Police break up neo-Nazi counter-protest in Melbourne
Suspected neo-Nazis were pepper-sprayed by police in Melbourne last night after they tried to disrupt the final night of a 100-day protest in support of refugees.
Protesters supporting a campaign for refugees to be given permanent visas had gathered in Docklands for a peaceful protest.
But a few dozen black-clad counterprotesters turned up at the scene and chanted “white power” and “hail victory”, David Glanz, a spokesperson for the Refugee Action Collective, told the Age.
Police formed a line and pushed the counterprotesters back, pepper-spraying them and forcing them to retreat.
Key events
Regulator sues QBE over allegations it misled policyholders
Jonathan Barrett
The corporate regulator is suing QBE Insurance over allegations it misled customers about the value of premium discounts offered for various home, contents and car insurance products.
Sarah Court, deputy chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, said some customers were promised discounts for their loyalty when renewing their policies, which they didn’t receive.
Where insurers make discount promises to renewing customers, they need to have robust systems and controls in place to make sure their customers receive the discounts they were promised.
ASIC alleges that QBE’s pricing mechanisms, which include the use of algorithms, may have prevented the full value of the promised discounts being applied.
The discounts were offered through more than 500,000 renewal notices to customers including retirees, QBE shareholders, and those holding multiple policies with the insurer, according to the regulator.
The promised discounts were made in statements and renewal notices sent between July 2017 and September 2022, according to the regulator.
ASIC has filed the court proceedings in the federal court and is pursuing penalties. QBE was contacted for comment.
Clare O’Neil says protest against Victorian rezoning plan ‘a bit much’
Moving to the Victorian government’s rezoning plan for 50 affluent suburbs, Clare O’Neil was asked if she agreed with comments from the premier, Jacinta Allan, that those opposed are Nimbys.
She said the plan is “bold and ambitious” and affects her own electorate:
What I say to people at home, we can’t all complain about the housing crisis and talk about how much we care about the younger generation and then complain when it might affect us. So we do need to get that balance right. We need to see some change here.
On the protest from Brighton residents at the weekend, O’Neil said that “staging a protest before we’ve got any real detail about this is a bit much”:
These are the same people who are complaining about housing options for their kids. We’ve got a younger generation that [are facing] real difficulties here. To make a difference to them we need to see some changes. If we want to make sure we live in a fair country where young people get a good go at getting into home ownership, change has to happen.
Housing minister clarifies comments that stamp duty is ‘bad tax’
Clare O’Neil also clarified comments she made yesterday that stamp duty was a “bad tax”.
She was asked about a report from the Business Council that has suggested states and territories replace stamp duty with a land tax, and said this was a “really good idea” because “stamp duty is a bad tax”, preventing people from “moving around the housing market in the way that suits them best”.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has since outlined why the state will not scrap stamp duty despite agreeing with O’Neil.
Speaking this morning, O’Neil said:
I was actually, in those comments yesterday, commending something the Victorian state government has done, saying they’ll make some limitations on stamp duty. It isn’t a great tax. That being said, it’s a matter for the states and I don’t want to take away from the hugely bold and ambitious things the states are doing on housing.
I’ve got kids, I want them to grow up with good housing opportunities in this country. For the first time we’ve got a Commonwealth government and states and territories all making big radical changes to change the way that housing works in our country and that’s a really good thing for the next generation.
Clare O’Neil speaks on $26m fund for infrastructure in Sydney’s south-west
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, was also up on ABC News Breakfast this morning to discuss the government’s announcement of $26m to fund roads, sewerage, water and power for new homes in Sydney’s south-west.
We had more on this earlier in the blog, here.
She was asked about the Coalition’s announcement of $5bn for infrastructure, and argued “they’re kind of copying our homework”:
This is just $26m of what is a much bigger sum of money … just part of the $32bn we’re spending.
O’Neil argued that the opposition was planning to cut $19bn out of the money the government had committed to housing, and said the Coalition “ignored this problem for the ten years they were in office”.
Labor and the opposition have traded barbs over housing all morning. Earlier, Bridget McKenzie repeatedly told ABC RN the opposition had to “solve the housing crisis of Labor’s making”.
Power restored to Broken Hill following prolonged outage
As of 4:30am this morning, all power has been restored to Broken Hill in western NSW.
Thousands had been experiencing a prolonged power outage after severe thunderstorms last Thursday flattened transmission infrastructure, and backup generation tripped at on Monday, leaving homes in the dark again – and in sweltering 35C heat yesterday.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, was on ABC News Breakfast earlier and said load sharing would continue until 6 November – which means potentially “more power disruptions” if the grid can’t bear the load.
There was a major weather event that ripped through six power lines that disconnected maintenance power from Broken Hill late last week. There should’ve been a redundancy in place, there should’ve been two gas generators to keep the lights on … I have declared a natural disaster in Broken Hill and that means the funds as well as the workers will be on site as soon as possible.
Minns said it was “absolutely not” acceptable that one of the backup generators has been out of action for nearly 12 months, and that “compensation for communities must happen”:
The number one priority is to get the electricity back on, number two is to get the town back on its feet. But we’ll have an investigation as to how this happened and regional communities quite rightly feel let down.
Drone footage of the area where a short burst of high-speed winds and heavy hail battered an area south of Broken Hill. Transgrid says it could take weeks for repairs to be completed, and the region will run on generators in the meantime. 📹@billormonde_2 pic.twitter.com/A4hUjr5Mty
— Sarah McConnell (@SarahJMcConnell) October 17, 2024
Qantas says industrial action not expected to impact customers
As we flagged earlier, around 300 Qantas engineers are set to walk off the job for 24 hours from this morning.
AAP reports that Qantas is not expecting the industrial action in Melbourne or Brisbane to have any impact on customers. A spokesperson said:
There’s been some industrial action by engineers since late September and so far we’ve been able to successfully ensure it hasn’t resulted in any flight delays or cancellations.
The airline says the engineer’s demands are unsustainable. Qantas said it has had meetings with the unions and wanted to find a way forward, but they had chosen to take action.
Our preference is to reach an agreement that includes pay rises and other benefits. This includes annual pay increases, increased apprentice pay, as well as new career progression opportunities and more advanced training.
Watch: the moment Lidia Thorpe was sworn in as senator
Just circling back to those comments from Bridget McKenzie earlier, who argued Independent senator Lidia Thorpe had breached her oath of allegiance by protesting King Charles.
When Thorpe was sworn in, in August 2022, she was told to repeat the oath of allegiance after she initially described the Queen as a coloniser.
Speaking to ABC RN yesterday (see post), Thorpe said she had sworn allegiance “under duress” and it was “a very, very difficult thing to do as a Blak, sovereign woman.”
However, I was told that if I didn’t do it, I couldn’t be a senator to bring Blak issues into this space and around the world…
You can watch the moment Thorpe was first sworn in as a senator below:
Man charged for allegedly vandalising Queen Victoria statue in Sydney
NSW police have charged a man for allegedly vandalising a statue of Queen Victoria in Sydney’s CBD.
About 5.30am yesterday, police were called to the Queen Victoria Building over reports the statue had been vandalised. Officers established a crime scene and an investigation commenced, with assistance from the public order and riot squad.
About 10pm last night a search warrant was executed at a home in Strathfield, with police allegedly locating and seizing paint bottles. A 26-year-old man was arrested at the home and taken to Burwood police station.
He was charged with malicious damage and wearing a disguise with intent to commit an indictable offence, and granted conditional bail to appear before Burwood local court on 12 November.
McKenzie argues Thorpe breached her oath of allegiance with protest to king
Bridget McKenzie was also asked about Lidia Thorpe’s protest at King Charles’ parliamentary reception on Monday, which she said raised some “quite tricky constitutional questions” for her.
McKenzie said she wasn’t suggesting “we shut down protest or silence debate”, and noted Thorpe was not the only republican in the room or the “only person that believes in treaty and truth telling”. But she argued Thorpe should have taken the same approach as Greens leader Adam Bandt:
He made a legitimate and potent protest by snubbing the event entirely … whereas Senator Thorpe, I think, is the only parliamentarian that I’ve ever known to disavow their oath of allegiance to our sovereign and their heirs and successes according to law.
What she did on Monday essentially breached – this is a question I think we actually need to investigate, because it’s the first instance I’ve ever actually experienced where a parliamentarian who’s sworn that oath of allegiance has breached that oath of allegiance. And so what then is the consequence of that for our constitution?
McKenzie says detached housing in outer suburbs most affordable for young people
Do Teal MPs need to rethink the Victorian government’s rezoning proposal and embrace it, given we have a housing crisis?
Bridget McKenzie responded that we need to “throw the kitchen sink” at addressing the housing crisis, arguing that “detached housing is the most affordable”.
If we’re interested in those young families in particular who want to get a foot in the door, then the most affordable houses that we can build are actually detached housing in those outer suburbs.
But what about exploring high-rise density? McKenzie said we need to “absolutely be looking at all solutions”.
Teal MPs ‘biggest Nimby’s in town at the moment’: Nationals senator
Bridget McKenzie, the shadow infrastructure minister, was just on ABC RN where she was asked if the opposition would match Labor’s housing commitments?
She argued that their plan would “get more houses built than Labor’s plan” and said:
It’s not about who’s got more money … because it will be the private sector that’s actually delivering the house and land packages around capital cities and regional capitals across the country.
Asked again, how much less would the opposition spend on housing, she didn’t state a figure but said: “why should the taxpayer be building the houses?”
She was asked about Victoria’s rezoning plan for 50 affluent suburbs, and argued that Teal MPs are the “biggest Nimby’s in town at the moment” – meaning “not in my backyard”.
They don’t want transmission lines, wind towers, solar farms in their backyards, or do they want to see their leafy suburbs – very affluent suburbs – make a contribution to the housing crisis.
I think we need to take the politics out of it, and the Teals like to make a big play that they want to not play politics. Well, I don’t see any greater political move from the Teals then saying, ‘Look, can someone else help us … solve the housing crisis? Can we do that down the road in those peri-urban suburbs out in western Melbourne and Western Sydney?’
Number of NSW residents who can’t afford GP more than triples: Ncoss data
New research from the NSW Council of Social Services shows the percentage of people who can’t afford a GP visit has more than tripled across the state over four years.
The report was commissioned by Ncoss and conducted by the University of Canberra, finding that patient experiences with health services – including GPs, specialists and dentists – in NSW had gone backwards since its 2020 report.
NCoss’s chief executive, Cara Varian, said the report “illustrates that the health system is broken”:
When people can’t afford the most fundamental medical care it leads to bad health outcomes and puts pressure on hospitals. The NSW and commonwealth governments must take urgent action to address these matters.
The key statistics from the report include:
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A 246% surge in patients who delayed or didn’t see a doctor due to cost.
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A 116% increase in patients who delayed or did not see a specialist due to cost across NSW. In regional areas, there was a 202% increase.
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A 47% increase in patients who felt GPs did not spend enough time with them. In regional areas there was a 63% increase.
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A 25% increase in the number of NSW patients delaying or not seeing a dentist due to cost.
Ncoss is calling on the government to improve affordability and reduce out-of-pocket costs, particularly for vulnerable populations, and enhance healthcare access in regional areas.
300 Qantas engineers to strike for 24 hours
Around 300 Qantas engineers will walk off the job for 24 hours from this morning.
Engine components maintenance engineers in Melbourne will strike from 9am Aedt, with a large rally expected at the city’s Tullamarine airport international terminal from 10am.
Brisbane heavy maintenance engineers will also strike from 1:30am Aest for 24 hours, with a large rally planned at the Brisbane international terminal from 9am.
The Qantas Engineers’ Alliance – a union alliance including the AMWU, the AWU, and the ETU – said further action was necessary after “Qantas management refused to return to the bargaining table and increase its previous offer”.
The current enterprise agreement expired at the end of June, and the union has put forward a wage claim of 5% a year, with a 15% first-year increase to compensate for 3.5 years of wage freezes and as an industry catch-up payment.
The AMWU’s national secretary, Steve Murphy, said union members were “voting overwhelmingly to escalate our industrial activities.” Michael Wright, national secretary with the ETU, said that “Qantas needs to stop stalling, start showing their respect to these workers and pay them what they’re worth”.
Daniel raises infrastructure concerns amid Victorian government rezoning plans
Zoe Daniel was also asked about a proposal within her Victorian electorate for high-rise housing, having already raised concerns.
The state premier, Jacinta Allan, has announced an overhaul of planning rules in 50 inner-Melbourne areas located near public transport, to allow for greater density:
Daniel said she “absolutely” supports more housing within her electorate, but accused the government of announcing its housing policies “on the front pages of these Sunday newspapers with no warning to local councils or communities, which causes residents concern and uncertainty about what the plan is”:
And I think that’s really bad practice. In low-rise suburbs, to put on the front page of the paper that you’re considering towers of up to 20-storeys adjacent to train stations – where there is nothing anything like that height, even barely half that height in the entire electorate – requires conversations with people, to bring them along and to say, ‘well, this is actually what we plan to do’.
She also expressed concern over infrastructure demands, stating: “Where’s the childcare? Where are the schools? Where’s the healthcare? What are the transport impacts of that?”
None of those conversations … have been had, and they need to be had.