Australia news LIVE: PM says Indigenous Voice detail to come after referendum; fresh calls to work from home as COVID winter wave continues

Thanks for joining us for our live coverage today. In case you missed them, here are the top headlines from the afternoon and evening:

• The Department of Home Affairs warned the incoming Albanese government that the country faced “an extremely challenging and dynamic strategic environment”, documents released under Freedom of Information laws have shown.
• Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney says it’s time to recognise Aboriginal Australians in the Constitution, saying: “If not now, when? Let’s get this done together.”
• Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton says Victoria has passed the peak of the BA.4 and BA.5 wave of COVID-19, and the flu season is “largely done and dusted”.

• A volunteer-run mutual aid has stepped in to supply free rapid antigen tests to concession card holders after a federal government program ended on Sunday.

We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest.

A volunteer-run mutual aid project backed by the Antipoverty Centre has stepped in to supply free rapid antigen tests to concession card holders after a federal government program ended on Sunday.

The Ratbag project raised more than $2500 after launching on Twitter last night to ensure that welfare recipients could access RATs without having to sacrifice funds earmarked for food and other essentials.

“Without a RAT many welfare recipients will be forced to choose between leaving home while contagious or losing their poverty payment. Others will choose between food and testing,” Project coordinator Paul McMillan said.

“At a time when Covid cases are peaking and new strains are emerging, we can’t ask people who are already skipping meals, medication and other essentials to bear even more costs ... The government continues to let these people down, but the community is stepping up.”

McMillan said the ending of the program was particularly risky for people who had to do activities to get their Centrelink payment, such as those on JobSeeker.

“While living on just $46 a day, those on unemployment payments are forced to leave home to attend activities. A positive COVID test is required to avoid payment suspension when isolating and PCR tests have become increasingly hard to get.”

He said the idea for the project came when Health Minister Mark Butler confirmed the Albanese government would not be extending the free RATs program launched by the previous Coalition government, against the urging of the Australian Medical Association.

McMillan said system outages on Sunday meant that some welfare recipients were unable to access RATs on the last day of the scheme.

The Ratbag mutual aid project takes donations online and distributes RATs to concession and low income health care card holders who register on its website.

Since launching on Sunday, it has also received donation offers from suppliers able to supply the tests in bulk.

People who do not have a concession card because they are unable to access a welfare payment can also submit a request for access to free RATs through the website.

The Department of Home Affairs gave the incoming Albanese government a blunt assessment of Australia’s strategic outlook.

Briefing notes released under Freedom of Information laws show the department argued Australia faced “an extremely challenging and dynamic strategic environment”.

Here’s what else the department said in its briefing notes (edited for length and clarity):

In the next four years, Australia is expected to face increasingly frequent, complex and interconnected crises. Challenges to our national security and prosperity across a broad spectrum, ranging from natural disasters, to state and non-state hostile activity ... will place significant pressure on the nation.

Great power competition between the United States and China will continue to exert the most influence on the international order. These two nations will utilise the full spectrum of their statecraft and national powers with enduring ramifications in the Indo-Pacific region. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will continue to have geopolitical ripple effects.

By the early 2030s, the effects of climate change will intensify with average global temperatures expected to reach 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels. This will significantly impact global prosperity and security.

Our region will bear the brunt of rising sea-levels and climate-related security challenges. We will be required to do more to support our neighbours. Domestically, Australia will face greater demand for disaster response capabilities and coordination across industry, community and government service delivery.

Several parliamentarians have taken the opportunity to pay tribute to the life of Archie Roach. Among them was Arts Minister Tony Burke, who often wears his passion for Australian music on his sleeve. Here are some excerpts from his speech:

“I think perhaps the most powerful of tributes that artists put out there was the one I saw yesterday from Dan Sultan. Dan just looked down the camera, and started playing the guitar, and he did not sing a word, and as you listen, you realise you’re hearing the guitar backing to ‘Took the children away’, and without saying a word, reminded us that the music is there forever but the voice, the power of the voice, it’s not with us in the same way.”

He also spoke about the hip-hop duo A.B. Original, and their album Reclaim Australia. “For some people, both the music and for some the lyrics will be a bit too much, but just listen to the first track, because all the first track is, is an interview with Archie Roach and music playing behind, and him talking about activism, and the need to act ... just listen to the first track, and if the music keeps playing, then we’ve done well.”

This morning, Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe, a DjabWurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara woman, was made to redo her swearing in after referring to the Queen as a coloniser.

Watch it here:

Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer is speaking in favour of restoring territory rights to enable them to vote on voluntary assisted dying.

She has told parliament that, while the issue is contentious, territorians are being denied their right to consider the euthanasia laws.

She said the denial of territory rights, “is to deny each and every citizen their right to participate in what is a democratic process, simply because of where they live.”

She pointed to the success of voluntary assisted dying legislation in Tasmania after three other unsuccessful attempts at reform.

Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton says Victoria has passed the peak of the BA.4 and BA.5 wave of COVID-19, and the flu season is “largely done and dusted”.

But he said Victoria would probably see new waves of COVID-19 every “three, four, [or] five months” for a long time to come.

He said he expected less than half of all positive cases were being publicly reported, and 8 per cent of cases were reinfections.

Half of hospitalisations were in people over the age of 75. Sutton said vulnerable people should focus on wearing masks and getting their third and fourth COVID-19 vaccinations.

Sutton pushed everyone to continue getting PCR and rapid antigen tests, particularly people at risk, which would ensure they can access antivirals.

“Of course, we never think about it until it affects us.”

He said 100 per cent mask wearing in schools - which he acknowledged was overly optimistic - could reduce new infections and hospitalisations by about 15 per cent, and deaths by about 5 to 10 per cent.

“That’s a significant proportion.”

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer delivered a COVID-19 update. Watch it here:

A motion to suspend standing orders to be able to debate the private members’ bill on restoring territory rights has been passed. It will allow the ACT and Northern Territory to introduce and enact legislation to legalise voluntary assisted dying.

The bill was earlier introduced into the House of Representatives by Labor MPs Luke Gosling and Alicia Payne, who called for the support of their parliamentary colleagues to allow territorians the same rights as states in determining laws that directly affect them.

Canberra MP David Smith says the bill is about whether people living in the territories deserve the same democratic rights as those in the states.

“There can be no doubt to that question is yes,” he said. “The ACT and the city of Canberra have well and truly come of age.”

Canberra Labor MP Andrew Leigh said the ACT was collateral in the Howard government’s move to ban voluntary assisted dying. He said the restoration of territory rights wasn’t a Labor policy, but should be embraced by all in the chamber.

Queensland LNP MP Terry Young is has spoken out against restoring territory rights, saying the debate on voluntary assisted dying should be handled by the federal parliament.

Marion Scrymgour, the Labor MP for the NT seat of Lingiari, said it was the first motion she had risen to speak in favour of in parliament.

“The NT deserves the right to legislate on issues that affect it, just like the states do,” she said.

Queensland LNP MP Andrew Wallace said he was opposed, despite admitting he had never been faced with a situation in which the question of euthanasia came up. He said he believed in the sanctity of life, but war and self-defence were sanctioned exceptions.

Independent MP Monique Ryan has urged Coalition MPs to “put your masks on” as a retort to jeering during a question about the heightened health risks of repeated COVID-19 infections.

The quip lays bare the dichotomy that has emerged between opposing sides of the chamber regarding their attitudes to masks, with the vast majority of Coalition MPs opting not to wear them, while almost all government MPs are.

“COVID-19 infections in this country are at a record high and increasing. Can the minister please explain how he proposes to manage the oncoming national significant burden of disability and chronic illness from repeated infection with COVID-19?” Ryan asked, adding “put your masks on” in response to being interrupted.

Health Minister Mark Butler supported the sentiment of Labor MP Dr Ananda-Rajah during her first speech in saying Australians needed to “come to grips” with long COVID.

“Long COVID is not easy to diagnose or treat. The medical literature already reports more than 200 different symptoms being logged, most commonly involving fatigue, shortness of breath and what people are calling brain fog,” he said, adding people should wear masks indoors if they were unable to social distance.