Jacinta Allan’s changes to outer ministry include first ‘men’s behaviour change’ role
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has just announced some changes to her outer ministry, including the introduction of a parliamentary secretary for “men’s behaviour change”.
Allan says Mordialloc MP Tim Richardson will take on the role – the “first position of its kind in Australia”.
He will “focus largely on the influence the internet and social media have on boys’ and men’s attitudes towards women and building respectful relationships”, she says.
Allan has also replaced Darren Cheeseman – who was booted from the parliamentary Labor party last month over “allegations of persistent inappropriate behaviour” as secretary for education with Albert Park MP Nina Taylor.
Josh Bull, the MP for Sunbury, will become parliamentary secretary for infrastructure delivery – supporting both transport and health infrastructure ministers, while upper house MP Sheena Watt will become parliamentary secretary for emergency services.
Key events
Elias Visontay
It’s been a relatively uneventful start to transport and infrastructure senate estimates on Tuesday.
With public servants so far answering questions related to corporate matters of infrastructure, transport and regional development administration, the topic of the department secretary Jim Betts’ preference for statement t-shirts over corporate attire has again come to the fore.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, who like her fellow coalition senators have become known for pushing Betts with pointed questions and criticism of a reliance on answering questions on notice during previous estimates hearings, took a lighter tone on Tuesday,
McKenzie asked: “I hope you didn’t think because I hadn’t mentioned this in the first hour that I haven’t been watching your t-shirt efforts over time. Have you changed your mind since last estimates, are you now a fan of Taylor Swift,” she said, referencing her line of questioning from the previous estimates hearing inquiring if departmental staff had scheduled work travel that coincided with the pop star’s concerts dates.
I feel like I’m living rent free in your head, but at the supply and logistics conference last week I was told when I got there in the afternoon that you indeed had taken the time to,” McKenzie said.
Betts interrupted: “Yep, exactly, so I was wearing a Taylor Swift t-shirt last week at a freight and logistics conference thank you for asking.”
McKenzie queried: “Why did you choose Taytay?”
Betts responded: “It was a gift from one of my staff and I also thought you might enjoy it because I knew you were speaking later on in the agenda and it might come up at senate estimates.”
McKenzie: “Well I did, I did, so I thought that was very sweet of you.”
Betts: “It’s the least I could do if you’re living rent free in my head.”
Department of parliamentary services (DPS) estimates has moved on to the Parliamentary Budget Office and the parliamentary budget officer Dr Stein Helgeby has told senate president Sue Lines and speaker Milton Dick (the presiding officers) he will not seek reappointment when his term expires in November of this year.
A merit based recruitment process to find his replacement will begin soon.
Karen Middleton
Cabinet is ‘crafting the offer for a second term’, Albanese tells MPs
Anthony Albanese has told Labor MPs that cabinet’s work is now concentrating on “crafting the offer for a second term”, as ministers get out and sell the budget’s key measures to voters.
“Crafting the offer” is political campaign jargon, which means cabinet is focused on its plan to win the next election.
Albanese reminded his colleagues that the government was now in the final 12 months of its first term and repeated his post-budget message he cost-of-living measures in the budget included “a tax cut for every taxpayer, an energy rebate for every Australian, benefits for students and a future made in Australia”.
He described Peter Dutton’s budget reply speech as having “no costings, no media release – just chaos and confusion”.
Here is what the House program looks like today.
The House will sit, so bills will be introduced, debated and passed, but the Senate won’t sit until Senate estimates is completed, so no legislation will pass the parliament this sitting fortnight.
Paul Karp
Paterson grills home affairs secretary at Senate estimates
The home affairs secretary, Stephanie Foster, has delivered her opening address at Senate estimates.
Foster rattled off achievements in the portfolio, only touching lightly on the biggest controversies about boat arrivals and handling of releases from immigration detention.
Foster praised the “on water and on land deterrence and response to illegal fishing and people smuggling” and the department’s handling of the “complex litigation caseload arising from the NZYQ high court case and developing legislation to facilitate removing people who have no right to remain in Australia”.
She said:
In among scrutiny and controversy that will always accompany this portfolio it is too easy to forget home affairs officers have achieved amazing things.
The Liberal senator James Paterson has started by asking why Foster hasn’t tabled answers to written questions he supplied ahead of the hearing.
She said:
I have not prepared a document to table in response [because] I always prioritise bringing myself on the day ready to answer questions from the whole committee.
Paterson is now suggesting that Foster has breached a commitment to him to follow the same process she did when she came to estimates prepared to table a document revealing seven murderers were among those released after the high court decision.
Foster said the commitment was to consider whether it was an appropriate use of resources, not a guarantee of the same outcome. Paterson notes reports that Foster was reprimanded by the home affairs minister over the tabling. He suggests transparency has been harmed.
The committee’s chair, Labor senator Nita Green, said Foster was available to answer questions now.
Benita Kolovos
Allan accuses Greens of ‘politicising’ Middle East conflict
Jacinta Allan has hit back at suggestions by the Greens that the Labor government should cut any ties it had with Israel following the attack on Rafah. She says the Victorian government is not responsible for foreign affairs and cannot resolve the conflict:
We are not responsible for defence relationships with other countries, that is the responsibility of the Australian government and the Australian parliament. That is their responsibility. What we do here in Victoria is provide support to communities who are grieving – and there will be many in our community today who are grieving following the attack in the Middle East overnight. Too many people are continuing to lose their lives while this conflict continues. Now the resolution of this conflict rests with those international agencies and bodies and foreign nations who have … the powers to bring this conflict to an end. That is not a power that the Victorian parliament has. That is not a power that the Victorian Greens political party has.
She accused the Greens of “politicising a tragedy” and driving division in the community:
They’re politicising grief, they will choose to bring division to the streets of Melbourne off the back of people losing their lives in the Middle East. That is the choice that the Greens political party are making. So it’s incumbent upon them to explain to the Victorian community how that shows any sign of leadership. It is unacceptable behaviour. We’ve seen disruption on the floor of the parliament. We have seen the parliament become an unsafe workplace for staff and members of parliament because of the actions of the Green political party. We saw it our recent party conference – atrocious behaviour … that’s not leadership.
Benita Kolovos
‘It shouldn’t just be left to women and girls’: Allan on new parliamentary secretary for men’s behavioural change
Jacinta Allan is being asked about the new parliamentary secretary for men’s behavioural change. She says she appointed the MP Tim Richardson as she wants to foster conversations between men:
Having Tim in that role, both as a younger person, and also he’s a dad with two girls as well. He knows some of those parenting challenges firsthand. He’s having conversations with other families. But also too … having these conversations with men and boys is recognising that we are all part of this conversation. We are all part of this cultural change. It shouldn’t just be left to women and girls to talk about how women and girls should be kept safe and the actions they need to take. There is a responsibility on all of us.
Benita Kolovos
Allan reveals more about proposed anti-corruption commissioners
Here’s a bit more information about the commissioners, via the Victorian premier:
There will be one full-time commissioner and two part-time commissioners and will reflect … the different skill sets that are needed to fulfil the roles and the different complaints that may come the commissioners’ way. The appointment process will be led by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, in consultation with the parliament … However, before the appointment can be made, the independent oversight committee needs to consider and endorse the appointment of the commissioner.
She says the terms will be five years and recently retired MPs can’t be commissioners.
Allan says:
There needs to be relevant skill sets whether it’s some experience in workplace relations, industrial relations, human rights, financial skills as well. For example, there’s a range of skills that are required – the bill does spell out though who’s not eligible. For example, someone who served as a member of parliament within the last five years, state or federal, is not able to be considered for the role of the commissioner.
Paul Karp
Australia to deploy disaster expert team to PNG landslide
At Senate estimates, National Emergency Management Authority officials are giving an update on the situation in Papua New Guinea’s Enga province, where more than 2,000 people have been buried by a landslide.
Joe Buffone, the deputy coordinator general for emergency management response, said it was a “sad moment for our neighbours in PNG”. A landslip had occurred, 8 metres deep in places, leading Buffone to conclude there were “unlikely to be survivors”. “Condolences and thoughts remain with them.”
Australia was deploying an expert team of disaster assistance response, alternating one from NSW and one from Queensland. Buffone said the main focus was to support the PNG government dealing with the landslip and helping to recover bodies. About 5,000 people would be displaced as a result of the landslip.
Brendan Moon, the coordinator general, acknowledged the “significant human impacts” of the disaster and said our “hearts go out to the Enga community”.
Moon said there would also be long-term impacts, as food gardens for subsistence agriculture had been affected.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria moves to set up commission to investigate corruption and misconduct allegations against MPs
The Victorian government is introducing long-awaited legislation to parliament it says is the “most significant overhaul of parliamentary oversight in the country”.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, has announced the government will introduce the Parliamentary Workplace Standards and Integrity Bill 2024 today, which if passed will establish a commission to investigate allegations of corruption and misconduct – including bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and victimisation by state MPs.
The bill will also allow for a new Parliamentary Ethics Committee to “promote ethical practices by MPs”.
She says the reforms will ensure Victoria’s parliamentary system operates with the “highest standards of accountability, conduct and integrity” in the country:
This is a big step forward in providing a safe and respectful workplace, whether it’s here on the parliamentary precinct, in elected offices, or in any other area where members of parliament go about their work … This is something that we know we need to bring to the parliament because parliament should be no different to any other workplace.
Josh Butler
AI proving ‘useful tool’ for submissions to parliamentary inquiries, Senate clerk says
Artificial intelligence is proving a “useful tool” for submissions to parliamentary inquiries, says Senate clerk Richard Pye, saying his department has been using the tech to analyse some submissions to inquiries to identify themes emerging from those contributing.
Pye said the Senate doesn’t use diagnostic tools to check whether submissions are AI-generated – after Liberal senator Richard Colbeck raised concerns about AI submissions potentially containing false information.
In a Senate estimates hearing this morning, Pye said there needed to be a “broader awareness” about people using AI to contribute to the Senate, but also cautioned against dismissing out of hand any submissions that had been generated using AI – saying the technology could help more people contribute to the parliamentary process who otherwise may not be able to make submissions.
Colbeck raised concerns about false information making its way into the Senate submission process, saying there should be tools to address that.
Senate president Sue Lines said it was a good point to make about AI, but asked genuinely whether other submissions were also screened for false information – with Colbeck conceding this wasn’t the case. Lines said AI-generated submissions should be “identified”, but said the same standards about accuracy should apply to all submissions, regardless of how they were generated.
Elsewhere in the Senate’s finance and public administration committee, Liberal senators Jane Hume and Simon Birmingham spent a large chunk of time asking about the Senate’s transition from a monthly pay cycle to a fortnightly pay cycle for senators.
ABC denies claim of board meeting over Laura Tingle
Amanda Meade
The ABC has dismissed claims by News Corp that the ABC Board held “emergency talks over Laura Tingle outburst”.
The chief political correspondent for nightly current affairs program 7.30 and the staff-elected director on the ABC Board, Tingle made some comments at the Sydney Writers’ Festival on the weekend which have been seized upon by The Australian.
The ABC denial comes after a front page story in the Australian claimed the board had emergency discussions over “Tingle’s claims that Australia is racist and Peter Dutton is encouraging the abuse of migrants”.
A spokesperson for the ABC told Guardian Australia.
Reports of an emergency ABC Board meeting are incorrect and baseless.
Jacinta Allan’s changes to outer ministry include first ‘men’s behaviour change’ role
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has just announced some changes to her outer ministry, including the introduction of a parliamentary secretary for “men’s behaviour change”.
Allan says Mordialloc MP Tim Richardson will take on the role – the “first position of its kind in Australia”.
He will “focus largely on the influence the internet and social media have on boys’ and men’s attitudes towards women and building respectful relationships”, she says.
Allan has also replaced Darren Cheeseman – who was booted from the parliamentary Labor party last month over “allegations of persistent inappropriate behaviour” as secretary for education with Albert Park MP Nina Taylor.
Josh Bull, the MP for Sunbury, will become parliamentary secretary for infrastructure delivery – supporting both transport and health infrastructure ministers, while upper house MP Sheena Watt will become parliamentary secretary for emergency services.
Save the Children welcomes Australian government’s additional $10m aid for Syria
Yesterday, the Australian government announced it would provide an additional $10m in humanitarian aid for Syria, which has been welcomed by Save the Children CEO Mat Tinkler:
Syria was already experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world before the earthquakes hit and the situation has continued to deteriorate, with almost 17 million Syrians now requiring lifesaving humanitarian assistance.
This commitment from Australia sends the message that even as donors are forced to respond to an increasing number of crises, Australia won’t forget about Syria or stop supporting people in need around the world.
We hope Australia will make further humanitarian commitments to Syria in the near future.
