Australia politics live: Greens at odds about Ukraine weapons; Robert Pether speaks after Iraq prison release | Australia news

‘Jump on the phone’: Hanson-Young urges PM to call Trump over execution

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the prime minister needs to call president Trump to express Australia’s dismay over the planned livestreamed execution by firing squad.

She says the government should also “jump on the phone” with the big tech companies to stop them allowing the stream on their platforms.

The eSafety commissioner revealed overnight she did not have the powers to proactively prevent the stream from being shown or accessed in Australia.

She adds, if the laws need to be fixed to prevent the live stream – or any future live stream – that should be done.

The Australian government needs to pick up the phone to the United States president and to the US administration. I mean, this is barbaric … the idea that a state-sanctioned killing would be televised, would be livestreamed as content, almost for entertainment value, as a government PR episode. I mean, it is revolting, it is barbaric, and it must be called out.

And Australians should be protected from it. If the law needs to be fixed, the government should get on and fix it.

Robert Pether has stressed his innocence and recalled his brush with death in his first comments since the Australian engineer departed Iraq after serving more than five years in jail.

Pether and his Egyptian colleague Khalid Radwan were detained in Baghdad in 2021 after flying in for a meeting with bank officials to resolve a dispute with his engineering firm, CME Consulting.

Pether was later sentenced and fined over allegations that his firm spent money that should have gone to an architect and a subcontractor.

Speaking at Dublin airport, Pether said the convictions had not been overturned and neither him nor Radwan had been exonerated.

We were innocent when we were taken on the 7th of April 2021, and we remain innocent today.

I was released from prison hours away from death. My body was shutting down after months of critical illness and excruciating pain, but I remained trapped in Iraq.

An emotional Pether also paid tribute to his family, who had spent years campaigning for his freedom – including his wife, Desiree.

She is an incredible person, someone that I have so much respect for, and being able to come home was incredible. Just the emotion that it brings is, you can’t describe it. I mean, it’s been years.

Pether was released from jail last year due to his deteriorating health, but was banned from leaving the country until last week, when an Iraqi court dismissed proceedings against him and lifted the travel ban, citing a lack of evidence.

He was allowed to board a flight on Monday to Ireland, via Turkey, after painstaking negotiations involving officials in Ireland, Australia, Egypt and Iraq – an international pro bono team at Slaney Advisors.

Josh Frydenberg says he hasn’t decided whether he will run again for the seat of Kooyong in inner Melbourne which he held for more than a decade and lost in 2022.

But his language suggests that maybe he’d like to.

Speaking to RN Breakfast, he says Kooyong is still dear to his heart, and that he has maintained close relationships to the voters in his community.

We’re mid-term, the next election’s some 18 months away, but I’ll make a decision about my future … I won four elections there and have maintained a very close relationship with many of the local community. So it’s a place near and dear to my heart. It’s a place where my kids are educated. It’s a place where we live today. And it’s no surprise to you or to your listeners, I don’t think it’s as well represented as it needs to be.

Frydenberg says it’s seats like his – metropolitan electorates – that the party needs to win back.

He warns the demographics in those areas have changed, and the Liberal party needs to appeal to those newer cohorts.

It’s more urbanised, it’s younger, it’s more highly educated. And we as a party hold very few of the metropolitan seats which dominate the political landscape in Australia, and that’s what we need to win back as part of a broader strategy to get back to government.

‘Everyone loves Josh’: Canavan

It’s the “festival of Josh”, as one news presenter described it – Josh Frydenberg’s more than week-long media blitz to promote his new memoir, but is it a distraction?

“No,” says Nationals leader Matt Canavan, promising that he values the former Liberal treasurer’s contributions to the public debate – including calling for GST to be raised.

Frydenberg has left the door open to a political return, and told 60 Minutes on Sunday he wouldn’t yet close the door on his ambition to one day lead the nation.

But one unnamed Liberal told Nine Newspapers that Frydenberg needed to “piss or get off the pot”. Asked about the remarks, Canavan laughed drily and told News24:

No, everyone loves Josh. Look, he’s a great guy, Josh, and I welcome contributions to the policy debate … So look, it’s I don’t find it a distraction at all. I think it’s a contribution.

The eSafety commission says it “does not have powers to proactively prevent” the livestreaming of a US military execution, but says it will monitor and enforce existing standards that could obligate online platforms to block it themselves.

The government yesterday said the looming execution of Nidal Hasan should not be shown to Australians, noting that platforms had a “responsibility” not to show it.

In a statement overnight, an eSafety commission spokesperson said it would monitor the situation.

While eSafety does not have powers to proactively prevent a livestream from occurring online, online services have responsibilities under Australia’s online safety regulatory framework to protect users from harmful material.

As the regulator responsible for enforcing these obligations eSafety is in regular contact with online platforms and will continue to monitor the situation, considering any action as appropriate.

Livestreamed firing squad execution ‘absolutely disgusting’, says Watt

Labor cabinet minister Murray Watt says a planned livestreamed execution in the US would be extremely distressing for the public, but won’t commit to legislative change to prevent Australians being able to watch it.

The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman-Grant has said she does not have powers to “proactively prevent” the stream on 3 December.

Watt tells ABC News Breakfast the government is trying to take “as much action as we can” to deal with rapidly evolving technology – like the digital duty of care bill which would force tech platforms to protect users against harmful content.

I just find the idea of a public streaming of a firing squad execution absolutely disgusting. When I first heard that was being proposed, I couldn’t believe that it was real. I think all Australians would agree that this is a very distressing thing to have publicised …

We’ve seen now that the eSafety commissioner has said they don’t have those powers. I wouldn’t want to commit to any legislative change at this point in time, but what I do think it shows is this rapidly evolving situation that we’ve got with technology, which is why our government is trying to take as much action as we can, as quickly as we can.”

Greens say big tech has been ‘laughing all the way to the bank’ and ‘we need proper regulations’

Sarah Hanson-Young is leading the Greens’ negotiations with the government over legislation designed to hold tech companies responsible for preventing harm to Australians, in particular children. The legislation is expected to be tabled in parliament this week.

Hanson-Young, the Greens’ manager of business in the Senate, said the party would wait to see the details of the legislation before deciding whether to support it. But the senator said the Greens supported the imperative, telling the ABC’s 7:30 program that big tech companies had been “running amok for far too long and we want laws that will actually hold them to account”.

Hanson-Young added:

Putting in place a duty of care on these big tech platforms is something that’s well and truly overdue.

And these big tech companies, social media platforms have been getting away with profiting off content that has been harmful, of technologies that have been designed to be deliberately addictive, even though they know the harm that that can do.

And they’ve just been laughing all the way to the bank. We need proper regulations on these tech companies.

Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.

The government is touting pay rises for health, disability and community service workers, while former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg is continuing his media blitz today to promote his new memoir and keep everyone asking “will he or won’t he” return to parliament.

I’ve got my coffee, I hope you’ve got yours – let’s get cracking!

Australia sending tanks, weapons, infantry and ammunition to Ukraine has put Greens politicians at odds.

Sarah Hanson-Young on Monday said she supported giving Kyiv military aid if that’s what was needed, contradicting her party’s freshly minted leader David Shoebridge during his first sitting week in the top job, who has said Greens policy is not to provide military support – only humanitarian.

“If that’s the support that people need in order to defend themselves from the invasion of Russia, I think Australians need to support that,” Hanson-Young told ABC’s 7.30.

We always come from a position of wanting to de-escalate military violence … we want to see humanitarian support, we want to see diplomatic support, but of course you can’t allow people to be left fending for themselves.

Charities and not-for-profit organisations will receive a $630m funding boost from the federal government after the Fair Work Commission awarded pay rises for health, disability and community services workers.

The government said the funding would go to 128,000 charities and not-for-profit organisations across 92 government programs to cover the wage rises that seek to address historic undervaluing in female-dominated sectors.

The finance minister and minister for women, Katy Gallagher, said:

We cannot close the gender pay gap without … addressing the historic undervaluation of work performed predominantly by women.

Australia’s gender pay gap is at a record low, and this is another significant step towards ensuring women are properly recognised and rewarded for their contribution.

This move is also a clear signal to the community that this workforce and the support they provide our community is important and valued.

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.