Enough .. for now
I’m going to land the Politics Live bird now for a couple of hours to just break up the day shift from the night shift. I will be back at 5.30pm for live coverage of tonight’s Facebook/news.com debate. I hope to see you then. Until then, let’s recap Friday.
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Malcolm Turnbull launched a jobs package, swept up after inviting a sheikh who had expressed negative views about homosexuality to a multi-faith dinner, and accused Labor of lying about Medicare privatisations.
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Bill Shorten launched a different jobs package, picked up the negative rhetoric about the prime minister, and popped in on shipbuilding workers before heading to Sydney for debate preparation.
- Workplace minister Michaelia Cash and shadow Brendan O’Connor faced off at the National Press Club. Both had bits to announce: Cash said she’d give the courts the powers to disqualify union officials from continuing to hold office where they have been repeatedly found to have breached workplace laws. She also flagged a ban on secret payments between unions and employers – what the Heydon royal commission termed corrupting benefits. O’Connor flagged a review of the designation “casual” in an effort to stamp out the practice of employers pretending their permanent workforce were actually casuals.
That’s the day. See you in a couple of hours.
Calling Melbourne
Here’s the bad news. You’ve already missed the first of our Guardian Live election events. The first was this week in Sydney, where we discussed fairness in some depth before allowing ourselves a laugh. Here’s the good news. We treated the event as a live recording of our weekly campaign podcast, so you didn’t actually miss anything, except all the bits we did edit out, like Mike Bowers and a photographic update, and a guess the election jingle competition, and the conversation I anchored about the home stretch of the campaign. You don’t get those, but you get the main panel discussion and the Q&A, and some fun from the Hansard Monologues to finish.
Now, for some more good news. There’s still one of these events to go. We’ll be in Melbourne next Tuesday night at the Malthouse Theatre in Southbank for the second of these events, which will be a conversation about the economy. You can purchase tickets online for that event here. Now you could easily say to me why not just wait for the podcast? Well, that’s true, except a couple of things are also true: it’s much more fun to be there, trust us, we actually had great fun and so did the audience, you will get segments that we don’t subsequently rebroadcast just because it would make the podcast too long, and if you aren’t there, you can’t hang about and say g’day afterwards. So, if you are in Melbourne next Tuesday, why not book?
My kingdom for a policy
Just tracking backwards to the workplace debate at the National Press Club, it really is extraordinary two weeks out from polling day that we don’t have a fleshed out policy from either side on industrial relations, which is a heavily contested area of public policy.
My colleague Paul Karp has had this to say on Twitter and he’s exactly right.
Govt responded to #turc but refused to give policy on min wage, contracts. Very late to announce IR policy #ausvotes #ausunions #NPC
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) June 17, 2016
But I’d argue the same applies to Labor. I watch politics for a living and I have no clear idea how far the Coalition will seek to deregulate the labour market in the next parliament and how far Labor might propose to shift the needle in the opposite direction. If I don’t know, given it’s my job to watch and report politics, how on earth will voters know? We have bits and pieces of each side but we don’t have the big picture. And voting is already underway. 220,000 people have already voted. My colleague Greg Jericho tells me that’s a 65% increase on the pre polls at the same time in the last election cycle. So, any time now, folks, with the policies. Go you good things.
Given the discussion I’ve been having with readers about the impact of the super changes it’s worth reporting the relevant section from the prime minister’s interview with Neil Mitchell this morning.
Malcolm Turnbull:
Can I say this to you though people on low incomes don’t use TRIS [transition to retirement income stream]. Neil – you’ve got to be realistic here.
Q: I’ve had consecutive callers the other day. One is a diesel mechanic, the other is a supermarket manager, both on about 70 grand, both using it.
Malcolm Turnbull:
Okay, can I just make this point to you – if you are on a low income, a lower income, then you are likely to have a lower balance in your super account – correct?
Q: Yep.
Malcolm Turnbull:
If you have a low balance in your super account you should be putting money into super – not pulling it out. Those people that rang in that spoke to you, if that is their situation they have not been well advised because we are living for much longer than you know the actuarial tables told us we were 30 years ago. If you were on, if you’ve got a low super balance as long as you are working you should be putting money into it rather than pulling money out. So what the TRIS has been used for overwhelmingly has been by people on the top marginal rate.
Q: But you do accept it can affect lower income earners?
Malcolm Turnbull:
Well, Neil, it could but I would say it would only be a small number of cases and people on low incomes who are pulling money out of super in a TRIS while they are still working are not being well advised because what they are doing is they are running down their super while they are still working and then what is going to support them when they retire.
So, a bit like Neil Mitchell, I have readers saying they are on Newstart (which would certainly meet any definition of low income), supplementing their benefit with superannuation funds through transition to retirement schemes. I would be fascinated to know how many people there are out there in this category, because conceptually it makes sense that there would be some people close to retirement age who might struggle to get a new job in the event they lost employment, and who might be in a position to draw on income from accumulated super savings – but would be better placed, as the prime minister says, leaving those funds in place. If they had a choice that is, which is the point here.
Updated
Back to the discussion on superannuation I’ve been having with readers on and off all day. I have another reader who reports to me that he’s on Newstart, plus a transition to retirement scheme, while trying to retrain as a mental health worker. If there are more of you, sing out.
@murpharoo @theREPORTRS @MikePresland I too am doing so...im 58 studying Mental Health on Newstart + TTR
— SavvySocialist (@RobSuperina) June 17, 2016
I’ve also heard from people unhappy with the super changes for a range of reasons, but I’m particularly interested in people having to supplement benefit income with their super money.
There were a couple of skirmishes on penalty rates towards the end. Brendan O’Connor wanted Michaelia Cash to sign a petition about protecting penalty rates, Michaelia Cash wanted O’Connor to adopt all of the findings of the Hayden royal commission, “and we will both be very happy.”
Neither occurred, obviously.
It’s a wrap now at the club.
Q: Would either of you or are either of you considering adopting a form of enterprise contract for small and medium businesses that would make it easier for employers and employees to strike deals? Secondly, are either of you looking at creating a workplace standards commission and, thirdly, the report found that strikes are relatively low in Australia but it recommended the simplification of ballots to decide whether to have a strike. Is that something that either of you are looking at?
These are recommendations from the Productivity Commission. Michaelia Cash doesn’t answer the question. She says there’s still fifteen days to go. She says the Coalition has said it will release a response to the PC in “due course.”
Q: We will hear about enterprise bargaining and ballots before the election?
Michaelia Cash:
We’re certainly looking at the ballots issue. There shouldn’t be any unfair impediments for any party to these matters in that area.
A question about what the government intends to do about volunteers. The Coalition has flagged changes to the federal workplace laws flowing from the acrimonious fire dispute in Victoria.
Michaelia Cash gives no specifics at all but says this:
It is basically just making some changes to the list of terms under the Fair Work Act to ensure that volunteers are protected, but in particular, emergency services are able to conduct themselves in – the appropriate manner when they need to. That’s it. The changes are very, very simple. And I would hope we would have your support, Brendan, in relation to those changes.
Brendan O’Connor says this in all likelihood can’t be done.
Whilst it is true there are federal instruments that may well be involved, enterprise agreements, these are employees of state governments. If the minister now is announcing changes about the way in which the commonwealth is going to deal with employees of state governments, then I think that is certainly opens up a whole series of questions about how she will deal with other matters in the future.
Updated
A question about whether the ABCC bill will get through given the uncertainty about the composition of the Senate post-election, the likelihood of more crossbenchers.
Michaelia Cash says we’ll have a mandate, so it should pass. The conversation then veers off into violence against women, with some unedifying finger pointing.
Updated
Brendan O’Connor wants to know how the Coalition intends to get these changes through the next parliament given it had an opportunity to bowl them up pre-election so they could be considered at a joint sitting, but failed to do so.
Moderator Chris Uhlmann follows this up.
Q: How do you imagine getting this legislation through the next parliament, given you will have to make changes to the law? And what are the penalties you propose for business? It takes two to tango?
Michaelia Cash:
Absolutely and business will be subject to the same penalty. Corrupting benefits involve two parties to a transaction - the person providing the benefit and the person receiving the benefit. That is why it’s both the employer and the union who are potentially liable.
Just in relation to Brendan’s point, though, I’m assuming Brendan are you saying you wholeheartedly support the government’s adoption of the Hayden royal commission recommendations, given you said you don’t tolerate this type of behaviour? If you do, that is great. It’s going through the parliament very easily!
Updated
There’s an obvious question on the Heydon recommendations and my colleague Paul Karp asks it.
Q: My question is to Senator Cash. You’ve spoken about banning corrupting benefits. Would this extend to banning payments from unions to employers such as ones from the SDA for pay roll deductions? And are you worried that there are some unintended consequences of this that it might be a recipe for union militancy because you would stop seeing cooperation between more moderate unions like the AWU and encourage more militant ones like the CFMEU on sites?
Michaelia Cash:
In relation to the policy that we’ve announced today, it’s all about transparency, transparency in relation to the deals that are being done by the employers and the unions. This is about both parties to any transaction, not one particular side of the transaction. Where legitimate payments are being made, and you referred to unintended consequences, if the payments are legitimate, they’re transparently made, they will not fall foul of the corrupting benefits law.
A couple of developments in the workplace policy arena
The two workplace spokespeople, Michaelia Cash for the Coalition and Brendan O’Connor for the ALP, have made their opening statements in the workplace debate.
O’Connor is flagging that Labor will examine the definition of casual work by setting an objective test for determining when a worker is a casual and when he or she is not. This review is designed to address the phenomenon of “permanent casuals”, which O’Connor says is an oxymoronic concept. The new definition, he says, will be developed in full consultation with industry, “something the Coalition government knows nothing about.”
Cash says the government will proceed with more recommendations from the Hayden royal commission. These include giving the courts the powers to disqualify union officials from continuing to hold office where they have been repeatedly found to have breached workplace laws. She’s also saying the government will adopt the recommendations to ban secret payments between unions and employers – what the royal commission has termed corrupting benefits.
Michaelia Cash:
It is an obvious conflict of interest for money or reward to be changing hands between an employer and a union at the same time that they are negotiating a workplace agreement, and when they both have responsibilities to their workforce. Workers deserve to know that the union rep cannot go into the bosses’ office and do a dodgy deal behind their backs to cut their wages. When money changes hands in this way between a union and a company, there is always a loser and that is the worker. This is unacceptable and it has to change.
Updated
Campaign this Friday lunchtime
As I stop for the summary a workplace debate is under way at the National Press Club. I’ve got an ear on that but let’s recap.
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Malcolm Turnbull has gone north, to the north coast of NSW, with a jobs package. The prime minister has had to clean up after inviting a sheikh to a multi-faith dinner who once made negative remarks about homosexuality. He’s also keen to get the message out that the Coalition will not privatise Medicare, which suggests health is biting as an issue in the electorate.
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Bill Shorten has been south, with a youth jobs package and a Tasmania package. He’s decided today to pick up the aggro against Malcolm Turnbull, picking fights this morning on the prime minister’s reluctance to participate in debates, the government’s parsimonious attitude to young job seekers, the government’s secret plan to privatise Medicare (the one the government says it doesn’t have, and really doesn’t have. At least on current intelligence, it has a plan to outsource delivery of the payment system, which is not the same as flogging the lot), and a bunch of other things.
Let’s get into the workplace debate now.
Updated
I’ll post a summary shortly. I should also say, in the event that it’s not clear, that I will be covering tonight’s Facebook debate live. There will be a Politics Live special edition for that event.
The Liberal party has issued another statement on Parakeelia following Bill Shorten’s comments at his press conference earlier today about who was running the organisation (given Ron Walker didn’t know he was still involved with the company) and what Malcolm Turnbull knows about it.
A Liberal campaign spokeswoman says Ron Walker is still a shareholder of Parakeelia, but this will be fixed in due course.
The prime minister was never a director or shareholder. Mr Walker is a shareholder. Mr Walker believed that he had ceased to be a shareholder. His shareholding is non beneficial. Appropriate arrangements to transfer this shareholding will be made in due course.
Back to our little discussion about super policy triggered by Malcolm Turnbull’s comments on the Neil Mitchell program about transition to retirement. More feedback about superannuation in the thread, this time from reader Sue James, picking up from Michael Secomb earlier this morning.
That is not the only problem. As someone trying to run a home business while looking after kids, I was able to put practically nothing into superannuation for many years. Now the kids are grown and the business is earning more, I have been putting in the maximum concessional contribution ($35,000 p.a. since I am over 50) I can for the last couple of years to try to catch up. With the government’s changes, that will decrease to $25,000 p.a. from next year – and the fact that the $25,000 cap can be rolled over for 5 years still means the maximum (concessional) I can contribute decreases from $175,000 to $125,000 over the next five years (if the business manages to keep going well enough to put in the maximum each year). The cap should be related to how much is in the account. This will make things worse for many women in my situation, even though the government claims we will be better off.
And, via Twitter, reader Mike Presland.
Am drawing down 10% /yr to survive being on Newstart. Now 2 be taxed. If it ain’t already tough!
Updated
A Medicare question. The prime minister repeats what he told Neil Mitchell this morning. Medicare won’t be privatised and Bill Shorten and the trade union phone banking operation should stop scaring old people in their homes in the evening by telling them the government will privatise Medicare.
Barnaby Joyce is asked about former Nationals in Indi saying Cathy McGowan should be preferenced ahead of Sophie Mirabella. Joyce says former Nationals can’t be told what to say – it’s just like the Labor party can’t tell Mark Latham what to say.
The prime minister is asked about his exploding candidate in McEwen in Victorian, the one who can’t describe Coalition policies but has extraordinarily close interest in the opening hours of pizza shops, which seems to prompt the prime minister about Medicare.
Q: Your candidate, Chris Jermyn has had a bumpy campaign. You said he has the drive to be a good representative in Canberra?
Malcolm Turnbull:
He certainly has plenty of energy. If he is elected he will be a strong voice in McEwen and he is part of the Coalition team. The issue at this election is a critical one. It’s a very serious and momentous choice. The Labor party is trying to mislead voters, mislead Australians, for example, I just observed with this disgraceful scare campaign about Medicare. And I say again, Medicare will never be privatised.
Back to the sheikh. Will he be blacklisted from future government events and do you think this shows there are problems in some parts of the Muslim community with homophobia?
Malcolm Turnbull:
Homophobia is to be condemned everywhere, number one. We are a broad, diverse country and we respect the right of gay Australians, we respect the right of the LGBTI community and the right for them to lead their lives and gather together in peace and harmony. The massacre in Orlando, that shocking assault on the people in the gay nightclub is a shocking reminder, frankly, of how much hate and intolerance there is in the world, and how important it is for us to stand up for mutual respect that I spoke about earlier. That is the very foundation of our society. So I condemn, I deplore homophobia wherever it is to be found. It is not acceptable from a legal point of view in Australia, as you know, and I just - I’m sure that - well I know, that the Sheik has been encouraged to reflect very deeply on his remarks which were of some years ago, and it’s up to him how he restates or reconsiders his position.
But it is vitally important, I say this to everybody, it’s vitally important for Australian leaders, whether they’re political leaders or religious leaders, to recognise that at the foundation of our success is mutual respect and as I said last night, at the core of that mutual respect is love, love for our fellow humanity.
That is when we are closest to God.
Updated
Q: Are you feeling threatened by Janelle Saffin?
(Saffin is the Labor candidate.)
Malcolm Turnbull:
Every seat is critical, can I say to you, including the seat of Page. I just want to remind you of this. Every federal election is close, number one. Number two, this is going to be a very close election. Every seat matters, every vote matters.
The next question is how can the government claim success with its economic plan when youth unemployment in the northern rivers stands at 17%, up from 11% a year ago?
Barnaby Joyce says today’s announcement will address the current problem.
The prime minister cuts back in.
Malcolm Turnbull:
Can I just add one thing to that, I agree with everything Barnaby said, but there is a very important element that we’ve got to recognise. The best way to support youth employment is to have a strong economy. If businesses are expanding, if they’re growing, if there is confidence, if there is more investment, then businesses will hire more people and they will hire more young people. So an absolutely critical element is a strong economy.
First question is on the sheikh.
Malcolm Turnbull says officials put the guest list together. It was clearly an oversight, the prime minister says, and he’s asked his departmental head to look into it.
Malcolm Turnbull:
The remarks about homosexuals were drawn to my attention in the course of the evening by the Australian newspaper who got in touch with my team and I issued then, as I said again earlier today, and I say again now, a statement of the strongest condemnation of those remarks.
He then moves into general remarks about harmony.
We live together in remarkable harmony when you look at all the disharmony in the world around us. The reason we do is because Australians follow the golden rule, which is common to all faiths - do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In other words, mutual respect. And so I regard as unacceptable, and I will always condemn, any remarks which disrespect any part of our community, whether it is on the basis of their sexuality, their gender, their race, their religion.
This is a great country, a great success in a world of so much disharmony. Here we are, the most successful multicultural society in the world, and the bedrock of that, the bedrock, the foundation is mutual respect, and that is why I reach out to every community, every community in our country is part of our nation.
Updated
Today’s jobs announcement is a $25m regional jobs package. Malcolm Turnbull is surrounded by Nationals, completely surrounded. It’s all part of a plan, the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, is telling reporters. The jobs plan, not the surrounding, be clear.
Barnaby Joyce would like to illustrate how the economy is ticking away.
It’s actually real, it’s actually happening. And that’s something that, of course, gives great opportunity to everywhere.
Joyce would also like to give a shout out to his deputy, Fiona Nash, who is friend, philosopher and counsellor, and always watching me closely. Now, Joyce says, you guys will ask us questions about everything other than what we’ve announced. Malcolm Turnbull pretends to smile. Yes, right, he says.
Updated
Never a more exciting time to eat a macadamia nut
The prime minister has bobbed up in Alphadale.
Malcolm Turnbull:
It is great to be here and before I announce the jobs and investment package, can I just say how excited I was to hear about the growth here in the export of macadamias ..
In Sydney, the treasurer Scott Morrison is speaking to reporters and just warned of Liberal chaos before correcting himself. Perish the thought.
Back here in Canberra the RSPCA is calling for a suspension of the trade of live animals to Vietnam until Australia can be satisfied that the animal welfare standards the government has attempted to impose are actually being enforced.
Gary Humphries, a former Liberal senator, is now the RSPCA chairman, and he’s speaking to reporters.
The footage was taken in unapproved abattoirs, in other words, Australian cattle have been supplied into the market and then have ended up in unapproved abattoirs, so the [Australian] standards that might apply in those approved abattoirs are not being applied in the subsequent supplied abattoirs.
Back to Corangamite, and Politics Live regular Matt Davey, who prods me about the content tweet from the Liberal MP Sarah Henderson that Calla shared earlier on this morning.
@murpharoo Hi. In her tweet, Ms Henderson claimed an extra rail track was required, but got a road upgrade. #auspol pic.twitter.com/HfSFi89cW5
— The Matt Hatter (@MattGlassDarkly) June 17, 2016
Meanwhile, to our north.
PM eats a nut. "A very superior Macadamia," he remarks #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/7UPilif4cD
— Adam Gartrell (@adamgartrell) June 17, 2016
Interesting contribution in the thread from reader Michael Secomb, picking up on the prime minister’s comments about the transition to retirement scheme on 3AW this morning. (If you are just tuning in the prime minister this morning agreed that people on low incomes could be worse off as a consequence of the Coalition’s changes to the transition to retirement scheme, but if they were withdrawing money from super they were being “poorly advised”.) Secomb thinks it might be the prime minister who is being poorly advised.
Malcolm Turnbull is just wrong to say low income people don’t use the transition to retirement scheme because the fact is many, including myself, do use it. Although I’m on a modest income, I am following a detailed financial plan prepared by expert financial planners at my superannuation fund which involves both significant salary sacrificing of the maximum allowed by the current rules into my super as well as tax-free income withdrawals. This reduces my tax, maintains my super balance and provides income for living – all perfectly legal. If the government was serious about boosting super so people could be more self-sufficient in retirement it would be increasing the amount that people can contribute without copping extra tax, so they would have more to retire on. I would like to contribute more if I could, but it appears the Turnbull government’s super plans will discourage increased super contributions, which is just dumb. In my case, the government’s proposals would make me more, not less, dependent on the aged pension. Labor’s super plans are much smarter and more in the national interest, since they would only tax withdrawals above $75,000 to live on. Mr Turnbull has apparently been badly advised and his proposals would hurt low income earners trying to increase their superannuation balances. Since when do Australian governments discourage saving for retirement?
If other people have thoughts or experiences to share, give me a shout.
Updated
Calla Wahlquist linked you earlier to a picture of the foreign minister Julie Bishop campaigning with Sarah Henderson in the Victorian marginal seat of Corangamite today. The Liberals hold that seat on a margin of 3.94%. Labor has been hopeful about grabbing that seat back. Bishop has announced a $3.75m road upgrade for the seat.
Bill Shorten muscles up
Just a quick observation about that press conference. I mentioned first up that Labor needed to look for a contest in the final fortnight because torpor is benefitting the incumbent. Bill Shorten doesn’t much like conflict as a political style, but there is a noticeable increase in aggressive counterpoint with his opponent this morning in his public event. This morning in that press conference, Bill Shorten muscled up on tonight’s debate (Turnbull is evasive on head-to-heads), on youth jobs (“I couldn’t pay young people less than the Coalition if I tried”), on Medicare, on Parakeelia, on the same sex marriage plebiscite – there was a distinct difference in tone. Part self-justification (I could have run a different campaign but I chose to respect the intelligence of the voters) and part aggro. This prime minister is having a lend of you on a range of fronts and is arrogantly coasting to victory. That was the pitch.
Updated
A question about Parakeelia and the directorships, given the businessman Ron Walker is still listed as a director of the company when he isn’t a director of the company. Bill Shorten says Malcolm Turnbull is being evasive about the Parakeelia enterprise and he needs to answer questions about it. He makes a reference to the cabinet secretary, Arthur Sinodinos, not remembering things at the Icac.
Live exports then.
Q: What is your opinion of the cessation of live animal exports to Vietnam? Do you agree with that suspension?
Bill Shorten:
We need to have an independent office of animal welfare which oversights the supply chain system, otherwise many Australians may well questioned the viability of the industry. Labor supports having a live export trade, these images are not good enough to simply say business as usual – we need a new system of regulation which will ensure integrity in the system because those images are sick-making.
Updated
A question about public support for the marriage equality plebiscite. Bill Shorten says the plebiscite was not designed by the proponents of marriage equality, it was designed by the opponents of marriage equality.
The Labor leader says he wants to lead the debate, and he has concerns the plebiscite will allow ugly views to be expressed that gain some kind of moral equivalence with the equality and anti-discrimination case. Shorten says he wants to pull the community together, not pit people against each other.
Medicare then. On 3AW the prime minister said Labor’s campaign about keeping Medicare in public hands is a lie because the government is not privatising Medicare and will not privatise Medicare. What is Shorten’s response to this?
Bill Shorten:
The payment system of the Medicare system is the heart of the Medicare system. Mr Turnbull has set up a $5m task force in the Department of Health to investigate the privatisation of the payment system. If you take the payment system out of the hands of the public purse and give it to a private, profit-making entity, you are compromising the basics of Medicare. Mr Turnbull is a man under pressure. Today he says, there are no plans at all. Why do you have a $5m task force to take one of the most vital elements of the system out of public hands and why did you get up in parliament and say this is all a worthy idea of consideration?
Bill Shorten faces a few questions about the sheikh with negative views about homosexuality. He says his views are not mainstream views, and if he ever meets this person he will tell him that.
Then some questions on the youth jobs package.
Q: You say that your plan, you will pay these young people more than the Coalition’s plan, and that there will be more jobs at the end of the day. How can you do that without it costing more to taxpayers?
Bill Shorten:
I couldn’t pay these young people less than the Coalition if I tried.
Q: How will the scheme not cost more?
Shorten says Labor will re-prioritise spending from the Coalition.
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull: the Scarlet Pimpernel of election debates
Bill Shorten outlines Labor’s plan for Tasmania and he also makes a brief remark about the tragedy in the UK overnight. What makes this political crime so dreadful is that in Australia, we take for granted our ability to get out and mix with people, to practise democracy in a safe way, Shorten says.
Bill Shorten:
This dreadful murder in the United Kingdom will not deter me or my Labor team from going about their daily duty.
Pushing forward to tonight’s debate.
Q: Tonight’s debate will be closed to journalists outside News Limited. Are you onboard with that? If not, why don’t you boycott it?
Bill Shorten:
I would like to see more journalists available. Mr Turnbull would probably like me to boycott this debate. He has been the Scarlet Pimpernel of this election. Just pinning him down is harder than I thought it would be.
I will debate Mr Turnbull in any place, any time. It has been very difficult to get him to commit to debates. I would have thought in an eight-week election he would have been most keen to put his policies up against mine. Even though it is the longest election in half a century, this prime minister has been the most evasive in half a century for debates. Whenever they do a press conference, not that they are inclined to take too many questions or answer to many issues, they are much more comfortable talking about us.
It is becoming clear pattern in this election that Mr Turnbull hopes to scrape into office by being a small target, offering no vision for Australians, no vision for Tasmanians, what he wants to simply say he is not Labor and that should be good enough for him to another three years. It is not good enough. I could have taken the approach of being a small target opposition and hope that would be a sufficient case to throw this mob out. I have more respect, not just for the intelligence of Australians, but for their dreams and desires to have a televised debate in this country.
Bill Shorten addresses reporters in Tasmania
I mentioned earlier the Labor leader is in Tasmania, Hobart specifically, and he’s now underway with his daily press conference.
Just while he’s doing his preamble, a quick glance at the thread tells me readers are upset that there are not enough photographs of Bill Shorten on the blog. Just a factual note on this in case it’s of interest. Mike Bowers can only travel with one leader at a time. We rely on agencies for photographs for the leader Mike is not travelling with. The agencies are often not as fast as Mike in sending in their pictures from the hustings, so sometimes we lag on Turnbull pictures, sometimes we lag on Shorten’s pictures. It’s just how things are. It doesn’t reflect an editorial judgment. It reflects what I have available to me at any given moment, and, of course, the quality of what I have available to me. Just in case people are interested in facts, and the story behind the live blog story. Thought I’d mention it, into Shorten now.
Malcolm Turnbull looks forward to seeing Tony Abbott at the Coalition's campaign launch
Speaking of hotspots, the prime minister is now on 3AW in Melbourne. Lots in this interview. Host Neil Mitchell picks up on Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman, president of the Australian National Imams Council, who was at Turnbull’s dinner last night, and once expressed negative views about homosexuality.
Q: Is Islam a homophobic religion?
Malcolm Turnbull:
I don’t think you can generalise.
The prime minister then speaks about the importance of everyone in the community accepting Australian values, and being tolerant.
I would strongly counsel the sheikh to reflect on what he has said and recant what he has said.
He’s then asked about live exports and the footage that the 7.30 program broadcast overnight. The prime minister says that was deeply disturbing footage from Vietnam. Turnbull says the government believes the cattle were sent there in breach of our rules and “the matter is being investigated”.
Mitchell references events in the UK overnight and an event in Box Hill last night where a protester rushed at the stage. Mitchell asks is he concerned about the level of security in the campaign. Turnbull says the AFP have security in hand, but he emphasises the environment in which political discussion is conducted is important. Politics has to be conducted in an environment of mutual respect – political parties have to be able to respect their opponents and have frank and forthright debates.
Q: Have you won the election?
Malcolm Turnbull:
No
Q: You said in Perth you will win.
Malcolm Turnbull:
That was an expression of confidence.
Q: Will your super reforms hit low income earners?
The prime minister says in practical terms, people on low incomes don’t use the transition to retirement scheme. Neil Mitchell contests this, he says talkback callers tell him otherwise.
Malcolm Turnbull:
Those people who rang in, if that’s their situation, they have not been well advised.
He says if people have a low super balance they should be putting money into super, not pulling it out.
Q: But will the reforms affect low income earners?
Malcolm Turnbull concedes they could, yes, but it would be “a small number of cases” and he repeats that people who are on a low income and pulling money out of super are not being well advised.
Mitchell says it’s not a case of pulling out money, they are putting in money and drawing out a tax free pension. Turnbull sticks to his contention that this is a bad choice. You should add to your super in net terms, the prime minister says. The best thing you can do is keep contributing.
He’s then asked about Medicare, will it be privatised? No, Turnbull says. Labor are telling disgraceful lies about this, he says. Medicare is a core government service.
Q: Will Tony Abbott be at the campaign launch?
Turnbull says Abbott is doing a great job as the member for Warringah and he looks forward to seeing him at the campaign launch on Sunday week.
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The Labor leader Bill Shorten has been in the ABC in Tasmania. I only caught the back end of the interview, the talkback segment, where Shorten was interviewed by a persistent GP who wanted to understand the precise impact of unfreezing the doctors’ rebates.
Health is a major issue in Tasmania, the GP told Shorten. He said he’d heard somewhere that the impact of unfreezing the rebates would be about 40 cents. We need to know facts. We need to know numbers, the GP said. There are decisions we need to make about whether it is viable to keep our practices open.
Bill Shorten said the budgetary impact of the measure would be $12bn.
If you think $12bn isn’t enough, it’s a choice ..
Shorten said the Coalition was not matching Labor’s commitment. That was a choice the Coalition had made. Not what the GP was asking though, obviously.
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Good morning good people of #ausvotes
Good morning everyone and welcome to Friday. As Calla has noted, Australian politics is, collectively, shocked by the developments overnight in the UK. The murder of a sitting MP is a deeply shocking event, and will naturally engender a sense of there but for the grace of God go I among the political class around the world.
The domestic campaign is, however, rolling on. Labor wants to talk about youth jobs today. Malcolm Turnbull is also in jobs territory, and he’s heading to the NSW north coast. I suspect the two leaders will do their morning events and then vanish to do some preparation for tonight’s third leader’s debate which will be hosted by news.com and Facebook at the world’s most (in)convenient time of 6pm this evening. Labor will then roll out of tonight into the campaign launch in Penrith on Sunday. Sunday is an important day for Bill Shorten. The Coalition is feeling very confident at the moment, confident enough for a small outbreak of self-indulgence this week, with conservatives doing a bit of limbering up for the post 2 July environment where, in their minds, Malcolm Turnbull is returned as prime minister with a reduced majority.
Bill Shorten has to do a couple of things this weekend: he has to break out of the default attrition mode of the campaign and push for a contest. Torpor benefits the incumbents, not the challengers. He also has to bring the story of the campaign together. Labor has been successful in projecting its social capital agenda over the past few weeks, but less successful in projecting its economic story. The strange thing about that is Labor actually has a story to tell about the shift in its economic thinking, there is a weight of expert thinking to draw on concerning the desirability of inclusive growth as both an economic construct and a societal construct, but two things are required: they have to actually stand and deliver the argument in a coherent way, and the policies have to be consistent with the values. If I’m making this observation a fortnight out from polling day then it is very likely already too late, but it’s an important thing to do regardless of what your immediate political fortunes portend.
Let’s crack on. A reminder today’s comments thread is open for your business. If the thread’s too bracing for you, Mike Bowers and I are up and about on the twits – he’s @mpbowers and I’m @murpharoo. If you only speak Facebook you can join my daily forum here. And if you want a behind-the-scenes look at the day and the campaign as a whole, give Mike a follow on Instagram. You can find him here.
Refresh the teapot, here comes Friday.
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Public transport: it’s catching.
On the train to Melbourne with @JulieBishopMP. We need a duplicated rail track! pic.twitter.com/kqRduL7oaG
— Sarah Henderson MP (@SHendersonMP) June 16, 2016
I’ll hand over now to Katharine Murphy, who is back in the #PoliticsLive hot seat today.
Thanks for your company over the past two weeks.
Fran Kelly then turned to the upcoming election.
Do Christopher Pyne and Penny Wong agree that voters are generally disaffected and disillusioned by the apparent similarity of the two major parties.
Pyne and Wong say no. They are in complete agreement that they are very different.
Says Wong:
Anybody that thinks that both sides are the same I think has not paused for a moment… to consider the fundamental differences.
They also agree that voting for the Nick Xenophon Team would be a very bad idea, as would any other vote for a minor or micro party that increases the likelihood of a (whisper now) minority government.
Wong:
Nick gets a lot of attention, Nick is a decent person to deal with, I’ve known Nick a long time, he’s going to get elected, the question is who is going to get elected with him.
She continued
Some of his candidates have had some odd views, which I don’t want to talk about -
Pyne
I’ll talk about that.
Kelly said voters seem to disagree where minor parties are concerned. There was that Newspoll that predicted one in four voters would not put Labor or the Coalition first.
To Arrium rescue funding: Wong says the $100m promised by Labor was necessary to save the steel industry, Pyne says the government doesn’t give money to businesses that still turn a profit, which Arrium is apparently set to do.
Back on Radio National now, where Christopher Pyne and Penny Wong have been asked whether politicians should tighten their security in the wake of the murder of UK MP Jo Cox.
Both of them said no.
Pyne:
The tragedy in northern England involving the murder of Jo Cox is absolutely shocking, beyond imagination.
But
…one of the great strengths of Australian and British politics is the approachability of MPs, and candidates for that matter. It would be a great tragedy if we changed that because of this sort of behaviour.
Wong:
It really is a tragedy, and obviously people will work though why, what motivated this, but it was obviously so sad to wake to this news.
To attacks on politicians:
Social media has offered more channels for politicians and anybody to be abused… we have to always I think stand up against that sort of abuse...But I agree with Christopher, the overwhelming majority of Australian people, whether they agree with their views, are able to engage in a friendly way.
Pyne agreed on the problem of abuse on social media.
I do think social media and the twitterverse has changed people’s behaviour.
It’s the ability to remain anonymous, he said, that allows people to discard normal social standards.
I’m sure Penny doesn’t want to mention it herself but I’m sure she cops a lot of abuse on social media over a range of issues, as do I.
I don’t read any of it because if I did I would lose my ebullient self-confidence.
That would not be possible, replied Fran Kelly.
That defence ban on political candidates using images of themselves in uniform in campaign material, which saw Liberal Canning MP Andrew Hastie kicked out of the army reserve and Labor candidate for the seat of Brisbane, Pat O’Neill, take down a billboard, will be reviewed after the election.
The West Australian reports that defence minister, Marise Payne, suggested at the press club debate yesterday that the ban was outdated in the age of social media.
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 (RAAF servicemen and later prime ministers) Messrs Gorton and Whitlam
Labor defence spokesman Stephen Conroy said there should be a discussion about the issue after the election.
More condolences.
Just shocked at the death of British MP Jo Cox. Died doing her dutyConstant abuse of people who serve their countries needs to be tempered.
— Alexander Downer (@AusHCUK) June 16, 2016
The Nick Xenophon Team has been successful campaigning in South Australia because SA has been “forgotten” by both major parties, says Nick Xenophon.
The SA senator made the comment to Radio National’s Fran Kelly in an alfresco interview at the Adelaide Markets this morning.
Kelly didn’t really accept that statement (“Forgotten! You’ve just been given $90bn in naval building!”) but the interview rolled on, covering Xenophon’s key platforms of local procurement (“I’m proudly wearing my Rossi shoes this morning.”) and the importance of the SA steel industry.
Could the Nick Xenophon Team win the safe Liberal seat of Grey on the back of that campaign?
Xenophon:
Yes, based on polling done last week.
But even if NXT does very well, it will still be a minor party. Is it gaining support on the back of promises it can’t keep?
Xenophon says no. They can agitate and push whoever ends up in government to deliver.
Will he hold the balance of power after 2 July?
I’m hoping to at least have a significant role in the senate with some of my colleagues, not just from South Australia but from other states as well.
Bill Shorten has offered his condolences.
Incredibly powerful words from Brendan Cox at such a dark time. Love to Jo's family, condolences to the British people. Solidarity.
— Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) June 16, 2016
Bill Shorten has apparently brought his chequebook to Hobart, promising up to $500m to build a second Basslink cable to connect Tasmania to the mainland, provided a sound business case can be established.
The Mercury reports that Labor also promised $5m for the development of that business case.
The Turnbull government has already announced a feasibility study into a second Basslink, led by Howard-era minister Warwick Smith.
Basslink was up and running again this week, after six months offline.
Labor’s employment spokesman, Brendan O’Connor, has been on ABC’s AM talking up the youth employment package that Bill Shorten will announce in Hobart today.
O’Connor said said Labor’s policies - that’s the ‘working futures’ training package to be announced today and the apprenticeship package announced earlier this week - differed from the Coalition’s PaTH program in the level of training provided, and also in general fairness.
Our emphasis is on real skills and real employment opportunity that will ensure young people remain connected to the labour market.
O’Connor focused on the Coalition’s comments that the four-week internships offered under its PaTH program would place young people in existing vacancies.
Why would you provide taxpayer’s money to fill existing vacancies?...There’s no point providing those 4 weeks if you’re not going to ensure over the long term that they are going to have employment opportunities.
He was also asked to comment on the CFA dispute in Victoria. Has it wrecked Labor’s hope of winning the outer Geelong seat of Corangamite from Liberal MP Sarah Henderson?
O’Connor said no - he’s concerned with Malcolm Turnbull’s political opportunism in seeking to divide two remarkable sets of people.
To be fair, CFA volunteers and those professional firefighters represented by the United Firefighters Union were fairly well divided on this issue before Turnbull weighed in.
More condolences flowing in for Jo Cox.
#RIPJoCox The strength of our democracy in Australia and Britain is the approachability of our MPs. That mustn't change #auspol #ausvotes
— Christopher Pyne (@cpyne) June 16, 2016
Here are a few more pictures from that iftar dinner at Kirabilli house last night.
Malcolm Turnbull used the gathering to emphasise the multiculturalism of Australia:
Australians are not defined by religion or race; we are defined by a commitment to common political values, democracy, freedom, the rule of law, all underpinned of course by mutual respect.
He responded this morning to criticism over the anti-gay statements uttered by one of the guests, Australian National Imams Council president Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman:
PM response to Sheik Shady Alsuleiman's comments on homosexuality "views like this are wrong, unacceptable and I condemn them" #ausvotes
— Jane Norman (@janeenorman) June 16, 2016
Bill Shorten has dismissed a suggestion he had been avoiding Victoria since the industrial dispute over the CFA boiled over with the sacking of the emergency services minister, Jane Garrett, and the CFA board last week.
Asked in Adelaide yesterday why he hadn’t spent much time in Melbourne, Shorten replied:
I’ve actually been there for the last 49 years, but anyway.
The Herald Sun reports that Shorten was “more than happy” to meet with both volunteer and paid firefighters as he travels around electorates but maintained the dispute was a state issue.
Opposition Leader @billshortenmp says he'd happily meet firefighters to discuss #CFA dispute #springst #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/WY73eL4CX4
— Annika Smethurst (@annikasmethurst) June 16, 2016
On way to @TheTodayShow woke to horrific news of murder of @UKLabour MP Jo Cox while meeting constits -a tragic loss for her family and UK
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) June 16, 2016
Malcolm Turnbull has expressed his condolences for the death of British MP Jo Cox, who was shot and stabbed on a Yorkshire street.
Deeply shocked by the murder of UK MP Jo Cox. Our condolences, prayers and solidarity are with her family & the people of the UK.
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) June 16, 2016
A 52-year-old man was arrested after the attack. Full story here.
Good morning
Fifteen. That’s how many days are left until the federal election. Count ‘em. Fifteen.
As we emerge from the desert on this, the 40th day of the election campaign, take heart in knowing that tonight you, the average punter, will be able to fire your questions at both Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten on Facebook, the people’s forum, through Joe Hildebrand, who was, by his own admission, shocked to hear he was the people’s moderator.
Hildebrand has written on News Corp websites about his existential angst over being asked to moderate the debate, and notes that the scheduled kick-off time of 6pm Friday night was “traditionally known as a deadzone on the internet.” But, he notes, a lot of people seem to be talking about the election on Facebook, so let’s give it a crack.
Questions for the debate actually close at midday, which doesn’t sound super interactive, but it does mean that technically you could participate in democracy during your tea break and still go to the pub after work.
With that cheerful thought, make a cup of tea and let’s dive into Friday.
The big picture
A historic event took place at Kirribili House last night. Malcolm Turnbull, fresh from a day dodging questions about Parakeelia, celebrated Ramadan by hosting an iftar fast-breaking dinner for prominent Muslim Australians, as well as people of other faiths. My colleague, Paul Karp, writes that it’s the first such event hosted by an Australian prime minister.
Turnbull told his 75 guests in a pre-dinner speech that the broader Muslim community should not be blamed for the acts of a few extremists.
The aim of extremists, including those committing violence through a warped and nihilist interpretation of religion is to divide us and to turn our citizens against each other - but we will not let them win.
“Acts of terror like Sunday’s massacre in Orlando are perpetrated to divide us along lines of race, religion, sect and sexuality - but that kind of hatred and division must not prevail
We must stand together like we do tonight as one Australian family united against terrorism, racism, discrimination and violence
Among the guests were Gold Logie winner Waleed Aly; his wife, sociologist Dr Susan Carland; AFL player Bachar Houli; AFL national diversity manager Ali Fahour; Australian Multicultural Foundation director Hass Dellal; and youth advocate Yassmin Abdel-Magied.
Turnbull was interviewed by Aly on Channel 10’s The Project later that evening, and admitted that he had not fasted but “just showed up for the meal.”
Another guest was Sheik Shady Alsuleiman, president of the Australian National Imams Council, who, The Australian noted, has made anti-gay comments and was therefore, it suggested, not the best guest for an event that focused on unity in the wake of the mass murder of 49 people in a gay club in Orlando, Florida.
The Herald Sun was more forthright, headlining it’s coverage with: “Prime Minister dines with hate preacher.”
Plenty to be unhappy about in politics but tonight the PM hosted a Muslim iftar dinner and the Oppn Leader sang with the LGBT community. ✌️
— Fergus Hunter (@fergushunter) June 16, 2016
While Turnbull hosted the multi-faith event, the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, joined members of the LGBTI community in a vigil in Melbourne’s Federation Square for victims of the Orlando massacre.
Turnbull attended a service for the victims on Wednesday night.
It was a reprieve from a day’s politicking in which Parakeelia, the software company owned and used by the Liberal party, continued to dominate debate.
Shorten called Parakeelia a scam, saying:
This looks like a Liberal party washing machine turning taxpayer dollars into Liberal party profits.
While the Liberal Party’s national director, Tony Nutt, said the company was:
...run on a professional basis, independently audited and complies with the law.
According to a report in the Fairfax press, that’s not entirely true. Reporters James Robertson and David Wroe write that Parakeelia allegedly failed to inform ASIC of changes to company shareholdings for 15 years, due to a “clerical error.”
The “error” was that former Liberal party treasurer Ron Walker, who resigned in 2002, was, at least until Wednesday afternoon, listed as a 98% shareholder in the company.
When told of this fact by Fairfax, Walker reportedly said:
That’s impossible. I was assured that I had resigned. I relinquished all other directorships.
Malcolm (Turnbull, who was party treasurer in 2002 and 2003) took over from me. He succeeded me as federal treasurer of the party. He assumed all responsibilities I had on that day.
Walker then apparently called Liberal HQ and was told the letter “was never sent to ASIC – clerical error,” and that Nutt said it would be remedied the next day.
Interestingly, Fairfax ran a remarkably similar story in 2007, in which Walker said remarkably similar things.
The Australian’s David Crowe, in an excellent analysis that you can find here, writes that Parakeelia would not go away as an issue because it “offers another example of the way politicians like to live in a world with special rules and no questions asked”.
On the campaign trail
Malcolm Turnbull has woken up in Sydney and will take an early morning flight to the seat of Page on the NSW far north coast, where he’ll announce a $25m NSW North Coast Jobs and Investment package alongside Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash later this morning.
The package is intended to provide innovation grants, with businesses matching government investment dollar-for-dollar, to “incentivise business to invest, deliver new export opportunities and boost regional jobs”.
Bill Shorten is flying to Hobart, where he will announce a program called Working Futures, designed to deliver training to 20,000 unemployed youths a year.
The program will provide a six-week course teaching employment, presentation, interview and job search skills; a six-month work placement paid at an award-equivalent training wage, and result in a fully funded certificate III of the participant’s choice.
The campaign you should be watching
Ken Jasper, who held the Victorian state seat of Murray Valley for the Nationals for 40 years, has raised the ire of Liberal candidate for Indi, Sophie Mirabella, for recommending people preference independent MP Cathy McGowan ahead of her.
Jasper gave McGowan his endorsement in 2013. He has recommended that people give Nationals candidate Marty Corboy their first preference and McGowan their second.
Mirabella said it was “a very dishonourable thing to do”. But Jasper, who has made no secret of his criticism of Mirabella, seemed quite comfortable with his decision.
And another thing(s)
The Labor candidate for the western Sydney seat of Lindsay, Emma Husar, where the Labor party will (finally!) hold their campaign launch on Sunday, has reportedly deleted old Facebook posts in which she awkwardly said that all politicians “lie, steal and cheat.”
According to Fairfax’s James Massola, she also deleted a photo of herself hugging a giant red condom.
Speaking of campaign launches, the Australian reports that Tony Abbott was expected to attend the Liberal party’s official launch on Sunday week, and expected to have “his contribution to the Coalition’s election acknowledged”.
This followed a rapidly shut-down campaign, apparently driven by talkback radio hosts, to make Abbott defence minister.
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