Ukrainian ambassador furious over Four Corners episode: ‘total garbage’
Daniel Hurst
The Ukrainian ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, has demanded a meeting with ABC management to protest last night’s Four Corners program, which he alleged “was the journalistic equivalent of a bowl of vomit”.
The program was titled Ukraine’s War: The Other Side. The ABC’s blurb said it was “a rare insight from the other side”, adding that “filmmaker Sean Langan’s groundbreaking documentary offers a human perspective on life on the Russian frontline”.
In a statement issued this morning, Myroshnychenko said the program “unquestioningly repeated and aired countless blatant lies, historical distortions, racist claims and propaganda narratives emanating from the Kremlin” and therefore “completely served the interests of Russia’s dictator, Putin”.
Myroshnychenko said:
It also minimised and denigrated the deaths of thousands of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children who have been killed by Russian soldiers in an illegal and brutal invasion strongly condemned by Australia and the majority of countries through the UNGA resolution in March 2022.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation should be ashamed that it put such total garbage to air.
Through the Minister for Communications, I will ask for a meeting with the Managing Director of the ABC and the Executive Producer of Four Corners to understand what process led to the airing of this pro-Putin and pro-violence propaganda piece by Australia’s national broadcaster. I will share with them the facts that the program totally disregarded.
Comment is being sought from the ABC.
Key events
Leigh Howard, the chief executive of Asialink Business at the University of Melbourne, has offered this take on the relationship with China ahead of the visit by the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, to Canberra tomorrow:
China’s recent shift on wine and other export categories suggests an acknowledgement that retaliatory trade measures have faltered as tools of economic strongarming.
More fundamentally, and perhaps positively, it underscores the enduring demand for high-quality Australian products among Chinese businesses and consumers, transcending issues of diplomatic statecraft.While “Brand Australia” might have fallen out of favour at a political level, it’s retained its status with Chinese consumers, who prioritise quality and trustworthiness.
The revival of Australia’s wine exports to China appears increasingly likely but to reclaim their former market position, Australian exporters will need to reinvest in honing their Asia capabilities – enriching their skills, knowledge, and understanding of the contemporary business landscape.
Josh Butler
Plenty of bills to be debated before autumn break, including on religious discrimination
The Greens have welcomed the support of the Nationals on their push for divestiture powers to break up the big supermarket duopoly, but have concerns that parliament won’t get through a slate of bills scheduled for the next two weeks.
The Greens party room met this morning. The minor party is expecting the Australian Law Reform Commission’s report on religious discrimination to land tomorrow, ahead of the Thursday deadline. Sarah reported earlier that the Labor party room was told that Anthony Albanese said the bills would only proceed to parliament if there was bipartisan support from the Coalition.
A Greens party spokesperson told a media briefing after the meeting that the party hoped the government would take up the crossbench unity ticket on political donations reform, with concerns raised that the parliament was running out of time to pass such changes before the next election.
Speaking of running out of time, the Greens reckon there’s about 27 bills the government wants to get through parliament in this sitting fortnight, before the autumn break ahead of the budget. Parliament is currently scheduled to rise on Thursday 28 March, and not return until 14 May. The schedule has been cut down even further, with a late change to cancel the House of Representatives sitting next Thursday, to allow MPs to get home earlier for Good Friday, as Amy reported earlier (it’s unclear why it’s taken this long for people to realise that parliament was sitting on Thursday, when Good Friday has been known for quite a while).
The Greens thought the Senate may either not sit next Thursday, or at least finish early. Watch this space.
Paul Karp
Legal issues around high court detention decisions remain contentious
There have been reports that the Coalition wrote to immigration minister Andrew Giles disputing that it had failed to take up a briefing on legal issues involving releases from detention.
The Coalition also queried whether the government is preparing new laws in the event it loses ASF17, a high court case we revealed in February that will determine whether the government has to let out people refusing to cooperate with their deportation. We’re also chasing the government on this.
In the meantime, a spokesperson for Giles says:
We successfully defended this in the federal court and will continue to argue this forcefully in the high court. The high court will make its decisions independent of government. No government, no parliament, no minister is above the law.
Community safety is the first and foremost responsibility of government. We have not sat idly by as the former government did. We engaged legal and security experts through the community protection board. We are getting the best advice so we are ready to respond.”
Sarah Basford Canales
Albanese pays tribute to Linda White, who made ‘life better for working Australians’
Beyond potential religious discrimination changes, Labor’s caucus meeting this morning covered a few of the other usual suspects.
Cost of living will be a focus for the party ahead of the budget and Anthony Albanese told party members to talk up the stage three tax cuts and news of falling energy prices in the lead up to May.
There were also condolence motions for the former Victorian senator, Linda White, who died last month, and for Jack Fitzgibbon, the son of former defence minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, who tragically died during an ADF training exercise.
Albanese remembered his “dear friend”White and her legacy with this address to caucus:
Last week, we farewelled our beloved friend, Linda White, who was in our Senate for far too short a time but served our movement over an entire lifetime. What will long outlast our sadness is our pride in all that she was and all that she did. A formidable supporter of working Australians, in particular women, she inspires us and reminds us about what we are here for: to use our time to make life better for working Australians … I will miss her enormously as a generous colleague and source of advice but most importantly, as a dear friend.”
Albanese also referred to White as being a “champion of affirmative action” and said the party’s high number of women was her legacy.
The parliamentary sitting officially began at midday, following the party room meetings (Tuesday is always party room meeting day).
Parliament sitting shortened so all MPs can make it home for Good Friday
I missed this yesterday – but the parliament sitting has been shortened by a day.
Tony Burke moved a motion yesterday in the house, which was passed, saying the Thursday sitting next week should be dropped to allow regional and rural members to make it back to their electorates for Good Friday services.
Burke said:
It’s one of those issues where the different perspectives of people from all around the country can lead to different conclusions. For me, as someone who gets into my car, drives on the M5 and is home back at Punchbowl within three hours at the end of a parliamentary sitting week, the concept of us sitting on Holy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, made no difference to my being able to attend particular events and services on Good Friday.
It’s a completely different world for regional members, and I want to acknowledge the regional members.
Out of respect, I will say this challenge, with what that Thursday sitting would mean, was first raised with me by some very senior members of the opposition.
Conversations have taken place between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
While I may be in the minority in this house, I’d love it if we sat every day. That’s how I feel about the chamber. But this does avoid a problem that was going to put some members, particularly regional members, in an impossible position with what the sitting week was like for next week.
So I thank those members from the opposition, the crossbench and my own caucus who’ve raised this with me.
Sarah Basford Canales
Labor drafts two bills on changes to religious discrimination laws
The Albanese government has drafted two bills on changes to religious discrimination laws that will protect the right of schools to employ on the basis of faith while protecting staff from discrimination.
The debate last took centre stage during the dying months of the Morrison government in early 2022 when proposed discrimination law amendments included protections for gay and lesbian students but omitted trans students.
The divisive proposal resulted in five Liberal MPs, including Bass MP Bridget Archer and then Wentworth MP Dave Sharma, crossing the floor against their own party.
In a caucus meeting on Tuesday, Anthony Albanese told party members the bills would only proceed to parliament if there was bipartisan support, adding now was not the time to have a divisive debate amid heightened Islamophobia and antisemitism. Albanese said he had already briefed the opposition leader, Peter Dutton.
A caucus member asked the leader whether Dutton had given an indication of how the opposition would respond. Albanese said he didn’t know yet.
A long-awaited report from the Australian Law Reform Commission on how best to approach changes to the discrimination laws to balance the rights of religious schools with protections for staff and students against discrimination was handed to the government in December. It is expected to be tabled on Thursday.
The shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash, on Sunday said she had heard “very concerning things from stakeholders”.
There is a real risk here that religious schools will not be able to conduct themselves in accordance with their values,” Cash said.
Eden Gillespie
Steven Miles grilled over ‘misleading’ how-to-vote cards
The Queensland premier has been grilled over whether a review into electoral laws is required to prevent third-party groups from handing out “misleading” how-to-vote cards.
The question, posed by Liberal National party MP Fiona Simpson in parliament on Tuesday, comes after media reports that members of a union had asked Labor volunteers to hand out how-to-vote cards for the Legalise Cannabis party in the Ipswich West byelection.
The Australian reported Labor had hoped the strategy would bolster their preferences in the absence of the Greens who didn’t have a candidate running in the state electorate last weekend.
The Labor premier, Steven Miles, said his government respects “the rights of unions to speak up for their members … and to campaign on issues of concern to their members.”
We also respect … that there are third parties that are entitled to be registered and to campaign in elections.
Labor lost the safe seat of Ipswich West to the LNP after a two-party swing of about 18%, while Legalise Cannabis secured a primary vote of about 15%.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria’s opposition leader calls for ‘fair treatment from the media’ after leadership spill rumours
Victoria’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, has hit back at the coverage of an impending leadership spill, and has accused the media of bias against “the centre right” of politics.
At the weekend, the Herald Sun reported Pesutto could be facing a possible leadership spill at a party room meeting on Tuesday, which did not eventuate . He said MPs raised the reporting – which he described as “about nothing” – rather than leadership concerns.
To be honest with you, it’s about the coverage which doesn’t apply the same level of scrutiny to the government. And there are things that I see reported on – and I will be candid with you all … [about] the centre right on which, frankly, those standards of journalism are not applied to the government. The government is getting away with being the worst government. It doesn’t disclose anything. It refuses to be transparent, to allow proper scrutiny. I think you can say this about me, I’ve always been upfront about that. I’ve demonstrated my position here. We just want fair treatment from the media. There are standards applied to outside of politics that simply aren’t applied to the government, you would never and tell me if I’ve got this wrong, you would never run some of these stories against the government, you wouldn’t.
A journalist asks: are you seriously saying the media is biased against the opposition, compared to the way the Andrews Labor government has been reported on?
Pesutto:
We get treated differently. You might disagree, I understand, but I am just telling you – we feel like we are being treated less fairly than the government.
Pesutto says he doesn’t want to tell journalists how to do their job but then proceeds to tell journalists how to handle information it receives from sources.
You can have a source but isn’t there an obligation to interrogate the source and the credibility and the credence which you – who have enormous power and importance – as journalists? My argument was, you asked us how we feel. And I know that this is not a view that I share alone, other Liberals feel it and people on the right side of politics. It’s not enough just to have a source … interrogate that source, and the information that you’re being given. I’m not doubting it and given that information. My concern is and the concern of others on my team is to then elevate that without testing whether it’s actually happening and that’s my only point. I’m not saying beyond that. I’m just looking at the last five days, which really has meant that the government’s got away with a lot.
Daniel Hurst
Wong anticipates ‘frank exchange of views’ when she meets China’s foreign minister
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says she expects “a frank exchange of views” when she welcomes China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, to Canberra tomorrow.
The trip was confirmed last week, and Wang is travelling to Australia after talks in New Zealand. But the inclusion of Paul Keating – a trenchant critic of Aukus – on the schedule at the end of Wang’s visit to Australia has raised eyebrows.
Wong issued a statement this morning confirming she would hold the seventh Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with Wang. She described the dialogue as “a long-standing mechanism to discuss the bilateral relationship and regional and international developments”.
Wong added:
I look forward to a frank exchange of views on our shared interests, points of difference, and our respective roles in upholding a region that is peaceful, stable and secure …
The Australian government continues to pursue a stable and constructive relationship with China, which is in the interests of both countries.
Australia’s approach is consistent; we seek to cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must and engage in our national interest.
James Paterson responds to reports head of Asio and Asis not attending government’s National Security Committee meetings
There have been reports the heads of Asio and Asis (the internationally focused and domestically focused spy agencies) are not (automatically) attending the National Security Committee meetings under this government.
Those meetings were originally for ministers, with briefings from whatever security agency needed to give one, but Ray Hadley says in September 2001, John Howard decided that the heads of the agencies should be part of the NSC.
Liberal senator and security hawk James Paterson spoke to Hadley this morning about the reports, with Hadley wondering why the government would overturn something “probably one of our most remarkable prime minister[s]” had decided.
Paterson:
I confess, 2001 National Security Committee of cabinet meetings are well before my time. But it is very worrying that the Albanese government doesn’t think it needs the most up to date, in-person, expert advice on national security from Asis, which is our principal foreign intelligence collection agency, human intelligence collection agency, and Asio, which is our pre-eminent domestic security collection agency.
The whole point of having them in the room is that you don’t always know when they’re going to have something of value or insights to add, and you have them there so that they can speak up and convey their expertise when needed.
Now they’re not in the room. You’re making decisions uninformed with the best advice that you should be having to make critical decisions in national security. And, I guess in a way, this doesn’t come as a surprise. I mean, this has been a government which has been consistently weak and incompetent on national security. And this is perhaps one of the reasons why.
GPs urge Victoria to introduce pill-testing trial
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) have urged the Victorian government to follow coronial recommendations and introduce a pill-testing trial at fixed and mobile sites.
Two Victorian coroners released new recommendations in the last week that the government trial a pill-testing service. From the release:
Victoria has witnessed a spate of illicit drug overdoses in recent months, including a 23-year-old man dying after being airlifted from the Pitch Music and Arts festival in western Victoria and eight people put in a critical condition following an overdose at the Hardmission Festival.
RACGP Victoria Chair, Dr Anita Munoz, said the government should follow the advice:
Let’s do all we can stop these pointless overdose deaths from happening again and again. The Government should introduce a pill testing trial in Victoria as soon as possible.
It seems like every other week we hear reports of young people overdosing at events such as music festivals. Now, we have yet another set of coronial recommendations urging the Government to act and introduce pill testing. We know that pill testing saves lives, so the time for talk is over, we need action.
There is a precedent – Queensland introduced pill testing last year and the ACT has also implemented pill testing at some events.
Quick readers may have seen two posts from a Chris Minns speech which was given in November. Due to a communication error, I thought it was new and posted it as such, but we have made the decision to remove the posts to cut down on confusion. Apologies for that – and an oops on my part. The perils of live coverage (you can see all my mistakes in real time).
