The Point Live: Mass protests planned in response to Israeli president visit, Codependent Coalition back together

Asked about Isaac Herzog’s visit and whether there has been any discussion among the crossbench about it, Helen Haines says:

Well, the crossbench comprises of independents and some minor parties, of course, so there hasn’t been a collective discussion about this.

But I could say, from my own perspective, as an independent representing the people of Indi I’m receiving significant amounts of correspondence from my constituents who are concerned about President Herzog’s visit, and they’re concerned because they see this as not a way of bringing our community together.

There are many people who are deeply worried about this, and I join them in their concern.

And on the fires which devastated her electorate, Haines says:

Well, they’re on the massive recovery build back, many people have lost their homes.

Over 300 homes lost across the electorate of Indi, countless numbers of farming structures, fences and livestock.

This is a long, long way back for many people, and many of them have experienced this kind of heartache previously in the 2019/2020, Black Summer fires.

So I’m working closely with government, with emergency services to ensure that we’ve got what we need, but frankly, what we truly need is long term redundancy and resilience in our telecommunications and power supplies.

They’re the kind of things that government can do to ensure that next time when a bushfire hits, we don’t lose communication in the way that we currently do. We need disaster roaming. We need emergency power backup to our telcos.

That interview continued:

Q: Do you think it’s a national trend when it comes to the rise of One Nation right now, or one that’s confined to Queensland and New South Wales?

Helen Haines:

Well, it appears from the polling that we’ve just seen come in overnight that it is more broad than isolated areas. But One Nation are leaning into real issues that people are feeling, and they’re leaning into them, not with solutions. They just they are really harboring discontent, and I don’t think that brings the nation forward. And ultimately, I think Australians are seeking solutions. They’re not seeking they’re not seeking protests. They’re not seeking disharmony. They are seeking solutions.

Q: Polls are showing that support is bleeding from both major parties. Why is it just One Nation seeming to benefit? Why aren’t community independents and other minor parties benefiting more from this dissatisfaction with the major parties?

Haines:

Well, I think it’s because One Nation are a political party. We see our community independents on the crossbench in the House of Representatives, and you’ve seen us grow in number. But in between elections, unless we have a community independent on the ground, people don’t see that there is that additional choice. That’s why it’s so critical that we have independents on the ticket when it comes to elections, because people are looking for somewhere constructive to put their vote, and frankly, One Nation is not a constructive place to put your vote.

Dr Helen Haines has spoken to ABC radio RN Breakfast, where she was asked about the Coalition and it’s latest relationship woes and said:

Let’s be honest here, out in the communities where I represent, where people are feeling the pain of inflation, where people are trying to recover from bushfires.

Look, they just think the Coalition is a joke. They’re disgusted by the games that have been played here in Parliament, and they’re really relying on people like me and the crossbench to get on and do the policy work and be an effective be an effective opposition.

Q: What are you seeing with support for One Nation in your part of the world?

Haines:

Well, it’s hard to tell, in the vacuum that’s been created by the National Party and they’re fighting with the Liberal Party. Of course, One Nation are out on the ground. We’re seeing…Barnaby Joyce, coming down into Victoria to do some kind of town hall soon. So Barnaby Joyce is certainly capitalising on that vacuum, but really, what I’m about is trying to find solutions for people’s problems. Thousands of allied health and medical students are signing the petition to ask the government to come to their support so they can get on and do the training that we need in places like urban and regional Australia.

I don’t see One Nation doing that kind of work, and I certainly don’t see the Coalition doing that kind of policy work either

If you didn’t believe that Sussan Ley had lines prepared by her team which she is just repeating like a slightly panicked Energiser Bunny, here is what Ley opened her Nine network appearance with:

I think it’s a fair point that when Australians see us talking about ourselves, they mark us down. And those polls point to a time. And millions of Australians want the opposition to scrutinise the government, hold them to account. And we will give the backing Australians deserve, need and expect and we can deliver.

As you said, the Coalition we’ve strengthened and we are squarely focused on Australian people, their needs, their aspirations, their hopes. It’s a big week in Parliament. Every week is, but this in particular because we’ve just had such disastrous indicators of the cost of living and mums and dads who are sitting at the kitchen table opening their power bills, looking at the back to school costs, up to $23,000 (extra to find) and we are here to fight for them, just every single day.

And she is totally not worried about a leadership challenge, even though she is about as popular as a mosquito.

Ley:

I’ve been elected by my party room. I’m up for the job. We’re up for the job, and we know that we have to be because millions of Australians are being let down by a government that has got it all wrong.

…I don’t want my children and grandchildren to inherit a worse standard of living than I do. I don’t want the the children I meet in childcare centres and at home every day of the week, not to be able to afford a home, I don’t want pensioners battling now to struggle to pay their bills. This is a fight we need to have for and on behalf of the Australian people. And I want underscore it, I’m up for job.

And so on and so on and so on

Isaac Herzog has been taken from Sydney airport in a motorcade, marking the start of his expected three-day visit. He was escorted by armed police, in an armoured plated car, accompanied by NSW tactical police.

Sussan Ley is really trying to pretend everything is just fine and dandy and despite recording the worst personal approval rating since Simon Crean and a new low for the Coalition, it’s Anthony Albanese that people are annoyed at.

She told the Seven network this morning she “indeed” will be the leader at the end of the week and the only reason people are voting her party down in the polls is because they haven’t seen “a clear united message coming out of Canberra, they mark us down.”

Which is a new level of delusion for her team, and that is saying something.

Ley:

I understand that, but as you’ve said, the Coalition is back most importantly, we’re squarely focused on millions of Australians who are counting on us for their needs, aspirations and their hopes. And they deserve no less. They expect no less, and they will receive no less.

Oh and she’s totally, not at all, not even a little bit concerned that Angus Taylor will challenge. She’s so unconcerned, the kitchen table is back!

Ley:

I am always looking outside the building to the people who are counting on us, as I said, and they are doing it tough, we see that writ large. And they are sitting around the kitchen table every morning looking at their electricity bills, wondering how they’re going to meet the back to school costs, wondering how they’re going to get through the interest rate rise government, $23,000 out of pocket, more find.

That makes me focused along with my team to scrutinise this government, to hold them to account, because Anthony Albanese does not have answers* to the pressing problems that are facing Australians.

*The Coalition have almost no policies. They have offered no answers.

The NSW police have said they will arrest anyone who breaks the protest ban boundaries which was put in place after Bondi, and extended to cover Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia. Mass protests are still planned, including in Sydney and the Palestine Action Group have announced a challenge to the NSW laws in the supreme court against the special powers police have been granted to break up assemblies. The group will argue the powers are excessive, unjustified and unlawful.

Late last week, the Greens, the Maritime Union of Australia, Labor Friends of Palestine, Palestine Action Group, Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), Jews Against the Occupation ‘48, Hunter Workers and the South Coast Labour Council came together to call on the Albanese Government and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to investigate Herzog for war crimes, given the allegation he incited the commission of genocide.

Independent MP Helen Haines and independent senator David Pocock have commissioned the Parliamentary Budget Office to cost expanding the Commonwealth Prac Payment Scheme to include medical and allied health students and found it would cost just $290m over four years (which in budget terms, is not a lot of money).

The pair will hold a press conference on the matter later this morning and say it is one of the ways the government could end placement poverty for the future health workforce. Work placement is a necessity for students wanting a variety of health and teaching degrees, but often means foregoing paid work. After crossbench advocacy, the goverment past paid prac for teaching, midwifery and social work students – but Haines and Pocock said it should also include health students and are pushing to see they are included in the next budget.

Health Students Alliance recently released a survey showing 42% of students couldn’t afford to eat three meals while on a placement, and were being pushed into financial hardship to complete their studies.

Haines said the costings “show that ending placement poverty is both achievable and affordable. Failing to act is a political choice, not a budget constraint.”

At a time of severe health workforce shortages – particularly in rural and regional areas – the Government can’t afford to let unpaid placements become the barrier that stops students from completing their degrees.”

Senator Pocock’s PBO costings also modelled the cost of lifting the payment rate from the current $338.60 per week benchmarked to the single Austudy per week rate while undertaking the placement.

Pocock:

Most Australians have experienced firsthand the impacts from the acute shortage of qualified professionals, from psychologists to dentists to speech pathologists. Extending Commonwealth Paid Prac to enable more Australians to qualify in the professions we so desperately need makes sense and will help ease that shortage.

Over the longer term it will cost the Federal Government more if they fail to support the pipeline of medical and allied health students Australians right around the country rely on. 

Investing some $80 million a year in expanding a means-tested payment to enable more people from all backgrounds – be they First Nations peoples, people with disability, single parents or single income households – will improve equity and make sure we are training and qualifying the medical and allied health professionals we need, not just the ones who can afford it.”

Dr Haines and Senator Pocock have partnered with peak body Allied Health Professions Australia to launch an online petition calling on the Federal Government to expand the Prac Payment Scheme.

This will set the Angus Taylor chickens a-running – the latest Newspoll, first published by the Australian has the Coalition on a primary vote of 18% and One Nation on 27%. That would mean a diabolical result for the Coalition in an election, with a mass loss in the senate as well.

Ley’s own personal rating is the lowest for any political leader in about 20 years with a net satisfaction level of -39.

Labor is sitting on 33 points and would win an election in an even bigger landslide.

Taylor told Sydney radio last week he had leadership ambitions but it would be up to the party. He is still a couple of numbers short as of last count but today’s poll may help tip the balance. A challenge by the end of the week is still on the cards, especially now that the Liberals and Nationals are officially back together (so it doesn’t look like the Libs bowed even further to the Nats and changed leaders to get the Nats back) but honestly, this mess has a long way to play out.

Ley has promised an immigration policy within the next couple of weeks, which is expected to out One Nation One Nation’s, so you know they are going to just keep digging down.

Oh, and according to Sky News, Tim Wilson still has leadership ambitions, but he’ll also settle for shadow treasurer. Like I said – there is still so much further to fall.

The Jewish Council of Australia have stepped up their campaign to have Anthony Albanese rescind the invitation to Isaac Herzog:

The Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) has today launched a major advertising campaign in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, to voice widespread Jewish communal opposition to the official visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

The full-page open letter, signed by over 1000 Jewish Australian academics, legal professionals, artists, and community leaders, calls on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to rescind the invitation. High-profile signatories include Robert Richter QC, Alex Wodak AM, Louise Adler AM, Josh Bornstein and Professor Dennis Altman AM. 

The campaign argues that welcoming President Herzog, whose public statements suggesting the collective responsibility of all Gazans for October 7, have been cited in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as evidence of genocidal intent, undermines Australia’s commitment to international law and risks further inflaming division in the wake of the Bondi tragedy.

Sarah Schwartz, Executive Officer, Jewish Council of Australia:

By framing this visit as providing support for Jewish Australians, the Prime Minister has politicised our grief and ignored the thousands of Jewish people who stand for Palestinian human rights and against Israel’s atrocities.”

This advertising campaign exists because Jewish Australians are being spoken for by our political leaders without our consent. Our identities have been flattened for political gain. Welcoming President Herzog in our name does not reflect our values, and it does not make our community safer.”

We refuse to let our collective grief be used to legitimise a leader whose rhetoric has been part of inciting a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and has contributed to the illegal annexation of the West Bank.”

Australia’s recognition of the State of Palestine is a hollow gesture if we now welcome the head of the state that is actively destroying Palestinian sovereignty. We call on the Prime Minister to listen to the diverse range of Jewish voices and put human rights at the heart of our foreign policy.”

Hello and welcome back to parliament where it is the House sitting and also the first week of estimates. We will of course be concentrating a lot on that, as well as answering your questions – MPs and senators read this blog, so send through questions you would want asked in senate estimate committees and we’ll let them know they are there – but the main event for the next couple of days is the response to the visit from Israeli president, Isaac Herzog.

Now readers and friends of this blog need don’t need a lot of context for why this visit is launching mass protests across the country (with some of the biggest events planned for this afternoon). Herzog is the ceremonial head of state for Israel (much like our governor-general) and has not had control over Israeli policy, in terms of he doesn’t direct it. But he has spoken of his support for it, has been filmed signing bombs which have been dropped on civilian populations in Gaza and a UN Commission of Inquiry last year named Herzog as one of the senior Israeli politicians and figures who had incited “the commission of genocide”. One of the reasons for that is his quote from October 2023 that the entire nation of Palestine was responsible for October 7.

The quote mentioned in the UN commission of inquiry is:

On 13 October 2023, President Isaac Herzog stated, “it’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true, this rhetoric about civilians who were not aware and not involved. It is absolutely not true.”

Herzog claims that this has been taken out of context because he later said Israel was not targeting civilians (which multiple humanitarian, legal and genocide groups and scholars have found not to be true, let alone what people are seeing with their own eyes from Palestinians reflecting their reality). You can read the whole UN report here (and I recommend you do, if you haven’t) with one of the findings:

On incitement to genocide, the Commission concludes that Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, have incited the commission of genocide and that Israeli authorities have failed to take action against them to punish this The Commission has not fully assessed statements by other Israeli political and military leaders, including Minister for National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Minister for Finance Bezalel Smotrich, and considers that they too should be assessed to determine whether they constitute incitement to commit genocide.

There is not an arrest warrant out for Herzog, unlike Netanyahu, but Chris Sidoti a former Australian Human Rights Commissioner, current UN commissioner on the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, says Australia has obligations to human rights it is not meeting in going ahead with this visit.

You can hear Sidoti talk more about that, here.

There are a handful of NSW state Labor backbenchers who have spoken out against the visit, as well as federal Labor MP Ed Husic, but other than that, despite many MPs expressing private discomfort with the visit, the Labor caucus has been pretty much silent on all of it.

An excellent primer on how this visit marks a change in how the Albanese government has been handling Israeli-Australian relations since the horrendous Bondi terrorist attack, can be found from Laura Tingle, here.

Protests are planned, while Queensland has announced it will be the first jurisdiction to ban the phrase “from the river to the sea” under the new hate speech laws, while “globalise the intifada” has already been earmarked for banning by NSW. What this means is, anyone using these phrases at a protest can be charged under the new hate speech laws. Given how frequent both these phrases are used in protesting for Palestinian liberation (many Israeli organisations and supporters interpret the phrases as meaning the destruction of Jewish people, while anti-genocide protesters and historians speak on the more nuanced history of the phrases, which includes liberation and freedom for Palestinians living under oppression and for Palestine, while pointing out intifada is Arabic for ‘shaking off’ or ‘uprising’ and protesting for freedom is a human right) deeming the phrases hate speech lends itself to concerns Australia will follow the UK’s path with mass arrests.

Given this is a visit that was supposed to help Australia heal and promote social cohesion, it’s shaping up to create one of the biggest flashpoints for the nation – and none of the politicians responsible for the visit seem to be able to answer how they will handle that, or how indeed it is going to achieve the aims of either healing, or social cohesion.

We’ll bring you more on that as well as everything else happening in the parliament and beyond.

Oh, and the Coalition officially got back together. If you care about that, you might actually be reading the wrong blog, because we try to focus on actual issues of substance here. (That is not to say that we won’t be covering it, because the ridiculousness needs to be noted for history, but honestly – it means nothing, matters nothing, and changes nothing.)

So you have me, a slightly cranky and over it Amy Remeikis, expert contributors and access to Mike Bowers, which is probably the highlight, let’s be honest, taking you through the day.

Coffee number three is already on and I will be having cake for breakfast. It is one of those days.

Ready?

Let’s get into it.