That’s where we’ll leave it for now, dear audience. Thanks again for staying with me today. Amy Remeikis will happily be back for all your blogging needs tomorrow.
There’s been a fair bit of movement today, most notably on same-sex marriage and the banking inquiry:
- the same-sex marriage bill passed its second reading stage. It’s the first time either house of parliament has voted in favour of same-sex marriage. The first lot of conservative amendments to the bill were soundly defeated in the Senate, a good sign for Dean Smith and fellow moderates. Earlier today, Labor warned the amendments could stymie the progress of the bill. But quick progress is being made in the Senate. We’re still debating further amendments designed to protect freedom of expression and parental choice (that will continue into the evening). But it now looks likely that the bill will be finished in the Senate by the end of the week and sent to the lower house.
- The attorney general, George Brandis, delivered a powerful speech to mark the same-sex marriage bill. He described the legalisation of same-sex marriage as one of those “occasional shining moments which stand out in our nation’s history”.
- The Nationals have put Malcolm Turnbull in a tricky position on the banking inquiry. Two lower-house Nationals MPs are now prepared to cross the floor to support such an inquiry, giving proponents the numbers, so long as the Greens continue to offer their support. Turnbull insisted today that he would not support a royal commission into the banks. He’s holding the line. Senior Nationals such as Matt Canavan and Darren Chester have also spoken against the inquiry, saying it would be a waste of money and time, given 17 inquiries have already been held into the sector.
- Labor sounds like it is looking favourably on a federal anti-corruption body. It will reveal its formal position before the federal election. But the shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the party recognised the growing calls for its creation.
- An audit of the AFP’s unlawful access of a journalist’s metadata has called for greater training of police on their legal obligations.
- The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, continued his attack on the ABC for changing the date of the Triple J Hottest 100. He has written to the ABC expressing his displeasure and asking for the decision to be reversed.
We’ll be back here the same time tomorrow. Please do join us.
Updated
The Labor senator Sam Dastyari had a short speech on the amendments on parental choice and freedom of expression. He doesn’t support them but thinks they have been put forward in good faith. Some of the commentary about the amendments has been unfair, Dastyari said.
The Liberal senator Eric Abetz is back up on his feet shortly after. He says Dastyari’s speech was designed for the ears of western Sydney, a region that opposed same-sex marriage overwhelmingly.
Abetz is saying the same-sex marriage bill is compromising basic fundamental human rights. Same-sex marriage, Abetz says, is not a fundamental human right.
The simple fact is that the right of parents to guide the moral education of their children is an established right under international law. Nobody disputes that. Same with freedom of speech. Same with conscientious objection.
What we are embarking up on with this legislation potentially is to compromise those fundamental rights in favour of something that has been shown time and again not to be a fundamental human right. The international law on that is clear.
Updated
The Greens have written to the Senate president in protest of the visit of Milo Yiannopoulos to attend and speak at Parliament House. Liberal democratic party senator David Leyonhjelm invited Yiannopoulos. The Greens want his invitation revoked.
I’ve written to the Presiding Officers of the House and Senate asking them to revoke permission for Milo Yiannopoulos to attend and speak at Parliament House. We should not be granting a forum to someone who makes a living by peddling racist, sexist and abusive views. pic.twitter.com/yqeitw3Ddw
— Richard Di Natale (@RichardDiNatale) November 28, 2017
David Fawcett is on his feet, talking about the anti-detriment shield he is proposing alongside James Paterson. The shield is designed to protect people who oppose same-sex marriage from unfavourable treatment by public authorities. It would, for example, prevent a public service agency from dismissing or threatening to dismiss a public servant for holding a view on same-sex marriage. It doesn’t protect people who threaten or harass someone.
Fawcett said:
We’re talking here about a view of marriage that has been around for millennia.
The concern that is being raised and was raised during the Senate select committee ... is that we have already seen actions by advocates here ... where action has been taken against people, not because they’ve been discriminating but because they have expressed their view.
Updated
Moving back to the Senate for the moment, where the debate on the same-sex marriage bill has resumed. The Liberal senator James Paterson has introduced amendments to protect freedom of speech, create an anti-detriment shield and protect the rights of parents to pull their children from lessons they don’t like on sexuality or gender.
James Paterson is introducing "freedom amendments" as #marriageequality Senate debate recommences. Free speech, anti-detriment, parental rights. #auspol
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 28, 2017
Paterson: if these aren't passed it won't be clear that Australians have the right to speak freely about their marriage views. They set aside states' anti-discrimination laws. Singles out Tasmanian laws as "egregious". #auspol #marriageequality
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 28, 2017
Updated
Just a bit more on the ombudsman’s report. It has found the breach was only detected as a result of prompting of the AFP from an external agency.
The ombudsman has also warned there is ambiguity about when a journalist information warrant is required, which will no doubt cause concern among media outlets. The ombudsman found:
During the course of our inspection, we also identified that there is ambiguity surrounding the circumstances of when a journalist information warrant is required. It appears that the intention of the journalist information warrant provisions is to require a warrant prior to authorising the disclosure of metadata to identify a journalist’s source. It is arguable, however, that those provisions only apply in the more limited circumstance where the authorisation is seeking to access the metadata of a journalist or their employer. That is, if an authorisation was issued for the purpose of identifying a journalist’s source but is not made directly in relation to that journalist or their employer, a warrant is not required.
Updated
Report released on unlawful access of journalist's metadata
The commonwealth ombudsman has released its report on the federal police’s unauthorised access of a journalist’s metadata earlier this year.
In April, the AFP commissioner, Andrew Colvin, revealed his officers had inadvertently accessed the metadata of a journalist without the special warrant needed. The professional standards unit (PRS) had accessed the metadata to identify the journalist’s source. Colvin’s office waited three days after informing the ombudsman’s office to tell the public. He was yet to tell the journalist at the time of the public announcement.
The ombudsman’s office found a number of factors were involved in the breach, including:
- insufficient awareness of the requirements for a journalist information warrant within the PRS
- A failure by the PRS to appreciate their responsibilities when exercising their metadata powers
- the AFP relied too heavily on manual checks and did not have “strong system controls” in place to prevent unauthorised access
It asked the AFP to review its approach to metadata awareness and training.
The attorney general, George Brandis, welcomed the report and said the AFP had already made significant progress in implementing its advice.
I congratulate the AFP for the cooperative, open and transparent approach it has taken in engaging with the ombudsman throughout this inspection.
Metadata is a vital investigative tool, used in virtually all counter-terrorism and serious criminal investigations. Journalist information warrants were one of the additional safeguards introduced as part of the government’s data retention legislation.
Updated
Labor 'looking very closely' at federal anti-corruption body: Dreyfus
The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, says Labor is closely considering support for a federal anti-corruption body. He said a formal position would be adopted one way or another before the federal election.
But he appears to be speaking favourably about the concept. Dreyfus spoke to Sky News a little earlier.
We’ve certainly never ruled this out. Labor senators participated in a Senate select committee, which was unfortunately interrupted by the election last year. It was reconstituted after the election and reported in September and the call that that all-party committee made was for the federal government to examine a broad-based anti-corruption agency. The federal government has not responded to that recommendation made in September. We’re looking very closely at this and could not but be impressed by the call from retired judges of the eminence of those you interviewed yesterday. They are but two of a larger group of very eminent retired judges.
Between now and the next election, I can say that Labor will adopt a formal position one way or another. And I think I can say on behalf of my colleagues that we are looking and listening to what appear to be rising calls for such a body at the federal level.
Watch this space.
Updated
We witnessed history this morning when the same-sex marriage bill passed its second reading stage.
It was the first time either chamber has voted in favour of proceeding with marriage equality. There have been 23 bills dealing with same-sex marriage in the past but only four have previously come to a vote.
Updated
Photographer Mike Bowers has spent most of the day capturing the colour and movement in the Senate, where same-sex marriage has again dominated. We’re nearly ready to resume the debate on the bill. Until then, have a look at the day through Bowers’ eyes.
Updated
Liberal senator James Paterson revealed to the Senate earlier today he was a fan of electronic dance music (EDM).
The internet, as it tends to do, has taken that morsel and run with it. Good times abound.
It's obvious now... pic.twitter.com/N5dU0r42fu
— Roje Adaimy (@rojeadaimy) November 28, 2017
James Paterson turns his hat backwards, put on his most beige slacks and loudly complains that Triple J is too mainstream https://t.co/GQPFN7XSIF
— Rob Stott (@Rob_Stott) November 28, 2017
James Paterson reveals he is "more of an EDM man" when talking about Triple J moving the date of the Hottest 100 pic.twitter.com/dvMblkKomc
— Angus Livingston (@anguslivingston) November 28, 2017
Senator James Paterson (L), pictured c. 1999 pic.twitter.com/1txl8GHjQX
— Liam Hogan (@liamvhogan) November 28, 2017
Updated
In the spotlight-PHON leader Pauline Hanson during voting on amendments to the bill to change the marriage act in the senate @knausc @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive https://t.co/NdPIu52fyz pic.twitter.com/4PAqOywesG
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) November 28, 2017
We mentioned the powerful address given by George Brandis a bit earlier today. We’ve just got some vision through of some of the highlights.
And my colleague Paul Karp has written a fuller take on the speech here:
The government is using the last of question time to give a Dixer to the communications minister Mitch Fifield on the Hottest 100.
The question is met with groans from the opposite side of the chamber.
Fifield uses it as another chance to kick the ABC. The ABC shouldn’t be inserting themselves into political debates, apparently.
It’s been the soundtrack for Australia Day. The decision taken by the ABC to remove the hottest 100 from Australia Day is quite frankly bewildering. It is one that the government does not support.
The questioner, Liberal senator James Paterson, goes on to reveal he doesn’t listen to Triple J.
He’s more of an EDM (electronic dance music) fan, he tells the Senate. Lucky there’s nothing important to talk about.
Fifield later says he has written to the ABC in protest of the decision.
Updated
The attorney general, George Brandis, is asked about his comments on Monday, describing One Nation as “poison” for his side of politics.
Labor’s Penny Wong asks why, given those comments, the government allowed the Queensland LNP to preference One Nation in 49 seats in the state election.
Brandis tells Wong that she is “the last person to be asking that question”.
From you of all people, whose government has apparently been elected in Queensland on One Nation preferences, on One Nation preferences. Let that never be forgotten, Mr President.
Updated
Mike Bowers was down in the chamber for the vote on the same-sex marriage bill amendments earlier this afternoon.
Labor leader Penny Wong looks towards the skylight during voting on amendments to the bill to change the marriage act in the senate @knausc @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive https://t.co/NdPIu52fyz pic.twitter.com/80heUQYN9m
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) November 28, 2017
Senators Abetz and Macdonald during voting on amendments to the bill to change the marriage act in the senate @knausc @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive https://t.co/NdPIu52fyz pic.twitter.com/H3EZfqmzx3
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) November 28, 2017
Updated
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells is using another Dixer to attack Kristina Keneally. I sense a theme emerging.
During her attack, Fierravanti-Wells describes Keneally as Bill Shorten’s “girl”.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young jumps to her feet to ask Fierravanti-Wells to reflect on the wording.
I’d just ask the minister reflect on the wording ‘his girl’. I’m not sure it’s appropriate.
Fierravanti-Wells responds:
Considering they were the words that Bill Shorten used the other day, I’m only quoting him.
Updated
Labor’s Chris Ketter asks the attorney general, George Brandis, whether he can rule out a royal commission or commission of inquiry into the banks.
Brandis initially ducks the question. He says there have been 17 inquiries since the global financial crisis.
The government has been very, very active in implementing the recommendations of those inquiries.
These royal commissions go for years, they report at the end and aggrieved customers would have years to wait until they got any relief. Years to wait until they got any compensation or recompense.
Then he follows the line of Malcolm Turnbull earlier today. He says the policy is not to have a royal commission. He says nothing of a commission of inquiry.
Updated
The new Greens senator Jordon Steele-John has asked why Australia is falling so far behind other nations in improving employment of people with a disability. Steele-John, a noted disability advocate, entered the Senate earlier this month.
The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, takes his question on behalf of the government. He speaks of the importance of the national disability insurance scheme and the government’s investments in the disability employment services (DES) program.
Fifield:
I well recall from my period as minister for disabilities, that if you were an Australian with a disability, you were twice as likely to be unemployed than other Australians.
I don’t think that there’s anyone in this chamber that would be or could be satisfied by the rates of employment in relation to Australians who have disability.
Updated
The education minister, Simon Birmingham, is using a dixer on school funding to launch an attack on Kristina Keneally, Labor’s candidate for Bennelong. He’s saying she was responsible for funding cuts to schools in New South Wales in 2010.
"They all begged to be on her Sky show, now they get up and attack her," quips @samdastyari after Birmo goes after Kristina Keneally in #senateqt
— Luke Henriques-Gomes (@lukehgomes) November 28, 2017
Updated
Question time begins with NBN attack
Labor immediately launches an attack on the communications minister, Mitch Fifield, over the national broadband network (NBN).
They are slamming him for delays to some NBN broadband customers – those who use existing pay television cables via the hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) network. Technical issues mean the NBN will be delayed by up to another nine months for such customers.
Fifield defends HFC:
HFC is and will remain an important technology for the NBN as the CEO of NBN has identified, there are some issues that are being addressed that are readily fixable to do with interference, in terms of spectrum.
These are all very fixable, HFC is a good product.
Updated
Question time is about to start in the Senate. The Senate president, Scott Ryan, is ruling on a fiery question from Greens senator Nick McKim on Monday. McKim asked the government whether it toasted its offshore detention policy as the men on Manus Island were being beaten with metal poles.
Ryan rules the question was not out of order.
But he tells McKim that he’ll need to be prepared to accept similarly provocative questions and statements about his own actions from the government without complaint. The government spent a fair chunk of question time yesterday attacking McKim for going to Manus and allegedly encouraging men to disobey authorities and remain in the camp.
Updated
Conservative same-sex marriage amendments defeated
The first amendments to the same-sex marriage bill have been soundly defeated, 41 against to 24 in favour. It’s a strong win for the moderates who want Dean Smith’s bill to pass unchanged.
The Senate considered two amendments. One protected civil celebrants for conscientiously objecting to same-sex marriage, without a religious reason necessary. The second amendment created separate sections for man-woman marriage and two-person marriage.
There are more amendments on civil celebrants to come at a later stage.
On these amendments: 24 ayes and 41 noes, so Labor/Greens/NXT/Hinch/Coalition moderate grouping holding and has first big win #auspol #marriageequality
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 28, 2017
Updated
Senators Reynolds, Hume, Scullion, Birmingham, Payne, NXT, ALP and Greens all opposing the hostile amendments. It will be clearly defeated.
— Alex Greenwich MP (@AlexGreenwich) November 28, 2017
So Coalition senators voting with Labor and Greens on civil celebrants and separate marriage definitions include Smith, Reynolds Birmo Hume Payne Scullion #auspol #marriageequality
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 28, 2017
O'Sullivan now wants to split them and vote on them separately. It's clear Labor/Greens/NXT/those Coalition moderates have the numbers #auspol #marriageequality
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 28, 2017
Labor’s Penny Wong has warned against amendments for conscientious objection. Those amendments would protect those who conscientiously object to participating in same-sex marriage.
This is a very big concept to introduce, to suggest that we should actually have different treatment of Australians, not on the basis of an identified religious belief ... but we should somehow in this debate about marriage equality introduce a new notion of conscientious objection as a basis for not applying the law universally. That is a very unorthodox step and I agree it is an illiberal step.
Updated
The moderate Liberal senator Dean Smith is in the Senate arguing against the amendments. He says his bill has been in the public sphere for months.
It is responsible, it is sensible, it has the support of the community.
Smith then slams the amendments proposed by Liberal senators James Paterson and David Fawcett.
Beware the Paterson bill was unorthodox, it was illiberal. The Paterson-Fawcett amendments are born of that same ilk. Illiberal, unorthodox.
Updated
We’re right into the debate on same-sex marriage bill amendments here.
The Senate is discussing an amendment that would give civil celebrants protections for refusing to marry same-sex couples.
The Greens senator Janet Rice is asking what that would mean, in practice, for her and her partner, who is a trans woman.
[Would they be able] to blatantly and quite discriminatingly be able to say, ‘No, we’re not able to marry you’?
Rice, as with many on the yes side, has urged against introducing one form of discrimination to replace another.
The resources minister, Matt Canavan, a no voter, said the argument works the other way, too. He said without the protections people who held traditional views about same-sex marriage would be discriminated against.
It would be “incredibly discriminatory” to people who want to pursue a career as a civil celebrant but don’t agree with same-sex marriage, he said.
I think it’s unfortunate therefore that in trying to remove one form of discrimination we would be establishing another form.
He said there has been a lack of engagement and consideration for those who do not agree with same-sex marriage.
A bit earlier, one of the more vocal Liberal no campaigners, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, accused Labor of abandoning its base in western Sydney by refusing to support amendments to the bill. You’ll remember western Sydney voted strongly against same-sex marriage, including in many Labor seats.
I have to say to those opposite you have well and truly forgotten your heartland. You have well and truly forgotten particularly all those people in western Sydney.
What is so wrong to afford them now the opportunity of having an equal say?
Updated
QLD Nationals senator Barry O'Sullivan as the senate begins to move amendments to the bill to amend the marriage act @knausc @GuardianAus @murpharoo @Paul_Karp #auspol #politicslive https://t.co/NdPIu52fyz pic.twitter.com/fHY2rhwuuW
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) November 28, 2017
We’ve just heard from another Nationals MP on the banking inquiry. The party is divided over the plan. Two Nationals – senator Barry O’Sullivan and lower house MP Llew O’Brien – are supporting a banking inquiry. The Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, has left open the door to the party supporting the inquiry.
Others are not so keen.
The transport minister, Darren Chester, is the latest to express his displeasure. He’s told Sky News that the inquiry would be an $150m “lawyers’ picnic”.
That $150m could be building better, safer roads in regional communities. It could be saving lives in my community.
Updated
Kristina Keneally has just appeared in Bennelong alongside the opposition leader, Bill Shorten. Early voting began in the byelection today.
Keneally’s opponent, the Liberal MP John Alexander, and the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, appeared in Bennelong earlier today.
They promised $100m to build a major transport hub in the electorate, designed to relieve congestion.
Keneally and Shorten matched the promise.
“Does anyone even think he would have visited Bennelong except for Kristina’s determined campaign and Labor’s commitment?” Shorten said. “Kristina Keneally is already paying dividends for the voters of Bennelong and she hasn’t even been elected.”
Labor has continued to put pressure on the government over Medicare, delays to the NBN and internal divisions over the banking inquiry.
Keneally said Alexander is preferencing a One Nation party member ahead of Labor candidates.
Alexander earlier today said he was unaware of any such preference arrangement.
Updated
Greens throw wildcard into banking inquiry saga
The Greens’ party room met earlier this morning.
They have considering throwing a wildcard into the quickly changing saga of the banking commission of inquiry.
They are increasingly of the view that the Liberal National senator Barry O’Sullivan is not serious about pursuing a proper parliamentary inquiry into the banks.
At this stage, they say they are unlikely to support his private member’s bill in the Senate. They say the Senate has already passed a bill to establish a commission of inquiry (co-sponsored by the Greens, Labor, the Nick Xenophon Team, and others) and they are thinking of introducing that bill to the House of Representatives next week.
They say if the LNP backbencher George Christensen, and his colleague Llew O’Brien, are serious about crossing the floor to support a banking inquiry then they will have the opportunity to do so with the Greens bill.
They acknowledge there’s a chance that such a tactic could upset the momentum for an inquiry. So watch this space.
On Milo Yiannopoulos:
Apart from the banks, they’re still angry about Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm inviting the alt-right poster boy Milo Yiannopoulos to Parliament House next month.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said one thing people need to realise is that the publicist for Leyonhjelm’s book is the same publicist for Yiannopoulos’s book.
But the Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, is going to write to the presiding officers in Parliament House to ask them why they have granted access to Yiannopoulos in the first place and to ask them to rescind the offer.
On Don Burke:
The Greens say they are so disturbed by the allegations about Don Burke, and revelations that Channel Nine executives were aware of his behaviour for years, that they have started investigating what types of penalties could be put in place for media executives – and boards – that don’t act on allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
They say television broadcasters and radio stations are allowed to access the public airwaves, with regulations and restrictions governing that access.
“Stay tuned for that,” Sarah Hanson-Young said.
Updated
Marriage equality bill passes second reading stage
Right, folks. Some progress with the same-sex marriage bill. We’re now into debating the amendments in the Senate.
So #marriageequality bill passed second reading stage with no contrary voices. No vote necessary. Into committee stage. #auspol
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 28, 2017
The attorney general, George Brandis, has really claimed the mantle of removing discriminatory laws for the Liberal party and conservatives.
He starts in 1972 when Murray Hill moved a bill to decriminalise gay sex in South Australia and takes us through Here Comes the Groom, an article published in 1989 that he says shows gay marriage originated from the conservative side of politics.
Brandis says that same-sex marriage will finally give gay people full equality and access to marriage but its significance is far greater:
“After centuries of prejudice, discrimination rejection and ridicule, it is an expiation of past wrongs and a final act of acceptance and embrace.”
The message it sends to young people is potent:
“You are a normal person and like every other normal person you have a need to love ... Who you love is for you to decide and others to respect.”
Brandis credits Malcolm Turnbull for being the first prime minister to have advocated and prosecuted this cause and says it will be a signature achievement and “imperishable legacy” of his prime ministership.
Updated
The attorney general, George Brandis, is currently making a powerful speech on same-sex marriage in the Senate.
It’s the standout of the various contributions today.
My colleague Paul Karp is in the chamber and will bring you a more comprehensive report on his words. But here’s a flavour:
This decision by the Australian people – enabled by their government and enacted by their parliament – will come to be seen as one of those occasional shining moments which stand out in our nation’s history. About which people will still speak with admiration in decades, indeed centuries to come. One of those breakthroughs which have, as the wheel of history turns, defined us as a people.
Success has many fathers. And although this achievement was brought to fulfilment by a Liberal government and a Liberal prime minister, it would be churlish not to acknowledge so many in the Labor party in also promoting this cause. I can well imagine their frustration during the six years of the Rudd and Gillard governments, when the cause was delayed, because it is the same frustration I have felt at times with leaders on my own side of politics.
But in the end, through long years and many false steps on both sides of politics, through many stops and starts, we have come, at last, to this end.
As Martin Luther King famously said, the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.
George Brandis talks to yes vote advocates Alex Greenwich and Tom Snow during debate on the bill to change the marriage act in the #Senate @knausc @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive https://t.co/NdPIu52fyz pic.twitter.com/1M8uLXEq92
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) November 28, 2017
Updated
An interesting story is emerging from Barnaby Joyce’s electorate of New England.
Barnaby Joyce has reportedly claimed he is being stalked, according to the Northern Daily Leader.
The paper reports that Joyce was confronted and questioned about family matters in the Graman Hotel, near Inverell, on Monday night.
Joyce told the paper he’s had “death threats and now we’ve got stalkers”. He didn’t deny flicking the man’s hat off during a heated exchange.
Updated
Labor MPs not bound on same-sex marriage amendments: Collins
The Labor senator Jacinta Collins has dropped a small bomb by saying that Labor MPs and senators are not bound to vote against substantive marriage amendments.
But she’s said that nobody intends to exercise their conscience vote on the amendments, so she is still substantially in line with Labor Senate leader Penny Wong and shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus who have said Labor will vote down all substantive amendments.
Collins said on the final bill she would exercise her conscience - and vote no. She said she last expressed the view in 2012 and “that view has not changed”. She will vote no by pairing her vote to senator Gavin Marshall, who is in New York.
Collins accused some unnamed Coalition senators of being “quite partisan” by suggesting Labor senators who shared their views about traditional marriage were “gutless”.
Communications minister, Mitch Fifield, told the Senate he previously opposed same-sex marriage but had changed his mind. He said there were “some cogent arguments for some additional protections” but reserved his position.
Updated
Shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland offers a rather succinct response to Mitch Fifield's intervention on @triplej #hottest100 pic.twitter.com/vhM6b2EYTr
— Christopher Knaus (@knausc) November 28, 2017
Still in the Senate, we heard a little earlier from the One Nation senator Brian Burston. Burston reveals he didn’t vote in the poll because he didn’t receive his form.
There are many who did not receive their forms and so were deprived of their right of participating in this survey. I was one of those Australians robbed and denied the opportunity of expressing my democratic right.
The Australian bureau of statistics did make a number of options available for those who didn’t receive their form. That included requesting a new form. It appears Burston did not take up those options.
He adds that he would have voted no, in case you were wondering.
Updated
A note on Pauline Hanson’s speech on same-sex marriage. The Labor senator Sam Dastyari made his way across the Senate to speak with Hanson after she had finished.
If only Mike Bowers could lip read ...
Updated
The justice minister, Michael Keenan, has just spoken on the foiled alleged terror plot in Victoria. A 20-year-old man was arrested in Melbourne this morning. It is alleged he planned a terror plot on new year’s eve.
Keenan dismisses any notion that Australia has been lucky to avoid an attack.
This is the 14th time that our authorities have stopped an attack from occurring in Australia since 2014. That hasn’t happened because of luck, that’s happened because our agencies are very, very good at what they do.
Updated
Just a quick note on wordplay
Back to the prime minister ruling out a royal commission into the banks for a moment.
As Chris has noted, Malcolm Turnbull has not actually ruled out the live option – which is a commission of inquiry into the banks.
Julie Bishop this morning also had a slightly hedged statement on the question, making an in-principle argument against an inquiry (they don’t provide immediate solutions to problems), but leaving the issue of whether the government might ultimately support one, open.
“This is a matter for cabinet and the party room to discuss,” Bishop told reporters.
These utterances may prove to be a distinction without a difference but, given the cabinet has already had one discussion about whether or not to flip on the banking inquiry, and Barnaby Joyce has signalled the Nationals might flip when they meet next Monday, it pays to watch the various words and formulations very closely.
Updated
We’re back in the Senate on the same-sex marriage debate.
In a remarkable feat of logic, the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has used what she says is “reverse racism” against white Australians to argue against same-sex marriage.
Bear with me here. I’ll do my best to get to the bottom of that.
She has likened the same-sex marriage postal survey to the 1967 referendum on including Indigenous Australians in the census. Hanson says people thought they were voting to give Indigenous Australian equality. But, alas, we were all tricked and Indigenous Australians now have it better than white Australians. Now white Australians face reverse racism, she says.
We have now made laws that is giving them more rights than other Australians. There is a division in Australia, there is reverse racism.
People did not vote for that. Hence my concerns about this plebiscite. People say they want equality, they want the right to marry. I have no problem with that ... if it was to be called a civil ceremony, Australians would not worry about that. But why is it that this push for people where the last census in 2011 there was 33,700 gay couples. And I can tell you all those gay couples don’t want to get married.
So ... yeah.
Make what you will from that.
Also, the children. What happens when they’re asked to draw a picture of mum and dad?
What do we do as a society when these going to school ... so the kid’s there saying ‘well what do I do, I don’t have a mum or a dad, it’s Peter and Sam, or it’s Elizabeth and Amanda. They’re not known as mum and dad’. So are we then going to say well we can’t discriminate against these children, so we must call that person by their real names. Is this the impact it’s going to have on our educational system, in our school rooms. What about grandma and granddad, it’s alright for this generation, but what about the next generation?
Just as a postscript. Hanson asks why we are being “dictated to by the minority”. It’s a good question. One that the 61% of Australians who voted for same-sex marriage may well ask of One Nation.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson continues her contribution to debate on the bill to change the marriage act claiming that the 67 referendum has caused reverse racism #Senate #SSM @knausc @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive https://t.co/NdPIu52fyz pic.twitter.com/em5cFxRqK9
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) November 27, 2017
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Labor will vote down all amendments on same-sex marriage
Labor Senate leader, Penny Wong, and shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, have just announced that Labor has reached a party position to vote down all substantive amendments to the marriage bill - both those advanced by conservatives, and those released by the Greens.
Dreyfus said that no Labor MPs and Senators had sought a conscience vote on amendments, although they have a conscience vote on the final vote on a marriage bill.
It is significant that this is a binding decision - because votes from half a dozen or so Labor MPs who had reserved their position would have been necessary for Coalition conservatives to get any of their changes approved.
Last night Labor senator Helen Polley told the Senate she was in favour of more protections for religious freedom, freedom of speech and parental rights, but she also said it’s time to move on and get same-sex marriage done.
Wong thanked her colleagues for the collegiate, collective approach to the issue. So obviously Polley and others with concerns have agreed to raise them through the religious freedom inquiry and will not be voting for conservative amendments and imperilling the same-sex marriage bill.
Pleased to update my office window from “Vote Yes” to “Said Yes”. Now, let’s get this done (without winding back discrimination laws) #auspol pic.twitter.com/FPPRn7bbnq
— Andrew Leigh (@ALeighMP) November 27, 2017
Turnbull says there will be no banking royal commission
Malcolm Turnbull has just spoken in Bennelong, alongside his candidate, John Alexander, and the New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian. It’s the first time Turnbull has appeared in Bennelong alongside Alexander, despite the importance of the byelection campaign for the Coalition.
The questions quickly turn to the banking inquiry. Can Turnbull categorically rule out an inquiry into the banks? After a few questions, he eventually says the government will not establish a royal commission. He makes no specific mention of his position on another form of inquiry, a parliamentary inquiry, which is a live option.
We have made it clear we are not going to establish a royal commission and the reason for that is simply because we want to get on with the job now. Let me tell you, if we had set up a royal commission into banks two years ago, up in of the reforms that we have undertaken would have been able to be achieved.
John Alexander is thrown a curly question on a tennis trip he took to South Africa during apartheid. Why did he choose to play tennis in the country, at a time when many sportspeople refused to do so?
Alexander said he had played there with Arthur Ashe, an African-American tennis champion. The pair had played at a time when South Africa first made its grandstands available to both black and white fans.
I think that was the commencement of the breaking down of apartheid. I think that Arthur was a great champion as a tennis player and he was very instrumental with what then happened in South Africa.
I thought we were doing, as a group of tennis players, we were demonstrating how we, who came from every country on the earth, that we had a great mix of people and we went to South Africa with our champion Arthur Ashe.
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Right, we’ve just heard a little more on the same-sex marriage debate. The Senate will resume its consideration of the bill from 10.30am.
Conservative MPs have proposed a series of amendments to Dean Smith’s bill. They’re designed to give stronger protections on freedom of religion, conscience, parental choice, and expression. In a nutshell, they’re designed to protect people who don’t like or believe in same-sex marriage and give them the right to express such views without retribution.
Labor are concerned the amendments might derail the smooth passage of the same-sex marriage bill proposed by Dean Smith, which has cross-party support.
Labor’s Penny Wong said the Dean Smith bill, while not perfect, was a sensible and workable bill. She said the bill was giving effect to the will of the Australian people, and warned against any amendments that would hinder its progress.
I hope and believe that the majority of senators respect the view of the Australian people, so emphatically put in these last couple of weeks, that they want marriage equality.
The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the bill hadcross-party support and was “an acceptable compromise”. It’s not exactly the bill that Labor would have put forward, “but that’s in the nature of compromises”.
A little earlier, the Liberal senator James Paterson was on Sky News to explain the amendments. They include:
- The definition of marriage should separately recognises both man-woman marriage and “two-person marriage” as valid.
- Stronger protections for civil celebrants and conscientious objectors. Paterson wants to protect civil celebrants who are opposed to same-sex marriage and don’t want to be involved in such ceremonies.
- Protections for freedom of expression and to recognise legitimate beliefs.
- An anti-detriment shield protecting individuals and organisations with genuine convictions about traditional marriage. This would ensure they are not subject to unfavourable treatment by public authorities owing to their views.
- Freedom from being required to express, associate with, or endorse statement or opinion about marriage, which conflicts with genuine religious or conscientious convictions about marriage.
- Protections for charities that hold traditional views on marriage. This would allow charities like St Vincent de Paul’s, for example, to continue to express their views. It would not allow them to refuse to offer services to same-sex couples.
- Protection of religious bodies and schools and parents to have the right to withdraw children from certain classes. Paterson argues that parents now have the right to pull their kids from religious classes. He just wants the same for parents who don’t agree with same-sex marriage.
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Just casting our gaze over to the national broadband network for a moment.
You’ll remember yesterday NBN Co announced that new delays will affect millions of their broadband customers.
Customers who are having their NBN connected via existing pay television or internet cables – via the hybrid fibre coaxial network – will have to wait up to nine more months to be connected. The delay is necessary because a small number of customers have experienced technical difficulties with the HFC cables, according to the NBN.
A bit earlier, the communications minister, Mitch Fifield, was asked on Sky News whether it was a mistake to use the HFC cables to deliver NBN broadband.
No, absolutely not. And it is one of the reasons why the NBN will be completed by 2020, which is still the case, which is six to eight years sooner than would have been the case under our predecessors.
He’s asked whether the HFC pay television cables are up to the task.
Absolutely, there are hundreds of thousands of Australians who in the pre-NBN world are already accessing fast broadband over the HFC pay tv cables. In fact, in the United States most people who have broadband access it over the HFC pay tv cables. So it’s a good product.
The issues with HFC are “very fixable” and the cables are cheaper and still allows 100 megabits per second.
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The energy operator says it has found extra power to cover shortfalls over summer, and says it is ready to “regain that confidence of the public”.
The Australian Energy Market Operator has identified almost 2,000 megawatts of extra power, which it says will replace the 1,600MW that went offline when Victoria’s Hazelwood power station closed in March, according to AAP.
It is now as confident as possible Australia enters this summer with many of the problems from last year resolved, says its chief executive, Audrey Zibelman.
“What we all want to do, and I think I can speak for the entire energy industry, is to get through the summer and regain that confidence of the public,” she told ABC radio on Tuesday.
“We want to get back to the point where energy is boring and nobody’s interested just because we’re doing it so well.”
The extra power will be necessary, as research also found consumers weren’t likely to cut their power usage during heatwaves as much as previously thought.
More than 800MW will come from gas generators that were previously offline or not operating at full capacity last summer.
A further 1,000MW can come from asking large energy users to either use less power or generate their own.
The summer plans also include the massive new lithium battery that the billionaire businessman Elon Musk has built in South Australia, which is being tested this week and should be ready to join the grid on Friday.
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One of the senior Nationals opposed to a banking inquiry is the resources minister, Matt Canavan. Regardless of his position, the inquiry appears to have the numbers to pass. He’s asked why the government, given it no longer has the numbers, doesn’t just change its position, push ahead with an inquiry, and take control of the issue. Canavan responds:
You’ve got to stick to your ground on these sort of debates, you don’t just change your position because of a couple of members. Now ultimately if that’s the way a votes goes in the parliament, or is going to go, that’s something we’ll have to deal with at the time.
Canavan said he doesn’t support a royal commission because it will not achieve anything, will cost a lot, and will take a long time. He also thinks there’s a risk to the banking sector’s reputation.
Canavan is asked about a story in the Courier-Mail this morning, which describes a “pineapple rebellion” of Queensland LNP Nationals. They want to run a separate campaign and differentiate themselves from the Liberal party at the next federal election. Canavan says:
Well the pineapple rebellion is not the brand name we’re running under, I can clarify that.
I do think we need to do a better job in Queensland of marketing and selling what we do here in Canberra.
We need to tell the Queensland people in a crowded marketplace, a crowded political marketplace, tell them what we do and what we achieve for them. Clearly in regional Queensland there’s a demand for a party that sticks up for them, that is in their corner, fighting for them. Some of that has gone to One Nation and Katter as well, in north Queensland.
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Mitch Fifield has launched another broadside at the ABC. He says the ABC shouldn’t change the date just because “a few people” don’t think Australia Day should be on 26 January. He was speaking to Sky News’s Kieran Gilbert.
The ABC should just leave the Hottest 100 alone. The ABC and Triple J should not seek to politicise Australia Day by removing the Hottest 100 from Australia Day because there are a few people who don’t think Australia Day should be celebrated on the 26th of January.
You’ll no doubt have seen that the ABC surveyed almost 65,000 of people and found 60% support for changing the date of the Hottest 100. So it’s a bit of a stretch for Fifield to describe that as a “few people”.
Kieran Gilbert challenges him on the statement:
But they did a voluntary non-binding survey. You guys know a little bit about that?
Fifield responds:
Well the ABC has a broader responsibility to the whole community, not just to one particular entire market segment. Kieran, there are some days in this gig as minister when I slap my forehead and say what were these guys thinking.
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Jimmy Barnes attacks government for using his name and songs
You might remember Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg appeared in Port Kembla yesterday to spruik their national energy guarantee. In doing so, Frydenberg channelled the Australian rock star Jimmy Barnes.
More than 30 years ago Jimmy Barnes came to Port Kembla to make the film clip for Working Class Man. Today the prime minister has come to Port Kembla to create jobs for Australia’s working-class men and women.
Well, that hasn’t impressed Jimmy. Far from it.
He’s just tweeted his anger at being used to sell the government’s “shitty policies”.
Hey @JoshFrydenberg don’t use my name or my songs to sell your shitty policies. You don’t represent me #portkembla #workingclassman #auspol
— Jimmy Barnes (@JimmyBarnes) November 27, 2017
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The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, has insisted to a Senate inquiry that he was not the cabinet minister who told the former Senate president Stephen Parry to keep his concerns quiet about his dual citizenship.
Appearing before the Senate legal and constitutional affairs references committee on Monday evening, Fifield said he had encouraged Parry to check his family records when Parry had raised the issue with him but it was not his responsibility to ensure that Parry followed through.
He said he had told no one about their conversation, including the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, because that would have been breaching Parry’s confidence.
“Claims that I directed, told, advised, or suggested that he not take any steps he deemed appropriate until after the high court decision are false,” Fifield said. “It is the responsibility of each senator to assess their own eligibility to stand for, and to sit in, the parliament.”
Fifield had been asked to appear before the committee on Monday after admitting this month that he knew Parry was concerned about his possible dual citizenship weeks before he resigned from parliament.
Parry made a shock announcement on 1 November after being told by UK authorities that he held British citizenship. He admitted he had waited for last month’s high court judgment on the eligibility of seven parliamentary colleagues before seeking advice from British authorities on his own citizenship.
The revelation angered his senior Coalition colleagues, including Turnbull, because it came at a time when the government believed the citizenship saga was behind it.
Days afterwards, the ABC reported that Parry had actually told some senior colleagues, including a cabinet colleague, about his citizenship concerns in mid-August and had been advised not to raise the alarm until after the high court ruling. He was reportedly told to sit tight because the solicitor general’s advice was that the government would win the citizenship case.
Fifield told the committee on Monday that he objected to the political motivations behind his being summoned to appear before the committee. He said it did not set a “sensible precedent”.
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Julie Bishop says banking inquiry may 'hold out false hope' for victims
Staying with banking for a moment.
The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has just been asked whether the government would reconsider its opposition to an inquiry. She responds:
This is a matter for cabinet and the party room to discuss.
Bishop said an inquiry would achieve little. She said it may hold out “false hope” of compensation and dispute resolution for victims of banking misconduct.
The point that I’m making is that a royal commission or an inquiry, depending on its powers, won’t recover compensation, won’t resolve disputes. All it can do is make recommendations to regulators. The regulators are already taking action on the government’s direction to resolve these disputes and ensure that any failures in the system are addressed. These commissions of inquiry can take months, even years, so I don’t want the Australian government to be holding out false hope for people.
She described the Coalition between the Liberals and the Nationals as a positive relationship. The two parties have their differences from time to time, but:
We’re a very successful political movement as a Coalition.
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The Nationals MP Llew O’Brien has all but confirmed he will cross the floor to support a banking commission of inquiry, meaning the Nationals senator Barry O’Sullivan’s bill has the numbers to pass the Senate and the lower house if it were voted on.
I just can’t see how I wouldn’t vote for it.
O’Brien has agreed to support the inquiry on the condition that it is expanded to look at the discrimination against people with mental health issues by insurance companies.
O’Brien:
When you have 45% of Australians anticipated to have some kind of mental ill health throughout their life and then you’ve got insurance companies discriminating in the way that they do, that must have an effect on our country.
O’Brien, a former police officer, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and told ABC AM this “valuable experience” was one he would “not waste” now he was in a position to legislate.
Asked when the inquiry would get up and if it was disloyal to support it, he said:
It could be next week – who knows. It could have been this week, but it vanished … I’m in parliament to serve both my constituents and the people of Australia, they’re the people I answer to.
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Good morning, good people
Hello and welcome to the second day of the sitting week.
It’s Christopher Knaus with you again, here for the last day before Amy Remeikis returns and resumes your normal blogging service.
Between the bank inquiry, same-sex marriage, Manus Island and the Hottest 100, the government looks to have a fairly full dance card again today.
Here’s what we’re expecting this morning:
- An inquiry into the banks is now looking more and more certain. A second Nationals MP, Llew O’Brien, has said he’d be prepared to cross the floor. That gives proponents of an inquiry the numbers in the lower house. We’ll wait to see how Malcolm Turnbull will respond this morning. The PM and other senior ministers have consistently resisted calls for such an inquiry. But he could face an embarrassing vote on the floor of parliament unless the Coalition changes its position.
- The debate on same-sex marriage will continue in the Senate today. The attention continues to be on the amendments proposed by conservatives. Those amendments, they argue, are needed to ensure those opposed to same-sex marriage do not have their freedom of religion, speech or conscience restricted. The conservatives say parents also need protections to take their children out of classes they don’t agree with. Labor largely wants the Dean Smith bill passed as it is. The Greens have proposed their own amendments but say they’re happy with Dean Smith’s bill as a minimum. The debate will continue in the Senate this morning from 10.30am.
- The debate over the change of the Hottest 100 date is likely to continue this morning. The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, has again expressed his anger over the decision this morning. I sense another day of culture warring and ABC bashing. Strap yourselves in.
- The Greens are also planning to introduce legislation on assisted dying. Their bill hopes to give the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory the right to make their own laws on euthanasia.
There have you have it. It’s shaping up as another fascinating day in parliament.
We’ll take you through the news as it develops throughout the day.
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