Housing minister targeted over CFMEU house price claim (2024)

Thanks for hanging out with me for some or all of your day today.

It's been a big one so I'll leave you with a quick recap of what we learned today.

• A digital thumbs up (with the very cowboy sounding name 'TEx') is will be piloted to replace ID checks
• The government is prepared to tweak its legislation to force an administrator on the CFMEU
• But the Coalition could still send it to an inquiry anyway
• Nancy Pelosi and Paul Keating traded barbs
• Coalition targets Clare O'Neil on housing

The Coalition wants every Palestinian visa application to be referred to ASIO for assessment over terrorism concerns.

It comes after ASIO director-general Mike Burgess told ABC'sInsidersprogram that visa applicants who express sympathy for Hamas won't necessarily be blocked from entering Australia.

That's raised concerns from some independent MPs and sparked Coalition calls for the immediate rejection of every visa application from Hamas supporters.

"If you support the 7th of October and what happened on that day, if you support Hamas, then you should not be welcome in Australia," Shadow Minister for Home Affairs James Paterson told the media this afternoon.

"That is very different for someone who is a completely peaceful supporter of the cause of Palestinian self-determination. That is an absolutely respectable cause."

Senator Murray Watt defended the government's approach during QT, saying all visa applications are assessed for security risks.

"We are following exactly the same process as occurred under the former government," Watt told the Senate.

The PM appeared to haul up the white flag on religious discrimination last week when he reiterated the government would not proceed without bipartisan support.

Is this the end of the road for this legislation, Greg Jennet asks.

Labor'sKristy McBain says the government handed the legislation to the Coalition four months ago and "we have not heard anything from them".

Liberal's Angie Bell says Anthony Albanese is blaming the Coalition for "his own failures".

Labor's Kristy McBain and Liberal MP Angie Bell are on the pollie panel today.

McBain acknowledges there is still more work to do on gambling reform.

"It is important there are caps or whatever on gambling advertising. They are far too prevalent across our TV screens and particularly for kids," she says.

"We want to make sure whatever we do does not have unintended consequences as well, so that is why there is widespread consultation in the sector."

Bell says she hasn't seen the government's proposal but notes the model Labor is looking likely to adopt is not too dissimilar to the one proposed by the Coalition.

"It has taken them a long time so we have a very slow government and very weak prime minister," the Liberal MP says.

National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds says she hopes the government considers the best interests of children when it makes its final call on gambling reforms.

She says the status quo is "grooming children into gambling by exposing them to wall-to-wall advertising during sport".

"Sport is really important for kids and anyone with young children will know an eight-year-old can reel off the names of all the sports betting companies.

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"I think we can do a lot better in Australia for our kids. We don't want to be grooming them to become gamblers or problem gamblers in the future."

Free TV Australia chief executiveBridget Fair says she understands there is a social concern about how much gambling advertising people should be exposed to.

"Particularly, we want to prevent children from having those messages," she says.

But overall the CEO says comparisons of a ban on tobacco ads and gambling are chalk and cheese.

"Tobacco is obviously pretty much fatal for every person who smokes it, whereas there are people who safely enjoy some gambling activity," Fair says.

"We need to balance those considerations.

"Secondly, when tobacco advertising was banned, we were in a different economic framework.Advertising was growing for commercial television broadcasters whereas now we see advertising falling.

"That doesn't mean we should not have a conversation around what is the social licence, but it does mean we need to look at how do we also maintain the long-term viability and sustainability of the commercial broadcasting sector."

Industry lobby group Free TV Australia has consistently warned any further restrictions on gambling advertising for television networks would have significant revenue implications.

Chief executiveBridget Fairsays this is the conversation we should be having.

"What does that mean for the sustainability of the individual broadcasters and the overall sector," she says.

Fair says this is a major concern for regional broadcasters who have "high fixed costs to deliver a service to a small population".

"What we need to look at is how can the impact on industry be balanced by measures that assist the industry to be able to maintain those levels of spending (on local content) because that is what is in the public interest. People rely on those service," she says.

Bill Shorten set the cat amongst the pigeons last night during his appearance on ABC's Q+A, sayingfree-to-air media needed the revenue from gambling in the battle with social media companies.

Afternoon Briefing host Greg Jennet asks Katy Gallagherif there are other levers the government could pull to address struggling broadcasters.

"We are coming to a point in time where the ability for free-to-air broadcasters is really being challenged and so any responsible government would need to take that into consideration," she says.

Including allowing them to retain this trickle of gold?

"Including understanding the role advertising revenue plays in their balance sheets, yes," she responds.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher is the first guest on Afternoon Briefing today.

The government has already agreed to make a handful of changes to its legislation to force an independent administrator on the CFMEU to try and win over the Coalition and/or the Greens.

But the Coalition is looking like it will put up a fight and send it off to an inquiry. Gallagher says Labor is willing to be constructive on amendments but it needs to be passed this week.

"Our focus is getting an administrator into the union," she says.

"We acknowledge the politics that are at play here.

"I think the important thing is to clean up these building sites where there are concerns and that needs to be done, not in the Senate, and not in a Senate committee, but by the administrator."

So many of you have left a comment today asking the same thing: how will this Trust Exchange (aka TEx) work?

Friend of the blog Oliver Gordon has the answers to that question and more in his helpful explainer.

A plan to replace ID checks(at say, a nightclub or hotel check-in) with a "digital thumbs up" via what the government is calling 'TEx' has raised questions from Coalition ranks.

Shadow Government Services Minister Paul Fletcher spoke with political reporter Isobel Roe earlier and had this to say:

"Australians would understandably want to be satisfied that the privacy issues have been thought through here and that there are appropriate legislative safeguards," he said.

"Now, what we know is the current government has been promising for more than two years that there would be a review of the Privacy Act and that they would implement or introduce amendments to the existing privacy legislation.

"That still hasn't happened so Australians might well be asking, Why is Mr Shorten going ahead with this now when we haven't seen the long promised updates to the Privacy Act."

Equality Australia has accused the government of breaking an election promise by abandoning its planned religious discrimination protections.

Albanese on Friday told reporters that the window for introducing the legislation had passed because an agreement couldn't be reached with the opposition.

Anna Brown, Equality Australia's chief executive, said the decision was devastating for the sexuality and gender diverse community.

"Only two years ago five Liberal MPs crossed the floor to vote with Labor to back changes to the Sex Discrimination Act to protect trans students. There is support for the reforms that would protect LGBTQ+ staff and students among the Greens and crossbench.

"The government is playing a dangerous game by not acting now and pursuing the available pathway through parliament when the stakes are so high for thousands of vulnerable Australians."

That's the question independent Kate Chaneyjust put to Communication Minister Michelle Rowland.

The government is under increasing pressure to enact a blanket ban, with former prime ministers and state leaders throwing their support behind the removal of all gambling related advertising.

But the ABC understands the proposal would set a limit of two gambling ads per hour on each channel until 10pm, and ban gambling advertising during children's programs or in the hour before or after a live sport event.

Rowland says the status quo is untenable and the need for meaningful action is clear.

Liberal frontbencherPaul Fletcher is up next.

"Have you ever committed to establishing a Makarrata commission?"

Anthony Albanese refers to his previous answer.He says the government will continue to consult with Indigenous Australians.

Clare O'Neil has been under attack over comments she made in QT yesterday.

If you weren't paying attention, or can't remember, that's cool. I have you covered.

Michael Sukkar asked if the CFMEU's conduct had added to construction and housing costs.

After a bit of a back and forth she said:

There is analysis that shows impacts on residential construction. There are experts in industry that say it has no impact on residential construction.

It's the second part of that answer that the Coalition has been zeroing in on.

Deputy Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley asks: "On camera recently, when asked about attaching a Makarrata Commission with responsibility for truth-telling, the prime minister said, 'Well, that is not what we have proposed.'

"But on election night 2022, the prime minister promised to implement the Uluru statement in full: the voice, truth telling and treaty, and repeated that promise on more than 34 occasions.

"Why is this tricky prime minister repeatedly promise one thing and do another?"

Albanese begins to talk about the theme of fire, strength and renewal at this year's Garma Festival, but he faces questions of relevance.

In response, he says: "At that festival, we talked as well with First Nations people about a new pathway towards how we close the gap.

"The new pathway was all about economic empowerment. Trying to search for a way to achieve what I would hope everyone in this chamber wants to see achieved.

"A closing of the gap in education. A closing of the gap when it comes to health. A closing of the gap when it comes to life expectancy."