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| Victoria reports three new Covid cases and NSW 10 as federal parliament resumes – politics live | Victoria reports three new Covid cases and NSW 10 as federal parliament resumes – politics live |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| New South Wales coronavirus testing rates increase as Daniel Andrews says Victoria may have recorded its first case of re-infection. Follow the latest | |
| Again, it was reported in January that the draft was ‘all but finished’ but had been delayed for public consultation, but I guess people are in a space to start paying attention again. | |
| Mark Dreyfus on the estimates evidence the draft legislation for the national integrity commission was given to the AG in December: | |
| At Senate estimates, the Future Fund has confirmed reports that it pressed Rio Tinto to take stronger action after the company’s destruction of a 46,000-year-old sacred site at Juukan Gorge in May. | |
| The Greens senator Nick McKim asked representatives of the Future Fund whether the chair, Peter Costello, and others confronted Rio Tinto over the destruction of heritage at Juukan Gorge. This stems from a report in the Australian on 10 September. | |
| Dr Raphael Arndt, the Future Fund chief executive officer, told the Senate finance committee the fund regularly engaged with companies in which the fund had large holdings. He confirmed Arndt, Costello and several other Future Fund representatives attended a meeting with the Rio Tinto board at the board’s request. | |
| Arndt said the Future Fund expressed the view that Rio Tinto needed to have better systems and processes in place. | |
| So did the Future Fund push for the chief executive and others involved to resign? Arndt indicated the Future Fund pressed the board to take stronger action than it had originally planned: | |
| On 11 September, after growing pressure from a range of investors, Rio Tinto announced its chief executive, Jean-Sébastien Jacques, and two other senior executives would leave the global miner. | |
| For the latest on this story, see recent coverage by Lorena Allam: | |
| This is becoming a monthly story. | |
| Labor has struck another blow in exposing the Coalition’s excuse that it hasn’t created a National Integrity Commission because of Covid. | |
| At Senate estimates, the attorney general’s department secretary, Chris Moraitis, said Christian Porter already has an exposure draft of legislation to create the body. The deputy secretary, Sarah Chidgey, chipped in that it was completed in December 2019. | |
| Labor’s Murray Watt responded: | |
| I expect Labor will go on the attack about this – the legislation was done before the Covid outbreak, and the department has pursued other legislation since the outbreak, such as cracking down on class actions. | |
| And that is where I’ll leave the press conference – it is getting in to the nitty gritty of the outside dining permits. But I will keep an eye on it, in case anything else pops up. | |
| Q: The intense focus on Dr Brett Sutton, is this a distraction from his job? | |
| Daniel Andrews: | Daniel Andrews: |
| Q: Are you still confident that everyone in government is cooperating as they should be? | |
| Andrews: | |
| Q: Can you explain what is behind the continued restrictions on religious institutions? | |
| Daniel Andrews: | Daniel Andrews: |
| Q: Four babies have died from South Australia in the last month. These children would have normally been transferred to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital for heart surgery. They couldn’t go there because of Covid restrictions. Could you explain what has happened? | |
| Daniel Andrews: | |
| Q: He is a public servant and not a politician. Is it a different rule from when someone can knock on his door? | |
| Daniel Andrews: | |
| Q: Are you concerned it appears he is instructed the department to not hand up a critical email... | |
| Daniel Andrews: | |
| Q: The line in the letter from the department is that Professor Sutton didn’t need the email to clarify his evidence, therefore the email didn’t need to be provided. Does that mean that he didn’t want the email provided? | |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| Q: Are you saying the email should be provided? | Q: Are you saying the email should be provided? |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| Q: Would he have had a role in saying which email should go? | Q: Would he have had a role in saying which email should go? |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| Q: Do you think it was OK for a journalist to knock on his door, was that OK? | Q: Do you think it was OK for a journalist to knock on his door, was that OK? |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| Q: Any comment on the hotel quarantine inquiry? | Q: Any comment on the hotel quarantine inquiry? |
| Daniel Andrews: | Daniel Andrews: |
| Q: Affidavits? | Q: Affidavits? |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| Q: Do you expect any changes to your original... | Q: Do you expect any changes to your original... |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| Q: Jenny Mikakos decided to resign because of the appearance of conflicting evidence. Why isn’t the chief health officer doing the same? | Q: Jenny Mikakos decided to resign because of the appearance of conflicting evidence. Why isn’t the chief health officer doing the same? |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| Q: Did you read the letter? | Q: Did you read the letter? |
| Daniel Andrews: | Daniel Andrews: |
| On the letter from the CEOs calling for restrictions to be lifted, Daniel Andrews says: | On the letter from the CEOs calling for restrictions to be lifted, Daniel Andrews says: |
| Q: Victorians feel they cannot have more than 10 people at a funeral or open their business so why are you waiting until Saturday? Why not do it now? | Q: Victorians feel they cannot have more than 10 people at a funeral or open their business so why are you waiting until Saturday? Why not do it now? |
| If it’s all of a sudden safe to have 500 people at a race? Why are you waiting until November 1? | If it’s all of a sudden safe to have 500 people at a race? Why are you waiting until November 1? |
| Daniel Andrews: | Daniel Andrews: |
| Q: Can you explain why it was considered safe for 500-plus people to attend races but thousands of local businesses cannot reopen? | Q: Can you explain why it was considered safe for 500-plus people to attend races but thousands of local businesses cannot reopen? |
| Daniel Andrews: | Daniel Andrews: |
| Q: We are constantly told the decisions are based on science and data, was that not based on science and data, fair to say? | Q: We are constantly told the decisions are based on science and data, was that not based on science and data, fair to say? |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| Q: It was cancelled because it was unpopular so it was acceptable from a public health point of view but cancelled because it was unpopular, is that correct? | Q: It was cancelled because it was unpopular so it was acceptable from a public health point of view but cancelled because it was unpopular, is that correct? |
| Andrews: | Andrews: |
| Q: You agree with the decision to allow stakeholders to attend the Cox Plate today? | Q: You agree with the decision to allow stakeholders to attend the Cox Plate today? |
| Daniel Andrews: | Daniel Andrews: |
| Q: This is an extremely rare and catastrophic event, why is that the chief health officer isn’t here to explain this to Victorians? | Q: This is an extremely rare and catastrophic event, why is that the chief health officer isn’t here to explain this to Victorians? |
| Daniel Andrews: | Daniel Andrews: |
| Q: How confronting is it to see a reinfection the community? | Q: How confronting is it to see a reinfection the community? |
| Daniel Andrews: | Daniel Andrews: |
| Q: | Q: |