The National Disability Insurance Scheme has already cost the government $500 million more than it expected this financial year, with newly released figures from January alone reaching $200 million above budget. Coalition senator Linda Reynolds pressed the National Disability Insurance Agency on its predictions during an estimates hearing Wednesday afternoon.
The United Workers Union accused Treasurer Matt Kean of failing to think through a proposed tax on casino poker machines after The Star casino said it may have to consider the structure of its flagship Sydney casino if the tax is introduced. The executive director of the United Workers Union Dario Mujkic said that although the casino giant deserved to be penalised for its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism failings, it shouldn’t come at the cost of jobs.
New Zealand’s death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle is four, including a child killed in floodwaters near Napier, with grave fears for several others. The Lower North Island was also rocked by a strong 6.1 magnitude earthquake.
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s governor Philip Lowe was grilled in a lengthy Senate estimates hearing earlier today, and said the central bank may not be done with interest rate rises.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has told the consumer watchdog to investigate bank savings in light of the aggressive rise in interest rates.

I’m Olivia Ireland signing off on the blog for tonight. Tomorrow morning Caroline Schelle will be covering what’s breaking in the morning.

6.22pm on Feb 15, 2023

Earthquake hits New Zealand

By Stuff.co.nz

Wellington: The Lower North Island of New Zealand has been rocked by a strong earthquake.

The magnitude-6.1 quake struck at 7.38pm (5.38pm AEDT) on Wednesday and was centred 50 kilometres north-west of Paraparaumu, at a depth of 48km.

More than 60,600 people reported feeling the quake on Geonet by 8:10pm. The majority of those people reported the quake as feeling “light”, while 72 reported it as extreme.

It was felt from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island.

People in central Christchurch felt the slow roll, which lasted about a minute.

The last strong earthquake, also measuring 6, was 5km south of Te Aroha on February 3.

6.16pm on Feb 15, 2023

Russian parliament to hold extraordinary session two days before war anniversary

By Reuters

The upper chamber of Russia’s parliament will hold a special meeting on February 22, RIA Novosti news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a senior MPs.

The head of a Federation Council committee, Vyacheslav Timchenko, told RIA the meeting would focus on adoption of laws on the integration of four regions into the Russian Federation.

Last year Moscow moved to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in Ukraine in a move condemned by most countries of the United Nations as illegal.

RIA quoted a source as saying that State Duma, a lower chamber, would gather in the morning on February 22 while Federation Council’s extraordinary session will start later.

President Vladimir Putin will deliver his annual address to the federal assembly - a joint meeting of Russia’s two houses of parliament - on February 21.

Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine last February a “special military operation” to eliminate security threats. Kyiv and its allies call Russia’s actions an unprovoked land grab.

5.55pm on Feb 15, 2023

Portable leave being examined by government

By Angus Thompson

The government is examining how to give workers the ability to take leave entitlements with them, following a Labor election commitment to grant people portable workplace entitlements.

Department of Employment and Workplace Relations deputy secretary Martin Hehir told a Senate estimates hearing that portability was being examined after being asked a question by Greens senator Barbara Pocock about granting casual workers greater rights.

“The commitment from the government is to examine the potential for portable leave scheme of some type,” he said.

The parliamentary hearing also heard gig workers, as well as the platforms they work for, will be consulted on the government’s upcoming reforms for major companies like Uber and Doordash.

Labor committed to bolstering the workplace rights of gig workers, with legislation to come later this year.

5.34pm on Feb 15, 2023

Chinese-linked cameras need turning off, says minister

By AAP

The removal of Chinese Communist Party-linked surveillance cameras from defence areas and the offices of federal politicians is important, the defence minister says.

The government has directed the Australian Defence Force to audit its surveillance cameras.

Defence Minister Richard Marles.Alex Ellinghausen

Almost 1000 surveillance cameras and other recording devices - some of them banned by the United States and Britain - are installed in government buildings.

In a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday, Department of Finance officials said there were 65 offices which have Chinese-manufactured Hikvision and Dahua security cameras, with 45 offices yet to have the cameras removed.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the surveillance systems were not spy cameras and that lots of technology was imported from overseas.

He said the government was taking action after it was informed of the issue.

“It’s important that these cameras be removed,” he told Sydney radio 2GB.

“Within Defence, all the cameras that were registered to this company that we’re aware of, have been removed.

“In addition to that, I’ve also asked Defence to go through and do another audit so that we can be completely clear about this.”

4.49pm on Feb 15, 2023

NDIS ran $200 million over budget last month alone

By Natassia Chrysanthos

The National Disability Insurance Scheme has already cost the government $500 million more than it expected this financial year, with newly released figures from January alone reaching $200 million above budget.

Coalition senator Linda Reynolds has been pressing the National Disability Insurance Agency on its predictions during an estimates hearing this afternoon.

The NDIA divulged its January figures, which had not yet been made public, and revealed they amounted to $2.94 billion in monthly payments compared to predictions of about $2.7 billion last month.

“In one month alone, we are $200 million over actuarial projections for January,” Reynolds said, adding that the amount did not bode well for the government’s bottom line at the May budget.

The scheme’s acting actuary, David Grifford, said he was hesitant to draw too many conclusions from the January figures on their own. “There is a degree of fluctuation month-to-month in payments [and] processing will vary a bit,” he said.

However, he admitted that he expected the scheme’s cost so far this financial year - $19.7 billion at the end of January - to have been about $500 million less.

“We haven’t finalised our projection for the year,” Grifford said. “We’ll be doing that over the next month or two. We expect it to be over budget. We don’t have a precise figure at this point.”

The October federal budget had previously forecast NDIS costs for the federal and state governments to hit $35.5 billion in 2022-23.

The NDIS provides funding for about half a million Australians with a disability, but it is one of the government’s most expensive programs. Labor has been aiming to bring down costs through prosecuting fraud in the scheme, and has also commissioned an external review that is due to be finalised by the end of the year.

Government senator Tim Ayres also called for patience when interpreting the figures, saying the NDIA was still in the process of finalising its calculations.

“There are broader questions that go to curbing the rise of some expenses in the scheme, and making it sustainable in the long term. The previous government did not attend to that. That is the purpose of the review,” he said to Reynolds. “You as the minister had your hands off the wheel.”

4.38pm on Feb 15, 2023

Workers Union hits out at NSW treasurer over proposed casino tax

By Amelia McGuire

The United Workers Union has accused Treasurer Matt Kean of failing to think through a proposed tax on casino poker machines after The Star casino said it may have to consider the structure of its flagship Sydney casino if the tax is introduced.

The executive director of the United Workers Union Dario Mujkic said that although the casino giant deserves to be penalised for its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism failings, it shouldn’t come at the cost of jobs.

“The New South Wales Treasurer hasn’t clearly thought through the potential impact of the proposed tax change on business operations and more importantly the workforce.”

“It’s time for the NSW treasurer to sit down and properly engage with The Star and the United Workers Union, repair the damage that has already been done, and agree on a path forward that is reasonable and does not put jobs at risk in any way,” Mujkic said.

The Star has exclusive rights to operate poker machines in casinos in NSW, but has just 1.8 per cent of the state’s machines – with the rest in the state’s pubs and clubs.

Poker machines in casinos would attract a top tax rate of 60.67 per cent under the proposed increase, which is expected to take effect from July next year and would override existing tax arrangements between the state government and casino groups Star Entertainment and Crown Resorts.

The Star’s share price rallied today, climbing back 15 per cent after losing 30 per cent in just two days and plunging to a record low of $1.28 following a dire market update which flagged a hit of $1.6 billion if the tax is introduced.

Two independent inquiries in Queensland and NSW recommended The Star be stripped of its casino licences, following a 2021 investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and 60 Minutes.

The investigation alleged the company enabled suspected money laundering, large-scale fraud and foreign interference in its Australian casinos, even though its board was warned its anti-money-laundering controls were failing.

4.12pm on Feb 15, 2023

Four Cyclone Gabrielle deaths confirmed in New Zealand

By AAP

New Zealand’s death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle is four, including a child killed in floodwaters near Napier, with grave fears for several others.

Police confirmed the body of a young person, who they believe was caught in rising water, was located in Eskdale on Tuesday.

In an update on Wednesday afternoon, a police spokesman said 1442 people have been reported to police as uncontactable, with the vast majority in Hawke’s Bay and Tairawhiti.

“While we expect a large number of the reports to be the result of communication lines being down, police can confirm there are several people missing in the Hawke’s Bay and Tairawhiti areas, for whom we have grave concerns,” a statement read.

The child’s death is one of three fatalities in Hawke’s Bay, one of the hardest-hit regions in the storm.

3.23pm on Feb 15, 2023

Consumer watchdog happy to shine a light on bank savings rates

By Rachel Clun

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is appearing at estimates this afternoon, where chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb is expected to face plenty of questions about the government’s energy market intervention.

Ahead of that appearance, Cass-Gottlieb welcomed the treasurer’s directive for the watchdog to investigate bank savings rates.

“We are aware that deposit and savings accounts are an important source of income for many Australians, typically supplementing their income from employment, superannuation and the pension,” she said.

“We welcome this direction from the government to shine a light on the retail deposit market and rate-setting decisions of banks.”

Chair of the ACCC, Gina Cass-Gottlieb appearing at the estimates on Wednesday afternoon. James Brickwood

Cass-Gottlieb noted that while most commercial banks passed on all of the Reserve Bank’s nine interest rate rises in full, the increase in interest rates on saving products was more haphazard. In many cases the ACCC said banks only applied increases to some deposit products.

“We will also examine the extent to which consumers can benefit from shopping around and switching, and what other barriers are stopping consumers from seeking a better return on their savings,” Cass-Gottlieb said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said earlier he asked the ACCC to shine a light on the retail deposit market.

“Australians should see the benefit of higher interest rates flow through to their savings accounts – it should be the silver lining when rates increase,” he said.

3.11pm on Feb 15, 2023

Debate on greenhouse gas emissions policy heats up

By Olivia Ireland

Minister for the Environment Tanya Plibersek has pointed criticism against the Greens while reflecting on how Australia has struggled with climate change.

This is no surprise, coming from the Liberals and Nationals, they never pretended to care about the environment.
But I think that Greens voters would actually be shocked to see Greens member for parliament getting ready to sit next to Peter Dutton and Barnaby Joyce to vote against action on climate change.
They would be shocked to see the Greens voting with the Liberals and Nationals against a safeguard mechanism.

Australia news LIVE: RBA governor grilled in Senate; evacuation orders issued in Qld as state’s bushfires worsen

Key Posts

Today’s major headlines

Earthquake hits New Zealand

Russian parliament to hold extraordinary session two days before war anniversary

Portable leave being examined by government

Chinese-linked cameras need turning off, says minister

NDIS ran $200 million over budget last month alone

Workers Union hits out at NSW treasurer over proposed casino tax

Four Cyclone Gabrielle deaths confirmed in New Zealand

Consumer watchdog happy to shine a light on bank savings rates

Debate on greenhouse gas emissions policy heats up

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