As it happened: Treasurer hoses down big-spending plans; Labor pushes for truth in political ads

Thanks for reading the live blog, that’s where we’ll call it a day.

To finish up, here’s a look back at the headlines we reported.

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he has “no plans” to ban TikTok in Australia after the US legislated a deadline for the social media company to either divest from China or be banned from American app stores.
• Treasurer Jim Chalmers says a second surplus is within the government’s reach, but warns voters should not expect major new spending, and only limited new cost of living relief, in the upcoming May budget.
• Opposition Leader Peter Dutton proposed a clamp down on youth gangs who ‘glamorise’ crime on social media, while backing Nationals leader David Littleproud’s suggestion to send young offenders to camps in the outback.
• Australian pharmacies have negotiated an extra $3 billion from Labor in a peace deal struck after almost a year of protest over the government’s 60-day medicine script scheme.
• In NSW, the stoush between the federal and state Labor governments over the GST carve out has escalated, as Albanese dismisses NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey as ‘new to the job’.
• In Victoria, the man who died in the Ballarat gold mine collapse has been remembered as a loving father of four.

Transcripts of US President Joe Biden’s five-hour interview with special counsel Robert Hur recount a “meandering stream of consciousness” that touches on everything from shooting bow and arrows in Mongolia, to “saving Obama’s ass” as vice-president.

And Australia even got a brief mention in the lengthy transcript.

One portion read as follows:

When I put together what they call AUKUS and the ability of, of Australia [RETRACTED] really changes the whole dynamic in the Indian Ocean. When I was able to bring together the quad: India, Australia, Japan, the United States, there were just had 16 Pacific Island leaders here that were heads of state. We have a chance to fundamentally change and make different and more secure that part of the world. In which China’s influence is seeking to be profound.”

For more details revealed in the interview, which was ostensibly about classified documents, read the New York Times analysis here.

The man who died in the Ballarat gold mine collapse has been remembered as a loving father of four.

Kurt Hourigan, a 37-year-old miner from Bruthen in Gippsland, died and a 21-year-old colleague from Ballarat is fighting for his life in hospital after rock collapsed on them 500 metres underground at the Ballarat Gold Mine on Wednesday afternoon.

Read the full breaking story here.

Ballarat gold mine collapse victim Kurt Hourigan.Credit: Facebook

Federal parliament will delay question time on Monday so political leaders can attend the funeral of Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon, a special forces soldier who died in a parachuting incident last week.

The delay will enable Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and others to attend the funeral in the NSW Hunter Valley on Monday morning and return to Canberra for question time about 3.30pm.

Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon in uniform, in civilian clothes and with his father, Joel.

Fitzgibbon, the son of former Labor cabinet minister Joel Fitzgibbon, died when his parachute failed to open properly during a training drill at the RAAF base in Richmond, NSW, on Wednesday night last week. His death drew condolences from Albanese and others including Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

Parliament resumes on Monday for a fortnight before Easter, followed by a break of six weeks before the government releases its annual budget on May 14.

The delay to question time is expected to apply to the Senate as well as the House of Representatives because of the number of political leaders who may attend the funeral.

Albanese consulted Dutton on the delay, which has support from both sides of parliament. Dutton will also attend the funeral.

Also on Afternoon Briefing, Labor Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care Ged Kearney was asked to answer for the government on the cancellation of refugee visas to Gazans who were already en route to Australia, and the continued suspension of funding to UNRWA, the UN body that provides aid to Palestinians.

On the first issue, Kearney wouldn’t be drawn on the specifics:

It’s very difficult for me to comment on the individual cases and I cannot do that as you could imagine, but I can acknowledge that this must be incredibly distressing for many Australians who have families in Palestine.”

Kearney had a more detailed response to questions on when the government would follow allies like Canada and the European Union in reinstating funding for UNRWA.

I think we should reinstate the funding as soon as possible. I think UNRWA are an important organisation. Nobody else can do the work that they do in the area, and I think that, generally speaking, we need to make sure that aid is going into the country. That needs to be a priority.

The images ... hospitals not being able to provide care and women giving birth in terrible situations, the aid situation is dire and we need to make sure that the aid is getting into Gaza.”

When asked if the government’s decision would be conditional on the conclusion of the investigation into allegations that UNRWA workers participated in the October 7 attacks on Israel, Kearney had this to say:

We have seen some of our close partners resume funding to UNRWA. I understand that and I understand the complexities around reinstating that funding and the investigations that are ongoing.

But I would hope that they can be overcome and that funding can be restored very soon.”

Coalition frontbencher Paul Fletcher says it is “richly hypocritical” for the government to propose truth-in-advertising electoral reforms in light of Labor’s 2016 election campaign popularly known as the “Medi-scare”.

Former communications minister Paul Fletcher.Credit: Paul Harris

On the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, host Greg Jennet highlighted Labor’s 2016 suggestion that the Coalition would defund Medicare and the Coalition’s 2019 suggestion that Labor would introduce death taxes as examples of political scare campaigns that would be targeted by the reforms.

In his response, Fletcher focused on the former:

We will look at what is proposed on its merits, but we do view, I think, with the measure of well justified scepticism, claims to some sort of moral virtual issues from the Labor Party, which has rich form in suddenly peddling outrageous mistruths and also in favouring third-party organisations which will fund them.

Dingoes in north-western Victoria, which are locked in an “extinction vortex”, will again be listed as a protected species. But the animals will still be subject to a bounty in other parts of the state.

Effective today, the Victorian government has removed an order that gave farmers, hunters and Parks Victoria employees the right to shoot, trap and poison dingoes on private land in Victoria, and on public land within three kilometres of any private land boundary, between Mildura and Warracknabeal.

Research upended the myth that pure dingoes no longer live in large regions of Victoria.

Last year an order “unprotecting” dingoes – removing them from the list of protected species in Victoria – was made on the recommendation of former environment minister Ingrid Stitt, former agriculture minister Gayle Tierney and former outdoor recreation minister Sonya Kilkenny.

That order acknowledged dingoes in the Big Desert, in the Mallee region of north-west Victoria, were in an “extinction vortex”, with the dwindling population small, isolated and of limited genetic diversity.

“Without intervention, the dingo is on a trajectory that will lead ultimately to local extinction,” the advice read.

Animals Australia launched a Supreme Court challenge to the order, and the first day of the hearing was set for March 22.

On Thursday, Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos and Agriculture Minister Ros Spence issued a joint statement saying the “unprotection order” would be lifted in the north-west of the state following “new research, strong advice and the effectiveness of non-lethal dingo control methods to protect livestock”.

It’s estimated there are fewer than 40 dingoes left in the state’s north-west.

“The dingo population in north-west Victoria is under threat of extinction, that’s why we’re making these changes to protect an important part of the ecosystem,” Dimopoulos said.

Farmers will be supported by a $550,000 investment to adopt alternative non-lethal control methods via a pilot of measures such as exclusion fencing and guardian animals.

The wild dog component of the current Fox and Wild Dog Bounty Program will end in the north-west.

Dingoes will continue to be unprotected in the eastern part of the state, between Wodonga, Bairnsdale, Seymour and Mallacoota.

A parliamentary inquiry into post-sentence terrorism orders heard submissions from interested parties at a public hearing in Canberra today.

As things stand, continued detention orders can be applied to keep a terrorist from being released into the community if they pose an unacceptable risk.

But the national security watchdog recommended the orders be scrapped as they were based on an assumption that a person would reoffend, which was contrary to Australia’s legal system.

Analysts from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute argued the detention orders should be a last resort but remained necessary for unrepentant terrorists.

“The reality is there are a minority of people who will not be rehabilitated,” executive director Justin Bassi said.

But Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay raised concerns about unreliability.

“Without a valid way of predicting the future risk of committing a serious ... offence, there is no longer a sufficient basis for a continuing detention order regime,” she said.

A less restrictive extended supervision order can also be imposed on high-risk offenders after they complete their sentence.

It allows authorities to closely monitor recently released offenders and impose a number of other restrictions.

AAP

The movement of a flight deck seat is a key focus of the probe into a sudden midair dive by a LATAM Airlines Boeing 787 that left more than 50 people injured, aviation industry publication The Air Current has reported.

The plane, which was heading from Sydney to Auckland on Monday, dropped abruptly before stabilising, causing those on board to be thrown about the cabin.

LATAM Airlines flight LA800 dropped dramatically, injuring passengers as a result.

Based on the available information, it was understood the seat movement was “pilot induced, not intentionally,” the report said, citing a senior airline safety official.

“The seat movement caused the nose down” angle of the aircraft, the publication said, citing another anonymous source who added the possibility of an electrical short was also under review.

Boeing is expected to release a message to 787 operators regarding the incident, The Air Current reported, in a sign a fleet-wide issue could be involved, though it said the specific topic was not known to the publication.

Boeing declined to comment on the report, instead referring Reuters to the investigating agencies.

Chile’s aviation regulator, which is leading the probe given it involves a Chilean airline flying in international airspace, said the investigation “just got under way” and its investigators had arrived in New Zealand.

LATAM said it “continues to work in co-ordination with the authorities to support the investigation” and said it was not appropriate to comment on speculation that has circulated.

The cause of the flight’s apparent sudden change in trajectory has not yet been explained. Safety experts say most airplane accidents are caused by a cocktail of factors that need to be thoroughly investigated.

Reuters

Olivia Wirth, former boss of Qantas’ loyalty business, has been appointed to lead Myer as executive chair and chief executive, as the department store seeks to incentivise customers who are pulling back on their spending as cost-of-living pressures mount.

Wirth, who was a prime candidate to replace Alan Joyce in the top job at the airline, announced her resignation from Qantas in October, a few months after that role went to Vanessa Hudson.

Read more about Wirth’s appointment here.

Olivia Wirth is the new executive chairwoman of Myer, replacing outgoing chairman Ari Mervis (left) and chief executive John King.