David Pocock rules out supporting ‘weak’ PRRT changes
Paul Karp
The independent senator, David Pocock, has ruled out voting for Labor’s petroleum resource rent tax changes.
Pocock, the Greens and Jacqui Lambie Network have all pushed Labor to go further in collecting more revenue. The Greens argue it is “not clear” the changes – designed to net $2.4bn over four years – will capture any additional revenue, rather than simply bring forward tax that would be paid in later years.
In an interview on Sky News, Pocock described the changes as “embarrassing” and “weak”:
🚨Independent Senator David Pocock tells @aclennell he categorically will not support the government’s PRRT changes in their current form.
He says the proposal to bring forward revenue by reducing deductions is “embarrassing” & “weak” #auspol @SkyNewsAust
— Cam Reddin (@CamReddin) August 29, 2023
The Coalition has suggested they would like to see greater investment in gas production, but has not decided its position on the PRRT. On Sunday the finance minister, Jane Hume, cited the fact the opposition hasn’t yet seen the legislation.
Key events
Pocock calls for windfall profits tax and PRRT changes
On ABC Afternoon Briefing, Pocock proposed a windfall profits tax and explained his concerns about Labor’s PRRT changes.
Asked about tax changes to increase revenue, he said:
We could start with a windfall profits tax. Many have been calling for it, we’ve had years where fossil fuel companies have made eye watering record profits not by anything special that they have done .. These are Australian resources that they are getting extraordinary profits from due to the war in Ukraine, and yet Australians are not enjoying a share of that.”
Pocock described PRRT as an example of “low hanging fruit”. He said the Albanese government “is really disappointingly going for the weakest target”.
Offshore LNG has paid zero cents of petroleum rent tax, instead of saying we should probably pay your fair share for our gas, they are simply wanting to bring forward the payments.
David Pocock rules out supporting ‘weak’ PRRT changes
Paul Karp
The independent senator, David Pocock, has ruled out voting for Labor’s petroleum resource rent tax changes.
Pocock, the Greens and Jacqui Lambie Network have all pushed Labor to go further in collecting more revenue. The Greens argue it is “not clear” the changes – designed to net $2.4bn over four years – will capture any additional revenue, rather than simply bring forward tax that would be paid in later years.
In an interview on Sky News, Pocock described the changes as “embarrassing” and “weak”:
🚨Independent Senator David Pocock tells @aclennell he categorically will not support the government’s PRRT changes in their current form.
He says the proposal to bring forward revenue by reducing deductions is “embarrassing” & “weak” #auspol @SkyNewsAust
— Cam Reddin (@CamReddin) August 29, 2023
The Coalition has suggested they would like to see greater investment in gas production, but has not decided its position on the PRRT. On Sunday the finance minister, Jane Hume, cited the fact the opposition hasn’t yet seen the legislation.
Sarah Basford Canales
Office of Australian Information Commissioner Angelene Falk is up now, fronting senators at the Parliamentary hearing into the country’s FOI regime.
Earlier today, former FOI commissioner Leo Hardiman made a series of allegations against Falk’s leadership and character, which he said contributed to his decision to resign in March this year.
Hardiman also alleged the cultural problems at the OAIC were “entirely a product” of Falk’s leadership.
Falk said on Tuesday afternoon she took issue with a number of Hardiman’s comments but said she had “very limited opportunity to consider the matters” said this morning and needed a “reasonable opportunity to respond”.
‘No option’ but to Taser Indigenous man in fatal arrest, Queensland police officer tells inquest
Some news from AAP on the first of three days of evidence for the inquest into the death of Ashley Charles Washington:
The Queensland police officer who apprehended Washington has told the coroner’s court he had no option but to repeatedly fire his Taser.
Sen Const Jamie Williams, of Toowoomba’s dog squad, was the first officer to encounter Ashley after he allegedly burgled a home and assaulted its resident before leaving the scene at 6.35pm with money and a pair of scissors.
Williams told the hearing he was a lone officer in a marked police vehicle with his police dog.
The inquest was shown six minutes of footage from Williams’ body-worn camera that showed him intercepting Ashley on the street and telling him to get on the ground.
In the footage, Ashley can be heard yelling incoherently and screaming before Williams attempts to grab him, then deploys the police dog.
Williams testified that Ashley stabbed him in the head with the pair of scissors and he heard the dog yelping after being repeatedly stabbed.
Ashley is then hit by wired probes from the Taser and falls to the ground before getting up and being stunned again by Williams, who proceeds to deliver four cycles of electric shocks before other officers arrive and pin Ashley to the ground.
Williams told the inquest that using his stun gun was his only option other than drawing his weapon.
You can read more on this story here:
Albanese is asked about the 4% pay rise for federal MPs and public office holders. He tells reporters in Adelaide:
The remuneration tribunal decides all of these things – and that’s as it should be … I have no role – and that’s as it should be. You do not want politicians determining their own conditions.
Albanese says “people in Canberra making decisions has not led to a circumstance where the closing the gap targets are being met”.
We need to do better in health, in education, in housing. And the way to do better is to involve people and ask what their views are because we know that the most successful programs – Indigenous Rangers, community health programs – are ones in which Indigenous people have taken ownership of the processes.
Albanese speaks in Adelaide on eve of referendum date announcement
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is currently speaking in Adelaide about the referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament.
He says South Australia will be a critical state in deciding the outcome of the referendum and he will be visiting a number of times in the lead up to Australians casting their vote.
Tomorrow I will be giving a speech alongside Peter Malinauskas and we will be announcing the date of the referendum, where Australians will have the opportunity to say yes to recognition, yes to listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples about matters that affect them in order to say yes to getting better results.
Bureau of Meteorology maintains ‘El Niño alert’ outlook
Graham Readfearn
The Bureau of Meteorology has declared Australia is not yet in the grip of an El Niño climate pattern, keeping the nation on an alert for the system that can increase the risk of a hot and dry summer.
Australia has been on an “El Niño alert” since May, meaning there is a 70% chance of the system locking in place. In an update this afternoon, the bureau said:
Overall, atmospheric indicators suggest the Pacific Ocean and atmosphere are not yet consistently reinforcing each other, as occurs during El Niño events. El Niño typically suppresses spring rainfall in eastern Australia.
The World Meteorological Organization declared the onset of an El Niño in July, following on from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
But the bureau has stopped short of making the declaration, pointing to a lack of tell-tale signs in the atmosphere.
ABC journalists defamed former commando to protect their egos, court told
Some news on the Heston Russell trial via AAP:
The former army commando Heston Russell enjoyed an outstanding reputation before the ABC seriously defamed him to stroke its own ego, his barrister has told a court.
Russell is suing the national broadcaster over two articles, from October 2020 and November 2021, that claimed commandos from the platoon he led executed an unarmed prisoner in Afghanistan in mid-2012 because there was no room on a helicopter.
The second ABC article reported an investigation into the platoon had been confirmed by the defence department when it had not been and linked to the earlier article.
Russell was named as platoon leader by the broadcaster. He denies the allegations and is suing for damages, saying his reputation was ruined and his feelings hurt by the reporting.
His barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, told the federal court on Tuesday the ABC seriously harmed Russell’s public standing and had admitted doing so.
The articles by journalists Mark Willacy and Josh Robertson were wrong, she said, and the ABC could not prove the allegations, forcing it to rely on a defence that publishing them was in the public interest.
We have more on this story here:
The Bureau of Meteorology has still not yet declared an El Niño in its latest outlook for Australia released today, maintaining the outlook at “El Niño alert” level.
More to come from my colleague Graham Readfearn on this shortly.
Sarah Basford Canales
Law Council warns FoI regime undermined by bureaucratic delays and lack of funding
The Law Council of Australia is concerned the country’s FoI regime is being undermined by bureaucratic and administrative delays and a lack of adequate funding.
In an appearance at a Senate inquiry into how freedom of information laws operate on Tuesday, the Law Council president, Luke Murphy, said an effective regime is critical to the integrity of Australia’s democratic institutions.
But a series of challenges were threatening to undermine it.
Murphy said:
These challenges appear to be arising due to, for instance, bureaucratic and administrative delays, excessive document redaction, underresourcing, and an overreliance on statutory exemptions.
These systemic practices shield information from public scrutiny, restrict transparency of decisions made by commonwealth agencies, and limit timely and informed public discourse on government policies.
The Law Council called for the office of the Australian Information Commissioner, the FoI watchdog, to be properly resourced in order to foster a pro-disclosure culture among agencies, as well as more proficiently process decision reviews.
Jordyn Beazley
Thanks Emily for guiding us through today’s news! I’ll now be with you for the rest of today.
Emily Wind
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today! I’ll leave you with my colleague Jordyn Beazley, who will guide you through this evening’s news. Take care.
Sarah Basford Canales
AFSA says limited resources and ‘vexatious’ applicants hamper FoI efforts
Back to the freedom of information inquiry, and the Australian Financial Security Authority is now fronting senators.
The AFSA national manager of government business, Elyse Herrald-Woods, has told the inquiry its FoI functions are hamstrung by limited resources, “vexatious” FoI applicants and little guidance from the information watchdog.
Herrald-Woods said the small agency has a 0.5 full-time equivalent officer to deal with its FoI functions, who she said deals with around 40 to 50 applications each year.
She continued:
We question whether the [FoI] regime has, in some instances, moved too far towards the rights of the applicant when the regime can be, and in our experience is, weaponised by those who seek to cause harm and detriment to government agencies and officials.
AFSA is currently dealing with three applicants displaying unreasonable behaviours and who have either gone through the escalated review processes, or are currently going through those processes. These are just the resource-intensive applicants, there is no clear threshold for identifying when an applicant might have become potentially vexatious as it may include, but is not limited to, harassing or intimidating an individual or agency staff unreasonably interfering with an agency’s operations using the FoI Act to circumvent access restrictions imposed by a court.
Herrald-Woods added the office of the Australian Information Commissioner has provided AFSA with little to no guidance and it is still awaiting advice on how to deal with the “vexatious” applicants.