Night-time politics
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The biggest news out of today is that Labor and the Coalition have come to an arrangement on the budget savings bill. Contrary to Coalition suggestion that they would find the crossbenchers easier to negotiate with, this coming together clears the way for Labor and the Coalition to do more deals down the track. You can argue over the specific policy items – such as cuts to Arena – but in my opinion the signs of compromise are a good thing. It breaks the deadlock on the shocking tribalism that inhabited the 43rd parliament under Tony Abbott as opposition leader. It clears the way for more centrist policies. It also is an acknowledgement that oppositions, present and future, can take part constructively in policy formulation. Labor thanked the Coalition. The Coalition thanked Labor.
- The future of the plebiscite remains in doubt, notwithstanding the Coalition cabinet and party room ticking off on public funding for the yes and no cases, a committee system to dole out the funding and a date: February 11. Labor still hasn’t said whether it will vote against the plebiscite legislation even though it doesn’t support the poll and said it could cause suicides. The Liberal senator Dean Smith has flagged he could not support the plebiscite bill.
- Late today, the parliament was arguing about the standing orders. These are the parliamentary rules. Labor has accused the Coalition of trying to change the rules after it lost the votes on September one. Christopher Pyne, leader of the house, says it is no such thing – the recommendations came from previous committee reports.
I am going to have to leave it there ...
Thanks to the brains trust Paul Karp, Katharine Murphy and Gareth Hutchens. Mikey Bowers, take a bow. Thanks to readers too for all your help. All the contributions are gratefully accepted. You know who you are.
Tomorrow we should see the plebiscite legislation.
Onwards and upwards.
Goodnight.
Updated
We do miss Shalailah.
Australia's sovereignty at risk from "unelected swill" of the UN, Roberts says, channeling Keating. "We need an Aus Exit."
— Shalailah Medhora (@shalailah) September 13, 2016
Climate activists "use photos of cute smiling dolphins" to prove their point when "that has nothing to do with human-indused climate change"
— Shalailah Medhora (@shalailah) September 13, 2016
"Warming is beneficial," Roberts says. "The reverse of what we're told."
— Shalailah Medhora (@shalailah) September 13, 2016
"Government is a beast that wants to control our lives," Roberts says.
— Shalailah Medhora (@shalailah) September 13, 2016
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You know it makes sense.
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Malcolm Roberts...precious planet...humble work...belief...testimony...the Great Pauline Hanson...our Pauline...the people’s politician... honest... courageous... establishment...thank you Pauline...thank you James Ashby.
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Christopher Pyne wants to deal with Albanese’s “canard”, that the changes were due to the loss of the votes in the last sitting week.
The events of September 1 – as we call them on this side of the House – had no bearing on the changes to standing order 132.
He first proposed them in August, says Pyne.
All the way along I have tried to show my cooperation, says Pyne.
Albo shouts: “your a saint!”
It’s not often the member for Grayndler calls me a saint ... We want the 45th parliament to be good for Australia.
Pyne is justifying the convention of “misadventure” for MPs who miss votes as part of the changes. This would make certain allowances if members miss a division. Pyne cites the example of a MP in the past who had got “stuck in facilities” in the parliament. He explains that the MP got stuck because he thought it was a “push-pull door” rather than a sliding door.
The Speaker asked him to come to the point. Pyne admits to digressing. He suggests Albo often distracts him.
(I do love these two and their parliamentary parrying. It’s worth remembering they are friends and Pyne recently attended the launch of Albo’s biography.)
There is a division now.
Updated
Meanwhile Malcolm Roberts, One Nation senator, is giving us a science lesson in his first speech in the senate.
He has already told us that he got interested in politics when he became part of the “grassroots uprising” against the “carbon dioxide tax”.
Communities and families after suffering from the climate fraud, says Roberts.
Updated
Anthony Albanese is up arguing rules now.
I remember the group hug when Christopher Pyne on behalf of the opposition signed the agreement for a better parliament.
Albo is pointing out the difference between the 43rd parliament and this one.
We didn’t lose a vote in three years of a hung parliament, says Albo. This mob didn’t survive three days.
You may remember all those hours ago, Tony Burke opposed some of these changes. Labor and the crossbenchers wrote to the government with some other changes but Pyne hangs out a carrot. He says he will do the government ones first and then afterwards, he will consider the non-government ones.
These are the Labor/crossbench suggestions:
Briefly, we propose the following amendments to the Standing Orders:
1) Returning the membership of the Selection Committee to five Government Members, three Labor Members, two crossbench Members and the Speaker (or Deputy Speaker)as Chair;
2) Returning the power of the Selection Committee to recommend items of Private Members’ Business to be voted on;
3) Returning supplementary questions to Question Time;
4) Adopting a 10-minute Responses to Ministers’ answers or a so-called ‘take note’ session following Question Time for any Member to respond to answers given during Question Time for a maximum of 90 seconds;
5) Allowing the crossbench question during Question Time to have a time limit of 45 seconds instead of 30 seconds; and
6) Other amendments consistent with previous Standing Orders.
Opposition manager Tony Burke says Christopher Pyne is only trying to change the rules because the government’s MPs missed the vote in the last sitting week.
The leader of the house had a humiliation last Thursday and he is trying to promise the prime minister it will not happen again.
Christopher Pyne is now speaking to the house about the changes to the rules in the lower house.
He says he intend to “truncate constructive debate” but warns if it gets ugly, he will.
FYI:
This is a scathing @ANAO_Australia report into Australia's contracting arrangements for Nauru and Manus Island pic.twitter.com/9WsnDTPOEc
— Paul Farrell (@FarrellPF) September 13, 2016
This was about an insult in the Senate.
Watch these 7 Liberal & National senators apologise for calling a Labor politician a "grub" in Parliament #auspol pic.twitter.com/FDbuugBvU2
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) September 13, 2016
I like grubs. They do good work in my garden. The comments of Senator Cameron were disgraceful. #auspol https://t.co/EWR3Aqh0Aa
— James McGrath (@JamesMcGrathLNP) September 13, 2016
Updated
Essential poll is out.
Thanks to Leroy for the summary.
Essential fed: TPP ALP 52 (0) L/NP 48 (0) Primary L/NP 38(-1) ALP 37(0) GRN 10(0) NXT4(+1) ON 5(0) OTH 7(+1) https://t.co/JgNX9rM6vx #auspol
— Leroy (@Leroy_Lynch) September 13, 2016
Essential touches on other issues as well. This one caught my eye. The summary is by Essential.
A majority of respondents were opposed to all forms of donations to political parties except for donations from individual Australian voters (50% should be allowed).
They were most strongly opposed to donations from foreign companies (74%), casinos (71%), property developers (69%), mining companies (68%) and energy companies (67%).
Liberal/National voters were more likely than Labor voters to think donations from different groups should be allowed (with the exception of unions).
The Senate is discussing a matter of public importance from the Greens: “The need for the Turnbull government and the Labor party to commit to comprehensive and immediate political donations reform”.
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ScoMo aside.
You are all over this, Mr Speaker
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This is brilliant from Mike Bowers.
Member for Cowan Anne Aly reacts to Minister Dan Tehan during #QT @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/LeZEouwqAB
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) September 13, 2016
Let’s just take stock.
We have first speeches from One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts and Labor senator Murray Watt.
And we are expecting a vote on the adjournment rules and house sitting hours in the next hour.
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Regarding that rare question from Labor to Bill Shorten during question time.
Interesting: @terrimbutler asks a question of oppo. leader @billshortenmp - very rare occurrence @gabriellechan #qt pic.twitter.com/4WnznemWFQ
— Patrick (@PatrickOlympia) September 13, 2016
Bill Shorten is speaking to a “matter of public importance” – a regular debate – this time on:
The prime minister’s failure to deliver in his first year of office.
Shorten starts with a characterisation of Turnbull as the “sun king”.
Shorten is reading from the anniversary assessments of Turnbull, including by Michelle Grattan, Andrew Bolt and Michael Gordon.
Updated
Last Dixer is on cyber security and question time comes to an end.
Chris Bowen to Malcolm Turnbull: During the election campaign the PM said his superannuation policy was “absolutely iron-clad” and had “the full support naturally of the government, the cabinet and party room”. Will the PM update the house on progress of the government’s superannuation changes? Do the changes still have the full support of the party room or is it another case of so far, so good?
After a crack about Labor asking the government questions, Turnbull says the matter is in hand.
Consultations continue on implementation. It is an important issue. The treasurer and the minister for revenue have it in hand.
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The transport minister, Darren Chester, gets a question on infrastructure.
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Tanya Plibersek to Julie Bishop: The former conservative PM of the UK David Cameron said overnight, “As a former PM it is very difficult to sit as a backbencher and not be an enormous diversion and distraction from what the government is doing.” Can the foreign minister explain the government’s position on Mr Cameron’s comments and is she aware of any other former PMs in any other countries causing an enormous diversion on the backbench?
The question is ruled out of order.
Updated
Still catching up on Mr Bowers.
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A government question to the small business minister, Michael McCormack.
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Labor’s Terri Butler asks Bill Shorten a question. Say wha?
Will the leader of the opposition inform the House about the progress through the parliament of his private member’s bill that with enshrine marriage equality in Australia?
Shorten talks about his private member’s bill and calls on the PM to:
Go back to the views that he once cherished and vote with us to allow the private member’s bill in making marriage equality a reality for once and for all.
Updated
Kelly O’Dwyer, the financial services minister, gets a Dixer on tax fraud. She outlines the job of the serious financial crimes taskforce.
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A Dixer to the health minister, Sussan Ley: I remind the minister that Medicare investment and bulk-billing are at record highs under the Turnbull government. As such, will the minister update the House on the government’s plans to build a healthier Medicare?
In the process of answering, Ley calls Shorten a “Medicare fraud”. Albo asks her to withdraw and Speaker Smith agrees, clipping Christopher Pyne over the ear at the same time.
The leader of the House [Pyne] is meant to be on pause. I wish I had a mute button. The minister for health will withdraw and continue her answer.
Pyne smiles a big smile. Since the retirement of the former small business minister Bruce Billson, Pyne deserves Katharine Murphy’s award as a serial enthusiast.
Updated
Labor’s Tim Watt to Malcolm Turnbull: How are his policies on marriage equality any different from the policies of the government when the member for Warringah was the PM?
Turnbull:
The policy for a plebiscite was adopted while the member for Warringah was PM, it was adopted by the cabinet, of which I was a member, endorsed by the party room of which I was a member, taken to the election as PM, endorsed by the Australian people and now we are delivering on our promise.
Updated
There is a Dixer to Steve Ciobo, the trade minister, on the services sector. He goes into the education services market, which leads to Top Education Institute (which paid the overspend for Dastyari).
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Labor’s Terri Butler to Turnbull: Lyle Shelton said that $15m of taxpayer funding for the marriage equality plebiscite could be spent campaigning against what is taught in Australian schools. Is that correct?
Turnbull:
I can’t comment on what Mr Shelton said but what I can say to you is that the purpose of the money given to the two committees will be for the production of advertising and advocacy material directed at the vote – the issue in the plebiscite. That is all.
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A question to defence industry minister, Christopher Pyne: The minister outline the house why it is critical to take a consistent approach to the defence of Australia’s national interests.
This is the Sam Dastyari question.
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Shorten to Turnbull: With regard to the PM’s plebiscite, what groups will be eligible fortaxpayer funding, and what restrictions will there be on what this funding can be spent upon?
Turnbull says the $7.5m will be allocated to each of two committees, one for “yes” and one for “no” . The money will only be able to be fully audited as it was in 1999. The money will only be used for advertising and research.
The agriculture minister and deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, is asked about the beef industry.
Updated
Dreyfus to Turnbull: I refer to reports that a 10-person committee will decide how money is allocated for his expensive, damaging and divisive plebiscite on marriage equality, consisting of five private citizens and MPs. What MPs will be on this committee? Will it be the PM or the member for Warringah [Abbott] or the MP for Menzies [Kevin Andrews] or Senator Abetz or Senator Bernardi?
A government MP yells it won’t be Senator Dastyari.
Turnbull says he would be happy to consult and notes he was on the republican committee during the referendum in 1999.
We did not win the referendum, as we know, but it was not because equal funding was provided to both sides. Is [Shorten] suggesting that the only way the Australian people would vote yes for same-sex marriage is if no funding was given to each side? Is that what his suggestion is? That is ridiculous.
Updated
The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, is asked about the new Colombo plan.
Updated
Greens MP Adam Bandt follows up.
Lyle Shelton from the Australian Christian Lobby has said that the push for marriage equality is “causing unthinkable things to happen, just as unthinkable things happened in Germany in the 1930s”. Is your hold on power really so slim that you will spend over $7m of taxpayers’ money so bigots like these will spread their opinions on a plebiscite?
Turnbull says the plebiscite details have a convention in the republican debate.
As is someone who would like the “yes” vote to be successful, he does his cause no service by insinuating that those who oppose same-sex marriage are homophobic or bigoted.
Updated
The Speaker pulls up the house a number of times.
Turnbull thanks Eddie and his two mums for coming.
Eddie will know and Eddie will certainly come to know in the years ahead, as he gets older, that laws are made in this place that affect all Australians ... Australians make choices in elections, they make choices in referendums, they will make choices in this plebiscite ... But, above all, Mr Speaker ... I want to thank him being here today with his two mums, as the deputy leader of the opposition said. We respect them, we respect their family and we will respect the love they have for their boy.
Updated
Plibersek to Turnbull: This morning I met 13-year-old Eddie, who is visiting Canberra today with his two mums, asking parliament to block a plebiscite. He said to me and I quote, “Why should people who barely know us make an assumption on our families and vote on how we can live?” Can the PM explain why Eddie should have to put up with a $7.5m campaign, by people who have never met him, telling him that there is something wrong with his family?
Julie Bishop yells, how low will you go?
Eddie is in the public gallery. Turnbull starts looking towards the gallery.
We all welcome Eddie and his parents to the House today. We are pleased that he is here. Eddie will understand that everything we do here in this parliament is designed to ensure that Australia becomes an even better place for him to grow up in and realise his dreams and, in this respect, everything we do is about him and his generation. But Mr Speaker, I’m very disappointed that the deputy leader of the opposition would use Eddie, take advantage of Eddie’s presence in this way.
Updated
Second Dixer to Scott Morrison on the budget bill compromise with Labor. He thanks the shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen.
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Marriage equality plebiscite deets
The attorney general, George Brandis, and the special minister of state, Scott Ryan, have released details of the government’s proposed marriage equality plebiscite.
The basics are that it will:
- be a compulsory vote on 11 February 2017
- ask voters “Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to be married?”
- result in the “yes” and “no” cases receiving $7.5m of public funding each, to be administered by two committees of 10 people (five parliamentarians, five citizens)
Some further details:
- Other third-party groups, including churches and LGBTI lobby groups, will still be able to spend their own money on advertising but it will be up to TV stations and other media whether to carry their ads
- The plebiscite will not be automatically binding or self-executing. The successful side will be the one with the majority of votes, nationwide, but result will be reported by each polling place, division and state – leaving room for parliamentarians to follow what their electorate or state says, not the nation
- Brandis and Ryan did not rule out a voluntary plebiscite if the legislation for a compulsory one is voted down but the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, didn’t rule out a free vote either – so it’s unclear what happens if Labor votes it down
Updated
Chamber moments.
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The first government question (Dixer) was on the economy.
Shorten to Turnbull: The Herald Sun reports today that the attorney general originally proposed to cabinet that neither side would receive public funding but that a group of conservatives, including the treasurer, the deputy PM and the immigration minister, rolled the attorney general. Is this civil war what the PM means when he says, “So far, so good”?
Turnbull:
It’s interesting, the member for Grayndler [Anthony Albanese] sitting there stoney-faced as talk about civil war ensues.
Reaching across the aisle, these blokes.
Updated
Happy face.
Sad face.
So Turnbull segues onto Sam Dastyari.
Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull: How does the PM respond to reports that he told his cabinet last night to keep the details of the plebiscite very close to their chests, directly warn them not to leak the details of cabinet’s discussions, details which were then almost immediately leaked to David Lipson at Lateline?
Turnbull says here we are, bringing about a fab compromise on the budget repair bill and what do you have,
Another smart alec question from the leader of the opposition.
Updated
Correction to earlier post on the committees. The attorney general has confirmed there will be two committees – one for the yes and one for the no.
As that was a very information dense press conference, I will come back to you with more details because now we have question time.
Updated
Brandis does not answer whether the plebiscite will be binding.
I will let the leader of the government address that.
Brandis says given polls show Australians support marriage equality, Bill Shorten is the only person standing in the way.
[Shorten] is the one person who now stands between the Australian people and their right to have the say that they want to have on this important social question and he is also the one person who stands between gay Australians and their capacity to be admitted to the institution of marriage, which is something I strongly favour.
Updated
Tax status of plebiscite campaign donations
Deductible gift recipient status will be provided to these official “yes” and “no” committees so they can take tax deductible donations. The tax deduction will be capped at $1,500, which is again the same that applies to political parties in the Electoral Act.
Updated
Scratch lunch. The attorney general, George Brandis, and the special minister of state, Scott Ryan, are at a presser on the plebiscite.
Brandis says the bill will be introduced this week, the plebiscite will be February 11, the question will be: Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?
In the event the plebiscite were to be passed then I would introduce legislation to give effect to the will of the people to amend the Marriage Act shortly thereafter.
Updated
Lunchtime politics
- Big news is the Coalition and Labor have come to a compromise that increases the savings in the budget omnibus bill to $6.3bn. The government has agreed to cut the baby bonus, they have struck a compromise on Arena to lessen the cuts to $500m, they have agreed to sideline the dental program cuts and the psychiatric welfare cuts for an argument on another day. Labor beat the Coalition out of the blocks to claim the win, Malcolm Turnbull followed up. He said, I told you I would deal across the aisle.
- The party room has ticked off on the cabinet proposal for the plebiscite. It involves $7.5m of funding to both “yes” and “no” cases and a committee of five MPs and five citizens to determine where that funding goes. The Liberal senator Dean Smith has announced to the party room he cannot vote for the plebiscite. Tony Abbott has told the party room he would respect the outcome. The wriggle room in his formula is if his electorate votes against. But the plebiscite bill still looks like it will have some serious trouble in the Senate. If Labor does not support, it will fall over. No plebiscite.
- The government is changing the lower-house rules after the vote loss the previous sitting week. Government senators are still filibustering in the Senate. Eric Abetz has railed against George Soros and GetUp. Nigel Scullion is talking about his portfolio and what a great job the Nationals director Scott Mitchell has done.
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Those are the broad points. Lunch for five minutes then into question time.
Updated
I am told that, in the Coalition party room, there was no opposition to the government agreeing to drop the baby bonus to compromise with Labor.
Hey National MPs and senators, let me know if that was not the case.
Updated
Andrew Probyn of the West Australian asks about the WA state government’s opposition to the timing of the plebiscite on February 11, given it would be a distraction to the state election campaign.
Can I just say to you, firstly the timing – we said we would have it as soon after the election as was practicable. February 11 is the soonest day. If Bill Shorten supports it, if he gets onboard and supports the plebiscite it will be held on 11 February. Absolutely consistent with our commitment.
Mathias Cormann, finance minister and West Australian, says people know the difference.
I don’t believe that this will be a distraction for the people of WA in the context of a state election. People understand the difference between those two processes.
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull is asked whether he will rule out a vote in parliament if the plebiscite falls over. He delivers the justification for the plebiscite but does not rule out a parliamentary vote.
Scott Morrison is asked about whether the other savings not agreed to by Labor will be dropped. Morrison says absolutely not.
The treasurer, Scott Morrison, reminds the audience:
This is in response to the government’s initiative to put the measures that Labor said they supported before the last election and were included in their costings into one bill and it focused attention on the need to arrest the debt by moving forward with these measures.
Now, in the course of any discussion, there is give and take, as there has to be, and there will be in the future, no doubt, because that will be the nature of business in the 45th parliament.
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull: we are working across the aisle
Malcolm Turnbull has begun. He thanks Labor for its constructive negotiations.
He says he always said he would work across the aisle with Labor to secure savings to improve the budget.
This demonstrates we are delivering on our economic plan. We are delivering on our commitment to bring the budget back into balance and that with goodwill and good faith, working across the aisle we can deliver results in this parliament.
Updated
The Liberal senator Dean Smith has told his party room he will not vote for the plebiscite.
Smith has also spoken to Matthew Knott of Fairfax here. It is not clear whether Smith will cross the floor or abstain.
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A vote in the House.
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The other thing you need to know is that the prime minister is having a press conference in about five minutes.
There has been some procedural stuff happening in the lower house and the Senate. The tobacco excise bill and the customs tariff amendment (tobacco) bill.
The tobacco excise bill was to increase the rate of excise duty on tobacco and tobacco products through a series of four annual increases of 12.5%, commencing on 1 September 2017.
One has got through the House, the other was deferred. Which leaves the Senate still a bit light on but not empty. You could draw all sorts of conclusions from that deferral decision (such as spreading out the list so the government did not have the same filibuster spectacle) but I couldn’t possibly comment.
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The Greens senator Lee Rhiannon has just won the coveted last spot on the joint standing committee on electoral matters (JSCEM). This is coveted because it will deal with the last election and also the thorny nature of political donations following the push for reform after Sam Dastyari’s fall from grace. Rhiannon beat David Leyonhjelm for the spot.
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Speaker Smith to consult the house on privileges regarding AFP raid
OK. (Inhales.) The lower house has begun.
The Speaker made a statement on the AFP search relating to the NBN leaks. Here it is in full.
On 23 August 2016, in accordance with the AFP guideline for execution of search warrants where parliamentary privilege may be involved, I was notified by the Australian federal police that it was intending to execute a search warrant on the Department of Parliamentary Services at Parliament House on Wednesday, 24 August, in relation to an investigation into the unauthorised disclosure of commonwealth information. I attach a copy of the MOU under which the guideline was made and the guideline for the information of the House.
I understand the search warrant was executed on 24 August and, as a result, a range of material was seized. From the perspective of the House, the member for Blaxland (Jason Clare) has made a claim that material that has been seized is protected by parliamentary privilege. As a consequence, this material is now held securely in the office of the clerk of the House. The member for Blaxland is seeking a ruling from the House in relation to his claim for parliamentary privilege as is provided under the guideline.
This is the first occasion on which a ruling has been sought from the House under the guideline. It will be a matter for the House as to how it will determine its position on the documents. I will undertake consultations to determine the way in which the matter will be dealt with.
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Now the Coalition-Labor compromise on the Australian Renewable Energy Agency involves a cut of $500m. The Greens and environmental groups are disappointed.
Adam Bandt, Greens MP:
Labor’s deal to cut half a billion dollars from clean energy has exposed them as clean energy charlatans. Labor had absolutely no reason to cut half a billion dollars out of Arena. If Bill Shorten had joined with the Greens and the crossbench, we could have stared the Coalition down and found fairer places to raise revenue. With the Coalition sticking to their joke of a climate policy, Arena is one of the only ways government is taking action to cut pollution and deal with climate change.”
The World Wildlife Fund’s spokeswoman Kellie Caught:
Following a cut of $435m in 2014 this means Arena will have lost nearly $1bn in funding. Why punish an agency that is making a difference? Just last week Arena’s announcement on big solar showed its worth. Every dollar Arena is spending on these projects is expected to generate $10 in return.
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Just on the further savings measures Labor are bowling up to the Coalition. According to Jim Chalmers they include:
- private health insurance,
- VET fee help measure,
- red flag on the $150 bn tax cut “the biggest piece of fiscal vandalism which is currently on the table”,
- and a way out of their “humiliating superannuation impasse” in their own caucus.
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News from hotly contested seat of Herbert, formerly held by Liberal Ewen Jones.
LNP says it has looked exhaustively at Herbert election result and it will not appeal. #auspol
— Mark Ludlow (@M_Ludlow) September 13, 2016
Budget bipartisanship: the Australian people expect us to work together
Labor finance shadow Jim Chalmers says the budget omnibus bill is a good outcome and they look to work further with the Coalition on budget savings.
We intend to continue to play a constructive role in defending the triple A credit rating which has been put at risk by the fact that we’ve had more than $100bn blow out in net debt under this government. We’ve had a deficit that has tripled since the2014 budget.
For all of these reasons, our budget repair has never been more important but that budget repair has to be fair. We call on the government today to make this the beginning, not the end of them taking up our responsible savings proposals.
This is a good outcome. It’s good that the government and the opposition have been able to come together on this bill but it shouldn’t end there. The Australian people expect us to continue to work together, that’s why Bill and Chris and the team have put on the table substantial additional savings that the government should pick up and run with.
The budget compromise: Labor supports 20 out of 24 measures
Bill Shorten describes the negotiated compromise as:
bigger, better and fairer.
These are the elements outlined by Chris Bowen.
- Labor will support 20 out of the 24 measures in the omnibus bill as put forward by the government.
- Government will drop its plans to reintroduce the baby bonus. This will save the budget $367m over the next four years.
- Arena will be funded with $800m over the next five years.
- Labor has agreed that the clean energy supplement will not be paid to new recipients of family tax benefit or the Commonwealth seniors health card. But it will be paid to recipients of Newstart, the aged pension, disability support pension, other sources of primary income.
Other measures:
- The government has withdrawn the dental elements of the bill but it reserves the right to bring this back to parliament. Labor says the two sides will have good faith discussions on other ways of achieving savings in the dental area.
- The measure which cuts welfare benefits to people held in psychiatric confinement has been dropped.
Updated
Labor and Coalition agree to budget savings bill worth $6.3bn
Under the negotiations, Labor has pushed the savings in the budget omnibus bill to $6.3bn. Chris Bowen thanked the government for their “good faith” negotiations.
Bill Shorten is having a presser with Chris Bowen.
In particular, we have protected families on low incomes, we have saved Arena by abolition from the climate sceptics. We’ve protected children’s dental program and also we’ve forced the government to capitulate on one of their signature policies, the discredited baby bonus scheme.
In terms of context for the Crowe story, Labor had always been clear that it wanted to cut the $1.4bn baby bonus.
Thanks to David for this historical context for the bonus.
The government’s original Baby Bonus was replaced in 2014 with an additional Family Tax Benefit Part A payment to families of $2,000 for their first child and $1,000 for subsequent children. Families are not eligible to receive paid parental leave from the commonwealth as well as the modified baby bonus.
The problem as I see it is the baby bonus was part of the deal with the National party when Malcolm Turnbull came to office.
From David Crowe of the Oz:
Coalition MPs are being asked to accept a cut to a $1.4 billion “baby bonus” as the price of a deal with Labor on budget repair, clearing the way for an agreement today to pass a mammoth savings bill after weeks of dispute.
The new cut will help ensure the Budget Savings (Omnibus) Bill achieves about $6 billion in savings over four years, in line with its original target even though the Coalition and Labor have agreed to water down two of the biggest measures.
While the compromise needs to be backed by MPs on both sides today, it appears likely to succeed after being agreed in talks between Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and Labor treasury spokesman Chris Bowen.
A reader is disputing my “complicated” jibe.
.@gabriellechan @guardian Yes what a shame that democracy takes organisation. So much better to have a totalitarian regime #Seriously
— Alan Thorold (@AlanThorold) September 13, 2016
The plebiscite legislation will go to parliament tomorrow.
Hey regarding the plebiscite committee, a 1990s reminder of the republic arrangements #politicslive pic.twitter.com/nsUV7HSJw6
— Gabrielle Chan (@gabriellechan) September 13, 2016
At least they haven’t added inflation.
How about a citizens' and MPs' committee for ALL government advertising? Yes?
— Bernard Keane (@BernardKeane) September 13, 2016
The funding committee is two government, two opposition and one crossbench MP plus five citizens.
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I have confirmed the committee too. This thing is getting more complicated.
Say wha? Michael from Fairfax:
Confirmed: Cabinet proposing a 10-person committee for both "yes" and "no" sides to allocate $$$, consisting of 5 MPs + 5 "citizens" #auspol
— Michael Koziol (@michaelkoziol) September 13, 2016
The Greens are urging Labor to block the plebiscite.
Greens LGBTI spokesperson Janet Rice:
Malcolm Turnbull has caved in to his backbench again. The plebiscite was dreamt up by former Prime Minister Abbott to be a divisive measure and allocating campaign funding just makes it even more divisive. This is another $15 million that we know we don’t need to spend, at a time when the government is taking money away from our most vulnerable...Labor must join the Greens in committing to block an unnecessary plebiscite.
Staggering figures.
I was remiss in failing to note this report earlier by my colleague Helen Davidson:
Australia has spent $9.6bn in just four years on its asylum seeker policy – the majority on its offshore and mainland detention centres – according to a new report from Unicef and Save the Children.
The organisations found the current policy was expensive and unsustainable in its financial, human, and diplomatic costs. It noted Australia’s expensive policies of deterrence simply pushed the growing number of displaced persons elsewhere, and caused damage to its international reputation and strategic ability to hold influence with other countries.
Analysing government data and expenditure, the report At What Cost? found taxpayers would likely spend a further $5.7bn over the next four years if nothing changed, and children transferred to Manus and Nauru would continue to suffer mental health problems, abuse and neglect.
Re that AME-National party meeting...
Australian Marriage Equality said meeting with Nationals had a "respectful tone" with "a great deal of interest" pic.twitter.com/erCPf57hAh
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) September 13, 2016
Alex Greenwich of Australian Marriage Equality is also at that press conference. He makes this point:
Should public funding be a part of the plebiscite, I think that the Labor party would struggle to support it. Now that means that without the Labor party’s support a plebiscite is looking increasingly unlikely.
I’m told there is not much support for public funding on the government’s backbench finance committee. But the public funding issue could be very much in the negotiating mix with Labor.
If you were a Coalition moderate, you might be hoping that by offering up public funding and then having to dump it to get Labor support for a plebiscite, that might be a good outcome.
If you were Coalition conservative, you might be hoping that by insisting on public funding as a non-negotiable point, you may kill Labor support and thus kill off the plebiscite all together. And the can is successfully kicked down the road.
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Kerryn Phelps is speaking on marriage equality, on the concept that unless a plebiscite goes ahead, democracy is stifled.
I think we have a democratic process which allows for our politicians to consult with their communities, to come to Canberra and to debate the issues in a parliamentary setting, having consulted widely. We’ve been having this debate now in the community for almost 20 years and my wife Jackie and I have been arguing the case for marriage equality for that whole time. And I don’t believe that there are any views that have not been aired. There is poll after poll now that has said that the Australian people want to have marriage equality, there is a substantial majority of Australians who want to see this reform, they want to see it done and they want to see a free vote by our parliamentarians to see it happen.
Let’s turn to budget omnibus bill. This is the $6bn bill that rolls all the government savings, backed by Labor in their bottom line before the election. Katharine Murphy had this story last night foreshadowing the Labor compromise.
The caucus is talking about it right now, following the shadow cabinet meeting last night.
Labor has offered the Turnbull government alternative savings in the welfare portfolio to offset its refusal to support a planned cut to Newstart, pensions and the benefits paid to disability carers through the abolition of an energy supplement for new recipients.
Guardian Australia has been told Labor will not support the abolition of the energy supplement for people on Newstart, pensions and disability benefits – but has offered up alternative savings that would preserve the government’s $6bn bottom line for the omnibus package.
Following the caucus meeting, we will have a clearer picture of exactly what the bill will look like. Then we could expect it to be whipped through the lower house to the Senate.
Given Labor’s procedural shenanigans in the House and the government’s embarrassing filibuster in the Senate, while the two sides may land a policy compromise on the bill, I’m not sure we will expect to see it waved through the senate without a tussle.
Especially given the (earlier) news on the change of rules and adjournment times.
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Rainbow families are shining over parliament house.
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A correction on the Nats meeting. The National party held their meeting last night and were addressed by Kerryn Phelps, Alex Greenwich of Australian Marriage Equality and Paul Ritchie, an ex-Abbott speech writer. I’m told Ritchie made the conservative case for marriage equality. He has laid it all out in a book: Faith, Love and Australia: The Conservative Case for Same-Sex Marriage.
There are four supporters of marriage equality in the National party room.
- Darren Chester
- Nigel Scullion
- new Murray MP Damien Drum
- Kevin Hogan
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There is a bit of argy bargy about the house rules, after the government’s loss of votes on the sitting night last Thursday. Christopher Pyne, the leader of government business in the house, has produced a rule change that effectively allows MPs to leave earlier by cancelling the 90-minute dinner break and bringing forward the adjournment.
The rule changes would also only allow a minister to extend debate. And the new rules would bring about what Pyne’s office is calling an “automatic adjournment”.
At the moment, someone moves the adjournment debate, then people can speak for 30 minutes, then they move another adjournment asking (essentially) “do you still really want to adjourn?”
The new rules would remove that second adjournment. So that would mean once the first adjournment was moved, the government is home and hosed.
Pyne’s opposite number, Tony Burke, is cranky. He said the Coalition may “claim a working majority but they have a majority who don’t want to work”.
He says the Coalition only lost those Thursday votes because it had nothing to say and no agenda.
This is what Pyne had to say:
The government has today adopted many of the recommendations of the petitions committee and the procedure committee of the 44th parliament to better manage the work of the House of Representatives. We have also moved the dinner break on Monday and Tuesday from 6.30-8.00pm to 8.00-9.30pm which is a more sensible use of members’ time. We have added hours for private members’ business and government business to the federation chamber. After the changes the chambers will sit an extra one and a half hours per week.
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Labor has played its cards pretty close on the plebiscite. While it has always opposed one, Bill Shorten has been shy to say whether Labor would support the legislation to allow one.
But given Shorten went so hard yesterday on the effect of the debate on young people coming to terms with their sexuality and the potential for the mental harm – it is very much sounding as though Labor will not support it.
His deputy, Tanya Plibersek, made similar noises today.
Paul Karp has the full wrap but this is TPlibs:
Tanya Plibersek told ABC radio the opposition had ‘deep concerns’ about the plebiscite and the cabinet position ‘doesn’t allay any of those concerns, in fact it worsens them’.
‘The idea that we’ll have a $15m publicly funded battle, when we’ve already seen the sort of material that’s put out against marriage equality, and we’ve got organisations engaged in this debate saying anti-discrimination law and rules around advertising should be suspended,’ she said.
Reports also suggested cabinet wanted to cap tax-deductible donations to each campaign at $1,500 an individual.
If Labor does not support the bill, the plebiscite is dead. These are the numbers if Labor is against:
- Labor 26
- Greens 9
- Xenophon 3
- Hinch 1
= 39 = magic number
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The deals, the deals. The art of compromise.
The marriage equality package will go to the party room to get a tickoff.
Cabinet decided $7.5m in funding for both sides. Remember the marriage equality lobby and the Coalition supporters did not want funding for the cases based on the theory “let’s get on with it”. I think it was also based on the (correct) assumption that the marriage equality case could raise far more money and support than the no case.
Labor’s leader in the Senate, Penny Wong, has just appeared at the Senate doors.
Why, oh why, do the moderates in the Liberal party keep appeasing the right, Wong asks. They will never agree anyway and they just keep gaining ground on Turnbull.
Even if [the plebiscite] succeeds they won’t vote for it anyway. Why do they think it is a viable strategy?
The Australian Christian Lobby has said it will argue against the “consequences” of same-sex marriage, not simply against the change itself.
ACL’s director, Lyle Shelton, told Radio National on Tuesday:
It’s been a very one-dimensional debate about the love of two people, but there’s been very little discussion about the consequences.
He said those consequences included “programs like Safe Schools” and “genderless sex education”.
Penny Wong says meh. She’s heard all of it and more.
Well, ACL has described children of same-sex couples as the stolen generation.
Which is why she did not want to open the floodgates with a plebiscite.
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These are the hard numbers from the Newspoll:
- Coalition 41%
- Labor 36%
- Greens 9%
- Minor parties and independents 14%.
- Tw-party-preferred 50-50
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Good morning, children, and we begin #politicslive with a parable:
When Malcolm Turnbull was at the peak of his honeymoon, Bill Shorten was in the doldrums – both in the polls and in his head. There were long nights, I’m told, weighing up the approach to an election against Turnbull, who was basking in political sunshine and flowers. The immediate decision was whether to go with Labor’s electorally risky negative gearing policy. But it seemed to reflect a larger decision as to whether to die on his feet or live on his knees, as Peter Garrett would sing. Obviously, with nothing to lose, Shorten declared “duck it” and started behaving as though he had nothing to lose.
History records that from December last year, Turnbull’s stocks began to fall and Shorten’s began to rise.
Segue to the Newspoll this morning, released in the Oz. Here is Phil Hudson:
Malcolm Turnbull reaches his one-year anniversary as prime minister with a worse approval rating than Bill Shorten and his government tied at 50-50 with the opposition.
Despite Labor’s calamity last week with the forced resignation of prominent senator Sam Dastyari from its frontbench, there has been no gain for the Coalition according to the latest Newspoll, taken exclusively for the Australian.
And this:
Analysis by the Australian shows the Coalition’s average 50.7 per cent result in two-party terms under Mr Turnbull’s leadership is the second best performance for a prime minister since 2002. Yet while Mr Turnbull remains the preferred prime minister by 43 per cent to Mr Shorten’s 31 per cent, after spending a week overseas attending summits with world leaders, satisfaction with his performance is at its lowest level since he took power. Only 34 per cent of voters say they are satisfied with Mr Turnbull’s performance as prime minister, almost half the 60 per cent satisfaction peak he reached late last year.
Now, obviously, there is a whole lot more at play for Turnbull. But for the outside observer, Turnbull continues to looked like a trapped man, trapped by his party’s right and racked by indecision. If he were free, would he have a different agenda? We may never know.
As of last night, the conservatives have just insisted on funding for the yes and no cases for the same-sex marriage plebiscite – a figure I am told is $7.5m for each side. The date of the vote will be 11 February, if the party room agrees. Given the guy did not want a plebiscite and supports marriage equality, it is a long way down off that horse.
Next, the news. Strap yourself in. Party-room meetings coming up. Australian Marriage Equality is speaking to the National party room. At last, the transport minister, Darren Chester, has some cavalry.
I’m on the Twits @gabriellechan and he is Mike of the Bowers @mpbowers.
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