Marles announces government to sell off $3bn in defence owned property
The defence minister, Richard Marles, is announcing that the government will sell off $3bn in defence owned properties, which he calls the most “significant reform to Australia’s defence estate in our nation’s history”.
Marles says the issues around the defence estate have been known within defence circles for “a very long time”.
The sell-off comes after the government commissioned an audit of the estates. Marles says:
For any organisation, its home, its land, its infrastructure, its bricks and mortar, is fundamental to what it can do, and that is most certainly the case when it comes to defence.
What became clear was that defence as one of the largest owners of property in the country had a very significant estate, much of which was not being used.
Marles quotes from the audit:
Attempts to consolidate and rationalise property holdings in the past have been stymied by a lack of political and organisational will to overcome challenges … it is clear that maintaining the status quo is not an option.
Key events
Victorian government offers single day of travel – worth $11.40 – for commuters trapped on trains
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian transport minister, Gabrielle Williams, has offered a single free day of travel – worth $11.40 – for commuters who were trapped on trains for up to two hours yesterday.
Williams held a doorstop at parliament a short time ago where she also apologised for the inconvenience caused, particularly for the two trains that were halted near the overhead power fault at Armadale. For one train, this was a 90-minute wait and for the other, a two-hour wait before they were helped off and had to walk to nearby Malvern station.
She said:
The government will be offering compensation to those passengers and inviting those passengers to call the Transport Victoria call centre to get a ticket, which will effectively issue them with a day’s free travel.
So for anybody who was on those services, we again apologise. We appreciate the level of inconvenience and potentially even distress that was caused.
Williams said while investigations were ongoing, there was “no indication” it was related to the ramping up of the Metro Tunnel to full capacity, which occurred a day earlier:
Early indications are, it’s not related to the Metro Tunnel or the timetable at all. It seems to be at this stage, from what we understand, a cable fault near Hawksburn.
We will get an understanding in time of exactly what’s the cause. Some of our best and brightest are working on that as we speak, so that we can make sure that we are continuing to build a rail network that is reliable and gets people to where they need to go.
Labor’s beer excise freeze passes parliament
The government’s freeze on a beer excise has passed the House, but not without a touch of drama. The freeze, which will be in place for two years once it passes the Senate, will probably save consumers about one cent on a mid-strength pint.
The Nationals tried to move two amendments to the bill, which found support from none other than Andrew Hastie and a couple of conservative Liberal allies, including Tony Pasin, Terry Young and Ben Small. The amendment also had support from a few crossbenchers including Nicolette Boele and Andrew Wilkie.
None of the other Liberals were in the chamber to vote with the Nats.
Joe Hinchliffe
Rangers hunt last dingo in pack after death of Canadian backpacker
One dingo doomed to die remains at large on K’gari after wildlife rangers killed eight of its pack for their role in the death of Canadian backpacker Piper James on the world-heritage listed sand island off the Queensland coast.
A coroner’s preliminary assessment, released four days after the 19-year-old died in the early hours of 19 January after going for a dawn swim on her own, found “physical evidence consistent with drowning” as well as “injuries consistent with dingo bites” – noting these were unlikely to have been fatal bites.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the coroner was still “awaiting pathology results to further assist in determining the cause of death of Piper James” – a process expected to take several weeks.
Regardless, nine days ago the Queensland environment minister, Andrew Powell, said an entire pack of 10 animals would be euthanised – leading dingo experts to warn of an “extinction vortex” for Australia’s only native canid.
But a spokesperson for Queensland’s environment department said on Tuesday afternoon that eight dingoes had been “humanely euthanised”:
The operation is ongoing, with one dingo outstanding.
Jordyn Beazley
NSW Labor MLC criticises court delay over challenge to ‘draconian’ protest restrictions
A NSW Labor MLC has criticised the courts delay to hear a legal challenge on whether controversial protest restrictions are constitutional, saying the fact it couldn’t be heard until almost two months after it was filed was “a serious issue”.
Stephen Lawrence, who is also a barrister, pointed out to ABC radio on Tuesday afternoon that the state had agreed the case could be heard on 16 January but “after the judge on duty spoke to the chief justice, it was then not listed until the end of February”. He said:
The concern I’ve got is that very serious and draconian restrictions on the right to protest and assembly have been introduced. The people who seek to protest have not had the opportunity to have the court rule on it.
I’m a little bit surprised in the modern state of New South Wales that the supreme court, the court of appeal, can’t see a case, essentially in a sort of two-month period – that’s a serious issue.
It comes as the protest restriction was extended for a fourth time on Tuesday ahead of a protest against a visit by the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog. Lawrence said:
I’m just not sure that continually extending this thing to apply it to the visit of the Israeli president is actually going to make us more safe. I think it could be creating a flashpoint, and it concerns me.
Police were given the controversial power to restrict protests in 14-day increments for up to 90 days after a terror attack, after the Minns government rushed laws through parliament last year in the wake of the Bondi beach terror attack.
Groups the Blak Caucus, the Palestine Action Group (PAG) and Jews Against the Occupation ’48 filed the legal challenge against New South Wales laws restricting protests after terrorist incidents in early January, arguing the laws were invalid because they impinge on the implied constitutional right to freedom of political communication.
Prof Ben Saul has applied to join the case as an amicus curiae, which would see him provide expertise on the matter as a “friend of the court”. Saul is the United Nations special rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism.
If Saul’s application to join the case is accepted, Saul told Guardian Australia he would argue that the protest restriction is at odds with Australia’s obligations to protect the freedom of peaceful assembly under international law.
Housing ‘part of the opportunity’ from defence estate sell-off
Jumping back to the press conference in Parliament House:
Richard Marles was asked whether housing will be built on any of the sold off land.
The defence minister says while that could be the case, it was not necessarily the priority of the audit.
I expect that housing will be part of the opportunity that is created here. But I want to be really clear, that’s not why we’re doing this. [This is] around making sure we have a defence estate which is properly attuned to the capabilities of the Australian defence force.
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, is with Marles – the finance department will be in charge of the sell-off. Gallagher says no decisions around what the land could be used for have been made yet.
The short answer is none of those decisions have been taken.
The divestment the land is coming to [the finance department], then there will be a piece of work done about what is the most appropriate use on those sites, and it will be varied. I mean, there are some prime locations. I imagine there will be a lot of interest and a lot of views about what it can be used for … It may be that some sites are suitable for housing, obviously, other sites will have contamination, heritage restrictions, other issues that need to be worked through.
You can read more on the announcement from my colleague, Tom McIlroy, here:
Nino Bucci
Former NSW Labor ministers fail in high court bid to overturn corruption convictions
Former NSW Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald, along with Obeid’s son Moses, have failed in a high court bid to have their 2021 corruption convictions overturned.
The high court ruled on Wednesday that the trio’s appeal against their convictions should be dismissed.
The men were found guilty of a conspiracy to wilfully have Macdonald, the former NSW minerals minister, commit misconduct in public office. The conspiracy involved Macdonald granting a lucrative coal exploration licence to land owned by an Obeid family company.
The court granted the men leave to appeal on a single ground – that the prosecution case at their NSW supreme court trial was “incapable at law” of amounting to a conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, given the prosecution did not allege there was an agreement for Macdonald to do a particular act of misconduct. In its judgment, the high court said:
For the reasons that follow, each appeal must be dismissed. The agreement alleged by the Crown in its indictment, as particularised during the trial, was a complete offence of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
The alleged agreement contemplated acts to be undertaken by Mr Macdonald that necessarily satisfied the elements of the predicate offence, albeit that it was not known and could not be known at the time the agreement was made what “particular acts” Mr Macdonald would undertake to bring about the objects of the agreement.
Sale of defence properties represents ‘opportunity to return billions of dollars to the government’s purse’: Richard Marles
Marles says that the government has agreed or agreed in principle to the 20 recommendations in the audit.
He says that of the 68 properties the audit recommends selling off, just one – the Pittwater annexe in Sydney – will be retained, and three others partly retained. Three have already been divested, Marles says.
He adds that the government has spent millions of dollars maintaining the buildings, including from vandalisation.
If we do nothing, we will be spending $2bn over the next 25 years, in respect of such properties, without a single contribution to defence capability, that is clearly unsustainable, and yet, on the flipside, the divestiture of these properties represents the opportunity to return billions of dollars to the government’s purse.
Three of the big-ticket properties are the Victoria Barracks in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Marles says the public deserve to be able to access those significant heritage sites.
These properties are protected by law with heritage overlays, and they will exist whatever their future use is, but being opened up and being allowed to be seen by the Australian people is a tremendous heritage outcome.
Marles announces government to sell off $3bn in defence owned property
The defence minister, Richard Marles, is announcing that the government will sell off $3bn in defence owned properties, which he calls the most “significant reform to Australia’s defence estate in our nation’s history”.
Marles says the issues around the defence estate have been known within defence circles for “a very long time”.
The sell-off comes after the government commissioned an audit of the estates. Marles says:
For any organisation, its home, its land, its infrastructure, its bricks and mortar, is fundamental to what it can do, and that is most certainly the case when it comes to defence.
What became clear was that defence as one of the largest owners of property in the country had a very significant estate, much of which was not being used.
Marles quotes from the audit:
Attempts to consolidate and rationalise property holdings in the past have been stymied by a lack of political and organisational will to overcome challenges … it is clear that maintaining the status quo is not an option.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian Liberals call train delays a ‘disgrace’
The Victorian opposition public transport spokesperson, Matthew Guy, has blamed the major delays on the train lines that travel through the Metro Tunnel yesterday on the government failing to upgrade rail power systems.
He says it was a “disgrace” that people were trapped on trains for up to two hours as a result:
Yesterday was a disgrace. It was third world conditions – 1,200 people trapped on high capacity trains in the middle of stations, and they’ve got one small ladder to get them off.
Guy says while Labor invested in the new tunnel, which only ramped up to full capacity on Monday, and the new high-capacity trains that travel through it, the power substance were “decades old”:
If you don’t upgrade those before you introduce new trains, you’re going to trip the system and on hot days in Melbourne. And I hate to break it to most people, our trains’ air conditioning systems in Melbourne are only there to suit mid-30s temperature, so when it gets warmer than that, they’re not designed for that. So when you’ve got all these new high capacity trains, which came on just two days ago into the network in full, in the big switch, you’re drawing a huge amount of power out of the system.
Abdel-Fattah to appear with Louise Adler at ‘Not Writers’ Week’ festival in Adelaide
Stepping away from federal parliament for a moment:
Palestinian Australian author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah will appear at the Constellations or ‘Not Writers’ Week’ festival in conversation with former Adelaide writers’ week director Louise Adler on 1 March.
The Constellations event has been created at the last minute by a grassroots group of authors, publishers and booksellers in Adelaide after writers’ week was cancelled in January.
Abdel-Fattah’s invitation to appear at the writers’ festival was revoked by the board, leading to Adler resigning as director, and the festival being cancelled entirely.
Abdel-Fattah will also appear in the “Rivers of Reason: Blak & Arab Writers in Conversation” event alongside other writers including Melissa Lucashenko, Chelsea Watego, Ali Cobby Eckermann, and Daniel Nour.
Coal lobby-backed campaign group a ‘textbook example of Liberal astroturfing’ says independent MP
Independent MP Sophie Scamps, a “teal” who ousted former Liberal Jason Falinski in a blue-ribbon Sydney seat, has attacked campaign group Australians for Prosperity that was almost entirely funded by a coal lobby group.
Guardian Australia analysis of the Australian Electoral Commission’s transparency register found Australians for Prosperity, which attacked Labor, the Greens and teal independent candidates were backed by Coal Australia. Australians for Prosperity is connected with former Liberal MPs Falinski and Julian Simmonds.
Scamps told Guardian Australia “voters deserve honesty”.
Australians for Prosperity is a textbook example of Liberal party astroturfing. While it claims to be a grassroots movement “backed by Australians”, it emerged suddenly just before the last election with the purpose of attacking teal candidates advocating for climate action …
It’s well overdue the Liberal party came up with a few policies instead of relying on misleading tactics to win support.
In pictures: here’s who was roaming around the press gallery this morning
Benita Kolovos
More on yesterday’s Melbourne train disruptions
We have some further info from Metro Trains on yesterday evening’s peak hour delays on the lines that travel through the new Metro Tunnel, which left some commuters trapped on trains for two hours.
They have confirmed the issues began at 5pm, when a fault on the overhead power supply on the network in Armadale affected trains on the Cranbourne and Pakenham line. The fault also stopped trains going through the Metro Tunnel and a section of the Sunbury line, as Metro Trains needed to suspend the line between West Footscray and Caulfield to undertake repairs.
Metro Trains said the two trains closest to the fault were halted and passengers were required to stay on board until the situation was safe. For one train, this was a 90-minute wait and for the other, a two-hour wait before they were helped off and had to walk to nearby Malvern station.
Albanese: Beer excise freeze a ‘cost of living measure’
The bells have rung and the House and Senate are sitting, but there’s not a whole lot of drama happening so far today.
The prime minister is giving a speech to the House on Labor’s beer excise freeze that will knock about one cent off a mid-strength pint, which he’s branded a cost-of-living measure. The beer tax will frozen for two years.
Anthony Albanese says:
It took a Labor government to freeze the beer excise making sure that this was just part of our cost of living measures that we implemented, not just talking about cost of living pressures, but doing something about it …
It’s a way of people getting through their university days or just working part-time for people when they’re raising a family as well. So good for our economy, good for our jobs, good for our local community as well. And that’s why, from the front part of the beer garden, when you raise a glass, you can do so, knowing that our government won’t be raising the price over that two years.
Again, the freeze will save about 18 cents on a 48-litre keg of mid-strength beer.
The legislative agenda is a little on the thin side at the moment, also on the notice paper is the bill to establish the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (Atec) which was supposed to be established last month, and a bill to give coal mining workers long service leave.
Labor are probably pretty happy that the focus remains on the Coalition’s messy split.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian premier apologises after major delays on Metro Tunnel’s second day of full service
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has apologised for yesterday’s major delays on the lines that travel through the Metro Tunnel, which only ramped up to full capacity on Monday.
During the evening peak on Tuesday, Metro Trains suspended services on the Sunbury line and there were major delays on the Cranbourne/Pakenham lines due to a problem with overhead wires near Armadale. Both lines run through the new tunnel.
Allan says:
As Metro Trains has also done this morning, I’d like to acknowledge and apologise to those passengers who had had a really difficult experience last night as a result of a fault of the train network, and the investigations are continuing as to what was behind the cause of the disruption last night.
Victorian government announces free ADHD top-up scripts
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference this morning to announce free top-up prescriptions for people with ADHD.
Under the plan, if someone with an existing ADHD diagnosis needs a new prescription urgently and can’t see their regular doctor, they will be able to dial into the Victorian virtual emergency department and have a free consultation.
The doctor will verify their current medication and dosage and send the prescription to their local pharmacy. The one-off refill will be for at least 30 days and up to six months.
It follows the announcement of a $750,000 plan yesterday to train GPs to be able to diagnose and prescribe medication for adults and children with ADHD.
Both changes come into effect in September. Allan says:
We’re doing this because we don’t want parents or kids to get caught out. We heard from Bronwyn yesterday about how she had to keep her little boy home from school for a couple of weeks when he had run out of the medication.
The health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, says:
There are a range of reasons why people might not be able to access their medication, their script may have run out, they may have lost their script. This happens to the to all of us at any given time, but we know that there are real consequences for missing a medication that is designed to be taken every day, and that’s where the Victorian virtual emergency department … can step in to meet the needs of Victorians wherever they live.