Anthony Albanese says Scott Morrison owes apology to Australian people over secret ministries – live news updates

What we learned: Wednesday, 17 August

And with that, we will close the blog for the day. Here’s what happened today:

Opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said Scott Morrison made “the wrong call” by secretly swearing himself into five ministerial portfolios, but says the member for Cook has no reason to resign.

Morrison apologised to former home affairs minister Karen Andrews for secretly swearing himself in to her portfolio, after she revealed he hadn’t previously contacted her in the wake of the growing scandal.

Nationals leader in the Senate, Bridget McKenzie, said the former prime minister’s actions were a breach of the Coalition agreement, with Nationals leader David Littleproud also conceding it was “technically” a breach.

Once again, a host of political figures continued to criticise the former PM for his secret ministerial portfolio, including Chris Bowen, Michaelia Cash, David Littleproud and, of course, prime minister Anthony Albanese.

A constitutional expert has called the defence posed by governor general David Hurley, that he thought the appointments would be communicated, “bullshit”.

Australia’s jobless rate for July came in at 3.4%, the lowest since August 1974, according to the ABS.

Former prime minister John Howard has warned the voice to parliament may be “coercive” and criticised the PM for an apparent lack of detail.

Greens leader Adam Bandt called for two individual $5,000 payments for nurses and paramedics to deal with high levels of stress and burnout, and recognise their work during the pandemic.

The PM travelled to the Torres Strait to meet with First Nation leaders as he seeks to build momentum for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

This year’s NRL grand final will be played in Sydney, after a NSW-Queensland stoush over the showpiece event.

Seventy-nine Queensland police officers are being investigated regarding offensive Facebook posts which mocked domestic violence victims and implied police avoid responding to such incidents.

135 Covid-related deaths were recorded across the country today.

Updated at 05.08 EDT

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Indonesian man jailed for role in Bali bombing to be released within days

A man accused of assembling the bombs used to carry out the Bali terrorist attack is reportedly due to be released from prison within days, after being granted an early release on Indonesia’s independence day.

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Umar Patek, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2012 for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings in the Kuta district, will soon be able to walk free.

At his trial, he was accused of being the assembler of the explosives used that night, which ripped through the Sari Club and Paddy’s Irish Bar, killing 202 people including 88 Australians.

Patek was spared the death penalty after cooperating with authorities and apologising to victims’ families.

The remission of his sentence comes as Indonesia marks 77 years of independence from Dutch rule on Wednesday.

Updated at 05.05 EDT

Australian Anglican conservatives break away

Of the many must-reads on the site tonight, I must point you to Nino Bucci’s insightful read on the breakaway diocese in the Anglican church:

Updated at 04.48 EDT

Mark Butler: health system situation should ‘substantially improve’ in coming weeks

Health minister Mark Butler has said that the pressures on hospitals around the country should ease over the coming weeks, as Covid cases drop.

Butler was on ABC radio earlier this afternoon, and he said the situation should “substantially improve” as the flu season also begins to ease:

We’re getting a bit of relief from the Covid wave earlier than we thought and the flu season peaked very early.

There’s still a lot of pent-up demand in the system, a lot of people weren’t able to get the care that they needed through those difficult lockdowns.

And general practice is in a really perilous state. So a lot more people are finding themselves unable to get in to see a doctor or having to pay unaffordable gap fees and are ending up in emergency departments as well.

Updated at 04.31 EDT

Tory Shepherd

Ford Australia cuts 120 jobs

About 120 people have lost their jobs at Ford Australia as it undergoes a “global transformation”.

A spokesman said the contract workforce levels “regularly change” depending on the product development cycle. He said:

Ford is currently undergoing a global transformation, which includes implementing significant changes in priorities and organisation …. as part of this, we have laid out clear targets to lower our cost structure to ensure we are lean and fully competitive with the best in the industry.

In Australia, we’re reaching the next phase of our product development and launch cycle and as a result will be reducing our contract workforce by approximately 120 in our product development and design teams.

Updated at 04.06 EDT

Australian fur seal euthanised after being found on Victorian dairy farm

In a rather sad piece of news today, an Australian fur seal has had to be euthanised after it was found on a dairy farm in Victoria.

The seal was found in the paddock of the farm in Simpson, in south-west Victoria, over 30 km from the ocean, with the farmer telling the ABC she suspected the mammal arrived via the river.

Zoos Victoria was contacted, and arrived earlier today, where it assessed the seal and determined it was “elderly, and suffering from blindness in one eye and dental fractures” and they concluded that euthanasia was the kindest welfare outcome.

Melbourne Zoo head veterinarian Dr Michael Lynch told the Guardian the seal would have struggled to return to living in the wild:

Today’s intervention was required after the seal failed to find a way back to the open ocean along the same path it used to arrive at the farm.

On assessment the seal was found to be elderly, and suffering from blindness in one eye and dental fractures. It was determined that euthanasia was the kindest welfare outcome as the seal would have been unable to forage and live naturally in the wild.

A necropsy will be conducted in coming days.

Updated at 03.57 EDT

Tory Shepherd

Australia urged to commit to aid for famine prevention

The federal government must commit to a $150m famine prevention package to save the lives of thousands of starving children, Plan International Australia says.

The organisation has released a new report today showing 10,000 children are dying of hunger every day, with the worst famines in countries including Somalia and South Sudan.

Food shortages and drought mean more than a million children are already suffering from malnutrition. Humanitarian agencies do not have enough funding for food aid.

Girls are more at risk both from famine (because they may not be prioritised) and from child marriage, which is fuelled by poverty.

People with disabilities are also at higher risk. Plan International Australia chief executive officer, Susanne Legena, said:

Where is the shock, where is the outrage and most importantly where is the action?

We are really at the tipping point for famine and if the world does not urgently step up life-saving humanitarian assistance, we are going to see a lot of death.

Covid-19, climate change and conflict, particularly in Ukraine, have converged and created a terrifying situation. In its first year alone, the pandemic pushed an additional 300 people worldwide into hunger every minute. Meanwhile, increasing greenhouse gas emissions are damaging essential food crops such as maize and wheat.

We are already seeing 24,000 people a day die of starvation – horrifyingly, experts are projecting that number to climb to 300,000 people starving to death every single day if we do not take action now. Humanitarian organisations are facing an impossible choice between feeding the hungry and feeding the starving. We must act, and we must act now.

Updated at 03.39 EDT

Barangaroo cultural centre plans scrapped – reports

A proposal for a cultural centre at Barangaroo in Sydney has reportedly been dumped by the New South Wales government, to the dismay of community leaders.

According to a report from the Sydney Morning Herald, Infrastructure NSW have confirmed the multipurpose fit-out of the space beneath Headland Park will not include a dedicated cultural centre, which was promised by former premier Mike Baird.

That comes despite the completion of design concepts for the centre a year ago, which was backed by a taskforce comprising renowned arts executives Wesley Enoch and the Sydney Opera House’s first head of First Nations programming, Rhoda Roberts.

The designs showed a performance space that could seat up to 600 people, a welcoming space at the entrance for smoking ceremonies, exhibition spaces, studios and workshops.

Enoch told the paper he was disappointed the centre was not approved:

These ideas of First Nations cultural centres have been talked about for over 30 years and this was the latest opportunity and conversations to occur – it was disappointing that the work couldn’t be progressed, for whatever reason.

Ultimately, First Nations people are not in the decision-making positions, whether that’s money or political will or an opportunity to build. That’s a decision for others.

Updated at 03.23 EDT

Christopher Pyne rejects push to refer Morrison to privileges committee

Christopher Pyne, the former leader of the house from 2013 to 2019, has rejected a push to refer Scott Morrison to the privileges committee.

Pyne told ABC TV:

Well, you can move to censure the member for Cook and he will have the opportunity to defend himself … [but] it’s not a matter for the privileges committee. Adam Bandt is saying he will refer it to that … but the prime minister tabling a list of the cabinet or the ministry in the chamber is a courtesy to the parliament. It’s not a requirement of the government, of the executive council. So there’s no question for the privileges committee.

Pyne said that calls for Morrison to resign amounted to “playing politics”.

Earlier this week the clerk of the House of Representatives, Claressa Surtees, told Guardian Australia it is “established precedent and practice” to inform parliament of ministerial changes but “there are no standing or other orders of the house which require an announcement of the ministry, or ministerial changes, in the house”.

This will be quite an interesting point in any advice from the solicitor general, after Anthony Albanese accused Morrison of “misleading” parliament.

Updated at 03.05 EDT

Littleproud believes Scott Morrison breached Coalition agreement

Littleproud confirmed he believed Morrison has “technically” breached the Coalition agreement between the Nationals and the Liberal party, but declined to press too hard on the point.

He said the “practical reality” of the situation was that because Morrison did not enact any of the powers he had, meant the agreement wasn’t voided and the Nationals still had their say:

While technically he has been by not advising not only us, but it’s not really the Nationals, I think it’s the Australian people that should have been advised. We’re here to serve them and they should be transparent with them about the actions we take as a government and particularly as a prime minister. It’s the highest elected office that can be given in Australia.

It’s important not necessarily about the Nationals being upset, it’s the fact the Australian people should have been taken into the prime minister’s trust.

Updated at 02.53 EDT

Solicitor general’s advice should be followed in a ‘bipartisan way’, Littleproud says

The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, has been busy today, appearing on ABC News this afternoon to discuss various issues, unsurprisingly including the former PM’s secret portfolios.

Littleproud said he thinks the governor general did nothing wrong in signing off on the appointments:

And I sympathise with the governor general. He was put in a predicament he should never have been put in and that office is one that should be respected and honoured and I think the governor general has every right to clarify his actions and I think it would be inappropriate for anyone to cast any doubt over his actions during this.

He did everything within the constitution as he’s been asked to and I think it’s important that office of governor general be respected by everybody in their dealings with them.

The Nationals leader said that the advice delivered by the solicitor general on Monday should be followed in a “bipartisan way” and that such appointments shouldn’t happen in the future:

We learn from this and make sure those institutions of our democracy are respected and respected in every way in how they’re carried out by the government and by the prime minister and I think that would be important to see where that report comes from. If that report does give that advice, and the Nationals will work cooperatively with the government and the Liberal party, to make sure there’s a bipartisan approach to this.

Updated at 02.46 EDT

Australian people kept ‘completely in the dark’ on secret ministries: PM

At that same presser, Albanese was predictably asked about Scott Morrison’s round of apologies today for taking on ministerial portfolios in secret, and just as predictably, didn’t hold back.

The PM has been blasting his predecessor all week, and added today that he believed an apology was owed to the “Australian people”.

The issue isn’t whether an apology has been given to Mr Frydenberg, or Karen Andrews, or others. The issue is that the apology is owed to the Australian people.

The Australian people who were kept completely in the dark with this shadow government operating. And it’s the Australian people who had their democracy that they hold dear undermined by the activities of the former Coalition government.

Updated at 02.36 EDT

PM rejects John Howard’s suggestion Indigenous voice would be ‘coercive’

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has hit back at former PM John Howard’s assertion an Indigenous voice to parliament would be a “coercive” body.

Albanese told reporters he would advise Howard to look at the details of Labor’s proposal, and to be aware of where the details of the proposed voice come from:

I’d say to Mr Howard to look into the details, look at the comments that have been made by constitutional lawyers, former members of the high court, and make it very clear that the voice is simply an advisory body that doesn’t change any of the parliamentary processes.

This isn’t my proposal or my structure and I said that in countless interviews … there was enormous detail, which was worked through by Marcia Lanton.

Updated at 02.20 EDT

National Covid summary: 135 deaths reported

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 135 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

NSW

Northern Territory

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Western Australia

Aemo releases details of June electricity market suspension

More details on the impact of the June suspension of the National Electricity Market have just landed, via the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo).

The Aemo says compensation claims by generators ordered to supply power into the market that covers about 80% of Australia’s population totalled $114m.

A separate tab, the reliability and emergency reserve trader that paid energy users to reduce demand, came in at $76.2m for NSW and $3.7m for Queensland for the period.

Aemo’s chief executive, Daniel Westerman, said the organisation continues to work with market participants “to process the associated costs required to avoid load shedding during the unprecedented events in the NEM”.

The period leading up to and including the suspension of the NEM spot markets was one of the most complex and challenging that Aemo has experienced.

While the claims we’ve received are considerable in value, the total is well below external expectations, which is positive for consumers and market participants already facing challenging conditions.

Claims estimates reported in some media outlets apparently reached $1.7bn, or about an order of magnitude more than the final cost. (Just as well they were off, since retailers pass the tab on to us.)

Separately, Aemo has released an incident report on the market suspension detailing how close eastern Australia came close to rolling blackouts.

At one point prior to the suspension, Aemo staff were busy ordering about 10,000MW of capacity, or 17% of the NEM total, to switch on. It would have been quite a baptism for the federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, as we detailed at the time here.

Updated at 02.08 EDT

NSW premier says he’s prioritising flood recovery over NRL stadiums

Dominic Perrottet says he does not regret prioritising funding for flood victims over investment in NRL stadiums, after his move triggered a bidding war between NSW and Queensland for the grand final.

Although that war ended earlier today with the announcement Sydney would once again host the showpiece, Perrottet had earlier stood firm on his position when he appeared on Sunrise:

As premier of the state, I have to make decisions in relation to the priorities that we have in front of us, and we have many people up here in the Northern Rivers that are still not in homes.”

I’ve got to make those decisions and set out the priorities for the government, but the offer we have made to the NRL I can assure you is completely reasonable.

It’s a fair offer and it’s a great event for our state, a great event for Sydney, which is where it should remain.

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet. Photograph: Jason O’Brien/AAP

Updated at 02.02 EDT