What happened today, Thursday 21 October
With that, we’ll wrap up our live coverage for today.
Here’s a recap of the day’s main developments:
- The former New South Wales Labor politicians Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald, and Obeid’s son Moses, have been sentenced to prison terms in relation to a rigged tender for a coal exploration licence.
- Police believe four-year-old Cleo Smith was abducted from her tent at a West Australian campsite and have offered a $1m reward for information leading to her location.
- “Covid-deniers” and “anti-vaxxers” should opt out of care in the public health system if they catch the virus as Victoria reopens, says the Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association.
- Crown Resorts shareholders have again rebelled against the casino operator after it paid millions of dollars to executives who have left the troubled company.
- Scott Morrison says the declaration of funds from a blind trust for the Christian Porter defamation case will now be examined by a broader parliamentary inquiry. The prime minister’s comments come after his government voted down a Labor push to refer Porter to the privileges committee to determine whether his declaration complied with relevant disclosure rules, despite the Speaker, Tony Smith, finding there was a “prima facie case” to investigate.
Have a great evening (especially if you live in Victoria!). We’ll be back to do it all again tomorrow.
Updated
Interesting tweet from the ABC’s Raf Epstein – important to note we haven’t seen a Victorian government announcement yet.
Breaking
— Raf Epstein (@Raf_Epstein) October 21, 2021
Big news
Victoria will scrap quarantine requirements for international arrivals.
(Double dosed and test neg here of course)
Arrivals will not have to quarantine at home or in a hotel
Likely to happen same day it happens in NSW - Nov 1
Crown Resorts shareholders have again rebelled against the casino operator after it paid millions of dollars to executives who have left the troubled company.
Nearly 31% of proxy votes were cast against the company’s remuneration report before its annual general meeting on Thursday.
It’s the second straight year that votes against have exceeded the 25% threshold needed to register a “strike” against Crown.
The two consecutive strikes opened the way for a resolution to spill the entire board, but investors overwhelmingly rejected this idea with 95% of proxies voting against it.
In the 2021 financial year Crown paid more than $20m to executives who have left the company, including $9.6m in termination payments.
The acting chair Jane Halton defended making the payments, saying they were required under “longstanding contracts”.
Read more:
“Covid-deniers” and “anti-vaxxers” should opt out of care in the public health system if they catch the virus as Victoria reopens, says the Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association.
The AMA Victoria president, Dr Roderick McRae, said those who do not believe Covid-19 is real or a threat should update their advanced care directives and inform their relatives that they do not wish to receive care in the public health system if diagnosed with the virus.
From Friday, many restrictions will lift across the state as it has exceeded 70% full vaccination of those aged over 16. Though Victoria is still recording high daily case numbers, with 2,232 new cases reported on Thursday, high vaccination combined with lower than predicted length of stays in hospital has given the government confidence the health system will cope with measures lifting earlier than first anticipated.
Read more:
With the House adjourned and the Senate winding up, I am going to hand you over to the wonderful Elias Visontay, who will take you through the evening.
Politics live will be back on Monday, when the House meets and estimates begins – which is going to be a pretty wild week of hearings, given everything which has been going on. We hope Penny Wong’s eyebrows are ready for their workout.
For everyone in Melbourne – enjoy your Friday. None of us from outside can imagine what the last two years have been like for you and can’t pretend to try. Instead, we can just wish you all of the happy times from tomorrow as you reunite with loved ones, visit special spaces and begin whatever it is we are calling normal these days.
And for those still feeling uncertain, or concerned – we see you too. It’s not going to be an easy transition for a lot of people and the worry won’t stop, particularly for those in vulnerable groups. Take it as slow as you want.
A very big thank you to everyone who joined along with us this week as we delved back into politics live for the first time in six weeks. This project couldn’t happen without Mike Bowers, who is the heart and soul of the blog, or its originator, Katharine Murphy, who continues to guide us all from the corner of the room. The blog would be lost without the talent, brains and heart of Sarah Martin, Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst, and all the other members of the Guardian – names you see and names you don’t – who keep it running and informed.
As always though, a very big thank you to everyone who comes along to read with us. You are the reason it is all worth it – even sitting through question time – and we don’t say that lightly. Thank you for all that you bring to us every day.
The Australia Live blog will be back tomorrow, so everyone can take a break from the politics. I’ll be back early on Monday. Until then, please – take care of you.
Updated
In what looked like the worst remake of Reservoir Dogs from the worst timeline, the Nationals leadership team called a photo opportunity to show them walking to their party room meeting where they will finalise the list of demands to take to Scott Morrison in exchange for the Nationals’ support on a 2050 net zero emissions target.
But it didn’t go entirely smoothly ...
Because Bridget McKenzie didn’t get the memo about which door they were walking towards.
Updated
The House has now adjourned until Monday.
The Senate will wrap up in a bit – it moves into estimates so won’t be back until 22 November.
Updated
The Nationals are meeting now to finalise their list of demands in exchange for net zero emissions by 2050 support, which will be given to Scott Morrison.
Updated
Moving on to climate:
Q: Jason, the Nationals are still holding off. We had yesterday, for instance, Bridget McKenzie saying it is going to get ugly if the prime minister goes ahead. What are you thinking as someone who has been pushing for this?
Jason Falinski:
I think that this is an incredibly difficult thing for any country to do. Australia faces some difficult tasks as well. We are a huge energy exporter, huge exporter of minerals, a huge exporter of agricultural goods.
And those three things put together in most other nations would make this task incredibly difficult.
I reject what [Andrew Giles] is saying. Most of the reduction did not occur under the Labor government (it actually did, as Adam Morton has reported several times, including here). Yes, the pandemic, which meant we had to close large part of our economy, did help last year, but we have been on a clear project to reduce our targets by 20%.
I would also argue the Labor party is refusing to tell us what they would do given they are running around saying they are expecting an election in December is an argument for them to be permanent opposition. If they want to be the alternative government ...
Q: Hang on a minute, you are the government and we have less than two weeks till Glasgow and you haven’t told us what you are going to do.
Falinski:
I know! It is exciting, isn’t it?
Q: You deserve to be in opposition by that standard.
Falinski:
We are making this exciting for everyone at home.
Q: No, it is not exciting for everyone at home because we have heard about this for too long.
Falinski:
Sure, sure, and this is a really difficult thing to do. Anyone who says otherwise and for the National party and for a lot of rural and regional Liberals who represent committees that will be added nervously or whose impact of zero by 2050 is uncertain, this is something they need to work through.
I am not sitting here saying by any stretch of the imagination that we have negotiated this, or this policy has gone in a straight line, but I am more confident at the end of this week than I have ever been that we will go to Glasgow with a commitment to a net zero emissions by 2050, and that will be extraordinary that we have managed to do that as a country and as a community and a society. What rests upon us here and now in this moment is to make sure that in that commitment that we don’t leave anyone behind. And that is what is going on at the moment in federal parliament.
Updated
Over on the ABC, Jason Falinski is asked by Patricia Karvelas: “Wouldn’t it be easier if Christian Porter came forward and revealed who made the donations? And it’s the right thing to do?”
Falinski:
The easiest thing to do isn’t often the right thing to do.
I need to make something clear; what the parliament did yesterday was not reject a recommendation by the Speaker to refer a matter to the privileges committee. What the government voted against was putting on a debate about the matter.
One reason we did that is that Christian Porter and the incident ... we are talking about has been referred to the privileges committee by Mark Dreyfus and that had occurred 24 hours previously, so I don’t want people listening to this program to think that these issues will not be investigated by the parliament or by the privileges committee because that’s not the case.
In this case of Christian Porter, and the blind trust that was used, this is very difficult and unusual circumstances, and I’m talking on the television station at which he was suing because he believed that his reputation had been damaged falsely and indirectly.
... There were people who donated to that [Porter fund] who didn’t, I believe, didn’t feel like they wanted to do so openly because they felt that they are to be subjected to retribution by some of the people involved on the other side of that case. Whether that’s fair, whether true or not, I don’t know.
But what does that have to do with anything?
One thing that we want to investigate or that Peter Dutton – and I understand Tony Burke and Anthony Albanese also are in favour of investigating this – is how public elected officials can actually defend themselves against false claims. So it’s well known that Peter Dutton is considerable amount of his own money and openly says he is in the very fortunate circumstances of being able to defend himself but he will miss that out of money against someone who made some extraordinary claims about his character, which I don’t think even the Labor party would dispute was completely out of order, but that’s one of the problems we face in this country, it’s a major one, which is that the cost of justice in this country is completely and utterly out of control ...
Updated
The House is starting its adjournment debate (the House adjourns a little earlier on Thursdays so people can catch flights), and over in the Senate a quorum was just called because it didn’t seem like there were enough government members.
Updated
Via AAP:
A major employer group has urged Scott Morrison to pull the trigger on loosening international borders to migrant workers and students.
Australia will resume international travel for citizens, permanent residents and their families who will be able to fly in and out of Sydney without quarantine from 1 November.
But businesses continue to sound the alarm on worker shortages, with the coronavirus pandemic pushing the migration rate to its lowest in more than a century.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said the Delta variant and slow start to the Covid-19 vaccine rollout pushed labour issues aside.
“They are already coming back with a vengeance,” he said on Thursday.
“Unless they are addressed quickly and effectively they will hold back the recovery that is now under way.”
Willox said the Morrison government should remove the brakes it applied to NSW’s international travel plan.
“By retaining visa entry caps on categories other than returning Australians, the federal government is putting an unnecessary barrier in place,” he said.
He said all states should welcome back working visa holders, students, tourists and all other visitors as soon as possible.
“The costs of not doing so will fall squarely on their own citizens and businesses,” Willox said.
The prime minister said he did not want to see a repeat of other countries that reopened too fast.
“We’ve said on students, in particular, and on skilled migration, we’ll see that happening in New South Wales next month. We’ll start seeing that in late November, early December,” he told the Seven Network.
“On international visitors, well, we’ll see how Australians coming back first goes.”
Updated
Former NSW Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid sentenced to seven years
Anne Davies has reported on the sentencing of Eddie Obeid, Ian Macdonald and Moses Obeid:
One of NSW’s most notorious politicians, Labor powerbroker, Edward Obeid, 77, has been sentenced to seven years, while his co-conspirator, former NSW minerals minister, Ian Macdonald, 72, has been sentenced to nine years over their part in a conspiracy to gain a mining lease over the Obeid’s family farm at Bylong.
Obeid’s son, Moses Obeid, 52, has been sentenced to five years for his part in the conspiracy.
Updated
The Nationals are finalising their demands.
There is an inevitable conclusion to all of this. But not everyone is going to be happy
Australians should decide how much we emit and the circumstances in which we do.
— Matthew Canavan (@mattjcan) October 21, 2021
The urban infrastructure minister, Paul Fletcher, has responded to a Senate order for production of documents for spreadsheets related to the car park rorts scandal by saying he and his office haven’t seen them, or they are subject to a public interest immunity claim.
The claim is based on the fact the spreadsheets would disclose the deliberations of the cabinet, he wrote to former Senate president Scott Ryan and the rural regional affairs and transport legislation committee. Fletcher also refused to release legal advice relating to the program.
Labor’s Kristina Keneally told the Senate the government are “addicted to secrecy, allergic to accountability”.
Greens senator, Janet Rice, noted that the ANAO had revealed the existence of the document listing the top 20 marginal seats, so she questioned how the government could claim it does not exist.
Perhaps the reason they weren’t to hand is they “fell into a shredder”, she said.
Mike Bowers and some idle hands:
Sorry Queenslanders
Queensland was set to be reclassified as a 'very low risk' jurisdiction under WA's controlled interstate border tonight.
— Mark McGowan (@MarkMcGowanMP) October 21, 2021
However, following the new case detected in Queensland today, we have now received updated health advice, and will be pausing this reclassification. pic.twitter.com/ffCH3RIdI7
WA deputy commissioner Col Blanch says the $1m reward will be offered for locating Cleo, or bringing the person/persons to account who were involved in her disappearance.
Blanch said while police had not yet located her body, her disappearance struck “at the heart of West Australians”.
“Someone knows what happened. Someone has the knowledge that will help,” he said.
“Everything that can be done is being done. Our priority is to bring Cleo home.”
“Everyone” who was at the campsite during the time of Cleo’s disappearance is a person of interest, Blanch says. There have been hundreds of Crime Stoppers calls since the four-year-old went missing:
Our job is to eliminate everyone who was at that campsite during the time [of her disappearance]... the process of any investigation is one of elimination.
[The reward] tells you we’re seeking the public’s help now. 99% of people in Australia are willing to come forward just to help. If someone’s involved or knows someone who’s involved, theres a million reasons to come forward. We’re looking for answers now.
Updated
Penny Wong is trying for a second time to move a motion asking for an explanation on why the net zero modelling Matt Canavan had asked for has not been produced.
This time the government is allowing it.
WA police offer $1m reward for information on Cleo Smith's disappearance
The WA police will offer a $1m reward to anyone with knowledge of missing girl Cleo Smith’s whereabouts.
WA premier Mark McGowan urged anyone with information regarding the girl to come forward to authorities. Over 100 police personnel plus volunteers and army reservists are combing the area where she went missing, as the search enters its sixth day.
“It’s a very sad situation, a very difficult situation, our thoughts go to everyone involved especially the family and friends of Cleo,” McGowan said.
“We have ensured we have delivered all the resources the police have requested... police are working round the clock to try and find Cleo right now.”
Updated
Josh Frydenberg has worked out how to speak to a camera. We do not know what take number this was
Congratulations, Victoria. After 77 days, we’re reopening & not looking back.
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) October 21, 2021
Thank you health workers for supporting our community.
Thank you small business owners for supporting your staff.
Thank you teachers for supporting your students.
Thank you to every Victorian. pic.twitter.com/1ceFcCel42
Updated
Over in Senate question time, Labor’s Penny Wong mentions that Scott Morrison once brought a lump of coal into parliament and claimed Labor’s emission reduction targets would wreck the economy. Wong asks Simon Birmingham: “When did he change his mind?”
Birmingham doesn’t accept the premise of the question. He says the government is on track to exceed the target it took to the Australian people at the last election.
Wong persists: “Mr Morrison has said that electric vehicles would end the weekend, and suggested that batteries to store renewable energy were as useful as a big banana. When did he decide he was wrong?”
Birmingham says Wong is quoting selectively.
Wong says the Nationals are “holding Mr Morrison to ransom”. How can a deal be done so close to Glasgow?
Birmingham replies that Australians “should absolutely have confidence” that the government will deliver on its promised policies.
Updated
In the Senate, Bridget McKenzie is asked whether she disagrees with the National Farmers’ Federation president, Fiona Simson, who told Guardian Australia a failure to embrace a net zero target could “punish farmers” as the rest of the world decarbonises.
McKenzie says she speaks regularly with Simson and with Georgie Somerset, president of AgForce Queensland:
You know what? They’ve made very, very clear to me, to the Coalition, and to the National party party room in the context of this debate, that farmers have done their fair share. That they have done the heavy lifting. And that they want that recognised.”
(At one stage, Penny Wong raises a point of order to say Matt Canavan was ignoring a ruling from the new president, Slade Brockman, who has been in the chair since the beginning of this week. Wong says: “We just want even-handedness.” The president replies: “I was calling Senator Canavan to order.”)
McKenzie starts to rail against the “dirty deal done by [Julia] Gillard and [Bob] Brown” on the clean energy finance corporation. She says the government is making sure it can fund carbon capture and storage. It is getting fiery. Labor’s Murray Watt asks:
Given the comments of the National Farmers’ Federation and the Minerals Council of Australia, when will the fake farmers and the fake miners in the National party listen to the real farmers and the real miners who support net zero by 2050?”McKenzie tells the chamber: “I would put 100 bucks on the president’s table that you have never sat down with a real farmer in your life.”
Updated
Meanwhile
The Edu Minister gets a second Dorothy Dixer for the week so he can blather on with his history war nonsense about the national curriculum.
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) October 21, 2021
Meanwhile we’ve lost 40,000 uni jobs in 12 months and school communities are grappling with enormous Covid disruption. What an outrage.
The government moves to gag the debate and the divisions are playing out to their inevitable conclusion – the government has the numbers in the house.
Question time ends, but then Tony Burke moves to suspend standing orders to discuss what happened yesterday afternoon in regards to the Christian Porter privileges committee referral:
I move that so much of standing orders be suspended as would present the manager of opposition business from moving this motion immediately.
The House notes the prime minister protected the member for Pearce by blocking a reference to the committee of privileges and members interests related to secret donations received by the member for Pearce and B, the decision by the prime minister and the government to block a reference to the committee for privileges and members’ interests has never occurred in the 120 years of this Parliament. And C, it’s been more than 1,000 days since the prime minister and the member for Pearce promised to introduce a national anti-corruption commission calls on the prime minister to immediately: A, end his protection racket for the member for Pearce, B, support a referral of the member for Pearce to the committee of privileges and member’s interests, and C, introduce a bill to establish a national anti-corruption commission, with the powers of a standing royal commission.
He gets in this line:
Yesterday the government abolished the key protection against bribery in this Parliament. That’s what the members’ interests is there to do.
Updated
Vince Connolly asks Melissa Price a dixer on space, which is appropriate, given he presents every single dixer he is given as if he were an alien imagining he was a human, playing an alien masquerading as a human, in an alien production of Days of Our Lives.
That strangely though, is not the worst of this dixer, given that Price then goes on to say things like this in to the official parliamentary record:
When most people think about space, they may reflect on the Apollo emissions or they may reflect on The Dish, Star Trek, or for those a bit older, it’s My Favourite Martian.
and also:
I was very proud that we announced that Australia is going to the moon.
I mean I wish Australia was going to the moon. Please just leave me there.
And then we also get this:
I have no doubt that the Aussie Rover, or Red Dog, just my working title...
Seriously. Fire me onto the moon.
Updated
Madeleine King to Keith Pitt:
Does the minister support the government providing a $250bn loan and insurance facility for the resources sector?
Pitt:
Well, can I thank the honourable member for their question. I say to the honourable member, the government provides support right across any number of sectors through a number of different facilities. Whether it’s in the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, in the national interest account, whether it’s across a range of others, including the RIC, Mr Speaker. The commonwealth continues to provide support where it’s needed, right across the country.
Updated
Justice Elizabeth Fullerton of the NSW supreme court is delivering her sentence on former NSW MPs Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald, and Obeid’s son, Moses Obeid over a conspiracy to have Macdonald commit wilful misconduct in office.
The case involved a coal exploration licence in the Bylong Valley which Macdonald created over land owned by the Obeids.
She has just indicated all three will go to jail and she regards the seriousness of the offence as “of a very high order.” that requires a prison term to both punish them and provide a deterrent to other people in public office.
It’s going to be a complex judgement involving their roles and their health so stand by for more details.
Updated
I will not be supporting the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2015 that is currently before the Australian parliament. In my view, the renewable energy target—the RET, the deal the Coalition has been forced into with Labor—will achieve only three things. It will increase the cost of electricity for those who can least afford it, Australian taxpayers will have spent billions of dollars subsidising private enterprise, and, come 2020, environmentalists will have little more to show for it than a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Updated
Justine Elliott to Keith Pitt:
My question is to the member for resources, does the Minister still believe wind, solar and battery technology don’t work, and investment in renewable energy delivers a little more than a warm and fuzzy feeling?
Pitt:
Can I say to the honourable member, find me solar panel that works in the dark. That is a statement of fact. (Luke Howarth thinks this is maybe the funniest thing he has ever heard, if you need to know how lame it sounded in person).
Are you suggesting when there is no sun solar panels work, this is just a fundamental fact, on this side of the House, we will continue to deliver from my portfolio the things that make those products, I’m not sure where those opposite think they come from, they don’t fall out of the sky they are made from Australian resources and will be out there looking to continue to drive forward the sector and provide more jobs and opportunities to expand into new and emerging roles because the market demands it.
Once again, I think the question is quite incredible. I say to the honourable member, please, step forward and ask questions about the resources sector I am happy to answer it, but questions about these things very clearly, are fundamental facts of physics, well I’m happy to answer those as well. I will come back to what they are made of, we deliver aluminium from this country, critical metals and rare earths from this country, we delivered the things that make steel from this country, there is so much...
Tony Smith:
I say to the minister he has made that point, this was a very specific question about whether he still had beliefs about statements he has made. I have given you some latitude but you are not required to spend the entire three minute on aspects outside what you asked.
Pitt:
This is why this side of the House backs reliable and affordable dispatch of your energy, there are any number of energy systems across the country and they all have their place we look at what happens in remote communities, it is incredibly helpful for them to build things that can utilise solar, this is a fact in terms of the electricity system. I can’t get away from my background, an electrical engineer by profession and trade, based on facts and based on physics. I say to those opposite we do things that work and to provide affordable and reliable indispensable opportunities, once again I say to those opposite, we work on things that work, we deliver things based on fact, and we will continue to deliver affordable, reliable, dispatch or energy right across the country.
Updated
Meryl Swanson to Keith Pitt:
My question is to the minister for resources. Santos, BP and Rio all back a commitment to net zero emissions [does the minister]?
Pitt:
I had a text exchange with the head of the minerals council yesterday and I had a discussion with the head in regards to their announcement and I would note they have an ambition for 2050, an ambition, as I said in my previous answer we are having a collegiate discussion on the National party room I am respectful of my colleagues as I am respectful of those opposite.
We will continue to have that discussion and listen respectfully, we will consider in detail what has been put forward as our constituents would expect and as the Minister for resources I will continue to support the sector and everything I can to get a job into that location because that is what we are about. I will give you an example, I had a contact [from a mine] contacting me some months ago, I was at a mine where he works and he says I can assure you that 22-year-old said, “I have been set up a life with this golden opportunity in the resources sector because of this I can buy my first house at 19. I recently sold a house and I am looking for acreage around Mackay to start primary producing on my day off and couldn’t have done that without the resources sector.” There are hundreds of thousands of Australians in the same position and we will continue to support them!
Updated
Stephen Jones to Keith Pitt:
Minister, what does the government’s modelling show is the economic impact of a commitment to net zero by 2050 for the resources sector?
Pitt:
Well, can I thank the honourable member for the question. I have seen lots of modelling. That’s what my department does. As the minister of resources, that’s it expects. I have seen modelling from the International Energy Agency saying that demand for Australian coal will continue to go up to 2030, offpeak by 2050, I have seen modelling that says our gas exports will continue to go.
Jones has a point of order – he asked about government modelling.
Tony Smith says it is a government department, but he is going to listen to the minister.
Pitt:
Thank you, Mr Speaker. 25 seconds in. Now, my department has also shown me modelling about how we’ve got a shortfall in workers because they’re going so well, Mr Speaker. The policies of this government continue to ensure the sector gets stronger. The policies of this government continue to ensure there’s opportunities in the future.
The policies of this government ensure that right through the pandemic, Australia maintained its reputation, maintained its delivery in terms of logistics and supply chains, maintained contracts into those critical locations like Japan, like South Korea, right across south-east Asia, so, Mr Speaker, we continue to strongly support the sector.
There is a range of modelling all over the place about all sorts of things. But in terms of my department, and modelling that I have been provided by my department, it is about strengthening the sector, it’s about growing opportunities, I mean, that’s why, Mr Speaker, we’re out there, committing funds to ensure the critical minerals sector continues to grow.
We know there are growth opportunities around the world for what results from critical minerals, we’ve an incredible resource in this country, right across the spectrum, whether it’s rare earths, whether it’s lithium, a range of others. He a discussion in recent weeks, in Queensland, with people who are looking to get out there, and look at what could potentially be taken from previous coal mines in terms of overburn and actually extract further critical minerals from what was previous coal mines that are now currently no longer in use.
So we are looking at every opportunity, to continue to deliver for our country, to act in our national interest, to strengthen our economy, and the modelling I have seen says we’ll continue to do just that.
Updated
Madeleine King to Keith Pitt:
My question is to the minister for resources: The minister told Phil Coorey of the Financial Review that a $250bn loan facility for the resources sector is the price of the National party’s support for net zero by 2050. Can the minister outline his proposal for a $250bn loan facility for the resources sector?
Pitt:
Well thank you for the call, Mr Speaker. I absolutely reject that. I did not say... at any stage there is a price. We are having a collegiate discussion with our colleagues, we are having a collegiate discussion in the Nationals party room, we’re having a collegiate discussion as our constituents expect, Mr Speaker, on what is a serious matter.
There’s only those opposite who show the hypocrisy. No, I can’t tell from here, but I see a lot of scarves (the ones from Common Grace in that photo we showed you earlier). If they are made from acrylic, they come from the resources sector. They come from a sector that’s delivering $460bn into our economy over the next 12 months. I mean, seriously. So I say again, we’ll continue to work on serious policy, we’ll continue to deliver for this sector, a sector forecast in the midst of the pandemic to be down to $246bn, has put over $100bn into this economy, we should celebrate the fact it exists, not continue to talk it down and talk down our country.
Here is part of the story Labor is referring to:
“No matter what happens, we need to find a way to fund the resources sector and provide insurance,” he told The Australian Financial Review.
“If we want to look after 300,000 jobs, provide power to 70 per cent of homes the Australian government will have to become the lender of last resort.
“Why should we be dictated to by a bunch of financiers.”
He suggested a $250bn loan and insurance facility would be required. Mr Pitt said the problem was not just with big projects trying to secure finance, but family businesses as well.
He described a recent conversation with a mortgage broker who was unable to secure long-term finance for a business that provided vehicles to a company mining metallurgical coal used for steel production.
“Just ridiculous,” he said.
Mr Pitt noted the estimated transition costs for the European Union to reach net zero was €1 trillion ($1.6 trillion).
“You could throw $100bn at it here and it wouldn’t even touch the sides,” he said.
Updated
Emma McBride to Keith Pitt:
My question is to the minister for resources and water. The people of the Central Coast are opposed to an extension of petroleum export permit 11. It would allow oil and gas exploration off the Central Coast, risk our precious marine environment and destroy jobs. Will the minister reject this disastrous proposal today?
Pitt (who for some reason, whether it be a frog in his throat or an ill-timed sip of water, sounds choked up as he delivers this answer):
Well, thank you, Mr Speaker. And just for a bit of context and some fact for those what may be listens, PEP11 stands for petroleum exploration permit number 11.
It’s been in place since 1999, we’re considering an application right now. Now, I’ll be taking advice from the regulator which is NOPTA, but... I have to say, Mr Speaker, I’m a bit surprised.
I’m a bit surprised because this is not an application for a rig, it’s not an application for an exploration well, because the only people so far who have approved that in this area are those opposition when they were last in government, 2010, but the member for Watson, not this side, yet you’re here saying what you did then is wrong now.
I will say very clearly, we’re considering this on balance, in regards to the law, in regards to the national interest, and of course, we’ll take into consideration the views of the community and make a decision in due course.
Updated
Given Alan Tudge only wants positive takes on Australian history, I imagine he is not overly enamoured with this part of the prime minister’s speech this morning:
Our National Apologies have always been days of reckoning.
Those days of reckoning have become importantly part of our national story.
The Apology to the Stolen Generations - an apology for the racism, cruelties and injustices inflicted on our First Nations peoples.
The Apology for forced adoptions - an apology for the shame and the stigma and the brutality that forcibly split parents from their children.
The Apology to the forgotten Australians and former child migrants - an apology for the unconscionable cruelties experienced by children removed from their families and placed in institutional homes.
The apologies reflect our acknowledgement of our failures as a people.
As a Liberal democratic people, we aren’t afraid of our history.
Nor do we recoil from engaging with terrible truths.
Updated
The WA premier Mark McGowan and police minister Paul Papalia will make an important announcement at 3.30pm AEST about the investigation into the disappearance of Cleo Smith.
They will address the media alongside WA deputy police commissioner Col Blanch.
Further support is expected to be announced for the ongoing investigation, which has been dubbed Taskforce Rodia and has so far found no suspects related to the four-year-old girl’s disappearance.
Cleo was last seen by her parents about 1.30am on Saturday in the family’s tent where they were camping at the popular Blowholes site, on WA’s north-west coast.
Yesterday, police confirmed the tent was discovered open to a height Cleo would have been unable to reach. Her red and black sleeping bag is also missing.
With the search entering its sixth day, homicide detectives are assisting local police and investigators have spoken to up to 20 registered sex offenders in the Carnarvon area. Detectives are also re-examining nearby shacks along the coastline.
Updated
In the Senate, Bridget McKenzie is asked how much taxpayer money had the Nationals demanded the government spend to gain their support for net zero by 2050.
McKenzie, the leader of the Nationals in the Senate and a member of a subcommittee drawing up proposals, replies:
“As we have been very very clear as the second party of government, we are taking our time to carefully consider the proposition put forward by the prime minister that Australia will be committing to net zero by 2050 in Glasgow. That is actually what rural and regional Australia sent us here to do and we don’t apologise for that.”
McKenzie proceeds in a way that sounds a little like she is alluding to Scott Morrison being focused on the forthcoming election:
The process our political party has determined to undertake is to consult our colleagues to understand and appreciate their needs and concerns for the next 30 years - not for the next six months towards the election - and to then put forward a document that is based on the principles that will underpin the negotiations between the deputy prime minister and the prime minister.
We have been very very clear, this is not about 30 pieces of silver, this is not about some beads and some mirrors, this is actually about how do we secure and protect rural and regional Australians and our industries in a decarbonised future. That is about doing our job and so I am very proud to be a part of this political party and part of a subcommittee that is actually focused on securing the regions in this proposed future that the prime minister and the government is seeking to deliver.”
Updated
Did you hear that?
No?
What about now?
Alan Tudge is whirring the cultural war machine so hard I assume it can be heard from Canberra to Cairns.
Tudge, the education minister, is still incensed that an independent body would want to teach Australia’s history without white washing it.
Tudge (in his second dixer on this this week):
Because we all know certainly on the side of the chamber we are living in the greatest country in the world, bar none, we are one of the wealthiest most free, most egalitarian, most tolerant* countries, not just today but in the history of all of human kind**.
And millions of people have migrated to this country, precisely because of those reasons.
You think about some of the fundamental freedoms which underpin those core things which make us so attractive for millions of people.
It’s the one person one vote, equality before the law, freedom of association, universal education, striving for human rights, the ability to start a business and earn what you can, reward for everyone. That didn’t happen by accident, they came about because of hard fought gains over centuries, we inherited such great institutions from the UK*** and generations upon generations especially in the 20th century fought and in many cases died for those great freedoms.
That’s why it’s so important those key principles are embedded in the national curriculum so students understand where our great democracy came from so they will defend it, just as previous generations have.
And I am not satisfied with the current draft which has been presented because some of those core things which underpin our democracy are not there. It has a negative view of our history, and some of the great people in Australia’s history and inserts and omits things – even Christianity, even though it’s one of the greatest influences on modern Australia****.
Again I speak about this desire to instil love of country into our - into the national curriculum, into students, and the Labor party, again, gets so upset, they get so upset when we dare to suggest that kids should learn about our democracy, should have pride in our country, should celebrate our democracy, and make a contribution to. I don’t understand why, the only reason I can suggest, is because they equally share that miserable view of our nation and want our kids so have that equally miserable view of our nation. We don’t stand for it, Mr Speaker
*Tolerant as long as it fits in with what conservatives believe.
**Sigh. Indigenous Australians are the oldest continuous culture in the world. Their history existed before any white dudes turned up and decided this land would make a nice colony for more white people. And since colonisation, our history has not been “tolerant” of the First Australians.
***Sigggghhhhh This land had a history before an imperialist nation stuck a flag on its soil. First Australians fought and died to uphold their own traditions. And we still aren’t getting it right.
****SIGGGGHHHHHHH Australia is a secular nation. There is no official religion. How do you teach Christianity as part of Australia’s history? Unless you want to get into the work of missionaries, particularly with the Stolen Generation?
Updated
Mark Dreyfus to Scott Morrison:
My question is to the prime minister, will the government’s proposed national anti-corruption body have the power to investigate the minister giving a grant to a shooting club which she was a member?
Peter Dutton objects:
I refer to your earlier comments and it is clearly the honourable members asking for a legal opinion on the prime minister which is out of order.
Tony Burke doesn’t even need to get up. Tony Smith:
I said on a strict ruling I could do that, I have not done that, and this question is, it certainly does do that, there are a long question of these sorts of questions being asked, those asking them need to know the answer can be rather broader than they anticipated.
Enter Paul Fletcher, with his latest “I was a university debater don’t you know” attempt to relive his “glory” days:
I do thank the shadow attorney general for his question. The shadow attorney general is very keen on a model where QCs and SCs get to put on the robes and the wigs, he is quite keen on the wigs, there the shadow attorney general...
[Smith makes him withdraw it]
Fletcher:
I withdraw. I withdraw, Mr Speaker. I don’t criticise the shadow attorney general for speaking out strongly for the interests of senior counsel and Queens Counsel. I once made the mistake of referring to him as a Senior Counsel, he is a Queens counsellor, I respect that.
[Smith tells him to get on with the answer]
Fletcher:
I am surprised, I am surprised, Mr Speaker, that a respected Queens Council would seek to use this forum to invite, as it were anticipatory legal opinion from a minister. Quite inappropriate [and I won’t participate in it]
Someone save us from university debaters.
Updated
Scott Morrison says the government won’t be constrained by caps on the humanitarian program when it takes in people who have fled Afghanistan.
The cross bench MP Rebekha Sharkie asked Morrison about “the horrendous events now taking place in Afghanistan”. She pressed the government to reconsider the government’s cut to the overall humanitarian program (the annual program was cut from 18,750 to just 13,750 places).
Morrison reaffirmed the government’s pledge to take at least 3000 people from Afghanistan under the humanitarian program this financial year. He has previously said that is a floor, not a ceiling. Warming up on that language, Morrison said:
“If there are more that we can take this year, we will take them.”
He added that the government would not be “constrained” by the current caps on the refugee and humanitarian program.
Updated
Ged Kearney to Scott Morrison:
Will the government’s proposed national anti-corruption body have the power to investigate the now minister for energy securing meetings with the environment department about an investigation into the illegal poisoning of endangered grass on land in which he had an undeclared financial interest?
Morrison once again sends the question to Paul Fletcher:
I again make the point to the House our government has considered very carefully the appropriate design considerations in developing the Commonwealth Anti-corruption Commission which will receive referrals from existing integrity agencies such as the Australian police and the ombudsman.
There are important design considerations here, because we need to make sure the commonwealth resources are not wasted on referrals, which are purely used for political purposes, like the member for Isaac nine failed referrals to the Australian Federal Police. Nine times he has engaged with a political stunt.
Tony Burke has a point of order that Fletcher is straying off the question. Tony Smith says he allows a bit of leeway in these questions because strictly, he could rule the question out of order, but says he will be listening (which is the Speaker’s hint to be relevant without having to say it).
Fletcher:
I was going to the issue of design consideration which the member has asked about the particular hypothetical factual circumstances she has addressed, but it is an important relevant design consideration, the risk the real and sensible risk of frivolous referral because we have seen a pattern of frivolous referrals from the member for Isaacs, nine referrals to the Australian Federal Police, I strongly suspect there are more [referrals than days the member has spent in his electorate].
...The Commonwealth Integrity Commission under the model we have extensively consulted on, is that, the integrity commission will be able to receive referrals relating to allegations involving parliamentarians, by two channels, referral by an integrity agency which has become aware of the matter and where there is a reasonable suspicion of a relevant criminal offence, and self referral by the parliamentarian to whom the issue relates. So we have built this into our model, we have.
Updated
Reuters has reported Qantas is getting ready for international flights:
Qantas Airways Ltd engineers are preparing for the airline’s fleet to ramp up international flying starting 1 November, when Sydney opens to fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents, without quarantine.
With the exception of its Airbus SE A380 super-jumbos, which remain stored in the Mojave desert in California, most of Qantas’ international fleet has already been doing some limited flying on cargo and repatriation flights.
“What we do is have them on a bit of a part-time schedule so they have been doing one day a week rather than seven days a week,” said John Walker, the airline’s head of line maintenance.
Qantas engineering staff at Sydney airport on Thursday were checking brakes and tyres and catching up on some minor maintenance work on its fleet of A330 planes that were flying on lighter schedules.
“For this aircraft, if it were in a deep sleep, it would be over 1,000 man hours with full crews of 12 or 15 to wake the plane up,” Walker said. “We started doing these wake-ups many, many months ago.”
In California, Qantas has a team of engineers in Los Angeles that regularly drives two hours to the Mojave Desert to carry out checks on the A380 fleet, he said.
The desert environment there is drier than Alice Springs in central Australia, where other carriers including Singapore Airlines and Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways have stored planes, he added.
Qantas expects five of its 12 A380s to return to service from July 2022 for London and Los Angeles flights, while two are being retired.
London and Los Angeles are also the first destinations for flights from Sydney on 1 November. Six weeks later it will start flights to Vancouver, Singapore Fiji and Japan.
Updated
Josh Wilson to Scott Morrison:
If the prime minister’s proposed national anti-corruption body had reason to believe there was evidence of serious and systemic corruption, would it have the power to investigate the member for Pearce’s secret donations?
Morrison refers the question to Paul Fletcher:
I do thank the member for his question. And of course, we’ve been extremely clear in relation to the commonwealth integrity commission.
We’ve been extremely clear that the commonwealth integrity commission will have the power to examine serious criminally corrupt conduct and it will have the same powers as a royal commission to investigate criminal corruption in the public sector. We’ve been very clear about our model. We’ve been consulting very extensively on it. And as the prime minister says, we look at the opposition leader to join with us in developing and implementing this model.
(The answer is no. The government’s proposal does include powers to investigate MPs)
Updated
A report by 19 leading experts has found climate action has been “severely undermined by national policies” that “increasingly place Australia out on a limb”.
The report, published in the Medical Journal of Australia in collaboration with The Lancet, includes input from researchers at eight Australian universities. It assessed indicators in domains including climate change impacts, adaptation and planning, and public and political engagement.
Paul Beggs, the report’s lead author and an associate professor at Macquarie University, said:
Australians are increasingly exposed to and vulnerable to climate extremes. The continued absence of a national health and climate change plan is a glaring gap which continues to put the health and lives of Australians at risk.
Cop26 should be the moment for Australia to showcase a much stronger emissions reduction commitment, and a clear transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy.
The report found that Australians are increasingly exposed to excess heat and other weather extremes.
It also found:
“Climate change disproportionately threatens Indigenous Australians’ wellbeing due to substantial ongoing health inequities: this is a policy failure that must be addressed urgently.
The report recommends a national strategy to prepare for extreme heat events, as well as a target of net zero emissions in Australian healthcare by 2040.
Updated
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
My question is addressed to the prime minister. It has been more than 1,000 days since the prime minister stood next to the member for Pearce and announced he would create a national anti-corruption commission. Why hasn’t the prime minister done this job and delivered on the national anti-corruption commission that he announced, with the member for Pearce?
Morrison:
Well, thank you, Mr Speaker. There’s been a number of consultation drafts on the government’s proposal.
And we’ll be moving to finalise legislation in relation to this matter. And I look forward to the opposition supporting it.
(That is the whole answer)
Updated
Question time begins
It is straight into it – with Labor wanting to know why the government went against practice and did not refer Christian Porter to the privileges committee.
Scott Morrison:
The opinion by the Speaker does not apply a conclusion that a breach of privilege or a contempt has occurred, or even that the matter should necessarily be investigated, Mr Speaker. That’s what the practice says very clearly.
The House determined this matter yesterday and the government took a position that the broader issue of members of this place, and the other place, who are faced with pursuing defamation proceedings, there should be clearer rules and clearer guidelines, Mr Speaker, to members of this place, so, Mr Speaker, they can take decisions. Now, that is what we have referred, Mr Speaker, to the privileges committee.
The suggestion that somehow things are not being looked into, that things have not been referred to, is not the case. Mr Speaker, we’ve referred these matters directly to the chair of the privileges committee*. To consider these issues. Because this has implications for members of this House on both sides, Mr Speaker, as it does have implication for members who sit in the other place. So, Mr Speaker, we want to ensure the rules are very clear. We’re not going to play politics with this, Mr Speaker. If those opposite want to use the procedures of this House to smear, they’ll do so, but that’ll reflect on them.
*The letter Peter Dutton sent the head of the privileges committee does not ask for a broader inquiry, it asks for clarification. The privileges committee can decide (and probably will) to do a wider inquiry, but not because the government asked it too.
There was nothing stopping a wider inquiry being held at the same time as the individual matter in question being examined. And the person in the “other place” Morrison is referring to – Sarah Hanson-Young did individually declare donors to her GoFundMe. They are listed on her register of interests.
Updated
It was Labor class photo time
More information on the Common Grace scarf initiative can be found here
It’s almost time for question time – given the privileges committee issue, Scott Morrison most likely won’t be cut out of this one, but expect climate to play a fairly major role again as well
And here is part of Anthony Albanese’s speech acknowledging the national apology anniversary:
I want to acknowledge the survivors – those who have told their stories. Those who haven’t. Those who never could.
I want to acknowledge their families and loved ones.
And I want to acknowledge the advocacy groups who have been on their side.
I thank the prime minister for his words.
Each year, we gather together in this place to reflect on the apology that was delivered here in 2018, and crucially, why it was delivered.
And as we do, it is easy to fall into familiar metaphors of darkness and shadow. But that would be a mistake, because many of these violations were not hidden from view.
As the Royal Commission so unflinchingly told us, so many childhoods were violated brazenly in the full light of knowledge and awareness.
And the violators were often individuals and institutions that felt secure behind the shield of trust, confident that in the court of credibility, they once again had the upper hand over those they preyed upon.
They acted with impunity.
Betrayal was meted out in darkness and in light.
Trust was destroyed in darkness and in light.
And those children, who should have known nothing but love and safety, were left unbelieved and unheard in darkness and in light.
All around us were voices that we ignored. Voices that we didn’t believe. And in the end, voices that were never raised because there didn’t seem to be any point.
There is no greater silence than when we refuse to hear.
Updated
Parents who endured months of remote learning with their children during New South Wales’s Delta lockdown will be rewarded with $250 in vouchers to be spent on hospitality and entertainment venues in 2022.
The NSW government will spend $193m to provide an additional $250 worth of Dine and Discover vouchers to every household with school-aged children in 2021.
The vouchers will be available from March next year and will expire by October, and have been timed to be valid across three school holidays as a gesture to parents for putting up with remote learning during 2021.
NSW premier Dominic Perrottet said the vouchers were a reward for families as well as a way to stimulate spending in the economy. He said:
In many senses this is a “thank you” that will go some small way towards helping family finances that took a big hit and at the same time supporting businesses and jobs”.
NSW treasurer Matt Kean said:
We want to reward mums and dads, right across New South Wales, we want to support families. In fact I’m addicted to supporting families.”
The additional vouchers were announced as part of a $2.8bn economic recovery strategy package unveiled by Perrottet and Kean on Thursday, with that figure including the costs of previously announced packages including a new round of Dine and Discover vouchers for all citizens for later this year, accommodation vouchers, and investments in arts, outdoor dining, and regional infrastructure.
Updated
There has been a bit going on in the Senate this morning (it’s the last Senate sitting day for a bit, because next week it moves into estimates)
Labor, through Penny Wong was moved a motion pointing out that the government has not produced the modelling it is using for its net zero emissions by 2050 target. LNP senator Matt Canavan had moved a motion (passed on the voices) asking for the modelling to be presented to the Senate yesterday.
They were due at 10am. They have not shown up (not unusual).
The Senate supported the suspension of standing orders for Wong’s motion, but then the government filibustered to ensure there was no vote on Wong’s actual motion, asking for an explanation on why the documents had not been produced.
The government just wound down the clock and the Senate has moved on.
Updated
Here is some of what Scott Morrison said in his speech acknowledging tomorrow’s national apology to victims of institutional child sexual abuse:
Mr Speaker, three years ago tomorrow, this parliament – on behalf of all Australians – offered an unconditional apology to the victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
Our national apologies have always been days of reckoning.
Those days of reckoning have become importantly part of our national story.
The apology to the Stolen Generations – an apology for the racism, cruelties and injustices inflicted on our First Nations peoples.
The apology for forced adoptions – an apology for the shame and the stigma and the brutality that forcibly split parents from their children.
The apology to the forgotten Australians and former child migrants – an apology for the unconscionable cruelties experienced by children removed from their families and placed in institutional homes.
The apologies reflect our acknowledgement of our failures as a people.
As a liberal democratic people, we aren’t afraid of our history.
Nor do we recoil from engaging with terrible truths.
Truth was always at the heart of the apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
And this is what the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, initiated by prime minister Gillard, was all about.
Updated
The trend of increasing Covid spread in the south-east suburbs of Melbourne continues, with 770 new cases, representing about one-third of all Thursday’s cases.
Casey had the most of any area again with 245 new cases, Cowie said.
Regional Victoria had 240 new cases, representing 10% of all new cases and taking the number of active cases to 1,811.
The state only has 500,000 second dises to go to reach the 80% double-dose milestone, Cowie said.
Victoria is on track to hit the 80% milestone earlier and there will be more announcements about a further easing of restrictions before that.
Updated
The Gold Coast Covid case is concerning Queensland authorities as the man (who had been in Melbourne) works as an Uber driver. Authorities are working with Uber to see if he worked in that time. He also hasn’t been using QR codes to check in anywhere since last month.
If you are on the Gold Coast and haven’t yet gone to get vaccinated, there is a blitz this weekend, which includes at schools.
Updated
Victoria’s acting chief health officer Ben Cowie says there will be more cases as the state opens up but that the lockdown saved hundreds of lives.
“As the acting chief health officer who originally signed the lockdown orders for this particular lockdown, I could not be more pleased to be the one who gets to sign them away again tonight,” Cowie said.
“We know how hard this has been for all Victorians, especially for Melburnians. I want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you. Thank you for staying the course.
“The number of infections could be in the tens of thousands if not for the hard work of all Victorians.
“We have prevented many thousands of people from ending up in hospital and hundreds of deaths already.”
Updated
Meanwhile back in the Senate:
BREAKING: One Nation has just voted with Gov to block my motion to bring on a House vote on my ICAC bill - even tho they've supported the same motion twice in the past! To be clear, that’s Govt and PHON standing in the way of a strong integrity commission. Vale integrity. #auspol
— Larissa Waters (@larissawaters) October 21, 2021
Updated
Victoria hits 90% first dose vaccine milestone
“I am pleased to announce that we have reached 90% first dose in the 16 and over population,” Merlino said.
“That is quite incredible and that means we are on track to become one of the most highly vaccinated jurisdictions in the world.
“So well done to all Victorians and most importantly, in terms of where we will be at midnight tonight, I can confirm we have reached our target of 70% double dosed in the 16 and over.”
Mildura’s lockdown will end at midnight tonight, a day early, in line with Melbourne.
Merlino announced a raft of measures to help the state’s mental health.
The state government will partner with headspace to launch nine pop-up vaccination clinics and centres across the state, which start opening tomorrow.
The 20 pop up clinics he previously mentioned have opened form today and are taking referrals.
And there will be $5.6 additional funding for dedicated specialist statewide services that work which people who are experiencing eating disorders, serious trauma and or need psychiatric intensive care.
“We are all excited to see our state reopening many people continue to experience stress, anxiety and mental ill-health,” Merlino said.
“I encourage anyone who needs support to reach out.”
Updated
Victoria's Covid cases jump as Melbourne prepares to exit lockdown
There’s been a jump in Covid cases in Victoria as Melbourne prepares to come out of lockdown.
The state recorded 2,232 cases on Thursday, the second-worst day for case numbers in Victoria so far.
A further 12 deaths were recorded, which takes the death toll for the current Delta outbreak to 187.
There are 22,889 cases currently active across the state. Of the 12 deaths one was a man in his 40s, two men and two women in their 60s, one man and one woman in their 70s, three women and a man in their 80s and a woman in her 90s.
There are 779 people currently in hospital with Covid, with 141 in intensive care and 96 on a ventilator.
“Of the cases in hospital yesterday, 88% were not fully vaccinated and of the cases in intensive care yesterday, 98% were not fully vaccinated,” Victorian deputy remier James Merlino said.
“Which again demonstrates the power of vaccination in preventing serious illnesses.”
There were 79,549 tests conducted in the state yesterday.
Updated
As usual, Murph makes the points a lot more eloquently than me:
Short thread. PM this morning on privileges. "What we've referred to the privileges committee is to ensure that they can get some clear rules when politicians are defamed and how they can actually defend themselves. And so let's let's get those rules very clear for everybody."
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) October 21, 2021
Govt says the broad referral from Dutton will cover Porter's blind trust. Officials say that was absolutely envisaged. Porter's specific arrangement is not referenced in the general referral. Privileges has also not been asked to make specific findings about past practice.
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) October 21, 2021
Privileges has been asked by Dutton to clarify what is required to satisfy the requirements of the register (so forward looking rather than backward looking). To quote Dutton, this is a clarification exercise. But of course privileges is its own beast.#auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) October 21, 2021
Updated
Annastacia Palaszczuk says there is a regional Queensland vaccination drive, given the concerns over the lower vaccination rathers than the state average (which is lower than the national average).
Updated
Queensland records one community Covid case
The Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says a Covid case has been found on the Gold Coast:
This is a wake-up call for the Gold Coast. The issue about this gentleman is that they were not vaccinated. They were potentially infectious in the community for up to 10 days and we are having further investigations but it is believed that he is from interstate.
Gold Coast residents, if you have any concerns or any symptoms, please go and get tested. We also need people on the Gold Coast to go and get vaccinated because we have 156,000 people on the Gold Coast at the moment, 16 plus and over, who are currently not vaccinated.
We are a little bit concerned about this person that has been infectious in the community and if you have any symptoms whatsoever, now is the time to get vaccinated.
Updated
Continued from previous post:
Hangar told the inquiry that after the initial business case came back with a benefit-to-cost ratio of 0.88 – an insufficient level to gain approval from Infrastructure NSW, the body charged with signing off on the project – he was told by staff in the deputy premier’s office that he needed to “revisit that business case”.
Robertson presented an email from Hangar from May 2017 in which he told other public servants that the deputy premier’s office had directly asked the company that drafted the business case to “review and update the Wagga Wagga clay shooting plan to include more of the expected benefits”.
It subsequently received a benefit-to-cost ratio of 1.1, enough to gain approval from Infrastructure NSW.
Barilaro is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Icac is investigating whether Berejiklian breached the public’s trust by “exercising public functions” in circumstances where she had a conflict of interest because of her secret relationship with Maguire.
She has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has said that history will demonstrate that she acted in the best interests of the people of NSW.
The hearing continues.
Updated
Continued from previous post:
He became “heavily involved” in developing the project, Hangar told Icac, something he agreed was “inappropriate” when asked by counsel assisting the commission Scott Robertson.
“It’s peculiar for them to be involved in advice around that in the way Mr Minucos did,” Hangar said.
Hangar has told the inquiry this morning that it became clear to him that there was interest in the project from the “premier herself”, who by that time was Berejiklian.
“A range of conversations at that time indicated the premier and premier’s office were particularly interested in this particular project,” he told the commission.
“The way in which it had come forward and speed in which we needed to procure the bus case following that ERC decision all indicated to us a strong interest out of that office in regards to the project.”
He said based on conversations with Minucos it appeared the interest was coming from “the premier herself”.
Updated
Political staffers in former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro’s office asked public servants to re-do a business case for the Australian Clay Target Association’s multi-million dollar shooting range in Wagga Wagga after it was initially found to be of insufficient benefit to justify using taxpayer money, an inquiry has heard.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption has heard from public servant Chris Hangar this morning, who was charged with organising a business case for the project.
Hangar told Icac that from the beginning he understood the project to have a high level of political support, because of its referral from the powerful expenditure review committee chaired by then-treasurer Gladys Berejiklian in 2016.
The project was then referred to Hangar’s department of industry and regional development, which at that time was headed by Barilaro.
Hangar has told the inquiry this morning that one of Barilaro’s staff members, Peter Minucos, who is scheduled to appear as a witness next week, took a keen interest in the project, going as far as to engage directly with the consultants charged with putting the business case together.
Updated
Adam Bandt is not happy with the NT Labor government’s decision to open up the Beetaloo Basin for gas projects:
On the eve of the climate’s ‘last chance’ global summit, Labor is opening up new gas fields and fracking the NT, lighting the fuse on a climate bomb.
Gas is as dirty as coal and the Betaloo gas project will be worse for the climate than the Adani coal mine.
Labor and the Liberals are using public money to make the climate crisis worse, funnelling $50m to corporations that include Liberal and Labor Party donors.
After this announcement, it’s clear the only way we’ll get climate action is to kick the Liberals out and put Greens in balance of power where we’ll push the next government to take the climate crisis seriously.
Updated
So what is the difference between what the government has offered through Peter Dutton’s earlier letter to the privileges committee, and the referral of Christian Porter over his register of interest declaration?
Dutton has asked for ‘clarification’ of the rules, not a wider inquiry, as seen in his letter which was released yesterday:
Peter Dutton has asked the privileges committee to clarify the rules about declaration of donations for legal funds - but it's no inquiry, and no substitute for a referral into Porter's declaration.#auspol pic.twitter.com/ciG4VC8wc5
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) October 20, 2021
That is not to same as an inquiry into whether a member adhered to the rules. It’s also not asking for a ‘broader inquiry’. It is asking for the existing rules to be clarified.
The government is playing semantics when it argues it didn’t vote against the Speaker’s declaration that the the privileges matter should have precedent. That didn’t go to a vote. But the government DID oppose referring Porter. Here was Dutton:
I table the letter that on 18 October I wrote to the privileges committee and, for the reasons I’ve detailed today, the government is not going to support the motion that’s before the House, because I believe that the letter that I wrote, the letter that has been written by the shadow attorney general and the broader issue that, as I point out, is here before us to deal with makes redundant the motion that’s been moved by the member for Watson. It’s on that basis that the government will be opposing it.
The ‘unprecedented’ action here, relates to instances where the Speaker has granted precedence to a motion, and the government then defeated it. It is true that there have been times when the house has not referred matters to the privileges committee, including Labor using its numbers to stop referrals. But there does not seem to be any examples of the house (meaning the government of the day, which has the numbers in the house) have refused referrals where the Speaker gave precedence.
Tony Smith gave precedence. Here is what he said on the matter yesterday:
Based on my careful consideration of all the information available to me, I am satisfied that a prima facie case has been made out, and I’m willing to give precedence to a motion concerning privilege or contempt, as raised by the manager of opposition business, referring the matter to the Committee of Privileges and Members’ Interests.
As members would also be aware, and as House of Representatives practice makes clear, ‘an opinion by the Speaker that a prima facie case has been made out does not imply a conclusion that a breach of privilege or contempt has occurred’.
In giving precedence for a motion to be moved, I am simply allowing the House the opportunity to consider a motion immediately and debate and decide on whether the matter should be referred to the committee for inquiry and report.
So the Speaker didn’t make a ruling on any wrongdoing, or give an opinion. But he did explicitly give precedence for a motion to be moved.
Updated
Anthony Albanese had a quick doorstop this morning – here is where Labor will be going today:
Q: Just briefly, Peter Dutton has asked the privileges committee to look into blind trusts and their use in covering legal costs. Why isn’t that enough?
Albanese: No, Peter Dutton has said, ‘Look over here, look at something else’. That is typical of this government.
Q: It’s the same thing, right?
Albanese: You know, if you believe that I’ve got a Harbour Bridge I can sell you. The truth is that there is a specific case of an abuse. And a prima facie case was found by the Speaker of the House of Representatives that was rejected by the government. And of course, Peter Dutton, knowing he was going to do that set up a ‘look over here’ example. Well, the fact is, they have rendered their position on the Register of Pecuniary Interests very clear. Forget about blind trusts, the whole process has been thrown out as a result of what the decision was that they made yesterday.
Q: So Labor wants a specific investigation of Christian Porter, rather than the issue of...
Albanese: No, the Speaker of the House of Representatives wants an investigation into Christian Porter. The Speaker of the House of Representatives who was unanimously appointed to that position not once, but twice. And 120 years of precedent. I’ve held Peter Dutton’s position as leader of the government in the House, and I took it seriously. And I wouldn’t have thought for a nanosecond about defying a Speaker’s ruling and determination that there was a prima facie case.
Updated
And there was another Extinction Rebellion protest outside parliament today. There have been protests outside parliament every day this week.
Updated
I’ll bring you some from the speeches very soon, but here is how the chamber looked for the anniversary acknowledgement of the national apology to survivors and victims of institutional child sexual abuse, as seen by Mike Bowers:
Updated
And here is what the covid charts look like today:
As the nation starts to reopen, there are going to be people left behind – our colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes would like to speak to those worried about the loss of the covid disaster payments:
Call out: Are you living in Sydney, Melbourne or Canberra and worried about the Covid disaster payments ending? Please get in touch via DMs or send me an email: luke.henriques-gomes@theguardian.com
— Luke Henriques-Gomes (@lukehgomes) October 20, 2021
Here is next week’s Icac witness list:
The witness list for next week's Icac hearings. John Barilaro, Sarah Cruickshank (fmr COS to Gladys Berejiklian), Daryl Maguire, then two days of Berejiklian herself. Counsel assisting has already said this morning that it may run into a third week. pic.twitter.com/4rypSyImyy
— Michael McGowan (@mmcgowan) October 20, 2021
Over in the senate, Dorinda Cox moved her first motion to suspend standing orders to debate a motion on climate policy, calling for Australia to “step up” 2030 targets, pointing out that opening the Beetaloo Basin will increase emissions and condemning actions by governments which go against the goals of the Paris agreement, but lost.
One Nation voted against suspending standing orders, so it moved on
The house privileges committee met last night after the government defeated a bid by Labor to refer Christian Porter to it over the declaration of his legal fees being part-paid by a blind trust.
The leader of the house, Peter Dutton, has asked the committee to consider clarifying the rules around disclosure of donations for legal cases:
Peter Dutton has asked the privileges committee to clarify the rules about declaration of donations for legal funds - but it's no inquiry, and no substitute for a referral into Porter's declaration.#auspol pic.twitter.com/ciG4VC8wc5
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) October 20, 2021
Guardian Australia understands although the Wednesday night meeting was the committee’s regular meeting, the Dutton correspondence was discussed. Consideration of the issue of disclosure of legal fee donations is on foot, is ongoing, and the committee is meeting again next week.
Members of the government including assistant attorney general, Amanda Stoker, are out spinning that the process Dutton proposed is better than a “witch hunt” from Labor, because it will ensure there is “a clear position that will apply equally to all people whatever their political colours”.
I note the referral does not ask the committee to consider whether any MP’s disclosures are against the rules, it seeks to further clarify the rules.
So it’s more an inquiry into whether the rules are fit for purpose than an inquiry into whether any MP has breached the rule.
In the house, Dutton sought to raise similar concerns about some senators’ disclosures.
The Senate privileges committee is meeting this morning, but has not received similar correspondence asking it to consider the rules.
Updated
Further to the anniversary of the national apology for victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, the goverment is setting up a new national centre.
From the release:
Tomorrow marks the third anniversary of the National Apology for Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, commemorating the childhoods that were stolen and renewing the government’s commitment and responsibility to protecting Australia’s children.
In honour, the Morrison government announced that the Blue Knot Foundation, along with its key consortium partners the Australian Childhood Foundation and the Healing Foundation, would establish and deliver the National Centre for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse.
Prime minister Scott Morrison said on this day three years ago we confronted our failure to listen, to believe, and to provide justice.
“We must continue to make sure that victims and survivors remain at the forefront of our minds and deep in our hearts, while ensuring the words we speak spur action,” the prime minister said.
“The National Centre will be an online central point of information that will help build capability of the sector to better support survivors of institutional child sexual abuse and ensure the wrongs of the past never happen again.
“The National Centre will shine a national lens on preventing child sexual abuse, improve outcomes for survivors, and increase awareness and understanding of the impacts of abuse.”
Updated
AAP has more on the NSW government commitment to establish a biotech facility:
NSW is committing $96m to establish a facility to develop and manufacture the emerging medical technology of mRNA and RNA drugs used to develop vaccines like those created for Covid-19 by Pfizer and Moderna.
Premier Dominic Perrottet said the facility – at a site yet to be determined – would position the state as a world leader in biotechnology, noting it would be a game changer in the field of medical research.
The investment in RNA and biotechnology reflects the government’s new focus on research and development and a move to attract and train the best and brightest minds in developing emerging technologies.
“The NSW government doesn’t just want to be nation-leading, but world-leading when it comes to industry, ideas and innovation,” he said on Thursday.
“If there is anything that this pandemic has taught us it is that governments need to be ahead of the curve,” he said.
The facility would be “the silver lining of the pandemic”.
The project was part of the government’s plan to create jobs and ensure NSW is set up for a prosperous future, Mr Perrottet said.
Construction on the facility will begin within a year and would be developed in partnership with the state’s universities, with the funding supporting the NSW RNA bio science alliance with the aim of attracting private investment.
The facility will include labs and pre-clinical trial spaces to enable early stage RNA-based drug development.
Updated
Scott Morrison will deliver a ministerial statement on the anniversary of the National Apology to Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse at 9.30am in the House.
Updated
Victoria records 2,232 new Covid cases
Victoria has now also reported its numbers. There has been an increase in cases in Victoria as well, along with 12 deaths.
Again, with the 70% vaccination target having been reached, there will be a staggered reopening, and these numbers are not expected to impact that.
Condolences to anyone impacted by this though – we know that these are not numbers, they are people and every single one mattered.
Reported yesterday: 2,232 new local cases and 3 cases acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) October 20, 2021
- 37,824 vaccines administered
- 79,544 test results received
- Sadly, 12 people with COVID-19 have died
More later: https://t.co/OCCFTAchah#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/XHK2glmqsh
Updated
The Taxation Commissioner, Chris Jordan, is out this morning talking about topics including the Pandora papers and the ATO’s success in shovelling billions of dollars of government subsidies into the economy during the coronavirus crisis.
In a speech to tax professionals at the Tax Institute summit this morning, Jordan says that “at last count” the ATO has paid $89bn in jobkeeper, $36bn in cash flow boost payments – these are payments of $50,000 to eligible businesses – and released $38bn of super early.
He doesn’t touch on the controversies with jobkeeper (widespread rorting) or early release super (draining the balances of young people).
On the Pandora papers, Jordan says:
We will analyse information that becomes available, compare it with data we already have and, where necessary, will investigate and take action against those who are involved in offshore tax evasion.
If you have any doubts over the legality of an arrangement, come to us for advice. We will always be keen to help you stay on the right path.
Updated
NSW records 372 new Covid cases
NSW has reported its covid numbers – there has been an increase in case numbers for the first time in a while – but this was expected, given the re-opening. CHO Dr Kerry Chant said she expected to start seeing an uptick in case numbers as the two-week infection lag began to tick over. If you still get worried about case numbers, pay attention to what is happening in hospitalisations and ICU admissions. Vaccinations work.
NSW COVID-19 update – Thursday 21 October 2021
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) October 20, 2021
In the 24-hour reporting period to 8pm last night:
- 92.5% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 82.3% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 86,235 tests pic.twitter.com/NZBcVB4Ome
Updated
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg gets visibly uncomfortable during his interview with ABC News Breakfast when he is asked about the government’s refusal to refer Christian Porter’s members declaration to the privileges committee (going against every precedent set by the parliament previously)
Q: Can I ask you if you’re uncomfortable with the unprecedented move to block the privileges committee’s inquiry into Christian Porter’s legal donations
Bragg:
I’m not a member of the house of representatives, I’m a member of the senate.
Q: You are a member of the government.
Bragg:
I think there is a pecuniary interest with the standards. I don’t think they are working in the way that they should. I think that there is frankly too much scope for concealing information, and I think that we should have a review of the pecuniary interest standards.
Q: Why not allow this review of the Christian Porter situation?
Bragg:
Well, I’m not a member of the House, so I’m not across what happened in the House yesterday. What I can say is I don’t think the pecuniary interest standards are working as they should. I think frankly in some cases you could drive a truck through them.
Q: Jacqui Lambie has described it like getting a brown paper bag?
Bragg:
I just said to you, I think there should be a review of the pecuniary interest standards.
Updated
For those who missed Fran Kelly’s announcement this morning:
"My days presenting RN Breakfast are coming to an end. After 17 years it's time." - @frankelly08 @RNBreakfast pic.twitter.com/iOQ4C5ecar
— ABC Radio National (@RadioNational) October 20, 2021
Victoria hits 70% vaccination target
And it is official:
We've officially hit 70% fully vaccinated.
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) October 20, 2021
Because of everything Victorians have done, tomorrow we can start getting back to the things we love.
Thank you Victoria - I'm so proud. pic.twitter.com/ku3q5KJGWz
I’m sorry that it is predicted to rain this weekend Melbourne. I hope you get to enjoy your weekend anyway. Go dance in it. You’ve earned it.
To the hosts credit, there was a follow up there:
Q: This is the former Australia’s top legal officer. Forget the pub test - this doesn’t pass any kind of test.
Scott Morrison:
The member has resigned from cabinet and that matter was dealt with decisively. What I’m saying here though is there are many other members of parliament who’ve been in this situation about how they fund legal costs to pursue defamation actions*. That’s not just one member.
There are other members, and we’ve got to get the rules clear. That’s why we’ve referred that matter to the Privileges Committee.
If others want to play politics with it, that’s their prerogative. I want to make sure the rules are right so the integrity is protected so the government has referred those issues to the Privileges Committee, to ensure the rules are clear, and that everybody can be judged on the same basis.
*Right. Let’s deal with this. There are other members who have received crowd funded donations. The example used by the government yesterday was Sarah Hanson-Young. The difference? Hanson-Young declared everyone who donated to her GoFundMe crowdfunding. They are listed, individually, on her register. The ‘anonymous’ donations Peter Dutton highlighted as part of those donations yesterday in the parliament did not meet the donation threshold ($300). Everyone else who was over the threshold limit, had their name recorded.
The only member who did not declare the source of their crowdfunded legal donations seems to be Porter.
Updated
Over on the Nine network, Scott Morrison is trying to paint Labor’s attempts to refer Christian Porter’s register of interests for further inquiry as Labor attempting ‘a political trial’.
Here is how that played out:
Q: We had Jacqui Lambie on the show earlier, she was talking about former Christian Porter and you blocking an investigation into who paid his legal fees. This was her.
Lambie:
It was a political donation, let’s call it out for what it is. In a brown paper bag and it is absolutely disgusting.
Q: She has a point, doesn’t she?
Morrison:
Well, what we’ve referred to the Privileges Committee is this broader issue of these crowd-sourcing, funding arrangements.
There are a number of members of parliament who have had these arrangements and they’re in these arrangements and they’re in the parliament now. There isn’t just one.
So what we’ve referred to the Privileges Committee is to ensure that they can get some clear rules when politicians are defamed and how they can actually defend themselves.
So let’s get those rules very clear for everybody.
Some will try and pursue this as a political trial and I get that, that’s what political parties, the Labor Party will have their go...
Scott Morrison is told on the Nine network that for someone who said the vaccination program was ‘not a race’ he is certainly celebrating the victory and says:
It’s always how you bring it home. That’s the challenge.
Victoria and Tasmania have both passed 70% vaccinations (as an average) which means Melbourne will see more freedoms. No one deserves it better.
NSW is spending $95m on a mRNA and biotech facility, because gaps in Australia’s supply chains were made very, very clear during the pandemic.
Scott Morrison will also appear on Nine’s commercial breakfast TV show. No doubt we’ll have one of the favoured radio shows pop up as a media alert soon.
Penny Wong is now in the ABC radio studios speaking to Fran Kelly on ABC RN.
I’ll bring you some of that in a moment, but she follows Josh Frydenberg who was trying to walk the line of saying the government wants transparency ... but ... on the issue of Christian Porter’s blind trust.
Updated
ABC Breakfast also points out that it had asked Scott Morrison to appear on the show, and he had turned it down.
The interview moves onto the government refusing to refer Christian Porter’s register of interests declaration:
Penny Wong:
This is pretty extraordinary, and in the news headlines, it was described as unprecedented, and it is. I think 120 years of precedence, we haven’t seen a government do what they did yesterday.
You know, Australians deserve a prime minister who uses their power for the good of the country. Scott Morrison uses his power to protect his mates. To avoid accountability.
Q: What do you do about it?
Wong:
Yesterday, he asked every single one of his Coalition MPs to vote against an inquiry into how Christian Porter could get $1m donation anonymously. I mean, you just need to say that for how appalling that is to be demonstrated. You just need to say it.
Q: So what happens? What happens now? What happens going forward?
Wong:
We have to change the government and we need to put in place an Anti-Corruption Commission.
...I do think that this is a point about democracy. Our democracy does depend on governments, on ministers, respecting certain conventions. And we’re at the point where a prime minister says – I’m going to instruct every single one of my MPs to block an inquiry into a $1m donation in the house of representatives, against the advice of the speaker? Or against the view of the speaker?
Q: So, I just quickly finally want to ask you, though, with Labor’s Integrity Commission, would that look Christian Porter? Would that be a retrospective body?
Wong:
I think that Mark Dreyfus has made it clear the approach that we’d take. We’d want an anti-corruption commission. But can I say on that – you shouldn’t need a commission. And I would hope that any government that had some integrity, you wouldn’t need an anti-corruption commission to deal with this. This should have been stopped right at the start when Scott Morrison found out that a cabinet minister was going to get $1m in anonymous donations. It shouldn’t even get to a commission point. [This] should be dealt with as a matter of prime minister and ministerial standards.
Updated
Q: Climate change will be an issue in quite a few seats and Labor is going to have to come up with some plans. Why are you waiting until after Glasgow to actually say what you’re going to do? And is 45% back on the table for Labor?
Penny Wong:
Well, there’s about three questions there so I’ll try to go through them. We will make sure that we will be clear with the electorate about our approach to this before the next election. Secondly, I was Australia’s first climate minister. We have been fighting for over a decade against some pretty hard fear campaigning for action on climate and I’d say to anyone listening – if you want action on climate, there is only one way to do that. And that is to change the government.
Q: 45% then back on the table?
Wong:
Well, I remember all of this argument about targets years ago. And in fact, if we’d adopted some of the targets that the Labor governments had, we’d be in a much better position now. Fundamentally we need to change the government. We understand the importance of this issue and we always have. Bowen has said very clearly that the government should go to Glasgow with a stronger target. And we will make decisions before the next election.
Q: It’s interesting, because a lot of the analysis is suggesting that Labor could end up getting wedged here again? That you’re forced into over reaching and find yourself in trouble again going into the next election?
Wong:
And I would be saying to people who are demanding detail from an opposition at this point that I would say to them, again – there is only one way you will get action on climate. That is to change the government.
Updated
Penny Wong has exactly what she wants to say worked out this morning, and she will not be diverted from it:
I think that the government is realising that they’re in political trouble on climate. I think that’s really happening and I don’t think that anybody who has been watching the debate over this last, over these last years or the eight long years they’ve been in government would think that anything is happening other than Scott Morrison realising that he’s got a political problem. This is a bloke who said that electric vehicles would end the weekend. I think that he called batteries a big banana or the big prawn or something like that? Do you believe that?
Updated
Penny Wong is speaking to the ABC, where she is asked what is going on with the government on climate:
Well, we’ve been all watching Barnaby Joyce’s hostage negotiations with Scott Morrison, haven’t we, over the last weeks.
And they’ve gone on a long time and the problem will be that the ransom that Australians have to pay to get Barnaby to sign up will be pretty high, and we’ll see some of that soon. But look, I think that it is as simple as this.
Two people have been standing in the way of action on climate for a decade.
Barnaby Joyce and Scott Morrison are not going to come up with a deal that does anything. It will just be spin. It will just be announcement. It will be something Scott Morrison wants to take to Glasgow, but it won’t be real.
It’s almost like Wong wants to say Morrison is facing the consequences of his own actions on climate, but she resists the temptation.
Updated
The host of ABC radio RN Breakfast, Fran Kelly, has announced she will be finishing up in December.
After 17 years. That’s a long time for people to have woken up hearing the same voice – and a lot of prime ministers.
She will be missed.
Fran Kelly announcing she's hanging up the mic in December after 17 years with RN Breakfast pic.twitter.com/2T0ZviPVXB
— Max Chalmers (@maxchalm) October 20, 2021
Scott Morrison is doing the commercial TV rounds this morning. It’s a favourite of his – less chance for pesky questions he doesn’t want to answer. Most of his short interview on the Seven network was about how great the national plan was, and how amazing the vaccine program has turned out after some “challenges” (like not ordering enough different vaccines in the first place) before we moved onto the talking points for Glasgow.
Morrison’s main point he wants people to take in is that cabinet, not the Nationals, will be making the net zero emissions target decision. Labor cut out Morrison from QT yesterday by directing every question to Barnaby Joyce, which Joyce absolutely loved. You could hear Joyce being told he could refer questions, and he didn’t. Because Joyce will never let a moment in the sun pass by.
And while Morrison could make the decision without the Nats, Bridget McKenzie let the elephant out of the bag when she said if that happened, “it will get ugly”. So no, cabinet will be making a decision the junior Coalition partner is comfortable with.
Anyways, here was Morrison:
The decision will be made by cabinet, by the government before I had to Glasgow about this time next week and I’m looking forward to us coming to a can vision on that. This is a big challenge.
There are a lot of things to work through. The impacts of what is happening globally with the world’s response to climate change, of course they will have impact here on regional and rural communities and Australians will be able to trust my government to do the right thing by them to achieve what we need to achieve in our response to climate change and ensure that our jobs and the jobs are people in rural Australia are supported to protect it into the future, embracing new technologies while at the same time keeping our industries and jobs forging ahead.
Updated
Good morning
It’s the last day of the joint sitting – next week the senate will move to estimates while the house continues to sit, with Scott Morrison due to leave for Glasgow next Thursday.
The Nationals will hand over their demands to the prime minister at the end of the week, Barnaby Joyce says, as the standouts in his party room work out what it is it would take for them to support a net zero emissions target three decades into the future.
Not all of them though. Matt Canavan is out. He’s also trying to force the government (to which he belongs) to release the modelling it is using to sell net zero to the Nationals. So far, all anyone outside of cabinet has seen is the ‘results’ of that modelling, which Canavan says is worth nothing. Again, Canavan (a former cabinet minister) is trying to force the government he is part of, to release something it doesn’t want to, so he can continue to tear it apart. We’ll see how that works out, and if that modelling is released to the senate.
Meanwhile, integrity is back on the agenda, with the crossbenchers pushing for the government to actually do something.
And that was before the government went against more than a century of convention and voted against referring Christian Porter to the privileges committee to examine his register of interests disclosure. Porter declared he had received funds from a “blind trust” but could not reveal the donors. He resigned from the ministry and moved to the backbench, but Labor said given the precedent it could potentially set, there needed to be an inquiry.
The Speaker, Tony Smith, had agreed there was a prima facie case for Porter to face, stressed that he was not making any determination, and gave Labor permission to move the necessary motion for the referral.
Every other time, when the Speaker has found there is precedence, the house follows through and refers. Not this time. For the first time since federation, the government voted against the referral motion.
Instead, it has asked the privileges committee to ‘clarify’ what responsibilities members have when declaring crowdfunded donations. And so, Peter Dutton said, having taken that step, the government saw no reason to refer Porter.
There is no precedent for this. The move shocked not just Labor, but government MPs as well. There will be more on that today.
We’ll bring you the fallout, as well as everything else that happens with Mike Bowers, Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin, Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst at your service. You have me, Amy Remeikis until the end of the day. It is most absolutely a cake for breakfast day.
Ready?
