Good night you good things
I think that will be our serve for today. Thank you very much for your company, you’ve been marvellous.
Let’s wrap Wednesday.
- Two momentous things happened: the government decided Australia would extend military action beyond Iraq into Syria, and it also decided we would take 12,000 displaced persons fleeing that brutal conflict.
- Labor supports both decisions, despite the reservations of some caucus members about the perils of becoming embroiled in the Syrian conflict.
- The prime minister defined Australia’s mission in Syria as securing “a Middle East comprised of governments which don’t commit genocide against their own people, nor permit terrorism against ours.” A huge task. The commitment is open ended, and the prime minister has not ruled out putting boots on the ground.
- The chief of the defence force Mark Binskin said it was likely Australia would be involved in airstrikes in Syria within a week. Just as well. The Daily Telegraph had earlier in the day quoted an intelligence source indicating the prime minister had “told defence chiefs that if and when the decision was made, he wanted at least one air strike by the end of this week.” Make of that what you will.
- The cost of resettling 12,000 Syrians in Australia is expected to be $700m, with the first people expected in the country by Christmas. Priority will be given to women, children, families, and persecuted minorities.
- Apart from those things, the government continued to argue Labor was running a racist xenophobic campaign against the China free trade agreement, and Labor continued to argue the prime minister would be better placed not throwing jibes and sitting down to talk through concerns about labour market testing.
- LNP backbencher George Christensen took his turn on the nuff nuff roster and made several attempts to make inflammatory comments about refugees taking jobs in the hope of being sensational. Cory Bernardi evidently needed a rest.
There was more, but that’s the main business. Have a lovely evening. We’ll be back, bright eyed and bushy tailed, tomorrow morning.
In the event you’d like to watch Nick McKim’s first speech, here’s some video.
A lovely sequence in the ‘welcome to Canberra’ ritual that follows first speeches.
The prime minister has zipped for the Pacific Islands Forum but recorded an interview with the ABC’s 7.30 program before departure.
WATCH PM @TonyAbbottMHR's response on handling of the 'budget emergency'. See the full interview on #abc730. #auspol https://t.co/C0BgLWr6H6
— abc730 (@abc730) September 9, 2015
Here’s a little teaser.
Host Leigh Sales asks the prime minister why he hasn’t fixed the budget emergency given he was elected on that platform.
Tony Abbott:
Well I don’t accept that. The boats have stopped ...
Q: We are talking about the economy ..
The Senate has this evening shot down the government’s attempts to make jobseekers under the age of 25 wait an additional four weeks before accessing unemployment payments. Labor and the Greens were against the bill, meaning that the government needed the support of six of the eight crossbenchers to pass it. The majority of the crossbenchers opposed the four-week waiting period and blocked it in the Senate.
The social services minister, Scott Morrison, on Wednesday pledged to stick by the bill. “We remain absolutely committed to the measures we’ve brought to the Parliament on this issue,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra. “We do not believe that we should be sending a message to young people that it should be ok to go from the school gate to the Centrelink front door, and that’s why we’re bringing these measures. Labor and others may choose to oppose that, and that is their democratic right,” the minister continued. “The Coalition remains absolutely committed to this policy.”
Updated
A coincidence of scheduling, but at the same time as McKim’s first speech fellow Tasmanian Andrew Nikolic, the Liberal MP, is shouting in the other chamber about greens and their litigious activist mates. The House is considering the government’s changes to environmental regulations.
There’s a long ode to Tasmania from McKim: Tasmanians have space, supportive communities, safe public places, craft beer, honey, jobs in the digital and creative economies – a state which will be powered by renewable energy by 2020 – a place where you can go for a surf after work or a walk in the bush. Tasmanians have fought to protect our assets, he says, and they will go on fighting. The sustainable century is Tasmania’s time.
Nick McKim’s contribution is an interesting speech thus far, spanning political leadership, the sharing economy, refugees, marriage equality, climate change (we must keep the coal in the ground and reintroduce a price on carbon. We must reject the false choice between jobs and environmental protection.) Family violence. (There is an epidemic of men’s violence. Violence against women is a problem caused by men and it won’t be solved until we men man up and take responsibility.) A lack of corporate social responsibility. He notes the madness of politics over time handing power from the chambers of democracy to unaccountable boardrooms.
Nick McKim, who has replaced the former Greens leader Christine Milne in the senate, is making his first speech this evening. That’s getting underway now.
My colleague Lenore Taylor has been to a background briefing with senior officials on the resettlement program. The main points from that are:
- The first of the extra 12,000 Syrian refugees should arrive in Australia before Christmas as Australian officials crank up a $700m process to select, check and resettle them.
- Senior officials told reporters the aim was to resettle all of them by the middle of next year – although in reality it could take a little longer.
- Interviews would start in the camps and communities in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, with health, character and security checks including taking biometric information.
- The refugees will be required to complete an “Australian values statement” and receive “cultural orientation” before leaving for Australia where they will receive resettlement assistance and be eligible for Medicare and social security benefits.
Stephen Conroy says Australia’s mission is not about the Assad regime. It is about disrupting and degrading Isis forces in defence of the people of Iraq. He says what happens in Syria over the long term is a function of a major diplomatic effort by key global powers, including Russia.
We shouldn’t try and think that our intervention across the border is going to resolve any of those issues.
The shadow defence minister Stephen Conroy is on Sky News now being quizzed about Labor’s position. Labor used to be concerned about the legal basis for military action in Syria, but not now.
Conroy:
We’re comfortable. We’ve talked to some independent legal experts and we’ve taken advice from the government.
We are comfortable that the legal foundation is there.
Just a bit more on Labor’s special caucus meeting this afternoon to discuss Syrian military action. It began at 1.15pm, so there wasn’t much time before question time at 2pm to lock in Labor’s position. One caucus member who raised concerns about the expansion of the mission said the meeting was “subdued” because people acknowledged it was a difficult situation: “People came down on either side but at the end of the day a decision was made and we live with it.”
The meeting began with speeches by the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, and the foreign affairs spokeswoman, Tanya Plibersek.
It is understood at least seven MPs expressed concerns, including Melissa Parke, Doug Cameron, Alannah MacTiernan, Jill Hall, Andrew Giles, Pat Conroy and Sue Lines.
Shorten gave voice to some of those concerns in his subsequent speech to parliament, when the Labor leader pledged support for the mission but sought a number of assurances including a better explanation of the long-term strategy for the Middle East and notification of the UN security council.
He’s on a roll. Coalition backbencher, George Christensen, has this afternoon defended his comments that Syrian Christians should get preference in any refugee resettlement. “We don’t have Christians that are willing to wage Jihad on Australia,” Christensen told Sky News. He said that newly resettled refugees should be subject to a “values test”.
“If they actively say to someone, ‘I believe Sharia should be the law of the land’, and ‘your government should be overturned and they are all infidels’, well maybe they should seek a Muslim country to repatriate in, or to seek refuge in,” Christensen said.
That toggle and chase was not entirely elegant, so I didn’t quite catch Liberal MP Philip Ruddock’s contribution in the MPI debate. In the event you’d like to catch up, here’s some video.
Moderate boilover at special caucus meeting
Now apologies for misleading you earlier. I said the issue of Syria had not gone to the Labor caucus. I was wrong. There was a special caucus meeting today held to consider Labor’s position on the military deployment.
A number of MPs expressed reservations about Labor supporting the government: Melissa Parke, Doug Cameron, Alannah MacTiernan, Jill Hall, Andrew Giles, Pat Conroy, Sue Lines.
In general terms the concerns from Labor folks ranged from the lack of UN sanction for the action, concern about the objectives of the mission, the legalities – all the things you’d expect to be raised.
Shorten has evidently pressed ahead in any case.
Updated
Just for the record.
The #Senate did not agree to suspend its standing orders. Normal business now resumes
— Australian Senate (@AuSenate) September 9, 2015
Plibersek says Bill Shorten has already indicated Labor will support the extension of military action into Syria, but we need to be realistic.
There is no simple solution to the problems in Syria. There must be a political solution that we play our part in delivering, and there must be a greater humanitarian response from the world.
Sorry I missed the tail end of Julie Bishop in the toggle between the two chambers, but there wasn’t new information. It was a snapshot of actions to date.
Labor’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek is speaking now. She’s welcoming today’s announcements concerning humanitarian relief, but she’s bemoaning the absence of action over recent years when the conflict was escalating.
Why has it taken Australia so long?
The Greens motion calling for a debate in parliament on military action in Syria is doomed to fail, with both the government and Labor set to vote it down.
Government Senate leader, Eric Abetz, said that “the last thing that Australian service men and women need is the “strategic input of the Australian Greens”.
“Sometimes evil has to be fought with force,” Abetz added, referring to the influence of Isis.
Shadow defence minister, Stephen Conroy, acknowledged that there needs to be a parliamentary discussion on military involvement, but pushed this afternoon instead for reports from the defence minister. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a regular update from the minister,” Conroy told the chamber.
The foreign minister Julie Bishop is taking her turn in the debate. She’s outlining the government’s various policies on Syria and Iraq.
"It is not our role to weigh one human soul against another" says Bill Shorten, but help those most in need"regardless of who they pray to."
— Karen Middleton (@KarenMMiddleton) September 9, 2015
Back to the House, Shorten thus far is working through the dot points he gave us at the start of question time. I’ll post them again, just in case you are only now tuning in.
- ADF operations in Syria must be constrained by the proposed legal basis of Iraq’s collective self-defence.
- We call on the government to confirm that any Australian use of force will be limited to that necessary to halt or prevent the cross border attacks on Iraq or to defend Australian personnel, be proportionate to that threat, and be subject to international law.
- The government must provide assurance that an effective combat search and rescue capability will be in place to meet the risks evident for any RAAF personnel downed in hostile territory.
- This assurance should precede any ADF operations in Syrian airspace.
- The government’s overall approach must include a substantial commitment to address the deepening humanitarian crisis in the Middle East, and in Syria in particular. Labor welcomes the government’s announcement of an additional 12,000 humanitarian refugee places to assist people affected by the crisis in Syria. Labor also welcomes the announcement of $44m in additional humanitarian relief funding for the crisis in Syria, but we call on the Government to match Labor’s proposal of $100m in additional funding given the enormous need.
- The government must formally notify the United Nations Security Council about Australia’s decision, including our assessment of the legal basis for action, and advocate strongly for the UN to renew efforts around a long-term, multilateral strategy to resolve the Syrian conflict.
- The government must outline to parliament their long term strategy regarding Australia’s changing role in the defence of Iraq and allow for appropriate parliamentary discussion – consistent with the Government’s prior commitment to keep Parliament updated on national security matters.
Shorten notes the nation is not of one mind when it comes to military action in Syria. But he says this action, in 2015, is different from other actions in the Middle East in the past.
This is not the second gulf war and we are not in Iraq seeking regime change.
He says Australia should not undertake this deployment for alliance management alone (he means just to please the United States.) He says the goal has to be the betterment of humanity.
Over in the Senate meanwhile, the Greens are moving a motion to suspend standing orders in order to bring on debate about Australia’s military involvement in Syria. Specifically, the party wants parliamentary approval as mandatory before troops are deployed overseas. “This should not be a captain’s call,” Greens leader Richard Di Natale told the chamber.
If you were wanting a parliamentary debate about Syria, don’t despair. The Labor leader Bill Shorten is about to expand on his thinking on this subject now, in the matter of public importance.
The Queen has now been shifted to the federation chamber courtesy of a motion from the republican Christopher Pyne, who is grinning like he thinks something might be funny.
Oh thank goodness question time over. We might get an interesting MPI.
Oh no, it’s not, Tony Abbott is paying tribute to the Queen.
Yes, he is.
Tony Abbott:
The Queen has been a beacon of stability for more than six decades.
Perhaps we could make her a dame?
Just in case you were wondering, here’s a picture of Beaker. Pat Conroy, sitting to to left of Tim Watts (left if you are looking at the screen).
A little love here for the treasurer Joe Hockey. Mr Bowers is very confused by the Watts gesture. Swan’s is more immediately comprehensible.
Manager of opposition Tony Burke makes a rare foray in his finance portfolio.
Q: In his last answer the treasurer noted not every indicator was going down. Was he referring to unemployment, which is up, or taxes as a share of GDP, which is also up?
The treasurer Joe Hockey has a good old holler about the piggy bank tax and the FBT change that hit the car industry right in the chops (that wasn’t ever implemented, just by the by) and he says Labor might like to support the free trade agreement.
Let’s do ourselves a favour and put our fingers in our ears.
It’s really bizarre, this question time – a really significant thing has happened, we will accept 12,000 refugees and extend military operations into Syria – and this question time is lumbering on with the same intra-day nonsense it always rumbles on with.
Voters tuning in, perhaps expecting to learn something of the big developments of the day, must be shaking their heads.
Inevitable when the developments have bipartisan support, but still strikes an odd note all the same.
Here’s Scott Morrison, just in case you haven’t had enough idiotic.
Here is the trade unions muppet Mr Speaker!
Labor backbencher Pat Conroy interjects.
Morrison:
I thank Beaker over there for his interjection.
(Beaker? Muppets just got specific, apparently.)
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen now asks Joe Hockey whether he is a clown (referring to a time in the past when Hockey called market analysts clowns).
Said it before, will say it again. This is #auspol
He’ll be back, some MP yelled when the Speaker acknowledged Tony Windsor in the gallery.
Manager of opposition Tony Burke doesn’t much appreciate Labor being dubbed racist by the prime minister.
Bob Katter has asked a question which contains a number of words including “your so-called free trade deal” to trade minister Andrew Robb.
Robb tells Katter the reason the wonderful deposit at the Galilee Basin hasn’t progressed is nothing to do with fly-in-fly-out workers. FIFO must have been some of the other words uttered by Katter. I’m not sure how we got to the Galilee Basin but let’s just go with it.
Ooh, look, they’re back.
Andrew Robb:
The reason is because of the sabotage by green activists.
First red, now green.
Updated
Man in blue tie asks man in red tie what he’s got against red China. This is #auspol
Updated
Tony Abbott, continuing:
He might wear a red tie. What has he got against red China?
(Red China?)
Shorten persists with labour market testing and the FTA. Abbott persists with attack being the best form of defence.
Q: Yesterday, the prime minister said that under the China FTA there is absolutely no possibility of placing any foreigner in an Australian job without labour market testing. So why does CHAFTA state at article 10.4 that neither party shall require labour market testing? Why does the prime minister keep misleading Australians about his China free trade agreement which sells out Aussie jobs?
Tony Abbott:
Mr Speaker, he just can’t help himself. He doesn’t channel Bob Hawke, he doesn’t channel Bob Carr, he doesn’t agree with Simon Crean, he doesn’t agree with the premiers of Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.
He just channels the hate speech of the CFMEU.
Question time now rolls on. The first question from Labor concerns a statement Tony Abbott made to the House yesterday.
The prime minister said yesterday: “There is absolutely no possibility of placing any foreigner in Australian job without labour market testing.”
Bill Shorten notes the department of immigration and border protection told the treaties committee on Monday that when the FTA comes into effect, engineers, nurses and trades workers will be exempt from labour market testing. (That was their evidence, in fact.) Shorten asks why the prime minister keeps misleading the public?
Tony Abbott, believing attack is the best form of defence.
I’ve got to say that quite frankly the campaign that is being waged by certain unions, aided and abetted by this leader of the opposition against the China-Australia free trade agreement – it’s not just xenophobic, frankly it is a racist campaign.
Shorten goes the assurances Labor has sought.
Labor seeks clear and specific assurances from the government and most of them have already been forthcoming, I might add.
He lists them.
- The ADF operations have to be constrained to the collective self-defence of Iraq. Because at the core of this action, this extension, is that we are acting at the request of the Iraq government and the self-defence of Iraq.
- Further,the use of force must be limited to what is necessary to halt these cross-border attacks and defend Australian personnel.
- We would also seek and have received assurances that effective combat search and rescue must be in place for our remarkable RAAF personnel who may, heaven forbid, be downed in hostile territory before operations commence.
- Further, the government should formally notify the UN Security Council of our decision and the government I believe should agree to a parliamentary debate to explain the long-term strategy for Australia’s role in Iraq.
- Australia’s military actions must be matched by renewed and redoubled international humanitarian efforts to deliver peace and stability to the entire region.
Shorten:
These are the assurances which we’ve sought.
We look forward to working through them with the government in a bipartisan way in the coming days.
And obviously it cannot be automatically construed a support for further escalation, not that any has been asked for at this point.
Bill Shorten, speaking on indulgence, confirms the ALP will support the Syrian operations.
Interesting that didn’t get a discussion in the caucus this week.
Bill Shorten:
I wish to advise that Labor will support this proportional action within international law on the basis of assisting with Iraq’s self-defence.
Abbott ends thus, in a slightly Churchillian tone, (or he’s getting hoarse from talking too much.)
Can I say, Mr Speaker, that I am proud of the work of our armed forces who, as always, have acted in our name and under our flag with courage, professionalism and commitment.
But, most of all, may I say, Mr Speaker, I am proud of our country. Today, we act decently in the best traditions of the Australian people.
More Abbott on indulgence to allow amplification of the government’s military and humanitarian announcement.
Why are we doing this, Mr Speaker? We’re doing this because people are suffering. And why are they suffering? In part they’re suffering because of the activities of the Daesh death cult.
Question time
It being 2pm.
The prime minister is speaking on indulgence.
Obviously, Mr Speaker, all of us were shocked as a nation at the disaster that we saw on our television screens, and all of us, as a nation, wanted to help. If I may say so, Mr Speaker, that is the Australian way ..
(I think I read the Australian way in the Telegraph this morning. An little echo.)
Hanging tough, in a picture. Too good not to share.
Boil the kettle, there’s just time to grab a tea bag before question time.
It’s good to be back.
A quick swerve away from Syria to cover another event currently underway in the building. Former independent MP for New England, Tony Windsor has returned to parliament house to launch the Australia Institute’s ‘Heartland’ report into support for the ABC in regional areas.
“I’m incredibly supportive, always have been, of the ABC,” Windsor told reporters as he launched the report with the member for Indi, Cathy McGowan. “There’s been a preoccupation I think in economic theory and I think it presumes that you can cut down costs by centralising services. The worst thing that can happen is that all the media comes out of Sydney.”
The report polled more than 1,400 people nationally about their support for funding of the ABC’s regional bureaus. It found 59% supported additional funding of regional news services and 55% supported more programs about regional Australia.
Reporters couldn’t help but press Windsor about if and when he may be entering politics again. “Whether I go back into politics or not doesn’t mean you can’t make a contribution,” he said, but admitted it was “good to be back” in the house.
He said the odds of him returning to politics were “51, 49” but would not say which number represented ‘yes or no’.
“I’m not going to lie, I’m considering it.” He said his message today was purely to call for more funding for the ABC “because the people are asking for it”.
Updated
Ambassador, deputy special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter ISIL; deputy assistant secretary for near eastern affairs (Iran and Iraq), Brett McGurk, says good one Australia.
Welcome.
We welcome the decision by vital partner #Australia to extend its air campaign against #ISIL terrorists to #Syria. https://t.co/oeoAE8AVY5
— Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) September 9, 2015
Greens leader Richard Di Natale isn’t welcoming the decision.
What we’ll do is we will further engage in civilian casualties, innocent casualties, innocent men, women and children will die as a result of our engagement.
We will ensure that the breeding ground terrorism, for extremism, for fanaticism, continues.
The notion that somehow we will make a positive difference to this conflict is misguided.
Updated
Labor says the refugee places must be made available this financial year
Nothing as yet from Labor on the Syrian airstrikes. The opposition has, however, released a joint statement about the humanitarian component.
Bill Shorten, Tanya Plibersek, Richard Marles.
At last, Tony Abbott has recognised that Australia has a role to play in dealing with this significant humanitarian crisis that has seen the biggest number of displaced people since the second world war. We welcome the fact that Tony Abbott has been forced to change his mind and these places will be on top of Australia’s annual humanitarian intake. Tony Abbott must commit to making these places available this financial year. It is vital that Australia offers these additional humanitarian places on a needs basis, without qualification or discrimination. Australia must be guided by the UNHCR to determine who is placed. While Labor acknowledges the Abbott government’s commitment of an extra $A44m to the UNHCR, we believe that contribution falls considerably short of what is required for this crisis.
Updated
Them’s the facts. My colleague Paul Farrell has prepared a backgrounder on the legality of action against Syria.
Here is the defence minister, Kevin Andrews, on the legal justification (which thus far, Labor has more or less accepted).
The legal basis for these operations is the collective self-defence of Iraq #auspol
— Kevin Andrews (@kevinandrewsmp) September 9, 2015
Here’s Paul on that point:
The notion of the collective self-defence of Iraq relates to a longstanding international legal principle that would permit Australia to intervene.
It’s problematic, though, because a number of significant international law cases have outlined that it can be relied on only for the defence of one state against another state – and Isis is not considered to be a state, at least not one recognised in law.
Professor of international law at Sydney University, Ben Saul, said: “It’s clear that Iraq is under armed attack by Isis, so it has a right of self-defence against them in its own territory, it’s entitled to make requests of foreign powers to assist it, but why it’s problematic is that the conventional view is that you can only use self-defence when it is by a state force.”
There has been some dispute over this application though, and Saul said the position in international law was now in flux.
After the 11 September 2001 attacks, the UN security council endorsed the US action in Afghanistan in response to the terrorist attacks. It expressly recognised the US’s right to individual self-defence in response to acts of terrorism.
Updated
What we've learned thus far
Let’s take shelter briefly from operation reaction storm to take stock of the main developments of Wednesday morning.
The five key points.
- The Abbott government has confirmed Australia will join airstrikes in Syria within the week, targeting Islamic State, not the Assad regime.
- The prime minister says the objective of the mission “is a Middle East comprised of governments which don’t commit genocide against their own people, nor permit terrorism against ours”. A very ambitious task. The commitment is open-ended, and he did not rule out putting boots on the ground.
- Australia will also take 12,000 refugees from the region, giving priority to women, children, families and persecuted minorities. The persecuted minorities will go beyond Christian groups.
- The prime minister says the 12,000 places will be permanent, and are above and beyond the quotas for the humanitarian intake of 13,750. Abbott says processing refugees will be undertaken as soon as possible, consistent with security and health checks.
- The prime minister has explained his change of mind on the humanitarian commitment – at the weekend he opposed a one-off intake, and today he unveiled one – by arguing he needed time to gather and consider advice.
Updated
Now the race the the open microphone. The defence minister, Kevin Andrews, is in the Sky News studios, Save the Children is on the ABC.
Save the Children:
It’s a good downpayment but we would have liked to have seen more.
On our assessment, a fair share of Australia’s contribution to this crisis would be in the order of $144m, so not $44m. It falls somewhat short of that.
Kevin Andrews:
This is simply about the collective self-defence of Iraq.
It will be bedlam until after question time. Hope you all packed lunch today.
Updated
Last question is an effort to come to terms with who precisely the minorities might be.
Tony Abbott:
We want to prioritise women, children, families. We want to prioritise people who are unlikely ever to be able to go back to their ancestral homes, because while, as we know, these minorities have been in this part of the world since time immemorial, it is an incredibly dangerous place, an incredibly dangerous place.
Obviously for Christians it’s a very dangerous place now but it’s a very dangerous place for anyone who doesn’t submit to the atrocious demands of the death cult.
Updated
Updated
Q: What does peace look like?
Well, the outcome that we’re working towards, along with our coalition partners, is a Middle East comprised of governments which don’t commit genocide against their own people, nor permit terrorism against ours.
That’s what we’re working towards.
This is not an attempt to build a shining city on a hill.
This is not an attempt to build a liberal pluralist market democracy overnight in the Middle East. That’s been tried and it didn’t magnificently succeed. Thus far it has not magnificently succeeded.
So our objectives are important but they’re achievable, I believe.
I think they’re vital but in a sense modest.
Q: Prime minister, could I clarify: will our aircraft be ready for deployment by the end of the week or will they actually be operational, dropping bombs etc by the end of the week?
The chief of the defence force, Mark Binskin, answers that question.
I said within a week, and for all intents and purposes they just take a 10-degree left turn when they go on task and end up over Syria so there’s no major change to be able to do these operations over eastern Syria.
Updated
Who does the prime minister consider to be an enemy combatant?
Tony Abbott:
We want to ensure we are striking at our enemies not at civilians. But nevertheless, if people are fighting for Daesh, if they are working for the death cult and they come within the rules of engagement, well, obviously, they may well feel the force of our arms.
Q: How quickly can the resettlement happen?
Tony Abbott:
We will do it as quickly as possible but the checks have to be made and I think the Australian people would expect no less of us.
The chief of the defence force, Mark Binskin, says Australia will move in quickly.
We’re looking for operations to commence within the week.
Tony Abbott is asked whether this military campaign is an open commitment, and is he concerned that Australia may be entering a wider conflict involving US forces and Russian forces?
Abbott:
Well, I don’t think there is a real risk of that. I don’t think there is a real risk of that although it is well known that Russia has been a supporter of the Assad regime. That’s been the case for years, many, many years indeed. And given the difficulty and the pressure that the Assad regime is under, it’s not really surprising that the Russians have lifted their level of support for the Assad regime.
I just want to stress that we are targeting Daesh. We are targeting the death cult. That is where our strikes will be directed. We have no legal basis at this point in time for wider strikes in Syria and we don’t intend to make wider strikes in Syria.
Do we want Assad gone? Of course we do.
Do our military operations contribute to that at this time?
No, they don’t.
Updated
Abbott is asked why he thought at the weekend that we should not expand the current humanitarian quota and three days later he’s unveiling a package with a special 12,000 intake.
The prime minister says he didn’t want to be rash.
Well, it’s important that we act with our head as well as with our heart here. I really do want to stress that and while I think we are all in the grip of grief, really, as we saw the tragedy unfolding on our television screens, the responsibility of government, the responsibility of prime ministers in particular is to act in a measured and considered way – and I didn’t want to rush into something before receiving advice.
Questions now.
Q: The extra 12,000 refugees – is there any element of a bring forward from the expansion? They’re all brand new?
Tony Abbott:
They’re all over and above the existing program and, as you know, the program is 13,750 this year and next year 16,250 the year after that and 18,750 in the final year. So this is 12,000 in addition to that.
Q: By singling out persecuted minorities, you’re sending a message to Muslims in Australia that we’re discriminating against them?
Well, look, I can certainly appreciate the importance of ensuring that that isn’t the case, Paul.
It certainly isn’t the case.
Updated
Here’s the military action. We are going after Daesh, not Assad, Abbott says.
The government has also decided to extend Australia’s current air strikes against Daesh in Iraq to Daesh targets in Syria as well.
There can be no stability and no end to the persecution and suffering in the Middle East until the Daesh death cult is degraded and ultimately destroyed.
That’s what our armed forces are doing in Iraq and we need to do it in Syria too.
As we all know, Daesh does not respect borders and its onslaught in Iraq is supported from bases in Syria. We cannot defeat Daesh in Iraq without defeating Daesh in Syria too.
I emphasise that our aircraft will be targeting Daesh, not the Assad regime, evil though it is.
Updated
Here’s the money.
The government is also announcing that we will directly pay for the support of 240,000 displaced people in countries neighbouring Syria and Iraq through the UNHCR and other agencies. This additional direct assistance will deliver food and blankets and other emergency supplies for the coming winter and is expected to cost $44m – bringing to $230m our total humanitarian contribution to the Syria/Iraq conflict.
Tony Abbott addresses reporters
The prime minister’s opening remarks confirm the new intake will be permanent places.
These will be permanent resettlement places over and above Australia’s existing humanitarian program of 13,750 this year rising to 18,750 in 3 years time.
This is a very significant increase in Australia’s humanitarian intake and it’s a generous response to the current emergency.
As I indicated yesterday, and confirmed today, our focus for these new 12,000 permanent resettlement places will be those people most in need of permanent protection – women, children and families from persecuted minorities who have sought temporary refuge in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
I do want to stress women, children and families, the most vulnerable of all.
We will move very quickly but everyone who is resettled in Australia will be subject to the usual security, health and character checks. These checks are absolutely necessary. We must play our part in this humanitarian crisis but as prime minister I must always act in our national interest to promote community safety.
TWO FLAGS = TWO ANNOUNCEMENTS. 12,000 refugees + $44million to UNHCR and bombing IS in Syria. pic.twitter.com/ZDOz610GHU
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) September 9, 2015
The prime minister will address reporters in fifteen minutes. I expect he will confirm senator Bernardi’s announcement.
Updated
The ABC has just caught the Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, who has been concerned about “opportunism” in the current wave of migration sweeping through Europe.
But today, all smiles.
For someone who’s been an advocate for persecuted Christians in the Middle East for many, many years, this is excellent news. Essentially, they’ve brought forward the increase in the humanitarian intake that was scheduled for 2018, they’ve brought it forward to today and they’re going to increase by a couple of thousand.
It is good news.
Q: The immigration minister Peter Dutton said Australians would be proud of this response, that it is a generous response. Do you think it is that?
I think it’s absolutely generous but I also think it’s in accordance with the sentiment thatAustralians are feeling at the moment. We want to do something but we want to make sure we’re acting with our heads not just our hearts. We want to make sure we’re acting in Australia’s national interest and that we’re helping those who are most vulnerable – and the most vulnerable people in the Middle East quite frankly are persecuted Christians, women, children and families.
We’ve just published a story about polling that shows a majority of the community supports increasing the intake of refugees.
Here are the key stats.
- Asked by Lonergan Research whether Australia should increase its intake of refugees, 57% answered yes and 43% said no.
- Asked to rate the Abbott government’s response to the refugee crisis in Syria and the Middle East, 54% said it was poor and 46% rated it as good.
- But despite the rapidly changing sentiment regarding refugees from Syria a clear majority still backed the government’s overall asylum policies.
- Asked whether they supported Operation Sovereign Borders, which includes turning back boats and offshore detention of asylum-seekers, 54% per cent said they backed it and 46% were opposed.
Some additional context from Lenore Taylor.
Both major parties went to the last election promising that no asylum seekers arriving by boat would be resettled in Australia and all would be processed offshore, and a Lowy Institute poll taken last year showed 71% of those surveyed backed the policy of turning back boats.
Some quick points of clarification.
- I need to make clear this new 12,000 is over and above the current humanitarian intake of 13,750.
- The party room was told the 12,000 is a one-off. According to my colleague Lenore Taylor, who has been making calls, the government will prioritise persecuted minorities, women and children and families, but there will be no religious prerequisite for the intake. (There has been debate over the past 24 hours about whether Christians should be given priority.)
- The MPs were also told on the new military engagement – eight strike fighters are currently authorised for use, but only six are currently being deployed.
- It wasn’t envisaged that the Syrian sortie would require the use of anymore aircraft. The new mission will be carried out under the overall coalition rules of engagement.
Just by the by. My colleague Daniel Hurst has asked the prime minister’s office about the Telegraph report indicating that Tony Abbott had told defence chiefs he wanted an airstrike by week’s end. They have declined to confirm.
The Coalition has also approved airstrikes in Syria.
Apologies, the number for the UNCHR and agencies is $44m, according to party sources.
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Coalition party room has agreed to accept 12 000 refugees from persecuted minorities & about $40 million for @UNrefugees #auspol @abcnews
— Eliza Borrello (@ElizaBorrello) September 9, 2015
The Coalition party room has wrapped, so I suspect the various confirmations are not far away. Numbers this morning about the refugee intake have been more than 10,000, 12,000 and 13,000. 12,000 is the number coming out if the partyroom. We’ll see shortly.
At his event this morning, social services minister Scott Morrison has indicated that the government will drop its plans to scrap the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) due to lack of support in parliament for the move. The Coalition introduced legislation in early 2014 to abolish the regulator, but the legislation has languished as the government struggles to convince Labor and the crossbench to support it. Morrison on Wednesday told reporters that he had “consulted widely, and there is very strong support for the ACNC, and I don’t believe there would be support in the Senate for there to be any change”.
Love this sequence of the social services minister Scott Morrison, who has been delivering a speech this morning.
I’m still shaking my head about airstrikes by the end of the week.
One, that you’d think it. Two, that you’d tell a journalist that you are thinking it.
NSW Premier Mike Baird on which refugees from Syria should get priority "A life is a life is my response"
— Gillian Bradford (@bradders2) September 9, 2015
Thanks to readers who have ventured thoughts in the thread and on Twitter about political memoirs. Not surprised to see a showing for Don Watson’s bleeding heart, it is marvellous. My good friend Tom Dusevic on Twitter has also prodded me to nominate James Button’s book Speechless as a must-read. It’s a gem. Keep the thoughts coming. I’m interested to see if you can all recommend some new reading for me.
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Bombs. Stat.
Man, I can’t believe I missed this in my morning survey, apologies.
On Syria and airstrikes, the Daily Telegraph is quoting an intelligence source indicating the prime minister has “told defence chiefs that if and when the decision was made, he wanted at least one air strike by the end of this week”.
I don’t know about you, but I find the haste somewhat disconcerting. What do we want? Airstrikes. When do we want them? Now.
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One person's generosity ...
Another perspective on generosity from World Vision chief executive, Tim Costello.
Well a generous response in terms of our share, Australia’s share of funding this crisis, would be $144m in this year. The government keeps saying we’ve been generous because we’ve given $150m over the last four years. But the global Syrian appeal figures show that Australia’s share is $144m and we’ve only given $16m, so it’s a huge jump. And that really is the big game changer because we’re running out of food. The conditions are desperate. People therefore are fleeing. And the world hasn’t funded the Syrian refugee crisis adequately. In fact, it’s 65% under-subscribed.
Q: Okay. And you’re also suggesting that we should take an intake of refugees of 30,000. Would anything less seem less generous?
Tim Costello:
Look, at the end of the day the intake is sort of the pimple on the hippopotamus. It’s small because “generous” has now redefined by Germany, with 800,000.
On a per capita basis for Australia to be generous we’d increase our intake by 215,000. No-one’s suggesting that. We’re going between 10 to 20 to 30. We were at 20,000 just two years ago. It was cut by 30% by the Abbott government when they came to power. So just restoring it to where we were two years ago is 20,000. Generous, we would say, is 30,000. But that’s a very small number and it’s not really the main game.
He made these comments on the AM program this morning.
Shorten’s slap then at George Christensen was mild compared to the Labor MP Graham Perrett. Have a look.
@GChristensenMP If you have a look at yourself in the mirror you'll realise how easy it is for people to pose as Christians.
— Graham Perrett (@GrahamPerrettMP) September 8, 2015
Shorten is asked by a reporter whether he still believes fair trade is bullshit. Shorten says he made that remark at a union meeting 15 years ago. On the China free trade agreement, Shorten says the Abbott government should just negotiate.
We want to to make sure that the skills of people coming into Australia are up to Australian standards. And we also want to make sure there’s no undercutting of Australian wages. Our position is entirely reasonable. It’s entirely sensible and no amount of shouting from the government ... they should just negotiate.
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Shorten says he’s not yet been briefed by the government on the decisions about military intervention in Syria or the refugee intake.
Q: Do you think Australia could get itself into trouble on international law, given we don’t have an invitation from Assad to launch those airstrikes?
Bill Shorten:
I have seen some legal opinions which go the way you’re saying but I have seen other legal opinions which talk about the notion of collective self-defence. That is the proposition, as I understand it, put simply, where a nation is entitled to defend itself.
Where there is incursions from across the border and there’s nothing being done in that country to stop those incursions, that is an established legal principle: that you can cross that border in the immediate effort to defeat those people seeking to come into your country and cause the death and violence.
There’s no point in bringing refugees here if we’re not going to defend them when they’re here
Q: The government looks set to announce a one-off intake of refugees of up to 13,000. Is this a move that you welcome?
Bill Shorten:
I would be really pleased if Mr Abbott and his Liberals join this community upsurge, join Labor and say: yes, we can be more compassionate and decent in terms of the number of refugees we can take. For me, it’s not when he makes that decision, it’s that he makes the decision. I would be really pleased if Mr Abbott hears the calls of people in the community, of people in his own ranks, of Labor, and together he says: we can do more as a nation that we’re already doing.
But it’s very important that Mr Abbott rein in some of his MPs on the far right who are saying that somehow taking more refugees will cost Australian jobs. We need to stamp out that sort of ridiculous rubbish and call it for what it is.
(He means George Christensen).
Q: A report says it would be a one-off intake. Is that appropriate given we don’t know how long the Syrian conflict will last and we’re about to in every likelihood join the US coalition there?
I think that any proposition which takes 10,000 or 13,000 refugees, we have to recognise as you say, this conflict will go on for some period of time. So I’m not sure that simply saying it’s just a short-term temporary measure and that everyone will just be sent home, I’m not sure that’s realistic.
So I think that we need to make sure that if we’re going to do the job of taking in refugees, let’s do it right. Let’s do it right first time. Let’s do it properly. Let’s not trying to be cut corners or play any games.
Frankly if Mr Abbott acts today, I welcome it. I will work with him.
What I’d also say though: leadership does require reining in some of those irresponsible right-wing fringe dwellers – some of the comments I have seen a couple of Mr Abbott’s Liberal MPs make – they’re not internet trolls speaking anonymously.
This is elected members of parliament feeding off the most base, the most ignorant, the most racist parts of Australian political life – and Mr Abbott has to standup and defend these refugees.
There’s no point in bringing refugees here if we’re not going to defend them when they’re here.
The Labor leader Bill Shorten is out and about this morning talking about the national disability insurance scheme with Labor’s families spokeswoman Jenny Macklin – who says the scheme needs to be rolled out pronto.
We don’t want any delays. The only thing that is holding it up is Tony Abbott.
Q: Where’s your NDIS policy and how will you fund it over the forward estimates?
Shorten hands that one to Macklin.
Labor made sure that the national disability insurance scheme was fully funded. Fully funded in the budget. We announce and put through the parliament, with the support of the then opposition, an increase in the Medicare levy and we made other substantial savings in the budget to make sure that the national disability insurance scheme is fully funded. Now even the current minister says now it is fully funded in the budget.
So let’s just put this rubbish to one side. It is rubbish and it is frightening to people with disability to hear people say that there is some question about the funding. There is no question. The money is in the budget.
Former National leader Tim Fischer is in town at the moment lobbying on behalf of regional media organisations. Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull is keen to overhaul the existing regulations, but Tony Abbott is not keen to proceed with ownership deregulation unless there is an industry consensus. An industry consensus in the Australian media context is a contradiction in terms.
Tim Fischer is keen to persuade Abbott to press ahead regardless of opposition in some quarters of the industry. He’s told the ABC this morning:
Our local voices do matter, more than ever before.
There’s an interesting read on the Conversation about the impact of Australia’s many political memoirs. Jane Messer from Macquarie University nominates the Latham Diaries as the standout.
Mark Latham’s Latham’s Diaries, originally published in 2005, eclipses all other political memoirs and autobiographies in my research for impact, in terms of readers recalling and engaging with its dissection of the Labor party in the post-Keating years, the Australian political system more broadly, and its insistence that there ought to be serious debate about political philosophy.
Whatever one may think of Latham today, this memoir has contributed to debate and critiques of Australian democratic process in the new century. Natalie Mast recently argued on the Conversation that, 10 years on from its publication, “the flaws in our political system that Latham highlighted continue to affect us”.
I’m interested in views from readers. Two I’ve enjoyed in recent times: Bob Carr’s Diary of a Foreign Minister, and Christopher Pyne’s Letter to my Children (even if that one is actually a letter to his father). I also loved Michael Cooney’s book on working for Julia Gillard as her speechwriter.
What have you read? What have you enjoyed and why?
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I couldn’t quite stretch to this yesterday but it was worth covering. Fortunately Gareth Hutchens from Fairfax Media could stretch to it. Yesterday the parliamentary budget office released a new analysis of how we are travelling in budgetary terms. The news isn’t marvellous. A decade of deficits.
The Abbott government has reduced its budget black hole by $30bn over the next decade after its deal with Labor to reintroduce fuel excise indexation. But Australia continues to face more than a decade of uninterrupted budget deficits, with $74bn worth of budget repair initiatives still sitting unlegislated — from three previous budgets. An updated assessment by the independent PBO shows the government is facing a cumulative $74bn budget shortfall between now and 2025-26 after failing to win support for controversial savings measures in the senate.
There is lots of discussion around this morning about the wisdom of prioritising various religious groups in any one-off humanitarian intake. My colleague Michael Safi has interviewed the grand mufti.
Calls for Christians to be given priority among Syrian refugees are discriminatory and reinforce a sense Muslims “are always going to be vilified in the Australian community”, the country’s highest Sunni authority has said.
Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, Australia’s grand mufti, said choosing refugees based on religion or ethnicity was the very kind of sectarian thinking “that got Iraq and Syria into the problems they’re facing now”.
“When it comes to catastrophes such as these we should be prioritising human beings rather than prioritising a certain religion,” he told Guardian Australia.
Labor’s immigration spokesman Richard Marles is in the Sky studio now.
Need ought to be the basis.
Need has to be the criteria.
Briggs also took the opportunity to chasten George Christensen for his crass populism. Anybody playing to xenophobia or to the current Australian insecurity about jobs isn’t helping, Briggs says. The unhelpfuls include Labor and the trade unions on the China FTA and Christensen on refugees pinching Aussie jobs.
Assistant infrastructure minister Jamie Briggs is currently telling Sky News Australians will be pleasantly surprised that the government has such a comprehensive security plan and such a comprehensive humanitarian plan.
Pleasantly surprised?
Err..
It’s ok. We know what you mean, Jamie.
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Mike Bowers has been down to check out the rolling cast of characters talking to reporters at the doors of parliament house this morning.
Terrific picture of the Phon, isn’t it?
Speaking of objections and objectionable, Labor senator Jenny McAllister has taken issue this morning with this tweet from the LNP’s George Christensen.
Labor refugee response is hypocritical. http://t.co/sVVh8a3vAr #auspol #SyrianRefugees #refugeescrisis #refugeecrisis pic.twitter.com/mHwFf4ZO2S
— George Christensen (@GChristensenMP) September 8, 2015
It takes a great wit to build a segue between the China free trade agreement and the Syrian refugee crisis but Christensen is not a man to be defeated by tasks that seem beyond mere mortals.
He ought to be a bit cautious, though. The backbencher might find himself stranded if his government unveils a generous resettlement package later on today.
This footage of a camerawoman tripping fleeing refugees is the talk of the interwebs this morning. It really is quite unbelievable.
AFP is reporting the Hungarian TV camerawoman was fired Tuesday after the footage appeared. “The woman, later named as Petra Laszlo, can be seen tripping a man sprinting with a child in his arms, and kicking another running child in two separate incidents.” (Thanks to my colleague Greg Jericho, who shared the AFP report in Twitter.)
Speaking of climate change, it was a surprise to learn on Tuesday evening that the head of the Climate Change Authority, Bernie Fraser, has resigned his post. The CCA is the independent body the Abbott government has tried (thus far unsuccessfully) to abolish as part of winding back Labor’s clean energy package.
My colleague Daniel Hurst reminds us in his news story this morning Fraser was recently involved in a public dispute with the environment minister, Greg Hunt, over the government’s assertion that “Labor’s climate policy” would impose a “$600bn carbon bill”.
In August, Fraser told Guardian Australia the claim was “weird” and “misleading” and he also raised concern about the adequacy of the Coalition’s goal of reducing emissions by between 26% and 28% of 2005 levels by 2030.
Michelle Grattan, political editor at The Conversation, connects the surprise resignation to poor relations with Hunt.
It is believed Fraser – who is a former secretary of the treasury and former governor of the Reserve Bank – had found the minister very difficult to deal with. Hunt was seen as hostile to the authority. The tension with the minister apparently wore Fraser down. The government was angry that it could not abolish the authority because of the Senate, but was forced to retain it in negotiations with Clive Palmer.
Hunt has thanked Fraser for his service. “He has had an outstanding career in public service, which I deeply respect and acknowledge,” the minister said in a statement.
After clearing today’s decisions, the prime minister is due to fly to Papua New Guinea to attend the Pacific Islands Forum, where climate change will be a hot button issue.
From Lisa Martin at the news wire service AAP.
Prime minister Tony Abbott is due to arrive on Wednesday night and Fiji’s prime minister has boycotted the event, sending his foreign minister instead.
PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill said the forum was only as strong as its most vulnerable members and had a “collective obligation” to help smaller states like Kiribati, Tuvalu and Marshall Islands on the frontline of global warming. He said communities were living in fear of each high tide and storm front, while changes in ocean temperature and acidity hit fish stocks, and the frequency and intensity of cyclones has increased. “Our people should not have to change their way of life or abandon thousands of years of traditions because of the actions of larger countries and their carbon emissions,” O’Neill told the dinner.
He said millions of his own people were suffering from what could be PNG’s worst drought in 20 years and a looming food crisis, because of an El Nino weather system which was exacerbated by climate change.
Readers with us yesterday will know that there is a push within the government to make sure the new refugee intake from Syria prioritises Christians – a group the senate leader Eric Abetz described yesterday as the most persecuted religion in the world.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale has been on the ABC this morning, arguing it is very dangerous territory for governments to determine a refugee intake on either racial or religious grounds.
Di Natale has also put the Greens view that any military action should come to the parliament for debate, not simply be a decision by the cabinet. Issues of such gravity should be the subject of parliamentary debate.
Hello good people and welcome to Wednesday. Wednesday, of course, follows Tuesday evening, and Tuesday evening in Canberra saw locals rally for refugees. Mike Bowers was there and as a consequence we have lovely images to begin our daily conversation today.
Vigil for refugees in Canberra, Tuesday 8th September 2015. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian
Cabinet this morning is expected to sign off on both military action in Syria, and a refugee package, after days of debate.
Vigil for refugees in Canberra, Tuesday 8th September 2015. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian
Regular Politics Live readers will know that Labor earlier this week said the humanitarian package should be 10,000 refugees and $100m for the UNHCR.
The immigration minister Peter Dutton has been in Geneva for talks with the UNHCR over the past 48 hours. He’s spoken to reporters this morning, and declined to pre-empt any announcement by the prime minister later today.
But he says Australians will be proud of what their government is proposing.
Vigil for refugees in Canberra, Tuesday 8th September 2015. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian
Dutton is sticking to the line that Australia is the most generous nation in the world on a per capita basis when it comes to refugees. (We really aren’t, but I suppose if you keep saying it often enough someone might believe you.) He’s pointed out that the humanitarian intake will increase from 13,750 to more than 18,000 by 2018-19.
Peter Dutton:
I think people will be impressed with Australia’s response. I think it will be a generous announcement, both in terms of the dollar amount and the number of places we’ll provide. I think people will be proud of what Australia is proposing.
Vigil for refugees in Canberra, Tuesday 8th September 2015. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian
We’ll have to wait and see whether the detail delivers on PDuddy 2.0’s upbeat characterisation. There are a couple of reports this morning that the government is looking at 10,000+.
The Abbott government’s journal of record, the Daily Telegraph, is punting the government will “welcome a separate intake of potentially more than 10,000 stricken Syrian refugees because the Abbott government overwhelmingly believes it is the Australian way.” One might ask why the government didn’t seem to believe extra places was the Australian way as soon as last weekend – but then one would be bitchy – and it would be way too early in the morning for that sort of thing. Fingers crossed that basic human decency prevails.
Of course once the military action is confirmed there will be a whole debate around the wisdom of bombings as a course of action – a debate that’s already underway given the government has been telegraphing its intentions for weeks.
The Politics Live comments thread is wide open for your business and we are up and at ‘em on the twits. Mikearoo is @mpbowers and I’m @murpharoo
Let’s get cracking.
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