2 weeks ago
Bureaucrats face questions after classified cabinet documents left on plane
That sinking feeling – AAP reports that, minutes after getting off a plane in Doha, an Australian government staffer urgently alerted officials a locked bag containing classified cabinet documents was missing.
The papers were being carried by the ministerial and parliamentary services staffer travelling with Senator Murray Watt, the then agriculture minister, on a flight home from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation conference in July 2023.
The curious case of the missing documents was first made public in early October and has been a point of interest at the latest round of Senate estimates hearings in Canberra.
Agriculture department officials were quizzed about the international incident during a tense exchange on Tuesday morning.
Tim Simpson, the department’s first assistant secretary for people, property and security, confirmed details from an internal investigation, saying the papers were left on a plane in the early hours of 7 July.
The Senator and staffers had flown from Mumbai to Doha on an Indian airline on their way back to Australia from the UN conference in Rome.
The staffer left the secure bag containing the cabinet documents on the aircraft, Simpson told the hearing:
What I can confirm is the documents were carried in an appropriate container … and secured correctly for the classification.
Australian embassy staff in India were contacted about 10 or 15 minutes after the travelling party got off the plane and staffers tried and failed to get the documents back.
“At the time the documents weren’t there when they were able to get back on and look for them,” Simpson said.
The agriculture secretary, Adam Fennessy, said security was taken very seriously and staff were retrained after the incident.
At the end of questioning, the hearing was told the staffer worked for ministerial and parliamentary services.
“I hope the poor devil got over it,” the Labor senator Glenn Sterle said.
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Peter Hannam
Senate estimates hears Treasury thoughts on US election scenarios
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, sought Treasury advice on US election scenarios, estimates has heard.
Treasury is before Senate estimates this morning, and the secretary, Steven Kennedy, has been pressed by the Liberal senator Jane Hume about what the government has asked about US election scenarios.
Now, it would be a surprise if Treasury had not done some assessment of how economic policies might change in the world’s biggest economy. That’s especially so when there’s a chance that Donald Trump might be elected as the 47th president.
Kennedy said he had no expertise to judge who might win (not Robinson Crusoe there), and it sounds like the analysis is in line with private economists.
Trump has promised to slap broad-based tariffs on imports, including up to 60% on those from China. (He wouldn’t need congressional support for such a move.)
Anyway, Kennedy said such a move would have “flow-on consequences” for Australia, not least because China accounts for about a third of our exports. Various models would need to be tweaked.
In addition, “the imposition of trade restrictions, such as tariffs, typically lead to lower growth and higher inflation”, Kennedy said, echoing the economic consensus.
The US economy, as it happens, is outperforming most others, and it might be a post-election puzzle to solve to understand why the incumbent Biden/Harris administration hadn’t got more electoral support from it.
Kennedy doesn’t talk about what a “Kamala Harris wins” scenario looks like, but it’s generally assumed not a lot would change.
Karen Middleton
No matter who wins, the US has no more trusted ally than Australia, Kennedy says
The US ambassador, Caroline Kennedy, has reflected on the history of suffrage for women and African Americans in her country as she reminded guests at a US embassy election day breakfast that “every vote counts”.
Kennedy told the crowd that she felt “most American” on election day because “the right to vote is so fundamental to our democracy”.
She said:
Every voice counts and the right to vote is not something that any of us can take for granted.
In this election, and every other, the battle is ongoing, with efforts to expand and limit voting rights. It’s a constant struggle in our politics and in this age of disinformation that is only becoming more intense. So when I vote in the US election, I think of all the names of heroes who sacrificed to give me this right. And for those of us all who live in a democracy, it’s something to celebrate, something to protect.
She said she returned on the weekend from meetings in the US to be in Australia on election day:
I wanted to make clear to Australians that no matter who wins, the United States has no more trusted and capable ally. And there’s a lot of rhetoric on both sides of this debate, especially on one side, the fundamentals are not in question.
Rafqa Touma
Legal Aid NSW says new client portal ‘a gamechanger for our clients’
$1.6m is going to a new Legal Aid NSW client portal.
The platform will be optimised for mobile phones, to provide clients with live updates, access to correspondence, document uploads and information on court appearances and other appointments, according to a statement from the office of Jihad Dib, the customer service and digital government minister.
Legal Aid NSW provided half a million client services in 2022-23. More than 50% were provided in regional and rural areas.
The new portal, supported under the Digital Restart Fund, will make information more accessible and “minimise the need for clients to call Legal Aid NSW because they will be directly notified of updates to their case”, the statement said.
The platform is expected to be operational by late 2025.
The CEO of Legal Aid NSW, Monique Hitter, said:
This portal is a gamechanger for our clients.
It enables them to easily view information about their cases, their lawyers, their appointments and court dates.
… Delivering 24/7 access to key information, this portal makes it easier for people to deal with their legal problems.
Karen Middleton
Kennedy calls for special Aukus visa to promote Australia-US collaboration
The US ambassador, Caroline Kennedy, has been busy! We mentioned her media appearances below. She has also likened the Aukus nuclear submarine pact to the 1961 decision by her father, the late president John F Kennedy, to send humans to the moon within a decade and called for a special Aukus visa to facilitate industry collaboration.
Addressing the biennial Submarine Institute of Australia conference on Tuesday, Kennedy said the Aukus partners needed new measures to make it easier to work together:
We need to increase connectivity between systems, making it easier and faster for work to proceed. We need new ideas to make this possible. An Aukus visa is one way to move this along.
She invoked the audacity of her late father’s vision, acknowledging that some Australians “doubt the complexity and boldness of Aukus”. She said of her father:
He obviously set our nation on the path that has created the information economy, that has benefited our country for all these years. And he did it because it was hard and because he knew it would bring out the best in us. And those kinds of challenges always do. I really feel like Australia is ready for this, is embracing this challenge.
When then President Kennedy made his moon-landing pledge on 25 May 1961, the longest space flight by US personnel had lasted just five minutes.
“And he committed to send a man to the moon in 10 years,” Kennedy said. “So I have absolutely no doubt – and I know I speak for my colleagues in the US government – that this is the same kind of thing.”
Kennedy described Aukus as “a critical element” in the collective effort to sustain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region:
There were a lot of people who doubted that this could be done. That it was too complicated, too bold, too revolutionary, whether the US would share its most sensitive nuclear technology, whether the three partners could reform their export control regimes to allow us to succeed … I think we can all say that the doubters were wrong.
Kennedy said at least 78 US-trained Australian navy personnel would eventually serve on US submarines and more than 50 civilian Australian Submarine Corporation personnel were currently training at the Pearl Harbor shipyard.
The ambassador urged Australian companies to undertake the US defence industry vendor training process and become component suppliers for the Virginia-class submarines.
She said the money was there to build the industrial place but “more players” were needed.
She called Aukus “a partnership about what we stand for, not who we stand against”.
Bureaucrats face questions after classified cabinet documents left on plane
That sinking feeling – AAP reports that, minutes after getting off a plane in Doha, an Australian government staffer urgently alerted officials a locked bag containing classified cabinet documents was missing.
The papers were being carried by the ministerial and parliamentary services staffer travelling with Senator Murray Watt, the then agriculture minister, on a flight home from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation conference in July 2023.
The curious case of the missing documents was first made public in early October and has been a point of interest at the latest round of Senate estimates hearings in Canberra.
Agriculture department officials were quizzed about the international incident during a tense exchange on Tuesday morning.
Tim Simpson, the department’s first assistant secretary for people, property and security, confirmed details from an internal investigation, saying the papers were left on a plane in the early hours of 7 July.
The Senator and staffers had flown from Mumbai to Doha on an Indian airline on their way back to Australia from the UN conference in Rome.
The staffer left the secure bag containing the cabinet documents on the aircraft, Simpson told the hearing:
What I can confirm is the documents were carried in an appropriate container … and secured correctly for the classification.
Australian embassy staff in India were contacted about 10 or 15 minutes after the travelling party got off the plane and staffers tried and failed to get the documents back.
“At the time the documents weren’t there when they were able to get back on and look for them,” Simpson said.
The agriculture secretary, Adam Fennessy, said security was taken very seriously and staff were retrained after the incident.
At the end of questioning, the hearing was told the staffer worked for ministerial and parliamentary services.
“I hope the poor devil got over it,” the Labor senator Glenn Sterle said.
‘A Trump presidency would be a disaster,’ Greens senator says
The Greens senator Steph Hodgins-May has a more emphatic position on the US election. She said in Canberra this morning:
A Trump presidency would be a disaster, a disaster for women, for people of colour, for the LGBTIQA+ community, for the climate.
He threatens our democracy and progress. It’s incredible to think Americans might give such a vile man another chance. If Trump is elected, the prime minister must urgently cancel Aukus and reconsider Australia’s relationship with the United States. We cannot be associated with such a dangerous demagogue like Donald Trump.
AAP reports that Kennedy was on Sunrise earlier. She described the US election as historic, and said whatever the outcome Australia would be a “winner”:
In terms of our foreign policy, and especially in terms of Australia, which is our most trusted and capable ally, I don’t think it will change the fundamentals … no matter who wins, Australia will be the winner.
US election ‘shaping up to be very close’, ambassador Caroline Kennedy says
Caroline Kennedy, the US ambassador to Australia, says as an ambassador she’s not supposed to talk about politics … but went on to say (after the ABC Breakfast host Michael Rowland said “assuming you did vote for Kamala Harris …”:
I think the issues that are on the ballot this time are important to women.
She’s made that really clear. Donald Trump is focusing more on immigration.
And she points out that in the US, where voting is not compulsory, it’s “all about turnout, who shows up on election day”, and that they need to get young people to the polls. But she wouldn’t change their system:
I think our system is great. It’s so complicated, gives Australians something to talk about all year long for four years. So I wouldn’t change a thing! But the way you do it is really impressive, and I have learned a lot on that while I have been here.
She says the US has “an incredibly strong and transparent system despite attempts to interfere with it from abroad, as we heard from our national security agencies”.
“And obviously some people who don’t want to accept the result are going to start saying, you know, that there’s a problem if it’s not clear, but I think it’s shaping up to be very close,” she says, on the potential for unrest.
Angus Taylor bats away questions about Bridget McKenzie flight upgrades
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, has been asked about reports that the shadow transport minister, Bridget McKenzie, did not declare more than a dozen flight upgrades. He told ABC Radio:
I don’t know that any of that’s been verified.
The “real issue”, he says, is allegations about Anthony Albanese’s upgrades.
The Australian Financial Review is reporting that McKenzie has not updated her register of interests about the upgrades, and we’ve asked McKenzie’s office for a response.
Taylor also says Australia is “absolutely at the back of the pack” getting inflation to where it needs to be”. “We’ve got a long way to go here. Australians are losing hope,” he says, adding:
Everyone is helped by lower inflation and lower interest rates.
Asked whether a possible Coalition government would wind back cost-of-living measures, Taylor says they haven’t supported all of them, and that while they want lower debt for all Australians, they are against the government’s policy to reduce student debt.
He describes Labor as having “magic pudding economics”.
On Dutton’s rebuke on abortion, and that call from the minister for women, Katy Gallagher, for the withdrawal of the anti-abortion bill (mentioned below), Taylor says “it’s a state issue, and we should leave this issue to the states”:
It certainly shouldn’t be politicised in the lead up to an election … I think it’s incredibly insensitive.
There was some seriously colourful language in Senate estimates yesterday, but in this case the media regulator found radio hosts’ words were a step too far. Sarah Martin reports on what the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young described as “revolting, sexist, racist, misogynistic, divisive stuff”:
‘Dangerous anti-abortion bill’ should be withdrawn, Labor says
A “dangerous anti-abortion bill” before the Senate should be withdrawn, if the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, wants credibility on women’s healthcare, the minister for women, Katy Gallagher, says.
Dutton has warned his MPs on speaking out on abortion, after comments by the Indigenous Australians spokesperson, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, and with abortion back on the agenda in the lead up to the Queensland election.
Gallagher said:
It is typical of Peter Dutton to view this purely as a matter of winning or losing votes, rather than any genuine commitment to women’s healthcare.
If Peter Dutton wants any credibility on women’s healthcare, he must immediately ensure Senators [Matt] Canavan and [Alex] Antic withdraw their dangerous anti-abortion bill currently before the Senate.
This is a test of Peter Dutton’s leadership, and a test of his commitment to the rights of Australian women.
She is referring to a “born alive” bill that has been described as misleading, and containing misinformation. A committee inquiry found there was “no legal, ethical or medical basis to support the bill”.
Labor launches pre-emptive strike over CFMEU ahead of Senate estimates
AAP reports that the Albanese government has launched a pre-emptive strike as the opposition holds its feet to the fire over the CFMEU scandal.
The employment and workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, is expected to face a grilling when his portfolios are picked apart in a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday.
The construction arm of the embattled union was placed into administration in August after allegations emerged of criminal conduct and organised crime links on job sites.
The Coalition has suggested Labor’s response did not go far enough and should have included reinstating the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
The construction watchdog was reintroduced in 2016 by the Turnbull government but abolished by Labor in February 2023, with its powers transferred to the Fair Work Ombudsman.
The ombudsman has dozens of ongoing investigations into the commercial building and construction industry involving most branches of the CFMEU, its officials and employers.
The Liberal senator Michaelia Cash was employment minister when the commission was revived and said it would prompt “cultural change” across the construction sector.
Watt said bringing back the body would be “complete madness”, pointing out much of the union’s alleged offending occurred under its nose. He said:
The failures of the ABCC to bring about change to the construction sector were plain to see.
It was politicised for the gain of [the former prime minister] Malcolm Turnbull and the minister who was instrumental in removing him from office, Michaelia Cash.
Under the Coalition’s watch we saw the lowest productivity since the 1960s and higher average days lost to industrial action.
He argued the Albanese government was cleaning up the construction sector by taking the “strongest action possible” against the union and developing a building and construction industry blueprint.
Some more on our political editor Karen Middleton’s piece today, which brings with it some needed nuance:
[Anthony Albanese] doesn’t just need interest rates to start actually falling before he goes to the polls, he needs Australians to believe the depths of the cost-of-living crisis have passed and things are finally on the up.
And he needs them to start believing it now, not wait until they can feel it in the hip pocket.
Good morning, Australia, and thanks for tearing your eyes away from US politics to join me (Tory Shepherd) here. And muchas gracias to Martin Farrer for doing the sparrow’s fart shift. Let’s get started – estimates will continue apace, question time looms and hopefully some surprises await.
How would Australians vote in the US election?
It’s fair to say that some events in Canberra and Australia might play second fiddle to an election occurring somewhere else today. As chance would have it we have one or two Australian angles on the US election story, including an Essential poll showing that more Australian men would vote for Donald Trump than vice-president Kamala Harris.
The poll shows that more Australian men would vote for Trump than Harris, and a majority of men and women support key elements of his platform including tariffs and deportation of illegal immigrants. Overall though, Harris would win the vote in Australia by 41% to 33% – according to the poll which you can read about here:
Peter Lewis analyses the poll findings and concludes that it shows progressive Australians shouldn’t be complacent.
He writes:
On the core elements of Trump’s nihilistic populism, Australians are more likely to share his disdain for the system, and even the majority of those who would vote for Harris concur.
Here’s his full article:
Follow our coverage of the US election
If you want to keep up to date with the US election, check out our guide to Australian TV coverage, live results, where to watch and more:
What’s more we will have unrivalled coverage of the events in the US as the day unfolds and you can follow it all here:
Fourteen people investigated for terror symbol displays
Three search warrants have been executed and 14 people are being investigated for allegedly displaying a terrorist symbol at pro-Palestinian protests, Australian Associated Press reports.
Australian federal police officers have trawled through 90 hours of CCTV and body camera footage and seized mobile phones and clothing depicting a terrorist symbol.
“If relevant thresholds are met, the AFP will provide briefs of evidence to the commonwealth director of public prosecutions to determine if charges will be laid,” acting commissioner Ian McCartney said.
The AFP is further investigating whether rhetoric over killed terrorists or events in the Middle East reached the threshold of urging violence or advocating terrorism.
A special taskforce, codenamed ARDVARNA, was set up for the rally specifically due to the volume of evidence and referrals that had to be assessed, the AFP deputy commissioner, Krissy Barrett, said.
Police have spent some 1,100 combined hours investigating.
There were 113 reports relating to the display of prohibited hate symbols between January and October 2024, which resulted in 49 further investigations by the joint counter-terrorism team.
Of these, 28 remain active but no one has been charged since the hate symbols legislation came into effect on 8 January, Barrett confirmed yesterday.
Senate told of biosecurity breaches by United Airlines
United Airlines has breached Australia’s biosecurity reporting requirements three times in three years by failing to report that a dog was on a commercial flight, a Senate estimates committee heard on Tuesday.
Anna Brezzo, the department of agriculture’s first assistant secretary for compliance and enforcement, said in response to questions from Victorian senator Bridget McKenzie that the airline had breached the pre-arrival reporting requirements on a flight into Sydney in December 2022 and a flight into Brisbane in March 2024, and had breached requirements by invalid disinfection of a plane in August 2023.
“The dogs themselves were assistant dogs and they did have an import permit to arrive into Australia,” Brezzo said. “What we require however under the Biosecurity Act is that the airline lets us know ahead of time what is coming in on their airline.”
Brezzo said the breach was picked up by biosecurity officers at the airports because it’s “a bit hard to miss the dog coming off the commercial airline”.
United Airlines entered into a voluntary undertaking in August 2024 to undertake auditing, update its compliance framework and train its staff. Compliance with that undertaking will be monitored by the department of agriculture over the next 15 months, Brezzo said.
“Should they fail to commit or to abide by the agreement in the undertaking, we will take them to federal court and let the federal court make that decision.”
McKenzie asked why it took three breaches to enforce the voluntary undertaking.
“That looks like permissive parenting that we just let them keep getting away with a slap on the wrist,” she said.
The deputy secretary for biosecurity, operations and compliance group, Justine Saunders, said the response was “absolutely proportionate” and more effective in terms of ensuring long-term compliance.
“Our intent is not to punish but actually to address the breach,” she said.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live Australian political coverage. I’m Martin Farrer bringing you the best of the overnight stories and Tory Shepherd will be along to guide you through the day.
Our top story this morning is that ACT’s former director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold believes “something went terribly wrong” with the Sofronoff report into Bruce Lehrmann’s prosecution, which resulted in Drumgold losing his “dream job”, a court battle over its findings and a subsequent integrity commission investigation. He says media “hysteria” over the case fuelled a mob mentality against him but will return to work at the NSW bar.
The Reserve Bank’s caution about interest rates is becoming one of the biggest obstacles to Anthony Albanese winning a second term next year. Labor needs a cut by March at the latest, our political editor writes today, or his election chances will be much diminished. But RBA governor Michele Bullock is telling politicians that if they want a rate cut then they need to be careful with election promises.
Federal police have executed three search warrants and are investigating 14 people for allegedly displaying a terrorist symbol at pro-Palestinian protests. No one has been charged yet but we have more details coming up.
