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Jun 20, 2023

Australia news LIVE: Voice to parliament referendum campaign begins; Labor backs Snowy 2.0 project despite costs; Qantas sued by ACCC

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. 1 of 2 Former judge Walter Sofronoff has hit back at claims by ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr he breached the Inquiries Act by releasing

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

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Former judge Walter Sofronoff has hit back at claims by ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr he breached the Inquiries Act by releasing his report to two journalists before it was published, sending a sharply worded letter that defended his conduct and denied any breach of the law.

Sofronoff led the inquiry into the aborted trial of Bruce Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins – an allegation Lehrmann has always denied – and said in letters released by his lawyers that he had provided advance copies of his report to journalists in accordance with the powers accorded to him under the act.

Walter Sofronoff, KC, who led the inquiry into the aborted Bruce Lehrmann trial, gave his report to journalists before the ACT government.Credit: Robert Shakespeare

Sofronoff said he had provided the report in advance to ABC journalist Elizabeth Byrne and The Australian journalist Janet Albrechtsen on the basis that they not publish before the government released the report and so they would “be in a position [to] swiftly and promptly ... write and broadcast stories that have as their foundation a true appreciation of the result of the work of the commission”.

A copy of the report was also provided to Leon Zwier, the solicitor for Higgins, out of concern that the release of the report could trigger further health problems for her and in accordance with the act.

Read the full story here.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has also lashed the government over its decision to deny Qatar Airways extra flights to Australia.

“The fact that Qatar was excluded from participating ... because of the decision the prime minister’s made, every Australian, every time you book to go and see your family member in Europe, or in Asia, or America, you’re paying literally thousands of dollars more for the ticket than you would otherwise need to,” Dutton told Nine’s Today Show.

Defence Minister Richard Marles says there were many issues that impacted the government’s decision not to allow Qatar extra flights to Australia.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

He said Anthony Albanese “hasn’t found a red carpet he’s not willing to trot down with Alan Joyce”, the chief executive of Qantas.

But Defence Minister Richard Marles, who was also on the program, said there were a whole range of issues that went into that decision.

“Qatar have unused access right now, that’s the issue; and we are increasing access, which is what we’ve done with Singapore, with Cathay Pacific, with China Southern,” he said in response to the criticism.

He said the Middle-Eastern airline had access to the Australian market, “which they are now not using”.

Staying with Defence Minister Richard Marles, who said it was “very unsettling” that Qantas was being accused of selling tickets to cancelled flights.

As we reported earlier, the country’s consumer and competition watchdog is taking the airline to court over the allegations and wants it to pay more than $600 million if found guilty.

“Obviously, I look at what is reported in the papers today and find that very unsettling. That is now in front of the courts,” he told Nine’s Today Show this morning.

Marles said Qantas had “done the right thing” by scrapping the expiry date on $570 million worth of refunds for people whose flights were cancelled due to COVID-19 border closures.

“Clearly Qantas have done the right thing in terms of the extending the expiry date in relation to those tickets,” Marles said.

“I think what we need to see is greater competition in the aviation market.”

He also appeared on the program with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton who said the airline has serious questions to answer.

Peter Dutton spoke about the allegations Qantas sold tickets to cancelled flights. Credit: Nine News

“They owe a huge apology and compensation to many Australians,” he said.

“The whole credit debacle where Australians haven’t been able to get money back has been completely unacceptable.”

He said Qantas received “huge taxpayer assistance” from the government during the height of pandemic.

“It is off the back of huge taxpayer assistance to Qantas over the course of COVID to help them keep employing people and keep flying.

“I think that Australians are right to feel like they have been poked in the eye by this government.”

Defence Minister Richard Marles says all his private flights on government jets can be justified and his preference would be to have all the detail made public, but “there is a genuine security issue here”.

“Everywhere I have gone, everything that I have done has been on behalf of the Australian people and the duties that I do in that regard, I stand by every one of the flights that I have taken,” he told Nine’s Today Show in an appearance alongside Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

Travel booked for Marles and his guests on government jets – which may include other MPs, senior Defence figures or other associates – totalled about $3.6 million since April last year.

Defence Minister Richard Marles says his private flights can be justified. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

That’s according to documents obtained by Greens Senator David Shoebridge that were first reported by news.com.au.

Marles has booked far more domestic VIP flights than other members of cabinet except the Prime Minister.

Documents released under freedom of information laws show Marles was involved in a decision, ratified in March, to prohibit the release of information detailing where government VIP planes flew and who was on board.

Next week, the Greens are hoping to unite with the Coalition to use the power of the Senate to force Labor to reveal flight information, which had been publicly available for decades until the recent reversal.

“To be honest, where I am at now, my preference would be to have all of that out there because it would make things much clearer,” Marles said.

“There is a genuine security issue here. The information that we put out there does provide the number of hours. But, obviously, the [flight] manifest give rise to patterns of behaviour which do create a target.”

Dutton accused Marles of a double standard for criticising former speaker Bronwyn Bishop for chartering a helicopter to attend a fundraiser in Geelong in 2014 at a cost of $5277, which she then paid back.

Yesterday, Bishop called for Marles to pay back the cost of his domestic flights, which she accused Marles of “using like Uber” in an interview on Sky.

“When you have got Bronwyn Bishop having a go at you for travel... I mean!” Dutton said. “He puts Bronnie to shame.”

The consumer and competition watchdog boss wouldn’t comment on the government’s decision not to grant Qatar Airways more flights into Australia.

ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said this morning it welcomes every possible opportunity to increase access and choice in the industry.

ACCC chair Gina Cass-GottliebCredit: Alex Ellinghausen

“In this case, the decision has been made under an international agreement on a different test and the ACCC has no role in it,” she said.

“Therefore, it is not a matter that we consider that we are in any way directly or indirectly involved in we would welcome more competition.”

She was asked whether she agreed the principle that if Qatar was granted extra flight capacity, fares would be lower.

This is what she said:

Virgin has given an estimate over 40 per cent. That is difficult to ... predict. That’s their estimate.

The point we are very well aware of the test in national interest here, and will include additional factors to competition.

And we don’t know what was considered there, but we certainly welcome all enhancements to competition.”

The consumer watchdog chair says the investigation into Qantas was prompted by the number of complaints it received about the airline.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said this morning it had received 1300 complaints about Qantas cancellations last year.

ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb says it received 1300 complaints about Qantas cancellations. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“It was actually the trigger for this investigation, and because no one was aware of this conduct ... the trigger for this investigation was the number of complaints, and when we investigated and then went further we uncovered this.”

She said the 1300 figure was roughly 50 per cent of the complaints against Qantas from consumers, and it was the most complained about company to the watchdog.

Australia’s consumer watchdog chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb wants Qantas to pay more than $600 million if found guilty of misleading customers over “ghost flights”.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal action against Qantas yesterday.

The watchdog alleges the airline disrupted the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of people between May and July last year, after it advertised sales on 8000 flights for two weeks after their cancellation.

Qantas is being sued by the Australian consumer regulator over claims the airline sold flights it had already cancelled.Credit: Brook Mitchell

“We are going to seek penalty that will underline that this is not just to be a cost of doing business, it is to deter conduct of this nature,” Cass-Gottlieb said this morning on RN Breakfast.

The highest penalty for a breach of the Australian Consumer Law was $125 million against Volkswagon, and Qantas should pay “a record penalty for this conduct”, the watchdog boss said.

She said the ACCC would be seeking “significantly more” than the $125 million.

Host Patricia Karvelas pushed the watchdog chair was pushed on the figure for the penalty, and asked whether she wanted to know whether they would seek more than $300 million.

“We would want to get to more than twice that figure, yes,” Cass-Gottlieb said.

She said the watchdog was on a path to substantially increase the penalties that corporations paid in relation to serious conduct.

“This is going to be an important test for us, we consider these penalties have been too low.

“We think the penalties should be in the hundreds of millions, not tens of millions for breaches.”

Earlier, Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen defended the project and said it would be a waste of money to cancel it.

“The project is 40 per cent built, so it would be a huge waste of money to cancel,” he told ABC radio this morning.

“Obviously, the cost blowout is disappointing.”

Energy Minister Chris Bowen says the new figure to complete the project is ‘conservative’. Credit: Oscar Colman

He said there were a couple of factors contributing to that, and said most projects around the world were facing increases.

“The original contract leading into [the project], left a lot to be desired and based on the strong advice of Snowy management, we’ve authorised them to fix that going forward,” Bowen said.

The minister was asked whether he was confident in the revised $12 billion figure to complete the project.

“That’s certainly the advice to me ... after a project review and reset by the new chief executive of Snowy Hydro Dennis Barnes.

“Based on the very best advice, I have no reason to question that, it is a conservative figure.”

Staying with the Snowy 2.0 chief executive Dennis Barnes says it apologises for the cost increase to the Australian taxpayer.

Speaking on RN Breakfast this morning he said the project was an investment for the future.

Snowy Hydro CEO Dennis Barnes (centre) joins a staff morning tea at the Cooma head office.

“The way the energy transition has played out the Snowy 2.0 has actually gotten more valuable, so it is an investment for the Australian taxpayer so they will earn money.”

He said they will earn money with the project, but he was “very disappointed in the cost increase”. This masthead revealed on Wednesday, the cost had blown out to $12 billion.

“Of course we apologise for that, but bear in mind that this is an investment that the Australian taxpayer will get a return,” he said.

Turning now to the chief executive of the Snowy 2.0 project, Dennis Barnes, who is confident that the project can stick to the new $12 billion figure after costs doubled.

Under a renegotiated deal, contractors working on the Snowy 2.0 project will now suffer financial penalties if there are further delays or increases beyond the current $12 billion price tag, which was revealed in this masthead on Wednesday.

Snowy Hydro’s pumped hydro project has been beset by delays.Credit: Jamila Toderas

“I’m very confident $12 billion by 2028 is a good target for us to achieve,” Barnes said on RN Breakfast this morning.

“Of course we can encounter other problems, but we’ve done an awful lot of work, which is really rigorous work.”

He said they had learned a lot in the last five years and were 40 per cent of the way through the project.

“There’s a degree of confidence in this number,” he said of the new figure.

But he said there were four factors for the “cost blowout”.

These included the mobilisation of people, inflation on materials, the impact of COVID-19 and issues facing a tunnel boring machine.

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