Night time politics
- As we close, the media chiefs are preparing for a shindig with Malcolm Turnbull and communications minister Mitch Fifield in support of the government’s media reforms. The jury is still out on whether it will pass. Labor doesn’t like parts of it, the government does not want to split the bill and Nick Xenophon has reservations. Fifield describes the changes as unashamedly Australian.
- Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has overturned a short lived government legislation ban over ABC funding. ON senator Brian Burston told Rosie Lewis at the Oz the party would not vote for the majority of budget bills unless the government cut ABC funding by $600m. Communications minister Mitch Fifield saiid he expects the legislation to be dealt with on its merits. By question time, Hanson said it would be. It seems the party - under pressure over secret recordings by former officials - is all at sea.
- AFP commissioner Andrew Colvin defended FBI head James Comey and said he was saddened by his sacking by Donald Trump. Colvin also warned that given allegations of Russian interference in the US and France, he would be naive to think it couldn’t happen here.
- In estimates employment minister Michaelia Cash said it was in Australia’s national interest for the US to stay in the Paris Agreement on climate. The US has yet to reveal whether it will.
- The head of Asio Duncan Lewis repeated his statement that Australia’s refugee program is not the source of terrorism in Australia after right wing commentators took issue with an answer he gave in estimates to Pauline Hanson. Lewis said he was not contemptuous of Hanson, he just wanted to stick to facts in the debate. He said radicalisation did stem from “Sunni Islamic extremism” but he was not here to vilify the Islamic community.
- Asic chief Greg Medcraft told estimates he was hunting down a budget leak to the Financial Review of news of the bank levy which caused a sharp drop on the stock exchange on the day of the budget. He will leave no stone unturned, including in the treasurer’s office.
Thanks to the brains trust, Gareth Hutchens, Paul Karp and Katharine Murphy. I’m sure you will agree Bowers had some lovely images today. Thanks for your company and we will see you in the same place tomorrow for the final day of the sitting week.
In the meantime, I have just one word for you.
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The flushed face of the deputy PM, Barnaby Joyce, mid-question time has often been remarked upon, including by Johnny Depp during their famous quarrel over two small dogs. Joyce has joked about catching up with a bag full of tomatoes he described as cousins.
But now Clare Sibthorpe at the Canberra Times reports that the ambulance service has received calls about his health:
Ian Roebuck has a stressful but rewarding job as an emergency dispatcher for ACT ambulance service. And sometimes, when the situations are far from life threatening, it is also quite bizarre.
Such was the case when someone dialled 000 while watching question time on TV, worried deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce looked very sick.
“They were genuinely concerned that he needed quick medical attention,” Mr Roebuck said.
“We explained that he’s an adult and can request his own ambulance.”
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I should say Labor MP Steve Georganas also welcomed the Greek deputy foreign affairs minister, Terens Quick, to the parliament in Greek.
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Plibersek to Turnbull: A little while ago, the NSW Liberal minister for education stood up with the NSW shadow minister for education and with the unions and teachers and principals and said we’re not asking for a special treatment and deal, we’re asking asking for the deal we currently have to be honoured. Why won’t the prime minister honour the schools deal with the New South Wales government instead of cutting $22 billion?
Turnbull says he is delivering the true Gonski but does not answer the question on the commonwealth state deal signed under Julia Gillard.
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Member for Chisholm Julia Banks welcomes deputy Foreign Minister of Greece Terens Quick in Greek during #qt @gabriellechan @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/7X48kK8eaz
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) May 31, 2017
This is very odd given I can see Ian Goodenough in parliament.
On a cold Canberra morning, there is nothing like homemade cauliflower and potato soup to warm you up! A trusted recipe from @SenatorCash pic.twitter.com/ObXV4fmcGU
— Ian Goodenough (@IanGoodenoughMP) May 31, 2017
His calendars are legendary and this tweet does not disappoint.
.@SenatorSurfer: Does PC consider Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility loans e.g. to #Adani to be a Govt subsidy? #Estimates #auspol
— Capital Monitor (@capitalmonitor) May 31, 2017
Rod Campbell of the Australia Institute.
After some help from @SenatorSurfer, the Productivity Commission says Adani loan is a subsidy. @TheAusInstitute #estimates
— Roderick Campbell (@R_o_d_C) May 31, 2017
I will try to track down more on this.
Estimates interrupted by news of bomb blast in Kabul
DFAT secretary Frances Adamson was in question time when she took calls.
She told estimates the Australian embassy is in lockdown but she believes all staff are safe. Adamson has left for further briefings.
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One Nation backs down on ABC cuts
It took half a day.
MEDIA RELEASE: ABC CUTS WILL NOT MAKE OR BREAK BUDGET SUPPORT
— Pauline Hanson (@PaulineHansonOz) May 31, 2017
Link: https://t.co/V2tU0WOTxb #auspol #Budget2017
A statement from the party.
Slashing ABC funding will not be the most crucial component of ensuring One Nation’s support for the government’s budget, Senator Pauline Hanson confirms.
Senator Hanson explained that, despite the ABC’s bloated budget and regular displays of bias, it would be not be in the nation’s best interests to block government supply in exchange for sweeping cuts to the national broadcaster.
“The people want One Nation to deal with all legislation on is merits, and the government’s budget will be no different,” Senator Hanson said.
However, Senator Hanson explained that if the government wanted to show it was serious about media reform and deficit reduction it would rein in the out-of-control ABC and SBS. Senator Hanson pushed back on allegations that One Nation’s position on ABC cuts was a result of the national broadcaster’s recent attacks on her party.
“People know my party has always been concerned about the ABC’s budget. Senator Burston has been fighting for cuts to the ABC from the moment he raised the issue in his maiden speech.”
Senator Hanson also raised concerns with the budget’s lack of action on the rorting of Medicare, multinational tax evasion, and failure to address shortfalls in the collection of mining royalties.
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Shorten to Turnbull: wholesale electricity prices have doubled under this government. So how is it fair that this prime minister is ripping away the $365 energy supplement from pensioners to pay for his tax cut for millionaires?
Turnbull says Labor counted the savings from the energy supplement in its election costings.
It was under the Labor government that the big export deals were done to export gas from Queensland without any thought to domestic gas security. Now, presented with this problem, a combination of ideology and complacency, left ideology and Labor complacency, what we have done is act and we have put in place the measures that will ensure that the Australian domestic gas market will be fully supplied and we have already seen reductions in the net price.
I would like a factcheck on that last line if there are any gas experts out there?
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The energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, takes a question on carbon capture and storage investment by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
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Jenny Macklin to Turnbull: the National Foundation for Australian Women has warned some women will be hit by an effective marginal tax rate of 100% because of this government’s tax increases, cuts to family payments and increases to university fees. Why is the prime minister shouting about millionaires paying a top marginal tax rate of 49.5% but saying nothing about the women who will pay an effective marginal tax rate of 100%?
Turnbull asks for Macklin’s assumptions on the NFAW report.
He says the Medicare levy increase was OK by Labor when they were in government. Turnbull says it is a matter of getting the balance right in the tax system.
Macklin asks if she can table the report (given she was asked for assumptions). She is refused.
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South Australian friends...
Shorten to Turnbull: I refer to the Prime Minister’s answer just now. Labor’s plan to keep the budget repair levy and protect low and middle-income workers from a tax increase is fairer and raises more money. Does the Prime Minister object to Labor’s plan because it raises $4.5 billion more revenue over 10 years than the government’s plan? Or is it because under Labor’s plan millionaires do not get a tax cut?
Turnbull:
Our objection to the Leader of the Opposition’s plan, if we can call it that, is not simply that it’s a reversal over every position he’s taken on these issues in the past. Not simply because it’s dripping with hypocrisy, but far from raising more money, it involves raising money that he has spent multiple times.
A government question to social services minister Christian Porter on the independent body that will oversee the NDIS and disability services generally.
Chris Bowen to Turnbull: how many Australians earning $60,000 will have to pay more tax so that the prime minister can give a single millionaire a tax cut of $16,400?
Turnbull says Bowen knows the Medicare levy increase will go to the NDIS.
He knows very well that he left the national disability insurance scheme unfunded and for all his sanctimony and inconsistency, all of his po-faced hypocrisy, he can preach as much as he like. He left the till empty.
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NSWelshmen John Alexander & Trent Zimmerman strangle Warren Entsch with his QLD scarf #qt @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/IEHv2qt3qM
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) May 31, 2017
Independent Andrew Wilkie to Turnbull: the Australian federal police were withdrawn from Hobart airport in 2014.
Even though the 2007 Glasgow airport attack forewarned us of the vulnerability of attacks in second-tier airports, would your government concede, especially after Manchester, that home-grown terrorists and soft targets are pressing concerns right now?
In other words the risk isn’t diminished for non-international airports. Prime minister, now you have increased the AFP’s budget by over half a billion dollars, will you urgently remedy this alarming situation and reinstate the AFP presence at Hobart airport? Or will you government continue to treat Tasmanians as second-class citizens?
Turnbull says he has spoken to security agencies and the risk profile has not changed since a review found the threat did not warrant AFP officers at second-tier airports like Hobart.
Turnbull remembers Brett Forte, the police officer killed in Queensland; honours the fact that national security agency officers put their lives on the line; and remembers 12-year-old Zynab Al Harbiya who was killed in Baghdad.
Bill Shorten also speaks on indulgence about Zynab, the devastating effect on her family and her school mates in Melbourne. He spoke to the president of the Iraqi Council of Victoria.
Little Zynab was very active in her faith community. She would work hard to clean and prepare the mosque and prepare the food. And I have also spoken to the college she attended, and obviously like all parliamentarians I ask the obvious question: how all the other kids coping? He said it’s quite devastating.
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Shorten to Turnbull: how is it fair that under this prime minister millionaires will get a tax cut on 1 July but the very next day, a Sunday, ordinary workers face a pay cut up to $77 a week? How is that fair?
Turnbull:
How is it fair to have a leader of the opposition who again and again reverses his position for pure political advantage? He cannot maintain one principle for a moment. He lectures us about fairness. What about the fairness for the workers he represented when he ran the AWU? What about the penalty rates he traded away at Cleanevent? What about the businesses he threatens to put their taxes up? What about that? etc.
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As QT is a bit dull, here is something to entertain you.
Staff must have staged an intervention.
Despite the constant negative press covfefe
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017
Labor MP Anne Stanley to Turnbull: How is it fair that in this budget a nurse earning $60,000 a year gets a $300 tax increase, while a millionaire gets a $16,400 tax cut?
Turnbull says he is sure if Stanley was in the shadow cabinet she would have advised Bill Shorten of the error of his ways.
It’s not so long ago that the leader of the opposition said people who earned $180,000 were not rich. Now, apparently people who earn $87,000 are millionaires.
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Shorten to Turnbull: The Liberal party’s 2016 election policy document promises, and I quote, “lower taxes for families”. So how is it fair that the prime minister has kept his promise for millionaire families but broken it for low- or middle-income families who have to pay more in tax due to this prime minister’s budget?
Turnbull says the government provided a tax cut to three million businesses who employ collectively half of the Australia’s workforce.
And the leader of the opposition wants to roll that back, claw that back! He’s going to go to those businesses who are getting a break, who are getting a tax cut and are able to invest more and employ more, and he’s going to say, “We want your money.”
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Question time coming. Grab a beverage.
At the risk of overexposing Penny Wong, one more George Brandis question.
Brandis QC for London? Or Brandis QC for Wellington? #estimates pic.twitter.com/czVGQ6NbE7
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) May 31, 2017
Katharine Murphy reports:
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Katharine Murphy reports:
Andrew Colvin was also asked about accessing a journalist’s call records unlawfully. He told the press club what he told the Senate estimates hearings.
AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin: "Frankly, we are not overly interested in journalist sources." #NPC
— Karen Barlow (@KJBar) May 31, 2017
He defended his actions in telling the commonwealth ombudsman on the Wednesday, waiting until Friday to tell the public. Colvin said he was in Indonesia until Friday morning.
And:
AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin: "I could have left it for someone else to find, such as the Ombudsman, and we didn't do that." #NPC
— Karen Barlow (@KJBar) May 31, 2017
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Andrew Colvin: Russian interference in Australian elections a "real threat"
Nick Evans of the West Oz asks in the wake of the Comey sacking and allegations of Russian interference in the US and French elections, is there a threat to the Australian elections next year?
Colvin:
I think we would be ignorant and naive if we didn’t think that this is a real threat. As I said I’ll be travelling to the US shortly where that is on my agenda to talk to them about. Maybe it’s a question for the next time I come about.
Colvin is asked what the biggest threats are that the AFP is facing.
The biggest threat as I said, is terrorism. And as I have already said, and as others have said as well - we are dealing with a radical interpretation of Sunni Islam.
That is our biggest priority, that is our biggest threat. But the reason why I didn’t talk about it upfront is because the AFP is involved in a lot of other work I think the Australian community needs to understand is being done, and cyber is a part of that, as are our work on white collar crime, as is our work to protect children.
Andrew Colvin is asked about whether there are appropriate checks and balances for the AFP investigating politicians. He seems to say yes, though not explicitly.
In my experience, there’s never been an attempt to influence an outcome of an investigation. That said, you asked me are we comfortable investigating politicians. Of course we’re not, but that’s irrelevant. What we’re comfortable doing is investigating allegations of crime.
I’m sure if you asked James Comey he’ll say he wasn’t comfortable in investigating politicians but that’s irrelevant. But there’s good reasons under our divisions of power, why police are independent and why we must always remain independent.
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AFP commissioner Andrew Colvin also backs Asio boss Duncan Lewis’s assessment of the terrorist threat.
The majority of person of interests that come across my officers’ desks are first- and second-generation Australians. These are people who are born, educated and raised in Australia. Yes, they may be from migrant families but that’s an extremely broad brush to paint in our landscape if that’s the lens we’re looking through.
I think we have to be careful to draw absolutes in this discussion. You know, it gives the impression that we can simply change one thing and that that will fix the problem. It’s simply not the case.
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Andrew Colvin answers questions.
He was saddened and surprised when he heard James Comey, head of the US FBI, had been fired.
My experience with James Comey is he is a man of incredible integrity and a man who the organisation wanted to follow and was a good leader. As a partner in the challenges that we got in transnational crime and terrorism, you couldn’t have asked for a better partner than the FBI or director than James Comey.
So I think we were surprised. In fact, I’ll be heading to the US shortly and I’ll take my own yardstick of where things are at, but what I can say is despite what’s happened with the director, it will be the same if tomorrow I was no longer the commissioner.
Deep relations, is his point.
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Lunch time politics
Today we have learned:
- The Turnbull government considers it in our national interest for the US to remain in the Paris Agreement.
- Malcolm Turnbull agrees with Robert Menzies that the Liberal party is not a “conservative party dying hard at the last barricade”. Others may not agree.
- Asio director general Duncan Lewis, George Brandis and Bill Shorten agree that Australia’s refugee program is not the source of the country’s terrorist problem.
- One Nation wants to cut the ABC funding in return for their support on budget bills. Communications minister Mitch Fifield intimates not likely.
Penny for London? Thanks for the offer Senator Brandis but does this mean you've now missed out? #estimates pic.twitter.com/Nnsp6FXpMJ
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) May 31, 2017
The Matt Hatter.
@gabriellechan 🐘Hello🐒 It seems the govt's Rightanistas had become uncomfortable with Healthy Harold's ongoing policing role. @Drag0nista pic.twitter.com/RoDXYySu9w
— The Matt Hatter (@MattGlassDarkly) May 31, 2017
Andrew Colvin talks about how policing has changed since then and how police work has changed as a result.
Criminals are getting smarter, rapid changes in technology test our expertise and our - tests our ability to counter new crime types each and every day. For example, the challenges presented to us in the cyber environment are often examined and discussed. The remote and borderless nature of the internet and its global reach, it’s rapidly changing technological advancements make it amongst the most pressing issues that we have today.
He says a simple computer is the criminal’s weapon of choice.
Investigations are increasingly complex and Colvin says a single foreign bribery investigation takes seven and a half years on average globally.
Andrew Colvin begins his speech with a story of the genesis of the AFP. It is 100 years since a former prime minister, Billy Hughes, identified the need for a commonwealth police force in the political campaign over conscription.
When someone threw an egg at him in protest, Hughes found he had left his revolver in the train carriage (!) and then demanded the state policeman arrest him. The Queensland officer said no, given it was not his jurisdiction. Hughes complained and set up what was to become the AFP.
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The Australian federal police commissioner, Andrew Colvin, is coming up at the National Press Club.
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One Nation: cut the ABC but not the two-out-of-three
It is an enlightening juxtaposition to have media bosses in town at the same time as One Nation is again calling for $600m cuts to the ABC if the government wants support on budget bills.
The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, was asked about the One Nation gun to the head this morning on that terrible and dangerous ABC.
Colleagues, crossbench colleagues, will often put propositions on the table that they want to talk about. And it’s open to crossbench colleagues to raise any issue that they want. But we put our legislation forward to the parliament to be considered on its merits.
That sounds like a yeah nah.
For its part, One Nation supports media reform except the two-out-of-three rule.
Here is a statement from One Nation:
One Nation is fully aware of the challenges facing Australian companies operating in the modern media environment. One Nation also understands reform is needed to allow private companies to compete with public entities such as the ABC and online media distribution entities such as Google and Facebook.
That is why One Nation supports the vast majority of reforms proposed by the government, including abolishing the 75% reach rule and reducing licensing fees.
However, One Nation is not convinced that the challenges facing media operators justify the abolishment of the two-out-of-three rule, a rule which is crucial to ensuring that a single operator, either foreign or domestic, does not establish a monopoly control of media distribution in a single region.
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24 hours of giraffe chaos
Late yesterday, the storm over Healthy Harold passed me by. My kids were some of the thousands who packed into a Life Education truck in the school car park to learn about looking after their little bodies, including personal safety and drugs and alcohol. They came home wide-eyed at a person imparting this information, who was accompanied by someone in a giraffe suit.
In this year’s budget, Life Education learned its funding would be cut from $500,000 to zero in 2017-18. Healthy Harold had a long face. People across the nation mobilised for the giraffe.
And this was released.
We support #HealthyHarold & will work with Life Education Australia to ensure the funding & the program continues
— Simon Birmingham (@Birmo) May 30, 2017
Life Education has released a statement.
The Australian government has confirmed that its contribution to the funding of our work will continue.
Thank you for the extraordinary support we received last night. It was critical in helping generate this positive response from the Australian government.
We look forward to quickly resolving this issue and will keep you informed of the outcome.
Labor’s Tanya Plibersek and Catherine King have released a statement.
Healthy Harold will need a healthy amount of rest in the Life Education van after being subjected to 24 hours of this Government’s chaos.
How on earth did Malcolm Turnbull think that cutting funding to a long-standing children’s health education program was ever a good idea?
Who looks at a picture of Healthy Harold teaching kids about the dangers of smoking, drugs and alcohol and thinks – that’d be a good thing to cut?
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The attorney general, George Brandis, has been asked about the speculation he is being posted to London.
He says he has not had a discussion on a posting to London – or Wellington for that matter – with the prime minister or the foreign affairs minister.
I would like a dollar for every time I have heard the phrase When George Goes to London. It should be a book title.
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Penny busts out the Estimates eyebrows for Dept.Foreign Affairs @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/Nf77VpQQBN
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) May 31, 2017
Bill Shorten also backs the assessment of the Asio director general, Duncan Lewis, of the terrorist threat. He says Lewis is a security expert who simply makes the point that demonising refugees ignores the realities.
It seems to make sense what he is saying. Let’s not forget the tragedy today in Baghdad [which killed a 12-year-old Australian girl]. This was a radical Islamic criminal carrying out violence against other people of the Islamic faith.
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Bill Shorten is doing a doorstop right now on a building site.
He is questioned about his previous support for a rise in the Medicare levy to pay for the NDIS.
This is not an argument about who loves the national disability insurance scheme. Labor will always defend it. This is a debate which says, what is the best way to help fund the measures, the safety net of government?
In 2013, you did vote to raise taxes for those earning less than $87,000 a year. Why don’t you support it now?
Because I can’t ignore the fact that Mr Turnbull doesn’t have to go ahead with a corporate tax cut worth $65bn.
He says the Turnbull government’s move to include carbon capture and storage in the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is throwing red meat to the conservatives.
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Mitch Fifield: Media package is unabashedly pro-Australian. Amen
I promised to bring you the list of media bosses in town to mill around the house glaring at anyone who disagrees with the proposed package, the most contentious bits being the 75% reach rule and the two out of three rule.
I will let Katharine Murphy explain:
The government is proposing to dump the media regulations known as the 75% reach rule and the two-out-of-three rule.
The reach rule now prevents Nine Entertainment, Seven West Media and the Ten Network from owning their regional affiliates. The two-out-of-three rule restricts cross-media ownership, preventing moguls from controlling a free-to-air TV station, newspapers and radio stations in the same market.
Labor supports changes to the reach rule but has a problem with the two out of three rule. So they want to split the bill.
Communications minister Mitch Fifield says yeah, nah.
What we want to have is strong Australian media voices. This package is unabashedly pro-Australian media, and what Australian media is telling us is that they want the opportunity to configure in different ways. They want greater freedom so they can get scale, so they can be competitive, so they can be viable for the long haul. That’s what this is all about, ensuring good, strong, viable, long-term Australian media organisations.
These people are in the house.
- Hugh Marks, CEO, Nine Entertainment
- Tim Worner, CEO, Seven West Media
- Paul Anderson, CEO, Ten Network
- Ian Audsley, CEO, Prime Media Group
- Andrew Lancaster, CEO, WIN Corporation
- Harold Mitchell, Chair, FreeTV Australia
- Pam Longstaff,Acting CEO, FreeTV Australia
- Peter Tonagh, CEO, Foxtel
- Tony Shepherd, AO, Chair, ASTRA
- Andrew Maiden, CEO, ASTRA
- Greg Hywood, CEO, Fairfax Media
- Michael Miller, Executive Chair, News Corp Australasia
- Grant Blackley, CEO, Southern Cross Austereo
- Cathy O’Connor, CEO, NOVA Entertainment
- Rob Atkinson, CEO, ARN
- Russell Tate, Executive Chair, Macquarie Media
- Adam Lang, COO Macquarie Media & CRA Chairman
- Rowley Patterson, Chair, ACE Broadcasters
- Grant Cameron, CEO, Grant Broadcasters
- Bill Caralis, Owner, 2SM Supernetwork Radio
- Ron Camplin, Owner, Bathurst Broadcasters
- Hans Torv, Chair, Hot Tomato
- Stephen Sweeney, CEO, SEN
- Ian Kennedy, CEO, Redwave
- Les Hawton, Chair, West Coast Broadcasters
- Glenn Wheatley, CEO, EON Broadcasters
- Rex Morris, CEO, Resonate Broadcasters
- Joan Warner, CEO, Commercial Radio Australia
In the media’s media release, they highlight:
- Abolishing broadcasting licence fees and datacasting charges
- Applying a fee for the spectrum that broadcasters use at a level more reflective of the current media landscape
- Further restrictions on gambling advertising in live sporting events across all platforms
- Amending the anti-siphoning scheme and list
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Repealing the two out of three and 75% audience reach media ownership rules
- A broad ranging and comprehensive review of Australian and children’s content
- Funding to support the broadcasting of women’s and niche sports.
Let’s hear it for women’s and niche sports.
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These guys. They really are having trouble letting go of the Russell Crowe visit last week.
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Labor estimates interrogator in chief.
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The social services minister, Christian Porter, has two pieces of legislation coming to the house. One is the social services legislation amendment (ending carbon tax compensation).
The other is the national disability insurance scheme amendment (quality and safeguards commission and other measures).
Porter told Greg Jennett at the ABC that this will create an independent commonwealth body with 300 staff, costing $209m. The commission will provide oversight of quality and delivery under the NDIS.
If you are an Australian with a disability, this will be the commission to make sure it is properly quality assured, tested. If you have a complaint, this is where you go in circumstances where the service is not what it should be.
Remember Labor on Friday called for a royal commission into the abuse of disabled people. The government view is that this body is more appropriate.
We think the better approach is to fix the things we know are broken rather than yet another inquiry into the system we are about to replace.
This is very similar to the government line on the banking royal commission.
Porter says the new body will have very significant powers including to compel documents, get evidence, ensure there are regular audits of organisations, deregister organisations or fine them.
And it will make sure people’s right are protected.
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By Mike Bowers.
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Invoking the ghost of Menzies.
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Asic hunting bank levy leak, treasurer's office included
Greg Medcraft, the head of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, is in Senate estimates hearing this morning.
His first question? He was asked about the leak to the Australian Financial Review from the budget.
Medcraft says he was very concerned on the day of the budget when he read a story in the Australian Financial Review about the bank tax, which he says was “very detailed”.
He says he launched an investigation without any prompting from government, because the falls in bank stocks that day were “significant”.
We think this is important for market integrity. We will hunt this down as much as we can.
He also says no one will be excluded from his investigation, including the office of treasurer, Scott Morrison.
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Michaelia Cash: Australia best served by US participation in Paris agreement
Back to Dfat.
Penny Wong continued to press on the Paris agreement and what discussions have been had to convey Australia’s views to the Trump administration.
The employment minister, Michaela Cash, reads out a statement which says in part:
Australia’s national interests are best served by the US participation in the Paris agreement consistent with our support for a collective global response on climate change.
Wong agrees and remarks: You are the first person at the table who has said that.
She wants to know if that view has been put to her counterparts.
Cash takes the question on notice.
Wong wants to know what the strategy is in the case of withdrawal. Dfat secretary Frances Adamson says she is not in the business of speculating.
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Penny Wong wants to know if the Australian ambassador for the environment, Patrick Suckling, has had discussions with the US on its possible withdrawal under Trump from the Paris agreement on the environment.
He is being very careful to avoid direct answers. He says the government supports the Paris agreement on climate.
DFAT secretary Frances Adamson steps in.
Naturally we think the more countries in and ratifying the agreement the better.
Wong wants to know, have we told the Americans our hope would be they would stay in Paris?
The Australian government views would be known, says Adamson. There is really nothing more that I can add.
Why are we so reluctant on this? asks Wong.
Wide-ranging broad discussions in a range of fora, says Adamson.
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Penny Wong opens in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade estimates with a statement of sympathy on the death of a 12-year-old Australian girl from a car bomb when she was buying an ice-cream to break her Ramadan fast.
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One Nation: cut the ABC or the budget gets it
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has resuscitated its threat to refuse to support the Turnbull government’s budget measures unless the ABC’s funding is cut.
Brian Burston, One Nation’s party whip, said One Nation had received “unfair treatment” from the ABC and the party would reject “all bills associated with the budget” unless the broadcaster’s $1bn a year funding was cut by $600m over four years, according to the Australian.
Burston said the only budget measure One Nation would consider supporting was the 2.5% Medicare levy, which is designed to fully fund the national disability insurance scheme.
It’s about time we took a stand against the ABC because if it’s us and they destroy us, what is it next, the government?,” he is reported to have said. “They’re showing total bias against One Nation.”
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Joshua Robertson reports on quite an incredible intervention by an apparently independent board member on the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund (Naif):
A director of the independent board due to provide recommendations regarding a $900m taxpayer loan to Adani publicly declared she was “very supportive” of its “vital” coal project, a day after she was accused of allowing a perceived conflict of interest to develop.
Karla Way-McPhail, who runs mining labour and equipment hire companies, last week told a central Queensland newspaper that Adani’s Carmichael mine project would be “a huge boost” for the region.
“We’re very supportive and have been in the industry over 20 years and think it’s vital to the economic platform of central Queensland and we think we really need to see the Galilee [basin] opened,” she told the Morning Bulletin in Rockhampton in a story published last Friday.
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In estimates, we also have the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with questions moderated by Penny Wong’s eyebrow.
Social services ministers and officials will be asked about pensions cuts, the planned cut to the energy supplement, drug testing of welfare recipients and the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The economics committee will hear questions on Asic, superannuation, Commonwealth Grants Commission and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Education committee could expect higher education fee changes and the Bob Day career-ending training grant.
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Bishop was also asked about a Labor call to take a more humane approach towards refugee claims from Coptic Christians, who have been targeted by Isis in Egypt. Some asylum seekers have been rejected in Australia.
Is the government willing to re-examine their cases?
The Australian government, of course, supports the refugee applications of those who are persecuted or fear persecution and we have condemned the brutal attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt and we have encouraged family members to contact us if there are circumstances where Coptic Christians should be seeking asylum. And there are many instances where Coptic Christians have made our requirements and have been granted asylum in Australia.
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Julie Bishop also confirms next Monday, the annual Australia-US Ministerial Dialogue will be in Sydney.
The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, and secretary of defence, General James Mattis, will meet with Bishop and the defence minister, Marise Payne, on the ...
Challenges that face our region, on our bilateral alliance with the United States, and on ways that we can work together to improve the peace, stability and prosperity of our two nations and our region.
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The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, has confirmed that a 12-year-old Australian girl has been killed by a car bomb in Baghdad, Iraq.
She was from Melbourne and visiting her grandparents for Ramadan. Bishop says consular officials are working with the family but it is difficult due to the security situation.
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Malcolm Turnbull: We are not the conservative party dying hard on the last barridcade
Turnbull outlines the school funding package, saying “we must move on from the funding wars”.
He moves through health policy, the need for government to innovate and invest rather than being a “dumb ATM”.
And then in the week after the 75th anniversary of Robert Menzies Forgotten People speech, he winds up with with a very strong centrist message to the conservatives inside and outside the party. And in doing so, Turnbull claimed Menzies for his own liberal (small l) tradition, steering the party’s demigod away from the conservatives.
He begins quoting Menzies from a 1965 speech.
But you know, when you talk about generations and you talk about the traditions of my party, the Liberal party, and cast back to a speech Robert Menzies gave on 12 April 1965 here in Canberra and he reflected on the success of his governments since they had come into office from 1949.
This is what he said.
“Over the whole of this period of 15 years, we have won because we have been the party of innovations. Not the party of the past. Not the conservative party dying hard on the last barricade but the party of innovations”.
We see the world as it is. As Menzies did.
We see it as it is and we adjust, we develop, we innovate. We are a dynamic political party, a dynamic government, that recognises that we must be prepared, as Larry and Jeff understand very well, to do things differently to achieve our objectives and to realise and embody our values.
Every day we have to ask ourselves this question: are we enabling Australians to realise their dreams? Are we giving Australians, born equal but too often denied equality of opportunity, are we enabling them to have that equality of opportunity?
Are we doing everything in our power to encourage them to learn and to earn, to strive, to thrive, to get ahead? Are we doing everything we can to harness their enterprise, their ingenuity, their creativity?
When we do, we are doing our duty to them. It’s our commitment to Australians, their enterprise, their passion, their genius. We are the enablers of Australian politics and our budget, our policy, our economic plan, every element in our program enables Australians to be their best.
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Turnbull outlines the budget policies the government believes will get people into jobs.
- Strengthening participation requirements (crackdown on missing job interviews).
- Better targeting the government support, including $263m to expand ParentsNext which supports young parents to plan and prepare for employment.
- Childcare package with the highest rate of subsidy to those with the lowest income.
- A $840m in a youth employment package to increase the employability of vulnerable young people.
- Helping employers to create more jobs by reducing taxes on business (corporate tax cuts).
- Replacing the 457 visas with two new programs (restricting job categories).
With stricter entry requirements that ensure we can still bring in the best and the brightest – after all, immigration policy is, in a sense, a recruiting tool – but at the same time making sure Australians are first in line for jobs. Alongside the new visa programs, the $1.5bn Skilling Australians Fund will support young Australians to develop skills in the priority areas through apprenticeships, traineeships and ultimately help turn our skills gap into job opportunities for Australians.
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The Turnbull government’s budget pivot to “fairness, security, opportunity” continues with this Ceda address.
Joblessness entrenches poverty and inequality. As Dr Philip Lowe, the governor of the Reserve Bank said recently: “The best thing we can do for income inequality is to make sure people have jobs.”
The disadvantage of joblessness is not just borne by those who are unemployed. It affects their family too. One of the greatest challenges facing successive governments is the number of jobless families in Australia and the impact of intergenerational joblessness.
Academic performance is highest among children from a family with no history of joblessness and lowest for children with two generations of joblessness.
The best way to share the opportunities that come with economic growth is to make sure that families at risk have someone in a job bringing home a regular pay cheque.
This improves not only their prospects and living standards but that of their children for years to come.
That’s why every element of our economic policy is directed towards this goal – getting more people into jobs, so we are breaking down barriers to employment with policies that support those most in need while maximising people’s ability to support themselves and carve out their own future.
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Malcolm Turnbull starts his Ceda address with a values statement.
On our side of politics, we believe that government’s role is to enable you to do your best. Our opponents in the Labor party believe that government’s role is to tell you what is best.
As Liberals, we know that while we are all born with equal rights, we do not always have the same opportunities and so our job is to ensure that the opportunities are there to get an education, to get a job, to start a business, to realise your dreams.
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Asio boss Duncan Lewis: not contemptuous of Hanson but we need to stick to the facts
Lewis says the border control regime is very sound.
Of Tony Abbott’s criticism that Lewis was undermining Australians confidence, Lewis said he was not here to vilify the Islamic community but to work with them.
I’m not here to vilify the islamic community, I am here to keep the Australian community safe.
He says there have been four attacks in Australia and 12 thwarted attacks.
Of those, 11 people were radicalised “in the spirit of the Sunni Islamic extremist cult” and one was a right wing extremist.
We have good checks in place but we can give no guarantees, Lewis says.
Kelly puts the criticism from some that he was contemptuous of Pauline Hanson’s question in estimates.
I had no intention of being contemptuous. The point I am making is we need to stick to the facts.
Duncan Lewis: The refugee program is not the source of terrorism in Australia
Duncan Lewis is speaking to Fran Kelly.
The refugee program is not the source of terrorism in Australia.
He says we have had tens of thousands of refugees come to Australia over the years and very few have been sources of interest for Asio.
He does not suggest none have been refugees but they were not terrorists because they were refugees.
Lewis says radicalisation results from “Sunni Islamic extremism”.
Happy hump day: Today is a big day
Good morning blogans and blatherskites,
Today is a big day.
The Committee for the Economic Development of Australia, otherwise known as Ceda, is holding its annual conference today and tomorrow in Parliament House. Malcolm Turnbull is first up at 8am and Bill Shorten will speak tomorrow. There are a host of other speakers from various quarters.
Media bosses will meet to form a cheer squad for the government’s media reforms. Full list shortly.
The government is preparing to cut the energy supplement designed as compensation for the carbon tax for future welfare recipients. (The cut for all welfare benefits previously died in the Senate.)
The bill to allow the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to invest in carbon capture and storage is before the House after it was announced yesterday.
Estimates are still on, including Asic and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. *census*
And George Brandis has come to the aid of Duncan Lewis, director general of Asio. Lewis is giving a rare interview to Fran Kelly on ABC RN shortly.
ASIO's Duncan Lewis shutting down Pauline Hanson's questions on Muslims and refugees is worth watching. #estimates #auspol pic.twitter.com/ycONVWGO3K
— Luke Henriques-Gomes (@lukehgomes) May 25, 2017
Brandis has given this statement to the Australian.
Mr Lewis was asked about Middle Eastern refugees coming to Australia and bringing in the threat of terrorism. The point he made is that Australia’s refugee program is not the source of the terrorism problem.
Although a small number of Middle Eastern refugees have been implicated in terrorist activities, they are a tiny fraction of the many thousands of the Middle Eastern refugees Australia settles.
Australia goes to great lengths to ensure that all candidates for refugee resettlement undergo very extensive character and security checks.
The problem of Islamist terrorism, as Mr Lewis and other national security specialists recognise, has many causes – in particular the radicalisation of young people by terrorist recruiters.
There is a whole lot to say about this but let’s get this balloon off the ground in time for the PM at Ceda. Talk to me in the thread, on the Twits @gabriellechan or on Facebook.
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