www.theguardian.com
‘Treated with contempt’: Keogh in the spotlight on veterans’ health policy
Matt Keogh, the veterans’ affairs minister, has also faced a tough series of questions from the opposition this week on a decision to cap allied health services for veterans and for initially refusing to meet with a group of veterans who visited parliament this week.
Michael McCormack says that veterans and advocates say Keogh has “treated them with contempt” and asks if he believes he’s “upholding the covenant oath”.
Keogh says it’s clear there have been failings in veterans’ policy for decades, which he’s been working to fix.
He acknowledges that there’s still a way to go.
I think we have been making it better. Is there more work to do? There absolutely is and always will be and that’s what we will keep doing.
Key events
Tanya Plibersek condemns online misogynistic victim-blaming following AFL sexual assault allegation revelations
The federal social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, has condemned the online misogynistic and victim-blaming commentary after the decision to stand down five Sydney Swans players over a breach of standards linked to an investigation into an allegation of sexual assault.
Following the news, social media platforms were flooded with abuse targeting women who came forward.
Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Plibersek said:
It’s disgusting, and isn’t this just one of the reasons so few women come forward?
One of the reasons people don’t come forward is exactly the sort of social media backlash we’ve seen today, with shocking instances of misogyny and victim-blaming. It is incredibly disappointing and that’s when our institutions need to stand up the most.
No arrests or charges have been laid in connection with the allegation.
Tanya Plibersek welcomes AFL player bans after links to sexual assault allegation investigation
The federal social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, has welcomed the Sydney Swans’ decision to ban five players for “serious breach” of standards over an incident that has been linked to an allegation of sexual assault.
No arrests or charges have been laid in connection with the allegation.
Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, she called on the AFL to recognise that it “plays an important role in our community” as an organisation that “boys and young men look up to”.
I’m really pleased to hear about some of the measures the club has taken today.
It is important to show that sporting clubs, schools and other institutions take allegations of sexual assault seriously.
It is really important that, in any response, we centre victims and survivors of sexual assault. Hearing the club take strong measures is a really important step forward.
Luca Ittimani
Financial victims to receive less compensation under Labor reforms, Choice says
Victims of financial institutions’ failures are set to receive smaller payouts under government reforms to a compensation scheme, a consumer group has warned.
The assistant treasurer, Daniel Mulino, outlined the reforms to the compensation scheme of last resort (CSLR) today as part of Labor’s response to the collapses of investment funds Shield and First Guardian.
The CSLR will now only pay out on consumers’ actual losses, rather than expected losses. The scheme is funded by certain types of companies working in lending and financial advice but has grown more expensive. Australians with self-managed super funds could also have to start paying levies to fund the scheme.
The Australian Banking Association welcomed the reform, with its chief executive, Simon Birmingham, urging all politicians to support the reforms to “reduce costs across the financial industry”.
Consumer group Choice says the changes will “water down” the CSLR and Treasury had not explained how badly the reforms could cost victims. Head of policy Morgan Campbell said:
The cost of the CSLR for the financial advice industry is so high because there is so much more misconduct in the sector than anyone thought when the scheme was set up. The financial advice industry should be focused on cleaning itself up, rather than pressing the government to water down the compensation available to victims.
ADF joins search for missing 18-year-old bushwalker
Australian defence force personnel have joined the search for 18-year-old Lily Hooper, who has been missing in Nattai national park in the southern highlands for a week.
Hooper was last seen leaving a home on Burragorang Road in Oakdale at about 8am last Wednesday to go hiking. Her family reported her missing after she failed to return home by 10pm.
Her car was found near the Bonnum Pic walking trail in the national park at about 11pm that night.
About 200 emergency services and defence personnel are continuing air and land searches across the area, using specialist crews, trail bikes, horses, dogs and helicopters.
Hooper is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 175 centimetres tall, with a slim build, long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a shirt and shorts.
Read more:
Ima Caldwell
Travel subsidies announced for families hit by Victoria Pass closure
The NSW government has extended financial support to Blue Mountains families facing lengthy school commutes, backdating school drive subsidies to the start of the Victoria Pass closure in March.
Eligible students living in Hartley, Little Hartley, Hartley Vale, Kanimbla and Oberon can claim the subsidy. The most recent rate is $0.75 per km for travel by car.
Guardian Australia recently spoke with parents from Little Hartley, including Edwina McCarron, who spends hours each school day driving her two children to access a more direct bus route:
We didn’t move to Hartley with the assumption that it’s an isolated area … we moved 20 minutes from our kids’ school.
The new support also commits to “further improvements to school bus services which have been in place since term 3 commenced”.
A Hartley Families Network survey shows average commute times have surged by two to three hours, with spokesperson Steve McCammon citing a significant impact on family wellbeing. The group is lobbying authorities to allow school buses on to a restricted local-access road, requiring joint approval from Transport NSW, and the Lithgow and Blue Mountains councils.
Read the full story:
Ima Caldwell
$100m federal funding boost for Blue Mountains highway
The federal government has committed $100m to the Great Western Highway, funding an extra eastbound climbing lane for the link between the Blue Mountains and central west.
The NSW roads minister, Jenny Aitchison, said widening the road will allow motorists “to safely overtake slower-moving vehicles and trucks”.
Victoria Pass has been closed since March, redirecting drivers on to dangerous detours and sometimes adding hours to regular commutes. A replacement structure over the collapsing, 194-year-old Mitchells Causeway is predicted to open between April and June 2026, with the state government having already committed $100m from its 2026-27 budget.
The NSW shadow regional transport minister, Paul Toole, welcomed the federal announcement but said there is a “lack of business support”:
Promises of round-the-clock work mean nothing to these communities, they need and deserve an accurate opening date.
Affected businesses reporting a 40% loss can access grants of up to $25,000. In late June, an additional $20m in financial support was revealed to increase small business grants in some areas to $25,000.
Krishani Dhanji
Thank you all for joining along on the blog with me today!
I’ll leave you with Achol Arok and see you here bright and early tomorrow.
Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time
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The veterans’ affairs minister, Matt Keogh, and the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, were firmly in the opposition’s sights today.
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It got to the point where Angus Taylor asked Anthony Albanese if he would sack Keogh over his handling of veterans after a decision to cap individual funding of allied health services to $5,000.
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Amanda Rishworth might have been listening too closely to the opposition this week, accidentally saying “labour liar loophole” instead of “labour hire loophole”.
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O’Neil accused the opposition of more division after a question from an independent on the 5% deposit scheme being used by permanent residents.
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And two Labor MPs were kicked out today, Dan Repacholi and Libby Coker, for making too much noise on the backbench.
National debt reaches $30k per person
Patrick Commins
Australia’s national net debt has doubled over the past decade to $30,000 per person, and is set to climb by a further 50% by the end of the decade, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office.
The independent PBO in its latest national fiscal outlook pulled together the budgets from the federal and state and territory governments to present a complete picture of the nation’s finances.
Despite warning of the rising cost of servicing that debt, the PBO finds that Australia’s “long-term fiscal outlook is sustainable”.
This assessment that we are not headed for fiscal disaster is underpinned by commonwealth and state governments’ forecasts that deficits will narrow and eventually disappear by the end of this decade.
The PBO’s “fiscal sustainability analysis” shows that in 24 out of 27 scenarios national debt as a share of GDP will decline over the next four decades.
This suggests that the national fiscal position is likely to remain sustainable except in the most extreme cases, where state budget balances do not improve while interest rates are high or GDP growth slows markedly.
Of course, this assumes no new policies that would affect government revenue or expenses, in either direction.
Sam Reinhardt, the parliamentary budget officer, in a recent speech noted that while this assumption “is a sensible and transparent way to prepare a budget, it can still lead the published outlook to understate future expenses relative to what is likely to occur in practice”.
After a final dixer to the small business minister, Anne Aly, the PM calls time on QT.
Before he leaves the chamber, he gives a shoutout to Sydney Morning Herald and the Age writer Tony Wright, who’s “calling it a day” after 50 years in journalism.
‘Disgraceful reflex for division’: O’Neil takes aim at Coalition on migration
Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie asks the housing minister why Australian citizens are exposed to the risk of loan default from non-citizens accessing the 5% home deposit scheme.
Clare O’Neil says only permanent residents, not temporary visa holders, are eligible for the scheme, who she says are likely to have already lived in Australia for a long time.
These are people who are working as doctors and nurses. They are aged care workers caring for our elderly, carers who are working in disability and other sectors.
She then turns to the opposition, to start taking some jabs, but the Coalition quickly stands up to shut that down.
There’s a bunch of (frankly quite boring) argy bargy over whether O’Neil can use her answer to criticise the opposition. Milton Dick rules she can do a little compare and contrast as long as it’s relevant.
So O’Neil continues:
I was reporting to the parliament that in the sitting break, the leader of the opposition was busted saying behind closed doors Labor has made the 5% deposit program available to anyone the day they arrive in the country. And I want to call that out, Speaker, because it speaks to the disgraceful reflex for division that they bring opposite to the problems in our country.
This is a program our government is incredibly proud of – 260,000 people have the keys to their own home today because of this fantastic support that we are offering. Not only have they focused on division, they do not have a single sensible thing to say about housing.
‘I have every confidence’: Albanese rejects call to sack Keogh
There’s been a slow crescendo in the questions put to the veterans’ affairs minister, which has now reached its peak with Angus Taylor asking his first question of the day, and putting to the prime minister that he should “sack this incompetent and disrespectful minister”.
Before Anthony Albanese can start speaking, Milton Dick boots out Labor MP Libby Coker for interjecting.
The prime minister says:
I have every confidence in the minister for veterans’ affairs.
Albanese says he considers it “one of the great privileges” as an MP and prime minister to engage with men and women who have served for Australia who “deserve our total respect at all times for what they do”.
He then starts speaking about the system the government inherited, and the actions the former veterans affairs minister under the Coalition had to take, which gets Phil Thompson to stand up and object. But Albanese sits down, indicating he’s done with his answer.
Allegra Spender asks treasurer to curb ‘red tape impulse’
Independent MP Allegra Spender is up next and asks the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, what more the government will do to cut red tape. She says the budget went some way towards spending constraint but “didn’t curb what the [Productivity Commission] calls Australia’s red tape impulse”.
Chalmers says the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, is the minister in charge of regulation and that the government is doing something about it.
Our expectation here is that the combination of our efforts on regulation will cut compliance costs in our economy by more than $10bn a year, Mr Speaker. Almost a 10th of that is in the financial sector a lone.
Matt Keogh faces more questions on treatment of veterans
The questions for Matt Keogh continue, with Liberal MP Phil Thompson now asking the minister if he’s calling a former fighter jet pilot, Tim Nelson, a “liar” after he yesterday said he disagreed with Nelson’s characterisation of their meeting.
Keogh offers a pretty short answer:
I meet with many veterans, veteran family members, defence personnel, on a regular basis and respect every position they put to me in what they say and describe, but I also am not in the habit of repeating the content and detail of all of those conversations and meetings … And I provided the answer that I provided yesterday.
‘I’m sorry he holds that view about me’ Keogh feels the heat on engagement with veterans
Michael McCormack is back at the despatch box and digs in on his criticism of Matt Keogh, asking, “how can the minister continue as minister for veterans’ affairs and defence personnel if he cannot uphold defence values?”
McCormack quotes former Royal Australian Navy diver and Fair Care for Veterans spokesperson John Armfield, who said after a meeting with Keogh: “I enlisted under the navy values of courage, honour, honesty and loyalty, yet you fail to display any of these values, minister.”
Keogh says that he heard Armfield’s evidence to the royal commission into defence and veteran suicides:
[The] navy apologised for some of that conduct to him as well. And very much should have done so. So I can very much understand why he would feel that there has been a breach of faith with him in terms of the upholding of the Australian Defence Force values and his engagement. So I understand that. I am sorry that he holds that view about me.
Liar, liar, pants on fire: Rishworth fumbles on dixer
Amanda Rishworth has made a little faux pas, as it were, by accidentally including one of the Liberal’s talking points into her own dixer.
This government closed the labour liar loophole which meant many people – I’ll [do] it again. The labour hire loophole. The labour hire loophole.
Cue lots and lots of laughter and one Speaker trying to keep everyone on track.
