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Hanson says super plan would be inflation ‘neutral’
Tom McIlroy
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says her plan to let workers struggling with cost of living access some of their superannuation savings would not push up inflation.
The party’s new policy, released on Monday, would let anyone paying rent or a mortgage take up to a quarter of contributions to their super account as a “pay boost” for up to three years.
It would keep the same tax rate as it would have in super, giving someone on $90,500 an extra $44 a week.
Despite economists warning the plan would hurt the economy and weaken Australia’s system for compulsory retirement savings, Hanson says it would be “neutral”. She said in a doorstop at Parliament House:
So you won’t pump up inflation with it at all. It will affect seven million people that will be open to taking their super out. So it won’t be inflationary.
There would be no restriction on who can access the super cash. She said:
If they want to access that and get one quarter of their superannuation, they’re putting away each week. Like I said, $44 can mean that people can pay their bills, their electricity, put food on the table or get medical attention, so that means a lot to a lot of people.
If it comes to a point of someone being out in the streets, living in a tent or can’t pay the bills in their home, I would rather see them get the help and assistance that they need now, not later in life.
Key events
Benita Kolovos
Tunnelling begins on Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop
The minister for public transport, Vicki Ward, this morning has announced the first tunnel boring machine launched from Burwood over the weekend,heading toward Glen Waverly.
A second machine will begin work on the twin tunnels in coming weeks, and a third will launch from Clarinda later this year.
SRL East – a 26km stretch of twin tunnels from Cheltenham to Box Hill – is the first stage of a 90km line planned to eventually travel to Werribee, in the west, via Melbourne Airport.
The project was first announced by then premier Daniel Andrews ahead of the 2018 election, when it was estimated to cost $50bn. His successor, Jacinta Allan, was the minister initially responsible for overseeing its development and championed it while premier.
But the new premier, Ben Carroll, is less of a fan. He recently changed the project’s scope to save $1bn and ordered a review to identify a further $1bn in savings, bringing the total cost of SRL down to $32.3bn.
Speaking on 3AW Radio this morning, Carroll said he’s reached a “sensible centre” on the project:
I found the sensible centre here. Billions of dollars of contracts had been signed, and I made it very clear I’m not someone that rips up contracts … I will get the review done on the engineering, the project will continue but I will not sign any more contracts until we have more federal funds.
More on Carroll’s $2bn in savings here:
NSW gambling losses for last quarter hit record $2.38bn
Achol Arok
The Greens have accused the New South Wales government of failing to tackle gambling harms after new data showed residents lost a record $2.38bn on poker machines in the last quarter.
Figures from the NSW office of liquor & gaming show the state’s gaming machine losses totalled a record $4.75bn in the first six months of this year.
The figure is more than $311m above the same time last year and remains above $1m an hour for the eighth consecutive quarter for two straight years.
Greens MP and gambling harm reduction spokesperson, Cate Faehrmann, said:
These staggering figures are the real report card on Labor’s gambling policies, and they show the government is failing. While people are struggling to pay rent, mortgages, power bills and groceries, poker machine operators are taking more than $26m a day out of communities across NSW.
The government talks about reform while clubs and pubs continue making billions from addiction and financial distress.
NSW is heading towards $10bn a year in poker machine losses. The question for Chris Minns is simple: how much more harm is he prepared to tolerate before he stands up to the gambling lobby?
Faehrmann has reignited the Greens’ calls for greater gaming restrictions, including mandatory cashless gambling, a midnight-to-10am shutdown of poker machines and a plan to significantly reduce machines across the state.
Will Queensland’s proposed bail laws reverse the presumption of innocence?
Andrew Messenger
Queensland’s attorney general won’t say if her proposed new bail laws reverse the presumption of innocence.
At a press conference on Monday, Deb Frecklington conceded the laws are expected to lead to more people being jailed longer, but refused to reveal the state’s estimates of the effect the legislation will have on the state’s already overcrowded jail system.
The legislation was tabled in state parliament last month. It will make it much more difficult for some alleged offenders to get bail, requiring them to prove to a court that it should have “high degree of confidence they will not commit a prescribed offence”.
It also creates a new offence applying to some people who breach bail with a mandatory 12 month sentence.
Its explanatory notes show that the change may reverse the onus of proof in criminal proceedings, and may limit the right to the presumption of innocence. Frecklington said:
What I’m presuming is that if you commit an offence whilst you’re on bail, you will face mandatory minimum 12 months in juvie or in the criminal correction centres.
That’s what we’ve said. Now this this bill will be before the (parliamentary) committee – and it’s currently before the committee. There will be experts left front and centre.
New shipwreck reef to help marine species
Now for something a little different! The MV Andrew Wilson, a 40m ship, will be scuttled off the coast of South Australia today.
It’s part of the federal and state governments’ algal bloom response.
The wreck will create an artificial reef, which in turn will support marine life.
Environment and water minister Murray Watt said:
Sinking the MV Andrew Wilson off the coast of Brighton to create Adelaide’s newest artificial reef is the latest example of our joint effort, as we deliver more than $165 million in response measures to the algal bloom.
This builds on the support we’ve delivered for science and environmental measures to help marine life recover, and ensure SA is at the forefront of our country’s algal bloom research.
A typically thoughtful contribution here from Waleed Aly and the “near-constant sense of crisis in almost every sphere of life”:
Our political order was built on the promise of expanding wealth and greater control over our lives. It said we could dream big, then pursue those dreams, and that if we didn’t achieve them, maybe our children would.
It assumed each generation would live longer and be more comfortable.
Read more:
Abuse survivors linked to Christian Brothers schools to be paid out
Christopher Knaus
The organisation that runs former Christian Brothers schools says it has formally agreed to pay out abuse survivors and is fast-tracking payments to those who have already been promised compensation.
The Christian Brothers, a Catholic order that ran schools and orphanages across Australia, announced earlier this year that it was going broke and would no longer be able to meet the claims of child abuse survivors. The decision infuriated survivors and lawyers, particularly given the Christian Brothers horrific track record of clergy abuse and the Catholic church’s vast wealth.
It prompted scrutiny of the controversial transfer of asset wealth from Christian Brothers to the Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia (TEREA), an organisation set up in 2007 to take over the running of Christian Brothers schools.
TEREA initially resisted efforts to take on responsibility for survivors’ abuse claims but changed its position following public pressure.
On Monday, ahead of a report by the ABC on the affair, TEREA issued a statement saying it had now formally agreed to compensate Christian Brothers victims and would fast-track payments to those who had already been promised compensation, either through court decisions or settlements.
Dr Stephen Brown, chair of TEREA, said it was “simply the right thing to do”. He said:
We do not want victim-survivors with approved claims to wait any longer and are fast-tracking finance and hope to be able to make an announcement soon.
In July, Guardian Australia revealed the Christian Brothers order had kept nine convicted child abusers within its order and was providing them with financial support, including by using its properties to house two brothers with horrific histories of preying on children.
Brown told the ABC he only learnt of that fact when told by the ABC during an interview three weeks ago, despite repeated prior reporting by the Guardian.
More than 200 workers stood down at Bathla
Jonathan Barrett
More than 200 workers at Bathla Group have been stood down as the administrator of the embattled property developer seeks emergency funds to stave off a company-wide collapse.
The insolvency advisory Teneo said today that new short-term funding arrangements would only allow Bathla to continue construction on some of the 45 construction sites. It said in a statement:
Construction on other projects will be suspended today, resulting in approximately 213 employees being stood down.
Bathla is a major Sydney headquartered developer that also has operations in regional NSW, South Australia and Victoria.
Thousands of homebuyers were left in the lurch by the announcement on 25 August that the developer had gone into voluntary administration, weighed down by almost $3.6bn in debt.
Teneo has previously said its immediate priority was to finish the estimated 2,000-2,500 homes on which construction had already begun, and that it was not in a position to refund any deposits.
Administrator Stephen Longley said today that short-term funding arrangements with five lenders would allow construction to continue on some projects. He said:
Significant work remains to secure the funding required to progress and ultimately complete all projects currently under construction.
The scale of the destruction in Nepal is “almost beyond comprehension”, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, has told the senate.
Thousands of people, including 36 Australians, are still missing in the wake of the devastating flood. Wong said in the condolence motion:
Australia’s Nepali community is grieving for family, friends, and communities in the region.
Members of Australia’s Tibetan community are too experiencing great anguish.
And for many Hindu Australians, including those with connections to the pilgrimage routes and sacred places of this region, this disaster has brought deep sorrow.
To each of these communities, we extend the sympathy and solidarity of this parliament.
Australia has sent about 50 officers to the region, as well as specialist drone operators and AFP disaster victim identification specialists.
Digital duty of care gives minister too much power, claims Hume
The government’s proposed digital duty of care legislation, part of its crackdown on social media, gives too much power to the communications minister, the deputy opposition leader, Jane Hume, told the ABC this morning:
We don’t feel that the minister should have the powers to determine what is and is not online harm.
You could understand why there would be a natural suspicion. When the government tries to control the internet, it inevitably fails.
Andrew Bushnell from the Institute of Public Affairs echoed Hume’s claim, quipping that Australians would be trading the algorithm for the “alborithm”.
Tom McIlroy
How to get up to speed on the Australian political news of the day
Today Guardian Australia launches a brand new political newsletter: Politics, really. No, really!
We’ll be bringing you the latest political news – but more importantly, what it means.
NSW police to ‘smash open’ online platforms where crime is plotted
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, is holding a press conference about those organised crime laws.
He says any “wilful and deliberate attempt to either evade law enforcement or use online platforms to facilitate crime, particularly murder, in NSW … will be a criminal offence”.
Minns says criminal actors are basing themselves offshore and “pulling the strings” of people here using sophisticated technology. To combat that police will be given the latest technology themselves to “smash open and crack open online platforms to understand the full chronology of these criminal actions and their activities as they apply both here and overseas”.
NSW introducing new laws to target organised crime
New laws being introduced in New South Wales aim to tackle organised crime by giving police more power and creating a new aggravated offence for conspiracy to commit gang-related murder. The maximum penalty will be increased to life imprisonment.
Police would also be able to use new interim serious crime prevention orders to restrict people suspected of serious and organised crime. Those would be applied while the supreme court considers the full order.
Children’s indictable offences would include activities linked to organised crime, and public shootings and firebombings would be added to the scheme.
Police would also have more access to encrypted devices. The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said:
Organised crime doesn’t stand still, and neither can the laws and powers we give police to fight it.
We want to hit these criminal networks at every point – the people who organise the violence, the people who facilitate it online and the people who ultimately carry it out.
If you conspire to arrange a gangland murder, you should face the prospect of spending the rest of your life behind bars.
US access to Australian military bases
This is an extraordinary story from Ben Doherty, Andy Ball and Nick Evershed about the extent of the United States’ access to military bases across Australia.
Defence minister Richard Marles said in June that the “hugely significant American presence” in the region was a balance to China’s “very significant military buildup”.
Read more:
Next election a referendum on super, treasurer says
One Nation’s proposal for people to be able to divert some of their super into their pay packet is a “full-frontal attack” that will “make Australian workers tens of thousands of dollars worse off in retirement”, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said this morning.
One Nation is “anti-worker” and they “vote the way that [billionaire backer] Gina Rinehart tells them to”, he said, adding that the next election will be a “referendum on super”:
Every time One Nation is asked to support the financial interests of Australian workers, they oppose the financial interests of Australian workers.
By ending super as we know it, by making Australian workers poorer as a consequence, One Nation is showing once again: this is exactly why One Nation poses an unacceptable and dangerous risk to Australian workers.
