Ed Husic: ‘I haven’t seen a good fascist yet’
Ed Husic has delivered a careful but firm rebuke of Anthony Albanese’s remark that “good people” attended Sunday’s anti-immigration rallies.
Speaking on the ABC a short time ago, the Labor MP said he hadn’t “seen a good fascist yet”:
Those rallies were whipped up by far-right extremists and neo-Nazis. A lot of people were warned about that. I am not in the business of doing ‘there are good people on both sides’ argument.
I think a lot of people in the Australian public would have been extremely unsettled by what they had seen. The way in which people had been targeted, the way in which specifically Indian-Australians had been targeted. I don’t think there is any place for that frankly.
The success story of the nation has been over generations, that we have brought people in and that they have been able to chase their dreams and help build the country up to where it is, and we are a lot stronger for it.
… In particular, I haven’t seen a good fascist yet.
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Updated at 07.52 BST
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Sarah Basford Canales
Head of immigration department says Nauru deal does not contain specific figures
Home affairs department officials have revealed there are no specific figures contained within Australia’s $400m deal with Nauru to offload hundreds of non-citizen to the Pacific island nation.
In a snap parliamentary inquiry hearing tonight, the department’s immigration head, Clare Sharp, was asked by Liberal senator, Michaelia Cash, whether the memorandum of understanding between the two nations specified a figure for resettlement.
Sharp said the deal did not contain a figure, and theoretically, Nauru could decide to take no one.
Sharp said there were 354 “NZYQ-affected” people who were released from indefinite detention following the high court ruling in November 2023.
ShareCaitlin Cassidy
ANU seeks to ‘reassure all current students’ after legal threats over music school
The Australian National University (ANU) has attempted to “reassure” students after it was threatened with legal action over plans to dismantle the School of Music.
On 21 August, current music students sent a joint letter to management warning they may have breached federal legislation mandating that ANU must “promote the highest standards of practice” in the visual and performing arts and not provide misleading or deceptive representations in its promotional materials and public communications.
The students required ANU to provide a written undertaking by 4pm 3 September demonstrating compliance with statutory obligations lest they take further legal action.
In a response published to the university’s website, lead for social impact in the College of Arts and Social Sciences, Prof. Bronwyn Parry Dean, wished to “reassure all current students” that ANU’s change proposal remained under review.
Dean said the current proposal would remove 3.5 full time equivalent positions and create a new School of Creative and Cultural practice in place of the School of Music, which would affect “staffing and structure, but not the content of the Bachelor of Music”.
A second redesign process, emerging from a curriculum review, would amend the Bachelor of Music program as “part of normal curricula renewal to ensure we remain aligned with international best practice, disciplinary shifts, and student demand”, Dean said:
Students will continue to have opportunities to study performance, composition, and musicology in depth … The changes to the curriculum will affect students entering the Bachelor of Music from 2026. Current students will continue in the structure and delivery of the degree in which they enrolled.
While there may be some changes to the range of courses on offer, this is a usual process across the university, as we amend our programs regularly … The university is fully committed to complying with all its legal and statutory obligations.
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Ed Husic: ‘I haven’t seen a good fascist yet’
Ed Husic has delivered a careful but firm rebuke of Anthony Albanese’s remark that “good people” attended Sunday’s anti-immigration rallies.
Speaking on the ABC a short time ago, the Labor MP said he hadn’t “seen a good fascist yet”:
Those rallies were whipped up by far-right extremists and neo-Nazis. A lot of people were warned about that. I am not in the business of doing ‘there are good people on both sides’ argument.
I think a lot of people in the Australian public would have been extremely unsettled by what they had seen. The way in which people had been targeted, the way in which specifically Indian-Australians had been targeted. I don’t think there is any place for that frankly.
The success story of the nation has been over generations, that we have brought people in and that they have been able to chase their dreams and help build the country up to where it is, and we are a lot stronger for it.
… In particular, I haven’t seen a good fascist yet.
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Updated at 07.52 BST
‘We’ve got to reclaim the flag’, says Jacinta Nampijinpa Price
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price wants to “reclaim the flag” and believes it is “disrespectful” of the prime minister to stand in front of three flags, rather than the Australian flag alone, in Parliament House.
“What worries me is the way that our flag has been condemned … For such a long time now, it’s been suggested that if you are proud of your Australian flag, you are somehow racist,” the shadow defence industry minister told the ABC just now.
We’ve got to reclaim the flag. I’m reclaiming the flag from that viewpoint, because ultimately, the flag does represent who we are as a country, and I think it’s utterly disappointing and disrespectful that our prime minister stands before three flags instead of one Australian flag – and that we see that displayed all over parliament, including at the front of Parliament House, where we are here to represent all Australians.
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Updated at 07.25 BST
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says Australia should criminalise desecration of flag
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says Australia should criminalise the destruction or the desecration of the national flag because we are “divided as a nation”.
Speaking on the ABC just now, the shadow minister for defence industry said:
I think it’s necessary because I feel like we’re experiencing a time in our country where we’re actually quite divided as a nation … For respect for those that fought for our freedoms in this country, fought underneath that flag, fought for our freedom, for freedom of expression … free speech, freedom of mateship – all those values that we hold dear.
She said she thinks desecration of the flag is “a deep insult to those individuals” and a “complete disloyalty to our nation at the same time. And we don’t need that. We don’t need any more division than what we’re currently experiencing.”
She said she was deeply concerned by extremism, whether by neo-Nazis or those who make “genocidal remarks like ‘from the river to the sea’, those who carry the Isis flag and support entities such as Hamas”.
It should be noted that the expression ‘from the river to the sea’ is highly contested – here’s a little background info on its origins:
The shadow minister for defence industry, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 07.29 BST
Daisy Dumas
Thank you, Krishani Dhanji, and good afternoon. Let’s get on with the remainder of the day’s news.
ShareKrishani Dhanji
Thank you all for following along on the blog with me today, I’ll leave you now with the wonderful Daisy Dumas.
I’ll see you all here bright and early tomorrow, for the final sitting day of the fortnight!
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Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time
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It was a pretty lively question time today, and we zoomed through a bunch of issues (I nearly got whiplash after Monday and Tuesday’s question times were almost solely aged care focused).
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QT did start on aged care today, with Sam Rae again under the spotlight as he tried to swing the government’s 180 on aged care – and deal with the opposition – as a win.
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Anthony Albanese essentially tried to shut down questions on Daniel Andrews attending the military parade in Beijing today.
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Albanese was also short with his answers to questions on whether the government is supporting the return, and prepared for the return of the so-called Islamic State brides. The government has said it’s aware of reports on this, but is not providing any support.
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Independent Allegra Spender asked Jim Chalmers how exposed the economy is to climate change – which is, he answered, “substantial”.
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Updated at 06.58 BST
Lisa Cox
Glencore welcomes government approval of mine extension
Glencore has released a short statement about the federal government’s approval of its expansion plans for the Ulan coal mine near Mudgee in New South Wales.
As we reported earlier today, the government has signed off on the proposal, which would expand the mine’s footprint and extract an additional 18.8m tonnes of run of mine coal. The approval extends the life of the mine for another two years from 2033 to 2035.
A Glencore company spokesperson said the project “involves a minor change to the current mine plan to extend the operation for a further two years, providing ongoing employment for the current workforce out to 2035”.
Last year, Ulan Coal directly contributed A$846m to the economy. We’re proud of our longstanding track record in the region and remain committed to supporting its future through local jobs, business partnerships and community investment.
Climate groups and the Greens have criticised the project approval as the government prepares to set Australia’s 2035 climate targets. They said earlier today it highlights flaws in Australia’s environment laws, which do not directly consider a project’s impacts on the climate.
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Updated at 06.44 BST
After a final dixer on housing, the prime minister gives everyone a bit of an early mark, and question time is over for the day.
As MPs start to depart, Anne Webster says she’s been misrepresented.
She says she didn’t organise the protest, but was just standing there with the other protesters.
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Updated at 06.09 BST
Bowen says gas is ‘necessary to underpin our transition to renewables’
“Why is the government supporting more gas projects when we have more than enough already?” asks the independent MP Monique Ryan.
She says just 16% of gas produced in Australia was sold to the domestic market last year, and asks, as the government undertakes a gas market review, why are they considering supporting more gas projects when we have more than enough?
Energy minister Chris Bowen says the review is “very necessary”:
The fundamental principle I don’t accept is a premise to our review, other than the fundamental principle is we do have a plentiful supply of gas in Australia and we need to ensure that apply is available for Australian uses …
We will continue to make the point that gas is necessary to underpin our transition to renewables … for that purpose we are undertaking the review.
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Updated at 06.13 BST
‘I front up when coffins are brought to the front of my office with my name on it’
The Nationals MP Anne Webster asks the PM why he was chased out of Ballarat last week after attending the bush summit where he had said he wouldn’t “BS people”. She asks if he was chased out of the town because the government broke its promise to reduce energy bills by $275.
Just a note here, the Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie was in one of those tractors.
The member [Webster] chose to organise people to come along and yell with loud hailers and to disrupt …
He gets interrupted by shouts from the opposition.
After a bit of back and forth between the Speaker and Webster (who gets shut down when trying to make a point of order), Albanese tries to turn the heat onto the opposition, and says they need to be “responsible”.
I tell you what is dangerous, the encouragement of an event where someone stands on a chair in the second row with a noose around their neck at a time when people are taking their own life is a really serious issue…
I’m always prepared to front up. I front up in seats right across this parliament. I front up outside my electorate office which the demonstrations are a lot more willing than what was there in Ballarat the other day. I front up when coffins are brought to the front of my office with my name on it and front up and address those people and I address them respectfully.
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Updated at 06.10 BST
PM says Labor’s ‘principled position’ on Gaza has resulted in ‘criticism from all sides’
Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown asks the next question for the prime minister:
The international association of genocide scholars this week voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion stating that Israel’s actions in Gaza fit the definition of genocide under international law, calling on states like Australia to uphold our obligations under the genocide convention. Will your government finally acknowledge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza?
Anthony Albanese says there’s a legal process taking place through the international court of justice (ICJ), and the government will “allow legal processes to take their course”.
He says the government has been consistent in calling out the terrorist attacks on 7 October, in calling for a ceasefire, and for innocent civilians to be protected.
We have continued to take a principled position that has resulted in criticism from all sides of this debate… It’s the right thing to do for the role that we play internationally, it’s the right thing to do to work towards a long term solution where both Israelis and Palestinians can live side-by-side in peaceful security…
What Australians want to see is two things – they want to see the killings stop … whether they be Israelis or Palestinians, and the second thing they want is for the conflict to not be brought here.
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Updated at 06.11 BST
‘I am responsible for the Australian government’: Albanese on Andrews and China parade
Angus Taylor is up again and asks if the prime minister will condemn his “close personal friend” Daniel Andrews, who stood alongside Vladimir Putin at the Chinese Communist Party military parade.
There’s a problem with the question, says Milton Dick, because the question doesn’t actually go to the PM’s responsibilities. Tony Burke makes the same point, that the question has to be something “officially connected” with the PM.
The manager of opposition business, Alex Hawke, says, “the prime minister is officially connected with Australia… that is an official connection. We have invited him to condemn a former premier attending a foreign affairs rally”.
The PM answers, but it’s not exactly what the opposition are looking for.
I am responsible for the Australian government. The Australian government did have a representative there and the Australian government did have a representative 10 years ago. That was a minister in the government. Our government chose that that would not be the case.
Anthony Albanese speaks during question time today. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare
Updated at 05.53 BST