Australia politics live: fiery exchange in Senate as Hanson calls for investigation of alleged Fatima Payman citizenship issue | Australian politics

Peter Hannam

October CPI probably showed a pick-up in inflation

We’ll shortly get October inflation figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, so here’s what’s expected.

The headline consumer price index is tipped by economists to have risen last month to 2.3% in October from a year earlier. It was 2.1% in September, and had been on the retreat for five months.

The underlying inflation rate, dubbed the trimmed mean, was 3.2% in September, and that may have picked up too.

The monthly numbers aren’t as complete as the quarterly ones but they do offer some indication of price pressures in the economy. (The Reserve Bank is also keener on the underlying numbers than the headline ones given the role of rebates in artificially constraining prices.)

A weekly survey by ANZ and Roy Morgan noted inflation expectations ticked up lately by 0.3 percentage points to 5% (and the rolling four-week moving average rose 0.1ppt to 4.8%), a reminder that the public isn’t convinced inflation is definitely on the skids.

Anyway, there should be some interesting updates on price trends for rents, fuel and electricity. Stay tuned for the 11.30am Aedt release.

Christopher Knaus

Parliamentary inquiry report highlights delays with national redress scheme

Late last night, a parliamentary inquiry released a report damning of the delays with the national redress scheme, which was set up to offer compensation and apologies to survivors of institutional child abuse in the wake of the royal commission.

The report warned that the delays are now so significant that survivors may be blocked from accessing justice. It has called for the federal, state and territory governments to extend the life of the scheme beyond its current 2018 cessation date.

The average processing time for a claim is now 14.9 months, the slowest on record, and the scheme has been inundated by new applications for redress in its last year of operation. The inquiry warned:

Unless changes are made, some survivors could miss out on redress.

Benita Kolovos

Full list of exams impacted by Victorian ‘cheat sheet’ bungle

Victoria’s education minister, Ben Carroll, has just released a list of the 56 exams impacted by the “inadvertent publication of examination material on exam cover sheets”.

English and English as an additional language – which are mandatory for VCE students – are on the list.

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority interim chief executive, Marcia Devlin, said the material contained in the cover sheets would not have affected the student’s responses:

The material that was published early for the English exam was either already in the public domain through advice on how the English exam structure this year, so general as to be of no assistance to the student.

So I can assure all 46,000 students who sat the English exam this year, that the marking of the exam will continue as usual and that the normal quality assurance process is used every year by the visit as well.

Caitlin Cassidy

Greens say Labor’s public school funding ‘a reheated Coalition-era model’

Continuing from our last post, the Greens have vowed to campaign on public school funding at next year’s election, questioning why Labor have kept the legislated commonwealth share of public school funding at 20% as a floor under the bill instead of increasing it to 25% as teachers’ unions have called for.

The Greens’ spokesperson on primary and secondary education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne, called the bill “weak-kneed incrementalism”.

Before the election Labor promised to deliver full funding to public schools. Instead they’ve served up a reheated Coalition-era model that keeps the legislated share of commonwealth funding at 20% … meanwhile, the Labor federal government pours $51m a day into private schools, most of which are overfunded.

Government legislation passed allowing it to increase public school funding beyond 20%

Caitlin Cassidy

The federal government has passed legislation allowing it to increase funding for public schools beyond 20%, in a critical step for Labor to deliver on its promises reached with four states and territories.

The legislation, passed overnight, also ensures public schools which remain largely under-resourced according to the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) will not have their funding go backwards.

Under the former model, enforced by the Coalition, the commonwealth provides 80% of SRS funding for non-government schools, with the states providing the other 20%. The reverse is in place for public schools, with the commonwealth providing 20% and the states providing 75% – leaving a 5% gap.

The education minister, Jason Clare, said the Liberal party “ripped the guts out of public school funding”.

This legislation will stop that from ever happening again.

The legislation will allow Labor to make good on its offer to increase its funding share to 22.5% from next year – reached with the ACT, Northern Territory, Western Australia and Tasmania. Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales are holding out – demanding it front a full 5% increase.

If they don’t sign on, current funding arrangements will continue for another 12 months.

New laws to ban dodgy taxi drivers from industry

Elias Visontay

Rogue taxi drivers in New South Wales who don’t use their meter, overcharge or refuse short trips will soon be banished from the industry if they’re convicted of fare misbehaviour twice.

The NSW government has announced its latest crackdown on taxi drivers found to repeatedly rip off customers, a phenomenon which the NSW Taxi Council says has grown in recent years after deregulation that made it difficult to weed dodgy drivers out of the sector.

Over the past two years, the Point to Point Transport Commission has fined 900 rogue drivers caught in the act by covert officers, while a complaint hotline for customers who have been overcharged has led to 2500 refunds.

The fine for overcharging was increased to $1,000 this year but some drivers continued to reoffend. More than 220 drivers ignored initial fines and reoffended within a year, data obtained by the Guardian under freedom of information laws revealed.

Under the new “two strikes and you’re out” laws, which come into effect on 6 December, any driver guilty of overcharging or refusing a fare two times will be banned from the industry, which will extend to rideshare apps such as Uber and Didi.

However, the new laws require a taxi driver to be found guilty on two separate occasions, which requires a court conviction, raising questions about whether the two strikes policy will weed out many repeat offenders.

At a press conference today, Point to Point Transport commissioner Anthony Wing was unable to say how many of the 900 drivers fined so far had ever been convicted in court, but said his commission would begin investigating and taking to court the most egregious of fines and complaints, as opposed to those found to be overcharging just a couple of dollars.

Mike Bowers was in the Senate chamber and captured some photos when an exchange over an alleged section 44 citizenship issue led to flying papers and yelling (see earlier post).

And Mike Tsikas from AAP captured the moment Thorpe gave the middle finger as she exited the chamber:

Caitlin Cassidy

More from independent review into University of Sydney’s policies and processes

In a string of 15 recommendations, the University of Sydney review went further than a “draconian” policy announcement in July, which demanded three days’ notice for demonstrations and approval for use of megaphones or putting up posters.

It suggested the university prohibit any student from addressing those present in a lecture, seminar or tutorial prior to its commencement “on any subject matter”.

A breach of the prohibition may be considered misconduct.

It also recommended the university approach both the NSW and federal police “with a view to entering into with them formal protocols which set out how they can assist the university if the need arises”.

Caitlin Cassidy

Independent review into University of Sydney’s politics recommends ‘civility rule’ for speakers

An independent review into the University of Sydney’s policies and processes has recommended it enforce a new “civility rule” requiring speakers to “make the meaning of contested words and phrases clear to the audience” and to maintain its strict ban of protests in buildings.

The review was commissioned to be led by leading barrister Bruce Hodgkinson AM SC after the conclusion of the university’s pro-Palestine encampment in July.

It found new work health and safety laws required “changes to longstanding traditions of political activism on campus”, recommending protests should be prohibited in buildings and camping should be an “unacceptable activity”.

The chancellor of the University of Sydney, David Thodey, wrote to staff today confirming the Senate met yesterday evening and agreed to the recommendations of the Hodgkinson external review in principle.

Thodey said the university was “not immune” to the challenges of rising levels of racism, intolerance, and polarisation facing broader society.

As vice-chancellor Prof Mark Scott has said, this makes it more important than ever that we foster a safe environment where diverse views can be explored through civil debate.

Fiery exchange in the senate over alleged section 44 citizenship issue

Josh Butler

More drama in the Senate just now, with flying papers and yelling after Pauline Hanson sought to refer Fatima Payman for an investigation over an alleged section 44 citizenship issue.

Payman, the former Labor senator turned independent, was born in Afghanistan – the One Nation politician claimed in parliament that Payman hadn’t provided enough documents to prove she had revoked that citizenship.

There was a procedural vote in the Senate over whether Hanson should be allowed to table papers related to her attempt to make the referral, with the government and Coalition voting yes. Katy Gallagher and Anne Ruston explained they would support the motion because it was a procedural issue which could be dealt with quickly, not necessarily because they backed Hanson’s motion in itself.

The Greens and Lidia Thorpe voted no.

Thorpe could be heard making remarks as the tellers counted the vote. Afterwards, she threw papers at Hanson, and walked out holding up her middle finger as someone in the chamber could be heard yelling “you’re disgusting” towards Thorpe.

Benita Kolovos

Allan explains decision not to run candidate in upcoming byelection

At her earlier press conference, the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, was asked if it was her call not to run a Labor candidate in the byelection in the inner-Melbourne of Prahran. She said:

That was a decision taken by the administrative wing of the Labor party as is appropriate. What I am focused on is not a byelection that is essentially a Liberal-Green contest created in a set of circumstances by the previous Green member.

Here’s what I wrote about the contest earlier:

Peter Hannam

Western Sydney the hottest point in Australia as grid strains remain

As of just after 9am, Camden in Sydney’s south-west is Australia’s hottest point, with a 32.4C reading, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

It is probable that some inland regions will overtake Camden but it’s a fair bet that much of Sydney will be baking later today, with forecast tops of 39C in a few regions. The CBD, shielded a bit by sea breezes, will still be pretty warm, reaching 34C if the predictions are right.

After days of fairly warm nights and days in the 30s (away from the coast), demand for cooling is, well, running hot. With a lot of coal-fired power plants at reduced capacity because of maintenance (about 6 gigawatts worth), the grid’s supplies will again be tight.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has this morning issued another of its (dreaded) level 3 lack of reserve market notices. Unless there’s a response from generators, there could be an “interrupted load” (aka blackout) of 84 megawatts in NSW at about 4.30pm today.

To be clear, the market is likely to respond, so the lights and (more likely) fans etc. can stay on.

Still, there are also the LOR level 2 warnings in NSW for today, from 3pm to 4.30pm (Aedt) and 6pm to 8pm. These both call for about 750-800 more megawatts to be made available as a reserve – in case some of the presently committed generation capacity drops out.

Even with forecasts of easing heat tomorrow, there are probably going to be more such alerts (and for Queensland). It’s a reminder that the buffer between “all’s good” and “oops” is quite narrow.

Benita Kolovos

Another rental bill to go before Victorian parliament next year

Another bill will be introduced to the Victorian parliament next year, to:

• Ban agents and owners from charging extra fees when paying rent or applying for a property

• Stop landlords making dubious bond claims without sufficient evidence

• Cap the cost of breaking a lease

• If a tenant requests an additional electronic key or fob, making it a requirement for landlords to provide one, and making it an offence to terminate electronic access unless it’s part of the process of terminating a rental agreement.

You can read our previous story on these changes below:

Benita Kolovos

Some elements of Victorian rental reform already announced last month and last year

The other elements in the bill were previously announced last month and in September 2023, as part of the government’s housing statement. They are:

• Remove all no-fault (or no-cause) evictions

• Ban all types of rental bidding

• Increase the notice period for rent increases and notices to vacate to 90 days

• Make rental applications easier and protect the privacy of renters by introducing obligations around the use, collection and destruction of renters’ personal information

• Introduce mandatory training, licensing and registration for real estate agents, property managers, conveyancers and owners corp’ managers

• Introduce tougher penalties for real estate agents and sellers who break the law

• Require rental properties to have yearly smoke alarm safety checks

• Establish Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria

• Ban third-party businesses, particularly rent tech apps, from charging extra fees when paying rent or applying for a property

Benita Kolovos

Victorian rental reforms to include penalties for landlords who don’t comply with minimum standards

Among the new changes, the bill will expand the list of factors considered by Consumer Affairs and the Victorian civil and administrative tribunal when assessing a rent review. This will include the size of the rent increase and any other improvements that have – or haven’t – been made at the property since the last increase.

The minister for consumer affairs minister, Gabrielle Williams, said this was important because “it enables VCAT and CAV to get a more accurate determination of whether that rent increase is exorbitant”.

[And] I think this will be extremely welcomed by renters across our state, and particularly those who are doing it tough and who may have seen quite extreme individual rent increases in recent months and years.

The other new feature contained in the bill is new penalties for landlords who don’t comply with the government’s minimum rental standards. Agents could be fined up to $59,000 and individuals $11,00 if they advertise or offer to let properties that do not meet the standards. Williams said:

We’re talking about things like a functioning toilet, hot and cold running water, lockable doors. These aren’t asking for luxury. They’re asking for the basics of liveability, and they are very important to ensuring that we’ve got a housing stock across our state that is safe and comfortable for renters.

Now, at the moment, the rental minimum standards would apply from the time of occupation, what we’re doing today is making them apply from the time of advertisement or time the property is put up for lease. Why? Because when renters move into their property, we want them focused on where they’re going to put the couch and whether they can find a rug that matches the curtains, not gearing up for a dispute with their landlord.

Benita Kolovos

Victorian government to announce raft of rental reforms

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has been holding a press conference in Melbourne to announce the government would introduce a raft of rental reforms to parliament.

The consumer and planning legislation (housing statement reform) bill would bring into effect reforms the government has already announced, as well as two extra changes.

The two new reforms that we are announcing today is about giving regulators more powers to crack down on those excessive rent hikes that renters have told us is putting a lot of financial stress on their personal circumstances, and secondly, putting in place a minimum standards that are at the point of advertising or offering the property to rent.