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Australia live news update: Labor suggests anti-corruption commission could probe Morrison over sports rorts | Australia news

Anti-corruption commission won’t be an ‘exercise in political pay-back’ – Dreyfus

On Mark Dreyfus’ interview on ABC Insiders, the attorney general was asked about the sports rorts scandal and gave his view of what occurred saying: “I thought it was a rort on any view.”

I thought the idea that a decision made in the prime minister’s office when he had no power over the matter with 51 coloured spreadsheets revealed by the auditor general, that looked pretty corrupt to me, but it won’t be my decision. It will be a matter for this independent commissioner to decide if someone refers a matter to her or him, to decide.

Dreyfus made very clear that it wouldn’t be up to him to decide whether the affair was investigated by the new national anti-corruption commission saying he wanted to “make it clear” that “this is not an exercise in political pay-back”.

This is a very large integrity reform that’s been described as the single biggest reform for decades. It’s not partisan. It’s there to improve standards in Australian public life. We are not setting this up to go after our political opponents. It won’t be for me to decide if something is corrupt – it will be for this commission.

Key events

Ahead of a press conference with Bill Shorten and Clare O’Neil on the latest with the Optus data breach the pair have put out a statement this morning claiming that the telco is not being entirely forthcoming with information.

Federal government is now publicly ripping Optus over response to the data breach, saying the company “needs to come together with the govt to be part of the solution”

Statement from Bill Shorten & Clare O’Neil claim Optus not cooperating with requests for more info pic.twitter.com/9ElOO7g16E

— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) October 2, 2022

ABC host says two hands are often needed for big knobs.

ABC News presenter Fauziah Ibrahim offered the candid personal insight while speaking with associate professor Alice Motion from the University of Sydney about the biggest science stories for the last week.

After a discussion about the development of anti-malaria drugs that developed from traditional Chinese medicine and reports suggesting dogs can smell when a human is stressed, the interviewed turned to the discussion of the Ig Nobel prize, a satirical science prize for unexpectedly interesting research.

This year the prize was won by a Japanese scientist who investigated the optimal physics for opening a doorknob, leading to the following exchange:

Motion: The summary is that the bigger the doorknob, the more fingers are needed to open the doorknob and there is a limit to the size and shape that have doorknob.

Ibrahim: Well, in certainly my experience, sometimes you need two hands to deal with a big knob.

Motion: Well… yes.

The exchange took place early on Sunday morning and was rebroadcast in full later that day.

For more on this story about one of life’s most overlooked arts, read the full story from Guardian Australia’s science correspondent Hannah Devlin:

Reserve Bank expects to raise interest rates further

Another rate rise is anticipated when the Reserve Bank board meets again this Tuesday, with many experts leaning towards another 50 basis point hike.

The October cash rate decision, which is expected to see the RBA lift its target from the current 2.35 per cent, is likely to dominate headlines this week alongside CoreLogic’s latest update on house prices.

Due on Monday, the monthly home value index is likely to reveal another drop in property prices as the aggressive monetary policy tightening cycle continues to drag the market lower.

– from AAP

Yesterday was international coffee day, so if you’re just waking up with some of the good stuff here’s how that happened.

Drinking coffee as a beverage is said to have originated in Yemen in the 15th century in Sufi Shrines. It was there that coffee berries were first roasted & brewed in a way similar to how the drink is prepared today

For #InternationalCoffeeDay a thread on coffee & Muslim culture pic.twitter.com/cjTf67MdVC

— Bayt Al Fann (@BaytAlFann) October 1, 2022

With Jeff Kennett’s speech at a Hawks event making headlines on Sunday morning, it is worth revisiting an episode from 1996 during his tenure as Victorian state premier.

During a cost-cutting drive Kennett’s newly elected government embarked on a plan to close 300 schools across the state.

Among those to close was Northland secondary college, which had the highest Indigenous student population of any high school in Victoria, in Preston

The decision sparked a three-year campaign to save the school that included a mock attempt to enrol kids at Scotch college, the elite private school where Kennett’s sons attended.

A decision by the supreme court forced the government to reopen the school.

The struggle to save the school was retold in a cabaret in 2021.

Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett plays down racism claims

The outgoing Hawthorn president, Jeff Kennett, has called the leaking of racism allegations at the AFL club “unfair” and hopes the unfolding saga can be resolved by the end of the year.

Speaking at the club’s best and fairest awards function on Saturday night, the former Victorian premier said the club was not in crisis and he described the issue as a “bump along the highway”.

But he told the audience he was “somewhat flabbergasted – and worse” when he read the draft report of the club’s internal review into the experiences of Indigenous players and their partners while at Hawthorn.

Former coach Alastair Clarkson, his then assistant, Chris Fagan, and former development manager Jason Burt were named in the cultural review.

Kennett said on Saturday:

I do not consider this to be a crisis. When I read the draft report … I was somewhat flabbergasted and worse.

It wasn’t a good read. I hope this matter can be resolved quickly by all parties involved.

Kennett said the people interviewed for the report had requested confidentiality and Hawthorn respected that.

Sadly, they made a decision to talk to the press … they named people with whom they had very real issues.

That was unfair to those [people] so therefore we need to have this resolved.

I don’t see this as a crisis – I know this club, I know its history and I know its strength.

We will deal with this and assist in any way we can.

Clarkson said on Wednesday the allegations were “false and deeply offensive” and those close to him knew “how important family is to me”. Fagan, now coaching the Brisbane Lions, released a statement categorically denying the allegations against him. Burt last week released a statement to “categorically deny the conduct attributed to me in the media”.

Kennett said the issues were historic and called on any Hawthorn employees to tell the club at the time if they believed there was inappropriate behaviour.

The one thing the investigation showed was that we have a safe cultural workplace now. So these are issues of the past.

Kennett said he hoped there could be some form of mediation so any issues could be resolved quickly. At the end of his speech, Kennett insisted the Hawks would “overcome” the issue.

Understand this as being a bump along the highway but … it is an important bump and it has to be dealt with professionally.

– with AAP

Anti-corruption commission won’t be an ‘exercise in political pay-back’ – Dreyfus

On Mark Dreyfus’ interview on ABC Insiders, the attorney general was asked about the sports rorts scandal and gave his view of what occurred saying: “I thought it was a rort on any view.”

I thought the idea that a decision made in the prime minister’s office when he had no power over the matter with 51 coloured spreadsheets revealed by the auditor general, that looked pretty corrupt to me, but it won’t be my decision. It will be a matter for this independent commissioner to decide if someone refers a matter to her or him, to decide.

Dreyfus made very clear that it wouldn’t be up to him to decide whether the affair was investigated by the new national anti-corruption commission saying he wanted to “make it clear” that “this is not an exercise in political pay-back”.

This is a very large integrity reform that’s been described as the single biggest reform for decades. It’s not partisan. It’s there to improve standards in Australian public life. We are not setting this up to go after our political opponents. It won’t be for me to decide if something is corrupt – it will be for this commission.

On Hawthorn, Dreyfus won’t be drawn on whether the allegations require an independent inquiry:

These are shocking allegations, David. These abuses of power in sport, which we’ve seen not just in not ball, the AFL, but in other sports, are a real concern. That’s going from junior to elite.

The sports minister talked on Friday about a new division within Sports Integrity Australia. I think that will be a start. At the moment, the AFL are conducting an independent inquiry.

Optus data breach a ‘wake-up call for corporate Australia’, Mark Dreyfus says

On Optus, Dreyfus describes the incident as a “wake-up call for corporate Australia” and flags changes to the Privacy Act.

Keeping the very personal data of customers who had ceased to be customers years ago. I have yet to hear a reason why that was going on. And Optus failed to keep the information safe.

Dreyfus says companies should not treat customers’ information as an asset but as a liability.

Companies throughout Australia should stop regarding all of this personal data of Australians as an asset to them, they should think of it as a liability. This is a wake-up call for corporate Australia.

We will look very hard at the settings in the Privacy Act. I may be bringing reforms to the Privacy Act before the end of the year, to try to both toughen penalties and make companies think harder about why they are storing the personal data of Australians.

It’s an interesting proposition from Dreyfus that contradicts how data is the currency of the modern information economy.

Dreyfus pushes back on reports in the Murdoch papers this morning that union officials will be excluded from the Icac.

That report this morning is simply, in in one of newspapers is wrong. Union officials are not excluded. Any third party seeking to adversely affect public decisions making in corrupt way will be subject to investigation by the commission.

Dreyfus says activities whether activities in workplaces won’t be covered.

The activities set up under this bill for this commission are directed at the public sector in Australia. It’s not directed at private activity. It’s directed at the public sector and is interaction third parties have with public officials, adversely affecting the way they go about their duties in a formal, honest manner.

Asked about whether people making donations to get a particular outcome, Dreyfus says the commission will have “the power to investigate any third party seeking to adversely influence the out of a public function and that’s the preface of the commission”.

Donations to political parties in Australia are lawful. They are regulated. There is disclosure requirements. We have said we will lower the disclosure threshold because we want more transparency in donations, I but I don’t think anyone suggests that the mere giving of money to a political party, be it the Greens or the Liberal or the National party or the Labor party should be banned.

Some suggested that but because they should we should go to complete public funding but we’re not. We want more transparency, David, in the giving of donations. We’re not about to ban donations.

Dreyfus says information collected that relates to national security will be “very carefully stored”:

There’s a whole set of provisions in the bill that – in is the distinction that you have to make for a national anti-corruption commission – it’s potentially going to be dealing with national security information, that’s not something generally speaking that state and territory commissions have to worry about – there will special provisions here to deal with it.

This is actually an interesting point about the differences between state and federal Icacs.

Speers is asking about the various details of the proposal, including what is meant by “timely” and whether investigations can run for longer than 12 months. He also asks Dreyfus about the proposal for consultation – Dreyfus says of course they’ll be consulting widely with the cross bench.

Dreyfus confirms the commission will be able to tap the phones of politicians “subject to warrant” but won’t say whether this will include encrypted messaging apps like Signal or Whatsapp.

I think everyone needs to watch out. We don’t want corrupt activity infecting our system of government. That’s why we’re creating at long last an anti-corruption commission for Australia.

David Speers is asking about the “exceptional circumstances” test in order to allow public hearings. Mark Dreyfus is skirting around asking why this has been included – and specifically whether he had expert legal opinion supporting the inclusion of this test.

Dreyfus says it’s about “getting the balance right” and that some legal experts have argued for public hearings, some against. But he also notes that Labor’s proposal for a commission contrasts with the Coalitions on one key detail: theirs wouldn’t allow any public hearings at all.

Dreyfus:

Some legal experts think this is exactly right. Others expressed the contrary view. That that is that is what will be talked about in the committee process we’re about to have.

Attorney general on federal anti-corruption commission

The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, is speaking to ABC Insiders host, David Speers, this morning with the first subject on the proposed anti-corruption commission.

First question: why not make them public?

What you heard me saying is that there is good reasons to hold public hearings and there are. Equally, there are good reasons sometimes for holding your hearings in private.

We think that is getting the balance right and the experience of anti-corruption commissions over the last 30 year less – bear in mind we have three decades of experience to look at – where the commonwealth is the last jurisdiction to get a commission – that experience for those jurisdictions with public hearings is very few hearings are held in public, mostly held in private.

Dreyfus does not explain what those reasons actually are.

Tory Shepherd

Australia on track to select nuclear submarine by March: Marles

The Aukus program is “on track”, the defence minister, Richard Marles, said this morning, after a meeting with the US defense secretary, Lloyd J Austin III, in Hawaii.

Australia is set to choose either a US or UK nuclear-powered submarine design by March next year, amid ongoing concerns that there will be a capability gap between the retirement of the existing fleet and the acquisition of the new one.

Marles declined to commit to when those submarines are likely to be in the water. He said:

You don’t build a nuclear-powered submarine quickly.

Aukus is “going along very well”, Marles said:

We are on track to making an announcement around the optimal pathway that Australia will pursue in relation to acquiring nuclear powered submarines, to make that announcement in the first part of next year.

The pair also discussed making their defence industrial bases “more seamless”.

Marles said there was “increasing pressure” on the global rules-based order in both Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and in China’s actions in the Pacific:

We watch China seek to shape the world around us in a way that we have not seen before.

Austin said the US and Australia were united on “enhancing deterrence and strengthening security in the Indo Pacific”:

We talked about enhancing our interoperability and expanding our operations and advancing our ongoing posture, force posture initiatives and deepening our defence industrial cooperation.

Aukus has “made tremendous progress over the past year”, Austin said.

Earlier, the two ministers had a trilateral meeting with their Japanese counterpart, Yasukazu Hamada.

Australia will not accept illegal Russian annexation in Ukraine

Tory Shepherd

Russia’s “sham referenda” have prompted the government to legally support Ukraine in the international court of justice (ICJ) and to put financial sanctions and travel bans on another 28 “Russian-appointed separatists, ministers and senior officials”.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has announced the annexation of four regions in Ukraine after holding illegitimate referenda.

In a release, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus said:

The regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are sovereign Ukrainian territory. President Putin’s annexation is illegal and any claims that these territories are now part of Russia are baseless and false.

Australia has also filed an intervention in the ICJ case brought by Ukraine against Russia, supporting Ukraine’s claims Russia has violated the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide (genocide convention).

Wong said the additional sanctions “reinforce Australia’s strong objection to the actions of President Putin and those carrying out his orders”. She said:

The areas of Ukraine currently occupied by Russian forces are the sovereign territory of Ukraine. No sham referendum will change this.

Dreyfus said:

Our intervention underscores our commitment to upholding fundamental rules of international law and the integrity of the genocide convention.

Overnight the occupied town of Lyman fell overnight after Ukrainian troops completed an encirclement of 4,000 Russian troops who had been stationed there.

Good morning

Welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, have pledged Australia’s support to Ukraine in an application to the international court of justice (ICJ) and added sanctions on senior Russian and separatist officials. In a joint press release, Wong and Dreyfus said Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions was “illegal” and any claims they were part of Russian territory were “baseless and false”.

Former Victorian premier and the Hawthorn football club president, Jeff Kennett, has criticised three Indigenous football players who spoke about their experiences of alleged racism at the club. In a speech at the club’s best and fairest awards on Saturday night, Kennett told his audience it was “unfair” for the players to name names and denied the club was in crisis, saying it was experiencing “just a bump along the highway” albeit an important bump.

I’m Royce Kurmelovs, taking the blog through the day. With so much going on out there, it’s easy to miss something, so if you spot anything happening in Australia and think it should be in the blog, you can find me on Twitter at @RoyceRk2 where my DMs are open.

With that, let’s get started …



https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2022/oct/02/australia-live-news-jeff-kennett-hawthorn-racism-indigenous-ukraine-russia-icj-optus-data-dreyfus-covid-cases-nrl-grand-final Australia live news update: Labor suggests anti-corruption commission could probe Morrison over sports rorts | Australia news

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