NSW police minister admits she may have ‘had the figure wrong’ on antisemitic incidents
Penry Buckley
As we have reported, the NSW police minister, Yasmin Catley, briefed budget estimates in March about the number of antisemitic incidents reported under Operation Shelter in NSW. Here is what she said at the time:
There have been more than 700 antisemitic events and incidents and arrests in this city.
When asked today about the number of incidents which have been explicitly labelled as antisemitic in the state, which police have confirmed today is closer to 270 since the start of the operation, she said:
I may have had the figure wrong and, if I did, I apologise to the committee, but quite frankly there would be so many more incidents than have been reported and that I know for a fact.
Budget estimates has also heard that two further applications for protests on the Sydney Harbour Bridge have been made since the pro-Palestine march last month. One is under consideration and the other has been withdrawn.
Key events
Lisa Cox
A spokesperson for the environment minister Murray Watt says the government remains “firmly committed to action on climate change” after a delegate from the minister’s department approved Glencore’s Ulan coal mine expansion near Mudgee in New South Wales:
We have taken strong action in our first term, and will continue that work now while also ensuring that there is security of energy supply as we transition to renewables.
The spokesperson said the approval, which allows Glencore to expand the mine’s footprint and extract an additional 18.8 million tonnes of run of mine coal, came with 57 strict conditions to minimise potential impacts on matters protected under Australia’s environmental laws, such as threatened species.
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act has no “climate trigger” for consideration of a project’s impacts on the climate, something conservation and climate groups have long called for.
The decision comes as a community group, Mudgee and District Environment Group, launched a fresh legal appeal against the NSW government’s approval of the same project, arguing the state’s environmental assessment had been inadequate because it failed to consider the project’s climate impacts.
Bev Smiles from the Mudgee District Environment Group said of the federal approval:
The Albanese Government continues to recklessly approve new thermal coal projects when we know they are fuelling climate change and extreme weather that is harming Australians.
It is shameful that Australia’s environmental laws fail to require climate change consideration in decisions around dangerous, polluting coal mines.
Anthony Albanese has no intention of putting another referendum to the Australian people, even if he supports a four-year-fixed term.
After every election, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters does a review of the election and makes recommendations on whether systems or processes can be improved.
Don Farrell, the special minister for state, has the power to say what that committee looks at – and one of those things is a four year fixed term.
Albanese is well known to want that, but says it would be difficult to do.
I support fixed 4-year terms – always have. Referendums are pretty hard to carry in this country. And opportunism kicks in and unless you have bipartisan support, then it’s not going to be supported. Most state and territory governments, of course, have 4-year terms. I think most of them have fixed 4-year terms with the exception of Tasmania, that seems to have annual elections!
(Sorry, not sorry Tasmania)
Asked whether he would seek bipartisanship with Sussan Ley, Albanese pours cold water on the whole idea.
I have no intention of any referendums this term.
While the PM speaks, the Senate is debating consequential legislation on aged care, that would ensure the new act comes into effect by 1 November.
The government has been under pressure over the delay in delivering an additional 80,000 home care packages, as the waitlist for them hits 200,000.
Mark Butler says the government is committed to passing the bill this week.
I know that put a lot of pressure on the provider sector, on advocacy groups. But there was, frankly, no alternative.
Asked point blank whether the discussions include a willingness to get more of those home care packages rolled out before November, Butler says:
I’m not going to go into the content of those discussions.
PM declines to give more details on deal with Nauru
Speaking of transparency, Albanese won’t give us any more details on the memorandum of understanding signed between Australia and Nauru – ie the $400m deal to send 280 former detainees to the Pacific nation.
We have arrangements with governments. We have arrangements between governments and those arrangements are ones we enter into across the board.
Albanese has said this week there’s “nothing secret” about this plan.
Albanese denies FoI changes are breaking his promise for more transparency and accountability
Albanese gets asked about the government’s FoI changes and says he thinks people would find it surprising that you can lodge an FoI request anonymously.
He says he’s surprised that some journalists he spoke to today didn’t know that.
What that means is that there’s no way to determine whether a foreign agent or actor is putting in requests about information that are sensitive, and no way of ascertaining that … And the obvious implications of security, for example, are there for all to see.
The government’s bill will ban any anonymous lodgements of an FoI – but the security concerns don’t answer the pressing question as to why the government should be charging fees for FoIs.
NSW police minister admits she may have ‘had the figure wrong’ on antisemitic incidents
Penry Buckley
As we have reported, the NSW police minister, Yasmin Catley, briefed budget estimates in March about the number of antisemitic incidents reported under Operation Shelter in NSW. Here is what she said at the time:
There have been more than 700 antisemitic events and incidents and arrests in this city.
When asked today about the number of incidents which have been explicitly labelled as antisemitic in the state, which police have confirmed today is closer to 270 since the start of the operation, she said:
I may have had the figure wrong and, if I did, I apologise to the committee, but quite frankly there would be so many more incidents than have been reported and that I know for a fact.
Budget estimates has also heard that two further applications for protests on the Sydney Harbour Bridge have been made since the pro-Palestine march last month. One is under consideration and the other has been withdrawn.
Albanese says Australia ‘security partner of choice’ when asked if he’s concerned China will attend Pacific forum
Albanese is asked whether he’s concerned China will attend the Pacific Islands Forum next week in the Solomon Islands, due to its embassy based there.
It follows the decision by Solomon Islands to prevent Taiwan’s officials from attending the forum.
Albanese says the government didn’t support a change to prevent Taiwan’s officials attending but said “we recognise the Solomon Islands is a sovereign nation and they’ve made that decision”.
On whether he has concerns about China, Albanese says Australia is the “security partner of choice in the region” and reiterates that the Pacific Islands are a “family”.
We supported the previous arrangements … the Pacific Islands family, and this will be a theme where we look after our own interests and that means Australia, of course, being a security partner of choice in this region.
PM questioned on Daniel Andrews and Bob Carr’s attendance in Beijing
Back to Anthony Albanese’s press conference, we’re on to questions and he’s being pressed on why Daniel Andrews is the most senior Australian representative to attend the events in Beijing today.
Albanese says there’s a diplomat there but is pushed further by reporters on what he thinks of Andrews and Bob Carr being at an event which includes Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un.
Albanese says Abbott government minister Michael Ronaldson was the last representative to go to the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war in 2015.
He’s [Andrews] not meeting them. Like I said, the last time around, 10 years ago, Minister Ronaldson was the government’s representative.
Penry Buckley
NSW police minister breaks down antisemitic incidents reported under Operation Shelter
Returning to NSW estimates, the police minister has now provided a breakdown of the number of incidents reported under Operation Shelter, set up to coordinate the police response to pro-Palestinian activities after the Opera House protest on 9 October 2023.
Earlier today, Mark Latham MP challenged Yasmin Catley on the high number of antisemitic incidents she and the NSW premier, Chris Minns, have said were reported under the operation. Catley told budget estimates in March that there had been 700 antisemitic incidents in recent months.
In March, Catley pointed out that the state’s Jewish community had continued to face increased rates of antisemitism.
“There have been more than 700 antisemitic events and incidents and arrests in this city,” she said at the time.
Latham today said police had confirmed at a recent inquiry that only 41% of those incidents had been labelled as antisemitic, 15% as Islamophobic and the rest had been classified as “other”.
Catley took the question on notice but said Operation Shelter had recorded 663 incidents with 254 charges having been laid.
The acting NSW police commissioner, Peter Thurtell, confirmed that 41% – or about 270 – of all the incidents have been explicitly labelled as antisemitic.
Asked what the “other” classification meant, Thurtell acknowledged the definition was imprecise and up to individual officers.
It could have been like a Nazi symbol scrawled on a toilet wall, and someone might put down ‘other’ as opposed to antisemitic.
Albanese makes brain cancer research announcement
The government will fund the Richard Scolyer chair in brain cancer research at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, the PM is announcing this morning.
Anthony Albanese is addressing the media at parliament alongside the health minister, Mark Butler, and Prof Scolyer.
You can read about Scolyer’s incredible journey through brain cancer here:
Albanese says the announcement will mean Australia can “continue to stay at the forefront of the fight against cancer. We can continue to train the world’s best research is and we can continue this important work.”
Benita Kolovos
Victorian Greens hit back at Battin claims
The Victorian Greens have hit back at claims made by Coalition leader, Brad Battin, on ABC Radio Melbourne earlier this morning that some of the party’s beliefs were as extreme as neo-Nazis. They said insinuating the party was supportive of Hamas was offensive and deeply misleading.
The Victorian Greens spokesperson for multiculturalism and anti-racism, Anasina Gray-Barberio, said:
What’s happening is an attack on black and brown people and our multicultural communities, who are in deep distress right now. For the Liberal opposition leader to then use this moment to try and smear us and a movement calling for peace in Gaza by trying to put us on the same page as the very neo-Nazis attacking our communities is the exact kind of divisive rhetoric that emboldens these far-right extremists. Our diversity is our strength and the fact the Liberals would use this moment of pain for our multicultural communities to score cheap political points is disturbing and shows just how out of touch they are.
Albanese government approves Glencore coalmine extension
Lisa Cox
The Albanese government has given mining company Glencore the green light to extend its Ulan coalmine near Mudgee in New South Wales, the first coalmining approval since Murray Watt became environment minister.
The project would expand the mine’s footprint and allow the extraction of an additional 18.8 million tonnes of run of mine coal. The approval extends the life of the mine for another two years from 2033 to 2035.
Climate groups and the Greens have criticised the decision, with the Climate Council saying it was “nonsensical” for the government to talk about cutting climate pollution on one hand while approving new fossil fuel projects with the other.
The council’s chief executive, Amanda McKenzie, said if the government wanted its forthcoming 2035 climate targets to be taken seriously, it “must stop approving new and expanded coal and gas projects”:
While coal and gas projects are still being waved through without considering their climate damage, the government can’t credibly claim it’s doing everything possible to fight climate change.
It’s time to stop rubber-stamping pollution and start making decisions that put people’s lives and livelihoods first.
The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, said in addition to “wreaking havoc on the climate”, the extension would clear habitat and affect threatened species including the large-eared pied bat:
Labor must stop gaslighting the public – opening new coal and gas is the opposite of climate action.
It locks Australia into providing the world with more coal and gas for decades to come, while putting threatened wildlife like our precious koalas at risk.
Guardian Australia has sought comment from Watt and Glencore.
Penry Buckley
NSW police minister challenged on opposition to Harbour Bridge march
The NSW police minister, Yasmin Catley, is fronting budget estimates today, where she has been challenged on her opposition to the pro-Palestine march across Sydney’s Harbour Bridge in August.
Catley has been asked if she told a NSW Labor caucus meeting that an offer by organiser Palestine Action Group’s offer to delay the march to give police more time was not genuine. Catley said she would not comment on things said in caucus.
Asked if a NSW police supreme court challenge to the march, which was ultimately unsuccessful, wasted time and resources, Catley says:
Whilst the march went ahead and was peaceful … because of the number of participants, there was serious concern for crowd crush. And I am told by those police who were there that we were extremely lucky to avert a serious incident occurring on the bridge in relation to the number of people that were there.
Benita Kolovos
Brad Battin questioned over whether he sees Greens in the ‘same way’ as neo-Nazis
Jumping back to that interview on ABC radio earlier with the Victorian opposition leader, Brad Battin …
Raf Epstein also pressed Battin on why he bought up the Greens when asked about neo-Nazis. Asked whether he saw the Greens in the “same way”, Battin replied:
The Greens have got an issue. Obviously, they’re an extreme party, and some of the groups they’ve been associated with, and they seem to get left out of the conversation a lot.
Epstein: Are they extreme in the same way neo-Nazis are extreme?
Battin: “No, the Greens aren’t, but some of their beliefs, or the people they support, yes.
Asked what beliefs were as extreme, Battin claimed the Greens’ “discussions around Gaza” and “supporting Hamas”.
We’ve contacted the Victorian Greens for comment.
Joe Hinchliffe
Greens co-founder Drew Hutton argues he was denied procedural fairness when membership terminated
A co-founder of the Australian Greens is suing his former party in a bid to reinstate the life membership stripped from him about six weeks ago over what it considers his pursuit of debate harmful to trans people.
Drew Hutton filed an affidavit in the Queensland supreme court on Tuesday arguing that he was denied natural justice and procedural fairness when the 78-year-old retiree had his membership terminated by an assembly of branch delegates on 20 July.
That decision harkened back to comments made below Hutton’s social media posts in June 2022, with the party deeming he had provided a platform for transphobia.
Hutton has argued he is pursuing free speech.
Rowland introduces bill to charge for FoI requests
In the House, the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, is introducing her controversial bill to put charges on freedom of information requests.
Her justification is that the system needs reform and is being clogged up by “vexatious, abusive and frivolous” requests.
In 2023-24 alone public servants spent more than 1 million hours processing FoI requests.
She says this bill implements recommendations from the 2013 review of the legislation to make the system “more effective”.
Currently most states and territories charge fees for their own freedom of information requests – and charge around $30 to $50. The government has said fees for the federal system would be similarly “modest”, but fees would be exempt for individuals trying to obtain personal information.
The Greens and Coalition have been really critical of the bill, but independent MP Andrew Wilkie said this morning that he’d “meet the government halfway” that reform was necessary, but that should not mean introducing fees.
Amanda Meade
Antoinette Lattouf termination case returns for pecuniary hearing
The unlawful termination case brought by Antoinette Lattouf against the ABC returns to court this morning for a pecuniary hearing.
In June the federal court found the ABC breached the Fair Work Act when it terminated the casual broadcaster for reasons including that she held a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
Today’s hearing before Justice Darryl Rangiah is to determine how big the fine should be for breaching the act.
In his judgment Rangiah upheld Lattouf’s claim that she was unlawfully terminated in December 2023 when her on-air shifts were cut short three days into a five-day stint hosting Sydney Mornings.
He said ABC managers were in a “a state of panic” after an “orchestrated campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists”.
