Missing workers cause serious delays at Australian airports
Elias Visontay
Two air traffic controllers who failed to report for duty at Sydney Airport on Monday caused cascading flight delays and cancellations across the country, as the government agency responsible for staff is grilled before senate estimates.
Opposition senator Bridget McKenzie opened questioning of Airservices Australia, the government agency responsible for air traffic control (ATC) and airport firefighting services, by raising current operational disruptions at Sydney. Airservices Australia faces a stubborn staffing shortage after a retirement program saw 140 controllers leave the workforce in 2021. There are also concerns of organisational bullying.
On Monday, Airservices requested a ground delay program from 3PM until the airport’s curfew at 11PM (done during times of staff shortages to avoid planes holding mid-air) restricting arrivals at Sydney airport to 26 per hour, down from the normal cap of 80 take offs and landings per hour (roughly split between 40 of each).
McKenzie says this has led to Qantas cancelling flights and an average delay of 72 minutes, while Virgin has already delayed 47 flights and had an average delay of 95 minutes. This affected airports around the country.
The disruptions had nothing to do with weather but were solely related to two air traffic controllers based at Sydney Airport’s control tower – who are entitled to unlimited sick leave under their terms of employment – who didn’t turn up for work on Monday. Airservices Australia CEO Jason Harfield says none of Airservices 950 controllers around the country could replace the absent staff.
McKenzie: “It’s pretty incredible that two people don’t show up for work and the entire country is shut down”.
Harfield replied:
I completely accept that, and this is one of the issues that we’re working through [when] we have an unplanned absence during the day”.
Key events
What we learned, Monday 12 February
We will wrap up the live blog here for the evening. Here’s what made the news today:
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Contractors suspected of drug smuggling and weapons trafficking were handed multimillion dollar contracts due to a lack of due diligence in the administration of Australia’s offshore detention regime, the scathing Richardson report on home affairs procurement for offshore detention has found.
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The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has expressed deep concerns about plans for an Israeli military operation in Rafah, warning of potentially “devastating consequences” for civilians sheltering there.
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Two air traffic controllers who failed to report for duty at Sydney Airport on Monday caused cascading flight delays and cancellations across the country.
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Twenty-four individuals have been charged with fresh offences after leaving immigration detention due to NZYQ decision, Senate estimates was told.
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Former defence minister, Senator Linda Reynolds, has announced she will leave parliament when her term expires in mid-2025.
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Barnaby Joyce has blamed mixing prescription drugs with alcohol for video that emerged of him lying on the street in Canberra over the weekend.
Senate estimates continues into tonight and tomorrow, and the final episode of the ABC’s Nemesis documentary airs tonight at 8pm AEDT, so there will no doubt be much more news tomorrow. Until then, have a good evening.
Business group comes out against ‘right to disconnect’ laws
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has lamented the ‘right to disconnect’ rules as part of workplace legislation passed through parliament without being amended to remove the prospect of employers facing criminal charges.
ACCI chief executive Andrew McKellar said:
Rather than waiting for another Senate sitting day, the government decided to push the bill through today without removing the criminal element to the new right to disconnect laws.
This Greens-inspired amendment was rushed through the parliament with unseemly haste, without the scrutiny the rest of the bill has undergone over months.
While the error in the bill was apparently inadvertent, the result is a complete mess which adds to the grave misgivings business has about this legislation.
It is unfathomable that this botched legislation will become the law of the land once given royal assent.
Man summoned over allegedly providing false information to the AEC
The Australian federal police has issued a court summons to a 41-year-old Queensland man for allegedly providing false information to the Australian Electoral Commission during the 2022 federal election.
The man allegedly provided false or misleading information to the AEC about his residential address, the AFP said. He will appear on four counts of knowingly providing false or misleading information, contrary to section 137.1(1) of the Criminal Code 1995.
The maximum penalty for the offence is 12 months’ imprisonment.
Security concerns raised over home energy infrastructure
Cybersecurity standards for solar inverters, batteries and electric vehicle chargers are being developed by the Australian government amid concerns some equipment could leave the nation exposed to foreign interference, AAP reports.
The issue emerged in two Senate estimates hearings on Monday, as home affairs and energy department officials were quizzed over the government’s use of the technology, particularly equipment from Chinese manufacturers.
Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes questioned representatives from the energy department about whether action had been taken to secure existing solar inverters used in government properties.
“The concern is that there is the possibility for international interference in these inverters because they can be controlled from the outside,” she told the committee.
But federal energy department spokesperson Martin Squire told the committee the government had established a dedicated division to look at “security issues associated with distributed energy resources” including rooftop solar technology, EV chargers, and large batteries, and would develop a set of safety standards to regulate their use.
Liberal senator James Paterson also questioned home affairs officials over the potential risks of solar inverters from Chinese manufacturers, including GoodWe, Sungrow, Growatt and Huawei, and their use in government properties.
But home affairs first assistant secretary Peter Anstee said the government would investigate risks posed by a wide range of connected equipment with a view to provide guidelines for government departments, and later a framework for businesses using connected technology.
“We’re looking to build both internal to government … but also a whole-of-economy framework that will capture the whole suite of technology risks that may present,” he said.
I am going to hand over the blog to Josh Taylor to take you through what is left in the day.
We will be back with more Politics Live tomorrow, with the party room meetings to kick us all off.
Until then, please – take care of you.
Paul Karp
Anthony Albanese has told 2GB he “absolutely” supports criminalising antisemitic behaviour
On the doxing of Jewish Australians Albanese said:
I’ve asked the attorney general to bring forward legislation in response to Privacy Act review, including laws that deal with so-called doxing, which is basically the malicious publication of private information online. And let’s be very clear, these are 600 people in the creative industries … who had a WhatsApp group, not heavily political, to provide support for each other because of the antisemitism we’ve seen.
And what we’ve seen is these people be targeted. Now these people have a range of views about the Middle East. What they have in common is they are members of the Jewish community.
The idea that in Australia someone should be targeted because of their religion, because of their faith, whether they be Jewish, or Muslim, or Hindu or Catholic – it’s just completely unacceptable.
And that’s why I’ve asked as well the attorney general to develop proposals to strengthen laws against hate speech. This is not the Australia we want to see.”
Linda Reynolds to leave parliament at next election
The WA senator has announced she will retire at the next election.
She posted a statement to Facebook:
With nominations for WA Liberal Party Senate preselection closing later this week, I have advised the WA Liberal Party that I will not be nominating as a candidate for another term as a Liberal Senator for Western Australia.
I will remain in the Senate until my term ends in June 2025.
For forty years I have proudly served my nation in the Army, in the Liberal Party, in defence industry, in Parliament and in Government. In my career after the Senate, I will continue to serve, but in new ways.
It is rare in politics to have the opportunity to choose the time and circumstances of your departure, and my decision has been made after considerable reflection of what is behind me and the opportunities that are now ahead of me.
Being preselected and elected to the Senate is a great honour and a privilege few Australians are afforded. This is my tenth year in the Senate and my passion and commitment to my State and to my Nation remains as strong as ever.
I am proud of what I have delivered in my many parliamentary and ministerial roles, including as Defence Minister and Minister for Government Services and the NDIS – particularly as it was during some of the most challenging times in our Nation’s recent history.
Just as the health of our democracy can never be taken for granted, neither can the health of political parties – both must be constantly renewed and strengthened. I joined the Liberal Party over 35 years ago and my respect for, and belief in, the principles and values it was established on have only deepened over time.
I owe the Liberal Party so much, none more so than for being appointed as Deputy Federal Director and preselected as a Senate candidate three times, including in the first position for my last election. I am very grateful for the lifelong friendships I have made in the Party and for the overwhelming support I continue to receive from WA Liberal Party members and volunteers who have helped me over the last decade.
I will of course keep working with my Party to assist it to diversify and strengthen and do all I can to support the election of Peter Dutton as our next Prime Minister and Libby Mettam as WA’s next Premier.
Having achieved more than I set out to when I entered the Senate, there is no perfect time to leave politics, but this is the right time for me and for the WA Liberal Party to provide my successor with the same opportunities it has given me.
The government has pretty much said, no, we will not be negotiating on negative gearing or capital gains, to the Greens when it comes to the shared equity scheme the government wants past, but as Max Chandler-Mather said, the government ruled out negotiations the last time there was this impasse between the two parties on housing, and there was some shifting.
He tells the ABC:
We are willing to negotiate but we have said to the Government that the scheme will only help a 0.2% of renters own a home and make housing more expensive for the other 99.8%.
We have said we would like to negotiate with the Government on three key areas. The first is phasing out the massive tax handouts for big property investors that make it harder for renters and first-time buyers to buy homes and negative gearing and the capital gains cash transgression.
We want limiting effects on rent increases. Taken together, they would actually be a proper response to the scale of the housing crisis stop where you have first home buyers and renters giving up on ever being able to buy a home because the Government is giving property investors billions of dollars in tax concessions.
Let’s talk about the negative gearing element. Is it to phase it out that 20 or to limit the number of properties that an investor owner might deduct? We are willing to negotiate on both. The 2022 election policy was to freeze at negative gearing for everyone bar one property, so they could keep one-fifth years and also scrap the 50% capital gains tax discount which means that when someone sells an investment property and makes a big profit, 50% of that profit is tax-free.
This will affect the budget by billions of dollars, but by auctions, property investments can use those tax benefits to essentially outbid first home buyers at auctions and I know there is a lot of renters but parents worried about how is my kid won’t buy a home when they are being outcompeted by property investors?
The former Asio boss, Dennis Richardson is speaking with the ABC about his review into the home affairs procurement procedures and says there needs to be some pretty big changes.
For a catch up, head here:
I should say in respect of the intelligence community there are rightly very strict boundaries around the intelligence community in terms of what they can and can’t do regarding Australian entities. That is a good thing but when it’s offshore and you are in a high risk integrity environment, it is reasonable to ask them whether they have any information relevant to a decision about to be made.
Question time captured
It was a pretty flat affair in the lower house today, as Mike Bowers has recorded:
But some managed to smile:
Digital stat decs are now a thing
You can now make a digital stat dec through MyGov. From the release:
Australians can now complete a Commonwealth statutory declaration in three equally valid and legally effective forms:
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through the myGov platform and myGov ID Digital ID
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digitally using electronic signatures and video-link witnessing
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and the traditional, paper-based method
Missing workers cause serious delays at Australian airports
Elias Visontay
Two air traffic controllers who failed to report for duty at Sydney Airport on Monday caused cascading flight delays and cancellations across the country, as the government agency responsible for staff is grilled before senate estimates.
Opposition senator Bridget McKenzie opened questioning of Airservices Australia, the government agency responsible for air traffic control (ATC) and airport firefighting services, by raising current operational disruptions at Sydney. Airservices Australia faces a stubborn staffing shortage after a retirement program saw 140 controllers leave the workforce in 2021. There are also concerns of organisational bullying.
On Monday, Airservices requested a ground delay program from 3PM until the airport’s curfew at 11PM (done during times of staff shortages to avoid planes holding mid-air) restricting arrivals at Sydney airport to 26 per hour, down from the normal cap of 80 take offs and landings per hour (roughly split between 40 of each).
McKenzie says this has led to Qantas cancelling flights and an average delay of 72 minutes, while Virgin has already delayed 47 flights and had an average delay of 95 minutes. This affected airports around the country.
The disruptions had nothing to do with weather but were solely related to two air traffic controllers based at Sydney Airport’s control tower – who are entitled to unlimited sick leave under their terms of employment – who didn’t turn up for work on Monday. Airservices Australia CEO Jason Harfield says none of Airservices 950 controllers around the country could replace the absent staff.
McKenzie: “It’s pretty incredible that two people don’t show up for work and the entire country is shut down”.
Harfield replied:
I completely accept that, and this is one of the issues that we’re working through [when] we have an unplanned absence during the day”.
Daniel Hurst
Australia must continue to engage with Asia, Albanese says
After question time, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, spoke about the looming visit of south-east Asian leaders to Australia.
It was already known that Melbourne would host an Asean-Australia special summit from 4 to 6 March, but Albanese has just announced a series of events around the summit, including an address from the president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, to the federal parliament in Canberra on 29 February.
Albanese says Marcos is “a great friend of Australia”.
In addition to that, on 4 March in Melbourne we will host the Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, for an official state visit, and on 7 March the prime minister of Vietnam, Pham Minh Chinh, for an official visit here in Canberra.
Albanese says relationships with Australia’s neighbours are “so important” because “we live in very uncertain times, we live in an era of strategic competition”.
He says more than one in four jobs in Australia is dependent on exports:
It is important that we engage in our region with Asean. This is in our domestic interests, not just our international interests.
Question time ends.
Andrew Giles finishes with:
I was going to the operational matters, that I was just about to touch on, which I believe I have already referred to in terms of the conduct of operations, which goes through the manner in which that aspect of community protection is looked after through the work of the AFP and ABF.
Dan Tehan is back again
Has the minister received any advice that any of the 36 hard-core criminals released from detention [who are] not wearing ankle bracelets have been charged with any offence?
(If Tehan has spent the last hour asking about the nature of their offences, how can he say they are ‘hard core’ criminals? )
Andrew Giles:
I say the release of these individuals was required by reason of the High Court. A decision that would be a decision any government would have to comply with. I say again that the management of everyone in that cohort has been subject to the expert advice of the men and women of the community protection board As I’ve already answered, the operational matters to which the members question goes to …
Tehan interrupts:
I wasn’t asking the minister about operational matters, I was asking whether any of them have been charged with any offence and the public wants to know the answers to these questions.
Milton Dick says it is not a time to add words to his question, but tells Giles to stick to relevance.
Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
