And on that note, we will finish up, so we are nice and fresh to see how all those party room meetings turn out tomorrow.
Because no matter what happens, someone won’t be happy. You can’t please all the people all the time. And you definitely can’t please Tony Abbott all the time, which is why industry is trotting out tomorrow, to talk about why the Neg is worth it.
So stay turned for that.
Thank you to the Guardian’s brain trust for prodding me through another day, and to Mike Bowers for bodily carrying my carcass through the day, despite having hurled his body down mountains yesterday. (Minus-something temperatures are at least good for skiing).
And of course to you, for reading, tweeting and messaging – I am getting back to each of you, but it might take some time.
We’ll back early tomorrow morning, where we can jump on board the merry-go-round again. How many times will we hear the word aspiration? How many times will Pauline Hanson accuse the other parties of bullying her? How many dixers will it take to send me screaming from the room? We have so much excitement ahead of us!
In the meantime – take care of you.
Updated
When Josh met Miranda
The energy minister Josh Frydenberg has just joined the News Corp columnist Miranda Devine on her internet radio program ahead of a series of meetings tomorrow where critics of his national energy guarantee will exercise their option to thrash about in protest.
After a slightly bumpy start where Devine thought Tony Abbott could have pulled out of the Paris climate agreement before he took the decision as prime minister to sign up (I don’t know either) the subject of subsidising new coal plants came up. Modelling associated with the policy indicates that no (that’s zero) new coal plants will be built under the national energy guarantee (or for that matter, under a business as usual scenario) but setting aside that minor predictive inconvenience, Frydenberg says he’d love to see a new one built. L-o-v-e i-t.
Josh Frydenberg: “I would welcome a new coal-fired power station for our country because it supplies reliable baseload power and it has served us well in the past and will continue to serve us well in the future”.
Frydenberg noted that Australia’s energy market has a higher share of coal plants than the United States and the United Kingdom. But he said under the government’s policy “the reliability that coal provides the system will be valued and it’s much more likely to be staying in the system under the Neg than not”.
“We have twenty coal-fired power stations in Australia today with an average life of 27 years. While they may not live forever, they will certainly live longer than that 27 years and the Neg will provide that level of stability for the investors and the owners of those assets”.
While talking up coal, Frydenberg declined Devine’s invitation that he should pull Australia out of the Paris agreement.
Updated
Sarah Hanson-Young has moved a motion in the Senate to protect the Great Australian Bight under world heritage listing – it didn’t go well.
Her statement:
The Labor and Liberal parties have failed time and again to stand up for the Great Australian Bight and speak out against oil and gas drilling. If a spill happens in the Bight, oil will be on their hands.
Considering both Labor and Liberal parties have taken donations from multinational fossil fuel companies, South Australians will be unsurprised, but disappointed, at their opposition to this motion.
Between the Liberal candidate for Mayo Georgina Downer’s repeated ignorance on the risk to the Bight and the effect drilling would have on southern right whale migration, to the Liberals in the Senate voting against the Greens’ motion calling for World Heritage protection for the Bight, shows just how out of touch they are with South Australians, and the people of Mayo.
Just a few weeks ago, polling was released that showed 74 per cent of the people in Mayo supported the Greens’ push for World Heritage protection for the Great Australian Bight. Since launching the campaign in April, thousands of people have joined the push to see this protection made a reality. It would be a boon for tourism and show the world what the Bight has to offer in terms of unique, natural beauty.
There is no social license to drill for oil and gas in the Great Australian Bight. Kangaroo Island is the jewel in our tourism crown and would be devastated if an oil spill were to occur. The Greens will continue to fight with coastal communities and all South Australians who want their Bight protected from multinational fossil fuel companies that put profits ahead of people and the environment.
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It may be that GetUp is the only one still annoyed by the foreign interference legislation – the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference sent this statement to Paul Karp:
Upon first reading, it appears our concerns that the bill could silence advocacy by charities, including the Catholic Church, have been addressed. Both the Government and the Opposition recognised that the bill could have deterred contributions from civil society groups, like the Catholic Church, that pursue the common good.
The ability to speak up on behalf of those who don’t have a voice, including the poor and disadvantaged in our society, is critical to creating good policy. These amendments help ensure the voice of civil society institutions such as charities and churches remains.
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This is a thing that happened in the Senate:
Senator @fraser_anning currently introducing a motion in the hope the senate will vote to 'condemn' safe access zones. The motion accuses NSW of copying "the socialist government in Victoria" by enacting the zones outside clinics. Note the zones also exist in NT, ACT & Tasmania pic.twitter.com/R2IgdKvMKv
— Gina Rushton (@ginarush) June 25, 2018
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And the sideshow rolls on:
Siri, show me a picture of the pot calling the kettle black pic.twitter.com/eOQxSBQonI
— Michael Koziol (@michaelkoziol) June 25, 2018
Sussan Ley, who, along with Sarah Henderson, has bucked her party room to bring about an end to the live sheep trade – through a transition process – had a chat to Sky News about the WA situation.
Asked if she believed this was the end of the industry, Ley had this to say:
“I am saying to farmers’ groups, step up, come to government and ask for support for a transition – because I only ever want to see proper transition that looks after farmers.
“The bill that Sarah Henderson and I proposed does exactly that. It left this year alone, recognising there was a pipeline, but what we are seeing is an industry which has failed to regulate itself for 33 years – I can’t say that strongly enough.
“These people have deceived farmers and they have deceived us all.”
Updated
Question time aspiration count:
20.
(22 if you count aspire.)
Updated
We all get put out of our misery when the prime minister calls time on QT.
Bill Shorten stands up to make a personal explanation, over what Malcolm Turnbull said about his record as a union leader:
“I am proud to be a workers rep, proud to have improved the paying conditions of thousands of middle and working class Australians.
“Proud to have protected workers from corporate collapse like the kind that the prime minister was dragged to a royal commission on. Proud to have fought for the rights of asbestos victims, while government ministers fought for the perpetrators. I’ll always stand up for the workers, while my opponent will always stand up for the top end of town.”
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull:
Under this prime minister gross debt has crashed through a record $500bn. Does the prime minister agree that Australia has high levels of debt and high asset prices, and does the prime minister agree this is the number one domestic risk to our economy? And isn’t this the worst possible time to lock in a 10-year $80bn business tax giveaway, fuelling national debt?
(The national debt is $530.8bn for anyone wanting an exact figure.)
Turnbull:
“The government, under the member for Warringah, inherited a shocking debt situation from Labor in 2014. We inherited a structural deficit which it has taken years to turn around. Net debt is peaking this financial year... it will peak as a share of GDP in this current financial year and then decline, year-on-year, over the following decade, to under 4% of GDP.
“We have turned the corner on debt. Now, the honourable member referred to asset prices. Let me remind the honourable member that one of the many economic threats he poses to the Australian public and to Australian families is his attack on the savings of retirees.
“A shocking, shameful assault, which is going to force so many of them to sell out of their investments to avoid having the franking credits snatched away from them. That is not to speak of his campaign against property investment. He is going to increase capital gains tax and abolish negative gearing. Well, the largest single asset class in Australia is residential property. It is already softening. Many people would say that is a correction that was due. Well, everything is good in moderation, I suppose. But what do we think the impact of a ban on negative gearing is going to have on softening residential property markets?
“The Labor party will smash the savings of Australians. It will smash into the value of the largest single asset class. And do you know what, Mr Speaker? That is their avowed intention. The Labor party is a massive threat to the savings, the futures, the prosperity of all Australians.”
(Just for the record, the debt in 2012/13, when Labor was last in power, was $257.4 billion.)
Updated
It’s Mike Bowers time:
Updated
Chris Bowen had a question which basically asked – how can the government guarantee it won’t cut services again, to pay for its tax plan, if the world economy turns (which there are warnings of).
Scott Morrison: Strong economy.
And we are back to alternative approaches dixers and I want to stab myself with a butter knife.
Updated
Peter Dutton had some things to say.
Moving on.
Amanda Rishworth to Malcolm Turnbull:
“The government’s unfair child-care changes start on Monday. Why is this prime minister cutting child-care payments to 279,000 families on Monday, including over 2,200 families in Longman, while giving $17bn to the big banks?”
Josh Frydenberg, on behalf of Simon Birmingham, takes this one:
“I can inform the house that when the Labor party was last in office, child-care fees went up 53%! 53%!
“...How many did they deliver? Just 38, the double drop-off, and what about compliance checks, they also went down significantly when Labor was last in office and now the Turnbull government’s child-care reforms will see nearly one million families better off, Mr Speaker, one million families better off, and those opposite have tried to obstruct it all along! Even though in the member’s electorate, 4,800 families will be better off, Mr Speaker, and what about in the member for Kingston’s electorate, over 6,000 families will be better off, Mr Speaker!
“We will increase the subsidy for 370,000 families whose income is just over $67,000 a year will increase the subsidy from 72 to 85%, Mr Speaker, will encourage more than 200,000 families to re-enter the workforce or to take greater workforce participation, Mr Speaker.”
Updated
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull:
“In the last month, the Commonwealth bank was fined $700 million for repeated breaches of anti money-laundering and counterterrorism financing laws. So why is the prime minister this week trying to cut a deal with the One Nation political party to reward the same big banks with a $17bn handout?”
Turnbull:
“The major bank levy of course demonstrated in last year’s budget demonstrated the government’s commitment to ensuring that the banks paid a fair contribution to the protection they have to the implicit guarantee they get from government. And that is a very substantial charge on them. The case for reducing company tax is a case for Australian workers. Every other Labor leave including the honourable member opposite has understood this.
“The member for McMahon has written a whole book about it but the fundamental question is one of competitiveness, do you want Australian businesses to be competitive? If they are not competitive, they will not be successful. In order to be competitive they have to have a competitive tax rate, the United States has moved down to 21%, France has gone to 25%, the UK is below 20%, are we seriously going to maintain the proposition that Australian businesses will be competitive in the global environment with the highest company tax in the OECD?
“Plainly every other Labor leader has recognised that. Paul Keating, the former prime minister, said himself and I will just conclude with this quote from his 1993 policy speech, he said ‘we lowered the company tax rate from 39 to 33%, providing Australian industry with a business tax system competitive with any in the world,’ as it was at the time. He went on to say: ‘This is where the energy will come from and we will do everything we can to stimulate it and where necessary provide strategic support.’
“That was the Labor party of Paul Keating and Bob Hawke, the Labor party of the member for Maribyrnong is one denying economic reality, built on the politics of envy and trying to divide Australians rather than unite them. Successful Labor leaders have united Australia and have done so on the basis of optimism and aspiration. They have not sought to divide them on the basis of envy.”
Updated
Christopher Pyne, asked about job investment, gives an answer about Anthony Albanese:
He is the lieutenant of the Labor party caucus, Mr Speaker. He is refusing to accept that the Hawke-Keating legacy has been abandoned by the Labor party. He is darting from one ALP event to another, between rubber chicken and party pies, giving a speech here, dropping a column here, trailing his coattails as the Labor party know they have an option in the member for Grayndler.
“Mr Speaker, using the traditional tactics of the guerrilla jungle warrior, Mr Speaker, appearing and then disappearing again. It is OK, we’re not going to let him disappear from view, we are going to make sure the member for Grayndler stays front and centre, Mr Speaker, like a ninja warrior.
“We are going to make sure that he gets every opportunity to promote his aspirational agenda for the Labor party, so to speak. Unfortunately, I have bad news for the member for Grayndler. The bad news is that the leader of the opposition is not interested in this alternative agenda. He has decided he wants to have a war on business, he wants the CFMEU to be at the cabinet table in a future Labor government. He wants to reject the aspirations of Australians and reject the Hawke-Keating legacy. He scoffs at aspiration. I think it is going to be a long and cold winter for the member for Grayndler and I table this speech, this bloodied dagger masquerading as an address.”
Updated
Barnaby Joyce is back in the chamber. He extended his leave last week, following the death of his younger brother, Tim. Tim was just 42, and passed away after a battle with cancer.
Ed Husic to Malcolm Turnbull: (it’s been a while since we have had a question from Husic, probably because he has been kept busy crisscrossing the country for byelection campaigning)
“Last week the government told 8,000 workers losing their jobs at Telstra that ‘These things happen’, and this week the prime minister is doing everything he can to give big businesses, including Telstra and the banks, an $80bn tax handout, a week after they sacked 8,000 workers and in the middle of the banking royal commission. Why is the prime minister awarding Telstra and the big banks and punishing workers?”
Turnbull:
“Cutting the company income tax rate increases domestic productivity and domestic investment. More capital means higher productivity and economic growth, and leads to more jobs and higher wages – the member for Maribyrnong, Tuesday, August 23, 2011.
“As Australia is buffeted by economic events overseas we understand that lowering corporate tax assists the creation of jobs. What could be more important in this country than the creation of jobs?” – the Member for Maribyrnong, Wednesday, March 14, 2012.
“We recognise that in a world of mobile capital, if we have higher company tax rates, our companies will not get the investment they need to grow employment and boost wages” – the Member for Fenner, October 23 2011.
“If you are helping economic growth, then you are helping the wages of working people. Good for businesses, good for growth, good for jobs, and good for wages. That is what a cut in company tax is”. Julia Gillard, March 15, 2012.
“Really! Mr Speaker, the Labor party, the Labor party has now decided that there is no connection between lower company taxes and jobs. Every single Labor party leader, including the gentleman opposite, has said precisely that. Lower company taxes means more investment, more jobs, higher wages and stronger economic growth. Paul Keating set that out in his policy speech in 1993.
“And it was the leader of the opposition, the member for Maribyrnong, who 20 years later described Paul Keating as an economic genius for the way he took on the realities of the economy and was prepared in the manner outlined by the member for Grayndler to embrace business and recognise that business is the engine room for jobs.
“The leader of the opposition and the Labor party of today, much to the dismay of the member for Grayndler and so many others has abandoned the very people it was founded to protect.”
Updated
Mark Dreyfus to Malcolm Turnbull:
“I refer to reports that the prime minister will personally benefit from his $80bn handout to big business through his investments in dozens of businesses. Can the prime minister confirm that through at least 15 of his 39 managed funds, he invests in 18 businesses which have a turnover of more than $50m and an additional 14 businesses which have a turnover of more than $1bn per year? Can the prime minister confirm how much these dozens of businesses will benefit from his big business tax handout?”
Turnbull:
“As I have described to honorable members before, Australians know my life story. It is hardly a secret. Now, over the course of my life Lucy and I have worked hard. We’ve had good fortune. And we have paid tax, we have paid a lot of tax. We have given back to the community. And we have been able... we have been able to achieve greatly. There was a time when the Labor party would have certainly welcomed that. Many Australians seek to work hard. A vast majority of Australians seek to work hard and get ahead. And when they do they pay their taxes and contribute to society.
“Historically, both sides of politics have welcomed that. Apparently not any longer. The honorable members asked about my investments, which are set out in the members’ interest disclosure, as honourable members would be aware of. And I have explained why I have done this in the past. The funds are managed by an external financial adviser.
“They are the liquid investments in securities, and they are overwhelmingly held in managed funds. They are almost entirely offshore managed funds. For the reason, the reason for the outcome is so as to avoid conflicts of interest in Australian shares. So, that is the situation. If the honourable members opposite want to start a politics of envy campaign about it, I don’t think they will be telling people anything they don’t know.
But I would just remind honourable members opposite that virtually every member of this House who has interests in Australian superannuation funds, and I particularly note Australian Super being one that is very well supported or patronised by members opposite, has investments in all of the big multinationals, all of the big companies and banks and so forth.
“So the idea that the honourable member wants to create that somehow my wife and I are in a special unique position in terms of our shareholdings is absolutely wrong. Now, by all means the honourable members opposite should go ahead with this if they wish, but I have to say that the politics of envy is one that has failed in the past. Labor leaders, with success, have united Australians, and have called on Australians to be optimistic and ambitious, to look forward and to aspire. Australian Labor leaders who have been successful have talked about the values that the member for Grayndler has...”
He runs out of time.
Updated
Michael McCormack takes a dixer where he again just says Turnbull government instead of Turnbull-McCormack government, so yup, I think we can say that decree has officially gone out.
In other news, ministers should really work at enunciating ‘Turnbull’ government, because Tveeder is picking it up as ‘terrible’ government, and well, that’s just one of the reasons my father was constantly at me for making sure I rounded out all my vowels.
Updated
Adam Bandt has the crossbench question - and it’s to Josh Frydenberg:
“Huge advances in renewable energy and storage technology mean that the electricity sector can more easily cut pollution in agriculture or transport, yet despite demanding that states and territories compromise and agree to your national energy guarantee, you yourself have refused to compromise on the paltry emissions reduction targets on electricity. In fact you even want to lock it in and tie the hands of future governments for 10 years. Given your refusal to negotiate in good faith on the pollution target...can you now tell the house; what are the government’s emissions reductions targets now for agriculture and transport?”
Frydenberg:
“We will not take a lecture from the Greens who call senator Jim Molan a war criminal, Mr Speaker. It won’t take a lecture from the Greens who have [been] celebrating when people’s houses have burnt down and blame it on climate change, Mr Speaker! Now the reality is that emissions on a per capita and GDP basis are now their lowest in 28 years...”
He goes on to blame Labor for some stuff and is pulled up by Tony Smith after Bandt raises a point of order and finishes with this:
“In relation to the landscape of the emissions target has reduced emissions and contracted emissions for 190 million tonnes, at an average cost of around $13 a tonne, a very effective pressure, that reform Mr Speaker. An effective policy. When it comes to the transport sector we have invested to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation in electric vehicles and the roll-out of emissions there but Mr Speaker what it comes to at the end of the day to reducing emissions, we shall also ensure the affordability and stability of our energy system. We have committed to 26-28% and just as we achieve, overachieving, on our 2020 target will meet our 2030 target too.”
Updated
In Senate question time, the Labor senator Anthony Chisholm has asked finance minister Mathias Cormann whether it is true that just three businesses will benefit from the big business tax cut in Longman.
Cormann responds that it is “not true – the business tax cuts will benefit every company”. He launches into a case study of Qantas, and how it buys from other suppliers who will benefit from its improved performance.
This prompts a chorus of interjections from Labor senators, including Jacinta Collins suggesting this is part of the “fairy tale” of trickle down economics. She sings “trickle trickle little star” to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
The supplementary question suggests just 10 businesses in Braddon will benefit, so obviously Labor is very focused on the 28 July byelections.
Updated
Gai Brodtmann to Malcolm Turnbull:
“Company profits increased by 5.8% over the year, nearly three times as much as wages. So why does the government support cutting the penalty rates of nearly 70,000 working Australian by up to $77 a week while he is giving an $80bn handout to big business? Or is the prime minister telling hard-working Australians, including those who made his coffee this morning, to just get a better job too?”
Not surprisingly, the variation of a question we have already heard is given an answer we have already heard.
Turnbull ends with this:
No wonder the member for Grayndler is disgusted with this turn of events. No wonder the member for Grayndler has set out his challenge, a return to the values of the Labor party in challenging the pathetic class war and hypocrisy of the leader of the opposition.
Updated
We may have just heard the worst dixer this year:
Will the treasurer update the house on the importance of encouraging and rewarding aspiration through the government’s personal income tax cuts and is the treasurer aware of any alternative view that would undermine aspiration.
ANY ALTERNATIVE VIEW THAT WOULD UNDERMINE ASPIRATION.
What. Does. That. Even. Mean.
Dixers are terrible. We know this. But if this is where we are headed with them, just put them out of their misery. Honestly. WTAF does ‘any alternative view that would undermine aspiration’ actually mean in the real world?
Updated
Tax cuts are good and amazing and practically the Kanye of the parliament, according to the last dixer. Moving on.
Tanya Plibersek to Malcolm Turnbull:
“When the prime minister visited a cafe this morning did he apologise to the workers who served his coffee for supporting cuts to their penalty rates, at the same time that he is giving an $80bn handout to big business? Or is it one rule for the business the prime minister invests in, and another for the workers who serve him?”
Turnbull:
“I thank the member for her question and remind her just as supporting enterprise, supporting hard-working families getting ahead was always part of the Labor party’s ethos for over a century but now abandoned by her and her leader, the Labor party has abandoned it, any deputy Labor leader that can state aspiration is a mystery to her has lost touch with what the Labour party used to be about.
“And Mr Speaker, another thing the Labor party was founded on was the need to have an independent umpire. Founder of the AWU going back to the 19th-century, that was always the goal, an independent umpire, and in one form or another it has been part of our landscape over a century. And what we have here, we have taken the leader of the opposition, who said a couple of years ago, he said ‘I know for the last 110 years conciliation, arbitration, the ability to have an honest look at, the end of the day, hear the complaints, hear the concerns and hear the appeal is what gives the workers voice.’ Well!
“Fair Work considered the matter of penalty rates, it heard everybody, all the parties, and it made a decision. It was in an arbitrary decision, it was the decision of the independent umpire. But of course Mr Speaker, you talk about arbitrary decisions. What about the way in which unions, formerly led by the leader of the opposition, traded away one set of penalty rates after another.
“And all too often did so in return for payments by the employer to the union! Which were not disclosed! Were not disclosed! And when this shocking state of affairs was revealed in the Haydon royal commission and they introduced legislation to do no more than require unions to reveal payments they had from employers to their members, who opposed it?
“The Labor party! The Labor party has abandoned the workers! It has abandoned its values! The mystery of aspiration to the deputy leader of the opposition has not left the Labor party anywhere but utterly out of touch with the people it was once founded to represent! No wonder the member for Grayndler has had a gut full of his leader!”
Updated
Question time begins
I always find the mood shift from a condolence motion to QT a little weird. Can’t imagine how weird it would be for those in the chamber.
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull:
[It starts with a statement about company profits increasing almost twice as much as wage growth]. So why does this prime minister support arbitrarily cutting the penalty rates of working Australians this Sunday, while he is giving an $80bn handout to big business? Or is this just another case of the prime minister telling nearly 700,000 hard-working Australians who are again having their penalty rates arbitrarily cut, to just get a better job?
Turnbull:
“I can understand the desperation of the leader of the opposition, faced as he is with a challenge from the member for Grayndler, who has laid out his wares, laid out his wares and reminded everybody that there was a time when the Labor party stood for aspiration ... It was a party which talked about opportunity and the member for Grayndler was out of there with the most pre-briefed political speech any of us can remember, and you couldn’t move in the press gallery, Mr Speaker. There were so many people working for the Member for Grayndler, pushing through the crowds to get copies of that speech out of there.
“And do you know what, Mr Speaker? It was a speech that would have been completely unremarkable in normal times because it talked about great Labor leaders, it even talked about a great Liberal leader, John Carrick. It talked about the importance of hard work. It’s decried class war and the politics of envy. Who was it aimed at? The leader of the opposition. That is what it was all about. And so now, having been chastised by his rival, the member for Grayndler, what does he do? He goes even further to the left with one personal attack after another. He talks about penalty rates. He talks about penalty rates!
“Let’s talk about Cleanevent. Let’s talk about that. They had a penalty rate of $50 an hour under the award. They did. $50 an hour.
“Well, the leader of the opposition, that champion of the poor and oppressed, that battling advocate for the workers, he traded down to $18 an hour. $18 an hour. Well, you know what? My old friend Neville Wran used to say anybody can go to jail if they get the right lawyer, but I would say this – anybody can get their penalty rates halved if they have the leader of the opposition representing them.”
That is about the 80th time I have heard the Neville Wran quip and I am not sure how much more I have in me.
Updated
Question time is a few minutes away. There is a condolence motion for Joseph ‘Joe’ Berinson, a former minister in the Gough government.
Updated
While charities might be happy with the foreign interference changes, advocacy groups such as GetUp aren’t exactly thrilled – because they aren’t excluded.
“Saving the Great Barrier Reef is an Australian issue and a global issue. Now in working with allies across the globe to save our reef, GetUp will be classed a ‘foreign agent’ for trying to protect our national heritage, and our climate, for our children,” a spokeswoman said.
“In trying to stop overseas companies from being able to sue the Australian government thanks to the TPP, we’re acting as a ‘foreign agent’? That’s absurd, when we’re trying to do the exact opposite.
“It’s the Turnbull government that wants to open the doors to overseas corporations to control our democracy.”
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Grab your afternoon pick me up – we are sliding into QT, or as it is now called, the aspiration wars.
Updated
Pauline Hanson is still saying no to the company tax cuts ... while leaving the door open. As for the government numbers, she had this to say:
Look, I have no idea, I understand they need another four votes. They haven’t got One Nation and I give the people my guarantee on that, unless they really target multinationals and it’s so important to me. We have to see a revenue stream come into the country. I was very pleased to pass the personal tax cuts last week which helps everyday working Australians, but when it comes to the corporate tax cuts, we actually supported it up to $50 million turnover. Now, let’s, you know, look at where the revenue is going to come from.
And as for the other crossbenchers and who is lobbying her:
No, I haven’t spoken to any other crossbenchers. Derryn Hinch is quite happy and he just indicated he’d like to sit down and have a cup of coffee with me, but no, any interactions with Clive Palmer’s party. That was interesting. He rang up my staff yesterday, and said, ‘Listen, I got $450 million in the bank. If I move my money overseas I’ll get an extra million dollars in it.’ He sees his lobbying on behalf of – I don’t know, himself. He is a man who couldn’t pay his workers. He’s having another tilt at politics, hopefully the people of Australia will see through that. And he said, ‘If you don’t support this,’, he said, ‘You won’t get my preferences.’
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Expect this to come up in one of the QT dixers – the ABCC has put out a statement on a federal court ruling:
In a significant decision today the full federal court confirmed it will order a CFMMEU official to personally pay his penalty for breaking the law, without seeking or receiving financial assistance from the union.
This decision follows the ABCC’s successful high court appeal in February this year.
CFMMEU official Joseph Myles has been made personally liable for a $19,500 penalty following his unlawful blockade of the Regional Rail Link project site in May 2013.
In addition, the penalty imposed on the CFMMEU was almost doubled to $111,000 for three contraventions of the Fair Work Act.
Updated
The charity sector is on board with the foreign interference bill – now. From the Hands Off Our Charities statement:
The Hands Off Our Charities alliance has today expressed great relief that the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has agreed that civil society work of charities, arts organisations and industrial associations should be exempted from registration requirements of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill.
“The bipartisan recommendation to exempt charities from the registration requirements when they are doing their day-to-day work to achieve their charitable purpose is a victory for common sense. This exemption will ensure that charitable work is not unfairly targeted. We welcome the Committee’s collaboration in recognising our concerns,” said Marc Purcell, CEO of the Australian Council for International Development.
“Without these measures being implemented, the international partnerships that underpin international development, aid and conservation work could require independent charities to register as agents of foreign principals,” said David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia Pacific.
“If a charity like Caritas collaborates with an overseas government on a program to reduce violence against women in that country, and then uses information from that work in its communications to the Australian Government, the original Bill would have branded them as ‘acting on behalf of foreign principal’. We welcome the committee’s recognition that in scenarios like this, charities are not doing the bidding of any government. They are working together with a partner government to improve the effectiveness of their interventions,” said Paul O’Callaghan, CEO of Caritas Australia.
“Labelling independent charities and the people we work with as “acting on behalf of foreign principals” makes no sense and serves no public interest objective,” stressed Dr Barry Traill, Australian Director of Pew Charitable Trusts Australia. “For example this original Bill would have cast Indigenous Rangers, advocating to care for their country, as agents of foreign principals. The measures in this Bill, if not amended as the PJCIS has recommended, would have posed a grave threat to our charitable work”.
The Hands Off Our Charities alliance recognises the need for efforts to prevent foreign interference in Australian politics, but argues that the process for developing the government’s foreign influence package has been deeply flawed.
“We are relieved at the recommendations from the Committee and look forward to their full implementation in amendments to this Bill. However, our alliance remains concerned about the related Espionage Bill which is being rushed through Parliament. Efforts to protect Australian democracy from covert foreign interference should not damage our democracy and put the good work of Australia’s charities and not-for-profits at risk,” Mr Purcell concluded.
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I’ve been chatting to all sides about the upcoming byelections – with Longman and Braddon the ones on everyone’s lips.
Longman looks like being OK for Labor, at this stage, but it depends on preference flows. One Nation voters don’t usually follow how to vote cards, but you still never know.
Braddon appears to be the problem for Labor – which they acknowledge in chats. There are a lot of local issues which are fuelling that one, like pokie machines, and it is going to be tough.
Plus the general feeling of apathy that comes along with a byelection – people just don’t get as engaged as they do in general elections, so that makes turnout a problem, let alone ensuring your message is cutting through. Graham Richardson wrote about that on the weekend in the Oz.
Jim Chalmers addressed that in his press conference a few minutes ago:
Obviously we’re in both of those contests to win them. We don’t – we never go into a contest like that expecting or hoping to lose. We want to make sure we give a good account of ourselves and I think for the reasons I have just identified, we’ll be very competitive. In Longman and in Braddon, [it] will be very tight... what we say to the people of Longman and to the people of Braddon is if you want a political party to put the interests of middle Australia before the interests of multinationals and the big banks and the millionaires, then people will support the Labor party. We got the better candidates, we got the better leader and better policies for both seats.
Updated
Amanda Stoker, Queensland’s newest senator, revealed a little more of her thoughts to Sky News:
On personal responsbility:
“There is a place for government support, for people who are really in need, but when we fail to help our families, fail to build the social networks that have traditionally bound us as a society we all suffer. We are a stronger, more resilient society, we get more out of life when we have strong social networks.
“...I am not saying we should limit services [in something like aged care], we should have an attitudinal change as individuals, which means we are more willing to make the sacrifices we need to, to be able to provide for those who need – it needs to be a choice.
“...I want to be it to be an individual choice. Another example is in the caring for children – there has been a lot of talk in the government sphere over many years over the importance of child care and making it accessible and affordable and all of that is true. But we should also be having a conversation about fairness for those families who choose to make the sacrifices needed to have someone at home. Maybe we could do family taxation rather than individual to try and facilitate people who want to invest more into that.”
On 18c
“Look I think 18c has got to go. I think 18c is a drag on our society. I am not saying that people need to be obnoxious, but if have freedom of speech, people can be socially called out for the things they say, which are you know, really quite out there. But being able to have the debate matters.
“And at a time where people are expressing religious views feel like they aren’t as free to do so as they once were, more than ever, those who express religious or unpopular or traditional views are being called before discrimination boards and commissions to be able to say what they believe and do what they believe, with integrity, to the things that are core to them, I think is really important.”
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Mark Dreyfus is speaking on the foreign interference bill – he says that Labor feels it has worked for safeguards and tightening up of definitions – and will be supporting it, meaning it will sail through the parliament later this week.
Updated
While the division was going on, Doug Cameron and Pauline Hanson were having a little tete-a-tete across the chamber.
Cameron said she was ‘just another Lib’ always ‘doing what Mathias told her’ while Hanson called back that she would be ‘glad to see the back of him’ (Cameron is retiring), to which he replied ‘not as pleased as many others who want to see the back’ of Hanson.
So, good times.
Division
Ayes 32
Noes 36
Business resumes as usual.
Centre Alliance has also said no to supporting the suspension of standing orders – but Rex Patrick says they won’t be supporting tax cuts.
Penny Wong could be heard yelling ‘you’re a disgrace’ across the chamber, so I think emotions might still be raw from last week.
Updated
Pauline Hanson just spoke on the motion... and I think she was against it. It was hard to tell, because she didn’t actually say. Just spoke about Labor and Greens “bullies”
“Senator Wong accuses me of... it seems to come down to One Nation and her words, grubby deals that are being done.
“I have made my stance quite clear, that I will not be supporting the corproate tax cuts with my, with my, senator Peter Georgiou is actually also indicated no support for this.
“If you think that bullying is going to change my opinion about this, it is not going to happen.
“It has nothing to do with shutting down the chamber. The last time I looked, excuse me, I think the numbers in this chamber is, the government has the numbers and they are, they will determine, they will have their say about how this chamber is run. But if you think that you will sit there and bully me into making a decision on how I vote on this to bring a debate - no I’m not. No I’m not, alright?
“When this is opened up, and it is on the floor of the parliament for this to be debated, fair enough. Now, as I have just supported, the Greens amendment to do with raising it, lowering it to $50m for accountability, for those in business, I have just supported that.
“So I look at the legislation based on what is right for the country and for the people, not because I am going to be bullied into it.
“And I will make my case quite clear. Whether I support the corporate tax cuts or not has got nothing to do with the seat of Longman, because that is only one part of Australia. We are talking about the whole benefit to all Australians. The same as, the same as backing, you know the personal tax cuts.
“Now, when you talk about grubby deals, let me remind the Greens when they supported the government’s backpacker tax, the $100 m grubby deal they did there. Isn’t it lovely, everyone wants to throw around the word grubby deals, you are not concentrating on the job that the people have elected to do in this parliament.
“You have all done it. Even the Labor party, when you were in government, you all do your grubby deals, you all come knocking on the door.
“So let’s get some accountability and honesty on to the floor of this parliament, because I tell you what, the public are actually sick and tired of it. You are throwing these innuendos across the chamber, anyone who doesn’t agree with you.
“Base it on debate, base it on what the people of Australia want. They are all watching you. They tell me all the time. It is like a sandpit in this place because the public is sick and tired of it.
“Why do you have to lie to the public. Why do you have to put out false robocalls in Longman.
“Has it been a wake up call to the Labor party what happened in WA on the weekend? That people are tired of where you’ve got htis country headed.
“So the same with senator Murray Watt, all his lies that he puts out all the time, and Chisholm with regards to One Nation, the people will judge me on my performance and what I have achieved in this chamber, if there is good legislation put up by the government, I will support it.
“As I have supported other legislation put up by the Greens or by the other minor political parties, or independent senators in this chamber, or even the Labor party, I will support good legislation.”
It goes on, but you get the drift.
Updated
Christian Porter is looking forward to passing the foreign interference laws:
The attorney general, Christian Porter, welcomed the release today of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security’s (PJCIS) report on the government’s foreign influence transparency scheme bill 2017.
“The committee report is a critical step in securing the passage of this crucial legislation to help protect Australia’s democratic systems and institutions,” the attorney general said.
“Most importantly, the committee report recommends the bill be passed, reflecting a continuation of the bipartisan approach to national security legislation.
“The Turnbull government’s number one priority is to keep Australians safe and this bill, along with the espionage and foreign interference bill, which the PJCIS reported on two weeks ago and also recommended be passed, are critical elements of achieving that objective.
“The government intends to accept all of the committee’s recommendations for amendments to the bill, with a view to debating and passing both bills into parliament this week.
“The foreign influence transparency scheme bill creates a register for individuals or entities which are undertaking activities on behalf of foreign principals. This will provide transparency for the Australian government and the Australian community about foreign influence in Australia.
“We don’t seek to restrict those activities through this bill; rather to ensure such activity is undertaken in a lawful, open and transparent way.”
Two weeks ago the government presented the committee with a series of drafted amendments which addressed key issues of concern to stakeholders.
The committee has made 52 recommendations, the majority of which represent minor and technical drafting amendments.
Of the significant amendments recommended by the PJCIS, more than 20 relate to the amendments previously drafted and submitted by the attorney general.
The most significant remaining recommendations relate to the creation of new exemptions for charities and arts groups in limited circumstances and extending requirements on former cabinet ministers and public servants.
The attorney general said the government would consider those recommendations and was aiming to have any necessary amendments drafted ahead of introduction of the bill this week.
“I thank the PJCIS and the co-operative approach of the opposition to bring this inquiry to a conclusion and the delivery of today’s report,” the attorney general said.
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Labor has distributed the transcript of Bill Shorten’s speech on the penalty rates bill. This bit lays out where I think you’ll see the election campaign going:
Now of course what we’ve seen from the government propaganda machine is they say that Labor supports cutting penalty rates because we endorse enterprise bargaining.
There is a world of difference between workers consenting and bargaining for improvements in their overall rates of pay and arbitrary penalty rate cutting with no compensation any hour of the day, any day of the week.
This government has never – and when we listen to their ministers carry on, always remember when you hear their ministers and their prime minister and they talk about workers – reality is they need to get the microscope out, they have no knowledge of how people really construct their lives.
Ask them next time: have you ever negotiated a pay rise for a worker? Have you ever sat there and bargained – constructively with business – but always on the side of workers? Have you ever stood up to improve their redundancy pay? Have you ever stood up to give them a greater say in their rosters and their shifts? Of course not.
This is a government who loves to talk about life experience – no life experience ever representing workers and getting them a better, safer, more reliable and secure job in their lives.
And of course, though, we’ll hear the other argument about penalty rates. They have a second argument, which is: we’re now in a seven-24 economy.
Somehow penalty rates are a thing of the past because somehow we now live 24 hours a day, seven days a week – as if we never did before penalty rates.
But the point about it is that if we want to have a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour economy, there’s always a worker making that happen.
And we do believe and we make no apology for saying, when you’re on 40 and 50 and 60 and 100,000 dollars a year – we actually want to see you do better. And we appreciate the work that you put in for our economy.
But fundamentally, this legislation about penalty rates goes to the heart of the national priorities of this parliament and the values of the two competing parties and movements who seek to form a government in this country.
We think that if you earn penalty rates, you’re not selfish or greedy. You’re not an inconvenience to the business. You’re not just another loaf of bread, which we should try and find the lowest unit price, as the prime minister once famously said in the exchange of labour for pay.
Updated
Richard Di Natale is speaking in support of the Labor motion. He says it is the biggest change of the corporate tax structure the nation has ever seen and deserves to be debated.
Greens and Labor staffers are also lolling at Mathias Cormann argument that the standing orders should not be suspended, because of due process and order – because of the gag order that was put on the income tax debate last week.
“Here is an opportunity through the week to debate corproate tax,” Di Natale says.
“Not to have it locked in for debate late at night ... To have it rammed through for a vote in the early hours of the morning, outside of scrutiny.”
Updated
Mathias Cormann is speaking against Penny Wong’s attempts to suspend standing orders to bring on the corporate tax debate. He says no, but only because the government is concerned with the proper and orderly order of things.
I just switched over to catch this:
Bill Shorten’s approach to this is un-Australian. Bill Shorten’s approach to this is un-Australian.
Sigh. The sooner we put to bed the “un-Australian” debate, when it’s not being used for irony purposes, the better.
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Clive Palmer, who last week claimed that 20,000 people had contacted his office about joining his party in less than 24 hours, is offering free membership to United Australia, if that is your thing.
He’s also accused Pauline Hanson of stealing his GST policy. From his website:
The United Australia Party called out senator Pauline Hanson today for copying one its policies introduced in Western Australia by senator Dio Wang of the Palmer United Party.
United Australia Party federal leader Clive Palmer slammed the behaviour today, saying Senator Hanson was devoid of new ideas.
“She is stooping to plagiarising our party policies to maintain the relevance of her last remaining parliamentary colleague Peter Georgiou in Western Australia. She has no relevance left. Her party is dissolving before her eyes,” Mr Palmer said.
The copied policy was originally presented by Palmer United Party senator Dio Wang back in April 2014.
Senator Wang’s policy sought to keep 100% of the GST earned in WA to stay and be spent in WA.
At the time Senator Wang stated: “WA must see its full share of GST returned to the state to ensure our ageing schools and hospitals are upgraded, to ensure our regional communities, industries and people are supported to the best of our ability.”
Clive Palmer said One Nation would cease to exist by the next election.
“Party members are deserting Pauline Hanson and it’s easy to see why,” Mr Palmer said.
Updated
Oxfam is also in town – and campaigning against the corporate tax cuts. From the statement by Oxfam Australia’s economic policy adviser, Joy Kyriacou:
The proposed $65bn hand-out for big business would make Australia the latest country to join the global race to the bottom on corporate tax rates.
Slashing the corporate tax rate would undermine attempts to tackle inequality and poverty, both in Australia and around the world. When governments enter a race to the bottom on corporate tax rates, everyday people lose.
It is utterly inconceivable that the federal government wants to push ahead with slashing the corporate tax rate when Australian Taxation Office data shows that more than one in three large Australian companies paid no tax at all in Australia for the past three years of reporting.
Passing the corporate tax cut for large companies would be a further step in unravelling the fairness of our tax system.
Right now, the use of tax havens and other loopholes by Australian multinationals is ripping billions of dollars from public coffers in developing countries, as well as in Australia.
Oxfam estimates around $5-6bn is lost to Australia’s public purse through the tax avoidance practices of multinationals – and global estimates are that the poorest countries lose well over $100bn annually.
This is money that should be spent on the things everyday people need: schools, hospitals, roads and public infrastructure.
It would also be completely nonsensical to promise a crackdown on multinationals that are avoiding paying their fair share of tax in exchange for rewarding big business with these tax cuts.
And the stubborn push for these tax cuts comes with little evidence of benefits to the economy and community – and in exchange for no more than a ‘pinky promise’ that big business will invest more in jobs and wage growth.
What Australia should be doing is cracking down further on tax avoidance, including by introducing public country-by-country reporting that requires large companies to declare details of income, taxes paid and profits around the world.
Oxfam calls on senators to support the Australian people this week, not further profits for large companies. The corporate tax cuts for large businesses should be rejected.
Updated
Penny Wong is in the Senate attempting to suspend standing orders to bring on the company tax cut debate now.
She says if Pauline Hanson and the Centre Alliance are serious about not supporting the corporate tax cuts, then there is no reason not to bring on the debate, so they can prove it.
And if they don’t, Wong says it only proves they are seeking to say one thing before the July byelectons (where Centre Alliance and Hanson both have a lot of skin in the game) and then make a “sneaky deal” with the government in August.
Updated
Just a reminder of where question time went last week:
He does; he says I’m a snob. This is the man who’s sucked up and grovelled to Dick Pratt like there was no tomorrow. He took three trips overseas. He drank the champagne. He sucked up to the big end of town. He sold out the workers. I’ve seen a lot of wealthy people in my days, and I’ve never seen anybody more sycophantic in the presence of a billionaire than a Labor politician, and none more so than this sycophant, this groveller, this man who abandoned workers while he tucked his knees under the Pratts’ table and sucked up to Dick Pratt right up until the time when it was no longer useful for him to do it. No integrity, no consistency, no loyalty.
That was Malcolm Turnbull on Bill Shorten – don’t expect it to get any better.
Updated
The Reserve Bank's published an interesting new paper. On the effects of the federal government's temporary investment tax break for business during the GFC https://t.co/FkwCtb7cMZ #auspol
— Gareth Hutchens (@grhutchens) June 25, 2018
Note its conclusions: pic.twitter.com/J1S80RkZ07
Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has just tabled a committee report into the foreign influence transparency scheme bill, showing that Labor and the Coalition have reached a bipartisan consensus on the bill to set up a register for lobbyists and others to declare their work for foreign entities.
The most significant proposed amendments are:
- A new exemption to the requirement to register for charities, arts organisations and industrial organisations where they “are making routine representations in accordance with their respective purposes, and where the relationship with the foreign principal is well known or a matter of public record”.
- Professionals such as tax agents, customs brokers and liquidators also get an exemption for their day-to-day work.
- There is further narrowing of working on behalf of a foreign principal, clarifying that both the person and the foreign entity must “know or expect” that they would or might undertake the activity to influence the Australian government.
The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said that Labor had secured “important exemptions” in response to fears of an “unreasonable compliance burden” on the civil society sector.
Dreyfus:
It is clear the scheme was never meant to capture innocent charities, arts organisations or unions who were simply doing their job. Labor worked to ensure the scheme was better targeted, removing these organisations from its reach and improving the bill.
The amendments recommended in today’s report represent the second major set of changes to the original bill, introduced by the prime minister in December last year. Labor welcomes recognition from the government that the original bill was completely unworkable in its breadth.
Hastie told parliament Australia “can’t tolerate foreign influence that is in any way covert, coercive or corrupt”. He said where foreign influence is advanced through an intermediary, its source is disguised, such that a decision-maker may be unaware, and the aim of the register is to rectify that.
On 8 June the attorney general, Christian Porter, announced a series of amendments to the bill, including narrowing the definition of “foreign principal” to foreign governments, related entities and individuals and political organisations.
Updated
The Australian Energy Council has popped up today to talk, well, energy, and it is not impressed with all this talk about renationalising the electricity market, which has been talked about within conservative quarters:
Claims that the profit margin of electricity retailers makes up 15-20% of every household bill are wrong, and not supported by the independent assessment of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the energy industry said today.
The Australian Energy Council’s general manager, Sarah McNamara, said, “assertions that electricity retailers are making excessive profits at the expense of NSW households is not borne out by the facts”.
The ACCC is conducting a detailed analysis, based on data provided by electricity retailers, as part of its retail electricity pricing inquiry. The inquiry is considering the drivers of electricity price increases over the past 10 years. A key area of focus for the ACCC inquiry has been identifying retailers’ profit margins.
The inquiry’s preliminary report, released in October 2017, found that retailer profit margins across the national electricity market ranged from 5 to 9% and were 8% in New South Wales, on an EBITDA basis.
This is the most current data set available. It is incontrovertible. If we are to have a proper debate on electricity prices and the best ways to address them, these facts must be the starting point.
The ACCC found that the key driver for higher electricity bills over the last 10 years had been previous network spending and more recently higher wholesale prices.
Reregulation is not the answer. The Australian Energy Market Commission’s review of competitiveness in the electricity retail sector found that reregulating energy prices will not address affordability, and could actually make things worse by killing innovation and reducing the benefits of competition.
Updated
Labor is not backing down from its campaign strategy – I wouldn’t be surprised if you hear Bill Shorten address the issue in parliament today (those 90-second members statements can be very handy).
Brendan O’Connor said the government had no right to complain about personal attacks when he spoke to the ABC this morning:
Well, in fact the government has – from the beginning of the Abbott government, and since then under the Turnbull Government – spent every day in parliament attacking the opposition and, indeed, making personal attacks against opposition members. Fine, but the prime minister should stand up to scrutiny and not have such a glass jaw.
He is the richest man in parliament. He stands to be the biggest beneficiary of the corporate tax cuts in the parliament. He just made a $7,000 tax cut for his income last week by voting with Pauline Hanson. I think [highlighting] this is absolutely reasonable, and I think the Australian public needs to understand more what values and what priorities the prime minister has.
Updated
The joint parliamentary committee on intelligence is presenting its report on foreign interference to the parliament - Paul Karp is having a looksie and will have the cliff notes version for you imminently.
The bipartisan report into the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill 2017 has just been tabled - it includes important exemptions for charities, unions and arts organisations. More details below. #auspol pic.twitter.com/ENO5tgEtpf
— Mark Dreyfus (@markdreyfusQCMP) June 25, 2018
Updated
Soft drink producers – including big cola – are planning on cutting the sugar content in their drinks by 20% by 2025.
The health minister, Greg Hunt, is speaking on that now:
There are really three things that we are doing in conjunction with industry and the beverage council to improve the quality of our food and our beverages and the outcomes.
One, we have the healthy food partnership. The initiative follows on from the healthy food partnership, which is about ensuring that the content of food and beverages is improved over time, progressively, and in a way that is acceptable to consumers.
Secondly, we have the health star rating. So whether it is mums or dads, kids at school or at university or older Australians, they can make informed choices.
Thirdly, at this budget we contributed $230m to support sports participation – in particular, by young people but also by older Australians – and preventive health activities. So improving the ability of people to take control of their own physical lives and, particularly those who aren’t active, to be active at an appropriate level for themselves. We also contributed $125m to a chronic disease fund, which will deal with many of the issues relating to obesity, cardiovascular illness and diabetes.
Then finally, that brings me to this particular project. I want to acknowledge that the Beverage Council has worked with the cane growers, with the Farmers’ Federation, with the farming community to ensure that along with our export markets, we still see a growing market and growing jobs for and through their products, but we see better health outcomes for Australians.
The 20% by 2025 pledge will improve lives, improve health and improve the quality of outcomes for Australians of all ages.
I don’t think it can be considered entirely altruistic though. While this government has ruled out any support for a sugar tax, the chatter is getting louder and louder. And corporations don’t do things just because it feels good. The consumer mood is shifting, and companies are very, very aware of that.
Updated
Labor’s penalty rate bill hasn’t even entered the debate stage yet, but the minister for small business, Craig Laundy, has some things to say.
His office has put out a statement saying, “Bill Shorten needs to come clean on his history and the union movement’s involvement in cutting penalty rate of workers for years”.
As the national secretary of the AWU, Bill Shorten cut penalty rates for some of our lowest-paid workers. Under the infamous Cleanevent deal in 2006, he stripped workers of all penalty rates, with no compensation.
What Labor and the ACTU don’t say is that some unions have been ripping off thousands of workers, particularly young Australians, for years through wage deals that strip them of penalty rates.
What Labor and the ACTU don’t tell you is that many of these deals, done mainly by the SDA union, have cut weekend penalty rates not just by a little bit, but in some cases have:
- completely cut penalty rates on Sunday
- not only cut Sunday, but have also completely cut penalty rates on Saturday
This is not new – these lines have been prosecuted in both the royal commission into unions and several times in question time. Expect to hear it more.
Updated
The department of agriculture has felt the need to “clarify” media reports about the sheep in WA, after the suspension of an exporter’s licence.
The department’s main beef is over claims in some reports the sheep are “stranded”. It says not so.
It is necessary to clarify matters raised in media reports.
Following the suspension of an exporter’s licence, there are sheep currently in a registered feedlot that had been due for export.
The next steps are a commercial matter for the company concerned.
There are a number of potential options, including processing domestically and transfer to one of a number of companies that hold current live export licences and are eligible to apply for export to the Middle East or other markets.
There is also nothing, including biosecurity measures, preventing these animals from returning to the national herd.
Exporters are responsible for ensuring they meet the animal welfare requirements imposed under commonwealth and state law.
Updated
Scott Morrison found some sparkle within the Fairfax-Ipos poll this morning:
I am pleased to see today that the prime minister is by far and away preferred by the Australian people, as he should be, whether it is on managing our economy, whether it’s managing our tax system. It’s about who can be trusted [and] all of these things demonstrate again that Malcolm Turnbull is providing the right economic leadership to Australia, but an economic leadership to Australia that is guaranteeing the essential services that Australians rely upon.
Our plan for a stronger economy is working. We are seeing that in record jobs growth. More than a million jobs created since we were first elected. We want to ensure that the benefits of that plan reach all Australians. That means we need to keep going with that plan. We live in a very competitive world. Other countries all around the world have been providing tax relief and lower taxes for their businesses.
Now, that is putting us here in Australia at a disadvantage. We are not for the big end of town, particularly not when it comes to the big end of town in Paris and New York and London and Tokyo and Singapore. That is who Bill Shorten is backing now by not supporting these tax changes. The big end of town overseas should not be getting a benefit from the Australian parliament this week by rejecting the government’s plan to make sure our company taxes are more competitive. We want our businesses to be more competitive and that is what our plan will deliver.
Updated
Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman is due to move a motion (full text below), recognising that one of Australia’s first humanitarian efforts was “to mount relief efforts for orphans and other survivors of the Armenian genocide” and describing it as “one of the darkest chapters of modern human history”.
Turkey has never accepted the term “genocide” to describe the events of 1915 despite historians demolishing its denial of responsibility for up to 1.5 million deaths – so the wording of the motion and the fact it will be debated is highly politically charged.
Guardian Australia understands that Liberal MP Tim Wilson was due to speak on the motion but Stuart Robert will now speak instead. Wilson, who is of Armenian heritage, spoke in parliament in March about “the marching of Armenians to their death”.
Asked why he is no longer speaking on the motion, Wilson said:
I have made a number of public statements recognising the Armenian genocide and I will be speaking in the House later tonight on the same topic. There were three places to speak on the motion and I volunteered to give up my spot because I have made a number of statements in the past on the subject and am giving opportunity to other members.
Full text of motion on Armenian genocide, to be moved by Trent Zimmerman later today #auspol pic.twitter.com/tep3P85eLZ
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) June 25, 2018
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull has met with Vanuatu’s prime minister, Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas. The official take is below:
It is my great pleasure to welcome the prime minister of Vanuatu, the honourable Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas, to Australia.
Australia and Vanuatu share a long history of close co-operation and today Prime Minister Salwai and I reinforced our commitment to this deep and enduring economic and security partnership.
We agreed to commence negotiations on a bilateral security treaty on common security interests, such as humanitarian assistance and disaster response, maritime surveillance and border security, police and defence cooperation.
Australia will provide technical assistance to support Vanuatu to develop its first national security strategy. This strategy will support Vanuatu’s vision for a ‘stable, sustainable and prosperous Vanuatu’, in line with its national sustainable development plan.
We agreed to enhance official police-to-police co-operation. Australia will provide assistance to recruit and train 200 new police officers by 2020, to refurbish the existing police college in [the capital] Port Vila and to support executive leadership capacity in the Vanuatu police force.
We are furthering our cyber security partnership with $400,000 in support to strengthen the capacity of Vanuatu’s computer emergency response team and develop Vanuatu’s cyber policy and legislation.
We also agreed to deepen our co-operation on labour mobility. This will increase employment opportunities for Vanuatu’s workers in Australia and help fill critical labour gaps in Australia’s rural and regional areas.
Lastly, we will continue our long-standing support for Vanuatu’s education sector with up to $19.5m to promote better education outcomes for ni-Vanuatu boys and girls. The funding package will help improve school enrolment, literacy and numeracy rates, strengthen teacher training, provide scholarships and develop and roll out a new curriculum.
Vanuatu is one of Australia’s key partners in the Pacific. I look forward to continuing our work together to foster stability and prosperity through the implementation of Australia’s stepped-up engagement in the region.
Updated
Paul Karp wrote up the latest Pulse poll, which found that most Australians don’t feel as if they have benefited from almost three decades of consecutive growth:
After 26 consecutive years of economic growth most Australians either believe they have not benefited or don’t know if they have gained, according to a new poll.
The national poll of almost 3,000 people for the Committee for Economic Development of Australia is evidence of what it calls an ‘economic disconnect’, with perceived winners including large corporations and executives.
The results are published in Ceda’s Community Pulse 2018 report, released on Monday, and provide grist for political arguments about addressing wage stagnation through tax cuts.
You’ll find the rest of that story here
Updated
Just a totally candid moment, chillin’ with the locals.
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The education minister, Simon Birmingham, has been out and about almost every day in the last week or so, as the deadline to switch over to the government’s new childcare system fast approaches. One week to go:
On average, eligible families will be $1,333 a year better off per child under the Turnbull government’s reforms, but families need to make the switch to the new system or they risk disrupting their payments.
We’re investing an extra $2.5bn and overhauling the system by retargeting subsidies to families working the most and to families earning the least, abolishing the annual rebate cap for most families, and introducing an hourly rate cap to put downward pressure on fee increases.
Parents and carers need to log on to myGov or visit www.education.gov.au/childcare and update their details if they haven’t done so already. The clock is ticking, Australia.
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Labor has announced it will set up a NBN service guarantee if it wins the next election. From Michelle Rowland and Stephen Jones’ joint statement:
Labor will deliver a better experience for NBN consumers with a plan to establish an NBN service guarantee that will set regulated timeframes and wholesale service standards for:
- fault rectification
- installations
- missed appointments
The NBN service guarantee will be enforced through financial penalties that will apply if service standards are not met.
Updated
Inside the Coalition party room, the energy debate is still bubbling away, as the energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, and the moderates work to fight off Tony Abbott’s attacks. More and more MPs – and traditional supporter groups – are lining up to talk up the policy.
How will Abbott react? Well last week he warned the government was ignoring the backbench and hinted he may cross the floor. But so far, it has been a lot of bluster, with not a lot of support – at least not from outside the usual suspects. Abbott is fighting a few battles within the party room at the moment – energy, Craig Kelly’s preselection – but doesn’t seem to be gaining that much ground, at least not yet.
Here was Malcolm Turnbull on the Neg this morning:
Well the national energy guarantee is a great policy. It will secure lower energy prices. It will secure reliable and affordable energy. You don’t have to take my word for it. Look at what the Energy Security Board says – it will reduce wholesale power prices.
In fact, we’ve already seen wholesale power prices reduced under our policies by about 30% over the last year. We’ve seen gas prices, wholesale gas prices, come down by about 50% over the last 18 months. We’re starting to see retail prices – which is obviously where it really counts, the electricity power bill you get at home – they’re starting to come down too. So we are turning the corner on higher energy prices because we have a plan for affordable and reliable energy.
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The shadow finance minister, Jim Chalmers, had a chat at doors this morning, before heading into work. He said Labor was right to point out what benefit the prime minister receives from his own legislation:
Self-evidently, Malcolm Turnbull would be a big beneficiary, not just of the company tax cuts, but also the personal income tax cuts that went through the Senate last week.
It’s entirely legitimate for us to point out, as we have been doing, that Malcolm Turnbull, as a former investment banker, brings a series of influences to his job as the prime minister. It’s entirely legitimate for us to point out that Malcolm Turnbull always sides with the top end of town over middle Australia. That’s what he did last week with the income tax cuts; that’s what he’s proposing to do this week with the company tax cuts.
This is the most out-of-touch prime minister that Australia has ever had. He brings to this job, not an affinity with working people, but a preference for the investment bankers of Point Piper. We will be pointing that out in a variety of ways between now and the next election.
For those who may have missed it when we have previously talked about this stuff, we usually refer to these little mini-press conferences as “doors” because they are done at the doors to the building. There are several different entrances in this building – including through the basement (once they finally finish the renovations here), so politicians who come through the doors only do so if they have something to say. It’s usually on a bit of a roster – the spokesperson for the particular subject is sent out to lay the foundation of the line for the day.
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The debate on Labor’s bill has been adjourned (date to be set) and Bob Katter is now presenting his own private member’s bill, which is on banking system reform.
Which reminds me – Gareth Hutchens is following along with the banking royal commission – so keep an eye out for his updates.
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Cory Bernardi has kicked his fundraising up a notch, from the latest Australian Conservatives email:
We need to start campaigning now to restore common sense to Canberra in the next federal election.
But we have only five days left to build the election campaign war chest needed to show Australians how we’ll fight for:
- stronger families;
- lower taxes; and
- restoration of a civil society.
Your gift today will help put up the strongest fight possible.
Thank you for helping to show Australians there’s a better way!
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Parliament has begun and Bill Shorten has opened with a private member’s bill to protect penalty rates.
Labor is introducing the fair work amendment (restoring penalty rates) bill.
“When working people have an increase in their penalty rates ... what it means is these people spend the money they earn – when you earn $40,000, $50,000, $60,000, you don’t have the luxury of [investing in schemes], you spend every dollar you earn,” Shorten said.
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There are a few delegations in Canberra today, worried about upcoming legislation.
Consumer advocates are concerned the payday lenders legislation could be watered down – they are here to put their case (the ABC has spoken to a few of them, which you can listen to here). Meanwhile, the Australian Council of Social Service is also in town to lobby against the corporate tax cuts, among other issues.
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The whole kit and caboodle was put on for Charlot Salwai this morning – it is the Vanuatu prime minister’s first visit to Canberra.
Climate change will absolutely be on the agenda – our Pacific islands neighbours know intimately what dangers rising sea levels will bring – as will China’s growing role in the Pacific.
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Richard Di Natale addressed Labor’s tax campaign ads during his chat with Sky News this morning – the too-long-didn’t-read version breaks down to, “not a huge fan of negative tactics, but in this case – where’s the lie?”
Di Natale:
It was the government who brought it on last week by attacking members of the opposition, the opposition leader and Tanya Plibersek and so on.
The bottom line is, it is not the prime minister’s wealth which is the problem – it is the fact you have massive corporate donations going to the Liberal party and this is the Liberal party doing the bidding of their corporate mates at the big end of town.
It is a stinker of a policy, it rips billions of dollars away from where we need them ... It will do very little to actually improve competitiveness within the business sector .
... Multinationals make their decisions based on a number of factors and it is not just the headline corporate tax rate; we know it is a lot more complicated when it comes to working out where they are going to invest.
... We won’t be supporting those corporate tax cuts. I think the prospect of them getting through the Senate is very slim. Having said that, we saw Pauline Hanson say she wasn’t going to support the income tax cuts and change her mind on that. Centre Alliance did the same thing, so I understand that the government is going to be piling the pressure on, but they [the crossbenchers] need to stay strong.
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'They want to attack me for having a quid'
Malcolm Turnbull has also addressed Labor’s latest campaign ad and Pauline Hanson’s multinational tax avoidance concerns.
On the ad:
The Labor party is just abandoning everything it used to stand for – so they are now – they want to attack me for having a quid. They want to attack me and Lucy for working hard, investing, having a go, making money, paying tax, paying plenty of tax, giving back to the community, which we do – that’s apparently not the Labor way anymore. You are not allowed to have a go and be successful.
The Labor party has turned on everything it used to stand for. It used to be a party that supported aspiration, people getting ahead, people aspiring to build businesses, get on to employ people, make a buck, pay your tax.
If you do that – Luce and I have done that all our lives. Absolutely all our lives, so now they want to attack that.
Really it is aspiration and investment and people having a go and being enterprising that actually makes the economy work.
... I have to say, the old Labor leaders, whether it is my old mate Neville Wran, or Bob Hawke, or Keating, they would be as horrified at Bill Shorten’s politics of envy, this mean-spirited negativity, as they would be as horrified of it, as obviously, Anthony Albanese is.
(Just a reminder that Turnbull inherited $2m – which is how he got his start)
Prime Minister @TurnbullMalcolm: @AustralianLabor wants to attack Lucy & I for having a quid. Labor has turned on everything it stood for. Neville Wran, Bob Hawke or Paul Keating would be horrified by @billshortenmp's politics of envy.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) June 24, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/qpyTIxcCeK #FirstEdition pic.twitter.com/TVt4d2WFoj
And on multinational tax avoidance:
We are doing more on multinational tax avoidance than any previous government. Any previous federal government.
In fact, out multinational tax avoidance legislation, which is one of the toughest in the world – many people say it is the toughest in the OECD – has resulted in $7b in additional corporate revenue coming in to the Australian tax net.
And that is one of the reasons why the budget is in better shape. So we have been relentless on this.
We are Liberals, we believe in lower taxes, but tax is not optional. It is compulsory. So we want to have lower taxes, but everyone has to pay their share in accordance with the law. And we are getting very good results from that.
So we are very committed to everyone paying their tax, whether they are big companies or smaller companies, everyone has to pay their fair share of tax.
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Scott Morrison addressed the Ceda breakfast in Canberra this morning. It was all, tax, tax, tax, as you can imagine. Afterwards, he had a chat to the media about why the government was still pushing its company tax cuts. (One of Pauline Hanson’s latest demands is that companies be forced to have their call centres in Australia, which is not as an insane proposal as it may have once been, given that we saw the government try and force an energy company to do what it wanted with its privately owned asset not so long ago.)
The government wants to see our entire enterprise tax plan implemented. The reason for that is because we don’t want to shortchange the Australian people. We don’t want to shortchange them on their jobs. We don’t want to shortchange them on their prosperity. We don’t want to shortchange small businesses’ depend on larger businesses because they’re all part of the one economy. Larger businesses are doing better, smaller businesses are doing better, and vice versa.
We want a tax system that makes sure all of our businesses are competitive. If you work for a larger business, you should have the same tax system that supports your business being more competitive than other businesses that are smaller. Your job is just as important if you’re working for a large business, as the job of someone working for a smaller business.
That’s why we’re out there advocating for everybody’s job, every business, because all of those businesses is what creates the stronger economy that everybody [deserves]. Everybody’s infrastructure – their roads, their hospitals, their schools. It all depends on a stronger economy, and you will not get a stronger economy by having corporate tax rates at some of the highest levels in the advanced, developed world.
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Darren Chester was on the ABC this morning (no one in the government appears to have a problem with the ABC when they are on it) talking about Labor’s latest campaign:
Well, that’s grubby politics and people see through the grubby personal attacks. The prime minister has made money in his life. He is a successful businessperson. It is grubby politics and it is beneath contempt and it is typical of the way that some people want to play politics in Australia today and I’m surprised the Labor party has gone down to such low levels.
Mark Butler also had a chat to the ABC and said that voters have a right to know how politicians benefit from legislation they pass:
It is appropriate that voters and people in the community generally understand what all politicians, whether the prime minister or humble backbenchers, have to gain or lose when we make decisions to vote on particular tax packages. I think, of course, we are in an election contest. This will be a hard-fought election, but it would be ridiculous of Malcolm Turnbull to complain about the ads, given the degree he went off at Tanya Plibersek and her husband in the parliament last week.
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Pauline Hanson has appeared alongside senator Derryn Hinch on Channel Seven’s Sunrise to discuss company tax – and both reveal they have been lobbied by Clive Palmer to vote for the Coalition’s package.
Both have a remarkably similar account – that Palmer said he has $450m in the bank and could take that money overseas, presumably because Australia would not be as competitive without a company tax cut.
Palmer has announced a relaunch of his party in the guise of the United Australia Party and even pinched a senator from One Nation: Brian Burston.
Hanson claimed Palmer threatened her by saying “if you don’t back the corporate tax cuts, you won’t get our preferences”. “He’s lobbying for the government for corporate tax cuts,” she said.
Hanson said the government has not given her “any assurances they are going after multinationals to get them to pay their taxes in this country”.
Hinch explains that he wants the threshold for the company tax cut lifted from $50m to $500m, which would give 6,000 more companies a tax cut without rewarding “the robber banks”. He said Palmer had lobbied him too, which he found “insulting”.
Senators @PaulineHansonOZ and @HumanHeadline on corporate tax cuts and why they're NOT supporting them! #auspol #sun7 pic.twitter.com/28VMa5cdGP
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) June 24, 2018
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Good morning
I hope you enjoyed your weekend – because things are about to get crazy.
It’s the last sitting week before the six-week winter recess and both sides are doing all they can to position themselves ahead of the byelections – and full-on election mode.
So it is all tax, tax, tax. Selling the package the government just passed to the public, and selling the company tax package to the crossbench – mostly Pauline Hanson.
Hanson blinked late last week and said she would be open to talking to the government about company tax again, if they do something about multinational tax avoidance. Scott Morrison says the government has already addressed that – but it has reopened the chat lines. Longman is still top of Hanson’s mind – the latest Fairfax-Ipos poll showed One Nation was polling at around 6% nationally, but in Queensland, particularly those outer urban areas like Longman, One Nation polls much higher.
Hanson, whose party is now reduced to just one other senator, is fighting for her own political future. So you can expect her to react accordingly.
But Labor has drawn its line in the sand over tax, and it is not backing off. The Fairfax poll I just mentioned showed the opposition was ahead, 53% to 47%, although Bill Shorten is still behind Malcolm Turnbull as preferred leader. That’s a tricky measure – not everyone is as engaged in politics as this community, which means the opposition leader, no matter who they are, usually has a lower profile/recognition factor.
But don’t doubt the campaign has begun.
Labor put out its latest ads overnight, which has the government upset over the oppositon “playing the man, not the ball”. Peter Khalil was just on Sky News addressing that criticism as the government not understanding how football works. “He’s the prime minister, he has the ball,” he said.
Tim Wilson was on minutes later to say: “Labor attacking the prime minister ... yawn, frankly.”
Meanwhile, the government has jumped on Anthony Albanese’s speech on Friday night, when he urged Labor to “stick to its values” as showing division in the party, in terms of strategy. Labor says it is united about wanting to defeat the government. And the ball rolls on.
The Coalition has slammed a new @AustralianLabor ad attacking the Prime Minister over his corporate past. It's a new strategy from Labor which is trying to link @TurnbullMalcolm's personal wealth with the government's plans to cut the company tax rate. #auspol #7News pic.twitter.com/vfGIVoxo9j
— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) June 24, 2018
And it is not even 9am yet! Mike Bowers is out and about – he is out the front of the building, where the parliament is preparing to welcome the prime minister of Vanuatu for the first time. Follow him at @mikepbowers and @mpbowers. He may also pop up in the story of @pyjamapolitics, if we get time to catch our breath!
You’ll catch me in the comments and @amyremeikis.
Ready?
Let’s go!
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