Night-time politics
- An opposition-dominated Senate committee has recommended attorney general George Brandis be censured for misleading the parliament when he said he consulted former solicitor general Justin Gleeson over a legal direction. Government senators have issued a dissenting report which writes off the committee findings as partisan and a taxpayer-funded indulgence.
- Labor has signalled it will vote against the government’s proposed lifetime travel ban on refugees who have arrived in Australia by boat. Immigration minister Peter Dutton claimed to have the numbers on the Senate crossbenchers anyway. But Nick Xenophon warned he does not have his party at this stage.
- Labor has finally settled on a 10.5% backpacker tax policy and will try to amend the government’s 19% proposal in the senate. But the government has signalled it would not accept the amendments in the lower house. Growers will face their second harvests without certainty on the tax rate.
- Trade minister Steve Ciobo continued the attack on Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs as the government set up a parliamentary committee inquiry into section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Triggs says she welcomes the inquiry.
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Coalition MPs Russell Broadbent and George Christensen, representing either end of the Coalition, set to over the direction of said party. Don’t take the low road on fear and division re Muslims, said Russell. Eww, politically correct said George.
That’s it. It is goodnight from me and goodnight from him Mike Bowers. Thanks to the brains trust. You know who you are. And thanks for your company.
Love youse all.
Goodnight.
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The LNP senator Barry O’Sullivan is speaking on the Gleeson report.
He rejects McKim’s point about the production of documents, suggesting he has tried to get documents in the past from other departments.
We not going to take a lecture off you guys on the standards of senior officers who are paid pretty significant money.
O’Sullivan goes through the revelation from Justin Gleeson that he had a conversation with Labor’s Mark Dreyfus during the campaign.
Then somehow former Family First senator Bob Day is raised.
O’Sullivan says tersely to the Labor benches that Senator Day would “buy and sell any one of you” and is a “much better man than you”.
Then it is all over.
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Greens flag desire for Senate select committee into Justin Gleeson issue
The Greens senator Nick McKim, a member of the committee, has outlined his concerns with the Gleeson matter.
McKim is particularly concerned at the lack of access to the attorney general’s documents. He says arguably, the government is wilfully obstructing the senate.
McKim goes to this point, contained within the report, over access to documents.
The committee has sought access to any documents and correspondence which would clarify the nature of any consultation that occurred with the Solicitor-General. It has made requests for information from the Attorney-General’s Department (the Department) that are relevant to the terms of reference. This includes an order for the Department to produce documents, sent on 18 October 2016. The Department has advised the committee that it has provided relevant documents to the Attorney-General, and that these are still being considered with a view to the Attorney-General making a claim of public interest immunity.
The committee is concerned that the Attorney-General has only been prepared to provide documents that could in some way be construed to substantiate the assertion that the Direction was substantively discussed at the meeting on 30 November 2016, despite other participants contradicting this claim. The committee has not been provided with any of the documents it has asked for pertaining to the Direction.
In his submission, the Attorney-General refers to handwritten meeting notes taken by his staff, which merely refer to the process of obtaining advice, as defined by the Direction and Guidance Note. No documents (which the committee understands exist) have been produced to substantiate the actual consultation process and drafting of the Direction
McKim wants a senate select committee created to assess whether they are reasonable claims.
It is time for the Senate to stand up and be counted because we are being treated by contempt by the government.
McKim says he is talking to Labor and other senators about the issue.
He gives no indication whether he has the numbers for the committee.
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Government senators accuse Labor of destroying Justin Gleeson's career
The Opposition and Greens dominated the Senate committee so there is always a dissenting report from government members.
Government senators say the inquiry set up by Labor destroyed the career of the solicitor general.
This is from the dissenting report:
During the course of the Inquiry, Government members came to the conclusion that the position of the Solicitor-General had become untenable.
The Solicitor-General’s subsequent decision to resign was, in the view of government members of the committee, commendable and perhaps an unavoidable consequence of the public Inquiry.
Government members regret that this Inquiry, set up by the Labor Party to attack Senator the Hon George Brandis, Attorney-General of the Commonwealth of Australia (the Attorney-General), has in the end destroyed the career of the Solicitor General who was himself appointed by the previous Labor administration.
Government members of the Committee are concerned that the majority on the Committee have used the Senate committee process, and thereby the taxpayers’ indulgence, to pursue a partisan political agenda.
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Gleeson Senate committee report recommendations
Recommendation 1
That the Senate disallow the amendment to the Direction or the Attorney General withdraw it immediately, and that the Guidance Note be revised accordingly.
Recommendation 2
That the Attorney-General provide, within three sitting days, an explanation to the Senate responding to the matters raised in this report.
Recommendation 3
That the Senate censure the Attorney-General for misleading the parliament and failing to discharge his duties as Attorney-General appropriately.
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Senator Ian Macdonald is criticising Gleeson for telling the committee hearing details about advice he has given without the permission of his clients, ie the AG.
He says the SG is a senior public servant and should abide by the rules of his job.
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Pratt: Brandis said not just that he consulted, but that he consulted *with the solicitor general* #auspol #auslaw
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 8, 2016
Pratt: the attorney general was not informed the direction was wrong in law (as a result of not consulting Gleeson) #auspol #auslaw
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 8, 2016
Louise Pratt says the Senate cttee has concluded Brandis misled the Senate he had consulted SG Justin Gleeson #auspol #auslaw
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) November 8, 2016
The LNP senator Ian Macdonald, a member of the legal and constitutional affairs committee, beats down on the Brandis/Gleeson report.
This committee is renowned for the inappropriateness of its inquiries … because they are always political inquiries.
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George Brandis is unfit to hold office, says Senate committee chair Louise Pratt
The opposition-dominated Senate committee chair Louise Pratt, has told the Senate that the attorney general is unfit to hold office as she tabled the report into the Justin Gleeson matter.
The Senate committee report calls for senate to censure Brandis after his failure to consult with the former solicitor general Justin Gleeson on a direction that the SG must gain consent before providing advice to other government departments.
(This post has been amended.)
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The Nationals leader and deputy PM, Barnaby Joyce, is blaming Labor’s for the backpackers tax, which is highly confusing because as I have said previously, this was a proposal that emanated from the 2015 Abbott budget.
[Labor] revel in the problems, they revel in the intrigue, they revel in creating chaos. They know full well what their objective is.
Aussie fruit pickers will pay more tax than any backpacker from overseas under the Shorten-Lambie-One Nation pact. #auspol #agchatoz pic.twitter.com/gp4Of4oY49
— Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) November 8, 2016
Joyce’s tweet is even more confusing when you consider the numbers.
- Original backpacker tax 13% but with tax free threshold with differences for resident (for tax purposes) and non residents.
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Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey’s original proposed tax in 2015 = 32.5%
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Scott Morrison’s revised package in September = 19%
- Revised Labor announcement today = 10.5%.
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The Greens have announced they will move their own amendments to the backpacker tax bill which seeks to tax backpackers at the same rate as Australians.
The Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson has been consistent on not wanting change on the tax – as opposed to Labor, which opposed but without stating its alternative position. But without the numbers, the Greens amendment will not pass.
So the Greens will support the crossbench/Labor amendment for a 10.5% backpacker tax.
The treasurer, Scott Morrison, has said if the bill is amended, the government will knock it off in the lower house.
Which means it will be status quo. Or will it?
Morrison says in the absence of the changes, the default tax will be 32.5% – which was what the Abbott government originally proposed in 2015 (where it all started).
Whish-Wilson was claiming the win, no matter what happens.
The Greens have led on this issue. We were the first party to oppose the backpacker tax. We were the only one to take a costed policy to the election. We were the ones who discovered legislation was required and that the automatic default is not 32.5%.
Now the default position of the tax is complicated. The key thing to remember is that though the Abbott government originally proposed the tax in 2015, this has been argued about ever since. No backpacker legislation has passed the house since then.
That means there is no change to the existing position.
Which means some backpackers will continue to qualify as residents for tax purposes, getting a lesser rate. And some will continue to qualify as non-residents, getting a higher rate.
Whish-Wilson:
Barnaby Joyce is talking bulldust that a default rate of 32.5% will start on January 1 2017. The only thing due to come in on January 1 was the government’s law if their legislation passed both houses of parliament. If the legislation fails to pass then the status quo remains unchanged, that is some backpackers are treated as residents, and some are not.
Tasmanian farmers, at an individual level, have told me they want this bill dead. They will never trust the government again. Barnaby Joyce did not even visit Tasmania during this debate. He has done nothing to fix the mess his government created.
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No props.
Labor loses the right to ask a question by using props.
Just to keep you going ... the Senate committee report into the attorney general George Brandis’s legal direction to the solicitor general Justin Gleeson will be tabled tonight about 5pm.
That was the committee that saw fiery exchanges between Gleeson and the LNP senator Ian Macdonald and in which Gleeson admitted he considered the Brandis direction invalid. Gleeson also revealed he spoke to the shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, during the election campaign – the person who appointed him solicitor general in 2013.
You can find the committee website here. The inquiry examines the nature and scope of the consultations prior to the making of the legal services amendment (solicitor general opinions) direction 2016.
This is the direction that led to the stoush that led to Gleeson resigning. His resignation became effective yesterday.
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Bowers really is enjoying the new Senate photography rules.
RUOK Senator?
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Malarndirri McCarthy has asked the attorney general, George Brandis, what the government has done to ensure Andrew Robb keeps to rules about lobbying in his new gig at the Landbridge Group.
Brandis replied that – absent any evidence that Robb hasn’t complied – he’s not really sure what McCarthy is referring to. Robb has already said he understands his obligations and will abide by them.
Don’t seek to besmirch by innuendo an honourable man.
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I feel they should be singing ...
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I have a power of Bowers to share now ...
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A government question to assistant treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer: Is the Minister aware of any (Labor) threats to improving superannuation balances?
See Labor superannuation policy announced overnight.
Labor to Turnbull: Why did the PM decide to keep (Bob Day’s Senate eligibility) information secret from the Australian people? Surely the Australian people have a right to know that there was doubt over whether the composition of the Australian Senate was constitutional?
Turnbull says the government proceeded:
- diligently
- deliberately
- responsibly
- fastidiously
on the Bob Day matter.
The suggestion that the special minister of state should have gone off half-cocked without knowing the facts, without knowing the law, that’s the sort of incompetence you would expect from a Labor government.
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The treasurer, Scott Morrison, gets a government question on alternative (Labor) threats to Australia’s AAA credit rating.
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Shorten to Turnbull: the PM has claimed he wasn’t personally aware there was a potential issue under section 44 of the constitution in relation to former Senator Day until around mid-August this year. If this was the case, did the PM or his office seek advice from his department or other sources about whether and when to make this information public? If not, why not? How could the PM keep something like this secret?
Turnbull goes through the previously published timeline and says special minister of state Scott Ryan was getting appropriate legal advice.
The government proceeded diligently, carefully on a complex matter, considered diligently and sought advice and when that advice was received, gave it to the president of the Senate and as a consequence the matter has been referred to the high court.
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Just for a change, the government has moved to a CFMEU question for the trade minister, Steve Ciobo.
Labor to Turnbull: Can the PM confirm that the minister for finance was aware before the election the bank account nominated to receive rental payments for Senator Day’s electoral office was linked to Bob Day? Isn’t it clear from the statement of the finance minister that the government knew before the election that the deal was completely inappropriate? The statement does not go to when the PM was personally aware of these circumstances and I ask him to advise the house?
Turnbull:
The fact that there was an issue relating to Senator Day’s office was drawn to the attention of my chief of staff by Senator Ryan on 18th of August, as set out in his statement, and my chief of staff was asked by Senator Ryan if Senator Day sought to raise the matter with him or my office, to refer it to him. Senator Ryan passed on the substance of that conversation to me shortly there after, some days after, and that was the beginning of my awareness that there was any issue about Senator Day’s office.
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Labor asks Turnbull more details about when he and the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, knew of some of the arrangements around Bob Day’s electoral office.
Malcolm Turnbull again says the previous statements answer the question.
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Tanya Plibersek asks a question regarding whether there was a connection between the education minister, Simon Birmingham, knew about the North East vocational college. To visualise the point, Labor MPs hold up photos of Birmingham. It looks as though he is on the site of the training college.
Speaker Smith gets upset and cancels Labor’s question.
The government gets another question, which Christopher Pyne uses to give the new Labor senator Kimberley Kitching.
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Government question to Malcolm Turnbull: How will the government’s migration legislation amendment regional processing cohort bill protect our borders? Are there any alternative views?
Malcolm Turnbull:
We know the leader of the opposition is giving in again to the left of his party, just as Kevin Rudd did in 2008 and 2009. Mr Speaker, he talks about a unity ticket, he talks about being tough on borders. The fact is he trivialises it, talking about people smuggling as tourism.
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Politicians play politics
Tanya Plibersek to Malcolm Turnbull: I refer to reports that the government awarded a college linked to former Senator Bob Day a $1.84m grant despite the fact he only asked for $1.4m. Why did the college give the college almost $500,000 more than was requested?
Turnbull flicks the question to the defence industry minister, Christopher Pyne.
Pyne starts up:
It’s absolutely remarkable, Mr Speaker, that the Labor party, the party of the home insulation scheme, the party of the school halls debacle, the party of the cash for clunkers, FuelWatch as the deputy PM points out, GroceryWatch, would have the gall to ask this government.
There was absolutely no financial connection between former senator Bob Day and the North East Vocational Educational College. It went through all the normal processes that such a grant would go through, and was awarded on its merits, and Mr Speaker, the Labor party stands condemned for trying to play politics with it.
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Fifth government question on border security to justice minister Michael Keenan: Will the minister update the house on the threat of terrorism? What is the government doing to keep our community safe and the Brisbane community safe and our borders secure?
Labor to the assistant treasurer, Kelly O’Dwyer: The collapse of former Senator Day’s building empire has left hundreds of people who are building houses facing an uncertain future with the prospect they will lose not only their savings, but their dream homes. Can the minister confirm that the tax office and the National Australia Bank will be paid ahead of these people in the liquidation of Bob Day’s building empire, and that no action has been taken to recover former Senator Day’s donations of over $2m to Family First, a party which preferenced the Liberal party at the last election.
O’Dwyer says check out the Corporations Act because she cannot talk about individuals.
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Labor to Turnbull: Documents tabled in the Senate confirm that the minister for finance agreed to back pay rent on Bob Day’s electorate office from 1 July 2015. More than a year before the rent was legally required under the lease. The question is why? Why did the minister for finance attempt to back pay over $30,000 in rent when the commonwealth was not legally obligated to do so, and, no, PM, the matter is not fully dealt with in the minister for finance’s statement.
Turnbull says the matter is dealt with in the finance minister’s statement.
Another question to Scott Morrison relating to the importance of balancing the budget.
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Barnaby Joyce: It's not just the people who come in, it's the things they might be carrying
Warren Entsch to Barnaby Joyce: Will the Deputy PM outline to the house how the Indigenous ranger program assisting to protect Australia from biosecurity threats and is the deputy PM aware of any alternative policies?
Joyce notes:
The $12.4m to be put to the Indigenous rangers program that is so vitally important, how we keep our borders strong and protected. We note also in the member’s electorate ... you can see the boats leaving Papua New Guinea.
BOATS! Joyce mentions screw fly and foot-and-mouth disease.
But it’s very important to remember that it’s not just the people who come in, it is the things that they might be carrying which would cause our nation such a catastrophic outcome if these diseases were to outbreak.
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A third question on refugees to the foreign minister, Julie Bishop.
Labor to Turnbull: Why do documents tabled in the Senate confirm that the minister for finance agreed to back pay rent on former Senator Day’s electorate office, effective from 1 July 2015,which was more than a year before rent was legally required under the lease?
Turnbull says the finance minister covered it in the Senate statement.
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Labor senators Katy Gallagher and Alex Gallacher have targeted the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, over what he knew about the lease at the centre of Bob Day’s eligibility.
Gallagher asks about why the government didn’t know Day was linked to Fullarton Investments, which bought the property where he housed his electorate office from Day’s family trust, given an Asic search would have turned the link, and Bob Day was emailing from bobday@fullarton77.com.au.
Cormann explained that “not a single dollar of rent was paid” for the electorate office.
It wasn’t until after it emerged in August that Day had offered vendor financing, lending the money to Fullarton to pay for the property, that the government got advice about the alleged indirect pecuniary interest now to be considered by the high court.
Cormann denied the government was doing “everything it could to keep its most reliable crossbench senator happy”.
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Bob Katter asks a question of Scott Morrison regarding the sale of S Kidman and Co. Why have you, minister, refused to give any guarantee that a majority shareholding in Kidman will not shift to foreign control over the sale to the Shanghai Cred?
Scott Morrison:
Any proposal that triggers the foreign investment threshold review, which a parcel of that size certainly would always have to come back and be considered by Firb [Foreign Investment Review Board] and by me as treasurer, and I remind the member that on the two occasions that I was asked to consider the sale of the Kidman land, I rejected it. I note that the shadow treasurer indicated that he would have approved it of about the last election.
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Mark Dreyfus to Malcolm Turnbull: This morning the member for Bennelong said that watering down section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act was not a good use of the government’s time and is causing fear. Why is the PM opening the door to changes that even his own MPs think are a waste of time?
Turnbull:
The honourable member is obviously not paying any attention to what is now a very lively and active debate about the application of the provisions that he spoke about, the application of the provisions to some university students, to a cartoonist from the Australian. There is a lively debate about that, and as a barrister, he would well understand the importance of free speech.
The Labor party cannot escape the consequences of its failure, and what we have done, we have stopped the boats. We’ve stopped the drownings. We have ensured that children are not in detention, and we will continue to do that, and we won’t be lectured on human rights. We won’t be lectured on human rights by a party that was so neglectful, so careless of the human rights of those who lost their lives at sea.
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Just back on Dutton. His postscript is that he will tell Labor the details of the travel lifetime ban shortly (presumably regarding third-country destinations). Just support the bill.
Trust me.
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Government question number two on boats to immigration minister Peter Dutton.
Cory Bernardi, in his weekly Common Sense email, says we need to "drain the swamp" in Australia too pic.twitter.com/n7qWAymhCr
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) November 8, 2016
Shorten to Turnbull: On 17th October, the PM right here ruled out changes to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Less than a month later, the PM has opened the door to changes. PM, what change between then and now, what insults do you want people to be allowed to say?
Turnbull says to Shorten, let the committee do its work.
Talk about post-truth politics. The leader of the opposition has no regard for the record. No regard for consistency and his attempts to mischaracterise, to caricature anybody that stands in his way of inventing his Shortonian reality, which has no reality, no connection to the real world.
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As flagged earlier, the first government question is on refugees.
Malcolm Turnbull tries to execute the political wedgie.
What Labor needs to recognise is that the complacency they are exhibiting today is exactly what led [Kevin] Rudd into his mistakes some years ago. Now, during the election, the leader of the opposition said he was on a unity ticket with us in terms of border protection policies.
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QUESTION TIME!!!
Labor’s Anne Aly asks Malcolm Turnbull: The former prime minister, the member for Warringah, cited national security concerns as the reason for dumping charges to section 18C saying, and I quote, “When it comes to cracking down on terrorism and cracking down on things that aid and abet terrorism,the 18C proposal was becoming a needless complication.” Has the current PM sought the advice of the AFP or any other security agency on the implications of watering down section 18C?
Turnbull:
It is perfectly appropriate for a committee of this parliament, the human rights committee, no less, to consider those matters. And the honourable member may reflect that only this morning the president of the Human Rights Commission, Prof Triggs, welcomed such an inquiry and recognised that there should be changes. So the fact of the matter is ... there is a broad array of opinion.
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Paul Karp reports:
The government has set up an inquiry into section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, whether it unreasonably burdens freedom of speech and how the Australian Human Rights Commission deals with complaints.
The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, told the Coalition party room section 18C had become a matter of public discussion and concern. The government wanted to get the balance right between a successful multicultural society and freedom of speech.
Dean Smith’s plan to refer the issue to a joint parliamentary human rights committee for an inquiry was backed by the party room, but his broader proposal to have the committee investigate free speech generally – including defamation law – was not taken up.
The attorney general, George Brandis, set up the inquiry on Tuesday. The committee will report by 28 February.
The terms of reference ask the committee to consider whether the the Human Rights Commission should have greater powers to throw out trivial or vexatious complaints, and to review the whole part of the act, including the defence of good-faith publications in the public interest contained in section 18D.
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But Scott Morrison was not going prejudge the outcome of the inquiry. Orderly process. No distractions.
I look forward to that. It won’t distract me or Kelly [O’Dwyer] from a day’s work as we continue through the midyear uptake and the budget next year and won’t distract the government in any way shape or form.
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Scott Morrison is asked about the 18C inquiry, in terms of distraction.
Q: You said a couple of months ago when 18C was being kicked around to create a single job ... it now has been referred to a committee and there will be some form of debate over the next few months and presumably after the reports, are you worried this could start to intrude on your economic message?
Morrison, unsurprisingly, says nothing to see here.
I don’t think so. I think the timetable and the process that the cabinet endorsed last night and went through the party room today, I think is a proper and effective process to work through this issue.
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Scott Morrison confirmed that if Labor successfully amended the backpacker tax to 10.5%, the change would not be supported when the bill came back to the house.
(In other words, two government MPs would have to cross the floor for that to happen.)
Morrison on backpackers tax: Labor says foreign workers deserve a bigger tax cut
Scott Morrison says under the same working arrangements:
In Australia, a backpacker earning $13,000 in Australia takes home $10,530.
In Canada, a backpacker would take home $9,837.
In New Zealand, It would be $10,126.
In the United Kingdom, it’s 10,470.
Scott Morrison:
So the package we’ve put in ensures that backpackers working in Australia will be at least on the same wicket as if they’ve chosen to go to one of the other countries. And Labor is saying, ‘No. Foreign workers deserve a bigger tax cut than that and we’re going to make small businesses in this country, and Australians who work for a living, pay for it.’
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Scott Morrison: If backpacker bills do not pass, they will pay 32.5% on 1 January
Scott Morrison is asked, “If I’m a Swedish backpacker, what tax rate will I be paying if I’m here for a year starting January 1. I have an option of 32, 19, 10.5?”
You have to ask Joel Fitzgibbon because we’re offering 19 cents. Under the Labor party they’ll be paying 32.5. At the moment it is 32.5. If these bills are not passed then what they will be paying is 32.5.
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Scott Morrison is continuing apace so hopefully I can cover most of it.
Remember that when Labor and the Coalition did the deal on the some $6bn of savings, a month or so ago, there was great hope in government ranks that Labor would do a deal on superannuation – given Labor supports limiting generous superannuation concessions.
Morrison is asked about his discussions with the crossbench.
Discussions have been going on for some time in this issue. Remember, Labor only raised one concern with this package and that was on the issue of the lifetime non-concessional cap. That was the only issue.
If you go back to the budget-in-reply, that was the matter that was raised by the leader of the opposition and that matter has been totally dealt with. So, all I can assume, from this latest announcement, is that Labor, once again, is choosing to play politics with a very serious issue, not addressing the substance.
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The treasurer, Scott Morrison, and the assistant treasurer, Kelly O’Dwyer, are doing a press conference, pushing back at Labor over their superannuation proposal, which winds back some of the government’s latest package.
Just to recap, Labor had yet to decide on its final position.
Overnight, Labor proposed lowering the annual cap on non-concessional contributions to $75,000, lowering the high-income superannuation contribution threshold to $200,000 and opposing two other “loopholes”.
The first “loophole” is the ability to make catch-up concessional contributions, which would mean that if individuals do not reach their $100,000 cap in any given year they can access their “unused” cap space on a rolling five-year basis.
The second is a change the government proposed in the 2016 budget to allow all individuals up to age 75 to claim an income tax deduction for personal superannuation contributions. In September the government moved the start date of the deduction to 1 July 2018.
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The Coalition will establish an inquiry into section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act by the parliamentary human rights committee.
This has been flagged for the last few weeks. Malcolm Turnbull has pretty clear about it.
The Institute of Public Affairs is quick out of the stalls.
IPA welcomes inquiry on free speech #18C #auspol pic.twitter.com/9mrnvZvvMT
— Political Alert (@political_alert) November 8, 2016
I consider Shalailah still with us ...
The joint party room meeting adopted a proposed lifetime ban on refugees without further discussion.
— Shalailah Medhora (@shalailah) November 8, 2016
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.@PeterDutton_MP says the people smuggling trade hasn't gone away as he introduces new immigration legislation https://t.co/1B9WCntu2h
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 8, 2016
We are the most compassionate nation, says Barnaby Joyce.
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The changing face of Labor’s asylum policy.
By Mike Bowers.
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Lunchtime politics
- Labor has committed to vote against the government’s lifetime travel ban on refugees who arrive by boat. The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, says no problem, he has the crossbench under control. Nick Xenophon says not so much. NXT senators had not decided a position and could even split on the vote.
- Labor has also committed to a backpacker tax policy of 10.5% as opposed to the government’s proposed 19% rate. This tax has been chopping and changing since tje 2015 budget.
- George Christensen has hit back at his Liberal colleague Russell Broadbent for suggesting the Coalition should not follow Pauline Hanson down the low road. Christensen said Russell was suffering from the politically correct disease.
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Government MPs continue their beatdown on Gillian Triggs, with trade minister Steve Ciobo suggesting there had been a pattern of deception from the Human Rights Commission on 18C cases. Triggs says the commission has long argued for the government to lift the bar and overhaul the section.
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In other news, the Parliamentary Friends of Shooting group is getting together tonight in the house. Bring your own Adlers.
Senior Labor frontbenchers Chris Bowen, Anthony Albanese and Joel Fitzgibbon are all speaking about backpackers tax but I cannot see them so will report back shortly.
The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, is holding a press conference at 12.30pm.
Labor’s Penny Wong is about to speak at the National Press Club on Hansonism, as previewed earlier in El Bloggo.
The Liberal MP and marriage equality supporter Tim Wilson has told Sky Labor and the Greens have stuffed up the plebiscite and he is “devastated”.
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There are a couple of points around costings regarding Labor’s policies on superannuation and backpackers tax.
Bill Shorten was asked about superannuation.
Q: You went to the election with a Budget saving on superannuation of$ 3bn. You have announced a policy today that is a $4.5bn revenue increase. There is a $1.5bn difference between the policy you took to the election and the one you’re outlining today. Why the difference?
Of course there is changes. Now the government has had to change a lot of its policies...You are saying that even if the government changes everything it does, we have to be static and not respond at all to the changing circumstances brought by a promised break in government. If the government put up its policies that it was said before the election, maybe I could see some of what you’re saying then.
Shorten was also asked about the cost of potentially dropping the proposed backpackers tax from 32.5% (not yet implemented) to the existing bill of 19% to Labor’s proposal of 10.5%. Is some of the superannuation savings going to cover the hole from the backpacker tax?
Your question assumes that the government will stick to their latest position of 19%, doesn’t it?
Peter Dutton is introducing the legislation for a lifetime travel ban now.
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Xenophon says hold your horses, Peter Dutton, no deal as yet on lifetime ban
I’ve just had a quick word to Nick Xenophon about whether he will support the government’s ban on asylum seekers entering the country – given that the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has said a couple of times now that it doesn’t matter what Labor does on this issue, he has the numbers on the crossbench.
Right now, I’m not certain that he does. Xenophon says he has told the government the NXT bloc will look at the forever ban proposal but this is a “conscience issue” for his parliamentarians. By this he means the NXT bloc may split on this issue. In any case, they are not yet set in stone about which way to go. Xenophon is sounding relaxed about his people voting in different ways on this proposal.
In terms of Labor’s decision this morning to reject the proposal, here’s a couple of quick analytical thoughts.
It’s been obvious for a little while that the government’s drive-by attacks on Labor on the boats don’t resonate politically quite as much as they used to. It could be because the boats have stopped, voters are no longer so fixated on unauthorised arrivals making their way south.
This trajectory did happen during the Howard years, voters were fixated on the problem (aided by a government telling them constantly it was a problem), but once the “problem” was “fixed”, it was actually an electoral plus for Kevin Rudd in 2007, when he went to the election promising to wind back the punitive “Pacific solution”.
So perhaps it’s just a case of the politics being moderately less toxic. Labor is certainly less worried than it used to be about standing up to the government on border protection, and the new shadow immigration spokesman, Shayne Neumann, has set quite a different tone in the portfolio to his predecessor, Richard Marles.
But I also think there was no way on God’s earth that the left faction would have supported this latest policy foray by the government. I suspect Shorten, the leadership group, and the shadow cabinet knew that. It would have been fraught if Shorten had insisted on exercising a bit of “me too-ism” on the government’s proposal. Hence today’s result. Labor says nope, nope, nope.
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On the backpacker tax, Bill Shorten wants us to wait for Chris Bowen, the shadow treasurer, who has a press conference coming up shortly. But in general terms, Shorten says:
They have a situation where they have taken themselves hostage, where from 1 January, they haven’t repaired their own 32 cents tax in the dollar, we will see further problems with getting backpackers to Australia. New Zealand has a system of just over 10%.
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Bill Shorten says he takes no comfort from the lifetime ban bill having a ministerial discretion clause.
He says if the government has third-country agreements which require that particular ban, he will hear what the government says at that time.
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Bill Shorten says he specifically asked the prime minister, “Are there discussions about third-party nations? How is that process going?”
He has refused to tell me point-blank. I have no idea how their discussions are going.
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Labor will not try to amend the refugee bill.
Shorten:
This is rushed legislation and the government said they’re not interested in amendments, so we will vote it down.
Bill Shorten is asked about Labor’s various changes on its asylum seeker policies.
Labor’s policy, which the Liberals have subsequently adopted, is working. We believe that the people smugglers are pernicious, cynical criminals.
I recognise that hundreds upon hundreds of people drowned making that dangerous voyage.
This has been a difficult issue in the Labor party but I took the restatement of our policy to the July 2015 national conference and what we said there is we don’t want the people smugglers back in business and we will maintain strong policies to deter them.
But what I don’t accept is that this government’s created an almost arbitrary equation, where it says the only way to stop people smugglers is to keep people on Manus and Nauru in seemingly indefinite detention.
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Shayne Neumann, Labor’s immigration spokesman, said while Labor had been briefed on the issue, he saw nothing that would warrant changing.
There is no credible evidence from the department in the briefing that we had that any country had sought this legislation or any requirement covered by this legislation. The government also has failed to provide us with any evidence there that they have got any arrangement spending in respect of a third-party arrangement as well.
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Bill Shorten is speaking now.
He says Labor is on a unity ticket with the government to stop the people smugglers, they are not on a unity ticket to stop the tourists.
Under the laws which the government is proposing and seeking Labor’s support for, someone who is found to be a genuine refugee, who subsequently settles and becomes a Canadian or an American citizen can never even visit Australia in 30 or 40 years’ time, a lifetime ban on genuine refugees who become citizens of other countries from ever visiting Australia as a tourist or as a teacher or as a business person.
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Labor to try to amend backpacker tax from Coalition's 19% to 10.5%
From Gareth Hutchens: Labor will amend the tax rate and it will oppose the $5 increase on the passenger movement charge paid by all people as they leave Australia.
The Coalition’s backpacker bill has passed the lower house and is sitting, waiting for the report of a Senate committee.
The report is due out tomorrow after it was delayed from yesterday.
Labor’s decision means Labor will try to amend the bill in the Senate.
But the bill has to go back to the lower house for the tick-off. Unless someone changes their mind in the lower house, such as a couple of stray Nats crossing the floor, any amended 10.5% tax rate would fail.
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Labor to move amendments on #backpackertax to lower tax rate from 19% to 10.5%
— Shalailah Medhora (@shalailah) November 8, 2016
Ping @stephanieando
Bill Shorten and the Labor immigration spokesman, Shayne Neumann, are holding a press conference on the decision to oppose the lifetime ban on refugees at 11.30am.
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The Greens caucus has met and decided it will back Labor’s censure of the attorney general, George Brandis, on the basis he misled the Senate. Brandis claims he did consult the solicitor general but the Greens disagree with his definition of the word.
They will also push for a new select committee to consider government claims for public interest immunity, citing Brandis releasing a heavily redacted version of Gleeson’s letter to him.
The Greens also think there’s a chance they, Jacqui Lambie and others can block or amend the backpacker tax in the Senate. It could cause fireworks if the bill goes back to the lower house proposing an even lower rate of tax. Will the Nationals push for an even better deal for farmers or stick to the government’s line?
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Scott Ryan: if anyone wants to come to me on the plebiscite ...
The government is open to talking to Jacqui Lambie and Pauline Hanson, or anyone else for that matter, on any future same-sex marriage plebiscite.
Scott Ryan says he's open to negotiations with crossbench in the future on same-sex plebiscite #AMAgenda https://t.co/JrrOhODbVQ
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 8, 2016
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Peter Dutton: no matter Labor, we have crossbench support on lifetime ban
Phil Coorey of the Fin has got his first take off the blocks:
Labor will vote against the government’s legislation to impose a lifetime ban on asylum seekers who arrived by boat after July 2013 but the government says it has the support of the Senate crossbench anyway.
As caucus met to formalise its opposition to the bill, immigration minister Peter Dutton confirmed what had long been speculated – the measures in the bill were linked to pending deals with other countries to resettle a significant number of those languishing on Nauru and Manus Island.
“We are going to land a deal,” Mr Dutton said.
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Gillian Triggs open to inquiry and overhaul of section 18C
The president of the human rights commission, Gillian Triggs, has flagged she is open to overhauling the Racial Discrimination Act, including replacing the terms “offend” and “insult” with “vilify”.
Triggs said in an interview with the ABC on Tuesday morning she was open to the parliamentary inquiry that has been telegraphed by the prime minister and believed inserting “vilify” into the legislation would represent a strengthening of the current regime.
She also said the commission had been asking governments for the past five or six years to overhaul their statute to allow complaints to be knocked out sooner, so would welcome that procedural change.
“At the moment, once we receive a written complaint alleging a breach of anti-discrimination law, I must as president investigate and attempt to conciliate,” Triggs said on Tuesday. “That’s our role.
“We would welcome an inquiry. We would welcome an attempt to moderate our statute that would make it al little easier for the commission to say these matters are coming to us and we don’t think they’ve got any real legs at all. We’ve long argued for this.”
On the parliamentary inquiry that now seems to be looming after months of agitation by government conservatives, Triggs said she was “open to seeing what the inquiry might suggest — whether the language could be clarified and in our view strengthened that enables us to support the multicultural society that we are”.
Asked specifically about replacing offend and insult with the word vilify, Triggs said: “I would see that as a strengthening, it could be a very useful thing to do.”
With the government running a procession of attacks both on her conduct as president of the commission, and the commission’s oversight of discrimination cases, Triggs also hit back at the criticisms.
She told the ABC the prime minister’s commentary after the federal circuit court’s dismissal last week of a racial discrimination complaint made against three Queensland University of Technology students was “wrong”.
Turnbull in an interview on Monday said the judge in the case had made negative reflections on the commission in the case, and he urged the organisation to reflect on whether it was acting in a way that was undermining public support for its work.
Triggs said the prime minister’s comments were factually wrong.
“The commission never prosecutes, never brings a case, never pursues any matter. Once we have declared that the parties cannot conciliate the matter we will terminate it and that was done about 15 or 16 months ago [for the QUT case].
“So we had nothing whatever to do with the federal circuit court and indeed, contrary to the prime minister’s statement, the federal district court said nothing whatever about the Human Rights Commission or its role.”
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It would appear there are duelling tweets between Coalition and Labor party rooms.
As nothing much is happening in Canberra atm, here is a photo of the carpet from the Coalition Party Room. #auspol pic.twitter.com/TV6VbUySUj
— James McGrath (@JamesMcGrathLNP) November 7, 2016
Oh come on. We want a photo of George and Russell sharing tea and bikkies. https://t.co/ssM2x4L9i3
— Murray Watt (@MurrayWatt) November 7, 2016
@JamesMcGrathLNP Coalition party room carpet leans right, Labor's leans left. This can't be a coincidence. pic.twitter.com/IRBC6Ds28r
— Murray Watt (@MurrayWatt) November 7, 2016
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Stand by for every government question in question time.
Today's visa legislation is a matter of national security. A test for @billshortenmp. Does he stand for strong borders?
— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) November 7, 2016
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Lyle Shelton of the Australian Christian Lobby says the death of the plebiscite “might work to secure the preservation of marriage in the long term”.
Australians have had enough of the same-sex marriage debate. After six years of relentless activism in the parliament, it should be time to move on. I think that’s what most people want – it is not a high-priority issue.
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The independent senator Jacqui Lambie had dinner with Pauline Hanson last night. No halal snack packs.
They want multiple plebiscites.
I was fortunate to have dinner last night with Senator Pauline Hanson – and after our conversation I believe there’s an opportunity to put a private member’s bill before the Senate which gives the people at the next federal election – to have their say on three very important social and moral issues, Lambie says.
- Same-sex marriage
- Indigenous recognition
- Euthanasia for the terminally ill
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Labor has unanimously voted to oppose a lifetime ban on refugees
Labor’s caucus has debated the government’s proposed lifetime travel ban for refugees now in Manus Island and Nauru offshore detention.
Paul Karp reports that opposition leader, Bill Shorten, spoke against the bill in the party room and it will be voted down.
No amendments, no compromise – just voted down.
It’s an action in search of a problem, says one MP from the party room.
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Steve Ciobo on Gillian Triggs: 'There seems to be a pattern of deceptiveness'
The trade minister, Steve Ciobo, has doubled down on Human Rights Commission president, Gillian Triggs, saying: “There seems to be a pattern of deceptiveness.”
.@StevenCiobo says there seems to be a lot of deception coming from @AusHumanRights https://t.co/W4ioxrJEsC
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 7, 2016
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Our press gallery Financial Review colleague Laura Tingle has a good column today in which she ponders the lack of curiosity within the Coalition regarding the Bob Day electorate office deal. She writes that One Nation had similar signals that Rod Culleton was not a viable candidate for the Senate.
Statements from the current special minister of state, Scott Ryan, and his predecessor, Mathias Cormann, reveal the details of a seriously concerning lack of curiosity about Day’s circumstances.
Cormann told the Senate that ‘a few hours’ after he had been sworn into the job on December 29 last year, Day emailed him quizzing him about whether the government would be paying him rent on his offices.
While Cormann insisted that queries kept being made of Day, and suggested the former senator was less than forthcoming in his answers, the Department of Finance became aware some time in February or March that ‘the bank account to receive the rental payments was an account linked to the then Senator Day’.
That is, at least three months before the federal election, the government knew Day’s business arrangements were highly suspect but did nothing to stop him standing.
Cormann told the Senate at ‘at no point did I received any advice’ the arrangements could be a potential breach of section 44 of the Constitution (which is the matter the High Court is now expected to be asked to consider).
And one suspects the Coalition thought it might all go away since Day wasn’t regarded as all that likely to be returned.
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The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, says the Guardian and activists are encouraging asylum seekers to stay in Manus and Nauru rather than go to third countries or go home.
Monsieur Pomme de Terre has his angry eyes on today.
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This from the ABC national rural reporter Anna Vidot:
The Senate is gearing up for a showdown on the backpacker tax, amid the strongest sign yet that Labor will join with crossbenchers and the Greens to block the Coalition’s compromise proposal.
Independent Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie claims she has the numbers to amend the Government’s 19% backpacker tax proposal to 10.5%.
ABC Rural understands she has reason to be confident, with Labor expected to finally announce its position on backpacker tax rates today.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten earlier indicated Labor was “open to” a 10.5% backpacker tax, in line with New Zealand.
Anna has done the numbers.
Even if Labor & crossbench amend #backpackertax in the Senate, they'd need to flip 2 Coalition MPs in HoR to make it law. Unlikely: #auspol https://t.co/JxAQQAMHFf
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) November 7, 2016
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After the Russell Broadbent intervention, the Labor MP Tim Watts reminds us that the former National senator Ronnie Boswell named his fight against One Nation as his biggest achievement in politics.
George Christensen is no Ron Boswell.
— Tim Watts MP (@TimWattsMP) November 7, 2016
Why are the Qld Nats so weak these days? pic.twitter.com/2HEvnZnvdN
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Oh Lord, give me strength
We hear rumblings that Labor may have finalised a different position on the backpacker tax ...
DPM Barnaby Joyce on Labor and #backpackertax just now: "All they want to do is open the wound up, pull the scab off." #auspol
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) November 7, 2016
After an original 32.5% backpacker tax proposal, the government legislation has a 19.5% tax, with a 95% tax on superannuation as backpackers leave the country. Not to mention a $5 increase in the passenger movement charge.
The last thing Barnaby would want is a new war on that front, given the twists and turns of that policy debate.
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Radical, Russell, radical! Stand in the elite corner, says George Christensen
George Christensen, unplugged on Facebook. The big man of Queensland hits back at his colleague Russell Broadbent, who gave Christensen a character reading yesterday.
Victorian Liberal Russell Broadbent told parliament last night that I had given a speech recently that was a ‘diatribe about the rise of Islam’.
It seems Mr Broadbent is suffering the same problem many other politically correct hand-wringers suffer: they do not hear the word ‘radical’ when I talk about ‘radical Islam’.
Islam is a religion and we have freedom of religion in this country. Radical Islam or Islamism is an ideology and a dangerous one at that.
Nowhere in the speech Mr Broadbent has criticised me for will anyone find any criticism of Islam.
Mr Broadbent is part of the elitist set here in Canberra that we find on all sides of politics. This is confirmed by the fact he told parliament last night that MPs shouldn’t reflect the concerns of their electors but instead should be ‘leading’ them.
The last time I checked I sat in the House of REPRESENTATIVES not the House of Lords.
This is why many people are coming to the conclusion that politics is broken: MPs of all political persuasions don’t listen much at all to the public’s concerns and they hardly ever act upon them.
If in doubt, yell elites!
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Some housekeeping first.
Remember there were cabinet and shadow cabinet meetings last night and there will be party-room meetings this morning.
You could reasonably assume that cabinet discussed 18C and Senator Dean Smith’s proposal for some sort of parliamentary committee.
Labor’s shadow cabinet discussed the plan to ban all asylum seekers who have ever arrived by boat. All the noises and smoke signals suggest they will actually vote against the Coalition’s bill but let’s not count our chickens etc etc.
Labor may also (finally) announce a position on the backpackers tax.
The house will sit at 12pm.
The Senate will sit at 12.30pm.
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As I said yesterday, the Liberal moderates are coming out slowly, slowly. Which places Malcolm Turnbull between a rock and a hard place. Turnbull is firmly entrenched in the NSW moderate position. He has the conservatives continuing their fulsome contributions and the moderates increasingly pushing back.
Last week Fairfax reported that the new Berowra Liberal MP, Julian Leeser, told the Chinese Australian Services Society there was no case for change to 18C. He said there was a procedural fix to the problem, such as a part-time judicial member of the commission to initially consider complaints so those with little prospect of success could be stopped.
There were the unsourced articles in the Australian Financial Review on Monday morning.
By yesterday afternoon, the new Liberal Mackellar MP Jason Falinski had spoken to Murph, saying the government should look instead to procedural changes.
Falinski said it was important any 18C parliamentary inquiry should be broad-ranging, looking at curbs on free speech such as defamation, not just the RDA provisions.
We’ve got to look at this systematically.
This morning, the Bennelong MP, John Alexander, has told ABC AM that 18C is a “fringe issue”.
If you did a ranking of the top 10 ... it wouldn’t be in the top 100.
Alexander has John Howard’s old seat, which has turned into one of the most diverse in Sydney, as Howard found to his chagrin in 2007, when he not only lost government but lost his seat.
[The party has] a broad church. We have a range of opinions. I dare say there will be big discussion about it but for my money I am happy where [18C] is at.
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You may have already seen Katharine Murphy’s story on the intervention by the Liberal MP Russell Broadbent overnight, chastising those who seek to divide.
He helpfully names the LNP MP George Christensen, who shares his party room. Broadbent, who has a long history of opposing hardline asylum seeker policies, said the Coalition would hurt if it took the low road towards One Nation.
Broadbent warned that “diatribes” against Islam, such as interventions from the LNP backbencher George Christensen, would only hurt the Coalition in the long run.
“Those propositions and policies will only hurt the Coalition parties in the long run in the same way the once great Labor party now is the captive of the Greens, relying on their preferences to win 31 of their seats in this House,” Broadbent told the chamber on Monday night.
“Right here, right now, we can turn to the high road. Let this nation be the circuit breaker and travel the road of the wise, leaving the foolish to perish in division.”
Broadbent said the government needed to show empathy and consideration for people doing it tough. “If not, we further push those that feel alienation and disaffection by economic and social exclusion into the arms of the One Nations of this country.”
Coincidentally, Penny Wong is giving her own version of the low road speech at the National Press Club. The Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman will say Hanson is damaging our reputation in Asia.
In 1996, Pauline Hanson claimed, falsely, that Australia was being swamped by Asians. Now she claims, falsely, that Australia is in danger of being swamped by Muslims. One Nation wants to shut down migration to Australia based on racial and religious prejudice. It wants to turn back history, to restore Australia to some imagined earlier state as a uniform, homogeneous, static society. This is not just a narrow-minded and impoverished vision for the future. It is also based on a myth about Australia’s past.
Wong will argue the myth of a culturally homogeneous Australia “airbrushes out of our history the Afghan camel drivers, the Chinese working the goldfields, the Japanese pearl divers and the hundreds of thousands of Irish migrants who came here during the 19th century”.
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Good morning,
The plebiscite bill is dead. The votes, 29 to 33. If you are confused about the numbers, given there are 75 senators (with Bob Day gone), there were lots of pairs for completely unrelated reasons. The Liberal senator Dean Smith abstained – a position he flagged well ahead of the vote. He called the plebiscite an attack on parliamentary sovereignty.
Those voting for a plebiscite:
- Government
- Jacqui Lambie
- four One Nation (including Rod Culleton)
- David Leyonhjelm
Those voting against a plebiscite:
- Labor
- Greens
- Derryn Hinch
- four Xenophon
George Brandis was cranky.
Stop playing politics with gay people’s lives, because that is all that you are doing. A vote against this bill is a vote against marriage equality. And those who claim to believe in marriage equality but nevertheless, for their own cynical, game-playing reasons, are determined to vote against it, should hang their heads in shame.
But there was a very relieved Penny Wong in the chamber.
This morning, the Labor deputy, Tanya Plibersek, says it is time for old Malcolm to reappear.
This is not where the fight for marriage equality ends. We now need Malcolm Turnbull to do what the old Malcolm Turnbull would have done … a free vote.
There is a whole lot more going on. Mike Bowers has just wandered in with sweaty pictures of your deputy prime minister – the Barnaby – so grab a towel. In fact, maybe it is the warm weather but this morning, the grassy hills of parliament are full of people running up and down in active wear. It looks like my childhood ant farm.
Talk to me on the Twits @gabriellechan or Facebook and @mpbowers.
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