Category: Australian News

Today a Senate inquiry interim report into Australia’s national cultural policy has called for greater support to the Australian festivals sector to cope with rapidly rising overheads after a string of cancellations. The report also recommends legislative action on local content quotas for streaming giants as a matter of priority.

The Greens have called on the Albanese Government for an arts support package in Tuesday’s federal budget to provide this much-needed support.

Greens spokesperson for the arts Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:

“The arts in Australia are being crunched in the cost of living crisis and they need support in Tuesday’s Federal Budget.

“The Senate has heard compelling evidence that the Government should step in to mitigate the rapidly rising cost of overheads, like insurance premiums, particularly for those small, medium and local Australian music and arts festivals.

“This is not just about the big name, corporate backed festivals, but more importantly, it’s about supporting local and independent festivals.

“Live performance events bring significant economic benefits that flow through to jobs in hospitality, tourism, trades and other sectors. This would be a minor budget measure that would make a significant difference.

“I am hopeful that the Government will respond to the needs of the sector in next week’s budget.

On local screen content quotas for streaming giants, Senator Hanson-Young said:

“The Greens have long called for streaming giants like Netflix, Disney, Amazon and Stan to reinvest 20 percent of their Australian earnings in local content. It is vital that all Australians see themselves and their communities reflected on their screens.

“The Government had promised to have these quotas implemented by 1 July this year – legislation is now well and truly overdue. I urge the Government to introduce legislation as a matter of urgency.”

The Immigration Minister Andrew Giles must have something to hide because nothing else can explain why he refuses to front up and answer questions.

Giles remains in hiding as more questions arise about the Albanese Labor government’s mishandling of the released detainee who allegedly bashed a cancer survivor during a violent home robbery.

If anyone can find Giles today these are the two serious questions he needs to answer:

One. Why did the Labor Government not oppose bail when Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan appeared in court for allegedly breaching his visa conditions?

Two. Who signed off on the visa condition that meant Doukoshkan was not required to wear an ankle bracelet?

Reports today confirm Doukoshkan was required to wear an ankle bracelet when he appeared in court in February but he was not required to wear an ankle bracelet at the time of the alleged bashing offence. What happened?

This Labor Government is being crushed under the weight of its own incompetence.

Sky News has reported today that the government is even misleading itself, with ministers issued incorrect talking points as they try to deflect blame and attention away from their incompetent mishandling.

Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil chose not to hear questions or provide answers about the government’s failures on Sunrise this morning.

Australians deserve better. They deserve straight answers, but this government is hiding.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles lied to the Australian people that the Labor Government was monitoring all the criminals it had released from immigration detention, including the one who went on to allegedly bash a cancer-surviving grandmother.

Gile went on ABC radio in March to defend the Albanese Government after it was revealed that detainees arrested for breaching their visa conditions would have their charges dropped because the Labor Government had issued them with invalid visas.

During the interview, Giles tried to reassure the Australian people that “there has been no change to the strict monitoring arrangements for every one of these people” released by Labor into the community, including seven murderers, 37 sex offenders, and 72 violent offenders.

“There has been no changes to the monitoring arrangements, as I’ve said consistently, and indeed, as senior officials of the federal police said in Senate estimates only weeks ago, these are people who are being constantly monitored. We know where they are. And all of these visas have been reissued.” — Andrew Giles, ABC AM interview with David Lipson, 13 March, 2024. https://minister.homeaffairs.g…

One of those detainees, Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan, appeared in court this week charged with the brutal bashing and robbery of 73-year-old Ninette Simons.

It has now been revealed the government allowed Doukoshkan to remove his GPS tracker following a recommendation from the Commonwealth’s community protection board.

The Minister for Immigration either lied to the Australian people about the government’s monitoring regime or he didn’t know what was happening in his portfolio on an issue of critical importance to public safety.

Either way he has to go.

The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is a close friend of Giles, but he needs to put that friendship aside and act in the best interests of all Australians, who deserve to be safe in their homes. He needs to sack the Immigration Minister.

Fuelled by high inflation because the Albanese Government can’t get spending under control, Labor’s HECS debt chaos is a mess of its own making.

“Today’s announcement is all trickery and deceit and doesn’t fix Labor’s student debt trap that has hit 3 million Australians,” Senator Henderson said.

“Under Labor, student debts will still increase by a crippling 11.1% (3.9%, 3.2% and 4% as reported), driving up the average loan by $2,800.

“A HELP-HECS indexation rate of 4% this year would be the highest in 23 years.

“Under the Coalition’s strong economic management, low inflation meant indexation averaged just 1.7% pa.

“Whether it’s student debt, housing or paying the bills, young Australians continue to suffer acute cost-of-living pain under this incompetent Labor government,” Senator Henderson said.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said student debt is only skyrocketing because of Labor’s homegrown inflation.

“Australians are paying the price for Labor’s economic mismanagement. The best way to address growing HECS debts is to fight Labor’s homegrown inflation at its source by reining in spending and strong budget management. Instead, Labor has let spending and inflation run out of control to the point that inflation is now stubborn, sticky, and homegrown.

“Today’s announcement is a glaring admission from Labor that real wages have been going backwards under their government.

“The policy announced will provide marginal relief to Australians struggling to pay down their debts with the rising cost of living, with experts expecting that over the next year indexation will still exceed 4%.

“With the last budget forecasting WPI to exceed CPI from 2023-24, this change will only have an impact if Labor are expecting further collapses in real wages like Australians have experienced since the election.

“There remain a number of questions Labor must clarify, including what the backdated proposal will mean for students who paid down their debts following the 7.1% indexation.

“Labor’s response to inflation continues to put band aids on bullet wounds. To provide cost of living relief for all Australians, Labor must deliver a budget that puts downward pressure on its homegrown inflation.”

Shadow Minister for Education Sarah Henderson has called on the Prime Minister to sack Labor’s hapless education minister, Jason Clare, unless he is prepared to show leadership and ban hate speech on university campuses.

This includes the use of anti-Jewish terrorist slogans and chants such as ‘intifada’ which constitute blatant antisemitism.

“Jason Clare’s trainwreck press conference when he claimed ‘intifada’ and ‘from the river to the sea’ “mean different things to different people” shows an appalling failure of leadership,” Senator Henderson said.

“In defending the use of slogans and chants which call for terrorist violence against Israel and the destruction of the Israeli state, Jason Clare is implicitly green lighting anti-Jewish hate speech on university campuses.

“Following Jason Clare’s failure to directly condemn an activist academic who encouraged children to chant ‘intifada’, it is no wonder the Prime Minister has openly rebuked his education minister today.

“Jason Clare must ban hate speech on campuses to protect the safety of all university students and staff, or he must resign,” Senator Henderson said.

This morning in Sydney, Senator Henderson convened a second round table of Jewish university students, staff and community leaders who shared horror stories at university campuses.

“Everyone at an Australian university has a right to be safe,” Senator Henderson said.

“This morning, students and academics shared terrible stories of intimidation, harassment, and threats to their safety.

“The failure to protect Jewish students and staff on campus, including by shutting down encampments, is particularly bad at the University of Sydney.

“USyd’s failure to uphold codes of conduct and shut down the encampment has emboldened the activists, fuelling harassment and intimidation of Jewish and non-Jewish students.

The Coalition will seek to establish an urgent Senate inquiry into antisemitism on university campuses.

In the face of an alarming rise of antisemitic protests and encampments, Shadow Minister for Education Sarah Henderson said Australians were witnessing a failure of leadership from the Albanese Government and vice-chancellors.

“Everyone on university campuses deserves to be safe, including Jewish students, staff and visitors,” Senator Henderson said.

“The University of Melbourne and University of Sydney, in particular, have become hotbeds of antisemitic activism, in flagrant breach of university policies and codes of conduct which are not being adequately enforced.

“It is time for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to show leadership and for his education minister to step up.”

The proposed inquiry will be conducted by the Senate Education and Employment References Committee, chaired by Liberal senator for Western Australia, Matt O’Sullivan.

A motion to establish the inquiry will be lodged in the Senate next week.

“Failure to enforce university guidelines not only creates an unsafe environment for learning but fuels hate speech, and potential violence,” Senator Henderson said.

“Allowing the establishment of encampments opens the floodgates to round-the-clock occupation by extremist protestors, including those who have no connection with a university.

“There must be zero tolerance for antisemitism.

“This is a level of harassment that would not be tolerated for any other group of students.”

A Senate inquiry is urgently required to investigate how antisemitism can be shut down on university campuses, Senator Henderson said.

“An inquiry would not only provide university students and staff with an important voice, but examine what actions or legislative changes may be needed to ensure university campuses are a safe place to learn.”

The Albanese Labor Government is working with the Victorian Government to bust Melbourne’s congestion and ensure Victoria’s roads are safer and get people where they need to be faster.

In next week’s Budget we will invest a further $3.25 billion to North East Link in the 2024-25 Budget, taking the total Australian Government funding to $5 billion.

Once completed, the North East Link will get 15,000 trucks off local roads each day and reduce travel times by up to 35 minutes.

These new investments are towards the non-tolled components of the project, including the M80 Ring Road Upgrades and North East Link Connections and Eastern Freeway Upgrades packages of work.

They will create new lanes, implement smart technology and provide a seamless connection to the North East Link tunnels.

This announcement builds on what we are already delivering in Victoria, including over $1.2 billion for the Western Highway and the Princes Highway corridors, and more than $2.2 billion for the Regional Rail Revival program to upgrade every regional passenger line in Victoria.

Where the previous Morrison Liberal Government had a deluge of press releases with a drought of delivery, the Albanese Labor Government is ensuring that projects can be completed and benefits flow to communities.

We are getting on with building a better future for all Australians.

We will have more to say about transport infrastructure spending in Victoria at Budget time.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

“Being stuck in traffic doesn’t just waste precious time you could be spending with the kids, friends or just getting on with life. It’s bad for productivity too.

“We’re investing $3.25 billion making sure Melbourne’s fast growing north east has the infrastructure they need and fixing the missing link in Melbourne’s freeway network.

“It’ll save commuters more than half an hour on the roads, and get 15,000 trucks off suburban roads each day – which means safer roads, getting you where you want to be faster and easier.”

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King

“We are working for all Australians to deliver significant infrastructure that connects communities, stimulates jobs and builds the future of our nation.

“The hard work we undertook to clean up the mess in the infrastructure pipeline means there is room to deal with ongoing cost pressures and plan for future projects.

“I thank the Victorian Government for working closely with us to ensure the delivery of this project.”

Premier of Victoria Jacinta Allan

“Following ten years of neglect under the Liberals and Nationals, it is great to have a partner in Canberra that can help deliver the projects important to Victorians.

“This project has been talked about for 60 years – we’re getting on and building the much-needed missing link because families in our growing state need it and jobs depend on it.”

Victorian Minister for Transport Infrastructure Danny Pearson

“We’re getting on and delivering this important project that will slash travel times and help to keep Victorians moving.”

Australia has imposed a targeted financial sanction and travel ban on Russian citizen Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev for his senior leadership role in the LockBit ransomware group.

This is the second use of Australia’s autonomous cyber sanctions framework and part of ongoing coordinated international law enforcement action.

Australia continues to experience an increase in persistent and pervasive ransomware activity by cyber criminals across Australian critical infrastructure, government, industry and community sectors.

Under Operation Cronos, the Australian Signals Directorate and Australian Federal Police worked with international partners, including the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US), to identify Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev as part of LockBit’s senior leadership.

Lockbit is a prolific criminal ransomware group and works to destabilise and disrupt key sectors for financial gain.

LockBit ransomware has been used against Australian, UK and US businesses, comprising 18% of total reported Australian ransomware incidents in 2022-23 and 119 reported victims in Australia.

The new sanction under the cyber sanctions framework makes it a criminal offence to provide assets to Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, or to use or deal with his assets.

The framework is intended to disrupt and deter the perpetrators of malicious cyber activity, such as ransomware.

The Australian Government continues to discourage businesses and individuals from paying ransoms or extortion claims to cyber criminals and can provide help and advice.

If you are asked to pay a ransom you should:

• Call the Australian Cyber Security Hotline on 1300 CYBER1 (1300 292 371) for cyber security assistance; and
• Report the cybercrime, incident or vulnerability to the Australian Signals Directorate

Australian businesses can help protect themselves from ransomware by backing up their files and work, and ensuring staff remain vigilant to possible threats.  

More information and tips can be found at Ransomware | Cyber.gov.au

Further detail about Operation Cronos can be found on the AFP website.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles:

“We continue to see governments, critical infrastructure, businesses and households in Australia targeted by malicious cyber actors.

The Australian Signals Directorate and the Australian Federal Police have worked with international counterparts to link Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev to LockBit’s senior leadership.

“Cyber sanctions are a key component of the Australian Government’s work to deter cybercrime and help protect Australians by exposing the activities and identity of cyber criminals operating across jurisdictions.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong:

“Australia remains committed to promoting a rules-based cyberspace, grounded in international law and norms of responsible behaviour, and holding accountable those who flout the rules.”

“Sanctions impose costs and consequences on individuals for their actions – we will continue to use them where and when appropriate.”

Minister for Cyber Security, the Hon Clare O’Neil MP:

“Today’s announcement demonstrates the Australian Government’s ongoing commitment under the 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy to continue to deter and respond to malicious cyber activity.

“This sanction is an important step in breaking the ransomware business model, preventing cybercriminals from profiting from attacks on Australian citizens and businesses.

“The damage done by LockBit in Australia is significant. For too long, criminals like those behind LockBit have hidden in the shadows. Our government is changing that. Hunting down cyber criminals by working with our international partners to hack the hackers and punishing them where we can.”

Today we will travel to Funafuti for the second bipartisan Pacific visit of this term, to demonstrate Australia’s deep and enduring connection with Tuvalu.

We will meet Tuvalu Prime Minister, the Hon Feleti Teo OBE, and his Cabinet to take forward our shared vision for the Falepili Union.

The Falepili Union embodies Australia’s approach to partnership in the region, by responding to Pacific needs, respecting sovereignty, addressing climate change and delivering Pacific-led solutions to our shared challenges.

We will visit the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project that has reclaimed and stabilised land to safeguard the future of Tuvaluans in the face of climate change.

As a member of the Pacific family, Australia knows that by listening to each other and by acting together, we can shape our region and our world for the better.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong:

“Australia and Tuvalu are working together to navigate our shared challenges, particularly climate change, and to protect the future of Tuvalu’s people, identity and culture.

“Australia’s partnerships with our Pacific neighbours are critical to Australia’s security, and to the security, safety and prosperity of our region as a whole.

“The government and opposition visiting together is a clear statement to the region, that Australia is a steadfast partner in ensuring a region that is peaceful, stable and prosperous.”

Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham:

“In a spirit of bipartisanship I look forward to listening, engaging and working with the government and people of Tuvalu. Australia’s commitment to our Pacific neighbours is enduring, based on mutual respect and deep friendship.

“The close ties between our nations embody cooperation in fields such as health, education, finance, climate change and security. They strengthen the ability of Australia and Tuvalu to overcome shared challenges together, and contribute to regional peace, prosperity and stability.

“Australia is stronger when we speak with one voice, which we emphatically do through these displays of bipartisan commitment to our Pacific Island neighbours. I welcome the Australian Government’s continuance of these missions.”

The Greens-led Senate Select Committee on Supermarket Prices has recommended making price gouging illegal, as well as introducing divestiture laws to create powers to break up Australia’s supermarket duopoly.

“This is a landmark report with serious proposals to tackle the price of food, and the profiteering that has done so much harm to the people of Australia,“ Greens Economic Justice spokesperson and Committee Chair Senator Nick McKim said.

“The committee has produced concrete steps that would tackle these problems head on.”

“Chief amongst these is the recommendation that price gouging be made illegal.”

“This would mean that corporations couldn’t just arbitrarily increase prices without facing consequences from the courts.”

“This would be a significant new power to stop unreasonable pricing that has been rampant for years because of a lack of competition.”

“The committee has also recommended divestiture powers for the supermarket sector, which would give the Federal Court the power to break up corporations when they abuse their market power or act unconscionably.”

The committee’s other recommendations include:

• The establishment of a Prices and Competition Commission to examine and monitor prices and price setting across the economy and require supermarkets to publish historical pricing data. 
• That the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct be made mandatory with significant penalties for breaches, and be expanded to greenlife industries and any retailer that stocks food and grocery products
• That the ACCC be given powers to investigate land banking and unfair trading practices. 
• Supermarkets be made to adopt mandatory standards for unit pricing, and notify customers of changes in sizes or prices of products, to help prevent shrinkflation
• For the Government to standardise discount and promotional terms, to prevent supermarkets promoting fake discounts.
• For the Government to back stronger health and safety standards for supermarket employees
• Further investigation of the role of multinational food manufacturers in price increases in Australia
• That the National Food Waste Strategy is updated to require supermarkets to publish data on food waste and consider whether unrealistic cosmetic standards are adding to waste.    

“The committee has heard the devastating evidence on the effects of price gouging and how hard it is hitting people.”

“The Greens established this inquiry to bring food prices down and that is exactly what our recommendations will do.”

“We’ve heard from farmers and suppliers about how the massive market power of Coles and Woolworths is allowing them to act unconscionably.”

“Without the ability to break up the duopoly, our market will remain skewed towards the interests of a few powerful players and nothing will change.”

“There is a Bill before Parliament right now to create divestiture powers. The only thing standing in its way is the Labor Party.”

The report can be found here.