Australia politics live: Wong hits back after Coalition claims antisemitism crisis fuelled by Labor’s support for UN motions critical of Israel

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Wong cautions Cash against conflating concerns about Gaza with antisemitism

Sarah Basford Canales

Earlier in Senate question time, the government leader, Penny Wong, hit back at the opposition for conflating recent antisemitic incidents in Australia with the Albanese government’s support of UN motions critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The new opposition Senate leader, Michaelia Cash, asked: “Minister, when will you acknowledge that the antisemitism crisis in Australia has been fuelled by the Albanese government’s consistent actions against Israel on the world stage?”

Cash was referring to Australia’s shift at the UN general assembly in recent months to back motions condemning Israel’s recent vote to ban Palestinian aid agency Unrwa over allegations its staff had ties with Hamas and supporting a “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza.

In December, conservative-leaning Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported the Israeli foreign affairs minister, Gideon Sa’ar, had chastised Wong in recent talks for choosing to “distance itself from Israel in its most difficult year”.

In response to Cash, Wong said:

I will make the point to Senator Cash that the position Australia has taken in the United Nations, and elsewhere, reflects the concern that so many in the international community had and reflects the position of countries like Canada, like the United Kingdom, like New Zealand, like Japan and like Korea …

It isn’t helpful to conflate Australian government’s concerns and Australian community concerns about the scale of loss of life in Gaza or UN votes with antisemitism.

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Key events

Caitlin Cassidy

Caitlin Cassidy

Queensland University of Technology appoints former judge to review anti-racism symposium

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has appointed a former judge to lead an independent review into a controversial anti-racism symposium hosted on campus last month.

The Hon Justice John Middleton AM KC’s review will consider the content of the symposium, run by QUT’s Carumba institute, and its broader program of events and activities.

Middleton has been a federal court Judge, part time commissioner of the Australia Law Reform Commission and deputy president of the Australian Competition Tribunal.

QUT’s vice-chancellor, Margaret Sheil, said she appreciated Middleton had agreed to independently assess the symposium and awaited his findings, which would be made public once the review was completed.

On Wednesday, Sheil will front a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism that has been called after widespread backlash over the symposium, which included a comedy event with a cartoon image of a character dubbed “Dutton’s Jew”.

The slide, presented by head of the Jewish Council of Australia, Sarah Schwartz, criticised what she described as stereotyping of the Jewish community by the Coalition, providing a “human shield” to talk about “hating on migrants … protecting everyday Aussies from left-wing anti-war protesters and … bolstering support for Israel”.

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Jordyn Beazley

Jordyn Beazley

Hello, I’ll now be with you until this evening.

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Krishani Dhanji

Krishani Dhanji

Thanks all for being with me on the blog today, I’ll be back with you bright and early tomorrow for more political shenanigans!

I’ll leave you with Jordyn Beazley to take you through the rest of the afternoon.

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What did we learn in Question Time today?

Krishani Dhanji

Krishani Dhanji

Here’s a brief roundup of what happened in the House and Senate this afternoon.

  • The big focus was on cost of living. The government used questions from the opposition and dixers to bring up the opposition’s tax-free lunch policy, which they claim doesn’t pass the “pub test” for voters.

  • The opposition tried to bat that away with questions on the cost of tax deductible lunches at big boardroom meetings, which Labor said is existing policy, and the Liberals struggled to shake the debate away from them.

  • The Liberals attempted to challenge the government on the prices of goods and groceries and even put a question to the Prime Minister on how much food has increased (which Albanese had to come back to right at the end of QT)

  • Healthcare and education, two key areas for Labor, were also brought up several times today by ministers. As I mentioned earlier, Labor is trying to pin Peter Dutton on his record as health minister and both areas also sit squarely within the cost of living, which the government are trying to stay on top of with their messaging.

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Sarah Basford Canales

Sarah Basford Canales

Penny Wong accuses Cash of spreading misinformation over Australian position on Israel and Gaza

Following on that earlier clash in Senate question time over antisemitism, the government’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, accused her Liberal counterpart of spreading misinformation.

The Western Australian senator, Michaelia Cash, who is now also the opposition’s leader in the upper house, asked Wong whether the Albanese government would commit to no longer supporting “one-sided anti-Israel motions at the United Nations that fail to condemn Hamas or call for the release of the hostages?”

As we mentioned earlier, the Australian government has shifted position slightly to be more critical of Israeli’s actions in the Gaza conflict. In particular, it joined with other nations last year to condemn Israel for banning the aid agency Unrwa and urged Israel to support an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza.

Those actions have enraged the Israeli government, with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu accusing Australia of adopting an “extreme anti-Israel” position.

So when Cash asked the question, Wong responded curtly.

We have consistently called for the release of hostages and, in fact, that question, that question demonstrates the sort of misinformation that those who wish to bring the conflict here engage in … I would note that the person who is out of touch with the international community is Mr [Peter] Dutton, because Mr Dutton opposed the ceasefire. That ceasefire was supported by President Trump and [President] Biden.

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Dan Jervis-Bardy

Dan Jervis-Bardy

Spender proposes reintroduction of ‘serious vilification’ to hate crimes bill

Allegra Spender called a press conference just before question time to detail her proposed amendments to the government’s hate crimes legislation.

The Wentworth MP wants to reintroduce a specific offence for serious vilification after it was removed from the original bill.

I’m seeking to do this because I believe, and this is really backed by Mike Burgess from Asio, when he said ‘words matter’.

Words are the start of many things that we don’t want as a country. And so when we consider how to stop antisemitism, but frankly, how to stop different types of hatred in our community, we need to consider how words are being used to drive some of this.

Spender used the example of a preacher calling for a “final solution” in relation to Jewish people as one type of vilification that would be captured under her amendment. She acknowledged the need to protect freedom of speech but said guardrails were essential to prevent the “whipping up of animosity and hatred in our society”.

The teal MP is expected to move the amendments when debate resumes on the hate crimes bill on Tuesday afternoon.

The chief executive of advocacy group Equality Australia, Anna Brown, fronted the press conference alongside Spender to back the amendments. Brown said:

The laws currently before the Commonwealth parliament are a welcome step, but they will only prevent hate if they stop it at its source, and the member for Wentworth’s bill does that by prohibiting serious vilification.

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Minns bans use of ministerial drivers for purely private purposes

Daisy Dumas

Daisy Dumas

Chris Minns has banned the use of ministerial drivers for exclusively private purposes after this morning accepting the resignation of Jo Haylen.

In a statement, the NSW premier said the transport minister “clearly” made an error of judgment, but that “there are also too many grey areas where private and public uses blur”:

Jo has paid a high price for that.

He continued:

While private use of Ministerial drivers has been permitted under longstanding rules, community expectations and standards rightly do not match these rules.

The best way to fix this is to change the rules, and that is what I have done today.

As such, the vehicle use policy in the minister’s office handbook will be updated to ban the use of ministerial drivers for exclusively private purposes.

All ministers must comply with the policy which will take effect immediately.

He thanked Haylen for her hard work and for her service to the people of New South Wales.

He said he has asked John Graham to administer the transport portfolio on an interim basis. He will be formally sworn in by the governor on Friday.

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Albanese provides food price increase figures as question time ends

Just before question time ends, the prime minister brings up the figures on how much food prices have increased.

Albanese says food prices have increased 3.0% in the last year, while in the last year the Coalition was in office, he says it was 5.9%.

And with that, the first question time of the year is done.

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Minor skirmish over significant investor visa

There were reports earlier this week that Peter Dutton said at an event that the opposition would bring back the significant investor visa. The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, is given a dixer on the reports:

This is a visa that was abolished by this government, and abolished for very good reason. Because it was not consistent with the integrity of the visa system that Australians would expect. I had thought that that was bipartisan because of the serious national security reasons associated with its abolition.

Burke brings up quotes from Liberal senator James Paterson discrediting the visa in the past and then attacks Dutton on his record of approving visas as home affairs minister.

There’s a lot of back and forth on this with the speaker as to whether Burke has “impugned” the character of members of the opposition. Michael Sukkar says Burke should withdraw his references.

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Albanese champions $300 energy rebate after needling from opposition

Back to the House. Chris Bowen, the energy minister, gets a dixer on lowering energy bills. Immediately after, the shadow energy minister, Ted O’Brien, gets up to ask the PM:

Can the prime minister provide a single example of an Australian family had a… $275 cut to their power bill?

Albanese quickly responds:

I note that all Australian households, including that of the honorable member, got $300, as a direct result, as a direct result of our government’s policy.

The $300 energy rebate was the centrepiece of Labor’s February 2024 budget.

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Wong cautions Cash against conflating concerns about Gaza with antisemitism

Sarah Basford Canales

Sarah Basford Canales

Earlier in Senate question time, the government leader, Penny Wong, hit back at the opposition for conflating recent antisemitic incidents in Australia with the Albanese government’s support of UN motions critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The new opposition Senate leader, Michaelia Cash, asked: “Minister, when will you acknowledge that the antisemitism crisis in Australia has been fuelled by the Albanese government’s consistent actions against Israel on the world stage?”

Cash was referring to Australia’s shift at the UN general assembly in recent months to back motions condemning Israel’s recent vote to ban Palestinian aid agency Unrwa over allegations its staff had ties with Hamas and supporting a “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza.

In December, conservative-leaning Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported the Israeli foreign affairs minister, Gideon Sa’ar, had chastised Wong in recent talks for choosing to “distance itself from Israel in its most difficult year”.

In response to Cash, Wong said:

I will make the point to Senator Cash that the position Australia has taken in the United Nations, and elsewhere, reflects the concern that so many in the international community had and reflects the position of countries like Canada, like the United Kingdom, like New Zealand, like Japan and like Korea …

It isn’t helpful to conflate Australian government’s concerns and Australian community concerns about the scale of loss of life in Gaza or UN votes with antisemitism.

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Zali Steggal asks PM to commit to climate resilience round table

The next question goes back to the crossbench, to independent MP Zali Steggall, who asks:

Prime minister. You spoke earlier of the Queensland floods. We’re seeing yet again the impacts and escalating risks of climate crisis. Over in the US, the wildfires damage will exceed $135bn. Clearly, we cannot insure our way out of the climate crisis. Action on preparation and resilience must occur now. Will the government commit to a round table?

Albanese says Labor is putting together a national adaptation plan, as well as national risk assessments. He also points to the disaster-ready fund to help build bridges to avoid flooding in areas and other measures:

… $200m a year, every year, in disaster prevention resilient projects through the disaster-ready fund. So that’s doing things such as raising levies around Mackay.

Earlier last month Albanese said the wildfires in California were reason for Australia and the world to take strong action on climate change.

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Labor takes dixer on fee-free Tafe

It’s time for another dixer, this time for skills minister Andrew Giles, on fee-free Tafe.

The government will likely pass its legislation for permanent fee-free Tafe places this fortnight, and it’s another pillar of their cost of living campaign. Giles says:

The free Tafe Senate inquiry has now received dozens of submissions, highlighting the positive impact of free TAFE.

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PM says he won’t undermine security agencies when asked on Dural explosives caravan

Michael Sukkar has asked about the van that was found in Dural in outer Sydney with explosives in it.

My question is to the prime minister. on what date was the prime minister first advised of the planned mass casualty terror attack against Sydney’s Jewish community?

Albanese says:

On national security, there are two priorities. The first priority is, of course, keeping the public safe. The second and related principle is that we engage with the Australian Federal Police and the national intelligence agencies, we don’t go out there and brief about national security committee meetings. We don’t … discuss those details because it’s an ongoing investigation.

Sukkar gets up to claim the PM hasn’t been relevant, before Albanese continues, saying he backs the security agenices, won’t undermine them and won’t reference any classified information.

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