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Coalition didn’t ask Geoscience Australia about its nuclear sites, inquiry hears
Graham Readfearn
The Coalition has not approached Geoscience Australia to ask about the suitability of any of the seven sites where it wants to put nuclear reactors, including for risks from earthquakes, a parliamentary hearing has just heard.
The government’s parliamentary inquiry into nuclear energy has its second hearing today and officials from Geoscience Australia are giving evidence.
The officials confirmed the Coalition had not asked for its view on the suitability of any of the sites it is proposing, and said it would likely take two years to deliver a full assessment of the risks from a range of hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis and the condition of the earth underneath each site.
Ted O’Brien, the opposition’s energy spokesman, said this two-year timeframe was in line with the Coalition’s policy.
O’Brien revealed the Coalition had been taking advice from Prof Andrew Whittaker, a US-based expert on seismic events in relation to nuclear energy.
O’Brien said Whittaker has told him that recent earthquakes in the Hunter valley, near the Liddell power station – a site earmarked for a reactor by the Coalition – and these would be “entirely inconsequential” to the operation of a nuclear power plant.
But John Dawson, a branch head of community safety at Geoscience Australia, said any assessment of a site would require “detailed investigation” before “anyone can say definitively if these sites are suitable.”
Key events
Dutton has continued, outlining the number of flights he takes a year and how often he recalls getting an upgrade:
Generally, you arrive at the airport and there is an upgrade of the seat available and that is generally as I understand it how it happens but I have been in parliament since 2001 and as you say there are 15 upgrade since then.
I probably do 190 flight this year, I prefer to be doing none at all actually, but I am here in Melbourne today very happily and I am off to Perth shortly and we go from one side of the country to another.
I average 180, 190 flights per year. None of it happen as a result of me calling my best friend, Alan Joyce, at Qantas.
Asked how and when upgrades are offered, Dutton said it was about “passenger load.”
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has stepped up for a press conference in Melbourne, where he is immediately asked about the prime minister’s flight upgrades.
It comes after a book from former Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston that alleges the PM solicited flight upgrades from then Qantas CEO Alan Joyce during his time as transport minister.
Dutton begins by saying it is “a bit strange” that the PM might have contacted a “CEO of an airline when he is the Minister for Transport.”
As you know, I very strongly believe in the need for people to declare their human interests and sometimes there are over sides and human error involved but when you’re talking about having a personal phone call to ask for an upgrade, as the Transport Minister or shadow Transport Minister and I presume the Prime Minister will answer questions about that.
Its a strange arrangement when you can pick the phone up to the CEO and ask, as a transport Minister, for an upgrade for your arrangements.
If you go to the airport and either full load factors or for decisions airline makes otherwise for them to upgrade, that is perfectly appropriate, as the rules apply equally to everyone.
But if you are at the Transport Minister and you are picking up the phone to one of the most important stakeholders in your portfolio, asking for a free upgrade, then again I think the Prime Minister would be able to ask those questions more effectively than anyone else because I am not aware of anyone else having done it.
I just wanted to return to the Chalmers press conference earlier, where he ducked and weaved questions on the prime ministers flight upgrades.
Chalmers said politicians travel declarations need to be “robust”, and said he hadn’t personally asked former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce for an upgrade:
I haven’t asked Alan Joyce, no. I’m not sure if I have received one. I don’t think so, but I’d have to have a look.
Asked if the process for the disclosure of interests should be strengthened, Chalmers said he had “not given much thought to it.”
I’m focused on inflation this week, the G20 discussions, the lessons from Saturday’s campaign. You know, I’m broadly aware, and I was asked this morning about some of these issues… It’s appropriate that the arrangements are robust.
NSW moves to legalise e-scooters and address ‘strange’ regulatory blindspot
The New South Wales government is moving towards legalising the use of e-scooters on streets, amid a new E-micromobility Action Plan.
The plan is intended to address a regulatory blind spot, where e-scooters can be purchased in NSW but can’t be ridden on the streets or footpaths.
The plan also includes actions on reviewing how shared e-bikes are operated in local communities, reviewing the road rules in relation to e-micromobility, including exploring options for the legal use of e-scooters on streets and roads, and delivering more shared e-scooter trials.
A pilot is already under way for marked, dedicated parking bays for shared e-bikes at nine train stations around Sydney: Central, Circular Quay, Wynyard, Barangaroo Metro, Newtown, Sydenham, Marrickville and Bondi Junction.
Transport minister Jo Haylen said it was a “strange” regulatory blind spot:
There are already 1.35 million e-micromobility devices in homes across NSW. Almost 460,0000 of these are e-scooters. But only 22% of people across the state know it’s illegal to ride e-scooters on our roads and streets.
It’s a strange regulatory blind spot, and it has to change.
E-bikes and e-scooters aren’t without controversy, which is exactly why we’re taking action. It’s clear we need a regulatory framework that will allow people to make the most of this transport option, without compromising on community safety.
Allowing people to ride an e-scooter to the shops or nearby train stations will take pressure off our roads and lessen competition for parking. It’s a big win for everyone, we just have a bit more work to do to get the balance right.
Barnaby Joyce on MP flight upgrades: ‘It’s a difference when you solicit it’
Returning to the issue of the prime minister’s flights, the Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce says the problem is “when you solicit” the upgrades.
While Anthony Albanese declared yesterday that all upgrades were declared, Joyce said on Sunrise this morning that reports the PM asked for them did not pass the “pub test.”
A lot of people that fly generally get offered upgrade and take them. We all do that.
It’s a difference when you solicit it. When you ring up Alan Joyce and say, ‘Alan I would like an upgrade. My name is Anthony Albanese.’ That’s the one that doesn’t pass the pub test.
If every person who gets an upgrade is in trouble we will have a lot of people in trouble. I acknowledge 100% a lot of politicians get upgrades, me included. It’s whether you solicit it, especially if you ring up Alan Joyce.
That’s the issue. That’s an issue Mr Albanese has to explain.
Asked if Labor should be concerned that it is losing “touch with people in the outer suburbs or urban fringes”, Chalmers says the party needs to be “vigilant about it”.
You always need to be vigilant about it. I’ve certainly acknowledged it on other occasions. We understand that people are doing it tough and they expressed that at the ballot box, which is their right.
What we’ve tried to do is we’ve tried to take a series of well-informed economic decisions … for the right reasons. Because I believe if you do that … the politics will take care of themselves.
This is not the kind of government that chases the fortnightly ups and downs of opinion polls. We try to do the right thing at every turn, in three budgets, all of the updates and all of the decisions we’ve taken. The right thing is recognising people are doing it tough, doing what you can to help them, but recognising that you have to do that in the most responsible way that you can.
Chalmers on Queensland election: ‘We won’t be ignoring the lessons of Saturday’
Building on that, Chalmers says there were a couple of takeaways from the result in Queensland:
First of all, the outcome on Saturday night was decisive. But it wasn’t unexpected. And there are lessons for us, but there are also differences.
Theirs was a government, as Cameron Dick said on TV yesterday, that had been there for almost a decade. Ours is a government in its first term. So there are obvious differences. But I don’t want to pretend that there aren’t lessons for us as well. Of course there are. There are always lessons in elections like this one. There are always things that we can learn. There are always things that we can do better.
And we will go through the results with that in mind. We have always believed, and we have always acted in relation to this belief – governments are always best when they go in for the whole place. The regions, the suburbs, and the cities. When they govern for the whole place. And that’s what Anthony Albanese does as prime minister.
You mentioned the outer suburbs that I represent. You were there not that long ago. One of the heartening things – despite some big swings in areas like mine, I’ve got six state seats in my federal electorate – we’re looking like holding at least five, but probably six of those.
So what that tells us – we’ve got these wonderful state members in my part of Queensland – what that tells us [is] if you make the right decisions for the right reasons and you’re a good local representative, then you can hang on even when things are turning against the government. So, good local representation, good, responsible decisions.
Queenslanders are pragmatic and practical people. And the Albanese government is a pragmatic and practical government. But we will go through the lessons from Saturday night. We won’t telegraph those lessons to our opponents by running through them in detail for you at a press conference. But we won’t be ignoring the lessons of Saturday. We understand that people are doing it tough. We understand that people often express that at the ballot box, which is their right. And so we will go through the lessons of Saturday with that in mind.
Chalmers congratulates Crisafulli on Queensland election win
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is speaking to reporters, where he congratulated David Crisafulli and the Liberal National party for their victory in the Queensland election.
He said he intended to work with Crisafulli and the new Queensland government:
I offer them my warmest congratulations and we will work with the new LNP government in Queensland in the same constructive way that we worked with the former Labor government in Queensland. I’ve been able to relay my congratulations to incoming treasurer Janetzki already. We have agreed to catch up this week, most likely on Thursday, subject to the timing of the new government’s swearing-in. But we’ve had a very warm exchange, and I look forward to talking with him later in the week and working with him on behalf of the people of Queensland as well.
Chalmers went on to say that the result wouldn’t change how Labor will prepare for the next federal election.
I want to reassure people that we will continue to put responsible economic management as the defining feature of this Albanese Labor government. This election was never going to be, from our side, a free-for-all of public spending. It wasn’t going to be before Saturday’s outcome, and it’s not going to be after Saturday’s outcome.
Coalition didn’t ask Geoscience Australia about its nuclear sites, inquiry hears
Graham Readfearn
The Coalition has not approached Geoscience Australia to ask about the suitability of any of the seven sites where it wants to put nuclear reactors, including for risks from earthquakes, a parliamentary hearing has just heard.
The government’s parliamentary inquiry into nuclear energy has its second hearing today and officials from Geoscience Australia are giving evidence.
The officials confirmed the Coalition had not asked for its view on the suitability of any of the sites it is proposing, and said it would likely take two years to deliver a full assessment of the risks from a range of hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis and the condition of the earth underneath each site.
Ted O’Brien, the opposition’s energy spokesman, said this two-year timeframe was in line with the Coalition’s policy.
O’Brien revealed the Coalition had been taking advice from Prof Andrew Whittaker, a US-based expert on seismic events in relation to nuclear energy.
O’Brien said Whittaker has told him that recent earthquakes in the Hunter valley, near the Liddell power station – a site earmarked for a reactor by the Coalition – and these would be “entirely inconsequential” to the operation of a nuclear power plant.
But John Dawson, a branch head of community safety at Geoscience Australia, said any assessment of a site would require “detailed investigation” before “anyone can say definitively if these sites are suitable.”
Bandt on his Qantas chairman’s lounge membership: ‘We have always declared this and let people make their own judgments’
I wanted to just return to Bandt’s appearance on RN Breakfast earlier, where he was also questioned about his membership of the Qantas chairman’s lounge.
But Bandt said he had declared his membership:
We’ve been calling for at times, when Qantas has come with its cap in hand and said that they need assistance, we’ve said, well maybe we should have a look at government owning a stake in this essential service, in our transport yet again.
The Greens don’t take donations from big corporations.
Look, I’ll let people make their own decisions. We declare it since the beginning. We have always declared this and let people make their own judgments and then separately have a look at the policies that we’re advancing.
Watt asked about Australia’s decision to block Qatar from increasing flights
Watt continued discussing the prime minister’s relationship with Qantas on RN Breakfast earlier, where he said accusations of favouritism are “hypocritical”.
It all comes from a book by former Australian Financial Review columnist Joe Aston which goes into the recent tumultous years at Qantas.
Aston said the decision to block Qatar Airways from increasing flights to Australia was “impossible to justify” earlier on RN Breakfast, but Watt questioned why those same criticisms aren’t made of previous Coalition governments who made the same call.
Watt specifically pointed to former Coalition transport minister Michael McCormack, who he said made the same decision.
“McCormack has said that he made that decision to knock back Qatar based on the national interest at the time, and that was the basis for our decision as well.
“[Transport minister] Catherine King has approved, since the Qatar decision, extra flights for Turkish Airways, so it’s not as if we have some sort of blanket ban against airlines flying into Australia to protect Qantas.”
Watt said the decision was made “on its merits” like each application of its kind.