The now independent senator Lidia Thorpe had put her name to the establishment of the Indigenous land council before being forced to withdraw by the Greens leader, Adam Bandt. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
The now independent senator Lidia Thorpe had put her name to the establishment of the Indigenous land council before being forced to withdraw by the Greens leader, Adam Bandt. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Lidia Thorpe votes with Coalition on Indigenous land council inquiry
Paul Karp
The independent senator, Lidia Thorpe, has voted with the Coalition for a motion to inquire into Indigenous bodies including land councils. The motion was defeated 30 votes to 29.
In January Guardian Australia revealed that Thorpe put her name to the establishment of the inquiry before being forced to withdraw by the Greens leader, Adam Bandt.
Thorpe then blamed an “administrative error” for the move in November, when she briefly teamed up with the Nationals’ Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Liberal James McGrath, among others, to ask the Senate for a year-long inquiry, which would run throughout the voice referendum debate.
But after quitting the Greens to sit as an independent, Thorpe re-added her name to the motion.
The motion was put to a vote on Wednesday, but was defeated by Labor, the Greens and the independent senator David Pocock.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyus, announced Paul Brereton will lead the national anti-corruption commission when it launches in the middle of the year.
Traditional owner ‘shocked and distressed’ by treatment ahead of Obama event
Traditional owner Aunty Joy Murphy has said she was prevented from performing a welcome to country ceremony at an event with former US president, Barack Obama, in Melbourne.
In a statement, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation said Aunty Murphy had previously welcomed dignitaries including Queen Elizabeth, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. It is concerned by what it describes as “a lack of understanding and respect” shown to the senior elder by event organisers.
Here’s the statement from Aunty Murphy:
I have been shocked and distressed by the way I have been treated by event organisers.
I am 78 years of age. I have never been treated or spoken to in this way in the past. I do not want this to be a reflection on President Obama. I am a leader of the Wurundjeri Nation. I asked to be treated as an equal.
Aunty Joy Murphy performs a welcome to country at the international friendly match between Australia and Ecuador at AAMI Park on 28 March. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images
The Collingwood football club has issued a statement confirming the organisation supports an Indigenous Voice to parliament.
Here’s part of the statement:
The Collingwood Football Club has been on a journey for a number of years now to better understand its past in order to be better for the future and the board’s support for a First Nations Voice to parliament is a natural progression of its commitment to doing and being better.
Over the course of recent months, the club has engaged and provided safe spaces for our players and staff to more deeply understand the conversation ahead of each Australian being asked to participate in a Referendum later this year to enshrine a First Nations Voice in the Australian constitution.
The board acknowledges and understands that to be better as a country and to enact meaningful change, we need to hear from First Nations peoples; their needs and aspirations. In doing so, it has been important for the Club to facilitate discussions from both sides of the ‘YES and ’NO’ campaigns to help inform individual decision-making. The club has engaged First Nations experts to present on both the YES and NO campaigns to its people.
(…)
The club wants to be clear, we are not instructing anyone on how to vote but rather state that as a board, we believe supporting a First Nations Voice to parliament is the right thing to do.
Liberal senator introduces cryptocurrency regulation
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has introduced a private members bill that aims to regulate the cryptocurrency sector, which he has criticised the government for failing to legislate since coming into government.
The proposed legislation would require exchanges to be licensed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which would close a loophole which has allowed cryptocurrency companies to take over other companies with financial services licences and present them as holding licences to consumers - even though that licence does not cover crypto.
Failed crypto exchange FTX and a number of others that operate in Australia have obtained licences through this method, and in the case of FTX, while the company was under examination by Asic at the time of collapse, the regulator had not taken any action to suspend its licence prior to the collapse.
Bragg’s bill would also regulate stablecoins among other measures.
He said:
If the government does not want to act, the parliament must.
The Digital Assets Bill will put Australia back into the race to regulate. This will protect consumers and promote investment.
The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, issued a token mapping discussion paper in February on potential regulation of the sector. Submissions closed on 3 March, but none have yet been published and the government has yet to announce any plans to regulate.
Senate inquiry to investigate corporate greenwashing
A Senate inquiry will soon examine the impacts of greenwashing on consumers and the environment. The environment and communications references committee will recommend how to improve transparency and accountability.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young will lead the committee:
With recent ACCC figures showing over half of brands making false green claims to make themselves sound ‘greener’, corporate greenwashing is out of control, and it is the environment and consumers that are paying the price.
Australians are more concerned about our environment than ever before, and they want to do the right thing by the planet when choosing products and services. They should be able to have confidence that when brands claim to be green it must be true.
Whether it’s the clothing on our backs, or the food and drink we consume, everyday Australians are confronted with false environmental claims everywhere.
Sarah Hanson-Young will lead the Senate inquiry into greenwashing. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
Dreyfus praises Brereton as ‘the best person’ for job as anti-corruption commissioner
The attorney-general, Mark Dreyus, has said Paul Brereton has the experience and skill needed to lead the national anti-corruption commission when it launches in the middle of the year.
Here’s what the AG told Afternoon Briefing:
Paul Brereton is one of Australia’s most experienced investigators. He’s had a very, very good judicial career and before that, a career as a barrister. I’m completely confident that after the merit-based appointments process that he was selected by, that we have the best person for the job.
It’s a very important appointment, obviously. Both he and the two deputy commissioners that are to be appointed, Nicole Rose, who is a very experienced public servant, presently the CEO of Austrac, and Ben Gauntlett, presently the disability discrimination commissioner but also a lawyer. I’m confident with Paul as commissioner and these two deputy commissioners, we’ve got a very, very good team.
Claims Andrews at risk of Chinese influence ‘laughable’, assistant treasurer says
The Victorian government denies the premier could be manipulated by the Chinese government during his first visit to the country since the Covid-19 outbreak.
Daniel Andrews arrived in Beijing on Tuesday to begin a five-day visit to meet with senior officials on issues of trade and international students.
A government-distributed itinerary said Andrews met with Chinese education minister Huai Jinpeng to discuss the safety of Chinese students in Victoria, postgraduate student exchanges and special needs education.
The premier also met with the mayor of Beijing and the vice-president of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
That association was criticised in 2020 by former US secretary of state MikePompeo, who accused it of “co-opting subnational governments” to “directly and malignly influence state and local leaders”.
On Wednesday, Andrews travelled from Beijing to Nanjing for meetings with the Communist party secretary of Jiangsu and the mayor of Jiangsu.
Chinese media outlets this week aired old footage from 2017 of Andrews saying there needed to be respectful dialogue between China and Australia.
Victorian assistant treasurer, Danny Pearson, denied Andrews was at risk of Chinese influence or interference. Here’s what he told reporters:
I don’t think anyone has manipulated the premier ever.
The premier is his own man and the notion he’s some sort of Manchurian candidate is just laughable.
'First of its kind': nature repair market launched to incentivise conservation
Lisa Cox
Earlier today, the environment minister Tanya Plibersek introduced legislation to establish a nature repair market to incentivise private restoration and protection of nature.
Under the scheme, landholders would be issued tradeable certificates for projects that improve biodiversity.
Plibersek said the market would be “the first of its kind in the world” and would encourage “good environmental work” and “make it easier for businesses, philanthropists and other Australians to invest in these activities that repair and protect nature”.
Introduction of the legislation followed two months of public consultation. The proposal has been controversial with some critics concerned it monetises core conservation work that should be funded by governments.
There are also concerns about where market demand will come from, with several groups calling for the scheme to explicitly exclude trading of certificates as offsets for the destruction of habitat for developments. In the proposal’s current form, offsets appear to be factored in as a source of demand under the scheme.
Environment minister Tanya Plibersek says the market will be ‘the first of its kind’. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
People will be examining the legislation closely before it goes to the Senate for debate.
Brendan Sydes, of the Australian Conservation Foundation, said the government should focus on strengthening Australia’s environmental laws before creating a new market. He said the government should not view offsets as a potential source of demand for credits issued under any scheme:
The test for success of a nature repair market must be whether it delivers genuine benefits for nature.
Linking ‘nature repair’ so closely to the generation of offsets risks facilitating the destruction of more existing wildlife habitat.
Jody Gunn, the chief executive of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance, the peak body representing organisations that manage projects on private land, welcomed the bill’s introduction.
The global and national finance gap to address the biodiversity crisis is significant. We need all hands on deck – government, philanthropy and private funding will all be critical to turn the tide on Australia’s biodiversity scorecard.
But she said the organisation did not support the market being used to facilitate environmental offsets for major developments, especially offsets at any significant scale.
The Greens environment spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, said the party had serious concerns about the government’s environmental priorities:
Australia’s environment needs protection, not a ‘Green Wall Street’ propped up by bogus offsets.
Nothing in this bill will save Australia’s koalas from extinction. Until we have laws that protect critical habitat and stop native forest logging, no amount of market spin will save nature.
Lidia Thorpe votes with Coalition on Indigenous land council inquiry
Paul Karp
The independent senator, Lidia Thorpe, has voted with the Coalition for a motion to inquire into Indigenous bodies including land councils. The motion was defeated 30 votes to 29.
In January Guardian Australia revealed that Thorpe put her name to the establishment of the inquiry before being forced to withdraw by the Greens leader, Adam Bandt.
Thorpe then blamed an “administrative error” for the move in November, when she briefly teamed up with the Nationals’ Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Liberal James McGrath, among others, to ask the Senate for a year-long inquiry, which would run throughout the voice referendum debate.
But after quitting the Greens to sit as an independent, Thorpe re-added her name to the motion.
The motion was put to a vote on Wednesday, but was defeated by Labor, the Greens and the independent senator David Pocock.
Four appear in court over Cassius Turvey’s alleged murder
Four people accused of fatally bashing Indigenous teenager Cassius Turvey as he walked home from school in Perth have returned to court.
Police will allege Cassius, a 15-year-old Noongar Yamatji boy, was chased down and attacked with a metal pole as he was walking with friends on 13 October 2022.
He suffered serious head injuries and died in hospital 10 days later, triggering an outpouring of grief and anger across the nation.
Brodie Lee Palmer, 27, Mitchell Colin Forth, 24, Jack Steven James Brearley, 21, and Aleesha Louise Gilmore, 20, have been charged with murder over the death.
They briefly appeared on Wednesday via video link in Stirling Gardens magistrates court when their cases were mentioned.
None have entered pleas in response to the charge and all were remanded in custody until 24 May for another mention ahead of a committal hearing.
Brearley was charged in October, while Palmer, Forth and Gilmore were charged in January.
Police allege the trio were with Brearley during the assault on the teen. The court heard Brearley’s case was ready to proceed to a committal hearing and lawyers were preparing documents for the other three cases.
The House is getting ready to wrap up and I really don’t think anyone in the Senate can handle looking at each other for much longer, so I am going to bid you adieu and hand you over to Henry Belot for the evening.
I will be back very early tomorrow to take you through the last sitting day for a month – so make sure you have your coffee and fortitude ready!
And thank you for bearing with us when it comes to the comments – we miss you too and we do try to keep them open for as long as possible, but it is not always possible. You can always reach me here and here though, if you have something you’d like to say, or add to the conversation.
Stick around with Henry, and as always – take care of you.
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