Senate committee recommends national hate crimes database and tougher laws – as it happened

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What we learned: Thursday, 12 December

We will wrap up the live blog here for today, but this is what made the news:

• Victoria’s opposition leader John Pesutto defamed fellow Liberal MP Moira Deeming in comments made after neo-Nazis gatecrashed a rally she helped organise, a federal court has found. It ordered Pesutto to pay $300,000 in damages.

• Pesutto has vowed to stay on as leader despite several calls for him to resign after the ruling.

• Deeming said the ruling was cathartic, and she is prepared to return to the Liberal party.

• The federal government announced a “news bargaining incentive” charge applied to digital platforms with Australian revenues of over $250m, effectively refunded by an offset if they pay news companies directly instead.

• The move was welcomed by media but criticised by the tech sector.

• Climate 200 founder and energy expert Simon Holmes a Court has said nuclear energy being ready by 2044 is “optimistic”.

• Australian employers added more staff than expected last month, and fewer people were hunting for work, pushing the unemployment rate down to 3.9%.

• A Papua New Guinea rugby league team will join the NRL in 2028.

• Australia voted for a ceasefire in Gaza and to support a UN Palestinian aid agency that Israel is moving to dismantle, which passed with 158 countries supporting the motion.

• Australia’s race discrimination commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman described the Synagogue firebombing in Melbourne and the anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney as “shocking [and] deeply distressing, and it has no place in our country.”

Until tomorrow, enjoy your evening.

Afghan refugee taking on Labor in federal election says party left safe-seat in ‘cycle of neglect’

Labor’s stronghold in the north-western Melbourne seat of Calwell has attracted another independent challenger looking to upset the party’s chances at the next federal election.

Samim Moslih, a refugee who came to Australia from Afghanistan as a young boy in the 1980s, has announced he’ll take on the seat created in 1984 and only ever held by Labor MPs.

Maria Vamvakinou, who has held Calwell since 2001, announced her retirement earlier this year. Her former adviser, Basem Abdo, a Palestinian-Australian, is expected to run for Labor at the next election.

Moslih criticised federal Labor for taking the seat for granted in a statement on Thursday.

Labor has assumed our votes without delivering even the basics to meet the community’s needs, while the Liberals have overlooked our landscape entirely because they know we aren’t their voters. The cycle of neglect has left Calwell behind.

Moslih, who follows other “grassroots” announcements in key Labor seats seeking to win over Muslim voters after the conflict in Gaza, said his policies represented traditional family and community values, diversity of culture and faith, and smaller government.

Imagine how great our country would be if the current lot of politicians focused their time and our funds towards easing the cost of living pressures and housing crisis here in our own land, rather than justifying and enabling a genocide of an occupied people halfway around the world.

About a quarter of voters in Calwell are Muslim, according to the 2021 census. While Vamvakinou holds the seat by a safe margin of 12.4%, the party saw a 10% primary vote drop in the 2022 election.

Media union welcomes government scheme to ensure social media companies ‘pay their fair share’

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (Meaa) has also welcomed the government’s news media bargaining incentive announcement.

Meaa media federal president Karen Percy said it would ensure companies like Facebook and Google pay their fair share, but said there needed to be better transparency and assurances over the payments to ensure that the money is invested back in journalism:

The production of quality journalism is essential to a functioning democracy, but it doesn’t come cheap and nor should it be free.

Multinational tech giants, including Meta, have made billions of dollars monetising the work produced by professional journalists and it is only right and fair that they should pay for it.

Meaa has been advocating long and hard for sanctions for companies that shirk their responsibilities, and this is a step in the right direction for accountability.

Percy said regional and rural outlets should be included under the revised code.

National weather forecast for Friday includes rain, thunder and heat

The Bureau of Meterology has forecast rain and thunderstorms for Friday in parts of Western Australia, the east coast of Queensland, and northern New South Wales.

This is due to a number of low pressure troughs across the continent.

In Queensland on Friday, there will be showers and thunderstorms across northern and eastern parts of the state, mainly to the north of Harvey bay. There is a risk of heavy to locally intense rainfall across parts of the coast. For Brisbane, it will be a partly cloudy day with a top of 31 degrees.

In Sydney, it will be sunny with a top of 30 degrees, and in Canberra, mostly sunny at 32.

Victoria will experience mild and mostly sunny weather. Melbourne will have a mostly cloudy day with a top of 23 degrees.

Hobart will have a shower or two, with a top of 19 degrees. In Adelaide, it will be mostly sunny, with a top of 29 degrees.

Perth will be at least 31 degrees, with a possible shower or two.

Darwin will have mostly clear skies and sunshine, though a thunderstorm with a top of 33 degrees is possible.

Opposition asks when publishers will see money from tech companies under new laws

The shadow communications minister, David Coleman, has called on the government to say when news media companies will be paid under the proposed news media bargaining incentive that aims to force companies like Meta and Google to pay for news.

The payment will be dated back to January next year after consultation and new legislation, but it’s not clear when that will occur. Parliament is not due to resume until the start of February.

Coleman said the government should have moved sooner:

The Coalition wants to see support continue for the Australian news media industry – as we achieved through the successful News Media Bargaining Code.

The Albanese government has taken far too long to come to the table with this announcement.

The test for the government now is – when will Australian media companies start being paid by the digital giants for the content from which they benefit?

Senate committee recommends national hate crimes database and tougher laws

Threatening or urging violence against Australians from marginalised communities could become an offence as the government attempts to tackle hate crimes, AAP reports.

A committee examining a proposed bill to combat hate crimes and promote community respect has recommended Australia establish a national hate crimes database and expand criminal offences.

Committee chair, Labor senator Nita Green, said:

While current laws criminalise acts of violence against targeted groups, and in its most extreme form, acts of terrorism, this bill would criminalise threats of such violence.

This is an important and timely step.

There were concerns the bill would limit free speech, but the committee said it was satisfied it “does not suppress freedom of speech that is not violent or forceful”.

Media policy group hopes news bargaining changes will grow public interest journalism

While the tech companies may not be too pleased with the news media bargaining announcement, it has been more welcomed by the media sector.

The Public Interest Journalism Initiative CEO, Anna Draffin, said news in Australia has been hit by a series of overlapping economic shocks in recent years that has seen more than 500 news market changes in the past five years, including the closure of 183 outlets – 61% of which were in regional Australia.

The Australian community would be the big loser if Meta or any other digital platform were to block news from their social media or search engines. A democracy cannot function without a healthy news sector. We know this is an urgent priority for government to address, amid fast moving Gen AI.

There is obviously still detail to be worked out, but the News Bargaining Incentive looks to unlock much-needed, long term investment in public interest journalism across this country.

Industry group representing social media companies responds to news bargaining incentive announcement

The Digital Industry Group – that represents the social media companies including Meta, TikTok, Google, X and others – has responded to the government’s announcement regarding the news media bargaining incentive to encourage platforms to pay news outlets or face being taxed.

The group says the government proposal should be subject to proper consultation:

This intervention into private commercial agreements should be subject to proper consultation. This proposal sees a small subset of one sector being forced to commercially subsidise another, and we don’t believe such a tax exists in any other area of the economy. There are many unanswered questions about this proposal, including whether there will be any requirement that funds are actually used to support public-interest journalism.

Online flower shop ordered to pay $1m over misleading location claims

In September, we reported that flower company admitted to running 156 websites with different suburb names and placing thousands of Google ads that would have misled customers into thinking they were ordering from a flower shop in their local area, in a proposed settlement with the Australian consumer regulator.

The federal court has now approved that settlement, with Meg’s Flowers ordered to pay $1m after the case was brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Photograph: Paul Braven/AAP

The ACCC commissioner, Liza Carver, said:

By making misleading claims about the location of the florists, Meg’s Flowers denied some consumers the opportunity to make an informed decision to support a local business, and likely denied truly local businesses the opportunity to make a sale to those consumers.

Making false or misleading representations to consumers is a breach of the Australian Consumer Law. We remind businesses in all industries that the claims they make about their products and services, including claims about the location of their business, must be accurate and not mislead consumers.

Read more on the case below:

Fashion designer Wayne Cooper pleads not guilty to domestic violence charge

Bass Strait windfarm plan scaled back

A windfarm zone in Bass Strait, which could deliver half the current electricity demands of south-eastern Australia, has been scaled back after community feedback, AAP reports.

The federal government on Thursday announced the offshore development zone would span 7,100sq km – about 30% less than the original proposal.

The zone also includes a gap for a shipping lane and is now 30km offshore, 10km further from Tasmania’s northern coast.

The rescaling was in response to feedback from local groups, industry, fishers, unions and Indigenous people.

Developments in the zone could create up to 12,000 construction jobs and 6,000 ongoing roles, the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said:

There are people who say it should be bigger or smaller … we’ve struck a good balance. I am hopeful of strong interest (from developers).

There is no offshore wind in Australia yet. It has existed since the early 1990s in Europe. It can and does coexist with fishing.

Bowen said any turbines would probably be more than 200m tall but “hardly seen” from land.

The zone could support up to 20GW of around-the-clock renewable energy, more than half the current power demand of south-east Australia, he said.

The federal government wants potential developers to prove their project would “deliver the most for Tasmania and Australia’s energy security”.

Developers have until 12 March to apply for feasibility licences and must demonstrate a commitment to local inputs and suppliers.

An offshore windfarm near Denmark. Photograph: Tom Little/Reuters

Victorian students continue to react to their Atar results

Katherine Nguyen woke up this morning with a rush of adrenaline at 5am. She’s not usually an early riser – she just couldn’t wait to check her VCE results. When 7am finally ticked over, she was in disbelief, then “screamed [her] head off and ran around”.

Nguyen is one of just eight girls out of the 41 Victorian students to receive a perfect Atar of 99.95 this morning. The dux at McKinnon secondary college says it feels “strange, in a good way”.

I’m pretty ecstatic … I was really hoping for a high Atar above 99 because I want to do medicine. But I didn’t expect this.

Last year, McKinnon was ranked 44th in Victoria for percentage of study scores of 40 or above, making it the No 1 non-selective public school in the state.

Nguyen attributes her success, across English, maths, chemistry, accounting and biology, to her teachers – who she baked biscuits for at the end of the year (including cookies shaped like calculators).

They pushed me to try my hardest and enjoy it … they were all so caring and tried to push you to be the best version of yourself.

Broad improvement in labour market, with ACT posting lowest jobless rate

The general takeaway from November’s labour market numbers is that the RBA won’t be in a hurry to cut interest rates next year.

It’s worth noting that the RBA actually anticipated ongoing strength in demand for workers. On Tuesday, after all, it said after its rates hold decision:

Labour market conditions remain tight; while those conditions have been easing gradually, some indicators have recently stabilised.

“At the same time, some cyclical labour market indicators, including youth unemployment and underemployment rates, have recently declined,” it said. (And they did again in the latest numbers.)

View from a Melbourne rooftop over the city. Photograph: Diego Fedele/AAP

Anyway, across the states, none saw a rise in the unemployment rate, and most posted falls. The ACT, as usual, had the lowest rate, at 2.9%, compared with 3.1% in October.

Victoria remained a bit of a laggard, but there too the jobless rate eased from 4.5% to 4.2%. WA posed the biggest decline (if you exclude the Northern Territory), with the unemployment diving to 3.3% from 4%.

NSW, home to about one in three Australian jobs, the rate eased to 3.9% (in line with the national average) from 4%, while Queensland’s was steady at 3.9%. Tassie and South Australia both posted improvements with 3.9% their rates as well.

Many thanks for joining me on the blog today, I’ll hand over to Josh Taylor who will take you through the rest of our rolling coverage this Thursday afternoon. Take care, and see you tomorrow.

University of Melbourne interim VC rejects accusations antisemitism ‘embedded’ on campuses

The University of Melbourne interim vice-chancellor, Prof Nicola Phillips, has rejected accusations that antisemitism is “embedded” on Australian campuses.

Phillips was pointed to comments from Jillian Segal AO, Australia’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, that it is “systemic and embedded on our university campuses”.

She replied that while she had “the greatest respect” for Segal’s work and view, she struggled to accept that characterisation of her university.

That’s simply not what I see and hear as I move around every day … As I move around the university, the vast, vast majority of our staff and students share the concern that we have for its leadership about the rise of antisemitism.

Told it wasn’t “every day” individuals were called to a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism on Australian campuses, Phillips said “absolutely”.

Antisemitism is a society-wide problem, there is no reason to think universities stand uniquely apart from it … we accept our responsibility … we could not be clearer about the gravity of the situation.

More from the parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism on Australian campuses

Circling back to the parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism on Australian campuses: 23 students and four members of staff were disciplined as a result of a 10-day occupation of a building at the University of Melbourne.

Its interim vice-chancellor, Prof Nicola Phillips, confirmed the staff and students had action taken against them as a direct result of the pro-Palestine encampment at the Arts West building, which led to some concessions being made by the university to disclose its research partnerships.

Phillips said she was unable to comment on individual cases, but said none of the staff or students had lost their job or been expelled as a result of the protest.

Asked if that was a reasonable response, she replied: “We think it is.”

The outcomes that were imposed … were significant … the students were issued with formal warnings, that is a significant outcome for students.

It was considered to be proportionate through our processes with the misconduct … there will be differences of view … many people think it was outrageous we took any action in the first place.

The University of Melbourne has received no formal complaints related to antisemitism since 17 August this year, compared with 12 over the first half of this year.

University of Melbourne signage. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Pesutto wraps up press conference by saying he doesn’t take support of colleagues for granted

John Pesutto said he never takes the support of colleagues for granted so “I never assume anything”.

You have to earn it every single day that I am worthy of their support, and I’ll continue to do that day in and day out.

With that, his press conference has wrapped up.

Tony Abbott says Moira Deeming should ‘swiftly be readmitted’ to party room

Earlier this afternoon, former prime minister Tony Abbott weighed in on the outcome of the Pesutto-Deeming case, and wrote on X:

Moira Deeming has been vindicated by the federal court. No Liberal should ever be in trouble for standing up for the rights of women and girls. She should now swiftly be readmitted to the party room.

John Pesutto was asked about this at his press conference just now, and responded:

They’re matters for Mr Abbott, and I don’t wish to comment on this.