That’s it from me and him. Him being Mr Bowers.
- Parakeelia dominated the political day, with skerricks dribbling out of the Liberal party but no definitive statements on the donations/payments made from the data company to the party. Shorten increased the pressure today, urging Malcolm Turnbull to say whether his allowance had been paid to Parakeelia. Labor confirmed its MPs pay their software fees straight to head office, which then pays the Labor company Magenta Linas, which is not owned by the Labor party. Oh, for a little transparency.
- Malcolm Turnbull has knocked a nascent push for Tony Abbott to return to the ministry on the head. Peta Credlin says the initial story in the Fin was a bit of stirring the pot from within the Coalition. Abbott says he is not going into the ministry FYI.
- Turnbull has also defended Ziggy Switkowski, his appointee as chair of NBNCo, for writing an opinion piece during the election campaign which broke caretaker conventions. He was defending his staff, says Turnbull. “You have to remember, he is a very experienced man, Ziggy.”
- The Coalition and Labor have agreed on the need for a review of defence rules which mean servicemen and women can’t be photographed in their uniforms for political careers. Both Mike Kelly resigned from reserve forces and Hastie was sacked for appearing in campaign material.
- Tomorrow, the News/Facebook debate at 6pm, just as every innovative young person is settling on the lounge for a Friday night in.
Thanks for your company. It’s been a gas. Call Walquist will be back here in the early morning, followed by Katharine Murphy.
Goodnight.
Sky commentator and former Abbott chief of staff Peta Credlin has been asked about the story that Abbott should return to the ministry. She says a “benevolent” interpretation is it was a “loose yarn” in the midde of an election campaign.
The less benevolent take is this is a little bit of stirring the pot from the Coalition side.
In other words, a way of definitely ruling out a return by Tony Abbott to the ministry.
House of Cards.
Updated
As a Queenslander, Brandis says the government’s jobs and growth message is cutting through. BTW.
Attorney general George Brandis is speaking with David Speers about Orlando and terrorism. Brandis says Australians should praise John Howard for our gun laws. He updates figures.
- 110 Australians are estimated to be fighting with Islamist terrorist organisations, primarily Islamic State.
- 54-61 people engaged in fighting have been killed.
- 40 people engaged in war have returned.
- 190 people in Australia under surveillance and investigation for invovlement with terrorism recruitment/financing.
Brandis says the government has been advised to keep the terrorist threat at the same level. He says the nature of the problem has stabilised but its incorrect to say the problem has eased.
Updated
Found a Shane Warne blackout curtain while door knocking in Yeronga. #Moreton #NotThatThere'sAnythingWrongWithThat pic.twitter.com/ZHFHMUb20A
— Graham Perrett (@GrahamPerrettMP) June 16, 2016
In the first two days of pre-polling 136,970 people voted.
— Sabra Lane (@SabraLane) June 16, 2016
The whole asylum seeker thing passed me by today. I admit I may have been diverting my eyes, after the Daily Telegraph front page story:
LABOR’S MESSAGE TO ASYLUM SEEKERS: WELCOME.
The breathy “revelations” have been Labor policy for quite some time. They are on the party’s website and have been around since last year as far as I can tell. This is from the website:
Abolishing Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs)
Labor will abolish TPVs which keep people in a permanent state of limbo. Labor will commit to processing people as quickly as possible and placing those found to be genuine refugees on permanent protection visas.
The Tele story has mentioned the party’s national security advisor Mike Kelly, who is Labor’s candidate in Eden Monaro and a former MP for the bellwether seat. It said Kelly opposed boat turnbacks.
Later in the morning, Peter Dutton did a Scott Morrison-style attack press conference to back in the front page. He also told shock jock Ray Hadley that Kelly had a chance of winning Eden-Monaro. Is that what all this fear and loathing is about? Saving Eden-Monaro?
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On top of the boardwalk.
Albo’s kids club.
Updated
Paul Karp has written a story drawing together the threads on Parakeelia and Magenta Linas.
Parakeelia has other clients...
This is the only conclusion I can draw from this exchange between Sky’s Laura Jayes and Liberal trade minister Steve Ciobo.
Jayes: But the Labor party – yes, there is a big difference because the Labor party’s platform doesn’t donate half a million - well, I think it’s yeah, $500,000 back to the Liberal party.
Ciobo: So what because the Labor party company is – makes less money, the Labor party company clearly is worse at business, that’s in some way a problem for the Coalition? I don’t think so.
Jayes: No, but this is a money go-round essentially.
Ciobo: No, no, it’s not. They’re two entirely separate things.
Jayes: Well Parakeelia doesn’t service anyone but the Liberal Party.
Ciobo: Well that’s your assertion, I’m not sure that’s correct. The fact is that the Labor party and all members of the Labor party contribute to a company that they use, and all members of the Liberal party contribute to a company that we use.
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Canberra political blogger Paula Matthewson has reminded me of the case, reported by AAP in the SMH, when Howard government minister Gary Nairn asked the Australian Electoral Commission to investigate Magenta Linus. Here is the story:
The electoral watchdog has dismissed a federal government complaint about the ACTU using electoral roll details to target voters in marginal seats.
Special minister of state Gary Nairn asked the Australian Electoral Commission to investigate whether the Labor Party’s database manager, Magenta Linas, had broken the law by passing on personal information about voters to the union body.
The ACTU is planning a sophisticated campaign to recruit union members in marginal seats as activists against the government’s industrial relations laws in the lead-up to this year’s election.
Mr Nairn queried whether it was legal for the Labor party to pass on the electoral roll details to a third party.
The AEC on Thursday ruled that electoral roll information given to political parties was “protected information” under section 91B of the Commonwealth Electoral Act.
“Protected information provided to political parties may be used for any purpose in connection with an election or referendum under the Act,” the AEC said.
“As a federal election will take place at some stage this year, there is clear evidence that the ACTU campaign ... is intended to influence voters, and is a purpose in connection with an election and as such does not breach the Act.”
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And while we are on land usage, Lock the Gate has commissioned a survey of 1,135 residents across South Australia which found 82.3% of the community are concerned about the threats of shale gas fracking to water supplies and rich farming land.
The poll also found:
- 74.9% of South Australians believe landholders should have the right to say ‘no’ to fracking, including 71.1% of Liberal voters; and
- 67% of people in the state would support a moratorium on fracking in South Australia while more research is done to ensure it will not damage water and important agricultural industries, including winemaking.
Those who watched the Tamworth Q&A might remember the first questioner wanted answers from both sides on what governments could do on alleged contamination from CSG wells. Joyce said it was a state issue but Fitzgibbon said if there was evidence, something should be done. Here is the upshot on Joyce’s Facebook page.
#qanda Tamworth q'er not happy with @fitzhunter while @Barnaby_Joyce says @QandA all about the show, not substance pic.twitter.com/DTwbXcWau1
— Gabrielle Chan (@gabriellechan) June 16, 2016
ScoMo imagines the next Labor attack ad.
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Weekly Times reporter Natalie Kotsios reports:
A National party stalwart is encouraging voters to ignore the Coalition agreement in Indi and give their second preference to Cathy McGowan over the Liberal candidate Sophie Mirabella.
Former state MP Ken Jasper’s call is another blow to Mrs Mirabella’s shot at regaining the north east Victorian seat — and was met by disgust by senior Liberals in the region, labelling him a “rogue” and suggested he should be expelled from the Nats.
Mr Jasper — who held the Victorian Parliament seat of Murray Valley for 40 years for the Nationals — made headlines during the last federal election when he famously backed Ms McGowan over Mrs Mirabella, giving the independent a significant boost.
Jasper supported McGowan in the 2013 election (when there was no National party candidate). Now the Nationals have Marty Corboy running, he is doing the next best thing for McGowan by suggesting National voters preference her.
Lunchtime politics, in a nutshell
- Bill Shorten ramped up the attack on the Coalition regarding data mining company Parakeelia, owned by the Liberal party. Mathias Cormann says Labor MPs pay their software fees straight to head office, which then pays the Labor company Magenta Linas, which is not owned by the Labor party.
- Malcolm Turnbull has knocked a nascent push for Tony Abbott to return to the ministry on the head.
- Turnbull has also defended Ziggy Switkowski, his appointee as chair of NBNCo, for writing an opinion piece during the election campaign which broke caretaker conventions.
- The Coalition and Labor have agreed on the need for a review of defence rules which mean servicemen and women can’t be photographed in their uniforms for political careers. Both Mike Kelly resigned from reserve forces and Hastie was sacked for appearing in campaign material.
Updated
Butter wouldn’t melt.
Bill Shorten, here to help.
Updated
In front of you!
Labor and Coalition support review of uniform rule for defence personnel in politics
There is a question to both Payne and Conroy over when defence will change its rules to allow servicemen and women to use photographs in uniform if they go into politics. Mike Kelly resigned from the army reserve because of the rule and Andrew Hastie was sacked.
Payne and Conroy are in agreement. This is Payne’s version.
I think one of the issues with which we need to contend in 2016 is although the absolute avoidance of politicisation of the ADF is fundamental, and I totally understand ... (the) army’s position about avoiding politicisation, partisanship in the ADF. In 2016 we live in a completely different public environment and public world. We live in the immediacy of Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and some at my advanced years I probably haven’t heard of yet. That is really changing the way we do business politically. It means if you want to represent yourself and your career and give people part of the narrative about your life then the immediacy with which you can access that sort of material is very different from what it was in times of Messrs Gorton and Whitlam. It may be we need to review this process entirely.
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Adam Gartrell over at Fairfax has a story on the Liberal candidate who heckled Shorten earlier in the campaign. Here is the top:
Embattled Liberal candidate Chris Jermyn may have broken electoral laws by claiming he was living in a house that didn’t exist.
In 2013, Mr Jermyn was enrolled to vote in the federal election in the Victorian electorate of McEwen - the same seat he is now trying to win for the Coalition.
He enrolled using an address in the small Victorian regional town of Christmas Hills, which is in McEwen.
But there are two problems. The address was - and still is - an empty block of land. ASIC documents also show Mr Jermyn’s father, businessman Peter Jermyn, sold the 40-hectare property on July 26, 2013, about six weeks before the federal election.
Conroy is asked whether a Labor government would redistribute the subs construction across Australia to spread around the jobs.
I’m not in a position I can overturn contracts. I’m not in a position that I can unilaterally decide that we can just rip those up, Conroy says.
He does add the “chaotic” decision making process under the Coalition has made things difficult to which Payne suggests Labor failed to make any decision during the Rudd-Gillard government.
Both Payne and Conroy are asked how they would deal with a Trump presidency. (Kim Beazley has suggested Australia might need a whole new white paper on defence.)
Both say they will respect the democratic processes and nothing to see here.
The defence minister on the same issue:
We completely support the right of nations to operate freely in international space in accordance with international law and our position in that has not changed in relation to any states.
Stephen Conroy again:
Q: would you envisage that would happen in conjunction with the US Navy or separately or would you stipulate that?
No, this would be something we should do completely separate. This is not some armed armada to go floating around the place. We support the international rules and the laws of the sea and the air. The international rules system is under threat.
Conroy is talking about the disputes in the South China Sea. In his opening remarks, he supported the protection of the “international rules based system” and said the air force could not conduct freedom of navigation operations (FONOP) in the area.
I would give the armed forces the authority to conduct one if they believed it was necessary and safe. You don’t declare beforehand you are doing it. You have to be sensible and take very careful advice. But I believe that the ongoing campaign in the South China Sea, which is over now two or three years, has seen oil rigs towed into other countries’ waters, fishing zones declared unilaterally, absurd building of artificial islands on top of submerged reefs. This is a clearly, to be fair to some of the countries involved, it’s not just one country, I want to make that really clear. To those doing it, it’s unhelpful, it’s destabilising the region and those who are able to stand up for the international rules-based system should be willing to do so to support the international rules.
The first question is to Senator Payne about her feelings regarding reports of pressure to appoint Tony Abbott as defence minister.
I was very comfortable knowing the matter will be a decision for the PM.
Labor defence shadow Conroy says Labor will put $100,000 into the defence force welfare association and will announce more soon to strengthen support for the veterans community.
Stephen Conroy is also at the press club. This is a debate.
The defence minister Marise Payne is speaking at the press club. We should get a lunchtime summary by afternoon tea. The pace is picking up here.
Tony Abbott says he does not expect to return to the ministry if Malcolm Turnbull wins the election on July 2, even though fellow travellers in the Coalition’s conservative faction are now publicly arguing the case for his elevation.
Abbott told 3AW on Thursday: “I am not expecting to go back into the ministry and I’m not going to speculate on speculation.”
The former prime minister said he was running to serve the public and he expected “to serve the people of Warringah in the new parliament.”
But speaking on radio in Sydney, the immigration minister Peter Dutton, a substantial figure in the Coalition’s conservative grouping, said he thought “some people” would push for Abbott’s return to a front bench spot.
“Well, I think some people will push for that and I think it’s an issue for Malcolm Turnbull, as it is for all of us, that are ministers or want to be ministers in a Turnbull government,” Dutton told 2GB.
Dutton noted that Abbott was “passionate about a lot of issues.”
As to the front bench, Dutton noted “that’s a decision for the prime minister to make, but the most important thing ... is for us to get re-elected.”
The comments reflect internal positioning within the Coalition ahead of the result on July 2. With less than three weeks until polling day, the government appears confident Labor is not tracking strongly enough for an upset victory.
Malcolm Turnbull at the opening of the marathon election campaign asked the voters for a personal mandate on July 2, but if the Coalition prevails on July 2 with a reduced majority, conservatives will also flex their muscle within the government.
On Sky News on Thursday, the former House Speaker, Bronwyn Bishop, noted if Malcolm Turnbull offered Tony Abbott a ministry post election, then she was “sure he would do a good job.”
But Bishop – who fell out with Abbott spectacularly during the controversy about her use of entitlements whilst Speaker – also noted there was an important role to play as “elder statesman” in the parliament because “a lot of wisdom has been lost.”
Nearly six weeks into the campaign. We haven’t heard much from Tony Abbott. Are you in for a Kevin Rudd repeat?
All of our candidates are doing a great job in explaining and selling and talking about our compelling plan for economic recovery, for jobs and growth.
Turnbull says Katter should apologise for the shooting ads
Turnbull is asked about Katter, who said he does not read the papers so did not realise the Orlando shooting had happened.
Q: What do you make of Bob Katter’s latest advertisement where he is shooting opponents dead? Do you think it showed bad taste and do you believe him when he says he didn’t know about the Orlando shooting when he released that advertisement?
The advertisements were in the worst of taste and Mr Katter should apologise and withdraw them.
Malcolm Turnbull: don't muck around with your vote
When you go to vote, treat your vote, wherever you are voting, as though your vote decides the government, as though that is the one decisive vote. Every single vote counts.
Malcolm Turnbull rules out an Abbott return to the ministry after the election
The ministry I’m taking to the election will be the ministry after the election if the Australian people choose to return my government to office.
Malcolm Turnbull links Labor's negative gearing policy and CFMEU to Arrium's future
Bear with me.
It’s a very - characteristically unbusiness like and highly political announcement from Mr Shorten. Can I also add this dose of reality to the matter. Arrium, the Whyalla Steelworks makes structural steel. Its customers, its biggest customers are Meriton, Brookfield, Multiplex, Grocon. It’s the contractors building apartment buildings and building office buildings and of course building roads and other infrastructure,they are its customers. Now everything Mr Shorten is proposing in this election is going to undermine the customers of Arrium. Everything he is proposing. You have heard from the property sector, what his proposed ban on negative gearing will do to the property sector.
Then:
So he’s pulling demand out of that business, which means you undermine, as he will do, you undermine the customers of Arrium and you undermine Arrium itself. Whacking up capital gains tax by 50%, that is a tax on investment. That will discourage investment in precisely the buildings and the infrastructure to which Arrium provides the steel.
Then:
Mr Shorten, who is totally behold even to the CFMEU because they give so much money to the Labor Party, as you have seen how much they are spending in this campaign, that’s CFMEU money and Mr Shorten is beholden to them and that is why he will not support the restoration of the rule of law to the construction sector. So his policies are actually undermining the demand for Arrium.
Got it?
Malcolm Turnbull says Parakeelia matter is a matter for the party organisation.
PM defends Ziggy: "a very experienced man"
Turnbull and Morrison now. Riffing on the unemployment figures steady. Jobs and growth. Keep it on track says ScoMo.
First question on Ziggy Switkowski’s unwise opinion intervention during an election campaign. Martin Parkinson, head of the department of prime minister and cabinet, suggested it was not in keeping with the caretaker conventions. Turnbull has defended Ziggy.
The caretaker convention,compliance with it, if you like, isa matter to be determined by, as Martin Parkinson observed, by the head of the relevant agency, in this case that is NBN Co and that is Ziggy Switkowski. He explained why he made the statement he did, why he felt it was operationally necessary and I respect his decision to do so. You can see the company was being accused in the public domain of very serious misconduct which was undermining the morale of 5,000 people working for it and he had to set the facts straight and he has done that. But you have to remember, he is a very experienced man, Ziggy.
Updated
Sliding doors.
Coalition planning "tell us once" government registrations
Malcolm Turnbull also mentioned – via the innovation rave – that there will be changes to government services to make them more accessible.
The changes, he says, will make it easier to register with the government.
Shortly we will be setting out a full-blown “tell us once” application which will enable you, when you change your address, to change it once and, if you choose for that change of address to be given automatically to other institutions in government, other agencies in government and indeed other, perhaps your bank, your insurance company and so forth, we want to make the government so accessible that you feel, Australians feel, their government is as easy to deal with as the most efficient private sector or online business. That is our goal. A lot of cultural challenges there.
Updated
The prime minister is speaking at Qantas, it is 96 years old - the oldest operating airline in the world.
He is doing the pitch on innovation, mentioning small businesses and big businesses.
Turnbull is making the link between small business and big businesses. This goes to the government message on tax cuts. Given the Coalition’s tax cuts for medium and large businesses have gone down like a wet sock with the electorate, Turnbull is nuancing the message to talk about the importance of the links within the business community, i.e. small business relies on big biz and visa versa. You can’t separate one from the other so you have to boost both. Or at least that is the message.
I pay credit to Alan (Joyce) and his team for changing the culture. It is natural for big businesses ... to want to deal with other big businesses. That is absolutely the normal course of events. So in order to make sure that a big business, a big buyer of services, deals with smaller companies, you have to seek them out. You have to make it easier for them to deal with you.
Turnbull mentions the Pepe Saya Butter Company:
And it is driven by the elements of our national economic plan. We’re supporting small and medium businesses. The businesses we’ve been meeting today, the small businesses today will benefit from the tax cuts, from July 1, if we are re-elected, that Scott (Morrison) announced in the budget. They will benefit from them from July 1. Pepe’s business turns over more than $2m (and) will not get a tax cut if the Labor party is elected on July 2.
Updated
The boom that can go on forever is the ideas boom.
Malcolm Turnbull is speaking in Sydney. Here is a bit of Malcolm unplugged.
I believe Australians’ innovation, their courage, their imagination, their enterprise is utterly without limit. What we see around Australia today is the businesses that are creating the jobs and growth that are so key to our success, so key to the opportunities that every single one of us can share in, the opportunities that each of our children and grandchildren can share in. Those opportunities depend upon that strong economic growth. Everything depends upon it. Government revenues depend on it, our ability to spend money on roads, on hospitals, on schools, on defence, all of that depends on a strong economy. Which is why the treasurer and I and our team have laid out a national economic plan for jobs and growth and which sets out how we will achieve that. It is set out in the budget. It is paid for. We live within our means. We know what it costs, and it is funded. And the first item in our national economic plan is innovation and science. A policy that I announced with our minister Christopher Pyne in December last year because we recognised that, if we are to remain a prosperous, high-wage, first-world, generous, social welfare net economy, in this the most transformational century, the most remarkable times in human history, if we are going to do that, we need to be more innovative. We have to be prepared to change and adapt and be more competitive and productive and move fast. We cannot be complacent.
Updated
Breaking. Malcolm Turnbull is speaking about innovation.
@gabriellechan (Attenboroughesque tone) Here we see the camouflaging instinct of the blue crested #Parakeelia... pic.twitter.com/UvrY5VMs3K
— The Matt Hatter (@MattGlassDarkly) June 16, 2016
The unemployment rate for May remains at 5.7%. This represents no change.
Updated
Can the Clean Energy Finance Corporation finance a steelmaker?
I am confused about a few things this morning. One of them is how the Clean Energy Finance Corporation provides finance for a steelmaker such as Arrium.
Scott Morrison says the government is engaged with administrators and the SA government.
Our advice is that the business itself is able to continue to trade and it is preparing for sale and the administrators have advised that is the position at the moment.
He says “we can best work with them to ensure using the CEFC and all the others things we have available to us can ensure the ongoing viability of that business”.
Morrison says the government has brought forward $80m worth of product in the rail program to “ensure they have a viable brought-forward client” to shore up the viability of the business.
Fran takes up the story:
Q: Why would a steelmaker qualify for financing from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation?
These are the options that are available to us Fran. You make a good point though Fran because if that is the case one of the Green policies is that they would consider Arrium a dirty polluter. So I’m not sure what the Greens and Labor would do in these circumstances down the track …
Q: I am not interested in that, I am just wondering has the mandate of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation changed?
No, not at all Fran and there are opportunities for us to pursue how that could be used in this circumstance. But the point I am making is this, we need to work with the business that buys this business because they are the ones who are going to secure the jobs for the people who work at Arrium into the future. The administrators have a task in the short term.
Updated
A couple of things from Scott Morrison’s interview with Fran Kelly.
After the prime minister’s bullish comments about winning the election, the treasurer is pulling that back a tad.
Q: Can I just ask you this simple question though because the PM has been quite clear – do you think you will win on July 2?
I believe we have the right plan to win and I believe that Australians are responding well to us, Fran. But those matters are ultimately judgments for the Australian people and of course the government has reason to have confidence about what we are putting forward, as does the prime minister.
Tony Abbott, defence minister. What could go wrong?
Never mind my sleeping dragon. Tony Abbott awakes.
Phil Coorey reports that Malcolm Turnbull is facing pressure from within Coalition ranks to put Abbott back in the ministry. Not any ministry mind you. Defence.
Mr Abbott has said publicly he does not expect Mr Turnbull to offer him a ministry and he is not likely to ask for one . But colleagues of the former prime minster say he will take one if offered, preferably Defence, which is currently held by Marise Payne, the first female to hold the job.
“It would be a worthy role for a former prime minister,” said a source who backs the idea.
Peter Dutton told Ray Hadley Abbott still has the passion.
He’s very passionate still about a lot of issues and Tony will make a great contribution in public life, in parliament he’s a good friend to all of us. He wants Malcolm Turnbull to be re-elected as prime minister.
Updated
I promised to double back on some of the non-Parakeelia related Shorten questions.
You may have seen the Daily Telegraph’s front page – featured below – picturing a welcome mat for asylum seekers.
Q: Mr Shorten, there’s a story in the Daily Telegraph today claiming that you’re putting out the welcome mat for asylum seekers by scrapping temporary protection visas. I realise this was a policy agreed upon at Labor’s federal conference last year but I’m interested in the implications. Does it mean the legacy caseload of about 30,000 asylum seekers who came during the Rudd/Gillard years will get to stay? What does it mean for people currently on Manus Island and Nauru and what do you say to critics who say you’re giving people smugglers a product to sell and it will encourage people to jump on boats?
Thanks for those four questions. I think the magic of your questions was in the opening introduction to it. Nothing new. You realise that this has actually been out in the domain since last July. I think even the person who wrote the story today has written the same story before.
Updated
I promised more info on some of the debates happening today.
Education dominated the first week of the campaign but has been lost in translation every since.
But there is an education debate happening in South Australia this afternoon. You can find more info on One Community SA Facebook page.
Come and hear from from federal candidates at our Principals, Teachers & Parents Education Forum from 5pm on 16 June at The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre.
The panel will feature Senator Simon Birmingham, Kate Ellis MP, Senator Robert Simms, Senator Bob Day, and Matthew Wright - Nick Xenophon Team candidate for Sturt.
Be there or be square.
It would appear that Labor members send their allowances for software to head office and then head office pays a lump to Magenta Linus. I am trying to get something on the record as to exactly how this happens.
Does @billshortenmp know that Labor MPs, as late as 2014, paid Labor Party directly to access software: https://t.co/0op830NnlD? #hypocrite
— Mathias Cormann (@MathiasCormann) June 16, 2016
@rossg63 Labor Members & Senators paid the Labor Party directly - certainly still in 2014. @billshortenmp doesnt seem to be keen to explain.
— Mathias Cormann (@MathiasCormann) June 16, 2016
Back to funding.
On Electrack you pay out of your electoral allowance for this software provider. Can you rule out that money hasn’t gone straight back into the ALP as a donation?
I don’t believe it has, Shorten says.
Jay Weatherill is asked:
Premier, can I ask you what you’re still asking for from Mr Shorten? What are you still looking for from a potential Labor government?
I think that we’ve seen some very fantastic announcements, renewable energy policy. We have a national energy market that is in need of reform that takes into account of what is a bipartisan position on renewable energy targets. That’s a great proposition that’s been put forward by Mark Butler and Bill Shorten.
Updated
There are other policy questions, which I will get to a minute. Almost every second question has been on data mining and party funding.
Q: Can you rule out that Magenta Linus has donated to the Labor party or any members or candidates and can you explain what the Labor party’s concerns are with Nick Xenophon’s financial arm? There’s been a report today that Labor’s asked the AEC to investigate.
The Labor party has no financial interest in the ownership of Magenta Linus. Let me answer your question fully because this is about Parakeelia and Malcolm Turnbull’s lack of leadership. The Labor party has no ownership structures at all of Magenta Linus. I don’t know every transaction they’ve had at the state level but what I do know is the clear difference here is that the Liberal party, they love a dollar these Liberals. What they’ve done is they used the taxpayer allowance to buy software and to train but what they’ve managed to do is create their own business so they pay – they use the taxpayer allowance and they pay themselves.
Shorten says he doesn’t know about the Xenophon reports.
Updated
Aren’t you being completely disingenuous about Parakeelia? Wasn’t the ALP, your software provider in 2014, did that operation make a profit and how much?
Well, let us be clear. The Liberal party pay Parakeelia. The Liberal party own Parakeelia. The Liberal party pay Parakeelia, a company they own, with taxpayer funds. It is not sufficient or acceptable. Mr Turnbull pretends he’s not a Liberal when there’s trouble for … but the rest of the time says he’s the leader of the Liberal party. You cannot be a part-time leader, Malcolm Turnbull. You either lead your party or you don’t. The other point here is we pay Magenta Linus. We don’t own the business. We’re not recycling taxpayer funds into the bottom line of the profits of the Liberal party, says Shorten.
Q: But until two years ago, weren’t you doing the same thing?
We’ve never used Parakeelia, to the best of my knowledge.
Updated
Shorten: Has Turnbull put his own taxpayer allowance into Parakeelia?
First question on Magenta Linus, the Labor data mining company.
Shorten says Malcolm Turnbull has questions to answer but instead:
he’s sent out a party official to do his dirty work for him. It’s not enough to be the leader of the Liberal party who go missing when the tough questions have to be asked, and even more specifically, Mr Turnbull needs to answer this question as well – has he used any of his own taxpayer allowance to be paid into this Liberal-owned company for the services which improve the bottom line of the Liberal party?
Updated
Bill Shorten:
I believe Australia should be a steelmaking nation ... if we do not fight for our Whyalla steel jobs, if we do not have a steel industry, we will becoming price takers on the international stage.
The statement from Labor:
A Shorten Labor government will work with the South Australian government to establish a joint Steel Reserve to support Arrium to make specific investments that secure its long-term future.
Labor will provide $100m in targeted grants and financing as part of the Steel Reserve, with the South Australian government providing an additional $50m.
This will ultimately see up to $300m invested in new plant and equipment to make Arrium more productive and efficient, while securing thousands of local jobs.
A Shorten Labor government will provide up to 50% of the federal contribution in direct grants, with the remaining 50% to be provided as financing or loan guarantees through the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC).
Steel Reserve funds must be directed to investments which:
- Promote the long-term sustainability of Arrium’s steel business, including through increasing its ability to contribute to major Australian infrastructure projects.
- Secure Arrium’s operations across Australia, and particularly in Whyalla.
- Assist the business in permanent cost reductions which do not cost jobs, particularly through increased energy efficiency and productivity gains.
Financing will be made available from the Steel Reserve for specific investment projects that have an agreed business case approved by both the federal and South Australian governments. Importantly, the Steel Reserve must not be used to pay down Arrium’s debts or meet regular operating costs.
Updated
We have South Australian premier Jay Weatherill and Bill Shorten holding a press conference now.
And this is the AEC bit that relates to commercialisation – as mentioned in Nutt’s statement.
COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL ACT 1918 - SECT 91B
Prohibition of disclosure or commercial use of Roll or habitation index
(1) For the purposes of this section, information is protected information in relation to a person if the person knows, or has reasonable grounds for believing, that the information has been obtained under section 90B.
(2) A person must not disclose protected information unless the disclosure would be a use of the information for a permitted purpose under section 91A.
Penalty: 1,000 penalty units.
(3) A person shall not use protected information for a commercial purpose (other than information provided under item 5, 6 or 7 of the table in subsection 90B(4) that is used for a permitted purpose).
Penalty: 1,000 penalty units.
Updated
Under that Electoral Act, this is the type of information which can be provided or politicians and political parties in section 90B.
(10) In this section: “additional information” about a person included on a Roll means the following:
(a) the person’s postal address;
(b) the person’s sex;
(c) the person’s date of birth;
(d) the person’s salutation;
(e) the census district in which the person lives;
(f) the most recent enrolment date and enrolment transaction number for the person;
(g) whether the person is:
(i) not entitled to be enrolled as an elector of the Commonwealth; or
(ii) not also enrolled as a State elector, Australian Capital Territory elector or Northern Territory elector; or
(iii) less than 18 years old;
(h) whether the person is a general postal voter;
(i) whether the person has only recently been enrolled;
(j) whether the person has re-enrolled and, if so:
(i) the Division and State or Territory in which they were previously enrolled; and
(ii) the enrolment transaction number for the person’s previous enrolment;
(k) the electoral district for the purposes of State or Territory elections in which the person lives;
(l) the local government area in which the person lives;
(m) the Australia Post delivery point identifier for each address of the person.
Updated
Disappointing morning @gabriellechan. No pics anywhere of Parakeelias. Blue-ringed, rose-budded or lime green. Bummer #Auspol #Ausvotes.
— Project SafeCom (@PSOffice) June 15, 2016
This is the statement from the Liberals’ federal director, Tony Nutt, on Parakeelia.
#Parakeelia statement from federal Liberal director Tony Nutt. pic.twitter.com/PTpq96oS3v
— Gabrielle Chan (@gabriellechan) June 15, 2016
It came out at 7.42pm last night. You may notice it says nothing about the nature of payments from Parakeelia to the Liberal party – which the party insists do not constitute donations. In the Liberal party books, they are listed as “other receipts”. Nutt has not addressed this question.
The Liberals have sent in the attacker-in-chief, also known as the treasurer, Scott Morrison, on this issue this morning. He says it’s a witch hunt. He says it is a desperate witch hunt. But the strange night-time statement looks a little desperate.
One more thing on this. Nutt says the provision of electoral roll systems “fully complies with the statutory obligations imposed by the Commonwealth Electoral Act on the use of such data including the prohibition of commercialisation”.
I am assuming that is a nod to selling the information, which is not allowed under the Act.
Last week I asked these questions of the campaign headquarters.
“Last financial year, Parakeelia transferred $500,000 to the federal Liberal division, making it the party’s second-biggest single source of funds. The year before it came in fourth with $400,000; before that $200,000.”
Q: Regarding Parakeelia, notwithstanding the $2,500 donations, given the costs of running a business, how else does the company make money?
Q: Can voters/constituents be assured the company is not engaged in data mining and selling information to outside clients?
This was the reply.
No. It complies with the Electoral Act.
Updated
Good morning and thanks for the Parakeelia
With a little over two weeks to go, the election campaign feels like it is accelerating. Sitting in the #politicslive driver seat, there is a whole lot of incoming. There are probably emails every two minutes from various campaign headquarters and interest groups. There are two debates that I know of, both in South Australia. The first is between Penny Wong and Christopher Pyne and the second between Labor’s education spokeswoman, Kate Ellis, and the education minister, Simon Birmingham, among others. This morning Bill Shorten is talking jobs, again in South Australia. Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison are talking about the economy, while urging the voter to imagine the scariness of a Labor government. The issue of the Liberal data mining company Parakeelia is bubbling away, marked by an odd late-night statement by the party’s federal director, Tony Nutt. More of all of that in a minute.
All of which comprises the national election debate. But no matter where you live, if you listen to conversations on your main street, there are a whole lot of other conversations going on. They are like the smaller vibrating particles of political string theory. The crankiness in political debate. The perceived corruption of the process, including the influence of people and industries with money. The sense that no one in parliament is listening. The idea that both major parties are pretty much the same. The idea that nothing is changing, that Australia is in a holding pattern. That Malcolm Turnbull was going to be the answer and he just isn’t. That Bill Shorten embodies machine politics. That it is all about winning votes. I’m not into predictions but I get the sense that there is a whole lot of other stuff going on below the top layer of the national debate – which means anything is possible on election day. I feel like I am missing something. Sleeping dragons or some such. Like opening a jack-in-the-box, no one knows what will pop out on 2 July.
That is my rave. You can reach me below – keep it nice – or on the Twits @gabriellechan or on Facebook. Mikey Bowers should be back on the campaign trail now so he is @mpbowers. Onwards and upwards.
Updated
To Victoria now, where the Country Fire Authority industrial dispute is reportedly hurting federal Labor, despite Bill Shorten’s assurances that it is a state issue.
The Herald Sun’s Ellen Whinnett and Rob Harris report:
One Labor frontbencher told the Herald Sun the issue had become “a serious distraction’’. Another senior Labor figure called it a “slow-moving train wreck”, adding: “At the very least, it’s taking oxygen away from the key messages.
“At worst, it fits in to a narrative which isn’t helpful ... the [union] puppet narrative.’’
Despite claims by federal opposition leader Bill Shorten that the issue was one for the state to handle, a man attended a pre-poll station at Berwick yesterday, handing out flyers to voters criticising PM Malcolm Turnbull, who has promised to legislate to protect the CFA volunteers from a union takeover.
Said pamphlets were apparently authorised by United Firefighters Union boss, Peter Marshall.
On that note I’ll pass the baton on to Gabrielle Chan, who will cater to your political needs for the rest of the day.
Updated
Daily roundup of front page news, via Dave Earley.
The Daily Telegraph front page (camera 1). Thursday 16 June 2016. @dailytelegraph #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/bt1HvMBkSr
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 15, 2016
The Daily Telegraph front page (camera 2). Thursday 16 June 2016. @dailytelegraph #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/Qg6xj4rtW3
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 15, 2016
The Age front page. Thursday 16 June 2016. @theage #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/cl8GygH6B2
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 15, 2016
The Herald Sun front page. Thursday 16 June 2016. @theheraldsun #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/OeiJYb6rY4
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 15, 2016
The Canberra Times front page. Thursday 16 June 2016. @canberratimes #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/VjtACM2iKv
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 15, 2016
The Courier Mail front page. Thursday 16 June 2016. @couriermail #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/q2aNwtiYhx
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 15, 2016
The Sydney Morning Herald front page. Thursday 16 June 2016. @smh #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/1871g1SUql
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 15, 2016
Financial Review front page. Thursday 16 June 2016. @FinancialReview #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/F4jrPayHB1
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 15, 2016
The Australian front page. Thursday 16 June 2016. @australian #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/uZ9BnL6H67
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 15, 2016
ABC News front page. Thursday 16 June 2016. @abcnews #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/CwQJiG97Gs
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 15, 2016
Guardian Australia front page. Thursday 16 June 2016. @GuardianAus #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/ONo8CBNQDD
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 15, 2016
Updated
More chaos, this time in the art world.
My colleague, Steph Harmon, reports that there will be a national day of action for arts funding tomorrow in an effort to draw attention to an issue that has barely raised its head, 40 days into the election campaign.
More than 60 arts organisations lost funding in May, after severe cuts to the Australia Council of the Arts last year.
One of those organisations was the National Association for the Visual Arts. Executive director, Tamara Winikoff, said:
We’re going to see from the beginning of next year really cavernous gaps opening up in opportunities, particularly from the young emerging artists who are our future.
We’re now seeing the political profile of the arts being raised. The intention of the next two weeks, starting on Friday, is to say to the community, ‘If you care about the arts, show that you care’.
You can read Steph’s full piece here.
Updated
A tale of two selifes
Updated
The focus on South Australia today will bear fruit in the form of a debate between Christopher Pyne and Penny Wong, moderated by Radio National’s Fran Kelly.
It will kick off at 12pm Adelaide time (which is 12.30pm for the eastern states) and run for an hour and a half, I’d reckon.
You can watch the live stream here.
Updated
Same.
Really enjoying the succession of white guys tell Indigenous people what they should be talking about series in the Oz.
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) June 15, 2016
A final few questions on Parakeelia, which Scott Morrison said was a “desperate witch hunt”.
There is absolutely nothing to suggest, no one has presented a shred of anything credible to suggest there’s anything inappropriate about these arrangements.
The main purpose of Scott Morrison’s appearance on Radio National this morning was to talk about that attack ad.
Cracker of a question from Fran Kelly to start it off:
Why do you bother with these untrue, ridiculous claims?
Morrison says it’s not untrue. Remember, it’s not a scare campaign, it’s a truth campaign.
If you’re telling me that the Labor party would not form government with the Greens on the floor of parliament … and they would reject their vote in that circumstance, then I think that’s ridiculous.
But Labor has said, quite forcefully this campaign, that they will not form government with the Greens.
Well I don’t believe them, Fran, and I don’t think the people of Australia believe them, and frankly I’m surprised you believe them.
Is this really befitting the role of treasurer?
This is an election, Fran, and in an election people have to be very clear about the choices that are available and, as treasurer, I think one of the biggest threats that is out there is the economic chaos of a Labor-Green government.
He also mentioned the “caravan of chaos”, which always sounds like a Gwar album. A musical suggestion I hope Morrison takes up when crafting his next attack ad.
Updated
No Whyalla wipeout?
A bit more detail about that promise by Labor to provide a $100m bailout for troubled Whyalla steelworks Arrium, which was placed into administration in April.
Bill Shorten will make the announcement in Whyalla later today and will challenge the Coalition to follow suit, but Malcolm Turnbull has dismissed such moves as premature.
From AAP:
[Shorten] says modelling shows more than 3,500 jobs will be lost and the state economy will shrink by more than $490m if Arrium fails.
“If these jobs went, 3,500 families would suffer enormously - that’s completely unacceptable to me,” he said.
“I’m not prepared to sit back and watch thousands of South Australian jobs disappear like the Liberals did when the car industry closed down.”
Arrium was placed into administration after negotiations with its lenders failed. Administrators KordaMentha expect the company will be sold by the end of the year.
The promised funding will go to the new purchaser, and is contingent on the future buyer of Arrium maintaining local steel production and jobs.
On Radio National this morning, the treasurer, Scott Morrison, said the federal government was in talks with the administrators but would not “play politics” by matching Labor’s funding commitment, saying the issue was too important.
We’re not going to get into a political auction on this before an election.
Morrison said the Coalition would support Arrium’s future buyer and mentioned that they could draw that support from the Clean Energy Fund.
Host Fran Kelly asked if that wasn’t a bit outside the fund’s parameters.
Morrison:
There are opportunities for us to pursue how this [the Clean Energy Fund] could be used in this circumstance.
The SA premier, Jay Weatherill, agreed the issue was too important for politics and said that’s why he wrote to both Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull to try to get bipartisan support.
And in case you’ve forgotten where this all began:
I love the days when there is news allowing me to redistribute this #ausvotes #arrium https://t.co/vTDsgnxm9J
— Stephanie Anderson (@stephanieando) June 15, 2016
Updated
Here’s that Daily Telegraph front page, on left. The Mark Morri yarn, shown in the alternative front page, is excellent.
Two front pages. The Daily Telegraph. The definitive Roger Rogerson story by Mark Morri #auspol pic.twitter.com/eKDB2g1N1w
— Christopher Dore (@wrongdorey) June 15, 2016
‘Any sign of something that singles out one racial group will derail the process’
The attorney general, George Brandis, has weighed into the treaty debate, saying talk of treaty risked “meaningful but modest” constitutional change.
The debate has been rolling since Monday night when the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said on the ABC’s Q&A that post-recognition reconciliation could take the form of a treaty.
Brandis said:
You don’t get referendums passed unless there is a broad consensus in favour. I think it’s very regrettable that Mr Shorten ... has potentially put at risk our capacity to develop a broad community consensus.
The Australian is also concerned. Dennis Shanahan and Sid Maher called on the former Nationals leader and head of the federal government’s Indigenous recognition review panel, John Anderson, who made the following statement:
I know from the research we did for the panel recommendation that there is enormous goodwill towards constitutional recognition for the first Australians but any sign of something that singles out one racial group will derail the process.
It would be so unusual for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be singled out.
The current Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, who opposed Malcolm Turnbull’s use of the word “invasion” as a possible descriptor of the arrival of the first fleet, also opposed talk of a treaty.
Joyce said:
I am always a little bit apprehensive about starting to stir up troubles where no troubles exist.
Shorten, speaking in Perth yesterday, said this in response to the Coalition’s criticism:
I am up for the conversation on a treaty, absolutely, but what I’m not going to do is impose paternalistic top-down solutions.
I, for one, am not going to tell Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people what they’re allowed to talk about, what they’re allowed to put on the agenda.
Updated
Good morning
It had to happen, I’m just surprised it took this long.
The Daily Telegraph has declared open season on asylum seekers.
Or rather, it has declared that Bill Shorten has declared open season for people smugglers by apparently laying out the welcome mat, a visual gag deployed to great effect on the Tele’s front page, to asylum seekers.
According to the Tele, Labor will give permanent residency to all 30,000 people now languishing on temporary protection visas, which the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, warned will cause chaos.
Border protection has not really been the vote winner this election that it was in 2013. Indeed, the only parties really gaining traction on it are the Greens, who oppose Australia’s offshore detention system as inhumane, and Pauline Hanson, who wants to ban all Muslims.
So the Coalition could probably use a little chaos.
As Game of Thrones watchers know: Chaos isn’t a pit. Chaos is a ladder.
The big picture
First let’s unpack that story in the Daily Telegraph article, which says Labor would give its legacy caseload of 30,000 asylum seekers permanent residency and “full work rights”.
Labor’s policy statement on asylum seekers says it would abolish temporary protection visas and “commit to processing people as quickly as possible and placing those found to be genuine refugees on permanent protection visas”, which is not quite the same. Moving on.
Reporters Daniel Meers and Simon Benson write:
Immigration minister Peter Dutton last night told the Daily Telegraph Labor’s border security policy was now “weak, equivocal and constantly changing”.
The potential for post-election rebellion appears to be far more widespread than was revealed at the beginning of the campaign, with public records confirming a total of 50 candidates or MPs opposing strong border protection.
Border protection was a stronghold of the Abbott government that has been adopted wholeheartedly by the Turnbull government, so watch this space today.
Meanwhile, both leaders are out talking about the economy, with the jobless figures for May released today.
Labor has announced details of a $68.6m policy to deliver “local jobs for local people” in 20 “communities of opportunity”, which are as yet unnamed communities with high rates of disadvantage and unemployment and low levels of education.
The program will apparently involve coordinators running jobs expos and workplace mentoring to connect unemployed people with training and employment in areas of skills shortage. It will also provide a “working communities fund” to address problems preventing employment in that area, such as a lack of affordable childcare, poor literacy skills or poor English language skills.
Sticking on jobs, Labor has pledged $100m toward Arrium steelworks in Whyalla, South Australia, doubling the SA government’s commitment of $50m.
And finally, the rise of the Nick Xenophon Team has caused continued rumblings from the major parties.
The latest salvo comes from the ALP national secretary and campaign director, George Wright, who wrote a letter to the Australian Election Commission asking it to investigate an alleged breach of financial disclosure laws by Xenophon’s now defunct fundraising arm, Support Nick Xenophon.
It apparently sold Xenophon merch online, including stress balls saying “Give Nick the Squeeze” and bags that say “Nick is Fully Sick”. Full details at the Australian.
On the campaign trail
Team Turnbull arrived in Sydney yesterday evening, after two days in Perth, and Malcolm Turnbull joined his wife, Lucy, and the New South Wales premier, Mike Baird, at a service at St Andrew’s Cathedral for the victims of the Orlando massacre. He’ll remain in Sydney today to talk about the economy, with a suspected guest appearance by Scott Morrison.
Bill Shorten, meanwhile, is returning to Adelaide after his latest visit was cut short by a need to tour areas of flood damage. This will be his third visit to SA of the campaign; his first, you’ll recall, was marked by that rather alarming snog ambush.
The campaign you should be watching
The former independent Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott announced on Friday that he would run as an independent for the neighbouring seat of Cowper, and, according to a poll commissioned by GetUp!, he’s in with a shot.
The poll showed Oakeshot’s primary vote was 28.4% compared with the sitting National MP Luke Hartsuyker’s 39.4%.
My colleague Paul Karp writes:
Oakeshott told Guardian Australia his primary vote of 25% in the poll suggested the result was “about 50/50 two-candidate preferred”.
“After five days of campaigning I’m really uplifted by that result, it shows a 13% swing against the Nationals already,” he said. “And it also shows a level of frustration within the community about local and national politics that is going to be expressed at the ballot box.”
If you’re wondering why Cowper: Oakeshott said that while he hadn’t moved since resigning from parliament in 2013, the electorate boundaries had, and he no longer lives in Lyne.
And another thing(s)
The Queensland MP Bob Katter has made a campaign ad that even the Liberal National party senator Ian Macdonald thinks is offensive.
The add in question shows two men, marked as ALP and LNP respectively, putting up a “for sale” sign for Australia. Cut to Katter, who writes a decisive “NOT” on the sign and then blows on a smoking gun. The camera pans up and we see two bodies lying some distance away.
Very bold of Bob Katter to take a pro-murder stance to an election
— Rob Stott (@Rob_Stott) June 15, 2016
Katter released the ad on his official Twitter feed yesterday, three days after the Orlando shooting. He told the ABC he thought it was funny and anyway, he’d approved it weeks ago.
Said Macca:
Mr Katter’s video advertisement seems to encourage murder and gun violence to promote his strange views on a serious policy issue.
In other campaign add news, Scott Morrison has released a bizarre shouty music mashup attack add alleging the Greens have “infiltrated” the Labor party.
Morrison said it was not an attack campaign but a “scare campaign.” Political editor Lenore Taylor delicately tore its central premise to shreds here, so I’ll leave you with this burn from Bill Shorten:
"ScoMo should spend more time on his day job as Treasurer than his night job as amateur YouTube producer" 🔥🔥 #ZINGER https://t.co/2Obuy8WPLi
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) June 15, 2016
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