As it happened: PM announces new antisemitism envoy; Australia blames China for backing cyberattacks

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones says it is worthwhile to spend public funds to support banking in the Pacific Islands, arguing it furthers Australia’s foreign policy goals while helping the country’s neighbours.

Earlier today, this blog reported Treasurer Jim Chalmers unveiled $6.3 million in federal funding to boost Pacific banking services at a conference in Brisbane.

Speaking on ABC Afternoon Briefing moments ago, Jones said he wasn’t “going to deny the obvious” and acknowledged increasing Chinese influence in the Pacific had factored into the federal government’s investment in the region’s banking.

But, he added the banking spend would help all the other government initiatives, such as the Pacific Labour Mobility Scheme.

“All of those other things we want to do don’t work unless you have a functioning banking system,” Jones said.

“People can’t remit their wages back home. We don’t have corresponding banks we can contribute to overseas aid. We don’t have the capacity to attract private investment in these areas. None of it works unless you’ve got a banking system which is why it’s in all of our interests to ensure we keep our Australian banks operating here.”

Jones said the spread of small populations across the vast Pacific meant the economies of scale to support a financial sector like Australia’s “weren’t quite there”. He said if banking in the region wasn’t up to standard, it could present “a weak link in the chain when it comes to anti-money laundering and [combating] terrorist financing”.

“If they don’t have a banking system, they don’t have a modern economy,” he said.

Nine Japanese nationals have had their Australian tourism visas cancelled after Australian Border Force officers seized almost $500,000 worth of undeclared cigarettes over the weekend.

The ABF says 330,000 cigarettes were seized in a two-day sting that began when six Japanese tourists stopped were nabbed in Sydney’s arrivals terminal on Friday with 225,700 cigarettes in their bags.

“The seizure represents $305,175 in evaded duty. One passenger alone was found to have 43,500 undeclared cigarettes in his baggage,” ABF said in a statement.

On Saturday, three more men were stopped at Sydney Airport as they arrived from Tokyo. ABF officers confiscated 104,545 undeclared cigarettes worth $133,625 in unpaid duty.

“When your baggage contains so many packets of cigarettes there’s barely enough room for anything else it does become a red flag for us,” ABF Inspector Clint Unwin said.

“Not only have they lost their haul of cigarettes and wasted an airfare, but by having their visas cancelled they now face an exclusion period of up to three years from re-entering Australia.”

Photographs show hundreds of packets of Mevius cigarettes stacked up next to two suitcases in the airport terminal.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has released a statement stressing his government’s goal to end family violence in Australia after several high-profile deaths in recent days.

In a statement posted on social media this afternoon, Albanese said, “so much work is being done to rid Australia of family and domestic violence.”

“Yet as the tragic events of recent days have reminded us, we have a long way to go,” he wrote.

“Again, we have seen lives stolen, futures torn away. Every death is its own universe of devastation. Communities are hurt, and the families and loved one left behind carry the sorrow with them for the rest of their days.

“As hard and heartbreaking as this news is, we cannot turn away from it. Our nation, our society, all of us owe those we have lost more than that.

“My government is determined to end this violence. Together, we can make this change. We must.”

Earlier today, a man was charged over the stabbing death of a young Sydney woman in what police allege was a domestic violence attack on Monday.

On the weekend, NSW Police believe a father set fire to his Sydney home with his family inside – dragging his own children back into the inferno while fighting off neighbours and rescuers – in a horrific “domestic homicide” that claimed three young lives.

South Australia’s corruption watchdog has quit amid her ongoing concerns over what she claims are weaker provisions to tackle misconduct.

Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Ann Vanstone, KC, says her decision to resign three years before her term expires was prompted mostly by professional reasons.

“The 2021 amendments to the legislation governing public integrity in SA damaged the scheme, under the guise of making it more ‘effective and efficient’,” she said on Tuesday.

The former Supreme Court judge said the public interest had not been served by narrowing the definition of corruption and isolating the commission from intelligence sources, or by “divorcing us from the prosecution process”.

“Absurdly, we are not even allowed to speak to the prosecutor, meaning they are denied access to the expertise and knowledge of commission investigators who best know the matter,” she said.

“Gagging” the commission on issues of integrity in public administration and passing the legal fees of those investigated by the watchdog and convicted of corruption offences onto taxpayers also did not serve the public’s best interests, Vanstone said.

“On multiple occasions, I have pointed out the significant problems within the scheme to this government and the last, and to the parliamentary committee that oversees us,” she said.

“It is not that the legislation is wholly unworkable, but it does need to be as robust and effective as possible.”

AAP

Australia should use frozen Russian assets to rebuild a critical hospital hit in a barrage of missiles, Ukraine’s ambassador says as the federal government condemns the attack.

Vasyl Myroshnychenko branded the incident as horrible and “one of the worst attacks ever”.

A day of mourning has been declared after at least 36 civilians were killed in the deadliest wave of strikes against Ukraine in months.

“That was a very important children’s hospital, it was specifically dealing with some very complicated cases,” the ambassador told AAP.

“The brand-new building which was recently completed which included the cancer ward and toxicology ward ... when you can think Russia cannot go lower, they are always finding a way.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attack, describing it as abhorrent.

“It is time, well past time for Vladimir Putin to end this conflict,” he told reporters in Sydney. “Russia’s actions continue to shock the world. At the NATO summit ... no doubt this will be a topic as well.”

He later told reporters in Canberra he would also welcome Australia joining a security guarantee signed with G7 nations and hoped for a new military aid package when NATO members meet in Washington.

Defence Minister Richard Marles is representing Australia at the summit and will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In April, this masthead reported a group of prominent Australians – including former prime ministers, business, union and military leaders and former diplomats – had written to Treasurer Jim Chalmers urging him to consider several options to divert billions in “dirty money” held in Australia since it sanctioned Russian oligarchs and others deemed to have aided and abetted the invasion and the occupation of Ukraine.

The US and Britain have been pushing G7 allies to seize the central bank assets outright, but some European leaders are opposed to the move over legal concerns and worries that it could set a dangerous precedent.

Any Australian move to seize Russian assets to aid Ukraine would require law reform. Currently, there is no domestic mechanism for seizing frozen assets.

AAP, with Lachlan Abbott

The Australian sharemarket has lifted on Tuesday, contrasting with a subdued day of trading on Wall Street that ended with a mixed finish for the major stock indexes and more market milestones.

The S&P/ASX 200 had risen 64.9 points or 0.7 per cent to 7827.8 at 2.17pm AEST, with every sector trading in the green and communication services stocks performing strongly (up 1.5 per cent).

Metals and electronics recycling business Sims is at the top of the index with gains of 3.4 per cent, followed by Domino’s (up 3 per cent) Judo Capital (up 2.9 per cent) and Liontown Resources (up 2.8 per cent).

Telstra was 2.6 per cent higher after announcing a hike in its mobile phone plan prices.

Keep updated with the latest market movements with our market wrap here.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says the Coalition is still yet to respond adequately to the Labor government’s proposed religious discrimination laws, maintaining the opposition has “refused to engage” and is thus delaying reform.

Speaking at the National Press Club this afternoon, Dreyfus was asked if the federal government would try to find a path forward itself amid the stalemate, which took hold in March when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sparked a political firestorm over gay rights, gender and religious freedom by shelving law changes unless they were bipartisan.

This afternoon, Dreyfus maintained the onus was on the Coalition and said in March he gave the bills that Labor hopes to bring to parliament to the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash.

“We are still awaiting a response from the opposition. I don’t count the public statements that Senator Cash has made as a response because she has actually refused to engage,” he said.

“We are waiting for line-by-line type of engagement. That is what normally should occur. That is the response that we gave to the former Morrison government when we were in opposition when they brought a bill to the parliament. I am waiting for that kind of engagement.

“It hasn’t happened yet, and the reason I’m wanting to make sure there is bipartisan approval of what we bring to the parliament is that we don’t want a religious discrimination act in Australia that is subject to change on a change of government.”

Dreyfus also said the government’s determination to generate bipartisan support – rather than just passing legislation with their majority in the House and crossbench support in the Senate – was to ensure the laws were an “enduring reform”.

Cash has previously argued the Coalition has responded, deeming the draft legislation “inadequate” while citing feedback from faith groups.

Dreyfus was then asked: If he didn’t get the “line-by-line” feedback he wanted, would Labor take a promise to pass new laws to the next election?

“We think this is worth doing,” Dreyfus said. “This is an unfinished project.”