Payman asks if PM is ‘waiting for what happened to Helen Haines’ to occur again
Sarah Basford Canales
At a late-night Senate estimates hearing, independent senator Fatima Payman accused the prime minister of being “petty” by not granting her additional staff members after she defected from Labor in 2024.
Payman has long argued her office is understaffed as part of a personal gripe Anthony Albanese has with her, but she drove the point home amid escalating threats of political violence. The senator told Guardian Australia last week her staff had also had to deal with human faeces being sent to her office, prompting the intervention of a biohazard team.
Payman said she had requested an additional adviser, in line with other independent political offices, two years ago but the prime minister had yet to process the request.
Payman said the extra adviser would assist her office dealing with the “psychosocial hazards” imposed on her staff since leaving Labor. A document tabled showed she had no advisers, which can be paid more, while most other independents have one or two advisers.
Payman continued, butting heads with the trade minister, Don Farrell:
Please raise this with the prime minister. Because if he cares so much about the welfare and wellbeing of people who work in this building, then I implore you and the prime minister to please look into the fact that my staff are burning out. They can’t take this any longer.
Is the prime minister waiting for something like what happened to Dr Helen Haines to occur to my office, to me, for him to take our request seriously?
Farrell responded: “Look, I personally think that’s an outrageous suggestion, Senator Payman.”
Payman said: “I can’t believe that I’m saying that or making that suggestion, because it’s been two years.”
Farrell asked Payman to withdraw the comments but Payman said she wouldn’t until Albanese processed or responded to her staffing request.
Key events
Tory Shepherd
UN experts ‘disappointed’ after major parties block bill to ban shackling during childbirth
UN experts are disappointed that bills to ban shackling during childbirth and strip-searching children were blocked by the major parties.
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe introduced the bills to the Senate, where Labor and the Coalition blocked their progress.
The United Nations Human Rights Council special procedures experts said in a statement that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children were disproportionately affected by the measures:
It is disappointing that parliament was not given the opportunity to formally decide on reforms aimed at protecting the dignity, bodily integrity and rights of women and children deprived of liberty.
The failure of these bills to proceed should not mark the end of efforts to address these longstanding human rights concerns.
We encourage Australian authorities and parliamentarians to continue pursuing reforms.
Shoebridge calls for ‘ethical Australian AI’ after cyber threat warning
The Greens leader, David Shoebridge, has said a report from the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) about AI threats to online infrastructure highlights the need for investment in another option.
He told reporters:
We need investment in an Australian ethical AI, which we can have some kind of comfort in, and not just simply relying upon these same US tech bros who are producing the threats to our very system … the idea that you invite the robbers in to protect the family silver is pretty bloody extraordinary.
The ASD report warned businesses and critical infrastructure must use cutting-edge AI models to defend against digital threats, raising alarms that artificial intelligence is enabling more dangerous threats than ever.
Read more here:
Penry Buckley
Minns says federal government must be ‘serious’ about meeting migration targets amid One Nation surge
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, says the federal government must be “serious” about meeting net migration targets as polling in the Hunter suggests Labor and One Nation are neck-and-neck in the key region.
A poll commissioned by Advent Energy, who are responsible for an offshore gas proposal off the Hunter coast, suggests support for Labor and One Nation at the upcoming state election is at 32% each in the region ahead of the March election. The Coalition was at 14%.
Minns was asked on 2GB this morning what he had done to lobby the federal government to bring down migration. Minns, a frequent critic of net migration under the Albanese government, said:
The best thing I can do is say what I’ve said privately, publicly, and I’ve said it on this program, and that is, we have to be serious about the target rate for migration and meet it. There’s no use saying, well, we’re going to have on average 200,000, a little bit more than that per year, and then it comes in at 300,000, because then people lose faith in the system. Now, in fairness to [the federal government], they’ve worked hard over the last 3 months to say these are the new limits.
The Albanese government has promised to achieve net overseas migration (Nom) of 245,000 in 2026-27 and 225,000 in 2027-28, while the Coalition says if elected it would more than halve Labor’s Nom target in the first two years from 2028-29.
One Nation has said it would have net-negative migration levels for three years, followed by a Nom “ceiling” of 130,000.
Caitlin Cassidy
‘Selective editing’ of estimates videos ‘humiliate public servants unfairly’, senators told
Female public servants are subject to “vile and misogynistic” comments underneath social media videos shared by parliamentarians, Senate estimates hears.
Jim Betts, secretary of the department of infrastructure, transport, regional development, communications, sport and the arts, was asked about a submission sent by the Australian Secretaries Board to a joint committee on parliamentary standards. It expressed concern that public officials were increasingly subject to “ridicule, hostility or abuse” when excerpts of proceedings from parliamentary inquiries were uploaded on social media “without context”.
Liberal senator Sarah Henderson pressed that “being able to highlight on social media and using the vision which is made available through the parliament is a fundamental function of this committee”.
Betts replied that there was already 14 hours of footage from Senate estimates yesterday that is now in the public domain, and the submission contained “stark” examples of selectively edited videos.
The concern that was expressed by the secretaries board was about the very selective editing of those videos, the overlay of commentary and other captions which were entirely designed to humiliate public servants unfairly …
What we also find is … that the comment section on websites hosted by senators and other parliamentarians contain often vile and misogynistic comments about female public servants.
Payman asks if PM is ‘waiting for what happened to Helen Haines’ to occur again
Sarah Basford Canales
At a late-night Senate estimates hearing, independent senator Fatima Payman accused the prime minister of being “petty” by not granting her additional staff members after she defected from Labor in 2024.
Payman has long argued her office is understaffed as part of a personal gripe Anthony Albanese has with her, but she drove the point home amid escalating threats of political violence. The senator told Guardian Australia last week her staff had also had to deal with human faeces being sent to her office, prompting the intervention of a biohazard team.
Payman said she had requested an additional adviser, in line with other independent political offices, two years ago but the prime minister had yet to process the request.
Payman said the extra adviser would assist her office dealing with the “psychosocial hazards” imposed on her staff since leaving Labor. A document tabled showed she had no advisers, which can be paid more, while most other independents have one or two advisers.
Payman continued, butting heads with the trade minister, Don Farrell:
Please raise this with the prime minister. Because if he cares so much about the welfare and wellbeing of people who work in this building, then I implore you and the prime minister to please look into the fact that my staff are burning out. They can’t take this any longer.
Is the prime minister waiting for something like what happened to Dr Helen Haines to occur to my office, to me, for him to take our request seriously?
Farrell responded: “Look, I personally think that’s an outrageous suggestion, Senator Payman.”
Payman said: “I can’t believe that I’m saying that or making that suggestion, because it’s been two years.”
Farrell asked Payman to withdraw the comments but Payman said she wouldn’t until Albanese processed or responded to her staffing request.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian Labor pledges to expand workplace protection orders to hospital workers
People who are violent or abusive to health workers could effectively be banned from hospitals in Victoria if Labor is re-elected.
The Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, is holding a press conference to announce if Labor is re-elected next month, it will expand the workplace protection order scheme – that allows retail stores to ban aggressive customers – to hospital settings.
Under the plan, people who are violent or abusive to health workers can be hit with a workplace protection order (WPO), which effectively bans them from hospitals for up to 12 months. Anyone who breaches a WPO faces up to two years in prison or a $50,000 fine.
Labor will also create a $30m fund hospitals can apply for to improve lighting, CCTV and other safety measures.
Carroll says:
Our nurses and midwives and health professionals go to work every day to make sure we have a healthy community … They are the heroes of our community, and I’m very pleased to say, under my leadership, we’ll do everything we can to protect them through workplace protection orders.
He says people subject to a WPO will “still be able to access healthcare” in an emergency but there will be “guardrails” in place when they receive that care.
Aged care algorithm ‘fundamentally flawed’, Ruston says
Opposition aged care spokesperson, Anne Ruston, has urged the government to listen after a damning investigation by the commonwealth ombudsman.
She told ABC Radio National:
We’re really hopeful that now the government has this independent report, it will actually listen and say that their algorithm process is fundamentally flawed.
The ombudsman’s report followed reporting by Guardian Australia that older people were being left distressed and without adequate care after their home support needs were assessed by an “inhumane” algorithm as part of the government’s mandatory Integrated Assessment Tool.
Read more here:
Security reviews ramp up for MP offices over attack fears
Some politicians will receive security updates in their electorate offices after raising concerns about threats in the wake of the alleged attack on Helen Haines.
At least nine MPs will have security crackdowns accelerated for their electorate offices, the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, confirmed, after they raised concerns last week.
Security in Parliament House’s public places will also be stepped up.
Gallagher did not specify which MPs were affected.
– Australian Associated Press
Jacinda Ardern joins University of Sydney as lecturer and mentor
In news adjacent to federal politics, former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed she will lecture and mentor at the University of Sydney after moving to Australia earlier this year.
Based in the school of public health, she will host guest lectures and masterclasses and engage in mentoring.
Read more here:
Sarah Basford Canales
Teal and regional independent backers were Farrer independent’s top donors
Continued from the previous post:
The top donor, Regional Voices Fund, backs independent candidates in regional seats while the second-highest donor, Keldoulis Investments, owned by Robert Keldoulis, is a major backer of Climate 200 – the funding vehicle that supports teal independents in getting elected.
Overall, Milthorpe spent $1,708,845 on her campaign, receiving $1,680,439 in donations and gifts.
Candidates endorsed by political parties, like Farley, are able to defer the campaign spending reports until February the following year when political party annual returns are published.
As a result, Farley’s electoral returns show he spent only $5,119 on his campaign and received no donations. This figure will likely be updated in February.
Farrer independent spent $1.7m on byelection campaign, electoral returns show
Sarah Basford Canales
The independent candidate, Michelle Milthorpe, received almost $1.7m in donations from more than 5,000 donors in her campaign against One Nation in the seat of Farrer earlier this year, electoral returns show.
Milthorpe, backed by regional independents, including Helen Haines, ultimately lost the battle to One Nation’s David Farley in Sussan Ley’s former seat, 42.45% to Farley’s 57.55% on a two-party preferred basis.
The returns data, released by the Australian Electoral Commission yesterday, shows $670,653 of the total amount – or about 40% – donated was over the declaration threshold of $17,300.
The top donors for Milthorpe include:
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Regional Voices Fund Pty Ltd: $215,000
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Keldoulis Investments Pty Limited: $117,000
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Keep Them Honest Pty Ltd: $75,000
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Climate 200 Pty Limited: $61,653
More respectful discourse is ‘what Helen Haines would want’: Richard Marles
The defence minister, Richard Marles, hopes politicians continue to show respect and civility for more than a day, following the outpouring of support for independent Helen Haines:
I really hope that all of us can do better … we need to really try and collectively engage in bringing the temperature down, and have a much more respectful and civil discourse.
And I know that’s what Helen Haines would want.
