Have a great evening
Early I know, but the House has risen now for the week. Events appear calm enough for us to say farewell for now. Thanks as always to Mike Bowers for another great week behind the camera. The wonderful Gabrielle Chan will be driving Politics Live next week.
Today, Thursday:
- Security was stepped up in Canberra following a shooting in the Canadian parliament over night. In a statement to parliament, Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten expressed solidarity with colleagues in Ottawa, and with the citizens of Canada, in a session attended by the Canadian high commissioner.
- The immigration minister Scott Morrison was forced to hose down reports he was getting too big for his boots and executing grabs in other portfolios. Such reports were false, he said.
- Ebola was the other big issue of the day. It emerged that both the United States and the United Kingdom have requested that the Abbott government send health teams to West Africa – but the prime minister still seems cool about the idea, arguing that Australians can’t be deployed until he’s certain they can be kept safe.
That’s pretty much a wrap. Thanks for your company. Stay well until we meet again.
Thursday afternoons can be lovely, really. Just a couple more Question Time frames from Mr Bowers.
Andrew Scipione, the NSW police commissioner, is on Sky News presently. He’s talking about enhanced security powers, and the importance for agencies in achieving the policy agenda the Abbott government is currently proposing. Scipione says Australians can have complete privacy if they want, but that comes at a cost.
My question is how much privacy do you really want?
(Well, in my case, all the privacy that is reasonable in a liberal democracy for a person who isn’t breaking any laws. If you don’t mind.)
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The best thing about the Politics Live community – the rolling cheek.
@mpbowers pic.twitter.com/IcYThHUxQg
— Rupert H (@rpy) October 23, 2014
Here’s a wonderful re-purposing/re-imagining of Mike Bowers picture of Christopher Pyne that I posted at 3.06pm.
The thing about whispering campaigns is they only take off if there’s some fire under the smoke. While I’m busy drawing on the brains trust of the blogosphere, and the Shrike in particular, let me also share the rich and informative piece posted on Gough Whitlam. Bookmark this for later if you aren’t completely Goughed out – on the various settlements Whitlam forged, and their unravelling.
Cheeky.
Curious how every leadership contender eventually gets undermined by a whispering campaign. First Hockey, now Morrison.
— The Piping Shrike (@Piping_Shrike) October 23, 2014
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right .. here I am ..
Abbott has called time on Question Time. The immigration minister Scott Morrison is seeking a personal explanation. He wants to dispute this morning’s report on the ABC concerning the Cabinet tensions. This report is completely and utterly false, he says.
Updated
Tough beat for this industrial cop.
The Canadian high commissioner has had some visitors over the course of Question Time.
There’s been an exchange on renewables. Labor wants to know why the government is intent on gutting the RET. Abbott wants to know why Labor won’t support the real 20%. The prime minister says the RET needs to be adjusted to protect jobs. (Adjusted is always a nicer word than cut, right?)
What every industrial cop needs – a tough beat
Manager of government business Christopher Pyne is discussing the merits of a tough beat on the industrial cop.
Why is Labor so quiet on this issue?
(Yes, he did say tough beat on the industrial cop.)
Trade and investment minister Andrew Robb gets a question about a story this morning in Fairfax about a restaurant the Robb family owns being the beneficiary of a Tourism Australia campaign. Robb is unhappy to get a grubby question from Labor. The minister says there’s nothing to see with this story.
Updated
"Turn back" says ALP interjector as PM tells Morrison to sit down rather than answer Q re his alleged power hegemony bid in cabinet.
— Malcolm Farr (@farrm51) October 23, 2014
The manager of opposition business Tony Burke bowled up a question designed to maximise Morrison’s discomfort given the leaks. Morrison is primed and clearly wants to answer. Madam Speaker clearly has other plans. She bins the question.
The political trade across the dispatch box remains security (Coalition) and health (Labor.) In attempting to shut down Labor’s critique on ebola and the budget measures, the Coalition has thus far deployed Bob Hawke (who apparently described Labor’s opposition to the budget copayments as emotionalism being played at the lowest level) and the Labor senator Jan McLucas (who apparently said nice things in the senate about our preparedness for a domestic outbreak.)
The shadow health minister Catherine King isn’t impressed.
Abbott can't say if he asked how many cancer diagnoses would be missed because of GP Tax #qt
— Catherine King MP (@CatherineKingMP) October 23, 2014
The immigration minister Scott Morrison has also been given a turn to tell the chamber how united the government is on border protection. That one gets a good laugh. Haw haw haw.
Haw haw.
A lovely frame here from Mike Bowers of the prime minister acknowledging the Canadian high commissioner during that statement on Ottawa.
Abbott:
More than 100 Canadians are believed to be fighting with the ISIL death cult and other terrorist groups in the Middle East and more have been infected with godless fanaticism. So, Madam Speaker, today, more than ever, Australians and Canadians are family.
We feel Canada’s shock, pain and anger. I have been in their parliament, I have been at their War Memorial – so many of us have. I regard Stephen Harper, their prime minister, as a friend and almost a brother. So, an attack on their parliament is an affront to this parliament too.
Updated
Labor returns to the territory of Question Time yesterday: the impact of budget measures on the costs of diagnostic imaging for seriously ill people. Shadow health minister Catherine King says Abbott clearly doesn’t understand the impact of his budget measures, given what he’s been saying over the last couple of days.
The health minister Peter Dutton starts hollering interjections. Tony Abbott politely tells colleagues behind him to shut up so he can answer. The prime minister says in the end what people are charged is a matter for the doctors and King would know that.
A Dorothy Dixer allows the prime minister to repeat all his key messages concerning what the government is doing on national security. The number of passports that have been cancelled has increased, the number invoked today is “almost 70.”
Labor comes back then on ebola.
Tanya Plibersek wants to know how we will repond to the US and the UK, given the prime minister spoke about this issue yesterday to Barack Obama.
Abbott says
.. those conversations are ongoing and we are determined to do what we can to help, but the safety of Australian personnel must be paramount, the security of our region must be paramount and the security of our people must be paramount – and that is something that is my duty, and it’s the duty that I am determined to discharge.
He says, in essence, the government is not prepared to deploy teams into the region until he’s certain there are contingency plans in place to get them out should circumstances require that. West Africa is a thirty hour flight, and there aren’t good facilities on the ground is the prime minister’s rationale.
Labor opens on ebola, and there is a reference to divisions within the government. Shorten wants to know just what we are doing and who is in charge. Abbott tells the chamber Australia is acting on ebola but our priority inevitably is here at home and in our region.
Australia is determined to be a good international citizen on this subject as on all subjects and we continue to carefully monitor the situation in West Africa and to talk to our friends partners and allies about an appropriate response.
Question time
Tony Abbott opens the hour of glower with a statement on the events in Canada. The prime minister notes the cultural affinity between Australia and Canada, and he says the Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, is ..
a friend and almost a brother.
Abbott welcomes the Canadian high commissioner Michael Small to the parliament (he is sitting on the floor of the House of Representatives) – and hopes he finds comfort today in the solidarity of Australian parliamentarians.
The Labor leader Bill Shorten speaks too on indulgence. He says such events can’t work to spark more hatred, there is more than enough hate in the world today.
Shorten:
Australia stands with Canada today. We’ll never surrender to hatred violence or extremism and I conclude with this point - when it comes to fighting terrorism we are in this together.
Labor’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek is on to the Coalition’s lack of prompt response to requests from Washington and London regarding the deployment of health teams to fight ebola at the source of the outbreak. Plibersek has just been interviewed on ABC24.
Q: Does it surprise you that we’ve had confirmation that we have had these official requests from the United Kingdom, United States amongst others, but this agreement as far as the evacuation of Australian personnel hasn’t been sorted out?
Plibersek:
It’s very significant that we’ve had the prime minister of the United Kingdom and the president of the United States make formal requests of our government for extra Australian commitment to fight ebola in West Africa and those requests haven’t been met.
These are two of our most important allies. They are bearing a huge share of the responsibility of fighting ebola in West Africa. We’ve now got a situation where the president of the United States is ringing the prime minister of Australia. The prime minister of the UK has spoken to our foreign minister and still the Australian government is not making arrangements to support Australian personnel who are trained, who are willing, who are able to fight ebola in West Africa.
(A bit of context and joining dots. Thus far the government has indicated it does not want, in a formal sense, to deploy health workers to West Africa. Australian volunteers are already in the region. The leaks about Morrison being overly expansive over the past 24 hours relate to the government’s management of the ebola issue. A poll this week suggested Australians weren’t overly enamoured with the idea of the government sending health teams into West Africa.)
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Lunchtime summary
In orderly fashion and conforming with live blogue best practice, pausing now to share a summary of politics, this Thursday lunchtime.
- The Canberra day opened with grim news of a shooting in the Canadian parliament in Ottawa.
- The foreign and justice ministers, Julie Bishop and Michael Keenan, said the government was not aware of any specific threat to the Australian parliament, but the security arrangements around the hill and the embassy district stepped up, visibly.
- Defence chief Mark Binskin advised personnel to exercise judgment about wearing uniforms in public (events in Canada began with a shooting of a reservist at the country’s war memorial.)
- The Speaker Bronwyn Bishop told parliament all steps were being taken to ensure the building in Australia was safe, and she noted the different security protocols and practices here versus the arrangements in Ottawa.
- Prime minister Abbott also assured Australians that “security was upgraded at this parliament about six weeks ago in response to credible intelligence of a possible threat to this parliament” – although somewhat perplexingly, officials told an estimates hearing earlier this week that the building’s threat level remained at medium, the level it had been at since 2010.
- In addition to security issues – the immigration minister Scott Morrison fended off news reports that his colleagues thought he’d be better placed sticking to his knitting rather than lunging for theirs. All an invention and a beat up.
- On ebola, evidence presented in the foreign affairs committee suggests Australia had been asked by both the US and the UK to send support teams to West Africa. Australia thus far has not responded affirmatively to these requests. The DFAT chief Peter Varghese said no announcement had yet been made.
I’ll take this as a comment.
@murpharoo too much pong and not enough ping in Parliament today
— Walter Slurry (@WilmaSlurry) October 23, 2014
Well, hello there.
‘Threat level mysteries’ debate club: in continuation.
@Drag0nista @murpharoo got that backwards. Extra security measure are a further mitigation of any risk. They wouldn't lower any threat lvl
— wonk_arama (@wonk_arama) October 23, 2014
@Drag0nista @murpharoo the extra guards are a attempt to lower the likelihood of an attack. The consequence of an attack doesn't change.
— wonk_arama (@wonk_arama) October 23, 2014
In the foreign affairs estimates, Labor is seeking particulars about the legal arrangements covering the deployment of special forces to Iraq. The attorney-general George Brandis is giving a list of the various contacts between the Australian government and the Iraqis.
Labor’s senate leader Penny Wong sets out on a line of questioning.
I’m not a lawyer.
(There’s a small, confused pause from her colleagues, because Penny Wong is, in fact, a lawyer. Wong detects the confusion.)
Sorry, I just misled the senate.
Wong reflects that sometimes it would be better not to be a lawyer.
Binskin to defence personnel: exercise commonsense when considering where and when to wear uniforms in public
Mark Binskin, the chief of the defence force, has issued a statement about Ottawa – addressing Australian defence personnel.
Binskin:
Early this morning I contacted my Canadian counterpart, General Tom Lawson, to offer my condolences on behalf of the Australian Defence Force following the murder of two Canadian soldiers this week. I understand their deaths have caused some anxiety for our own defence members and their families. Please be assured that defence and other Australian security agencies are actively monitoring developments in Canada and more broadly around the world. We continue to assess all available information to determine what action, if any, may be required in Australia. We also continue to work closely with state and federal police to monitor activity at, and in the vicinity of defence locations. This is not the time for alarm but we should not be complacent about our personal safety. As I have said before, think about where you’re going, be aware of your surroundings, and exercise commonsense and judgement when considering where and when to wear your uniform in public.
Updated
Back to the mysterious science of threat levels. Canberra political blogger Paula Matthewson raises a good point.
@murpharoo Perhaps the Parlt House threat level is medium because it has greater security measures than the rest of the nation in general?
— Paula Matthewson (@Drag0nista) October 23, 2014
Only a few Australian institutions are patrolled by armed guards.
Yeeesss. The sport of kings.
Given the events of today – worth reposting estimates evidence from Monday about the threat level at parliament house. The Ms Mills in this transcript is Carol Mills, head of DPS, and the Mr Skill is a DPS colleague. The folks asking the questions are Labor senators Penny Wong and John Faulkner.
Senator WONG: You have just said ‘heightened threat level’. Have we actually established what the threat level is?
Ms Mills: The heightened national threat level.
Senator WONG: Can I confirm that the Parliament House threat level has not changed since 2010? Is that correct?
Ms Mills: That is correct.
Senator WONG: So there has been no heightened threat assessment for Parliament House?
Senator FAULKNER: And what is that threat level, please—or however we describe it?
Mr Skill: Senator, I do not think we should—
Senator WONG: It was asked previously by the President when he was a senator and answered. You might want to reconsider your position on that.
Mr Skill: We will check that.
Ms Mills: If that is the case, we certainly will answer it.
Senator FAULKNER: As the President would know, I do not ask questions that go to impinge on security matters in the sense of in any way having a negative impact on the safety and security of people who work in this building—or anywhere else, for that matter. But this has been answered before. We have a situation more broadly in the community, as you know, where the threat level has been raised. But, if it is an issue now, someone might care to explain why—which is fair enough, but please explain it, because it is something that has been in the public arena previously.
Ms Mills: As I said, if I can confirm that I will certainly answer it, but I guess our general approach to security matters relating to the building is not, in a public forum, to speak about the detail.
Senator WONG: It is. There is a DPS circular that I have in front of me resulting from Mr President, before he was Mr President, in the 2009-10 additional estimates asking a question about threat level. A circular was issued by DPS—I am afraid I only have the first page—and it has at paragraph 2 under ‘Background’: ‘Parliament House has been assessed by the National Threat Assessment Centre within ASIO as being at medium threat level.’ It was a public document.
Ms Mills: I can confirm that we continue to receive advice from ASIO and that at this point in time the threat level has not changed from that advice.
Senator FAULKNER: Take my question in relation to the threat level on notice, if you would not mind, and I will totally accept, Mr President, if there is a security implication of actually using the nomenclature, then best explain that to the committee. I am sure all committee members would accept it. Why is it though—this is something I do not understand—that the national threat level has been increased from medium to high in recent times—I think we are all aware of that—and there has been no change to the threat level at Parliament House?
Mr Skill: That would be a question for ASIO, I would suggest. We do not have the information available to us that the intelligence agencies do have upon which they base their assessments.
Updated
Given my respect and admiration for the sport I hope Mike can send me some ping pong action – but here, spectators take in the spectacle.
I like ping pong. Just for the record.
Tony Abbott addresses reporters
The prime minister has stopped briefly on the way to a ping pong event in parliament house – yes, ping pong – and made the following statement to the TV crews.
Abbott:
Australians woke this morning to further confirmation that the threat to free countries and free institutions is very real indeed. I want to express on behalf of the Australian parliament and people our solidarity with the parliament and people of Canada on this grim day.
I also want to assure Australians that security was upgraded at this parliament about six weeks ago in response to credible intelligence of a possible threat to this parliament. We believe that we are in a good position to respond to any hostile acts in this building.
We are constantly reviewing the security of this and other public buildings. We are constantly reviewing the security of our military bases and our military personnel. I do want to assure the Australian people that this government will do everything we humanly can to keep our country and its people safe.
All of our anti-terror activities are directed against crime and terrorism, not against religion and I do want to assure people and remind people that they should go about their normal lives because the fundamental objectives of the terrorists is to scare us from being ourselves. I will be making a statement to the parliament at 2pm.
Updated
A reader is concerned that I’ve misquoted the immigration minister in my characterisation of his remarks this morning. I haven’t, actually, but in the event the sequence is unclear in any way – news stories have appeared over the past 48 hours referencing the concerns or allegations of colleagues that Scott Morrison is pushing too aggressively into other portfolios. The particular account this morning alleges a push by Morrison to take control of the government’s response to the ebola outbreak. Morrison says the claims are untrue.
Updated
A former press gallery colleague Ben Packham has just shared a link on Twitter to the Post Courier in Papua New Guinea noting that MPs “stood in silence for one-minute in respect for a great Australian leader and prime minister Gough Whitlam who granted PNG independence in 1975.”
While we are in Gough country, I enjoyed a column this morning in The Australian from former journalist and political staffer Nikki Savva.
Everyone who encountered him has favourite anecdotes. There is another from that day at old Parliament House. Afterwards in Kings Hall, I asked Gough if I could have my photo taken with him. Of course. Media had been full of allegations of sexual harassment against a NSW Liberal minister, which I assumed prompted Gough to ask if he could put his arm around my shoulder. There was I thinking how endearingly old-fashioned, gentlemanly, he was to seek my permission. Yes, I said. Then just as photographer Mike Bowers was about to click, Gough whispered, sotto voce: “Hold on a moment while I adjust my left testicle.”
It’s been a heavy ebola focus in foreign affairs estimates thus far – Labor is going over particulars of which countries have asked Australia to contribute to efforts to contain the outbreak. The CSIRO is in another committee.
Justice minister Michael Keenan has been asked on Sky News about unconfirmed reports that the gunman in Canada had just had his passport cancelled. Keenan is asked whether, if true, this suggests governments like the Australian government should allow radicalised people to leave rather than preventing their departure.
Keenan says no. The view of the Australian government is Australian citizens should not be combatants in this war.
It will be interesting to see whether the threat level of the building is raised. Just a note, given my crankiness over the past few weeks about megaphone reporting about security around the building, I intend to keep you updated only to the extent necessary to tell you what you should know about the arrangements applying here today.
Bronwyn Bishop makes a statement to the chamber concerning Ottawa
The national security committee of cabinet is meeting now. Speaker Bronwyn Bishop has just made a statement to the chamber concerning the events in Canada. Bishop says security arrangements in the building are under continuous assessment. She says occupants of the building will notice some increase in security around the building today. Bishop says the building in Ottawa is quite different to the building in Canberra – she says the images of Canadian MPs having to barricade themselves inside rooms (like the one I posted from the BBC this morning) are concerning but
This type of action will not be necessary here.
Updated
Security has certainly picked up in parliament this morning. There is already restricted access to the ministerial wing of parliament house. Now security personnel are checking passes through all the major transition corridors in the secure part of the building.
I should be clearer with the attribution on the Morrison fracas. The news report I referenced yesterday on Politics Live was from Phil Coorey of The Australian Financial Review. The story that has prompted the various responses this morning is from the ABC’s Andrew Greene.
Immigration minister Scott Morrison is pushing for his Operation Sovereign Borders team to take control of Australia’s ebola response with new powers to force visitors from West Africa to be isolated in quarantine. The ABC can reveal the ambitious plan as the nation’s state and federal chief medical officers meet today to discuss the response to the deadly virus. Mr Morrison let his colleagues know he believed he and his department could take on a larger role in responding to the ebola outbreak.
Folks in the building tell me the police have made a call to the office of the House Speaker, Bronwyn Bishop. I’ll make a call when time permits to see what, if anything, is being said about that.
Pretty odd old place right now, the national security committee of Cabinet. Odd when the defence minister doesn’t attend meetings when the government is in the process of settling legal authority for a special forces deployment in Iraq – and explains his absence with an overly frank reflection that his presence wouldn’t add much. Refreshing, I find Johnston quite refreshing with his regular truth bombs actually – but .. odd.
My colleague Daniel Hurst writes this morning that Australia’s defence minister, David Johnston, did not attend cabinet’s national security committee (NSC) on Wednesday because he “wasn’t going to add too much” to the meeting.
Johnston, whose position as defence minister is often said to be under threat, instead continued with a scheduled appearance before a Senate estimates hearing. By contrast, the defence force chief, Mark Binskin, and the secretary of the defence department, Dennis Richardson, delayed their attendance at the Senate hearing so they could participate in NSC deliberations.
In addition to addressing questions about the Ottawa shooting this morning, the foreign minister was asked about a story we referenced briefly yesterday on Politics Live – colleagues have been a bit surly about what’s being characterised as a power grab by the immigration minister Scott Morrison – surly enough to leak to journalists. The word is Morrison wants to grab quarantine powers for his border security empire. It’s pretty clear that the agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce would like Captain Cronulla to stick to asylum boats. The fight is playing out around the policy responses to the ebola outbreak.
Bishop was asked about the scrap, and played a very dead bat.
We’ve had a number of discussions in our National Security Committee about Australia’s response to the ebola outbreak in West Africa. We have been discussing this on a regular basis for some time. We are still in negotiations with other countries about how Australian health workers could be evacuated or treated should they be working in west Africa.
We’re providing funding to the United Nations, to front line services , in fact the United Nations has praised Australia’s quick and immediate response to provide funding. So there’s a very detailed process that we’re going through across government and we’ll continue to do that.
Morrison himself is on the radio now. He suggests colleagues bitching about him is a media beat up.
People are hyperventilating a bit about this issue.
Q: One of your colleagues says you’re using ebola as a Trojan Horse.
That’s just conspiracy nonsense.
As well as catching the prime minister on his morning ride, Mike captured the dawning of the morning light on Red Hill overlooking parliament house.
What a glorious, serene way to start our live coverage today.
I gather the Canadian parliament is much less secure than the Australian building. This is a picture the BBC posted earlier today.
The barricade of chairs MPs built to protect themselves from #OttawaShootings http://t.co/chVwXoViH9 pic.twitter.com/L6maa7jonq
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) October 22, 2014
Q: Do you believe it’s too early to be speaking about terrorism in relation to this?
Julie Bishop, on ABC24.
The Canadian authorities haven’t made the connection, but I have to say it does have a hallmarks of a terrorist attack.
Good morning everyone and welcome to the last sitting day of the parliamentary week. The prime minister as you can see from our opening picture on Politics Live this morning has been up and about early conforming with public health guidelines.
The morning news cycle is dominated thus far by events in Canada: if you are just connecting to the outside world, a soldier has been shot, and a gunman has opened fire on the Canadian parliament.
As I came into the office this morning I passed the foreign minister Julie Bishop in the corridor, doing the rounds of breakfast television. The justice minister Michael Keenan has been on the ABC, and was asked about security in the Australian parliament given the incident in Ottawa.
Parliamentary officials gave evidence before a senate estimates hearing earlier this week that the threat level at parliament house had not been adjusted since 2010, despite the very obvious deployment in recent weeks of heavily armed federal police around the forecourt and the ministerial entrance.
Keenan:
We’ve taken all necessary measures to make sure this building is secure. People coming to work here, or coming to visit here, should feel very confident about that.
Q: Have there been any recent threats to parliament house?
No, there’s nothing specific that we are aware of that would give us specific cause for concern.
Q: Have any extra precautions been taken this morning?
There will be an enhanced AFP presence around the building.
Bishop has a similar message for the TV networks.
There’s no specific threat against parliament house here. We have had increased security arrange minutes for some time, but in relation to the incident in Canada, obviously security arrangements there will be increased substantially as a result of this dreadful incident that has occurred.
Lots more issues to get across, of course. The Politics Live comments threat is open and ready for your input. If you’d prefer to have a conversation elsewhere, I’m @murpharoo and the man with the camera is @mpbowers
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