Australia news LIVE: UK judges defer Julian Assange extradition ruling; Labor rams through latest High Court fix

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has accused Coalition finance spokeswoman of sounding crazy when accused of trying to keep information from the public about detainees.

This masthead revealed one of the nation’s most powerful public servants blindsided O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles by releasing key new details about ex-detainees’ criminal records after the High Court’s landmark decision overturning indefinite detention.

The 17-page document on February 12 revealed of the 149 former detainees, seven had previously been convicted of murder or attempted murder, 37 of sexual offences and 72 of assault and violent offending, kidnapping or armed robbery.

O’Neil and Giles hoped to keep the document from public scrutiny, according to seven government sources who spoke to this masthead on background, planning instead for the recently appointed Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster to provide verbal answers to Liberal Senator James Paterson’s questions late in the afternoon.

Speaking on Seven’s Sunrise this morning, O’Neil said she did not direct a public servant to withhold information.

“Our government’s really committed to transparency, the information was requested of government, government provided the information to the public so I’m not actually really sure where this story has come from and what it’s all about,” she said.

Speaking on a panel, Liberal senator Jane Hume accused O’Neil of creating chaos and incompetence when it comes to managing the detainees.

“Now today it’s not just chaos, not just incompetence, but potentially conspiracy to deceive too and I think Clare the question for you here is did either you, did anyone in your office, did anyone in your government, direct a public servant to either delay or to keep confidential information that had been asked by the Australian public, by the Senate?” Hume asked.

O’Neil responded accusing Hume of “hyperventilating”, saying the line of questioning was silly.

“You’re actually sound crazy right now,” O’Neil said.

“I didn’t direct a public servant to do this, this is a little bit of a silly line of questioning … the information was requested of the government and the government provided the information to the public, so I’m not sure what the alleged conspiracy is coming from Jane this morning.”

A fresh batch of official consumer price data will hopefully reveal more progress on easing but still painful cost-of-living pressures.

The February consumer price index data, a key but incomplete measure of inflation, is due from the Australian Bureau of Statistics today.

In January, the monthly index held steady at 3.4 per cent annually in a result that was weaker than economists were expecting.

While the monthly release contains valuable price information, it only captures some of the basket of goods and services in the quarterly report.

Earlier this week, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the monthly numbers tended to bounce around.

He warned the monthly indicator could tick up or down a little but the overall direction of travel for inflation was “welcome and encouraging”.

Inflation has been moderating from its peak in late 2022 but even with an aggressive round of interest rate hikes aimed at softening economic activity, it is still above the Reserve Bank’s two-three per cent target range.

AAP

Turning now to Energy Minister Chris Bowen, who says he is confident that changes to fuel efficiency standards won’t result in vehicle price rises.

He was asked the issue on ABC News Breakfast this morning, and whether he believed the standards which aims to mandate lower carbon emissions for about 1.2 million new vehicles sold each year.

“That’s not been the case anywhere else in the world,” Bowen said.

He was asked if he was confident about it, and replied: “yes”.

“That hasn’t happened anywhere else in the world. It wasn’t the case for the preferred model. It’s not the case for the model we put out yesterday,” he said.

Bowen said it was about allowing Australians to have better choices.

“ So many Australians tell me they want a chance to buy an EV or hybrid, but there are not enough affordable models in Australia for them to choose from,” he said.

“Other Australians say they’re not quite ready for that, but they’d like a more efficient petrol vehicle.“

The energy and climate change minister said Australia and Russia were the only two countries without the standards, and that needed to change.

Labor’s push to speed up big gas project approvals has put its long-awaited fuel efficiency standards at risk, with the Greens threatening to withhold their support for the scheme to cut car emissions unless Resources Minister Madeleine King backs down.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said yesterday, King was a “roadblock” to the government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which is likely to rely on crossbench support after the Coalition dubbed it a “ute tax” and warned it would push up the cost of new vehicles.

“If Labor really values the NVES bill, Madeline King should withdraw her blatant attempt to ignore First Nations voices and fast-track climate-destroying gas projects,” Bandt said.

King’s bill to reform offshore gas assessments, which is expected to have Coalition backing, was set to be debated in the Senate this week but has been paused amid fierce opposition from Indigenous leaders and the Greens.

Here’s more on this issue.

People who refuse to return to their birth country because they fear persecution will be jailed for up to five years if they do not co-operate with moves to deport them under Labor’s accelerated plans to head off a wave of legal challenges to immigration detention.

Crossbenchers in the lower house warned that Australia would send people to their deaths under Immigration Minister Andrew Giles’ latest bill, which also denies visas to people from nations that don’t accept unwilling deportees and allows the Immigration Department to reverse protection findings after they are granted.

In the third tranche of legislation sped through federal parliament in response to November’s High Court ruling that released 152 immigration detainees, Labor bowed to Coalition demands in order to pass the bill, agreeing to an 11th-hour inquiry for senators to grill top officials.

Late last year the government and opposition united to pass laws requiring former detainees to wear electronic tracking anklets and allowing judges to re-detain the worst offenders.

Catch up on what else happened here.

A British court has asked the US government for assurances that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would be offered constitutional protections granted to American citizens and would not face the death penalty before it rules on whether he can appeal against his extradition.

Two High Court judges said on Tuesday they would grant the Australian-born Assange a new appeal unless Washington authorities gave further assurances about what will happen to him, meaning the protracted legal drama – which has dragged on for more than a decade – would continue.

The court on Tuesday ruled that Assange could pursue his appeal at a full hearing, unless the US provided “satisfactory assurances” on the questions of whether he was able to rely on the First Amendment of the US Constitution – which protects freedom of speech in the US – that he is not prejudiced at trial by reason of his nationality, and whether he could be subject to the death penalty.

Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson ruled Assange had “a real prospect” of success on three of the nine grounds of appeal, and it had given the US government an opportunity to offer assurances that would address those grounds of appeal. A decision on the appeal has been adjourned to May 20.

Read more about what happened here.

Good morning, and thanks for your company.

It’s Wednesday, March 27. I’m Caroline Schelle, and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s what you need to know before we get started:

• A controversial reform to offshore gas project assessments, which was expected to be debated in the Senate this week, has been paused.
• People who refuse to return to their birth country because they fear persecution will be jailed for up to five years if they do not co-operate with moves to deport them, under new proposed legislation.
• One of the nation’s most powerful public servants blindsided her ministers by releasing the criminal records of former detainees after the landmark High Court decision.
• State premiers stepped up their rebellion over the federal government’s plan to overhaul the $42 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme, claiming they have no idea about the costs they face.
• Melbourne and Sydney together added more than 300,000 residents in a single year as students and other migrants flooded back into the country.
• And in major overseas news, a UK court wants the US government to provide assurances WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would not face the death penalty before it rules on his extradition appeal.
• In the US, rescue workers are still trying to find at least six maintenance workers who were on a Baltimore bridge when it collapsed.