Question time begins: Coalition asks about home care
Sussan Ley starts QT today and asks the minister for aged care about home care packages. She says the government promised 83,000 new packages – so how many have been delivered?
The government has delayed the rollout of new home care packages, from 1 July to 1 November, which has caused concern among the community.
Aged care minister, Sam Rae, says that the size of the home care program has grown from 155,000 to 300,000 since 2020.
Ley makes a point of order – Rae isn’t saying how many of those 83,000 promised have so far been delivered (the Senate crossbench, who have also been pushing the government on these packages, have said none have been delivered).
Support at home [program] will come into effect from 1 November alongside the new Aged Care Act which provides the legislative framework for the new home care approach we are taking. We will deliver an 83,000 packages from 1 November over 12 months. That’s on top of the more than 300,000 Australians that are currently receiving home care packages.
Key events
The aged care interrogation continues
Liberal MP Tom Venning puts another question to Sam Rae (his fourth), and talks about a 90-year-old constituent who has Parkinson’s disease and has been told he has to wait 12 months for a home care package.
Venning asks if Rae will expedite his constituent’s package.
Rae asks Venning to provide him with the constituent’s details and promises to follow his case up as a “matter of urgency”.
Rae doesn’t have much new information to add, he repeats the lines that more packages are being allocated every week.
This short delay to commencing the new Aged Care Act is about ensuring the programs like support at home are fully ready for older Australians and their families.
At the end of Rae’s answer, Nationals MP Sam Birrell is ejected from the chamber for being too noisy.
Crossbench’s Helen Haines also has questions about home care package delay
All the questions are for Sam Rae today – from the crossbench, Helen Haines says more than 120,000 people are waiting for a home care assessment and another 87,000 people are waiting for a package. She asks:
The department also confirmed that no additional plans have been released beyond the attrition rate. Will the government release 20,000 new home care places now to stop the waitlist growing longer?
Rae says 2000 new packages are being allocated every week, and those assessed as high priority are being allocated a package within a month.
This is the same information he gave Sussan Ley – and there’s no indication the government will unlock the 20,000 places Haines has asked for.
Last year alone, over 521,000 home support and comprehensive assessments were completed and we currently are more than 300,000 older Australians receiving home care packages.
99% of people waiting for a home care package at their approved level are already receiving home care through a lower level home care package or approved for commonwealth home package support services and so are already receiving some level of care. Median wait time for an aged care needs assessment from when a referral is issued to when the support plan is completed a currently 25 days.
Rae acknowledges the system is “not fit for purpose” but says that’s why the government is reforming the sector.
Minister says new home care packages will come on line when legislation starts – 1 November
Sussan Ley is back at the mic, and says she’ll “help” the aged care minister, telling him that “zero” of those new home care packages have been delivered.
Ley says more than 200,000 Australians are still waiting for a package or an assessment for a home package – she asks if the minister will apologise to those Australians waiting.
Sam Rae says the new home care packages can only come online when the aged care legislation – which was passed with Coalition support – comes into effect, which is 1 November.
We continue to deliver packages each and every single week, the average being above 2,000 packages per week to ensure that in the meantime Australians continue to receive the care that they need. We will ensure that every single Australian who is assessed as high priority will continue to receive their package within a month.
Question time begins: Coalition asks about home care
Sussan Ley starts QT today and asks the minister for aged care about home care packages. She says the government promised 83,000 new packages – so how many have been delivered?
The government has delayed the rollout of new home care packages, from 1 July to 1 November, which has caused concern among the community.
Aged care minister, Sam Rae, says that the size of the home care program has grown from 155,000 to 300,000 since 2020.
Ley makes a point of order – Rae isn’t saying how many of those 83,000 promised have so far been delivered (the Senate crossbench, who have also been pushing the government on these packages, have said none have been delivered).
Support at home [program] will come into effect from 1 November alongside the new Aged Care Act which provides the legislative framework for the new home care approach we are taking. We will deliver an 83,000 packages from 1 November over 12 months. That’s on top of the more than 300,000 Australians that are currently receiving home care packages.
Penry Buckley
Workplace injury claimants are being surveilled online, says state insurer
Returning to NSW budget estimates, Tony Wessling, an executive at state insurer icare, has been asked about the use of surveillance for those making workplace compensation claims.
Wessling says surveillance, including “optical” or in-person investigations, is “necessary and required” where workers’ accounts of an injury differ with their employers, and must be approved by icare.
Greens upper house MP Abigail Boyd says she has heard from workers who say they have been subjected to social media surveillance, including family members having their profiles looked at to work out if a family member is misrepresenting an injury.
Wessling says icare does not itself approve “desktop investigations” on public social media sites.
But you’re correct, though, that does occur as part of investigations. They’re governed by a broader standard of practice set by [state insurance regulator] SIRA around how and when they need to be conducted, and we are, at the moment, looking at our processes and procedures around … social media.
Michaelia Cash says rallies were ‘hijacked’ by neo-Nazis
Shadow foreign minister, Michaelia Cash, also moves a motion by the Coalition, which she says goes to the principle that free speech must be protected but a hard line should be drawn against extremism of any kind.
Cash says the Coalition is concerned that rallies yesterday were “hijacked” by neo-Nazis.
The Coalition won’t support the Greens’ or Labor’s motion, and Cash says Faruqi’s motion suggests “all attendees at the rally over the weekend were racists and white supremacists. That was clearly not the case”.
Cash accuses the Greens of being solely focused on neo-Nazis, rather than all forms of hate and extremism.
The Senate cannot be selective in it condemnation, hate is hate, extremism is extremism.
Greens senator David Shoebridge speaks next and puts blame on Labor, and accuses the government of having the most “hateful” policies towards refugees and asylum seekers.
Labor, Labor, Labor, attack, attack, attack, dog whistle, dog whistle, dog whistle, and they wonder why neo-Nazis are getting up on the weekend and attacking migration.
Faruqi calls One Nation the ‘merchants of hate’
Faruqi implores the parliament to do something, and not to “spew hate and racism” or scapegoat and blame migrants and refugees.
Faruqi says Labor’s amendment to her motion “waters it down” but she says the Greens are willing to support that – so the Senate agrees that what happened over the weekend is “rejected”.
It is on every single one of the senators and MPs … they do not scapegoat and blame migrants and refugees for their own policy failures, otherwise this country will never be safe.
She calls One Nation the “merchants of hate” – Pauline Hanson stands up and immediately asks for that to be withdrawn. (The deputy Speaker says it doesn’t have to be withdrawn – her criticism was of the party, rather than an individual senator, which isn’t allowed – but he tells her to tread carefully.)
Labor minister Jenny McAllister stands to move the government’s amendment to Faruqi’s motion, and says the anti-Indian sentiment seen over the weekend at the protests was racist.
Our government has zero tolerance for hate and discrimination in all its forms. We are building a safer and more inclusive Australia for everyone.
McAllister says Labor doesn’t believe that all politicians and all media have been “fanning the flames” of hate.
Mehreen Faruqi says politicians have ‘normalised’ racism
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi is speaking on her motion on social cohesion.
She says the rally over the weekend should be a “wakeup call”, and accuses other politicians of having downplayed or fuelled racism.
She says racism is the foundation of colonialism, and that discrimination and racism that started with colonisation has “never really stopped”.
Racism has been “normalised”, including by by politicians and the media, Faruqi says, and claims that normalisation has emboldened the rightwing extremists.
On the weekend neo-Nazis and far right extremists spoke and led marches across our cities, publicising their hate.
Migrants like me have been told repeatedly to put up, shut up or go back to where I come from.
Faruqi talks about abusive and violent letters that she receives weekly, and says she’s not alone.
It is the people in here [parliament] that normalise and legitimise this hate.
Luca Ittimani
Vegetable growers taken to court for alleged cartel price-fixing
Vegetable growers have been taken to court by the consumer watchdog after allegedly fixing produce prices when selling to Aldi, which, if proven, would breach Australia’s cartel laws.
The Australian competition and consumer commission has alleged four fresh produce suppliers fixed the prices of broccoli, cauliflower, iceberg lettuce, cucumber, Brussels sprouts and zucchini.
Producers are alleged to have collaborated on prices, rather than competing in the open market, while supplying Aldi stores in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria from 2018 to 2024. The ACCC chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said:
Businesses acting together instead of competing can drive up prices and harm consumers, while disadvantaging other businesses that are seeking to compete fairly.
The ACCC has pointed to 28 instances where it alleges two or more of the suppliers made arrangements, or attempted to, which they expected would set the price of the lettuce, gourds and cruciferous vegetables.
Suppliers then asked Aldi to pay prices matching those agreements on 48 instances, most of which were related to Aldi’s weekly price quoting, the ACCC alleged. Guardian Australia has contacted the four businesses for comment.
Three senior executives are also named in the federal court proceedings and face maximum penalties of up to $2.5m for each alleged breach after November 2022, and $50m for businesses, or $500,000 and $10m respectively for each breach before then.
Senate to debate social cohesion after anti-immigration rallies
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi will move a motion at 1pm this afternoon for debate on social cohesion, following yesterday’s anti-immigration rallies.
The Greens had initially intended to suspend standing orders this morning to bring on the motion, but the government then allocated time for it later in the day.
Faruqi’s motion condemns “the racist, white supremacist and anti-immigrant rallies held over the weekend and condemns the support of and attendance at the rallies by MPs”.
The government and opposition will both move amendments to Faruqi’s motion – all this will be debated.
The government’s amendment states that Australia “welcomes different races, religions and views”, while the opposition’s amendment “reaffirms Australia’s commitment to free speech and lawful assembly, and condemns all forms of extremism, intimidation, and violence.”
Josh Taylor
Coalition and Greens raise concerns about age assurance technology after report release
Both the federal opposition and the Greens have raised questions about whether technology aimed to keep under 16s from accessing social media from December will be workable, following the release on Sunday of the report on the trial of the technology.
As Guardian Australia reported, the report found that for facial age estimation technology, errors were “inevitable”, particularly for users aged two years either side of 16.
The shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, said it showed “those who are 13 could sneak through the cracks and have social media accounts.”
The Greens digital rights spokesperson, Senator David Shoebridge, said the risks of age assurance technology include mass surveillance, biometric data collection, big tech control, and systematic bias against girls and people of colour.
The government’s report on age assurance tech admits ‘implementation depends on the willingness of a small number of dominant tech companies’ meaning we’d be handing even more power to Big Tech to decide who gets online access. Labor surely understands this is bad!
The age assurance trial findings accidentally prove the social media age ban is unworkable and it is time to rethink this flawed approach.
Penry Buckley
NSW premier: “If you go to a rally and the Nazis turn up, it’s not one you should be at”
NSW premier Chris Minns has joined the ranks of politicians condemning yesterday’s rallies. Minns told reporters he was “probably as confused as most people” about the protests’ origins.
I just want to say, if you go to a rally and the Nazis turn up, it’s not one you should be at, and no one can deny that they were there. No one can deny that racist language was used. I mean, we can have civil debates about policy issues that affect the country, but this tipped into far more than that…
[Hate speech] laws apply to everybody, and they apply equally, and if you stand up and indulge in racism, then you’re subject to the full force of the law. The point I’m making is that police … will make the decision, not governments. That’s the way our system operates.
Minns was also asked about the arrest of a man this morning after a car allegedly crashed into Sydney’s Russian consulate building. He said he was aware of the incident but is yet to briefed by police.
Australian social fabric being ‘steadily eroded by extremism’, Sussan Ley says
Australia’s social fabric is being “steadily eroded by extremism” says Sussan Ley, in a statement following yesterday’s anti-immigration rallies.
The opposition leader says since the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel and the outbreak of war in Gaza, new pressures have been placed on Australia’s social cohesion and there have been “multiple failures” by the government to keep the community safe.
Ley says Anthony Albanese must show leadership to repair social cohesion in Australia.
We have seen cherished landmarks like the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House turned into backdrops for division, with people supporting terrorist organisations and holding up images of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Iranian regime … People of goodwill have been present at recent demonstrations, but their voices were hijacked by those seeking to glorify terrorism. That can never be accepted.
This is a moment that demands leadership. Our society is resilient, but its fabric is being steadily eroded by extremism. Australians expect their leaders to rise to the challenge, to call out hate in all its forms, and to bring the country together.
Sarah Basford Canales
Price urges Australia to ‘start being a lifter and stop being a leaner’ in US alliance
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says Australia needs to “start being a lifter and stop being a leaner” when it comes to its alliance with the US.
The shadow defence industry minister used most of her keynote speech at the bush summit in Darwin today to criticise the Albanese government and defence was no exception.
Officials within Donald Trump’s administration have been openly scathing of Australia’s defence spending amid tensions over the Aukus pact and trade tariffs.
Price said she was “confounded” by a recent Newspoll survey that found more Australians were worried about Trump’s tariffs than the Chinese Communist party’s military aggression. She said:
In other words, they’re more worried about the sanctions of a long-standing democratic ally than an authoritarian regime.
The NT Liberal senator said Australia must lift its defence spending to 3% of its GDP – up from its trajectory to about 2.4% of GDP by 2033-34 – and should “quickly realise” its future is with the US, not China.
The government needs to start being a lifter and stop being a leaner when it comes to our alliance with the US. If this government truly believes in a free, open and stable Indo-Pacific, then it must quickly come to realise which major power stands for those goals, and which major power stands against those goals.
Being concerned about immigration ‘does not mean you are racist’, Jacinta Price says
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price “congratulates” protesters at anti-immigration rallies yesterday, and says the community should be allowed to express concerns over a “lack of infrastructure to accommodate the millions of people” moving to Australia.
Speaking to Sky News after her appearance at the bush summit, Nampijinpa Price said she condemned the neo-Nazis who turned up to the protests, but said most of the people at the protests weren’t.
She says just because people are concerned about migration into Australia “does not mean that you are racist”.
Those marches that were being held yesterday were for reigniting the spirit of Australia, teaching our children to be proud, to call themselves Australian once more, but that yes, we should be allowed to address concerns about the fact there is lack of infrastructure to accommodate the millions of people now that we’re seeing the prime minister bring into our country, effectively vote-stacking the country for the benefit of Labor.
That last point is one the Coalition has previously made – trying it on ahead of the last election and claiming that Labor were fast-tracking citizenship ceremonies to gain votes. Home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said at the time that the additional ceremonies were due to long backlogs in the system.
Jacinta Price says Labor is moving Australia towards a ‘state-directed, controlled economy’
Sarah Basford Canales
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has delivered a speech at News Corp’s bush summit in Darwin this morning, proposing Australia “unleash the magic of the marketplace” like former US president, Ronald Reagan, to lift productivity.
The Nationals-turned-Liberal senator flirted with McCarthyism in her keynote speech, accusing the Labor government of moving Australia towards a “state directed, controlled economy”. She said:
Labor has embraced the same statist ideas that have devastated economies and people, wherever and whenever they have been implemented … Labor’s big government, big spending, big taxation and big interference agenda is a handbrake on productivity. We need real solutions to re-energise the economy, we need to do what Ronald Reagan did, and unleash the magic of the marketplace.
Price said one area she wanted to reform to lift productivity was land rights, which she said needed to be reviewed and modernised to lift “economic development”.
The land councils are not functioning as they were intended. There’s administrative bottlenecks and excessively long processing times for leases, and that inhibits private property ownership and the commercialisation of land. They also can be very paternalistic as well, which is a mindset where the preservation of culture and tradition on those lands holds back economic development … it’s about protection of land as a right, the preservation of culture, locking the gate, defending Aboriginal people and their land from the intrusion of outsiders, whether miners, pastoralists, tourists, anyone without a permit, even their own future government. As I’ve said before, there’s a racism of low expectations when it comes to Indigenous Australians and Indigenous Territorians.
Daisy Dumas
Victorian Greens condemn far-right extremists
The Victorian Greens have condemned the “deeply disturbing” action of far-right extremists over the weekend, calling for “urgent action” to stop hate from spreading.
In a statement this morning, the party said there was “absolutely no place for this disgusting racism and hate in our community, or anywhere”.
The leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell, said:
The storming of Camp Sovereignty by far-right extremists assaulting people and committing awful acts of violence are deeply disturbing.
First Nations people are leading a movement for truth and justice that makes our whole community stronger, and this racist attack is an attack on all of us.
Far-right extremism has been growing for years, preying on and radicalising young men online. The Greens’ inquiry set out a clear roadmap to stop this hate from spreading, but it wasn’t taken seriously enough. Now is the time for real, long-term investment to tackle extremism at its roots.
The Victorian Greens spokesperson for multiculturalism, Anasina Gray-Barberio, added the attacks were “a stark reminder why we must stand together against hate”.
She said:
We deserve better, to live proudly in who we are, in a community free from hate and fear.
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