Tl;dr right here’s what you missed in query time
The Coalition targeted all its questions on communications minister, Anika Wells, over the federal government’s dealing with of the triple zero outage.
Wells mentioned claims the federal government sat on a report that was commissioned after the final Optus outage in 2023 are a “full fabrication” and mentioned the federal government has already applied 13 of the 18 suggestions.
Unbiased MP Helen Haines additionally probed Wells on non permanent roaming providers for regional areas throughout bushfires, which Wells mentioned there was work underneath manner for.
The deputy Nationals chief, Kevin Hogan, was kicked out of the chamber.
We received a really wide-ranging query from Bob Katter a few home gasoline reserve coverage for the east coast which additionally featured a mini query about bananas. Chalmers reassures him there can be no biosecurity compromise on the import of bananas.
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Up to date at 00.38 EDT
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Daisy Dumas
Specialists says yellow loopy ant eradication hinges on federal funding
Specialists are calling for federal funding to match Queensland’s dedication in the direction of eradicating the unfold of extremely invasive yellow loopy ants.
The Crisafulli authorities on Tuesday pledged an extra $6m as a part of ongoing 10-year funding program to eradicate yellow loopy ants from the moist tropics area.
Jack Gough, the chief government of the Invasive Species Council, mentioned a long-term dedication from each state and federal governments was important to “end the job and guarantee we will eradicate yellow loopy ants as soon as and for all”. He mentioned a delay in federal funding might impression eradication progress in north Queensland.
The ants had been lately detected in Townsville’s port, with the council warning maritime commerce represented a serious biosecurity weak spot.
Invasive yellow loopy ants (Anoplolepis gracillipes) {Photograph}: Peter Yeeles/Alamy
Gough mentioned:
Yellow loopy ants are among the many world’s worst invasive species – they spray formic acid, blind and kill native animals and may collapse whole ecosystems. The Queensland program is without doubt one of the largest eradication efforts ever tried globally, and it deserves full nationwide backing.
If yellow loopy ants are allowed to unfold, the injury will far outweigh the price of eradication.
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Up to date at 01.06 EDT
Daisy Dumas
Man arrested after alleged threatening gesture exterior Cremorne Synagogue
A person has been arrested after allegedly making a threatening gesture exterior Cremorne Synagogue on Tuesday morning.
The 23-year-old was allegedly seen pointing what was believed to be a firearm from a transferring truck in the direction of the place of worship, police mentioned. He was arrested and brought to Chatswood police station.
The motive force, a 21-year-old man, was arrested and later launched.
Police mentioned officers connected to strike drive Raptor, the canine unit and freeway patrol assisted within the seek for the merchandise, which was not situated. Inquiries had been ongoing.
The incident comes on the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas terror assault in Israel.
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That’s it for me at this time, thanks for following alongside on the weblog! A giant shoutout to my colleague Tom McIlroy who baked a scrumptious cake which received us by means of the day.
I’ll depart you with the great Adeshola Ore for the remainder of the afternoon.
ShareLuca Ittimani
Productiveness chair warns that financial knowledgeable commentary can ‘stifle’ reform
Circling again to the warning that media’s “slender” definitions might impede financial reforms from the Productiveness Fee (PC) chair, Danielle Wooden:
Wooden, a former chair of the Grattan Institute thinktank, additionally known as out consultants who used their “privilege” in media commentary to unfold division and stifle change:
Specialists form [debates’] credibility … [but] generally consultants don’t use this privilege as constructively as they might.
Proposed reforms are unlikely to align 100% with an knowledgeable’s view of first-best. After they fixate on the ten% distinction, as an alternative of acknowledging the 90% of shared floor, the general public hears division, not consensus. That may stifle fragile reform strategies.
Wooden cited one educational, who she declined to call, who known as to abolish the PC after it proposed an organization tax system differing from that educational’s most popular change.
The PC has launched a string of reform proposals in current months, together with to overtake firm taxes, share faculty lesson plans, permit AI information mining and lower inexperienced power subsidies, together with different proposals that acquired much less media protection.
The PC chair at this time inspired reporters to dedicate extra time to these less-covered proposals whereas noting protection of the higher-profile reforms as controversial risked eroding public assist for change.
Wooden additionally acknowledged the PC’s communication additionally hindered public engagement, estimating about half the inhabitants wouldn’t have the ability to perceive (evaluating favourably to the UK central financial institution, which has estimated its publications are inaccessible to 90% of UK residents).
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Up to date at 00.43 EDT
Tl;dr right here’s what you missed in query time
The Coalition targeted all its questions on communications minister, Anika Wells, over the federal government’s dealing with of the triple zero outage.
Wells mentioned claims the federal government sat on a report that was commissioned after the final Optus outage in 2023 are a “full fabrication” and mentioned the federal government has already applied 13 of the 18 suggestions.
Unbiased MP Helen Haines additionally probed Wells on non permanent roaming providers for regional areas throughout bushfires, which Wells mentioned there was work underneath manner for.
The deputy Nationals chief, Kevin Hogan, was kicked out of the chamber.
We received a really wide-ranging query from Bob Katter a few home gasoline reserve coverage for the east coast which additionally featured a mini query about bananas. Chalmers reassures him there can be no biosecurity compromise on the import of bananas.
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Up to date at 00.38 EDT
Luca Ittimani
‘Discover a approach to make implementation points attractive’, productiveness boss tells media
The boss of the federal government’s Productiveness Fee has warned “slender” media protection of financial reform was risking momentum for change.
Danielle Wooden, who chairs the organisation investigating methods to make the economic system extra environment friendly on behalf of the Albanese authorities, mentioned reform had grown tougher in current a long time. She informed reporters:
Many journalists maintain too slender a definition of what good financial reform appears like. The ‘80s and ‘90s stay for me the historic benchmark … [but] at this time’s governments should climb larger for his or her fruit.
Wooden acknowledged care sector and providers reforms “could be much less thrilling than a juicy tax bundle” however warned reporters that bored protection risked killing momentum:
If we don’t recognise these as reforms, we received’t give governments credit score the place it’s due they usually’re much less more likely to take these challenges … [and] we miss the prospect to carry governments to account.
That’s my problem to you: to recognise significant reform [and] discover a approach to make implementation points attractive. With out your consideration, I worry that new reforms could not attain the end line.
With out wanted reforms, Australia’s productiveness would undergo, worsening wage progress, housing and well being outcomes, Wooden mentioned. At a lunch asserting the Walkley award nominees earlier at this time, she mentioned:
The entire issues that go to having a great and affluent life, we make out of attain for our youngsters.
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Up to date at 00.34 EDT
Query time is over
After a remaining dixer to the training minister on Hecs, Anthony Albanese wraps up query time for the day.
He additionally pronounces the member for Canberra, Alicia Payne, has had a child – named Joseph.
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Up to date at 00.12 EDT
Wells says she was informed on Friday afternoon by her workplace about triple-zero outage
The shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, is again and asks Anika Wells to make clear when she was personally suggested concerning the triple-zero outage in September.
The outage occurred on 18 September, and Wells informed us in an earlier reply that she discovered on the afternoon of 19 September. Wells provides us one other brief reply:
I thank the shadow minister for her query. The triple-zero outage from Optus occurred on 18 September, the Thursday. I used to be made conscious by my workplace Friday afternoon, late Friday afternoon that there had been greater than 600 calls impacted and three deaths.
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Up to date at 00.10 EDT
Chalmers solutions wide-ranging Bob Katter query on bananas, gasoline and Glencore copper mine
Bob Katter is up subsequent from the crossbench and asks a protracted query with a number of mentions to the worth of bananas, however it primarily boils down as to whether the federal government will introduce a gasoline reserve coverage (it’s a query he’s requested the federal government a couple of occasions in current months).
Treasurer Jim Chalmers takes the decision and begins on the bananas. He says the federal government is not going to compromise “on biosecurity relating to banana imports”.
He stays fairly imprecise on the query of a home gasoline reserve on the east coast:
Relating to the gasoline market, I notice that the assets minister and the power minister are working very intently with the cupboard on the varied processes now we have underway relating to the way forward for gasoline coverage in our nation.
Katter’s query additionally goes to Glencore’s Mount Isa copper operations, which Katter has been pushing the federal government to intervene in – that’s, to maintain the mine going.
Chalmers acknowledges the roles and trade functionality that may go if the copper smelter closed, and says the trade minister, Tim Ayres, has been working with the Queensland authorities to assist discover a answer.
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Up to date at 00.08 EDT
Wells confirms her workplace was not notified of Optus outage till afternoon of Friday 19 September
The shadow minister for regional communications, Anne Webster, is up and lobs one other query to Anika Wells.
She asks Wells to substantiate whether or not she or her workplace had been notified of the triple-zero outage on 18 September earlier than the afternoon of 19 September.
It’s a brief reply:
Sure, I can verify we weren’t notified of the catastrophic outage till late afternoon of Friday 19 September.
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Up to date at 00.00 EDT
Wells says trade has agreed to implement catastrophe or outage roaming for cellphones
Anika Wells is going through questions from the crossbench too. The unbiased MP Helen Haines asks a few suggestion from the Bean evaluate about offering non permanent roaming throughout pure disasters and outages. She asks whether or not the federal government will give the telcos a deadline to implement catastrophe roaming.
Wells says that work is underneath manner and the federal government agreed to the advice within the report for non permanent catastrophe roaming:
The trade had recognized some feasibility points. It’s drafting a memorandum of understanding to assist this improvement, and let me be clear, it’s my expectation that trade will make that work.
Wells provides the Nationwide Emergency Administration Company (Nema) was within the assembly with the telcos at this time, and can do a “simulation drill in a few weeks to stress-test the place this method isn’t at the moment working for individuals, significantly in locations like regional Australia”.
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Up to date at 23.56 EDT
Wells calls on opposition to again new invoice that requires instant data sharing by telcos
It’s query quantity 5 for Anika Wells, who’s requested by Nationals MP Alison Penfold what number of triple zero outages have occurred since Wells turned communications minister.
Wells tells the opposition to learn the Bean evaluate, which she says reveals Australian telcos weren’t beforehand required to report outages. She says the opposition ought to again the brand new invoice:
Till our authorities acted, Australian telcos weren’t required to report outages in any respect. None in any respect … [the bill] will imply telcos should instantly share data regarding outages with related emergency service organisations comparable to police, fireplace and ambulance.
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Up to date at 23.49 EDT
Wells calls accusation that Labor sat on triple-zero laws suggestions a ‘full fabrication’
Melissa McIntosh is again on the podium, and asks Wells: “why did individuals need to die earlier than you instructed your division to speed up the implementation of triple-zero guardian laws, as really useful by an unbiased evaluate to your authorities over 18 months in the past?”
Wells says its a “full fabrication” to say the federal government has sat on this report.
The one factor that might have stopped Optus from having this outage was Optus themselves. They’re accountable for their failure and they’re held to account for his or her failure.
Wells says after the report was launched in March 2024, the federal government arrange a committee to take a look at how the custodian ought to work, which she says handed down its report back to the division in November 2024, who then made suggestions to the federal government in March.
Upon accepting the advice, that work started instantly and work started on the laws that we’re introducing now.
Anika Wells throughout query time. {Photograph}: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Up to date at 23.48 EDT
Throughout a dixer for the housing minister, Clare O’Neil, the deputy chief of the Nationals, Kevin Hogan, is booted from the chamber underneath 94a.
Speaker Milton Dick warns:
I simply mentioned there may be far an excessive amount of noise. There are penalties for actions.
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Up to date at 23.40 EDT
