Anthony Albanese pays tribute to Ukraine one year after Russian invasion
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking in Wollongong reflecting on the first year anniversary of war in Ukraine with a further $33m pledged in military aid:
It is one year since the illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine by Russia. This was an unprovoked attack. It was an attack not only on Ukraine sovereignty, it was an attack on the international rules are based order.
It was an attack on the United Nations and on the respect that we thought was something that was going to be permanent. Respect for people’s sovereignty and for nation states to be able to determine their own destiny.
The truth is that Russia thought that this war would be over in a few days. I want to pay tribute to the courage and resilience and determination of the people of Ukraine, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and with such courage, who withstood an invasion by a much larger and more powerful country.
They have made enormous sacrifice, a sacrifice in lives, a sacrifice in infrastructure, a sacrifice in their standard of living. They live under constant pressure. Airways. Atrocities committed by the Russian forces in Ukraine. And yet they have stood tall, not just in their interest but in the interests of all who hold democratic values so clearly around the world.
That is why Australia continues to stand with the people and government of Ukraine.
Key events
A bushfire has broken out at Kangaroo Flat, a locality north-west of Gawler in South Australia.
The CFS have issued an emergency warning telling people it is too late to leave and they should take shelter.
There were 3,950 new cases in the weekly reporting period, and eight people are in intensive care.
That’s down from 4,166 cases last week, but deaths (which do lag cases) are slightly up from 24 last week.
Queensland has reported more Covid cases than Victoria since mid-January. However the death count is consistently less.
Jordyn Beazley Equality Australia launches new campaign
As Sydney prepares for the biggest Mardi Gras parade yet, Equality Australia and Mardi Gras have launched a new campaign calling for the New South Wales government to “act for equality”.
The campaign is advocating for an end to conversion practices against the LGBTQI+ community, access to ID documents that include trans and gender diverse people, an end to the discrimination of LGBTQI+ teachers, and an end to “unnecessary” medical procedures on intersex children without their consent.
The chief executive of Equality Australia, Anna Brown, said:
All these issues and more need to be addressed. And we’re so pleased to see recently the multipartisan commitment to end damaging conversion [practices].
This was the sort of change we need to see in this state, and this is the sort of change that needs to be built upon in the coming weeks as we approach the New South Wales election.
We call on our parliament to act now and ensure that everyone in our community is free from discrimination.
Voters will ‘draw their own conclusions’ about who is being constructive on the voice, Albanese says
Albanese is asked to respond to the deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley’s accusation that the voice to parliament is a re-election project for the Albanese government.
The PM hits back that these are a “series of comments aimed at creating confusion” and that the Coalition know they are because a lot of the process leading up to the voice have happened on their watch.
People will make their own judgment as to whether the Coalition are being constructive, as to whether they are trying to sit down. I have sat down and talked with Peter Dutton on no less than six occasions. No less than six occasions.
What I have done, repeatedly, is not be prescriptive about what we are putting forward. I have put forward a draft in good faith at the Garma festival in July last year. Since then, I have not seen any suggestion or wording from Sussan Ley or anyone else in the Coalition to either the draft questions or the referendum changes.
I sit in question time every day. They have an opportunity to ask questions about detail. That does not happen. What you have is a series of comments aimed at creating confusion and making more complex something that is actually very very clear. Do we recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our constitution and do we consult them on matters that affect them?
It is not a right of veto. It won’t be a funding body, it won’t run programs. [The Coalition] know that that’s the case. Why do they know it? Because actually a lot of this process has occurred on their watch. In 2017, they were the government. They then set up a parliamentary committee chaired by Julian Leeser, the shadow minister, and Pat Dodson. It came to a unanimous parliamentary committee report. They then had, under Ken Wyatt, a process where Tom Calma and Marcia Langton produced a 270-page document suggesting options in detail. That went to their cabinet twice. They chose not to progress that at all.
I am progressing it. I am being constructive. People will look at those comments and draw their own conclusions.
Albanese calls on Dutton to campaign with Perrottet
Asked about the purpose of his visit to Kiama, Albanese says he is campaigning with the NSW Labor leader and urges the NSW premier to invite the federal opposition leader to do the same:
I am not meddling, I am campaigning for Chris Minns is to be the premier of New South Wales, and that is what I was doing last night when I was with Chris Minns. That is what I’ll be doing on a number of occasions in the lead up to the election. I encourage Dominic Perrottet to have Peter Dutton come to New South Wales and campaign next to him.
‘The IPA that put out these figures’: Albanese attacks super reporting
The figures reported in the Australian came from the conservative thinktank, the IPA which Albanese was highly critical of:
The IPA that put out these figures. The IPA have an agenda. The IPA have an agenda that is not about progressing Australia. The IPA have an agenda which is holding Australia back. And we have an agenda about progressing Australia.
What we have said is that on superannuation, we want to see the objectives of superannuation enshrined, and the objectives are about people’s retirement incomes. That is the purpose of superannuation.
Albanese’s superannuation entitlement questioned
Taking questions, Albanese is asked about reports in the Australian that he will be able to access $400,000 a year in superannuation.
The PM says the reporting is not accurate:
The Australian report is wrong. It is wrong. It is not right.
‘No question that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine’
Albanese goes on to say “there is no question that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine” and calls on Putin to end the illegal war.
I have seen it first-hand when I visited Kyiv and Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Housing blocks were blown apart. Residential areas bond with missile attacks as well as with tanks that got to the outskirts of Ukraine, just off Kyiv, just to the north. Today, I pay tribute to the people and leadership of Ukraine, and I can pledge in a bipartisan way that the Australian people stand with the people of Ukraine.
We will also provide, and we have announced additional sanctions, against those people and companies who are involved in the Russian war machine. It is appropriate now, the sanctions now have hit more than 1,000, and will continue to act in coalition with other democratic forces around the world to impose these sanctions.
The UN resolution that we’ve supported as well, calling upon a just solution. It has been supported by some 140 countries.
But today, on this, on this time where it is one year since this illegal invasion, we again say to President Putin, stop this war now. Withdraw your forces now. This is an unprovoked attack. No one is threatening Russia. No one is threatening Russia sovereignty. There is no need for you to continue this war, which is causing damage not just to the people of Ukraine but to those Russian soldiers who are being sent to the frontline, who have caused so much death and devastation on both sides. Vladimir Putin can stop this, and he can stop this today.
More military support for Ukraine
Albanese goes on to speak about that extra support for Ukraine:
Today, we are announcing additional support for uncrewed aerial systems. Some call them drones to provide support for the people of Ukraine.
Today also, 200 Ukrainian soldiers will graduate from the Australian-based training that is occurring in the United Kingdom under Operation Kudu.
I want to pay tribute to the Australian defence force personnel, who are undertaking this training, making sure that people who are enlisting to defend their country, their family, and their sovereignty and their future, get appropriate training before they are sent into this brutal war with the powerful Russian forces that seem determined to inflict damage in such an unprovoked, and, in some circumstances, just a random way.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking in Wollongong reflecting on the first year anniversary of war in Ukraine with a further $33m pledged in military aid:
It is one year since the illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine by Russia. This was an unprovoked attack. It was an attack not only on Ukraine sovereignty, it was an attack on the international rules are based order.
It was an attack on the United Nations and on the respect that we thought was something that was going to be permanent. Respect for people’s sovereignty and for nation states to be able to determine their own destiny.
The truth is that Russia thought that this war would be over in a few days. I want to pay tribute to the courage and resilience and determination of the people of Ukraine, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and with such courage, who withstood an invasion by a much larger and more powerful country.
They have made enormous sacrifice, a sacrifice in lives, a sacrifice in infrastructure, a sacrifice in their standard of living. They live under constant pressure. Airways. Atrocities committed by the Russian forces in Ukraine. And yet they have stood tall, not just in their interest but in the interests of all who hold democratic values so clearly around the world.
That is why Australia continues to stand with the people and government of Ukraine.
Caitlin Cassidy Greens bill would remove public school funding cap
The Greens will introduce a bill to remove a 20% cap on commonwealth funding for public schools.
Speaking at the Australian Education Union’s national conference on Friday, Greens spokesperson for schools, Senator Penny Allman-Payne, said she would introduce the legislation to end “buck passing” between state and federal governments.
Since 2013, the commonwealth has contributed a maximum of 20% towards public schools’ schooling resource standard (SRS), while states and territories make up the rest. It meets 80% of private school SRS funding, and states 20%.
Allman-Payne:
Australia now has one of the most privatised school systems in the developed world. This is a critical juncture where the governments of Australia will, in effect, decide whether they are committed to public education or not. It is no exaggeration to say that public education faces an existential threat if we do not turn this around.
Inequity in our education system will not be fixed by tinkering at the edges of the next national school reform agreement. We need to see a wholesale shift away from funding private schools, and reinvestment in our public education system.
Earlier this week, the education minister, Jason Clare, confirmed his counterparts were finalising terms of reference to advice on reforms to embed in the next national school reform agreement (NSRA), which sets out the funding arrangements.
It followed the release of a Productivity Commission report on the current NSRA, which said it was rolling out too slow, had minimal effect and lacked concrete targets.
He has also committed to 100% SRS funding for government schools to close a gab between public and private institutions.
Papua New Guinea’s foreign minister has confirmed the release of one hostage but says he “cannot guarantee” the safety of at least three others held in the southern highlands.
At least four people, including an Australian-New Zealand archaeologist, were conducting fieldwork in a remote PNG region when they were captured by an armed group earlier this week.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum in Nadi, Justin Tkatchenko said negotiations to see the group released continued.
He told Australian Associated Press:
So far, so good.
One hostage, who Tkatchenko confirmed was a local woman and who the ABC reports was the program co-ordinator, has been released.
The archaeologist is a New Zealand national but Australian-based academic.
Tkatchenko said a wide range of authorities in PNG were involved in negotiations to free the group.
Our police force, our defence, our negotiators from the government side through the leadership of our minister for internal security.
It’s a combined effort to look at the opportunistic situation by these people and see what their real intentions are.
We don’t at all support these kinds of activities and the full force of the law will go down on those that have carried out these acts that society does not tolerate.
While hopeful the talks would be fruitful, Tkatchenko said he couldn’t promise the hostages’ release.
I can’t guarantee anything.
The capture took place in the border region of the Southern Highlands, Hela and Western Provinces. The ABC reports the hostages have been moved between villages in the area.
Their captors are asking for a ransom from the Australian and New Zealand governments.
– AAP
Messages of solidarity with Ukraine
Australian leaders, including the prime minister Anthony Albanese and minister for foreign affairs Penny Wong, are sharing messages of solidarity with Ukraine on the one year anniversary of the Russian invasion.
Today marks one year since Russia’s full scale, illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Australia is bolstering its support for Ukraine with additional military assistance and further costs on Russia including 90 sanctions.
Russia’s attacks are attacks on us all.
We stand with Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/ERwi1WFzoF
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) February 23, 2023 If you want to see how Russian forces have been pushed back in the year since they were closing in on Kyiv just two weeks into the invasion, this interactive shows you:
New farmer funding for storing carbon in soil
Farmers will soon be able to access a new fund to help find ways to store carbon in soil as a way of reducing emissions, AAP reports.
The latest round of funding as part of a national program will see $20m set aside for land management projects to improve soil carbon levels.
Grants of between $500,000 and $5m will be available for farmers and those in the agriculture sector to help develop solutions to measure soil carbon.
Increasing amounts of carbon stored in soil, through ways such as increasing plant cover or land management practices, has been shown to help reduce emissions in the atmosphere.
Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said the program would allow for farmers to directly contribute to lowering emissions.
Farmers are at the frontline of climate action and our government will continue to back them to develop technologies that will help them store more carbon, improve farm productivity and create regional job opportunities.
We will continue to work with the agriculture sector to help them manage their soils, reduce emissions and actively participate in the carbon market.
It is the second round of the $50m program. The first round saw almost $29m of grants awarded to develop soil carbon measurement technologies over the next two years.
Monsoon trough forms over Cape York Peninsula
The bureau of meteorology says that a monsoon trough has formed over Cape York Peninsula, which will remain slow-moving for the next week bringing lots of rain.
Monsoon comes from an Arabic word meaning ‘season’, and refers to a seasonal wind that generates widespread, persistent rainfall across a region.
Northern Australia is one of the many tropical regions in the world which experiences monsoons, which fill the sky with dark clouds causing widespread rain showers and thunderstorms which can last for a few days or even a week or more.
The monsoon trough has formed over Cape York Peninsula and will remain slow-moving for the next week. This means rain, and lots of it for the Peninsula (8 day forecast rainfall pictured). Learn more about the monsoon here: https://t.co/wuZJrvpZB6 pic.twitter.com/rLB8AjvSam
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) February 23, 2023 Caitlin Cassidy Crackdown on child sexual abuse on social media welcomed
Experts have lauded the eSafety Commissioner’s crackdown on social media and tech giants as a “world leading step” in addressing child sexual abuse material.
On Thursday, it issued legal notices to Twitter, TikTok and Google forcing them to report how they tackled child sexual abuse and blackmail attempts on their platforms or risk fines of up to $687,000 a day.
Prof Jon Rouse, from Monash University’s Artificial Intelligence for Law Enforcement and Community Safety Lab, said the serving of legal notices was a “world leading step” and a “major shot across the bow” by the commissioner.
It is abundantly clear that we cannot rely on companies to self-regulate … this is a global issue and it requires a global response. The algorithms utilised by industry are designed to keep our children on device and there is insurmountable evidence that this is leading our children down dangerous pathways.
The sextortion of children has been an evolving issue for over a decade. Increasingly and at a global level we are seeing children take their own lives as a direct result of threats by child sex offenders and in the latest evolution, by financial scammers.
The University of Sydney’s digital cultures and online safety experts team said their eSafety research had indicated young people wanted platforms to make their online environments safer.
Based on our survey findings, seven in ten young people have permanently stopped using a platform or app and 19% have deleted TikTok because they were using it too much, which along with Twitter and Facebook is the platform they feel most unsafe using.
Young people develop their own practices of online safety and engagement tactics. Any rollout of new safety mechanisms will affect them and they are acutely aware of this. Platforms need to involve them in the process.
Murray-Darling basin plan needs ‘the full suite of measures’, Plibersek says
State and federal water ministers are meeting this morning in Sydney to discuss the Murray Darling basin plans, with water recovery targets due to be met by the middle of next year for projects.
The federal water minister, Tanya Plibersek, told ABC News what she wanted to bring to the table ahead of the meeting:
There is no way of delivering the basin plan in full without the full suite of measures that we need. We need infrastructure programs, we need on-farm efficiencies, we need water buybacks, we need a bit of common sense and compromise, and that’s what I’m bringing to the table.
MinRes set up for ‘excellent year’ as lithium pays off
Record earnings from lithium have driven a strong first half for mining company Mineral Resources, and it expects an even stronger second half.
MinRes on Friday posted a five-fold increase in underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and impairment of $939m for the six months to 31 December.
Net profit was $390m, up $370m from the same period last year, driven by lithium earnings after spodumene concentrate from its Mount Marion and Wodgina operations was converted into lithium battery chemicals.
There were record earnings from Mount Marion, a hard-rock lithium mine in WA’s Goldfields region, under the agreement with China’s Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium.
MinRes’s managing director, Chris Ellison, said:
This half has seen us take the business from a mining services contractor and upstream miner to a leading downstream supplier of lithium to global auto manufacturers.
During the half, MinRes delivered its first earnings from lithium battery chemicals produced from Wodgina spodumene.
Wodgina, one of the largest known hard rock lithium deposits in the world, continues to ramp up with two trains operational and all three trains commissioned.
MinRes also extended its lithium battery chemicals supply deal with China’s Ganfeng to December 2023, with an option for both parties to further extend it to the end of calendar 2024.
– AAP
Josh Butler The Australian Education Union is the latest organisation to back the Yes campaign in the voice to parliament referendum, saying its membership of school teachers overwhelmingly back the change and will work to support the movement.
It comes just a day after the Coalition’s education spokesperson, Sarah Henderson, complained of “indoctrination” in classrooms around the voice and called on education groups to not take a stance on the referendum.
The union movement is mobilising to support the voice, with Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus telling Guardian Australia last week that the ACTU executive was “unanimous in our support for the yes campaign”. Unions will mobilise in a large grassroots campaign effort including door-knocking and public events – McManus said they’d had an “overwhelming response from union members wanting to be involved in the campaign”.
Today, the AEU lent its support. Its federal president, Correna Haythorpe, said the union and its Indigenous advisory committee would work to “educate members and the broader community on the significance of the voice to parliament”.
Our union, which consists of public school, preschool and Tafe teachers, principals and support workers, overwhelmingly backs in First Nations Australians and their call for self-determination through constitutional reform.
That’s why the AEU endorsed the Uluru statement five years ago and that is why we extend our unstinting support to the yes campaign today. And, that is why we will back this in with resources including a voice campaign lead officer and project officers.
We cannot allow this critical opportunity to move forward towards reconciliation slip away from us. It is time to right the wrongs of the past and unite all Australians.
On Thursday, Henderson told a universities conference that there was “no room for activism, campaigning or personal agendas in Australian educational institutions”. My colleague Caitlin Cassidy brought you that story yesterday:
But speaking later at the same conference, keynote speaker Prof Megan Davis – co-chair of the Uluru statement, an expert adviser to the government on the referendum and pro vice-chancellor Indigenous at UNSW – said that it was the “role of universities” to support the voice campaign.
I don’t really stomach that we are mere facilitators of the debate … universities say they don’t want to be political, but the decision not to take a stance for Uluru and the referendum for a voice to parliament is a political decision.
Emergency warning for fire at Kangaroo Flat in South Australia
Queensland records 26 Covid deaths and 234 people in hospital`
Anthony Albanese pays tribute to Ukraine one year after Russian invasion
‘No guarantees’ but PNG hopeful hostages will be freed
Australian Education Union backs yes to voice
