We made it, folks.
That’s the first week done and dusted. At least as far as parliament is concerned. Until next week.
Tomorrow, the state and territory leaders will descend en masse on Canberra for Coag, which means it is also time for the world’s most awkward joint press conference.
Katharine Murphy and I will be bringing you those highlights tomorrow. Along with hospital funding, Closing the Gap, national security, protecting children – including the cyber bullying discussion and early childhood education, are all on the agenda.
Mike Bowers will be back with us next week, but do check out his Instagram and Twitter for some of the day’s events. You can find me at @amyremeikis and @ifyouseeamy (if video updates of politics are your thing. Full disclosure, there is also some whinging).
A very big thank you to the Guardian Australia brains trust for dragging me through this week. It was a close one.
And before I leave what my father affectionally refers to as “bullshit castle” for the day, a very big thank you to the readers, for playing along this week. We will be back just after 8am on Monday with the next instalment of Politics Live.
In the mean time, have a lovely weekend and take care.
Updated
The government has responded to the royal commission into the protection and detention of children in the Northern Territory:
The commonwealth government will focus on improved national leadership and the coordination of early intervention for at-risk children in its response to the royal commission into the protection and detention of children in the Northern Territory.
The government has carefully considered the report and responded in a timely manner.
While the majority of the findings and recommendations are matters for the Northern Territory government, which has responsibility for child protection and youth justice systems, there are a number of recommendations that solely or partially relate to the commonwealth and we are committed to taking action where appropriate.
The commonwealth invests $790 million of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) into the Northern Territory, including one third of the Community and Safety Programme funding under the IAS. The commission found the issue is not a lack of funding, rather, it is the lack of coordination and understanding of how that money is spent and what outcomes are being achieved.
The commonwealth is committed to working more closely with the Northern Territory government, leaders and Aboriginal communities to better prioritise and coordinate a place-based approach. We have committed $53m to implement a whole-of-government research and evaluation strategy for policies and programs affecting Indigenous Australians, including the IAS.
Key recommendations for the commonwealth relate to the need for improved national leadership and coordination around early intervention and preventing children from entering the youth justice and child protection systems. This will include:
· Improving community engagement and partnerships
· Reviewing the approach to funding and evaluation including an audit of all funding going into the Northern Territory
· Taking a place-based approach to change
· Improving data collection and data sharing
The commonwealth is committed to improving partnership arrangements with the Northern Territory government to ensure investments achieve improved outcomes for children, and make the community a safer place for everyone.
The commonwealth has written to jurisdictions offering to fund the Custody Notification Scheme, including the Northern Territory, and we strongly encourage them to accept our offer.
The commonwealth has sole or joint responsibility for 28 of the commission’s 226 recommendations and minister for social services Dan Tehan will lead the commonwealth government’s response.
The commonwealth response can be found here
Updated
“Deeply disappointed, not just to me, but I bet to everyone of your listeners and people in uniform in Australia,” is how Jim Molan describes the apology, when asked to sum up his feelings.
Jim Molan is speaking to 2GB.
On Adam Bandt’s apology, he says he thinks it is “flimsy”.
“I was deeply disappointed in the apology.”
Molan, who had previously hinted he may sue, says he wants Bandt to “reconsider it”.
“And I consider all my options to still be on the table and I am not accepting it.”
Bandt picked up Richard Di Natale’s comments in the Senate about Molan’s actions during the Iraq war, essentially intimating he was a war criminal.
“If it had have been a contrite apology, I would have accepted it, but I don’t see the contrition.”
He says Bandt apologised to him in person “about an hour and a half ago” and he believed there was a lot more contrition there, but said he “didn’t say I accepted it, I thanked him for the apology”.
Updated
In the lower house the shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has fiercely criticised the foreign influence register because of its impact on charities.
The bill creates a new requirement for entities that seek to influence public policy on behalf of foreign principals to disclose this on a public register but has been subject to a wide backlash due to fears even benign contributions to public debate will be captured.
Dreyfus:
Our commitment is to bipartisanship on national security matters but that does not extend to giving the government a blank cheque on what it wants ...
What this bill does is increase red tape for the charities sector. The effect of extraordinarily expansive definitions in the scheme means the bill will capture Australian charities whose conduct and activities are entirely benign and completely of benefit to our nation. This will be imposed despite the fact these charities are all already closely regulated by Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.
Dreyfus said he hoped this was merely a case of “sloppy drafting” but warned the government if this was intentional it was “truly shameful”. He said:
We in the Labor party think that giving in to an assault on civil society is an abdication of our responsibility to protect and nurture the crucial role Australian civil society has in creating a fair and equal nation.
The first speech on the matter of public importance was from Labor’s charities spokesman, Andrew Leigh, who spoke against the increase in red tape for charities in the Electoral Funding and Disclosure bill.
“Banning donations to political parties should not include curtailing free speech,” he said, warning the bill conflates political campaigning by parties and issues advocacy by charities.
He warned religious charities have said under the proposed changes the collection plate could not be handed around in church without a warning that foreigners cannot donate.
Updated
An interjection I missed!
As Paul Fletcher got up to not answer a question about whether the rail line to the new western Sydney airport will open at the same time as the airport itself, Ed Husic managed to slip in “Fletch, don’t kill my vibe”.
And if you don’t get the reference, well, I’m sorry to say, you may be too old. It’s what all the kids are listening to these days.
Adam Bandt apologises to Jim Molan
Meanwhile:
Statement from Adam Bandt
Yesterday I made statements about Senator Jim Molan on Sky TV.
Mr Molan has stated:
“I would invite Mr Bandt to offer me a public apology…If he publicly apologised to me for the statements that he made, then that would end the problem.”
I hereby apologise for those statements.
*end statement*
Updated
A little more Mike Bowers magic for you
Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian
Question time ends.
Labor groans. Because apparently there is no such thing as too much punishment.
We just had a question for Craig Laundy on small business from Brendan O’Connor, but my computer had a slight meltdown and I missed it in the reboot.
I don’t think any of us missed anything too much. Or something we haven’t heard before. Because question time this week may as well be repetition time.
Josh Frydenberg is next on the #deathtodixers train.
I did miss telling you about an entertaining interaction a few minutes ago; after Dan Tehan finished his dixer, Jenny Macklin asked for him to table the document he read from “word for word”.
It was not tabled. Confidentiality, you understand.
Updated
Labor gets in its question aimed at the Tasmanian election, with Justine Keay asking about hospital funding cuts, resulting in a “60 per cent increase to 72 days” for public hospital waiting times.
Greg Hunt gets in the Coalition’s Tasmanian election answer, blaming previous Labor governments.
Christian Porter is next with a dixer, but the chamber listens in absolute silence, as it is about the national redress scheme for survivors of institutional sexual assault.
He calls on the institutions, and states and other involved entities, to stop with the excuses and stop the delays.
Both the government and opposition side of the chamber give it a “hear hear”. Bill Shorten says the opposition agrees with the “no more excuses” stance and will do what it can to assist the government on this matter.
Updated
From Mike Bowers’ lens to your eyeballs:
Updated
Dan Tehan gets the next dixer. Feel free to start delving into your own existential crises. You’ve got a few minutes.
I feel safer already after that monologue.
The member for Werriwa, Anne Stanley, has a question about the rail line for western Sydney airport for Paul Fletcher (“Oh, no,” yells the Labor backbench) and whether it would be open when the airport was open.
Fletcher starts talking about how it took the Coalition to deliver the airport, and then continues to talk about the “connectivity” to the airport. Labor starts yelling that it is about a train and “choo, choo” calls begin coming from the opposition benches.
#theministerdoesnotanswerthequestion
Updated
Katharine Murphy has a Coag development (the meeting is being held in Canberra tomorrow).
The Turnbull government has offered the states a percentage of a $100m health “innovation” fund if they sign up to a new funding deal at Friday’s meeting of the Council of Australian Governments.
An extract of the draft heads of agreement circulating before Friday’s meeting obtained by Guardian Australia says 50% of the proposed $100m fund “will be made available for the use of states that sign up to this agreement on 9 February 2018, to be divided amongst signatory states”.
You can read more about that here
Updated
Jenny Macklin asks Dan Tehan what the government is doing to lower rates for pensioners.
Tehan says the government will “consider all options that will help Australians get a job”.
His wider point is lost to the many, many interjections from both sides of the chamber.
He shouts to be heard, but runs out of time.
The chamber moves on to it’s daily dose of Dutton dixer.
Another question on tax cuts from Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull on whether or not the Coalition will take the tax cuts to the next election.
Turnbull says he hopes to get them passed “in this parliament”.
“And yes, we will go to the next election with the benefit of those tax cuts flowing through into thousands of new jobs,” he said.
But with Labor, the Greens, NXT and now One Nation against the company tax cut, I am not sure how they plan on getting it through the Senate.
One Nation rules out company tax cut @OneNationAus @PaulineHansonOz https://t.co/ww29YoD4rx #auspol
— Financial Review (@FinancialReview) February 8, 2018
Updated
#deathtodixers
Sharon Bird, the member for Cunningham asks:
Every member of the government, including the member for Gilmore, voted five times to give big business a $65bn handout today. If the government had its way, a single-income family living in Nowra, earning [under $60,000] will pay an extra $300 in tax every year. Why is the prime minister hurting families and my community to pay for his $65bn handout to big business?
Malcolm Turnbull gives the NDIS answer, that being that increasing the Medicare levy was because Labor did not have a way to fund the national disability scheme (Tveeder has carked it again, so sorry for the summary)
#deathtodixers
Updated
Chris Bowen has a question on the business tax cuts. I missed the beginning, but it was about the Coalition voting for it this morning, while wage growth is stagnant.
Malcolm Turnbull gives the same answer you have heard all week. Seriously, I could just copy and paste from any other day this week and it would be faster.
Maybe we could just copy and paste one of the question times from earlier and all go to the pub. I doubt anyone would notice anything different. And we would all be a lot happier.
It’s an “aware of any alternative approaches” dixer, which may be the worst dixer of all.
I have a suggestion for an alternative approach (and it’s bipartisan. I hated them when the Queensland Labor government did them as well, in my former life as a #qldpol reporter) ask actual questions for your constituents, instead of something which has been written by a ministerial staffer, for a performance no one is going to see outside this place.
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull:
Despite company profits increasing by 20% last year, but average wages for Australians only growing by 2%, every member of this government voted five times to give big business a $65bn corporate tax cut. Why does every member of the government only ever look after the big end of town and ignore ordinary workers struggling with record low wages growth?
Do you really need this answer? Because we have heard it, every day this week. Multiple times. Well, it’s not exactly an answer, but a list of Labor’s sins.
Turnbull:
We need to encourage the private sector, the private sector that the leader of the opposition in his latest incarnation as a political populist whatever – Jeremy Corbyn he’s impersonating at the moment – he now wants to declare a war on business. Well, I will remind the leader of the opposition that there was a time when he knew that cutting tax on businesses created more jobs. He said so and he and all of his side of politics voted for it again and again. Because it was commonsense and orthodox economics. But let’s look at what he’s opposing. He opposes – he opposed the tax cuts for small and medium family businesses that are now creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. He voted against them. He opposed the legislation that funds every school according to need. For the first time national consistent needs-based funding as recommended by David Gonski. Voted against that. He voted against the childcare reform ... ”
And so on, and so on. I’m too tired for this today.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce gets the next dixer. And it’s the first time he has attacked Labor all week in the answer. He picks up on Emma Husar’s “boring” taunt to Scott Morrison and throws it back. He’s still not back to full-force yet though.
Bob Katter has the crossbench question. He says it is the “first time I am in danger of being boring”.
To the prime minister: National partnerships on remote housing is already terminating now. Queensland over the 10 years gave $660m, and Canberra gave the 11 million. The LGAQ says 400 jobs and present apprenticeships and 1,500 new houses. Occupancy rates are still around 15 people per house. Rudd-Abbott’s legacy was 1,500 homes. What do you want to be yours, prime minister?”
Turnbull:
I thank the honourable member for his question. Of course,the subject matter is it the same as that asked by the member for Herbert, so I would refer the honourable member to the minister’s answer, and just confirm that we are negotiating a new agreement for remote housing with the jurisdictions who remain part of the terminating program. It is very important, as the honourable member knows, as a former minister in Queensland, this is a core state housing – state housing is a core-state responsibility. It is very important that in any new arrangements the states step up to their responsibility.
Updated
Cathy O’Toole, the member for Herbert, asks Malcolm Turnbull:
Will the prime minister today commit to renewing in full the national partnership on remote housing which expires in June this year? Or is the prime minister preparing to give up on this critical part of Closing the Gap framework?
Ken Wyatt fronts up to the despatch box:
The negotiations that we will continue to have with state and territory governments that are important in this are important because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are citizens of each state and territory jurisdiction and must be accorded the same consideration as it would the general population in terms of the housing bilateral agreements that exist between the commonwealth and the state and territory jurisdiction. They have to be considered in that context because what we tend to do is that we set up separate programs that become the feature and focus of access to infrastructure and housing. This takes this beyond this. This is about Indigenous leaders having raised the issue of the contribution of both commonwealth and state and territories to their living standards to their way of life, but to the equality they seek in every aspect of what they hope to be their journey within our country.
Updated
John Alexander gets to ask a dixer and Scott Morrison is VERY excited.
He upgrades his delivery to little-Timmy-is-about-score-the-under-10s-final-winning-try as he talks about Labor losing its “economic compass”.
“Boring,” someone from Labor yells.
“BORING? IT’s BORING?” Morrison yells back.
The chamber erupts into one giant boring cacophony, but at least they look alive.
Barnaby Joyce is still reading. Bob Katter has made it to question time. You are up to date.
Updated
Linda Burney asks if the government will rule out on giving up any of the seven existing Closing the Gap targets and “why is the government making it harder to achieve Closing the Gap targets, including the target to close the gap in life expectancy within a generation by cutting half a billion dollars from the Indigenous affairs budget?”
Malcolm Turnbull says he wants Ken Wyatt to add to the answer, but starts with:
The proposition that the government is cutting funding for – for Indigenous affairs is simply wrong. We are putting ... more resources into Indigenous advancement all the time, and I want to just remind honourable members of the – what I said a moment ago in my earlier answer, of the signal success of the Indigenous procurement policy. We all understand that economic empowerment is fundamental and the commonwealth has shown strong leadership there in that regard and it has been a success beyond all expectations. We’re getting buy-in from state and territory governments and from the corporate sector.”
Wyatt then takes over:
The priorities that have remained as the targets for Closing the Gap have been consistent. What we have is a 200-year level of disparity and in 10 years we have set targets that address health, education, and we’re extending that to employment opportunities and the way in which we bring forward some of the levels of disparity in a way that we’ve not been able to achieve to the extent that we had under the 10-year bilateral agreement between – both sides of this chamber, that the level of commitment to making a difference doesn’t diminish. Certainly, within the health sector, we’ve had some significant gains made and we will continue to look at how we access mainstream resources that are available to all Australians and that will include the use of PBS items, PBS, to make sure that journey – just in health alone – incorporates other opportunities, but that doesn’t diminish from the existing effort, nor the commitment to funding, and we will continue to focus on making sure that we close the gap in every facet of lives for Indigenous Australians.”
Updated
The transcription service I use to get these questions and answers to you is having a very, very bad day.
So, today, I am going to have to deliver you the vibe and gist of the questions and answers, I’m sorry. There’s not enough time in between to transcribe.
Bill Shorten is up first and he asks Malcolm Turnbull about Closing the Gap and the report which found it had been effectively abandoned.
Turnbull talks through what the government has been doing and ends with saying the government is doing things for and with Indigenous communities, not “to them”.
We move on to a dixer and my brain becomes a test pattern.
Updated
Question time begins
Expect Closing the Gap to be a big issue today
Statement from @Indigocathy on bonk ban pic.twitter.com/uhFobSP6Vx
— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) February 8, 2018
It’s that time of day again (thankfully for the last time this week, because honestly, we all need a break).
I’m heading into the chamber so I can try and catch some of those heckles and interruptions during question time you all love so much.
Scott Morrison delivered a speech on the government’s company tax cut legislation, which passed the House of Reps this morning:
This is the day when in this place they [Labor] will vote their economic credentials out of existence. This is why they cannot be trusted to manage our $1.8 trillion economy — because they have lost their economic compass. They don’t know where they’re going. They don’t know how to drive growth in the economy. They have no plan to lift wages in this country. They have embarked on their voyage to the other side to cohabit with the Greens, who now write economic policy for the Labor party. As I said the other day in this place, when it comes to economic policy, if you don’t know what you believe, no one will believe in you, and that’s why no one believes in the Labor party’s economic credentials anymore.”
Just a reminder, the tax cuts are going to sit in the Senate and not move, with Labor, the Greens and NXT against the legislation.
Updated
Have we found the MP Bob Katter was talking about?
Who is the mystery crossbencher considering US style laws banning MPs from bonking their staff? @Indigocathy is making a mystery announcement in 30 minutes 🤔🤔 @SkyNewsAust Stay tuned 😳
— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) February 8, 2018
AAP has reported Peter Dutton was on 2GB this morning and things got emotional:
Peter Dutton has choked back tears during a live radio interview after the father of a one-punch victim called to thank him for deporting a man involved in the Queensland killing.
Steve Miller, whose son Cole was killed in a January 2016 attack, praised the home affairs minister for acting swiftly to deport New Zealander Daniel Maxwell after he was handed an 18-month suspended sentence.
“It’s an emotional thing, it really is,” Mr Dutton said, after hearing from Mr Miller on 2GB radio on Thursday.”
Updated
Meanwhile, the Batman byelection campaign has begun in earnest
Hardly a revelation. I lived in Alphington, Thornbury, Northcote, Preston for 30 years, my kids grew up there went to school there, my family still lives there. I now live 2mins over the Merri Creek. This community is in my blood. #auspol https://t.co/UnpcPecyCx
— Ged Kearney (@gedkearney) February 8, 2018
Updated
EXCLUSIVE: Sky News can reveal @JNampijinpa will make a bid to enter federal politics. https://t.co/0JUmJ1C9N0
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 8, 2018
Here is some of what Pat Dobson said this morning, after the Closing the Gap meeting.
Mr [Rod] Little said today that he was 60, and he spoke about his family. Well, I’m 70 and I’ve been hearing these stories from a long way back. The patience that the Indigenous people have represented just befuddles me. I’m absolutely frustrated with the lack of change, the lack of achievement, the lack of listening, to what Indigenous people have been saying. They want a piece of the action. They want to be part of this deal.
Michael Long walked here many years ago and asked to be part of the solution. How long does it take for that to translate into policy, into practice, into delivering the kind of outcomes that we all want to see – which is equality of life for Indigenous peoples.
We can’t sit complacently around and listen to platitudes. We saw the prime minister walk out 15 minutes before the whole show was over. He may have had something important to do but he should have stayed there and listened. His staff surely knew what the time allocations were. It’s indicative of the deafness, of the absolute derision and the contempt which this government is meting out to the Aboriginal people. So we’ve got to get real about it.
The minister for Aboriginal affairs is telling people who are concerned about the housing, the remote housing schemes, that they’re not going to get any money after June. If you don’t have housing, and if you don’t fix up the housing needs of Indigenous peoples, it’s one of the major contributors towards a better life for Indigenous peoples.
There’s so much anomaly, and so much sophistry going on in this government, that really we’ve got to get beyond it. And that’s what the message was: Talk plainly – the young woman at the end – sit down and have a yarn with us. Talk to us clearly, plainly, and we can help you find the solutions if you work with us.
If that doesn’t transpire into change by this government, then we seriously have a problem, not only nationally but internationally as a reputation for a fair go.”
(Yes, the prime minister did leave before the meeting ended, but as Calla pointed out, organisers were aware of his scheduled departure time.)
Updated
Amongst all of the craziness of the day, I forgot to point you to this story by Adam Gartrell at Fairfax: it looks like the antiretroviral drug PrEP is about to be approved for inclusion on the PBS. That brings the cost of prescriptions down from thousands and thousands of dollars, to a couple of hundred a year.
The Greens have lost a Senate disallowance motion to stop the cashless welfare card trials.
Rachel Siewert:
The evaluation has been done and the results do not justify further rollout, with many worrying negative trends – we need to put this awful social experiment to bed.
“I of course welcome the NXT and the ALP opposing in the House of Representatives the legislation to expand the card, but that they are happy for the current harmful trials to continue. Further, it is disappointing to see that there are amendments circulated by the Labor party to extend current trials into 2019.
“Rather than drawing the trials out, we should be ending them.”
Updated
The Law Council of Australia has reacted to the news the government is prepared to water down its secrecy laws. From its statement:
The Law Council of Australia today welcomed news that the federal government is moving to alter its proposed espionage and foreign interference laws in line with some of the concerns raised by the legal profession and others.
According to reports, the government proposes to:
· Narrow definitions applying to commonwealth officers to ‘conduct that would cause harm to Australia’s interests’, as well as the definitions of harmful information.
· Narrow the offence applied to non-commonwealth officers to only be applicable to ‘the most serious and dangerous’ conduct.
· Allow journalists to defend their reporting on the basis that they ‘reasonably believe’ it was in the public interest, and not a requirement to prove it was ‘fair and accurate’.
Law Council of Australia president, Morry Bailes, said that while the legal peak body needed to review the government’s proposed changes in detail, the reported shift was certainly in the right direction.
“The Law Council’s greatest concern is with the depth and breadth of the provisions and the unintended consequences that flow from them,” Mr Bailes said.
“Although these amendments do not allay all of the Law Council’s concerns, and more work is certainly needed, these initial amendments all appear to be positive.
“The government’s intention to narrow some of the critical definitions is particularly welcome and something that the Law Council has strongly recommended.
“We also support attempts to narrow the scope of laws in relation to non-commonwealth officers. However, it is essential that there be an express ‘harm’ requirement inserted into the legislation, to absolutely ensure that the offences only apply to the most serious and dangerous conduct.
“We still have a considerable way to go and we look forward to continuing to work closely with government, and parliament, to get these important measures right
Updated
Julie Bishop was attending the Australia Awards Women’s Leadership Initiative launch in parliament’s Mural Hall, when the division bells rang. This was her reaction:
Jacqui Lambie’s Senate replacement, Steve Martin, is doing the rounds in Parliament House explaining why he will be an independent when he enters the Senate. On Wednesday evening Lambie made public a letter she had sent after the high court ruled he was eligible to replace her:
Dear senator elect Martin, I congratulate you on your recent win in the high court. It sets a new legal precedent allowing local government representatives to run for federal office.
The Jacqui Lambie Network prides itself on mateship, respect and integrity. I do not believe that your actions have been in keeping with these values, which I and the other [Jacqui Lambie Network] members hold dear.I don’t feel you’ve been honest or upfront with me since my resignation.
Lambie accused Martin of reneging on a commitment to retain her staff and a “lack of commitment to the [JLN] since the last election shows us that you are not interested in following our values”.
At a doorstop, Martin said that after the high court decision Lambie tried to convince him to stand aside for her but he said he would enter the Senate as a JLN senator.
“I take it that as of last night at 8pm I am no longer with the JLN,” he said, referring to the letter.
Martin rejected Lambie’s accusations – he noted that her staff’s employment contracts were automatically terminated because of her resignation, and it wasn’t his doing.
Asked why he had not ruled out joining another party, he said:
What I’m doing is taking it step by step. I don’t want to do a knee-jerk reaction or hypotheticals ... I’m new at this, I’ve got to come in on Monday morning with my lunch money tied in my hankie so I don’t lose it.
Martin said when he signed up to JLN he was promised a conscience vote on any issue. But asked about specific issues such as company tax cuts, he said, no, it’s too early to comment on legislation.
Martin is still the mayor of Devonport – he suggested he would step down in the six months prior to his term expiring in October to avoid a byelection.
Updated
Caption this
And I missed this, this morning, with everything else that was going on, but Mark Dreyfus spoke to Fran Kelly about Susan Lamb and the government’s insistence on continuing to pursue her referral to the high court:
This is about what happened before her nomination and she’s provided a more than adequate explanation. You’ve really got to ask what kind of people the Liberal government are that they are pursuing her and continuing with this in the face of that extraordinarily moving speech that she gave yesterday. What kind of people are they? It’s clear that she took all reasonable steps, and that’s so for the other two Labor MPs sitting in the House of Representatives who the government has said that they want to pursue unilaterally.
It’s time we moved on from this. The government knocked back our attempt to put this behind us last year by referring all those MPs that who anyone said there was doubt. They now want to play a party game, pursuing party advantage and I think any Australians that saw Susan Lamb’s speech would see just how wrong it is for the government to continue this pursuit.”
Question time should be fun.
Updated
Doug Cameron was out and about this morning and had this to say about Jim Molan:
I see there has been more revelations about Senator Molan producing and sending out more discriminatory, basically racist and bigoted posts. I just think this guy has to apologise to the Australian parliament, I think he has to apologise to the Australian public.
For Andrew Bolt of all people to argue – ‘this is a guy who has been attacked wrongly’ – Andrew Bolt should look at what this guy has done, the security people, Asio, have said that this is the wrong thing to do, that you should not be pushing out rubbish like this and for a senator to continue to deny that he has done this with any knowledge I think just beggars belief.
It doesn’t pass the pub test and he should just get out and apologise and if he doesn’t then that weak-kneed prime minister Malcolm Turnbull should make him do it, if he has got the courage to do it.”
Senator Molan says he will not be apologising, as he does not believe he did anything wrong. He does regret not scrubbing his (since deleted) social media though.
Updated
The Murray-Darling Basin plan issue is heating up. This has just lobbed from Sarah Hanson-Young’s office:
Today’s revelations that South Australia has been sold down the river about how much water it would lose [under] the government’s change to the Murray Darling Basin Plan are further proof why the plan should not be scaled back, the Australian Greens say.
Big irrigators and upstream states are always claiming that South Australia is too far downstream for anything to matter – that’s just not true, the Greens’ Murray Darling Basin spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, says.
To say that South Australia would lose only 4 billion litres of water if the changes to the Murray Darling Basin Plan goes ahead, when it is actually more like 20 bn litres, is a disgrace and discredits the Murray Darling Basin Authority’s recommendations.
South Australia shouldn’t be consigned to a death by a thousand cuts. The water that was promised for the river, the river should get – no excuses.
While New South Wales threatens to walk away from the plan, more scandals of their government’s dodgy dealings with favouring greedy corporate irrigators have come to light.
Secretly changing the rules to give more water to irrigators is disgraceful behaviour from a state that has clearly written the book on ripping off our nation’s biggest river system.
The plan is not being adhered to and the river is dying. This has dire consequences for South Australia and I will not stand by and let it happen. Corruption and water theft are rife and communities in the basin are being screwed over. South Australia doesn’t deserve to be left high and dry by a federal government complicit in peddling lies.
I urge my Senate colleagues to support the Greens’ disallowance and stand up for a healthy river system.
Updated
Senator-in-waiting Steve Martin, who was expelled from Jacqui Lambie’s party overnight, by Jacqui Lambie, after he was ruled eligible to take her spot in the Senate, told Sky Lambie had asked him to step aside so she could take back her seat, saying it was what “the Tasmanian people wanted”.
He did not. And here we are.
Updated
Just on Bob Katter’s little revelation someone in parliament wants to try and ban (sexual) relationships between staffers and their bosses, we have ruled out:
Andrew Wilkie
Adam Bandt
Rebekha Sharkie
Derryn Hinch (who told Paul Karp: No I don’t [know who is proposing it]. Certainly not me. And you don’t read anything into that”
Cory Bernardi
Fraser Anning
Updated
Some of what Bill Shorten told the house, following the prime minister’s statement on institutional child abuse:
The royal commission has stripped away the denial and betrayal of decades.
Painfully at times, it has exposed the most unforgivable and unimaginable acts of evil.
It has shown, without doubt or exception, the extraordinary courage of all the survivors who stepped forward to tell their story. The brave souls who reached back into the darkness of their memories and brought their suffering to light.
Not for their own sake but because they never want another generation to ever suffer what they did, to be disbelieved the way they were, to live with the pain they had to.
I also think they did it for all of the other kids who didn’t make it.
I want to pay tribute to Julia Gillard for her leadership in establishing this royal commission – I actually think that with every passing day, that decision enhances her legacy.
I do thank the royal commission and its staff, as the prime minister has done – remarkable, their work.
Even though she is not going to ask me to do this, I also think the house should also recognise the work of the member for Jaga Jaga, Jenny Macklin, who has supported this endeavour with 100% of her passion for social justice.
I had the privilege of standing alongside Jenny and a group of the remarkable campaigners from CLAN when the commission’s final day of hearings were handed down, and then the report.
They are extraordinary Australians – and I know many members of parliament on both sides of the house have spoken to them and know them, so they will know what I am saying. These are survivors, they have spent five years travelling to royal commission hearings around the country, to provide support to others as they tell their stories.
I pay tribute to each and every one of them.
Again, although she would modesty share credit with all others, I think it is appropriate that I note and salute the incomparable Leonie Sheedy: fierce, fearless, a heart as big as this continent. Australia owes her and all that she represents a huge debt.
I have to say about the royal commission, the commissioners and their team – at all times they have balanced their human compassion for those providing testimony with the legal detachment to recommend a constructive way forward.
But as the prime minister has said and every member of this place would agree: the hardest task, the most important work and the greatest credit belong to the survivors themselves.
So, as the prime minister has done, I say to the survivors: Australia believes you – and Australia thanks you.
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“People’s privates lives are their private lives, but I do make the comment, not staff fellas,” Bob Katter said.
“... But love conquers all, I suppose, so I am not being critical.”
(Except of course, if it is a same-sex love. And then he is not only critical, but straight up offensive.)
But here is what he said when asked about the US law banning romances between politicians and staffers:
“We are going to know very shortly, because one of the crossbenchers said to me this morning they are going to move along similar lines.”
He won’t say who it was.
“I didn’t say senator, I just said crossbencher.”
As to whether he would support it:
“I would think about it. You are just in an enormously influential position with staff. And I just, fellas, please, I support the spirit of it, certainly.”
Updated
Bob Katter (he’s here!) just told Sam Maiden on Sky a crossbencher is planning on introducing legislation which would ban relationships between staffers and MPs.
A similar law has just passed in the States (United, not Australian).
Updated
The government’s company tax cut has just passed the lower house (dropping it from 30% to 25%) but that doesn’t really mean anything.
Labor, the Greens and the Nick Xenophon Team are not budging in their opposition to the cuts. So this legislation will languish in the Senate for quite some time.
Updated
Some of what Malcolm Turnbull said this morning in the parliament:
They relived the worst moments of their lives, often telling their stories for the first time, so these terrible abuses would never be allowed to happen again. The report’s 409 recommendations propose significant reforms to ensure the children in the care of any Australian institutions are protected. There is no more important obligation for every Australian adult than keeping our children from harm. Reading some of the witness statements, it is clear that being heard and being believed means so much to the survivors. So much. Much more than many of us would imagine. Three words – ‘I believe you’ – coming after years, decades, of authorities’ denial of responsibility.”
A taskforce has been established within the Attorney General’s Department to co-ordinate responses. The redress scheme will begin 1 July. A national apology will be delivered before the end of the year.
Updated
George Brandis has officially resigned from the Senate
In news which will clear some things up for his Queensland LNP colleagues, George Brandis has officially left the building. Effective immediately.
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The Closing the Gap breakfast, and the Closing the Gap statement, which happens in parliament a week later, are annual bipartisan events.
Given the spirit of bipartisanship that usually surrounds Closing the Gap, Labor senators Pat Dodson and Malarndirri McCarthy, with Linda Burney and Bill Shorten standing by, say they should have been involved in the refresh process that has been happening since at least October.
Speaking at a press conference following the breakfast this morning, McCarthy said:
Bipartisanship is always what Close the Gap was all about. The one day of the parliamentary year where our country and all representatives in the parliament would focus on First Nations’ issues in this country. In all of these dialogues that have taken place, no one from the Labor party, no one from the Greens or minor parties, has been involved. And it’s an absolute disgrace that you have Indigenous members in this parliament who were not included, who were not invited, who have not been briefed on anything to do with Close the Gap.”
Indigenous Labor MPs & Senators call out Prime Minister @TurnbullMalcolm for failures of Closing the Gap and lack of consultation in refresh process #auspol @NITV pic.twitter.com/XTT8IgyZU3
— Nakari Thorpe (@nakarithorpe) February 7, 2018
Six Indigenous delegates from each state and territory, and 19 nominated by the commonwealth, met in Canberra yesterday and today to talk through the refresh process and how the Closing the Gap strategy should be redesigned.
Tomorrow it’ll go to Coag, and I’ve been told the expectation is that the outline of the new Closing the Gap strategy, if not the detail, will be set then.
As Amy mentioned, Malcolm Turnbull left the breakfast just before 8.30am, after June Oscar had given her address about how the first 10 years had comprehensively failed.
The organisers knew he would be leaving then.
Dodson said that was a bad look. This is the leader of our country, and this is a major event, this is an international event. This will go overseas, and if anyone focused on the leader of this nation walking out on a major report by reputable Aboriginal leaders, they’d have to think, well, we really do feel for the Indigenous people.”
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Earlier today, Sir Michael was there as the Close the Gap Steering Committee held a function at parliament house. Malcolm Turnbull left early. Labor senator Pat Dodson called it “a disgrace”. We now know what the PM was leaving to do, but I can understand the anger. Especially after what happened with the Uluru statement.
Mike Bowers was in the chamber when Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten delivered their statements on this.
On this issue, the government and the opposition are in lockstep. As they should be.
.@TurnbullMalcolm: There is no more important obligation for any Australian adult than keeping our children safe from harm. MORE: https://t.co/ZqKMvfxkvy #SkyLiveNow pic.twitter.com/LXhaHU1DgZ
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 7, 2018
.@billshortenmp: I pay tribute to @JuliaGillard for her leadership in establishing the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. MORE: https://t.co/ZqKMvfxkvy #SkyLiveNow pic.twitter.com/Xp7QidGBZP
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 7, 2018
Malcolm Turnbull will deliver the apology to the victims of institutional sexual abuse in parliament before the end of the year.
If any one has read any of the stories contained within the report, you’ll know this is long overdue. It can’t make it right, but as the prime minister said, hearing “I believe you” is extremely important to people who spent decades being ignored.
It’s only right the nation says it as one.
The prime minister says the redress scheme for survivors will begin on 1 July – but he says the states and territories need to sign up.
He said he will also be offering an official apology.
Updated
Using a statement on indulgence, Malcolm Turnbull speaks about the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Malcolm Turnbull is making a surprise statement in the house.
Just on that Close the Gap meeting – the prime minister left about 15 minutes early.
Community leaders were still talking, but between talks, Malcolm Turnbull left. (He did speak to a few people before going).
He is now making a statement in the house. We have just been given notice of this and the bells are still ringing.
Updated
Bill Shorten has held a door stop following a Close the Gap committee meeting. Because this week is not done with me yet, my recorder failed. I’ll chase down the actual comments for you as soon as I can, but he spoke about Susan Lamb (and said he believes she has answered all questions against her) and Adani (same position; doesn’t appear to stack up environmentally or financially)
Pat Dodson also had a bit to say about the government’s indigenous policies. Yet another reason for me to track down that audio for you.
And of course Barnaby Joyce was talked about.
Tony Burke said he believed his private life was no one’s business.
“It is none of my business. I haven’t read the article, journalists will make their own decisions about what they believe they should report. But from my perspective, I saw the headline, I knew it was none of my business and I haven’t read it. I don’t intend to. And I hope for all the people concerned, after the public focus moves on, they can get on with their lives.”
Tony Burke was out and about on Sky early this morning, talking about the Susan Lamb situation.
The government has basically said it feels for her difficult family situation (her full statement was one of the key events on yesterday’s blog, for any one who missed it), but will still push for her referral to the high court, as it’s a legal issue, not an emotional issue.
Which of course set off comparisons to Josh Frydenberg’s family situation (his mother arrived in Australia as stateless, after the Nazi-aligned Hungarian government stripped the jewish community of their citizenship, but Hungary, seeking to make amends for the past, reinstated citizenship in recent years).
Burke said Labor would not be seeking to pursue Frydenberg. But said the same standards should apply.
“The UK government said, in writing, they couldn’t determine she [Susan Lamb] was a UK citizen. If the UK government has put that in writing, it is a bit much for the Australian government to say they are absolutely certain,” he said.
“...We had said it was deeply personal circumstances, we had asked the government to not keep pushing, and they did. They now know. And that should close the legal argument. I only raise Josh’s situation, with respect to say, if the government says ‘oh, well it’s all black letter law and that is how we have to look at it’, I simply put to them that when they came to us, that his circumstance should be treated differently, we did.”
Good morning and welcome to day 4
Well, this week has been a long year, but we made it, politics livers!
Almost.
You may have noticed there hasn’t been a lot of policy this week. You wouldn’t be the only one. After declaring 2018 was its year, the government has struggled to get its agenda up front and centre.
That could have something to do with its newest senator refusing to back down for sharing racist, largely debunked materials on social media, the deputy prime minister’s baby news, and section 44 continuing to cast its loooong shadow over the parliament.
But there has been some movement at the station. After Labor indicated it could not support the government’s national security laws if they saw journalists prosecuted (among other things), Attorney-General Christian Porter has said he’ll take another look.
As Paul Karp reports:
The bill contains prison sentences of up to 20 years for dealing with or publishing protected information such as material that is harmful or likely to harm Australia’s interests, subject to very limited exemptions for public interest journalism
Under changes revealed late on Wednesday by attorney general, Christian Porter, people not employed by the Commonwealth, including journalists, will only be liable in serious circumstances where they willingly communicate “secret” information that endangers the health and safety of the public, or prejudices national security.
But politics continues to dominate. Susan Lamb may have delivered her statement explaining her situation yesterday, but the government said it will still consider forcing the Longman MP’s referral to the high court.
Speaking of the high court, it ruled that Tasmanian mayor Steve Martin is eligible to take up Jacqui Lambie’s seat in the senate. Lambie has responded by announcing she will be expelling Martin from her party.
Jacqui Lambie has expelled soon-to-be-minted Senator Steve Martin from the JLN, saying the relationship has broken down & she’s worried how he’ll reflect on the candidates standing for a state election #politas @abcnewsTas
— Emilie Gramenz (@emgramenz) February 7, 2018
And Barnaby Joyce went on ABC’s 7.30 overnight and said the breakdown of his marriage to Natalie was one of the “greatest failures” of his life.
I failed, and I’m obviously incredibly sorry about that, but I’m also – like other people – incredibly hurt that private issues get dragged into the public arena.”
Up to date?
Let’s get Thursday underway. Mike Bowers is out and about - catch him on @mpbowers and @mikepbowers and I am at my desk, fingers at the ready. You can get me in the comments and @amyremeikis and @ifyouseeamy, where you’ll get video updates throughout the day.
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