Key events
Private health insurance changes ‘recalibrating precious taxpayer dollars’, says Wells
Health minister Mark Butler yesterday promised to reintroduce a bill to reduce private health insurance rebates for over 65s, after it was thrown out of the Senate by the crossbench and Coalition.
The Greens want pensioners carved out of the bill, but they make up nearly half of the affected cohort.
Modelling shows up to 80,000 older Australians would ditch their private health insurance in response to the policy – up from the 44,000 people that the health department estimated.
Anika Wells, who was aged care minister in the last parliamentary term, says the government needs the $3bn saved by the policy to pay for aged care beds.
It’s really important we re–introduce it, because we need to raise the level of support and resourcing for aged care. I was the aged care minister before being the communications minister, we need to work urgently. There’s not enough beds being built for older Australians who need that support. It’s recalibrating precious taxpayer dollars.
Asked about the modelling she says there’s lots of different numbers to choose from, but reiterates that the essence of the policy is: “all Australians will have the same access to private health insurance based on their income, rather than their age.”
eSafety appealing to platforms not to show execution live stream
The communications minister, Anika Wells, says the eSafety commissioner has written to tech companies while she has met with Meta’s senior leaders to urge them to not show the live stream of an execution in the US on their platforms.
Yesterday, CNN reported the US president, Donald Trump, was considering calling off the live stream.
Wells tells ABC the government is still making preparations:
The eSafety commissioner has written to all of our tech companies to say we expect them to take steps not to show this on their platforms. And I met with Meta, the vice–president, president, and global head of safety of Meta yesterday, and made that point directly. We will work together with companies like Meta to go everything we can to make sure Australians don’t have to see this.
Australia can’t rely on US to defend it against China, security expert warns
The United States will not “have enough skin in the game” to send troops to defend Australia in the event of an attack from China, a leading international security expert has warned.
Sam Roggeveen, director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, also said the anti-immigration policies being touted by major parties, as well as One Nation, would weaken Australia’s position on the global stage.
“Retreating from immigration will make us materially weaker,” he told a studio audience at the ABC in Sydney on Wednesday.
We should recommit to multicultural immigration, not because diversity is strength … but because scale is strength.
He said the rise of China had made the US’s position in Asia “unsustainably weak”, meaning Australia could no longer rely on the United States to defend it in the region.
America won’t risk its own troops in a fight against a nuclear-armed opponent because its vital interests won’t be at stake. To put it bluntly, America won’t have enough skin in the game.
He recommended Australia strengthen ties with Indonesia, warning that the dangers of getting the relationship wrong were immense.
Indonesia is south-east Asia’s leader, and soon its economy will surpass ours. If we get this relationship right, Indonesia offers a natural barrier against threats from third countries.
Krishani Dhanji
On the agenda this Thursday
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji with you here for the final sitting day of the week, thanks to Martin for getting us started.
The communications minister Anika Wells is doing the media rounds this morning, ahead of a press club address to sell the government’s digital duty of care bill.
She’s also facing questions on how the government will try and stop Australians being able to see a live stream of a firing squad execution in the US in December.
The government will try to reintroduce a bill to lower private health insurance rebates for over-65s after it was thrown out of the Senate yesterday by the Coalition and crossbench – it’s a major cost saver for the government. Mark Butler says he’ll plough ahead to try and get the changes through (with more negotiations).
It’s going to be another big one – let’s get stuck in!
People getting voting info from AI an ‘emerging concern’, AEC says
Josh Taylor
The Australian Electoral Commissioner, Jeff Pope, has said people getting their information about voting in Australia from AI chatbots such as ChatGPT or Claude is an “emerging concern”, and has forced the commission to overhaul its website to attract bots looking for the correct information.
Speaking at a hearing of the joint standing committee on artificial intelligence on Wednesday night, Pope said it was “dangerous” to rely on social media platforms or AI tools as “your only source of research when it comes to forming an opinion around voting” and was something the AEC was working to educate the public on.
He said it may require a legislative response from parliament in terms of what platforms can and cannot do in terms of the content on their platforms around elections.
Pope pointed to a study on the Scottish election reported by the Guardian in May found that AI services gave voters misinformation to 34% of the questions it posed.
The AEC had started to prepare for this, he said.
We’re undertaking significant investment at the moment in modernising our webpage so that AI tools actually pull factual information from our webpage and reflect that back to the voter, rather than pulling … from a variety of other resources which may or may not be correct.
Nationals leader disputes trade minister’s claim he walked out of meeting on EU trade deal
The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, has disputed the trade minister’s claim he walked out of a meeting on the European Union trade deal, suggesting Don Farrell might be “under a lot of pressure”.
Farrell told the ABC yesterday afternoon that Canavan and shadow foreign affairs minister, Ted O’Brien, had walked out on him while he was explaining the deal.
In response, Canavan said:
I can understand that Don is under a lot of pressure, because there are barely any friends of his dud European deal. I am happy to meet with Don anytime, but he ended our discussion, not me.
I have written to Don with practical suggestions about how the deal can be improved and I remain open to discuss my concerns at any time.
While the deal has been agreed to between Australian and EU representatives, it still requires support from parliament. The Coalition has already ruled out its support while the Greens are considering the details before revealing their final position.
Anika Wells to introduce digital duty of care bill today
Josh Butler
Anika Wells will introduce the government’s digital duty of care bill into the parliament today, with all eyes on what amendments Labor may have made to the initial draft bill.
The communications minister has confirmed the government will drop its earlier plans for her office to have broad rule-making powers to define what content is classed as “harmful”.
According to excerpts of her National Press Club speech, to be delivered at 12.30pm today, Wells will say:
In response to concerns we heard during the exposure draft consultation and to make this abundantly clear, we have removed the ministerial rule-making power to define new harms in the final bill.
Instead, new “harms” will be added by parliament through legislative amendment.
Wells will tell the NPC that the digital duty of care will “set basic safety standards for the online services we use every day, just like we have in every other industry”.
We must shift the burden from the shoulders of victims to the companies that are creating the environments where harms occur.
The Digital Duty of Care gives Australians choice … If someone wants their feed filled with friends and creators they follow, the social media platforms must give them that choice. And if you’re happy to stick with your algorithm – you can do so.
Wells will also confirm new carve-outs for journalists and news media in the Online Safety Act, to assist professional news organisations and public interest journalism.
We’ll bring you more from her speech later in the day.
Victorian Labor pledges to offer free abortion care
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian Labor government will today announce that – if re-elected in November – they will make Victoria the first state to offer free abortion care.
Under the $30m election commitment, the government would pay private providers to deliver medical and surgical abortions up to 16 weeks, removing out-of-pocket costs. This means women would no longer need to pay for GP or specialist consultations, imaging and tests or medications at participating providers.
Medical abortions can cost almost $700 out of pocket for patients with a Medicare card, or more than $1,000 for those without one. Surgical abortions can cost $895 with Medicare, rising to almost $1,500 for those without a card.
The government has also committed to extending the window for medical abortion from nine to 10 weeks’ gestation. If elected, they would direct Safer Care Victoria to lead a clinical review into extending access to the medication up to 12 weeks, which aligns with World Health Organisation guidelines. The review would also cover who should be able to deliver care and where.
Patients who need to travel to access abortion would also be eligible for a subsidy to help with their travel and accommodation costs, community health care providers trained to provide abortion care and 1800 My Options would receive extra funding under the plan.
The health minister, Ingrid Stitt, said this morning:
Abortion care is healthcare and Labor will make it free. Only Labor will protect a woman’s right to choose.
Albanese to attack Hanson over ‘monoculture’ remarks
Sarah Basford Canales
Anthony Albanese will criticise Pauline Hanson’s claim that Australia should be “monocultural”, suggesting that anyone who believes that “should get themselves down to the nearest Specsavers”.
In a speech , the prime minister will say each cultural and ethnic community added to Australia gives the country’s character more “breadth”, expands “palates” and unites people.
Australia’s migration story has been many generations in the making. Anyone who can look in the rear-vision mirror and see a monoculture should get themselves down to the nearest Specsavers.
The reality is that Australia’s heart is multicultural.
His speech at the conference for the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia will also encourage people of different cultures to celebrate with one another while embracing an Australian identity.
He will say:
I want every Australian to be able to add to our country, and to feel proud of what they bring. I want every Australian to leave behind the baseline of mere tolerance for something far greater: the joy of celebration … Celebrating the birthright of heritage and the comforts and strengths of faith. Celebrating the land of your roots while adding to the land that is your home, and your future.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
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