HOUSE OF CARDS

A dramatic day in the federal Senate has seen the chamber vote just after midnight this morning to extend the cashless welfare card in four largely-Indigenous towns, as well as a plan to make it voluntary for people currently on the basics card in the Northern Territory.

The new version of the law will today re-enter the House of Representatives after the Morrison government initially attempted to make the card, which quarantines 80% of welfare recipients payments for use on select items, permanent in the four trial sites and compulsory in the Northern Territory.

However, as The Sydney Morning Herald explains, opposition from Independent senator Rex Patrick — and a grassroots campaign that got #RejectCDCRex trending on Twitter — saw the government make a last-minute deal with Centre Alliance for a new, reduced extension of the scheme, which would have otherwise ended in the new year.

PS: Just a month after the government shelled out $1.2 billion for robodebt, ABC reports that private debt collectors working for Centrelink currently face penalties if they are unable to claw back enough cash.

PPS: And tucked away in that packed Senate day was the first report from the COVID-19 inquiry, which The Guardian explains found the Morrison government failed to anticipate crippling staff shortages and high PPE demand.

BETTER OFF WITH BETTER OFF

With parliament facing its final sitting day of the year today, The Australian ($) reports that Attorney-General Christian Porter is prepared to dump a proposed, temporary dismantling of the “better off overall test” — changes that Crikey explained yesterday would stand to further undermine wages — in an attempt to secure the omnibus industrial relations package’s passage.

The change may help prevent the Coalition from facing a repeat of yesterday’s fight in the Senate, and help secure other changes ACTU Secretary Sally McManus says would make it nearly “impossible” for casual workers to force employers to eventually classify them as permanent and would “retrospectively takes away rights they would have to paid leave”.

PS: In a nice bit of synchronicity, the ABC reports that the ATO’s latest corporate tax transparency data reveals hundreds of companies pay no tax in Australia.

JUDGEMENT OF PARIS

According to The Guardian, the Morrison government will today release updated greenhouse gas emissions projections that claim Australia could just miss its (relatively weak) 2030 Paris target of 26-28% on 2005 levels by 56 million tonnes.

Officials have apparently revised down projections that last year found Australia would only hit the target with the government’s made-up “carryover credits” scheme (which, for anyone who missed that brain fart, involved transferring gains from Australia’s disproportionately-generous 2020 Kyoto target).

Scott Morrison reportedly intended to flag a shift away from reliance on that policy at a pre-Glasgow climate summit this weekend, but the fact it is reserved for countries with ambitious, or even tangible emissions goals means there’s a decent chance he won’t get a speaking slot.

PS: While Angus Taylor’s claims Australia will beat its Paris target have been repeated verbatim by The Australian ($), clean tech analyst Ketan Joshi has emphasised that, as no data has been published, “for now: assume full deception and deviousness, because these data sets get delayed for days for good reasons”.

VALE MUNGO MACCALLUM

Legendary Australian political journalist Mungo MacCallum has passed away at the age of 78, roughly a week after he announced his retirement due to ill health.

News of MacCallum’s passing comes via his editor at The Monthly, Nick Feik, who announced on Twitter:

For more on someone whose journalism will leave an irreparable hole in the industry, see Crikey’s tribute on this retirement last week, Kerry O’Brien’s 2019 profile, or MacCallum’s final piece at The Monthly, ‘“Morrison’s climate flip: Australia has a lot of catching up to do on emissions reduction”, published November 30.