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Stoker: I ‘got on with the job’ after incident
By Angus Thompson
Stoker said she “got on with the job” and had even interviewed Van on Sky News, “including relatively recently”.
“He didn’t repeat the behaviour toward me,” Stoker said. “I’m a professional and I don’t hold a grudge, I never sought out attention over this matter.”
However she said that on Thursday many journalists approached her.
Amanda Stoker speaking on Sky News on Friday evening.Credit: Sky News
“And though I would have preferred for the matter to remain private and in the past, I felt it important to ensure that if it was going to be reported, it was done so accurately,” she said.
On Thursday night Stoker released a statement saying Van “inappropriately touched me at an informal social gathering in a parliamentary office” in November 2020.
“He did so by squeezing my bottom twice. By its nature and by its repetition, it was not accidental. That action was not appropriate. It was unprofessional and uninvited,” she said in the statement.
Van replied to a series of questions about alleged incidents of inappropriate behaviour with a short statement saying they were not true.
“I can confirm I had a very friendly and open discussion with a colleague sometime about this and made it clear that I had no recollection of any such event and can confirm it is not something I would ever do,” he said.
Stoker says speaking up was the right thing to do
By Angus Thompson
Former Liberal senator Amanda Stoker says senator David Van’s denial of inappropriate behaviour towards her affirmed that “speaking up was the right thing to do”.
In a statement made on Sky News just after 6pm, Stoker said she “buried the hatchet” following the alleged incident with Van in 2020 after he assured her he wouldn’t behave inappropriately towards her in the future.
“I pulled him up on it immediately. I laid down the law, and I made it very clear that a repeat [incident] would not be tolerated by me or anyone else. I didn’t run to the media, and I didn’t try to destroy a colleague,” Stoker, who is filling in for host Peta Credlin on the network, said.
“I immediately registered the issue with a senior colleague to ensure record of the event, and to ensure that any conduct that wasn’t in my line of sight, couldn’t be detected and dealt with should patterns emerge.”
Van has denied any wrongdoing.
She said that Van’s denial of inappropriate behaviour towards her “tells me something”.
“It tells me that speaking up was the right thing to do. After all, the standard we walk past is the standard we accept,” she said.
Treasury launches JobKeeper review
By Shane Wright
The single largest federal government stimulus program used to support the economy through the COVID pandemic, the $90 billion JobKeeper program, will be subject to an independent review to determine if it delivered value for money to the nation’s taxpayers.
The Federal Treasury tonight revealed it had set up the review that would also examine whether the program should be used to deal with future economic downturns and if it could be designed better.
JobKeeper was a wage subsidy program announced by the Morrison government in March 2020 just as the economy was effectively shut down to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Initially forecast to cost $130 billion, JobKeeper was aimed at supporting employees who worked for businesses that expected to suffer a decline of at least 30 per cent in their revenue for at least six months.
Businesses received $1500 a fortnight for each eligible worker. This was reduced to $1200 for full-time workers from September 2020 and to $1000 between January and March in 2021.
Then treasurer Josh Frydenberg launched the JobKeeper program in 2020.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Treasury’s early examination of the program found the scheme, one of the largest interventions by a government in the labour market, had supported businesses and workers through the depths of COVID.
But there was criticism of the scheme, particularly from current Treasury Minister Andrew Leigh, about how money flowed to businesses that boosted their profits through the pandemic and did not need to pay back the taxpayers’ cash they received.
There has been further criticism that the sheer scale of JobKeeper has contributed to the economy’s inflation pressures that have forced the Reserve Bank to lift official interest rates to an 11-year high of 4.1 per cent.
The review, to be headed by former deputy Treasury secretary Nigel Ray, will examine the impact of JobKeeper on workers, businesses that received the payment, the job market and the broader economy.
“The JobKeeper Evaluation will consider the objectives and design and effectiveness of JobKeeper. It will also record lessons learned from the design and implementation of JobKeeper, with a view to informing future policy responses,” the department said.
Treasury has estimated that without intervention at the time, unemployment could have reached 15 per cent and remain elevated for a long period of time.
The review will look at the program’s impact on the distribution of income, whether there should have been a provision to clawback cash from firms that ultimately profited during the pandemic, and also if there were “unanticipated costs and effects associated with the design and implementation of JobKeeper”.
Public submissions to the review close on July 14.
Australian shares rally for best gains in nine weeks
The local share market’s winning streak has continued for a fifth straight day and this time, its gains were the most in over two months.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed near the high of the day today, up 75.9 points, or 1.06 per cent, to a 3½ week high of 7251.2.
The broader All Ordinaries gained 81.2 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 7451.2.
The market rose 1.8 per cent over the holiday-shortened week, snapping its three-week losing streak.
In currency, the Australian dollar was at its highest level against the greenback since late February.
The Aussie was buying 68.96 US cents, from 68.15 US cents yesterday.
AAP
Government letter: Ukraine’s vehicle request ‘unsupportable at this time’
By Matthew Knott
The Albanese government says it is unable to send Hawkei protected mobility vehicles to Ukraine in the near future despite increasingly desperate pleas from Kyiv, citing braking issues and a lack of spare parts.
Ukraine has been requesting a fleet of Australian-made Hawkeis since September and the country’s Ministry of Defence has taken to social media in recent months to declare the vehicle its new “military crush”.
The Hawkei protected mobility vehicles have been designed and manufactured at Thales’ Bendigo site.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to announce a new package of support for Ukraine during or just before his visit to the NATO summit in Lithuania in July, but Ukraine’s top request for assistance looks unlikely to feature in the announcement.
Victorian Libs to have urgent meeting about David Van
By James Massola
The Victorian Liberal Party has released a short statement about senator David Van, a day after party leader Peter Dutton sent him to the crossbench.
A spokesman said the Liberal Party “has taken action to suspend all organisational resources and support from Senator Van”.
“There will be an urgent meeting this weekend of the party’s Victorian administrative committee to further consider the allegations raised.”
Dutton has already called for Van to “resign from the parliament sooner [rather] than later and seek the help that he needs”.
But it is the Victorian division, rather than the federal leader, that has the power to decide whether Van should be forced to quit the Liberal Party.
Victorian party president Greg Mirabella met with federal MPs from the state earlier today, ahead of a federal Liberal council meeting in Canberra, which was already scheduled for this weekend.
Are the Yes campaign’s struggles ‘inevitable’?
By Anthony Segaert
Good afternoon, Anthony Segaert with you for the rest of the day. It’s been slightly quieter than yesterday’s chaotic few hours in Canberra, but the fallout today is continuing.
But as debate continues on another big topic – the Voice – reporter Paul Sakkal writes that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under pressure to take greater control of the push for a Voice as the No camp gains traction:
The analysis of Yes23’s strategists is that a messy, defensive phase was inevitable in the middle of this year. After a simple value proposition – to do the right thing for Indigenous Australians and heed their call – was put forward at the start of the campaign, Yes campaigners expected a period of needling would cause some drop-off in support.
In the period leading up to polling day (the likeliest date for the referendum is October 14), proponents are banking on voters – many of whom are disengaged and will still be forming their opinions – returning to a simple value judgment on whether they think voting Yes is the right thing to do. In the same way as voters at the last election backed Albanese ahead of the disliked Scott Morrison despite an at-times poor Labor campaign, Yes figures believe they are putting a question that has the majority support of a younger, more progressive nation.”
Read his full inside story on the Yes campaign’s divisions here.
Gallagher: ‘I believe Ms Higgins’
By Angus Thompson
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has declared she believes Brittany Higgins while facing another day of opposition questions over her handling of the former Liberal staffer’s rape allegation.
On a fifth day of Coalition scrutiny, Liberal senator Marise Payne put a number of questions to Gallagher, including whether she received an advanced copy of Higgins’ February 2021 The Project interview before it went to air, and whether she provided any feedback to the information provided to her before Higgins’ claim went public.
Gallagher said she was asked to keep information provided to her confidential, “and I do that not just in this situation, but I have in hundreds of situations before that, and I have no doubt I’ll be doing that again for the ones who are going to come forward who I don’t know about yet”.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher during question time at Parliament House today.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Gallagher denied she was hiding behind the excuse of confidentiality.
“I believe Ms Higgins,” Gallagher said. “Whatever happened, it has been distressing for a lot of people in this building, as has this week.”
Higgins’ former colleague, one-time Coalition policy adviser Bruce Lehrmann, pleaded not guilty to raping her in March 2019. His trial was aborted in October due to juror misconduct and a retrial was scrapped due to Higgins’ mental health. Lehrmann maintains his innocence.
Thorpe says she is touched by messages of support
By Angus Thompson
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has told parliament she has been touched by all the messages of support she has received in the past two days since raising an allegation against Liberal senator David Van.
Van, who has been moved to the crossbench by Liberal leader Peter Dutton, denies allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.
Senator Lidia Thorpe speaking before question time.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Thorpe thanked “all those who continue to stand up and refuse to stay silent about ongoing violence and harassment inflicted on the bodies of our women and girls, sister girls and brother boys, and other gender-diverse folks”.
“When we speak about violence, we get asked: why didn’t you take it to the police? We know the police are not the experts … the experts are our friends, matriarchs and our sisters who answer our calls in the middle of the night when they are feeling unsafe, and look after us.”
Dutton says Thorpe has ‘lots of issues’ and should seek support
By Caroline Schelle
Circling back to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who says senator Lidia Thorpe has “lots of issues” and needs to seek support.
The Liberal leader made the comments on Melbourne radio station 3AW this morning.
“Senator Thorpe – and it’s been well documented in the papers, her conduct inside and outside of the chamber – does need to seek support … with all due respect to her,” Dutton told the program this morning.
“I think Senator Thorpe has lots of issues.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says Lidia Thorpe needs to seek support for her mental health. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
His comments came after the station played a clip of Thorpe where she wondered about the mental health of senators who are “staggering around drunk by themselves” and needed help getting to hotels safely.
Here’s what Dutton said, edited for clarity and length:
She made serious allegations in the Senate this week. She hasn’t provided the names or details of individuals involved.
She doesn’t wish to make a complaint to the police. She says she doesn’t want the matters to go further. In the absence of any detail, it’s hard to just besmirch everybody without providing details. It’s hard to investigate that and provide an outcome.”
But host Neil Mitchell asked whether he believed what Thorpe said in the Senate this week.
“I don’t have any detail,” Dutton responded.
Mitchell said Dutton sounded sceptical.
“You’re saying she should get treatment or help ... It’s dog-whistling her mental health,” Mitchell said.
“With respect, it’s not,” Dutton replied.
“I think that her activities in nightclubs and others involving alcohol or whatever it might be ... I mean all of that’s been well documented. None of [my] business ... you play the clip and I respond to it.”
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2023-06-16 08:29:48Z
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