‘Captive committees doing pretend inquiries’: Shoebridge
The Greens leader, David Shoebridge, has called the parliamentary AI committee a “farce” after it was found a staffer in the prime minister’s office had appeared to sign off on language, and suggested edits to the letter, before it was handed to Anthony Albanese.
Independent senator David Pocock, a member of the committee, accused Albanese’s office of “heavily vetting” the letter and its recommendations.
Shoebridge already had a bone to pick with this one because the then Greens leader, Larissa Waters, had tried to put him forward for the committee but the government refused, and then the Greens refused to offer up anyone else. Labor instead put it to a vote in the Senate – allowing senators to choose either Shoebridge or Pocock for the last spot.
In a statement, Shoebridge says:
Captive committees doing pretend inquiries serve no one but a government ducking for cover. The letter to the PM from this committee being edited by the PM’s office is a farce worthy of Utopia.
Sometimes you look back and have to be grateful – not being part of this Labor farce was a blessing after all.
Key events
PM, minister should be ‘shamed and stoned’, says Liberal frontbencher over ATO credit card ban
Things got a little heated in the House earlier, when Liberal frontbencher, Angie Bell, called for the prime minister and small business minister to be “shamed and stoned”.
Bell was supporting Tim Wilson’s motion to suspend standing orders to bring on legislation to remove the ATO’s credit card ban – which failed.
Bell shouted to the chamber:
This minister and this prime minister should be absolutely shamed and stoned in the square.
For background: the ATO announced that it would, from November ban the use of credit cards for payment, after the RBA banned credit card surcharges.
The government was forced to intervene and provided additional funding to delay that ban until the end of June. The Coalition spent much of question time yesterday hammering the small business minister over the decision.
‘Captive committees doing pretend inquiries’: Shoebridge
The Greens leader, David Shoebridge, has called the parliamentary AI committee a “farce” after it was found a staffer in the prime minister’s office had appeared to sign off on language, and suggested edits to the letter, before it was handed to Anthony Albanese.
Independent senator David Pocock, a member of the committee, accused Albanese’s office of “heavily vetting” the letter and its recommendations.
Shoebridge already had a bone to pick with this one because the then Greens leader, Larissa Waters, had tried to put him forward for the committee but the government refused, and then the Greens refused to offer up anyone else. Labor instead put it to a vote in the Senate – allowing senators to choose either Shoebridge or Pocock for the last spot.
In a statement, Shoebridge says:
Captive committees doing pretend inquiries serve no one but a government ducking for cover. The letter to the PM from this committee being edited by the PM’s office is a farce worthy of Utopia.
Sometimes you look back and have to be grateful – not being part of this Labor farce was a blessing after all.
In pictures: Angus Taylor addresses the Coalition party room
Earlier I mentioned cameras were allowed in to record Angus Taylor revving up his party room for the week.
Here’s a little look in.
The bells are ringing in the House and Senate
The Greens and Coalition are separately suspending standing orders in both Houses this morning.
In the Senate, Mehreen Faruqi has moved a motion to debate the war in Gaza. She says:
Three years of violently and rapidly expanding settlements in the West Bank, three years and counting.
The Albanese government has done nothing, that is why the matter is urgent … rather than stopping the arms trade, rather than imposing sanctions on Israel to stop this genocide, they’ve been trying to shut down those of us who have been calling out this injustice.
Faruqi’s motion is voted down by the government and Coalition.
Immediately after, independent and former Greens senator Lidia Thorpe has her own motion to suspend standing orders to call the Albanese government to take more action against Israel, including applying further sanctions on Israel and Israeli politicians, and prohibiting trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It fails without support from the government or Coalition.
Meanwhile, in the House, the Coalition tries to suspend standing orders to bring on a bill to immediately reinstate credit card payments to the Australian tax office. It also fails.
Graham Readfearn
Government’s climate centre to identify ‘hotspots’ for impacts around the country
A priority for the government’s climate science centre will be identifying “hotspots” around the country where impacts will cause social and economic losses, according to a new three-year strategy for the centre.
The Australian Climate Service is made up of scientists and specialists at the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Geoscience Australia.
The new strategy says a priority until 2029 will be work that identifies “who is most affected by climate risk” and what can be done to “reduce harm and strengthen wellbeing.”
The assistant climate change minister, Josh Wilson, said the strategy had come after the release last year of Australia’s first ever national climate risk assessment. He said:
The challenge of a climate that is warming and shifting to volatile extremes is unlike anything we’ve faced before, and responding to those circumstances will require governments, businesses and communities to work together in new ways.
The strategy notes:
Future hazards will not mirror the past – impacts are shifting in timing, location and severity, placing growing strain on response and recovery systems.
Josh Butler
Digital duty of care may be delayed by Senate inquiry
The Greens are considering seeking to refer Labor’s digital duty of care legislation to a Senate inquiry, potentially delaying the bill which is expected to be introduced this week.
The communications minister, Anika Wells, is at the National Press Club on Thursday to discuss the legislation. But with the Coalition again dealing itself out of negotiations and refusing to consider it, the Greens are in the box seat for this legislation and the minor party may want to see it pushed to an inquiry.
The Greens will seek “improvements” to the bill but say they are not interested in “killing” the proposal. The parliament’s sitting calendar only has two Senate weeks between now and the end of the year, with Senate estimates at the end of October, so the Greens say they want to look at the bill now, before the usual end-of-year chaos.
We’ll keep you updated as that progresses.
You can also read more about the legislation, and the disagreement between Labor and the Greens in relation to the proposed laws, here:
Coalition senator Jonathon Duniam rejects claims PM’s office meddled with AI letter
The outgoing shadow home affairs minister, Jonathon Duniam, has been interviewed on Sky News about his role on a parliamentary committee considering AI policy.
We brought you the news earlier today that a senior adviser in Anthony Albanese’s office had made edits and comments in a bipartisan letter from the committee before it was sent to the prime minister, a move which committee member David Pocock said was concerning.
Pocock said he was concerned at the intervention of Albanese’s team in the letter, which raises concerns about copyright, AI safeguards, sovereign capability and AI literacy.
Duniam, who was the deputy chair of the committee, sent the letter with the Labor MP and inquiry chair, Jo Briskey, last night, on behalf of Labor, Coalition and crossbench MPs.
Duniam had already said there was “no guidance, no interference” with the committee’s work and he would be “the first person out of the blocks to criticise the government if the prime minister wasn’t showing interest in the committee’s work”.
He rejected Pocock’s assertions again during his interview on Sky a short time ago, saying that:
Well, I’d love to know what’s not in the letter that should be included that’s been missed out.
I saw some comments that the letter had been heavily vetted, I’m not sure what’s been deleted.
I think it is good that decision making entities like the PMO have been actively interested in what we do… That does not remove the independence of the committee.
The committee does not do what either Anthony Albanese or Angus Taylor says, the committee does what it determines is the right way to go.
And to be clear, the parliament will be master of its own destiny when it comes to things like copyright legislation.
You can read more here:
Liberal frontbencher Jonathon Duniam to leave Senate by end of October
The shadow home affairs minister, Jonathon Duniam, is expected to give his valedictory speech this week and leave parliament at the end of October.
The frontbencher announced he would be resigning from the Senate back in June but committed to stay until the end of the year.
Duniam is expected to stay for the final sitting week of October, which will include Senate estimates. He was first elected as a Liberal senator representing Tasmania in 2016.
It means the Liberal leader, Angus Taylor, will have another frontbench position to fill – which could see a minor shadow cabinet reshuffle.
Businesses are increasing prices under cover of credit card surcharge ban: UBS
Patrick Commins
Retailers are using the credit card surcharge ban to justify larger price increases, according to UBS economists.
Businesses were banned from including transaction surcharges from 1 October as part of a Reserve Bank-led reforms aimed at improving transparency for customers and, ultimately, lowering bank fees.
The RBA has predicted that shops would incorporate the bank fees into the final sale price, likely leading to a 0.1 percentage point increase to inflation.
But the UBS economists in a note to clients said this estimate was too low and that there was evidence that businesses, such as cafes, were using the surcharge ban as cover to pass on bigger price rises.
“The RBA’s estimate seems a lower bound estimate, particularly given recent increases in fuel and other input costs,” they said, estimating a 0.2% boost to inflation.
According to a survey of more than 1,500 cafes by Small Flat White, an online coffee price tracker, 17% of cafes have increased their prices since the start of the surcharge ban, with an average increase of 50 cents, or more than 10%.
That is multiples of the typical 1.5% card surcharge fee. The UBS economists said:
Resilient demand and still-elevated inflation expectations may be allowing merchants to use the change as ‘cover’ to pass through broader cost pressures (wages, fuel, and other input costs).
Following years of above-target inflation, consumers may be more accepting of price rises. Evidence of ‘round up’ pricing in items such as coffee suggests pass-through could exceed the surcharge itself.
Labor, Greens and Coalition party rooms finish up their meetings before parliament sits
The party rooms are finishing up their meetings that happen every Tuesday during sitting weeks.
They are a chance for the party leaders to give their caucus a bit of a gee-up and discuss their position on upcoming pieces of legislation.
That happens before the parliament sitting at midday today.
This morning, Angus Taylor let cameras in to cover his preamble, declaring “project Albanese has failed”.
We have seen Australia going backwards in the wrong direction like at no time in my lifetime. We have a responsibility to deliver that plan that I just talked about, to fix our economy, to protect our way of life.
