and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at a business roundtable meeting in Hanoi today.AP

“I don’t think this is going to cause China to invade Taiwan,” Biden said in Hanoi on the second stop of his trip to Asia.

“As a matter of fact, the opposite. It probably doesn’t have the same capacity that it had before.”

However, in a move to curb Chinese influence in the region, the US and Vietnam agreed a “strategic pact”, strengthening links between the two countries.

Biden, who signed the agreement with Vietnam’s leader Nguyen Phu Trong, said the deal signalled the US was a Pacific nation and “not going anywhere”.

He added: “This is a new, elevated status that will be a force for prosperity and security in one of the most consequential regions in the world.”

Read the full story here.

The Telegraph, London

6.08pm on Sep 11, 2023

Spying case sparks call for tougher parliament vetting

Liberal frontbencher James Paterson says there’s a good case for security vetting of Parliament House workers, with the risk of a Chinese spy undermining Australia’s political processes “very high”.

His comments follow revelations of espionage in the United Kingdom, where a Chinese spy was feeding back information to the government through their position as a researcher for a member of parliament.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson.Rhett Wyman

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confronted the Chinese premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Delhi, where he “conveyed his significant concerns about Chinese interference in the UK’s parliamentary democracy”.

“Unfortunately, the risk of this happening in Australia is very high because the vast majority of staff who work in this building here in Parliament House are not security vetted or cleared in any way,” Paterson told reporters in Canberra today.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute deputy director of security Mike Bareja said foreign interference and espionage would always be a risk.

“It’s up to us to understand and minimise that risk, that includes securing the digital and physical locations where we keep valuable information and assessing and determining who can access that information,” he said.

“Australia has matured its approach to this risk over the last five years, introducing new legislation to address foreign interference and protect our democratic system and processes.”

The opposition home affairs spokesman said the checks should be conducted at the very least on the staff of MPs and senators who work on sensitive bodies such as the intelligence and security committee or the new statutory defence committee which will oversee the AUKUS security pact.

“We know that ASIO assesses this to be our number one security risk and we can’t afford to be complacent about this, or leave MPs to fend for themselves when they are hiring staff,” Paterson said.

AAP

5.53pm on Sep 11, 2023

Analysis: The formidable challenge confronted by the Yes campaign

Chief political correspondent David Crowe gives his analysis on how the case for the Voice is nearing disaster after the latest Resolve Political Monitor showed the No vote climb from 54 to 57 per cent over the past month.

The Yes campaign now confronts a formidable challenge. It has three weeks to engineer a dramatic swing in its favour before early voting opens at the beginning of October. It has only five weeks to accelerate that swing if it is to have any hope of victory on October 14.
The trends cannot be ignored. And yet they are ignored. At every key event this year, Anthony Albanese and the Yes campaign leaders have forged ahead as if they held the upper hand. They underestimated their opponents.
Rather than admit they were losing, they persevered with a message that promised modest change, offered no detail and assumed Australians would trust them to get it right.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during the launch of the Voice referendum date.Sarah Reed

Read the full analysis here.

5.44pm on Sep 11, 2023

Morocco requests international help days after devastating quake

By Sam Metz

In world news, international teams of rescuers have joined Moroccans in a race against time to find survivors in the rubble three days after a rare earthquake devastated the country.

More than 2100 people have been killed, and the toll is expected to rise as searches continue in hard to reach villages in the High Atlas Mountains.

People recover a washing machine from their home in the town of Amizmiz, near Marrakech.AP

Teams from Spain and Britain joined efforts to find survivors of the 6.8 magnitude quake that struck late on Friday night 72 kilometres south-west of Marrakech.

Many survivors spent a third night outside, their homes destroyed or rendered unsafe by Morocco’s most powerful earthquake since at least 1900. The death toll climbed to 2122 with 2421 people injured, state TV reported on Monday (AEST).

In the village of Tafeghaghte, Hamid ben Henna described how his eight-year-old son died under the rubble after he had gone to fetch a knife from the kitchen as the family shared their evening meal. The rest of the family survived.

People have been salvaging possessions from the ruins of their homes and describing desperate scenes as they dug with their bare hands to find relatives.

Foreign minister lauds Australia’s role in Russia flak

Australia played an active role in overcoming Russia’s attempt to undermine global leaders’ condemnation of the Ukraine invasion, parliament has heard.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong have returned from a series of summits, including ASEAN, the East Asia Summit and the G20.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a press conference in Jakarta.AAP

Wong said Australia supported a strong statement by East Asia Summit chair Indonesia that demanded Russia’s complete an unconditional withdrawal from Ukraine.

“Last year, Russia prevented agreement on a leaders’ statement and once again, this year, they sought to undermine these efforts,” she told parliament today.

“We played an active role in overcoming Russia’s efforts in securing a negotiated East Asia Summit leaders’ statement.”

But Albanese has come under fire at home for saying the G20 leaders’ statement was the “strongest statement that has ever been made that includes Russia”.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said India deserved credit for achieving a consensus statement at the G20, which included Russia, stating all states “must refrain from threats” and that “today’s era must not be of war”.

But he said it was important Albanese not undermine Australia’s credibility on the international stage through “unnecessary overreach” in his comments when the last G20 statement also referenced Russia.

“It’s just a sign that the prime minister is clearly not paying sufficient attention to the detail in relation to these statements,” Birmingham said.

AAP

4.54pm on Sep 11, 2023

Albanese visits governor-general for the signing of the writs for the Voice referendum

By Olivia Ireland

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has taken a visit to the governor-general’s home in Yarralumla this afternoon for the signing of the writs for the Voice referendum.

Albanese will be signing and issuing the writs with Governor-General David Hurley. The legal documents, once issued, will legally cement the date and details of the referendum proposal.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is welcomed to Yarralumla this afternoon for the issuing of the writs for the Voice referendum.Nine News

The Coalition has been calling on the prime minister to withdraw the Voice referendum as recently as question time this afternoon, when Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Albanese of completely mishandling the proposal.

“Will the prime minister withdraw his Voice referendum so we can avoid an outcome which ... divides the nation?” Dutton asked earlier.

Albanese replied: “It is unfortunate the leader of the opposition has chosen politics over substance.”

4.35pm on Sep 11, 2023

‘Pressure works’: Bandt says housing deal a win, plans to keep pushing on rent freezes

By Olivia Ireland

Greens leader Adam Bandt has described the housing deal with the government as proof that pressure works from the minority party, saying the deal will be a positive step to tackle the housing crisis.

Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program, Bandt said the Housing Australia Future Fund will now have an extra $1 billion for public and community housing which will secure support for Labor’s bill.

Greens leader Adam Bandt during question time.Alex Ellinghausen

“This is something that had the full unanimous support of our Greens party room, Max [Chandler-Mather], myself and all of the others. We secured that initial money today and made that commitment today,” Bandt said.

“We’ve pushed and I think one of the things that we learn from this experience is that pressure works.

“We were told right back at the start ‘oh there’s no initial money in the kitty able to be spent on housing now’ even though we were in a crisis, that’s what the government was telling us. We knew that in a crisis, government’s got to step in and spend money. We pushed and we got that.”

While the Greens were not successful on getting rent freezes into the deal, Bandt said his party would keep pushing.

“We couldn’t get Labor there this time ... but bear in mind pressure works ... now we’re going to keep pushing on rent increases,” he said.

“The only barrier now to stopping unlimited rent increases in Labor.”

3.51pm on Sep 11, 2023

Lifesavers warn of risky summer despite drowning drop

A scorching summer mixed with poor post-pandemic swimming skills has lifesaving groups fearing a spike in drownings despite a recent drop in the number of deaths.

The 2023 National Drowning Report showed 281 people died from drowning in Australian waterways and swimming pools in 2022-23, slightly up on the 10-year-average but well down from the previous year’s 339 drownings.

Swimmers at Bronte Beach in Sydney.Louise Kennerley

The most recent figures indicated a return to a drowning toll that was closer to pre-pandemic levels, Surf Life Saving Australia chief executive Adam Weir said.

“During the pandemic, there was a lot of encouragement around domestic tourism which showed through in some of the drowning figures as people went to unpatrolled locations,” he said.

“There’s been a return to a bit more normalcy in life.”

Drownings among children and young people have decreased over the past year compared to the 10-year-average because of changes to pool-fencing regulations and water-safety messages directed at the carers of young children.

The Royal Life Saving Society report said there had been a 33 per cent decrease in drownings in children aged four or under compared to the 10-year average and a 35 per cent fall in deaths among those aged five to 14.

While those figures are positive, Weir expects the effects of lockdowns stopping children from learning to swim will play out over the next couple of years.

AAP

3.34pm on Sep 11, 2023

Albanese confirms former Qantas chief caught a lift on the prime minister’s plane to jobs summit

By Angus Thompson

Anthony Albanese has told parliament that departed Qantas chief Alan Joyce was among many business leaders who caught a lift on the prime minister’s plane to Labor’s jobs summit at Parliament House following a Business Council dinner last year.

This masthead’s CBD column reported the trip last September, but Albanese repeated the disclosure during question time this afternoon, saying he wished to add to an answer after multiple opposition questions over discussions he had had with Joyce in the context of the government’s rejection of Qatar’s bid for more flights.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during question time.Alex Ellinghausen

He said Joyce was among several business figures, including Rio Tinto head Kelly Parker, BHP’s Mike Henry and Chief Executive Women president Sam Mostyn, who hitched a ride.

“They were sent a bill, they paid their own way,” he said, adding those passengers sat together while he had a meeting about the jobs and skills summit in another section of the plane.

Australia news LIVE: Polls show voters turn against Voice; Labor, Greens reach deal over housing policy

Key Posts

The day’s top stories

Weakened China too poor to consider attacking Taiwan, Biden says

Spying case sparks call for tougher parliament vetting

Analysis: The formidable challenge confronted by the Yes campaign

Morocco requests international help days after devastating quake

Foreign minister lauds Australia’s role in Russia flak

Albanese visits governor-general for the signing of the writs for the Voice referendum

‘Pressure works’: Bandt says housing deal a win, plans to keep pushing on rent freezes

Lifesavers warn of risky summer despite drowning drop

Albanese confirms former Qantas chief caught a lift on the prime minister’s plane to jobs summit

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