Virginia Bell to lead inquiry into former PM’s ministries – as it happened

What we learned, Friday 26 August

And that’s where we’ll leave you on this Friday afternoon. Here’s just some of what happened today:

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, announced the appointment of Virginia Bell AC to lead the inquiry into former PM Scott Morrison’s secret ministries. She will give her report by 25 November.

Former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro was charged with alleged assault and malicious damage relating to a scuffle with a cameraman earlier this year.

The PM, and the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, announced a federal biodiversity certification and trading scheme, like carbon credits, for landholders who restore or manage habitat.

Albanese committed to $75m in post-disaster resilience funding for all 62 local government areas affected by the February-March floods.

Queensland’s resources minister, Scott Stewart, approved the expansion of a mothballed open-cut coalmine on the prime agricultural land of the Darling Downs.

The employment minister, Tony Burke, reaffirmed that Labor will empower the Fair Work Commission to order minimum conditions for gig workers.

The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, met with her state and territory counterparts to address the gap in living standards between Indigenous people and the rest of the country.

A massive haul of the drug ice, with an estimated street value of $1.6bn, has been seized in NSW in the largest discovery of its kind in Australia.

Our weekend bloggers will keep you updated with your news fix over the next couple of days. Look after yourselves.

Updated at 04.27 EDT

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What we learned, Friday 26 August

And that’s where we’ll leave you on this Friday afternoon. Here’s just some of what happened today:

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, announced the appointment of Virginia Bell AC to lead the inquiry into former PM Scott Morrison’s secret ministries. She will give her report by 25 November.

Former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro was charged with alleged assault and malicious damage relating to a scuffle with a cameraman earlier this year.

The PM, and the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, announced a federal biodiversity certification and trading scheme, like carbon credits, for landholders who restore or manage habitat.

Albanese committed to $75m in post-disaster resilience funding for all 62 local government areas affected by the February-March floods.

Queensland’s resources minister, Scott Stewart, approved the expansion of a mothballed open-cut coalmine on the prime agricultural land of the Darling Downs.

The employment minister, Tony Burke, reaffirmed that Labor will empower the Fair Work Commission to order minimum conditions for gig workers.

The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, met with her state and territory counterparts to address the gap in living standards between Indigenous people and the rest of the country.

A massive haul of the drug ice, with an estimated street value of $1.6bn, has been seized in NSW in the largest discovery of its kind in Australia.

Our weekend bloggers will keep you updated with your news fix over the next couple of days. Look after yourselves.

Updated at 04.27 EDT

The greatest pitfall for Labor in Morrison inquiry could be distraction – analysis

Anthony Albanese has called a snap inquiry into Scott Morrison’s secret multiple ministries, setting up a standoff over whether the former prime minister will or won’t cooperate.

The inquiry will be headed by Justice Virginia Bell, who retired from the high court in February 2021 – one of a conga line of justices to come off the bench and move relatively quickly into a fresh inquisitorial role.

All week Morrison, the Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, and the former PM’s ally Stuart Robert have been preparing the ground to argue that Labor has overreached and the inquiry is nothing but a “witch-hunt” or a get-square against Morrison.

Morrison has said he will cooperate with any “genuine” inquiry, which he claims must include the role of Labor premiers during the pandemic.

Dutton and Robert have pointed to the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, calling for a “severe, political consequence” for Morrison as evidence of partisan motives.

On Friday, Albanese and the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, claimed Bell’s credentials proved the inquiry would be both serious and at arm’s length. The terms of reference are modest and sensible, they said.

There are still genuine questions to be answered. Here are some of them:

Updated at 04.18 EDT

NT police officer charged with 31 offences

A Northern Territory police officer has been charged with damaging evidence and unlawfully sharing data, among a slew of alleged offences which senior police say undermined the force’s integrity, AAP reports.

The officer was charged with a total of 31 offences, including conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The officer was also charged with weapons, firearms and wildlife offences after police searched his house on Thursday. He is due to face Darwin local court on 22 September.

Acting deputy commissioner Michael White would not confirm the name of the officer, who has been suspended without pay.

White said:

The matter is now before the court. It will be alleged by police that the actions of this officer had undermined the integrity of the Northern Territory police and the community of the Northern Territory.

White said the investigation into the charges of attempts to pervert the course of justice and the destruction of evidence was ongoing.

Updated at 03.51 EDT

Royce Kurmelovs

Plans for discovery centre on WA island dropped to protect little penguins

The Western Australian government has abandoned plans for a $3.3m “discovery centre” on Penguin Island following a community campaign against the development.

Reece Whitby, the minister for environment and climate action, made the announcement on Friday, saying in a statement that following a scientific review and community consultation, the proposed centre would be shifted to the mainland.

Visits to the island will be restricted to help the penguin population recover. Photograph: Dr Joe Fontaine

Whitby said:

The health and welfare of the little penguins is our number-one priority when considering how best to plan for the future of Penguin Island.

I understand the decision will disappoint some and reduce the number of days that people can visit the island, but I believe the community will support measures to protect this vulnerable population of penguins, which are being impacted by a changing climate.

To help the threatened population of Penguin Island recover, Whitby said visits will be limited during periods of high temperatures and existing seasonal closures would be extended by four weeks.

Read the full story here:

Updated at 03.38 EDT

OK, that excellent and infuriating interactive on the stage three tax cuts I mentioned earlier?

Well, if you’ve played around with it, our Full Story podcast team wants to know how you’d spend the $243bn that could be saved by not implementing the tax cuts.

Would you make university free? Buy a nuclear submarine? Raise jobseeker?

If you’re comfortable sharing your thoughts, please call us and leave a one minute voicemail on (02) 8076 8550.

And here’s a link to the interactive again, for your convenience:

The nation’s building ministers have concluded their meeting in Sydney. We flagged yesterday that minimum energy performance standards for new homes would be raised at today’s gathering – an improvement that’s been years in the making.

The plan to raise energy efficiency standards from 6 stars to 7 stars has got the nod, we hear, with ministers agreeing a 12-month transition, according to the ACT’s Rebecca Vassarotti, one of the ministers at the gathering. That’s on the shorter end of the timeframe since industry had been pushing for a three-year phase-in.

The ministers’ communique said:

The key changes are adopting a minimum standard of 7 stars and the introduction of an annual energy use budget

For the average new home, achieving a 7 star rating may require elements like better insulation, higher quality glazing and smarter floor plans.

Recall that housing stock accounts for about 12% of carbon emissions and 24% of electricity use. As long-lived assets, the more energy efficient our houses are, the better for energy bills and pollution. (As we noted, though, the issue will be how well these standards are implemented – and the track record is not very promising.)

Vassarotti, ACT’s minister for sustainable building and construction, said:

With a climate emergency upon us, changes to our minimum energy efficiency standards must be made fast, but fairly.

Also agreed were improved accessibility in new homes, such as corridors wide enough to take a walker or wheelchairs, step-free entry and having a toilet on the entry floor.

More details are in this article today:

Updated at 03.18 EDT

The company we reported on earlier that has just won Queensland government approval to expand its open-cut coal mine, has released a statement, saying it had begun preparations to resume mining operations and anticipates being granting the water licence it requires.

New Hope Corporation chair Robert Millner said in a statement to the ASX:

New Hope and the local communities around Acland and Oakey are now only one step away from restarting the New Acland mine where there has been mining activity for over 100 years.

Millner calls the legal objections to the mine “lawfare” designed to slow down the approvals process.

The mine has been the target of a decade-long campaign by environmentalists and farmers, who argue that its expansion has no economic merit, is counterproductive to the local agricultural industry, and environmentally destructive.

Lachlan Murdoch was never much of an inspirational figure in the pantheon of news publishing, having secured his place at the helm of Fox News by a process of primogeniture, Richard Ackland writes.

His defamation action against Crikey, a relatively modest but worthwhile online subscription news and commentary service, reveals much – about ego, the drift of American politics and media, and defamation law itself.

Read the full comment piece here:

Storms next week in the east. Cool. It’s not like we haven’t had enough rain or wind or hail or whatever to see us through the winter.

NSW rail industrial action could continue for another six months – minister

The New South Wales transport minister, David Elliott, has warned that industrial action that has crippled Sydney’s rail network could continue for another six months under a “worst-case scenario”.

Appearing before a budget estimates hearing on Friday, Elliott also conceded there was “no way in the world” the government would meet a commitment made by his predecessor, Andrew Constance, to replace the state’s entire bus fleet with electric vehicles by 2030.

In 2020, Constance set an “aspirational target” of replacing Sydney’s fleet of 8,000 buses with electric vehicles by 2030. About 100 such vehicles have been delivered, with another 200 due next year.

On Friday transport department officials described the commitment as a “challenge” set down by the former minister, which was unlikely to be met.

A business case for the full electrification of the bus fleet is yet to be completed, and is not due until November.

Elliott told the hearing in response to questions from Labor’s John Graham:

There’s no way in the world we’re going to meet that timetable, so I don’t know why he said it.

I’m not committing to the timeframe my predecessor offered up because [from] where I stand right now that might not be realistic.

Am I going to defend a song and dance, as you say, I doubt it.

Read the full story here:

NT records 6 deaths from Covid-19, with 19 people in hospital

There were 114 new cases of Covid-19 recorded in the Northern Territory in the 24 hours to 4pm yesterday.

Of those in hospital, there are five patients requiring oxygen and no patients in intensive care.

You can see all the details of the NT’s latest Covid update here.

Tasmania records no new deaths from Covid-19, with 35 people in hospital

There were 265 new Covid-19 cases in the state in the last 24 hours. Of the 35 people in hospital with Covid, 13 are there specifically for Covid. One person is in intensive care.

See all the day’s statistics from Tasmania here.

Have you played around with our interactive that shows you just what the government could do with the money that it’s going to spend on the stage three tax cuts yet?

Basically, the tax cuts create a flat tax rate of 30 cents in the dollar for anyone earning between $40,000 and $200,000, abolishing an entire rung of Australia’s progressive income tax ladder.

My colleagues Nick Evershed and Amy Remeikis have put together this extremely excellent and also enraging interactive in which you can decide what to spend that money on instead.

So far, I’ve given everyone free university education, boosted arts spending, natural disaster response, added dental to Medicare and boosted Medicare rebates and preventative healthcare, upped rent assistance by 30%, built enough social housing to meet current demand, AND I STILL HAVE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS LEFT. This is madness.

QLD approves expanded open-cut coalmine on Darling Downs

Queensland’s resources minister has approved the expansion of a coalmine on the prime agricultural land of the Darling Downs.

The proposed stage three of New Hope Group’s New Acland open-cut coalmine was described by anti-coal campaigners as something that should be met “with horror”.

Scott Stewart announced on Friday afternoon he was approving the mining leases for stage three of the New Acland coalmine, near Toowoomba, “after careful consideration”.

The project also requires an associated water licence from the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water.

The mine has been the target of a decade-long campaign by environmentalists and farmers.

The proposal would lift New Acland’s output from 4.8m tonnes to 7.8m tonnes a year, and extend the mine’s life for 12 years to 2034.

New Hope Group exhausted its last coal reserves at the mine in late November, and has made almost 300 workers redundant since 2019.

The mine had been under investigation since 2018 over “alleged unauthorised disturbance” in an area known as west pit. In June, the department said it had accepted an environmental undertaking proposed by New Hope Group, which would see them commit $2m to habitat rehabilitation to avoid the matter going to court.

Read more of the background to this decision here:

Updated at 01.55 EDT

Former deputy NSW premier John Barilaro charged with assault

Former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro has been charged over a scuffle with a freelance cameraman on Sydney’s northern beaches earlier this year.

NSW police on Friday served a future attendance of court notice for alleged assault and malicious damage offences on a 51-year-old man, via his legal representatives, they told AAP.

The former politician was involved in the altercation with freelance cameraman Matt Costello outside a bar in Manly on 3 July.

Footage circulated online shows the pair struggling as they grab and push one another while the man tries to film Barilaro, who then walks away.

Barilaro later confirmed the incident, saying he was confronted in the dark outside a bar and felt harassed during a night out with friends. He told 2GB in July:

To come out and have a camera shoved in your face. I’m a private citizen. All I did was push a camera out of my way. I did not manhandle an individual.

Barilaro is expected to appear at Manly local court on 12 October.

Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro has been charged with assault over a scuffle with a freelance cameraman earlier this year. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Updated at 01.47 EDT

If you’re just joining us and want to catch up on the details of the just-announced inquiry into Scott Morrison’s secret ministerial appointments (of himself), my colleague Paul Karp has all the details here:

Santos halts offshore drilling while awaiting federal court decision

Gas company Santos has agreed to halt drilling in the Barossa gasfield, 265km north-west of Darwin and near the Tiwi Islands, as the federal court deliberates on a challenge to the regulator’s decision to allow it to go forward.

Tiwi man Dennis Tipakalippa is suing the federal offshore gas regulator, alleging that proper consultation about the project did not occur with the Munupi Clan, but that the regulator had evidence that the Munupi were relevant and interested parties who needed to be consulted on the project by law.

Santos began drilling last month. Traditional owners told the court that Santos’ Barossa offshore gas project posed a risk to sacred sites and their spiritual connections to the sea.

Tipakalippa said in a statement:

Drilling into the seabed is like drilling into our bodies. I’m relieved that Santos will drop drilling before it gets to the gas and will not start any new well – that is a big worry for us, so it’s very important to get that promise.

This week, we have had our voices heard. We will fight to protect our Sea Country, from the beginning to the end.

Tiwi Islanders hold a banner protesting the Barossa gas project. Photograph: Rebecca Parker

Updated at 01.28 EDT