As it happened: Voice to parliament bill introduced; RBA faces major shake-up

Thanks for reading our live coverage today. Here’s what you need to know tonight.

• An Australian parliamentary delegation to Washington is in damage control as they are forced to answer for Paul Keating’s blistering attack on AUKUS. Politicians on Capitol Hill have continued to raise concerns about the former prime minister’s remarks after he branded the pact “the worst deal in all history”.
• One Nation party leader Pauline Hanson has demanded the party’s NSW leader, Mark Latham, apologise for homophobic comments he made towards NSW independent Alex Greenwich.
• The Australian Federal Police is withholding evidence used by local investigators to prosecute former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann from an inquiry into the abandoned rape trial.
• TikTok users have hit back at a potential ban on the video sharing app considered by US Congress.
• The Albanese government’s signature climate policy, the safeguard mechanism, was approved by the federal parliament today. The mechanism will impose carbon emissions limits on Australia’s 215 biggest polluters.
• Mark Butler said he expected future waves of COVID-19 to hit Australia ahead of a new government campaign to promote booster shots.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ridiculed former Coalition minister Christian Porter, who has been hired by billionaire Clive Palmer as a barrister in the mining magnate’s legal suit against the Australian government.

Palmer is seeking $300 billion in damages from the Commonwealth in a case over stalled iron ore projects and emergency laws passed by the West Australian government.

Here’s what Albanese said in response to a question unrelated to Palmer’s case:

On a day when my attorney-general has introduced very important legislation in this parliament, the former attorney-general of the former government ... is a part of Clive Palmer’s operation to sue the WA government for $300 billion. $300 billion!

The Liberal Party were anti-WA when they were in government, they are anti-WA now they are the opposition.

Knowing Clive Palmer’s record for paying his workers, I hope Christian Porter asks for his money up front. I hope you got that!

I mean, together at last, Palmer and Porter, name a more iconic duo, I dare you!

In the surrounds of Denpasar’s Taman Werdhi Budaya Art Centre, Indonesia’s big moment on the world football stage was finally due to arrive on Friday.

It was then and there, in a sacred complex featuring a Hindu temple, that the draw for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup was to be held.

Instead, the draw was cancelled and now Indonesia’s hosting of the tournament is off, stripped by governing body FIFA after a domestic storm over the participation of the Israeli team.

The outcome is a spectacular own goal for the South-East Asian nation.

Read South-East Asia correspondent Chris Barrett’s analysis of how politics hijacked Indonesia’s FIFA moment.

That’s where we’ll leave our live coverage today. We’ll be back tomorrow with more live news.

Thanks for reading our live coverage today. Here’s what you need to know tonight.

• An Australian parliamentary delegation to Washington is in damage control as they are forced to answer for Paul Keating’s blistering attack on AUKUS. Politicians on Capitol Hill have continued to raise concerns about the former prime minister’s remarks after he branded the pact “the worst deal in all history”.
• One Nation party leader Pauline Hanson has demanded the party’s NSW leader, Mark Latham, apologise for homophobic comments he made towards NSW independent Alex Greenwich.
• The Australian Federal Police is withholding evidence used by local investigators to prosecute former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann from an inquiry into the abandoned rape trial.
• TikTok users have hit back at a potential ban on the video sharing app considered by US Congress.
• The Albanese government’s signature climate policy, the safeguard mechanism, was approved by the federal parliament today. The mechanism will impose carbon emissions limits on Australia’s 215 biggest polluters.
• Mark Butler said he expected future waves of COVID-19 to hit Australia ahead of a new government campaign to promote booster shots.

Gender pay gap data for all companies with over 100 employees will be published online next year.

New federal laws require the Workplace Gender Equality Agency to release data for private businesses from early 2024.

The agency’s chief executive, Mary Wooldridge, said going public with pay gaps would make businesses accountable.

“Publishing employer gender pay gaps will provide [workers] deeper insights on their employer’s progress, while jobseekers can get a clearer indication of a prospective employer’s commitment to ensuring the contributions of all employees are equally valued and rewarded,” Wooldridge said.

“This is also an opportunity for employers who may have been slow to prioritise gender equality to get serious about change.”

The gender pay gap is at 13.3 per cent, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.

Read the full story by Rachel Clun.

Returning to comments made by Health Minister Mark Butler today, the government’s new COVID-19 vaccination campaign will emphasise new advice issued in January that shifted booster eligibility away from how many doses a person had, to how many months it had been since their last dose or infection.

All adult Australians who have not had a COVID-19 infection or vaccination in the last six months can get an extra booster, regardless of how many vaccine doses they have previously received.

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said Australia had a “ripple” of increasing cases.

“Whether that will turn into wave … it’s difficult to predict at this stage. But certainly, there has been an increase in numbers over the last few weeks.”

Natassia Chrysanthos has the details.

The Albanese government’s signature climate policy, the safeguard mechanism, was approved by the federal parliament today. The government secured 89 votes to 50 for its legislation.

The mechanism will impose carbon emissions limits on Australia’s 215 biggest polluters.

“Today is an historic day for the country to ensure our economy can take advantage of the opportunities of decarbonisation and meet our ambitious climate targets,” Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said.

“These reforms will safeguard our economy, safeguard our climate and safeguard our future.”

The safeguard mechanism is designed to deliver one-third of the cuts needed to achieve Australia’s legally binding climate target to reduce emissions by 43 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.

The government cut a deal with the Greens to secure their support for the legislation in the Senate, after the Coalition opposed the reform.

A tiny Pacific Island nation has pulled off the kind of diplomatic win that can elude global superpowers.

On Wednesday, US time, Vanuatu, population 300,000, rallied a majority of countries to ask the world’s highest court to weigh in on a high-stakes question: can countries be sued under international law for failing to slow down climate change?

The measure passed by consensus, meaning none of the 193 member states requested a vote. The General Assembly hall erupted in applause.

That it was adopted by consensus reflects widespread frustration over the fact that the greenhouse gas emissions warming the planet and wreaking havoc on the poorest nations are not being reduced quickly enough.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the move “would assist the General Assembly, the UN and member states to take the bolder and stronger climate action that our world so desperately needs”.

Read the full story.