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The government’s proposed digital duty of care legislation, part of its crackdown on social media, gives too much power to the communications minister, the deputy opposition leader, Jane Hume, told the ABC this morning:
We don’t feel that the minister should have the powers to determine what is and is not online harm.
You could understand why there would be a natural suspicion. When the government tries to control the internet, it inevitably fails.
Andrew Bushnell from the Institute of Public Affairs echoed Hume’s claim, quipping that Australians would be trading the algorithm for the “alborithm”.
Key events
- Abuse survivors linked to Christian Brothers schools to be paid out
- More than 200 workers stood down at Bathla
- Digital duty of care gives minister too much power, claims Hume
- NSW introducing new laws to target organised crime
- Next election a referendum on super, treasurer says
- Butler says he’s not thinking about party leadership
- Butler says One Nation’s super plan is ‘terrible’
- One Nation propose divert super payments to pay packet
- Good morning from Tory
- Labor calls on Coalition and the Greens to support social media fines
- More Australians head to Nepal to help
- Bipartisan 'Dads Caucus' to launch in Canberra
- Labor under pressure to toughen lobbying rules
- Parents of Australian surfers killed in Mexico fly in for trial
- Good morning
A typically thoughtful contribution here from Waleed Aly and the “near-constant sense of crisis in almost every sphere of life”:
Our political order was built on the promise of expanding wealth and greater control over our lives. It said we could dream big, then pursue those dreams, and that if we didn’t achieve them, maybe our children would.
It assumed each generation would live longer and be more comfortable.
Read more:
The organisation that runs former Christian Brothers schools says it has formally agreed to pay out abuse survivors and is fast-tracking payments to those who have already been promised compensation.
The Christian Brothers, a Catholic order that ran schools and orphanages across Australia, announced earlier this year that it was going broke and would no longer be able to meet the claims of child abuse survivors. The decision infuriated survivors and lawyers, particularly given the Christian Brothers horrific track record of clergy abuse and the Catholic church’s vast wealth.
It prompted scrutiny of the controversial transfer of asset wealth from Christian Brothers to the Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia (TEREA), an organisation set up in 2007 to take over the running of Christian Brothers schools.
TEREA initially resisted efforts to take on responsibility for survivors’ abuse claims but changed its position following public pressure.
On Monday, ahead of a report by the ABC on the affair, TEREA issued a statement saying it had now formally agreed to compensate Christian Brothers victims and would fast-track payments to those who had already been promised compensation, either through court decisions or settlements.
Dr Stephen Brown, chair of TEREA, said it was “simply the right thing to do”. He said:
We do not want victim-survivors with approved claims to wait any longer and are fast-tracking finance and hope to be able to make an announcement soon.
In July, Guardian Australia revealed the Christian Brothers order had kept nine convicted child abusers within its order and was providing them with financial support, including by using its properties to house two brothers with horrific histories of preying on children.
Brown told the ABC he only learnt of that fact when told by the ABC during an interview three weeks ago, despite repeated prior reporting by the Guardian.
More than 200 workers at Bathla Group have been stood down as the administrator of the embattled property developer seeks emergency funds to stave off a company-wide collapse.
The insolvency advisory Teneo said today that new short-term funding arrangements would only allow Bathla to continue construction on some of the 45 construction sites. It said in a statement:
Construction on other projects will be suspended today, resulting in approximately 213 employees being stood down.
Bathla is a major Sydney headquartered developer that also has operations in regional NSW, South Australia and Victoria.
Thousands of homebuyers were left in the lurch by the announcement on 25 August that the developer had gone into voluntary administration, weighed down by almost $3.6bn in debt.
Teneo has previously said its immediate priority was to finish the estimated 2,000-2,500 homes on which construction had already begun, and that it was not in a position to refund any deposits.
Administrator Stephen Longley said today that short-term funding arrangements with five lenders would allow construction to continue on some projects. He said:
Significant work remains to secure the funding required to progress and ultimately complete all projects currently under construction.
The scale of the destruction in Nepal is “almost beyond comprehension”, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, has told the senate.
Thousands of people, including 36 Australians, are still missing in the wake of the devastating flood. Wong said in the condolence motion:
Australia’s Nepali community is grieving for family, friends, and communities in the region.
Members of Australia’s Tibetan community are too experiencing great anguish.
And for many Hindu Australians, including those with connections to the pilgrimage routes and sacred places of this region, this disaster has brought deep sorrow.
To each of these communities, we extend the sympathy and solidarity of this parliament.
Australia has sent about 50 officers to the region, as well as specialist drone operators and AFP disaster victim identification specialists.
The government’s proposed digital duty of care legislation, part of its crackdown on social media, gives too much power to the communications minister, the deputy opposition leader, Jane Hume, told the ABC this morning:
We don’t feel that the minister should have the powers to determine what is and is not online harm.
You could understand why there would be a natural suspicion. When the government tries to control the internet, it inevitably fails.
Andrew Bushnell from the Institute of Public Affairs echoed Hume’s claim, quipping that Australians would be trading the algorithm for the “alborithm”.
How to get up to speed on the Australian political news of the day
Today Guardian Australia launches a brand new political newsletter: Politics, really. No, really!
We’ll be bringing you the latest political news – but more importantly, what it means.
NSW police to ‘smash open’ online platforms where crime is plotted
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, is holding a press conference about those organised crime laws.
He says any “wilful and deliberate attempt to either evade law enforcement or use online platforms to facilitate crime, particularly murder, in NSW … will be a criminal offence”.
Minns says criminal actors are basing themselves offshore and “pulling the strings” of people here using sophisticated technology. To combat that police will be given the latest technology themselves to “smash open and crack open online platforms to understand the full chronology of these criminal actions and their activities as they apply both here and overseas”.
New laws being introduced in New South Wales aim to tackle organised crime by giving police more power and creating a new aggravated offence for conspiracy to commit gang-related murder. The maximum penalty will be increased to life imprisonment.
Police would also be able to use new interim serious crime prevention orders to restrict people suspected of serious and organised crime. Those would be applied while the supreme court considers the full order.
Children’s indictable offences would include activities linked to organised crime, and public shootings and firebombings would be added to the scheme.
Police would also have more access to encrypted devices. The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said:
Organised crime doesn’t stand still, and neither can the laws and powers we give police to fight it.
We want to hit these criminal networks at every point – the people who organise the violence, the people who facilitate it online and the people who ultimately carry it out.
If you conspire to arrange a gangland murder, you should face the prospect of spending the rest of your life behind bars.
US access to Australian military bases
This is an extraordinary story from Ben Doherty, Andy Ball and Nick Evershed about the extent of the United States’ access to military bases across Australia.
Defence minister Richard Marles said in June that the “hugely significant American presence” in the region was a balance to China’s “very significant military buildup”.
Read more:
One Nation’s proposal for people to be able to divert some of their super into their pay packet is a “full-frontal attack” that will “make Australian workers tens of thousands of dollars worse off in retirement”, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said this morning.
One Nation is “anti-worker” and they “vote the way that [billionaire backer] Gina Rinehart tells them to”, he said, adding that the next election will be a “referendum on super”:
Every time One Nation is asked to support the financial interests of Australian workers, they oppose the financial interests of Australian workers.
By ending super as we know it, by making Australian workers poorer as a consequence, One Nation is showing once again: this is exactly why One Nation poses an unacceptable and dangerous risk to Australian workers.
