Australia news live: Tony Abbott tells funeral George Pell ‘one of our country’s greatest sons’ as protests continue outside

‘One of our country’s greatest sons’: Tony Abbott on George Pell

The former prime minister, Tony Abbott, followed David Pell at the funeral for Cardinal George Pell.

Abbott’s speech continued the glowing tone of the statement he released on the day of Pell’s death. He said:

This funeral is less a sad farewell to a great friend and more a joyous tribute to a great hero. It’s the celebration of a wonderful life. A once in a generation gathering of the people of faith to rededicate ourselves to the ideals George Pell lived for and to draw strength from each other for the struggles ahead.

He was a priest, a bishop, and the prefect of the Vatican Secretariat. But he was never a mere functionary. In each of these roles, a thinker, a leader, a Christian warrior, and a proud Australian who wanted our country and our civilisation to succeed.

… In short, he is the greatest Catholic Australia has produced and one of our country’s greatest sons.

Abbott has to pause for large applause from the audience, before continuing:

No one else has been both archbishop of Melbourne and archbishop of Sydney. No other Australian has been as senior in the leadership of the Roman church, or as influential in its conclaves.

Updated at 21.51 EST

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Abbott ends the speech extolling Cardinal George Pell’s virtues as a “saint for our times” saying that Pell would be as pleasing to god as Mother Teresa.

Not to succumb to anger, self pity, or despair, when almost any other human would, and instead to have accepted this modern day crucifixion, walking humbly in the footsteps of our Lord, that’s the heroic virtue that makes him to my mind a saint for our times.

Abbot pauses for applause before achieving laughs with the observation:

As I heard the chant “George Pell go to hell”, I though “Aha!” at least, they now believe in the afterlife. Perhaps this is St George Pell’s first miracle.

The ultimately triumphant life of this soldier for truth, who advanced through smeer, and doubt to victory should drive a renewal of confidence throughout the universal church…

George Pell was the greatest man I’ve ever known. And if faith means the ability to endure crushing adversity, no one could be a better advertisement for it.

So I will hold on to him in my heart, from love of a friend and mentor and as a gentle chide for virtues sought but not yet attained. And in these times, when it’s more needful than ever, to fight the good fight, to stay the course and to keep the faith it’s surely now for the Australian church to trumpet the cause of its greatest champion.

There should be Pell study courses, Pell spirituality courses, Pell lectures, Pell High Schools, Pell University colleges, just as there are for the other saints.

If we can direct our prayers to Mother Teresa, Thomas A. Becket and St. Augustine. Why not the late Cardinal who has been just as pleasing to God, I’m sure and has the added virtue of being the very best of us.

The Archbishop jokes when he returns to the microphone:

Thank you Mr. Abbott for those words of remembrance. I think I can hear emerging from the coffin at the moment:

[in a ghostly voice:] I said no canonisations at funerals.

Updated at 21.57 EST

Pell was made a ‘scapegoat’, Abbott says as he criticises climate advocates

Abbott goes on to say Pell was made a “scapegoat for the church itself” while taking a dig at the climate change movement:

[Pell’s] recent observation that the climate change movement had some of the characteristics of a low level, not too demanding pseudo religion was the kind of comment that enraged, precisely because it was true.

And throughout history, that’s what people have been martyred for. For telling the unpopular, unpalatable truth.

And it’s not possible to honour the cardinal without some reference to his persecution. He was made a scapegoat for the church itself. He should never have been investigated in the absence of a complaint. He should never have been charged in the absence of corroborating evidence, and he should never have been convicted in the absence of a plausible case, as the high court, so resoundingly made plain.

Abbott again has to pause as the audience again breaks into applause.

Updated at 21.55 EST

‘One of our country’s greatest sons’: Tony Abbott on George Pell

The former prime minister, Tony Abbott, followed David Pell at the funeral for Cardinal George Pell.

Abbott’s speech continued the glowing tone of the statement he released on the day of Pell’s death. He said:

This funeral is less a sad farewell to a great friend and more a joyous tribute to a great hero. It’s the celebration of a wonderful life. A once in a generation gathering of the people of faith to rededicate ourselves to the ideals George Pell lived for and to draw strength from each other for the struggles ahead.

He was a priest, a bishop, and the prefect of the Vatican Secretariat. But he was never a mere functionary. In each of these roles, a thinker, a leader, a Christian warrior, and a proud Australian who wanted our country and our civilisation to succeed.

… In short, he is the greatest Catholic Australia has produced and one of our country’s greatest sons.

Abbott has to pause for large applause from the audience, before continuing:

No one else has been both archbishop of Melbourne and archbishop of Sydney. No other Australian has been as senior in the leadership of the Roman church, or as influential in its conclaves.

Updated at 21.51 EST

‘We stamped our mark today’: protesters proud of march outside Pell’s funeral

As anti-Pell protests draw to a close on Oxford St in Sydney this afternoon, child sexual abuse survivor Vivienne Moore reflects back with pride.

When protestors turned out of Hyde Park to continue their march along College St, they faced a crowd of mourners watching the funeral service outside of St Mary’s Cathedral.

Among them, a group of men stood facing protesters holding religious books with fists raised.

Moore says:

I saw that those guys, kissing their crucifixes, holding their hands in the air, were being held back by the police. I mean, it showed us what we’re up against. Right there in front of us. That level of hatred. What, where does that come from?

Moore said:

People don’t know what they’re doing unless we start to tell our stories. People can’t begin to empathise with each other. So I think it was an incredibly successful march … because we stamped our mark today.

Today I was really glad I got to express some of my anger. That was powerful and palpable for all of us. We have a right to be angry.

Anger is part of the grieving process and propels us forward … Used in the right way, with the right voice, we can care about each other through it … like you’re not alone.

LGBTQ+ rights protesters march in front of St Mary’s Cathedral during Pell’s funeral. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

Updated at 21.42 EST

Pell’s brother says family sympathises with victims of clergy abuse

David Pell goes on to extend his sympathy to the victims of child sexual abuse, saying his family had “no idea” of what was occurring in their home town of Ballarat.

We sympathise with the legitimate victims and are in complete abhorrence of the criminals.

Our own family has not been immune to this evil. As a Catholic family brought up in Ballarat we, along with many other Catholic families, had no idea of the evil curse that was perpetrated on the innocent children, of unaware parents, by secretive, deviant and manipulative criminals.

We as a society will continue to spend the rest of our days healing people.

Updated at 21.27 EST

David Pell goes on to say what a loving family member his brother was and that they are “devastated” by his death.

Pell says his brother wrote to the family while in prison saying the situation was “unjust, like Lindy Chamberlain”.

Updated at 21.26 EST

Pell’s brother calls cardinal ‘prince of the church’, says ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie!’

Cardinal George Pell’s brother David Pell has stepped up to speak at his brother’s funeral, opening with the words:

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!

Pell’s brother describes the day in 2003 his brother was announced as the next Cardinal.

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi! rang out across St Peter’s square when [he] was announced as the next candidate to be made Cardinal. Your grace, it was reported that there was a scallywag in in the crowd. This was 2003.

George Pell was my brother. He was a prince of the church. A good and holy man and a proud Australian.

He also had a punt on the Melbourne Cup and was a passionate Aussie rules fan.

He believed in the rule of law. A fair go to all. And in Aussie rules parlance he played the ball, not the man. He may have disagreed with your opinion. But he didn’t disagree with you as a person.

He was falsely accused, tried, convicted and spent 404 days in solitary confinement. The outcome from which was three magnificent prison diaries, one of which was meditated by his good friend, Pope Emeritus Benedict in his dying days.

He was also described as Pope Francis’s best theological adviser for cardinal Muller, a former member of the nine member council.

Updated at 21.31 EST

Student mental health package unveiled by Albanese government

The Albanese government will invest $203.7m in 2023 in mental health funding in schools as part of the national “student wellbeing program”.

The commitment will offer an average of $20,000 per school for the year depending on need and size. It also includes $10.8 million for a “voluntary mental health check tool”.

States and territories will manage the program, which includes “student wellbeing officers” or chaplains being placed at schools to help students through pastoral care and other services such as excursions, volunteering activities and workshops.

All state and federal education ministers have in addition signed a five-year $307.18m funding agreement to fund the program into the future.

The education minister, Jason Clare, said Covid lockdowns had a “massive impact” on the mental health of students.

Good mental health and wellbeing have a significant impact on young people’s engagement with education and their learning outcomes.

This is particularly important as students return to regular face-to-face classroom learning after two years of disruption due to Covid-19.

In January, the Australian Psychological Society (APS) urged the federal government to commit to urgently funding more mental health and psychological response services in the next budget after a Climate Council survey found climate disasters had a bleak impact on the mental health of Australians.

Conducted in December 2022, the Climate Council survey of 2,032 Australians found since 2019, 80% of those surveyed reported they had experienced an extreme weather event such as heatwaves, flooding, and bushfires and half said their mental health had been detrimentally affected by the extreme weather event they experienced.

APS president Dr Catriona Davis-McCabe said young Australians were “deeply concerned, and at times overwhelmed” by uncertainty associated with the climate crisis.

Updated at 21.18 EST

Tudge tells robodebt inquiry of meeting with Turnbull in early 2017

Alan Tudge has revealed details of a key meeting he held with the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull at the initial height of the robodebt scandal in early 2017.

The former human services minister told a royal commission on Wednesday he’d kept Turnbull informed about problems with the scheme after the former PM sent him a news article that raised the prospect the scheme was unlawful.

Senior counsel assisting the commissioner, Justin Greggery KC, asked Tudge if he presented a “rosy picture” of the scheme, which had exploded in public controversy, in the short meeting with Turnbull. Others present included then social services minister Christian Porter and then secretary of the human services department Kathryn Campbell.

Tudge confirmed he didn’t provide Turnbull with any briefing on the legality of the scheme, an issue he said had not crossed his mind until years after he left the portfolio. He said Turnbull was presented with “materials” that “outlined some of the issues and what we’d done”.

I don’t think we went through in detail how the overall system works. My recollection is we very much went into what went wrong with the implementation…. It was, ‘What went wrong. OK, I get that. Now you appear to have got many of the things fixed, here’s what you should be doing in the future. You should have more testing.

Tudge added:

I recall him suggesting that the [digital transformation office] needs to be more engaged. He may also have suggested that [Data 61] be commissioned to help with identifying the highest likelihood of [identifying debts].

Tudge said he was only relying of his memory of the meeting, which occurred many years ago. He said Turnbull had been “guiding the questions” and said there needed to be more “testing”.

Greggery said it appeared that Tudge had been providing a “level of assurance” that the scheme was working well.

Tudge, who was not in cabinet, said he would have told Turnbull that the issues with the scheme were “under control”.

He has repeatedly said that only Porter and Turnbull had the authority to stop the robodebt scheme because it was authorised by cabinet.

Turnbull has not been called to appear at the royal commission.

The inquiry, before commissioner Catherine Holmes, continues.

Updated at 21.03 EST

Gale-force winds, burst of rain expected for Melbourne

Melbourne is expected to be hit by gale-force winds later this afternoon, with a burst of rain by 5pm and temperatures dropping to around 13C by 6pm.

Cold conditions are expected further south in Victoria, as well:

Updated at 20.30 EST

Scathing report into NSW’s fast-tracked black summer recovery grants

Fast-tracked recovery grants handed out by the New South Wales government following the devastating black Summer bushfires were ineffectively administered and the process lacked integrity, the auditor general has found.

Margaret Crawford’s scathing report into the grants program co-funded by the then federal government also stated that, following a request from then the deputy premier John Barilaro‘s office, a $1m threshold was applied, below which projects were not approved.

The auditor general said that meant projects in highly impacted areas were then excluded, including all shortlisted projects in Labor-held electorates.

The report read:

The administration process lacked integrity, given it did not have sufficiently detailed guidelines and the assessment process for projects lacked transparency and consistency.

At the request of the deputy premier’s office, a $1 million threshold was applied, below which projects were not approved for funding. The department advises that some of the projects excluded were subsequently funded from other programs.

This threshold resulted in a number of shortlisted projects in areas highly impacted by the bushfires being excluded, including all shortlisted projects located in Labor party-held electorates.

Crawford also found that while other grants in the $540m scheme had a detailed and transparent assessment process, conflicts of interest were not properly managed.

She recommended Department of Regional NSW should ensure that for all future grant programs create and follow guidelines in line with good practice and ensure all staff members declare conflicts of interest before grant schemes begin.

The opposition leader, Chris Minns, will hold a press conference this afternoon to discuss the findings.

A firefighter sprays foam retardant on a backburn ahead of a fire front in the NSW town of Jerrawangala on 1 January 2020. Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

Updated at 20.37 EST

Archbishop praises Pell’s ‘boldness’ in establishing Rome guest house

Earlier in his speech, Sydney archbishop Rev Anthony Fisher praised Pell’s creation of Domus Australia, a guest house in Rome established by the Australian Catholic church:

It took more than a bit of Christian shamelessness for the son of a Ballarat publican to take a Roman monastery with church, renovate it to Australian comfort standards, radically redecorate and so establish an Aussie watering hole, or pilgrim house, in the heart of the Eternal City.

It took boldness to get the bishops of Australia and the St Mary’s Cathedral Choir there for the opening. And it took sheer importunity to bang on the door of the pope asking him to bless and open the place. Surely, the only hotel ever opened by a pope. Yet an idea was on-brand for Pell and it enabled him to bring us not only Domus Australia, but three good seminaries, four new Catholic tertiary institutions, the Benedict the 16th retreat centre, the John Paul Centre at Sydney University, several new institutes of consecrated women, a vastly expanded tertiary and youth apostolate and World Youth Day – like Domus Australia, stuffed full of pope, bishops and musicians, but with half a million idealistic young adults to boot.

Updated at 21.48 EST

Sydney archbishop compares Pell to Richard the Lionheart in funeral speech

Sydney Archbishop Reverend Anthony Fisher is speaking at Cardinal George Pell’s funeral service comparing Pell to Richard Lionheart, the 12th century King of England.

Describing Lionheart, Fisher said:

Six feet five inches tall, striking and athletic, Richard dominated every room he entered. He was a far from perfect prince: the calumnies of his enemies were baseless, and his imprisonment wrongful, and he is remembered by history as Richard Coeur de Lion, the Lion Heart, because of his courage.

George Pell was also a giant of a man with a big vision, who looms large in the history of the church in Australia, and amongst churchmen, internationally.

He had a big heart too, strong enough to fight for the faith and endure persecution, but soft enough to care for priests, youth, the homeless, prisoners and imperfect Christians.

Ultimately, that heart gave out , but only after more than 80 years of being gradually conformed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Twenty-three days ago, the lion’s roar was unexpectedly silenced. But George, the Lionheart, was dressed with the cross on his chest and ready, awaiting his master’s return.

His influence has been far reaching and we can be confident will long continue. He may even be more effective from his new address.

Sydney archbishop Anthony Fisher (centre) gestures to the crowd outside St Mary’s Cathedral. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Updated at 21.29 EST

Date announced for Olivia Newton-John’s state memorial service

A state memorial service to honour singer, actor and philanthropist Olivia Newton-John will be held at 4pm on Sunday, 26 February at Hamer Hall at the Arts Centre in Melbourne.

Announced by the Victorian government today, the free, ticketed service is being planned in close consultation with representatives of her family, with special tributes from family and friends, including a performance by Delta Goodrem.

Olivia Newton-John. Photograph: Walt Disney Television Photo Archives/ABC

Members of the public must register to attend with ticket registrations opening at 12pm on Friday 10 February.

Premier Daniel Andrews said Newton-John was an “inspiration to many around the world”:

… her work in cancer research and treatment saved lives and changed lives and her music was the soundtrack to a generation.

We know Victorians are eager to celebrate the life of a driving force in medical research and an icon of film and music, with a service befitting her international acclaim.

Updated at 20.09 EST

Pell protesters enter College Street

Protest organisers agreed with police yesterday not to march on College Street directly next to the cathedral, but were allowed to gather on the other side of the road.

Pope sends condolences at Pell’s funeral

The message from the pope has been read out at the funeral of Cardinal George Pell:

I have learned with sorrow, the news of the death of Cardinal George Pell, prefect emeritus of the secretariat for the economy.

I wish to express my closeness to you and to the College of Cardinals, especially to his dear brother David, the other members of his family I offer my sincere condolences.

Remembering with heartfelt gratitude his consistent and committed witness, his dedication to the gospel and to the church, and especially his diligent collaboration with the Holy See in its recent economic reform, for which he laid the foundations with determination and wisdom.

I raise prayers for the repose of his faithful servant, who unwaveringly followed his Lord, with perseverance, even in the hour of trial.

Nuns queue to enter the pontifical requiem mass for Cardinal George Pell at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney on Thursday. Photograph: Reuters

Updated at 19.50 EST

‘Our policy has not changed on the stage-three tax cuts,’ says treasurer in wake of IMF report

Speaking in response to the announcement from the IMF that interest rate increases are warranted, Chalmers was asked about the government’s plan for stage-three tax cuts:

The point that the IMF is making is that when we’ve got these pressures the budget, whether it is the cost of servicing the debt we inherited, whether it is the NDIS, defence, aged care or health, we need to make sure that we’ve got the tax system that can sustain the funding that we want to see in our areas of national priority, and that is the government’s view is welcome and that’s why we began in the October budget with multinational tax reform.

We’ve seen that as the best place to start, in addition to some measures on compliance. We recognise when the budget is under as much pressure as it is now there is a role for spending restraint, which the IMF endorsed, there is a role for savings, and we made billions of dollars of savings in October, and if there are avenues for responsible tax reform into the future, like what we are doing in multinationals, then obviously those opportunities and avenues should be explored.

Our policy has not changed on the stage-three tax cuts. Obviously I’m aware and follow closely the constituency are calling for those tax cuts to be rewritten or junked. Those calls have been around for some time, and the IMF has made a contribution to that as well.

Updated at 19.40 EST

New $5 note design will ‘strike a good balance’, treasurer says

The treasurer Jim Chalmers says the central bank’s announcement about the new design for the $5 note honouring First Nations culture will “strike a good balance”.

Speaking in Melbourne he said:

It is an opportunity to strike a good balance here. The monarch will still be on the coins, but the $5 note will say more about our history and our heritage and our country, and I see that as a good thing. Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated at 19.38 EST

Tensions rise outside Pell funeral in Sydney

As protesters begin their March along College St, tensions are rising with attendees at Pell’s funeral across the road.

One Pell supporter has told protesters:

George Pell is with Jesus!

Updated at 19.35 EST