40,000 homes lose power in Queensland heatwave
Andrew Messenger
About 40,000 households lost power yesterday during Queensland’s highest ever peak demand, but the energy minister insists power supply held up.
Mick de Brenni told ABC local radio it was simply so hot on Monday that some transmission infrastructure tripped and failed to avoid causing more damage.
A surprise thunderstorm hit the Cherbourg area yesterday evening, after a day when temperatures hit the high 30s across south-east Queensland and the high 40s in the west of the state. With humidity, the apparent temperature hit a sweltering 41C in Brisbane.
De Brenni:
We did see some overheating of some assets.
No lack of supply but the severe weather – that storm that came through, and that severe heat – did have some impacts across some suburbs.
The state exceeded its record of 10,070 megawatts of peak demand yesterday. The Australian Energy Market Operator’s price and demand chart says the state used 11,068 megawatts of power at peak at about 4.50pm.
De Brenni:
We didn’t just surpass the previous record we absolutely smashed it.
About a 10% of increase of demand for power, but supply got us through, and that’s in part due to a large amount of solar.
He said storms, lightning strikes and wind were also responsible for some failure of transmission infrastructure.
Key events
Jonathan Yerushalmy
Australia ‘supporting’ latest strikes against Houthis
Australia has supported the US and UK militaries in an additional round of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
The US Pentagon detailed the eight new strikes in a joint statement with Britain, as well as from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, which supported the latest military action, the statement said.
These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners.
You can read more details in our Middle East live blog below:
Paul Karp
‘We understand the importance of tax cuts’: Richard Marles
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, also addressed the possibility that Labor could trim the stage-three tax cuts to make them less generous for high-income earners and give more to low- and middle-income earners.
Marles said:
Look our position hasn’t changed but let me say this: in all that we do, in every decision that we take, we are utterly concerned about easing the cost-of-living pressures on middle Australia and every decision we continue to take that will happen.
We understand the importance of tax cuts. We’ve said that all along. But let me make this clear: we are completely focused on easing the cost-of-living pressures on middle Australia. We’ve been doing that since the moment that we have been elected and we’ve seen that through a number of initiatives, be it cheaper medicine [or] downward pressure on power processes.
The inflationary environment around the globe has persisted, and that is putting pressure on middle Australia. We will be entirely focused in all the decisions we take on easing that.
We shouldn’t assume that trimming stage three is the only way to deliver cost-of-living relief. Labor could be preparing to offer some form of stage three plus further relief for middle Australia.
Circling back to the pro-Palestine blockade being staged at the Port of Melbourne:
(We had more details on this earlier in the blog here and here).
Victorian police have confirmed that nine people were charged and bailed for trespassing, while one person is expected to be charged on summons with criminal damage.
Activists have been at the Port of Melbourne since Friday, staging a blockade to prevent an Israeli-owned shipping company Zim from unloading. It has been forced to anchor in the bay.
As the blockade escalated yesterday, police confirmed it used pepper spray on protestors. Activists have condemned the “police violence” throughout “the last [four] days” as well as the “excessive use of force”.
In an earlier statement, Victoria police acknowledged “this protest action is of concern to some employees” with a peak of 200 police in attendance.
Penny Wong responds to Netanyahu comments
Paul Karp
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has responded to Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments rejecting a two-state solution.
Asked about Netanyahu’s comments, Wong said:
As you know I just returned from the Middle East. And [what] I want to say is that has reaffirmed my view and the government’s view that any pathway to peace requires progress towards an independent Palestinian state. And that is the best route to ensure peace, security and dignity for the Palestinian people and also for Israelis … [The government’s position] is that a pathway towards peace requires progress towards an independent Palestinian state.
So it was implicitly a rejection of the remarks without particularly singling Netanyahu out for any criticism, unlike assistant foreign affairs minister Tim Watts who said the remarks were “deeply disappointing”.
Members of Labor’s caucus have gone much further still. Julian Hill has said the implication of Netanyahu’s comments are “that he is hellbent on formalising a policy of apartheid”; while Maria Vamvakinou has said it shows he is no partner for peace.
Salaries on the rise, outstripping inflation
Advertised salaries for prospective employees have grown above inflation, despite a sluggish end to the year and cost of living pressures, AAP reports.
Data from employment website Seek revealed the growth of advertised salaries on its platform rose by 4.5% in the year to December 2023, outpacing inflation which stands at 4.3%.
While the growth was large in the past 12 months, advertised salaries increased by 0.9% in the last quarter of 2023.
It was an even smaller uptick for monthly changes, with just a 0.3% increase from between November and December.
Seek senior economist Matt Cowgill said the growth in wages was reassuring:
Finally, advertised salaries are rising faster than prices once again. After a long period of declining real wages, the Seek advertised salary index is now rising in real terms.
Growth held steady at 0.3% each month in the final quarter of 2023. Although this is solid growth, it’s a clear slowdown from the previous quarter, when Fair Work Commission decisions delivered a bump to wages growth.
The commission increased the national minimum wage to $23.23 an hour in July, with award minimum wages rising by 5.75%.
Paul Karp
How will cyber sanctions hit their target?
Earlier, at the press conference, officials responded to questions about what practical impact the cyber sanctions will have on the alleged hacker Aleksandr Gennadievich Ermakov.
(He is named in the sanctions notice posted on the government’s legislative instruments website overnight).
Abigail Bradshaw, the head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre, said that cyber criminals “trade in anonymity”.
It is a selling quality, and so naming and identifying [him] with the confidence that we have from our technical analysis will, most certainly, do harm to [his] cyber business.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said anonymity is cyber criminals’ “calling card”.
Australia is the first to name Ermakov globally, which Marles said would have a “very significant impact” on him.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said that part of the sanctions are financial, making it an offence to use or deal with his assets including cryptocurrency, so the government expects this will have “financial consequences” for Ermakov.
Business ticks off expanded paid parental leave scheme
Business groups have backed a proposal to increase the number of weeks offered under the paid parental leave scheme, AAP reports.
The federal government introduced legislation last year which would extend the scheme by two weeks each year from 1 July, to eventually reach 26 weeks in mid-2026.
The number of weeks reserved for each parent will increase to four weeks in a bid to encourage sharing of care and household responsibilities.
Under the legislation, both parents would be able to take four weeks off at the same time from 2026.
Advocacy organisation The Parenthood said increasing paid parental leave will enable more women to go back to work after having children:
Extended paid parental leave will enhance gender equality through the redistribution of unpaid care and increase women’s workforce participation.
The Parenthood recommended the introduction of a six-week “use it or lose it” provision in the expanded scheme to incentivise men to access it.
In its submission, the organisation said the policy change was a “huge win” but was still short of the more than 50 weeks that families in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have access to.
Stephanie Convery
Homelessness services providers stretched
Mission Australia’s chief executive Sharon Callister said frontline staff at Mission Australia say the situation is the worst they’ve seen it.
She said many are finding it near impossible to help vulnerable people find safe and secure accommodation because the housing stock isn’t available.
As we head towards the federal government’s cost-of-living caucus this week and the May federal budget, we urge the prime minister and treasurer to invest far more in the imminent national housing and homelessness plan if we are to have any chance of ending homelessness in Australia and turning these worsening statistics around.
Meanwhile, Homelessness Australia’s Kate Colvin says homelessness services providers are “being asked to make impossible choices, like turning away a teenager fleeing an abusive home because a mum with young kids has also walked through the door”.
This is traumatic for everyone and it shouldn’t be happening in a wealthy nation like Australia.
For homelessness services to respond to everyone needing urgent homelessness help, a significant funding boost is needed.
Stephanie Convery
Mission Australia CEO calls on government to lift income support payments to at least $78 a day
Homelessness groups have been responding to the Report on Government Services this morning, urging more funding and support for people in poverty and housing insecurity.
As we mentioned earlier, that report has shown homelessness is a persistent issue across the country, and the cost of rent in the private market is keeping people in financial stress even for those receiving commonwealth rent assistance payments.
Mission Australia’s chief executive Sharon Callister has called for increases to income support payments to help people keep their heads above water.
Callister said:
There isn’t enough accommodation options for everyone who needs it, and these days, finding a rental that’s affordable is like finding a needle in a haystack.
This is why the federal government must increase commonwealth rent assistance by at least 50% and lift income support payments to at least $78 a day to keep people who are in need out of poverty and help people in rental stress avoid homelessness.
Andrew Messenger
Queensland energy minister Mick de Brenni spoke to the Energy Queensland CEO last night, who has asked the chief engineer for a review of the state’s network settings and infrastructure are appropriate in case of a future peak.
He said:
What we’re not seeing is a system-wide failure, what we’re seeing is a localised tripping of some of those assets.
We will get to the bottom of that. We’ll make improvements where we possibly can.
Most energy users have got power back this morning with Energex crews working to restore the rest, he said.
40,000 homes lose power in Queensland heatwave
Andrew Messenger
About 40,000 households lost power yesterday during Queensland’s highest ever peak demand, but the energy minister insists power supply held up.
Mick de Brenni told ABC local radio it was simply so hot on Monday that some transmission infrastructure tripped and failed to avoid causing more damage.
A surprise thunderstorm hit the Cherbourg area yesterday evening, after a day when temperatures hit the high 30s across south-east Queensland and the high 40s in the west of the state. With humidity, the apparent temperature hit a sweltering 41C in Brisbane.
De Brenni:
We did see some overheating of some assets.
No lack of supply but the severe weather – that storm that came through, and that severe heat – did have some impacts across some suburbs.
The state exceeded its record of 10,070 megawatts of peak demand yesterday. The Australian Energy Market Operator’s price and demand chart says the state used 11,068 megawatts of power at peak at about 4.50pm.
De Brenni:
We didn’t just surpass the previous record we absolutely smashed it.
About a 10% of increase of demand for power, but supply got us through, and that’s in part due to a large amount of solar.
He said storms, lightning strikes and wind were also responsible for some failure of transmission infrastructure.
Clare O’Neil says alleged hackers ‘cowards’ and ‘scumbags’
Home affairs minister Clare O’Neil was next to speak at the press conference, and signalled today as a “very important day for cyber security in the country”.
This is the first time an Australian government has identified a cyber-criminal and imposed cyber-sanctions of this kind and it won’t be the last.
Medibank in my view was the single most devastating cyber-attack we have experienced as a nation. We all went through it, literally millions of people having personal data about themselves, their family members, taken from them, and cruelly placed online for others to see.
It helped us … understand the enormous cost this problem will have to all of us as Australians, if we don’t step up to this challenge. It also showed us something about the calibre of people we are dealing with in terms of this problem on the other side.
O’Neil labelled alleged hackers as “cowards” and “scumbags” who “hide behind technology”.
Today the Australian government is saying that when we put our minds to it, we’ll unveil who you are, and we’ll make sure you are accountable.
Imposing Magnitsky-style sanctions laws against Russian citizen ‘unprecedented step’, Marles says
Speaking to the media, deputy prime minister Richard Marles said today’s move in imposing Magnitsky-style sanctions laws against a Russian citizen is a “hugely significant and unprecedented step”.
He credited the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) for their investigation to identify the alleged hacker Aleksandr Gennadievich Ermakov, as named in the sanctions notice posted on the government’s legislative instruments website overnight.
Marles:
The sanctions that are put in place on Alexander Ermakov today and publicly naming him will have an enormous impact on his activities and send a very strong message to cyber-criminals around the world that we mean business …
Medibank have been incredibly open in the way they have engaged with ASD. This has been fundamentally important in allowing ASD to do its work. And it’s a really good example of how companies being willing to share this really sensitive information with ASD allows the investigations to occur in a way that’s ended up with the result that we have today.
Wong announces further counter-terrorism and financing sanctions
Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong also announced further counter-terrorism and financing sanctions on 12 persons and three entities who are linked to Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad:
This is concurrent with further sanctions imposed on Hamas-linked targets by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Penny Wong gives press conference about sanctions imposed on Aleksandr Gennadievich Ermakov over Medibank breach
Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong is giving a press conference about the cyber sanctions used on a Russian individual for his alleged role in the Medibank breach.
The sanctions notice posted on the government’s legislative instruments website overnight says the measure is a response to the “Medibank Significant Cyber Incident 2022”.
The government’s notice names Aleksandr Gennadievich Ermakov, a Russian citizen born on 16 May 1990, as the person facing targeted financial sanctions and Australian travel bans.
The document says this person is also known as Alexander Ermakov, GustaveDore, aiiis_ermak, blade_runner or JimJones.
Speaking at the press conference, Wong said:
As you might recall, more than nine million records of Australians, including names, dates of birth, Medicare numbers and sensitive information was stolen in the 2022 attack and the majority published on the dark web. It was an egregious violation, it impacted some of the most vulnerable members of the Australian community.
I can confirm that thanks to the hard work of the Australian Signals Directorate and the AFP, we have linked Russian citizen and cyber-criminal Alexander Ermakov to the attack.
– with Daniel Hurst
More on the 10 arrests at the Port of Melbourne amid a pro-Palestine blockade against Zim:
In a statement, Victoria police acknowledged “this protest action is of concern to some employees” with a peak of 200 police in attendance.
Police said some employees have chosen not to enter past the protestors despite “vehicle access to the dock [being] maintained during the protests”.
That is why we have made numerous offers to assist to [the Victorian International Container Terminal] and the Port of Melbourne to get employees to and from work via alternate routes.
While these offers to assist were declined on Saturday and Sunday morning, they were supported on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, we continue VICT employees to access their workplace.
Police described the protest activity as “extremely dynamic” and having escalated in recent days – “so too has our response”.
While there is no policing jurisdiction in the world that has hundreds of police on standby should there be a sudden surge in protest activity, to suggest there were not enough police officers at the dock is simply untrue.
Victoria Police can only arrest people for protesting once the property owner requests that they leave. This happened for the first time on Monday.
Ten people arrested at Port of Melbourne blockade against Zim
Ten people have been arrested during an ongoing pro-Palestine blockade being staged at the Port of Melbourne by activists.
Throughout the day yesterday, police said 10 arrests were made – nine people were arrested for trespassing and one arrested for criminal damage.
This comes as activists have been at the Port of Melbourne since Friday, staging a blockade to prevent an Israeli-owned shipping company Zim from unloading. It has been forced to anchor in the bay.
Activists said in a statement that it “condemn[ed] the police violence today and throughout the last [four] days”, including the use of pepper spray and “excessive use of force”.
Many dock workers were stood down without pay for refusing to work in unsafe conditions. The community has donated generously to cover the pay their bosses have docked from them. We thank them for their solidarity.
Police confirmed the use of pepper spray on protestors. As of 7.30am AEDT police could not confirm if any charges had been laid yet.
In a statement, Melbourne Activist Legal Support said it would be making a detailed statement of concern in the next 24-48 hours and releasing this to police, Victorian Equal Opportunity and the Human Rights Commission.
Paul Karp
Albanese confirms intent to give middle Australia cost-of-living relief
The prime minister Anthony Albanese has spoken to KIIS FM, again all but confirming that middle-income earners will be given more cost-of-living relief this week.
But the prime minister is still noncommittal about whether stage-three tax cuts will remain in their current legislated form or could be modified.
Albanese said:
I support tax cuts and everyone will be getting a tax cut. You will always be looked after, Kyle, because I know that you’re struggling.
Look, what we need to do across the board – what we’re doing is looking at how we can help low- and middle-income earners. Middle Australia particularly is doing it really tough … people who have a mortgage. So we’re looking at ways in which we can provide assistance to them.
We did that last year with a range of measures. People are benefiting from cheaper medicines cheap, childcare, the energy price relief plan but we’re looking at other ways as well, are there other ways that we can provide support for people?