Night time politics
- The special minister of state Scott Ryan has waived the debts owed to the commonwealth by Bob Day after he asked for special consideration of his circumstances on May 20. The commonwealth was required under law to pursue debts for salaries, allowances and staff entitlements after the high court ruled both Bob Day and Rod Culleton ineligible to stand for different reasons. Ryan said it was open to Culleton to write to request a waiver.
- Gillian Triggs has spoken frankly about the attacks on women in public positions in her last estimates hearings before she stands down. She reflected that though she took advantage of the opportunities afforded women from the 1960s on, through university and work life, she feels there has been a regression for women in public positions. It was a sobering assessment.
- Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman has called on the government and the Muslim community in Australia to take a stand against the caning of two gay men in Aceh. He welcomed the decision of foreign minister Julie Bishop to take it up with her Indonesian counterparts while senator Derryn Hinch called on the government to cut foreign aid to Indonesia as a result.
- Question time was dominated by schools funding questions from both sides.
- Immigration minister Peter Dutton said the ABC Q&A show was a waste of taxpayers.
- Barnaby Joyce said every religion had murderers at the periphery when answering questions on the Manchester bombing, reminding everyone to respect each other’s beliefs.
That is it, friends of the blerg. Thanks to Paul Karp, Gareth Hutchens and Katharine Murphy. Mike Bowers is squawked, having run around the building 567 times between Monday and Thursday. (It is estimates). We shall see you all back here bright and early on Monday morning.
Good night.
Scott Ryan broke his news in the estimates committee, to which he delivered a longer statement. For the detailed focussed, here it is.
I would like to update the Committee on matters relating to Bob Day and Rod Culleton.
This year, two separate rulings of the High Court, acting as the Court of Disputed Returns, declared the Senate positions of Mr Culleton, an independent, and Mr Day, of Family First, vacant.
On 3 February 2017, the Court of Disputed Returns found that Mr Culleton was incapable of being chosen as a Senator under section 44(ii) of the Constitution because he had been convicted and subject to be sentenced for an offence punishable by imprisonment for one year or longer at the date of the 2016 election.
In a separate matter, on 5 April, 2017, the Court of Disputed Returns found Mr Day was incapable of sitting, or being chosen, as a Senator due to a pecuniary interest in an agreement with the Public Service of the Commonwealth relating to the lease of his Adelaide electorate office. The Court found he was incapable of sitting as a Senator from 26 February 2016.
This second matter is one that I brought to the attention of the President and Senate in October and November 2016.
Salary, allowances and other amounts paid to, and in relation to, Mr Culleton and Mr Day are debts owed by both individuals to the Commonwealth.
I have been asked why this is not simply a case of following precedents where the Commonwealth has previously waived debts against members and senators later deemed ineligible to hold their position.
Since the most recent precedent in 1996, there have been changes made to the Remuneration Tribunal Act and the introduction of the Public Governance and Performance Act.
In 2013, Section 16A of the Remuneration Tribunal Act was amended to deal with payments that had purportedly been made under the Act, but where there was, in fact, no power to make those payments.
The effect of Section 16A is to allow remuneration payments made in error under the Remuneration Tribunal Act to be recoverable by the relevant Commonwealth entity, in this case the Department of Senate and the Department of Finance, to ensure no breach of section 83 of the Constitution.
The Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 has also been introduced since the last comparable situation. Section 15 of the PGPA Act generally requires the authority responsible for the recovery of any payment made in error to allocate department resources to pursue the debt or attempt to have the debt waived or written off.
Accordingly, officials of the Department of Finance and Department of Senate – who are responsible for paying salaries, allowances and expenses to senators – are required to pursue debts to the Commonwealth.
The Department of the Senate has determined the amount paid out to Mr Culleton and Mr Day in salary and electorate allowances. The Department of Finance has determined the amount paid out for non-salary amounts. This includes superannuation under the Parliamentary Superannuation Act 2004, benefits paid under the Parliamentary Entitlements Act 1990 and staff payments made under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984.
Mr Culleton and Mr Day have both been notified that they are responsible for money expended by the Commonwealth. As such, debts will not be pursued against their staff or against third parties, for example suppliers.
Today, I inform Senators that Mr Day wrote to me on 20 May, 2017 requesting a waiver of all debts he owed to the Department of the Senate and the Department of Finance.
As the Minister responsible for the waiver of Commonwealth debts, I considered this request under subsection 63(1) of the PGPA Act.
In making my decision, I took recommendations from an Advisory Committee formed under section 24 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014.
The Advisory Committee noted it may be seen to be inequitable for the Commonwealth to recover the debt, given Mr Day performed his duties as a senator in good faith. The Committee also noted Mr Day’s current personal financial circumstances.
After taking this advice, I have agreed to waive Mr Day’s debts to the Department of the Senate for salary and allowances, and Mr Day’s debts to the Department of Finance for superannuation, other parliamentary entitlements and staff salary and other payments. The waiver of this debt is consistent with the outcome in previous similar cases.
There have been criticisms levelled by some individuals surrounding the handling of this situation. I would like to point out that departmental officials have been acting in accordance with the requirements of the law.
As the media has reported, letters were sent to both Mr Culleton and Mr Day outlining the situation and presenting a number of options to progress this issue.
The letters provided Mr Culleton and Mr Day with options in relation to the debt. Mr Day has elected to take one of those options, which was to apply for a waiver. Those options remain open to Mr Culleton.
Updated
Scott Ryan statement waiving Bob Day's debts to the commonwealth
Special minister of state Scott Ryan’s statement:
Today, I have agreed to waive debts to the Commonwealth owed by Mr Bob Day AO.
On 5 April, 2017, the Court of Disputed Returns found Mr Day was incapable of sitting, or being chosen, as a Senator due to a pecuniary interest in an agreement with the Public Service of the Commonwealth relating to the lease of his Adelaide electorate office. The Court found he was incapable of sitting as a Senator from 26 February 2016.
Following that decision, officials in the Department of the Senate and Department of Finance wrote to Mr Day notifying him they would be required to pursue a debt owed for salaries, allowances, superannuation and staff payments.
Mr Day wrote to me on 20 May, 2017 requesting a waiver of debts he owed to the Department of the Senate and the Department of Finance.
As the minister responsible for the waiver of Commonwealth debts, I considered this request under subsection 63(1) of the PGPA Act.
After taking advice from officials in the Department of Finance I have agreed to waive Mr Day’s debts to the Department of the Senate and Department of Finance. The waiver of this debt is consistent with the outcome in previous similar cases.
Updated
Special minister of state Scott Ryan has waived former senator Bob Day's debts
Ryan has waived Day’s debts because he made a special application to consider his financial circumstances.
Former One Nation senator Rod Culleton, who was declared bankrupt last year but who maintains he is in control of his assets, has not made such an application.
But Ryan said in a statement to estimates, that the same avenue is open to Culleton.
Both Ryan and Culleton were ruled ineligible to be senators by the high court.
Both had received letters from the finance department seeking to recover debts owed to the commonwealth for salaries, staff entitlements and allowances.
Updated
The moment when Gillian Triggs is asked whether it is her last estimates appearance
A picture paints a thousand words.
LNP senator Ian Macdonald, one of her chief inquisitors, wished her well in the future.
Graciously, Gillian Triggs thanks him.
Updated
Gillian Triggs: serious regression causing attacks on women in public positions
In her final estimates, Australian Human Rights Commission president, Gillian Triggs has given an extended meditation on attacks against women in public life.
I’ve had a legal career now for 50 years, for most of those 50 years I’ve never felt in any way hampered by being a woman. I’ve ridden a crest of a wave of opportunity in education and work, and I’ve always benefited [from opportunity].
But it’s fair to say, as I did at Melbourne town hall, that sadly there has been clear evidence that women in senior positions and women in the media are being attacked, it’s very sad for Australian democracy and for enlightened liberal debate in this country.”
Triggs said she had “attracted a great deal of attention” as a function of her role, which she described as an honour that came with “a certain level of controversy”.
Derryn Hinch asked if she was being a bit hyperbolic, like Donald Trump when he complained he was the most persecuted US president in history.
Triggs replied:
I think it’s extraordinary to be referred to in the same sentence as Donald Trump, I’m not sure it’s a very flattering association. I don’t think it is over the top.
Triggs said she would do more research on the topic but “evidence is mounting, of growing attacks on women in public positions” including heads of companies and the public service.
I say this with great sorrow. I grew up and went to university in the 1960s. The last few years have seen a serious regression.
Updated
George Brandis is now stepping estimates through the process to appoint the next president of the Human Rights Committee when Gillian Triggs steps down.
The position was advertised on 22 and 29 April. Applications closed on 5 May.
The selection panel will provide a short list of recommended candidates to the government.
Brandis will take a name to cabinet. It is the government’s choice, he agrees.
Updated
Oops. Further to Ian Macdonald’s attempt to chuck out Greens senator Nick McKim.
McDonald: I've been told by the clerk I do not have the power to evict anyone or prevent anyone asking questions. #estimates #auspol
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) May 25, 2017
Updated
Updated
Updated
Due to the Triggs posts, I missed the detail on a Tanya Plibersek question but she essentially asked how is it fair that the King’s School gets a larger increase than some public schools.
Turnbull says most schools receive an increases including schools in her electorate which receive an extra $44m over the next decade.
Chris Bowen to Turnbull: the bank levy was designed to bring the budget back into balance. Why is the prime minister placing the AAA rating further at risk with his government’s incompetence?
Turnbull says the the revenue that will be raised by the major bank levy would ensure the government brings the budget back into surplus in 2020/21 and will retain the AAA rating.
Updated
Greens senator Nick McKim to estimates chair, LNP senator Ian Macdonald.
McKim: "you can't make me leave mate, what are you going to do about it?". McDonald won't give him the call rest of #estimates #auspol
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) May 25, 2017
McKim: "You are a tyrant and a dictator, I dissent from your ruling. I'm not going anywhere" #estimates #auspol
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) May 25, 2017
Updated
Eric Abetz is grilling Australian Human Rights Commission president, Gillian Triggs, about travel to speak at a Bob Brown Foundation fundraiser.
Triggs replied that the AHRC keeps a register of gifts but it does not extend to declaration of sponsored travel. Triggs said she and the other commissioners speak at events around Australia but ask organisations that invite them to meet the costs of travel.
Abetz challenges her on whether that is transparent.
She replied:
We don’t put them on our website, but if anyone asked about it we would be totally transparent. Details of any speeches or launches we attend ... are totally available for anyone who cares to ask about it.”
Triggs said that “due to our difficult financial situation ... we cannot afford to pay for these from the commission’s budget”.
Abetz is now looking at the content of the speech and a line, taken out of context, that “sadly you can say what you like around the kitchen table at home” and whether Triggs meant that the AHRC would seek to control what is said in people’s homes.
Triggs said the line was simply demonstrating that racist attitudes that emerge in the public arena are often formed in the home, not an attempt by the AHRC to control what was said in people’s home. “I’m afraid that’s an inaccurate observation”, she says, when Abetz characterises it, essentially as an attempt to police thought crime.
Updated
Updated
Updated
Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison: there is a $2bn back hole in the budget from the bank tax. Will the treasurer advise the House how he intends to fill it or will he simply add it to the debt in the budget papers.
Morrison does not answer the question but describes Bowen as the banks’ parrot.
The shadow treasurer has become the banks’ parrot, squawking on cue, saying, “Who is a pretty boy then”?
He has become the banks’ parrot and he puffs up and plumes himself on every occasion, coming to the dispatch box in his big tough voice but the truth is he hasn’t read the budget papers.
Updated
There is a government question on the Adani mine to deputy PM Barnaby Joyce, to allow him to attack Labor as the party that “has given up on labourers in the pursuit of vegan burgers and they have given up at the railway hotel, they have lost their soul”.
Turnbull to Shorten: Labor’s plan to retain the budget repair levy and protect low-and middle-income earners from a tax increase is a fair and more responsible way to raise more money. Does the prime minister object because Labor’s fairer and better plan raises $4.5bn more revenue than his plan or is it because under Labor’s plan, millionaires will not get a tax cut on 1 July?
Turnbull says only a few years ago, Shorten backed the Medicare levy rise for the NDIS for the “great national enterprise”.
Labor knows this is just but their leader, trapped in his own political bind of constantly seeking one cynical tactical advantage after another is not going to look in the eyes of the people to whom he has promised so much and say, “We will pay for it”.
Well, Mr Speaker, we will. And the parliament will and Labor will be shown up for a makers of empty promises, frauds and fakes, betraying the very people they promised to protect.
Updated
Plibersek to Turnbull: Does he agree with the Catholic Education Commission, “Hundreds of Catholic schools will be allocated less Commonwealth funding next year, dozens of schools will be hit with a funding cut of 50% or more next year and almost 200 schools will be allocated less funding in 2027 than this year”. This is the department’s own figure, they cannot be disputed or manipulated.
Turnbull says funding will rise from $17bn to over $30bn in 2027.
He says 98% of Catholic students will see growth of more than 3.3% a year from 2017 to 2027.
That is well above costs and wages growth. Catholic systemic schools will receive a total of $28.3bn in Commonwealth recurrent funding over four years.
He says the Catholic sector has the highest per student Commonwealth funding in every state and territory, “now and into the future”.
Updated
Labor to Turnbull: Prime minister, this week, the member for Gilmore said about the reaction of school principals to the government’s funding, “They have certainty of funding going forward for as far as four years. There is guesstimate there for 10, but no government can absolutely commit to that.” Is the member for Gilmore [Ann Sudmalis] correct? Isn’t the only certainty for schools a $22 billion cut?
Sudmalis sighs as the PM gets up to defend the comments.
Turnbull says Labor didn’t fund years five and six of their Gonski agreements (they were outside the forward estimates).
He repeats the percentage amounts.
Next government question on the NDIS to social services minister Christian Porter.
Updated
We have had two government questions on schools policy and two questions on the Medicare levy rise for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which would suggest the government considers both of those budget policies are electoral winners. The NDIS is also a chance for government to attack Bill Shorten given part of shadow cabinet’s disquiet over rejecting the rise for those earning under $87,000 a year.
Updated
Shorten to Turnbull: The executive director of the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, Mr Stephen Elder, has said about the prime minister’s schools policy, “If this is supposed to be a needs-based funding model, why will some of the most most disadvantaged public schools in the country lose money? How is it fair that the prime minister’s $22 billion cut leaves the neediest students worse off, or is the prime minister also going to accuse Catholic educators of being dishonest?
Turnbull reinforces the schools policy – see earlier answers – but declines to suggest whether the campaign in parts of the Catholic sector is dishonest.
Updated
Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman and Derryn Hinch carpet Indonesia for caning gay men
AAP reports:
An openly gay Liberal MP says the “cruel and sickening” caning of two gay men in Aceh has cast a cloud over Australia’s relationship with Indonesia.
Australia should not stand by and ignore the inhumane treatment of the pair who were caned 85 times under sharia law for having consensual sex, Trent Zimmerman told parliament on Tuesday.
He was grateful foreign minister Julie Bishop had raised the issue with her Indonesian counterparts but called on others, including the Muslim community in Australia, to take a stand.
“Our friendship with Indonesia has been strengthened by our perception of a pluralistic, democratic and moderate Islamic nation,” Zimmerman said.
“Sadly, recent events have given us cause to question that understanding.
“Nothing should absolve the Indonesian government of its obligation to ensure all its citizens are afforded the basic human rights it has agreed to uphold through its international commitments.”
Crossbench senator Derryn Hinch has called for Australia to suspend its foreign aid to Indonesia over the matter.
“I believe Australian aid should be suspended to show our disapproval and disgust. I’m disappointed by our government’s silence on this cruelty,” Hinch said.
Updated
Bowers is going all artsy fartsy on the way to QT.
leaves floating on a pond in the senate courtyard #ParliamentHouse @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive #autumn pic.twitter.com/YfMPPeY9PD
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) May 25, 2017
Labor to Turnbull: Public school principles have travelled to be here in Canberra today. So, how can the prime minister claim his school funding model is sector-blind when Loriston Girls school in Melbourne with fees of primary school up to $27,000 a year gets seven times the funding increase of Anula school in Darwin. How is that fair to kids in public schools like Anula Primary?
Turnbull says historically the federal government funds a greater portion of private schools than public schools.
Over the next 10 years, the idea is to bring all schools up to the school resourcing standard (Gonski formula).
That formula for federal funding is 80% of non-government schools and 20% for public schools. States pick up the rest.
The comparison the honourable member makes is completely inapt, totally inapt.
By 2027 government schools, wherever they are in Australia, will receive 20% of the Schooling Resource Standard from the Commonwealth and they will receive that whether they are in the Northern Territory or Victoria or Tasmania and non-government schools will receive 80% of the Schooling Resource Standard which is adjusted according to the SES formula.
Updated
The next government question is on the schools package to Turnbull.
The PM:
Our school funding model is transparent, it is needs-based, it means that at the same school with the same needs gets the same funding. Isn’t that what needs-based funding is about? Oh! The member for Sydney [Plibersek] says it is not. Right, OK. So well, the member for Sydney is trying to lead us into her parallel universe where needs-based funding does not mean schools with the same needs get the same funding. So, I wonder under Labor’s parallel universe of fakery and fraud who gets more money? Well, I guess it is determined on political grounds.
The Coalition senators continue to question Gillian Triggs on the QUT 18C matter.
Gillian Triggs now up at #estimates pic.twitter.com/p10AprFCci
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) May 25, 2017
Bill Shorten condemns the Indonesian attacks as well.
Shorten to Turnbull: I have a document from the prime minister’s own office which states the government’s school policy is a $22bn cut compared to Labor’s policy. Does the prime minister deny that his own office knew it was a $22 billion cut, wrote that it was a $22 billion cut, told journalists it was a $22bn cut, when will the prime minister finally say aloud and finally stop misleading the Australian people that his policy is a $22 billion cut?
Turnbull:
What we have heard from this Captain of Fantasy is yet another claim to billions of dollars that he never, ever had. Fantasy money. What could be less fair than promising resources that you cannot pay for...
When we talk about fairness, what could be less fair than the 14 minutes of torture the leader of the opposition delivered to his own caucus today. Mr Speaker, a cross between Fidel Castro and Kevin Rudd, he went on and on and on for 14 minutes to his unfortunate crew. It only came to the end when it was interrupted by repeated snores and dull thuds from the members of the Labor Party falling out of their chairs...
Updated
The first government question is on keeping Australians safe and secure after the Manchester and Indonesia bombings.
Turnbull outlines the budget measures which boost funding to security agencies and the uncovering of terrorist plots.
Our first priority is to keep Australians safe. The complex outlook in this area continues to see innovation on the part of the terrorists as they change their methods of operation. And we need to be as agile, more agile than them.
Updated
Labor’s Tony Burke to Turnbull: On Monday, the prime minister said he would seek advice over the course of the next day from the AFP commissioner about allegations involving One Nation. But today in Senate estimates the commissioner confirmed that he had not received a request for advice from anyone in the government. Why did the primeminister tell the parliament he was going to seek advice from the police commissioner and then do absolutely nothing? Did the prime minister intend to mislead the parliament or do all the rules change when One Nation is involved?
Turnbull says the AFP is evaluating the matter at the moment and needed to do so without any influence from the government.
Yes, that’s quite a bit of over reach from the honourable member.
Updated
Peppermint tea. Question time.
Ahmed Fahour, who resigned from Australia Post after public criticism of his salary, has had a crack at the government at a business lecture. He has also made a veiled swipe at Seven Network boss Tim Worner on his highly publicised affair with Amber Harrison. Eli Greenblat of the Oz reports:
Outgoing Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour has defended his $5.6 million salary, arguing he “never held a gun to the head of the government or the Australia Post board’’ to demand the sizeable wage. Mr Fahour also noted that other CEOs in the country have been caught “doing things to their secretaries’’ but still kept their job.
He said there were other Australian chief executives not running their companies very well, but noted they still got large payouts while his remuneration became a focal point of public debate and outrage.
Addressing the University of New South Wales Business School last night, Mr Fahour also vowed that for his next job he would select an employer where the shareholder is “happy to pay what I was told I was going to get paid’’.
Updated
Lunch time politics summary
- Attorney general George Brandis has said he personally regrets the failure to pass on the Monis letter received by the department two months prior to the Lindt siege.
- Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said, in regard to the Manchester bombing, that people who think they can change the world by murdering others are in every religion. Just treat people respectfully, he says.
- Immigration minister Peter Dutton says Q&A is a waste of taxpayers money and expressed delight that Yassmin Abdel-Magied was in Ray Hadley’s words “punted through the goalposts”.
- Estimates heard from the AFP that the PM has made no referral of the Ashby recordings to the AFP. Labor has referred the recordings and the AFP is evaluating.
- Question time is coming up.
-
Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs will appear before the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee at the same time - around 2pm-ish.
Updated
A certain former senator is trolling a certain current senator.
@SenatorMRoberts and @SenatorBurston have called on me to give the banking enquiry teeth and help with submissions 👍 #auspol @AuSenate
— Rod Culleton (@SenatorCulleton) May 24, 2017
We agreed on no such thing
— Sen. Malcolm Roberts (@SenatorMRoberts) May 24, 2017
All I have done is to encourage you to make a submission after you said you weren’t going to #auspol @AuSenate https://t.co/CxK3GTO3iQ
@SenatorMRoberts @SenatorBurston Are you calling that fake news too? Very disappointing for all those effected by the banks. #auspol
— Rod Culleton (@SenatorCulleton) May 24, 2017
Ok @SenatorMRoberts you win. Today we discussed climate change and how to fulfill that black hole in your office #auspol #fightingback
— Rod Culleton (@SenatorCulleton) May 24, 2017
LOLs from the side, via former One Nation party national president and treasurer:
@SenatorCulleton @SenatorMRoberts Hahaha
— Ian J Nelson (@ianjnelson) May 24, 2017
Groundhog Day.
Brilliant pic, Bowers.
Updated
Updated
Updated
Disability commissioner Alastair McEwin says he has concerns about human rights implications of drug testing welfare recipients #estimates
— Michael Koziol (@michaelkoziol) May 25, 2017
Australia stands with Indonesia & condemns the murderous terrorist attack on civilians & police in Jakarta last night.
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) May 25, 2017
Decentralisation: Step 1. Announce. Step 2. Move. Step 3. Prepare detail.
Tom McIlroy at Fairfax reports that the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, has made an admission overnight at a lack of deets around the government’s decentralisation policy.
The federal government has conceded little policy development has been completed around forced moves of public service departments and agencies to the regions, but promised future plans will be ‘more structured’ than the pesticides authority’s controversial relocation.
Cormann told a Senate budget estimates hearing on Wednesday night the only significant detail about the National party-led plans to move agencies and departments from cities including Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne to rural and regional centres was contained in a speech by the deputy leader, Fiona Nash, last month and a doorstop press conference by the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, a day later.
He said relocation of the Australian pesticides and veterinary medicines authority to Joyce’s electorate of New England had been an election promise, but detail of a government-wide decentralisation push this year was being prepared.
Updated
Murray Watt is asking AFP commissioner Andrew Colvin about Malcolm Turnbull’s comments on One Nation and whether the PM has referred it to the AFP.
Turnbull said this a few days ago.
I will be getting advice from the federal police commissioner and the minister for justice and the attorney [general] as we review the media reports in the course of the next day.
Yesterday George Brandis said this of the One Nation referral:
What I am requesting is a formal request to me which I have yet to receive.
Andrew Colvin today says he has not received a referral.
Murray Watt asks if there are any other One Nation investigations going on at the AFP.
Colvin says he cannot confirm or deny. It is not AFP practice and nothing should be read into that.
Updated
Labor senator Murray Watt is questioning AFP commissioner Andrew Colvin on his own referral of One Nation’s James Ashby’s recordings in which Ashby suggests selling packages to ON candidates.
Colvin says the referral is being evaluated. He says the government has not referred the matter.
Updated
This happened last night but it is worth recording.
In which Pauline Hanson complains to the ABC that the party has been targeted by Four Corners, Greens senator Scott Ludlam calls it journalism and mayhem ensues.
Here is @SenatorLudlam with that SLAMMER talk #estimates pic.twitter.com/9BrRT2VLrW
— 🔥 Chris Duckett 🔥 (@dobes) May 24, 2017
Bilaterals occurring.
Updated
ASPI thinktank: In case you've missed it the world is going to hell
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is a rather serious thinktank with deep defence experience based in Canberra. They don’t make rash statements lightly but overnight, ASPI has released a report.
AAP:
The world is going to hell, yet Australian politicians are in business-as-usual mode – squabbling over defence industry jobs being created in particular electorates – a new report warns.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Mark Thomson says the road ahead is rocky just a year into implementation of the latest defence blueprint.
In a review of the federal budget, Thomson questions whether plans and funding are adequate amid a deteriorating global security outlook.
“In case you’ve missed it, the world is going to hell,” he said.
“Yet we continue as if it’s business as usual, squabbling about whether defence industry jobs will be created in one electorate or another.”
Updated
Peter Dutton: Q&A a waste of taxpayers' money but punting Abdel-Magied a start
Immigration minister Peter Dutton says the ABC’s Q&A show is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
He took issue with the show, its direction and its effect on his blood pressure.
I think there is a fundamental problem with the ABC, particularly around Q&A, the composition of the audience, the selection of these people on the panel, the direction given it by Tony Jones, so you’re right, you’ve raised my blood pressure and I don’t watch it and honestly it is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Asked by Ray Hadley about “punting” Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Dutton says:
Good. That’s a start. One down and many to go.
Updated
#Estimates ATO fraud company Plutus won tender with National Blood Authority worth $200,000. Evidence beyond claim of only indirect contact pic.twitter.com/aUNQGk2zG8
— Eryk Bagshaw (@ErykBagshaw) May 25, 2017
Janiec says #APVMA staff won't be asked "til the time is right", prob end next year, whether they will move to Armidale. #estimates
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) May 25, 2017
#APVMA staffing update... Since 1July: lost 20 regulatory scientists, and recruited 20. So, maintaining overall 20% vacancy rate. #estimates
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) May 25, 2017
Meanwhile over in agriculture estimates, the APVMA descended into snarkiness.
#APVMA #estimates is already pretty narky. Like, 'after-dinner-estimates' narky. The interjections have started early today... pic.twitter.com/KkIHe0BUvd
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) May 24, 2017
One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts wants to know what AFP commissioner Andrew Colvin is paid. He looks shocked, says it might sound strange but he would have to check. It’s on the Remuneration Tribunal website, says Brandis.
It’s not my motivation for being here, says Colvin.
One Nation's Malcolm Roberts up in Senate estimates now. He still hasn't commented on the arrest of his senior adviser yesterday.
— Adam Gartrell (@adamgartrell) May 25, 2017
Updated
AFP chief Andrew Colvin says there is a lot of material that comes from police investigations that appears in various media outlets and they generally don’t try to track down sources.
Ludlam is slightly incredulous there is only one case.
Greens senator Scott Ludlam is questioning AFP chief Andrew Colvin about the illegal access to a journalist’s metadata, admitted to by Colvin earlier this month.
Colvin says after an audit, the AFP found there had been no other instances.
Under questioning, officers say the process had been tightened up, the authorising officer needed for an applicant is now more senior.
The AFP has made no applications for information pertaining to a journalist’s source.
Ludlam wants to know how much AFP time is taken up investigating journalists’ sources and “am I the only one who is creeped out by this”.
Colvin says there has only been one instance of police trying to access metadata and that was in the case that has been revealed.
Updated
Shadow attorney Mark Dreyfus has welcomed George Brandis’s admission that there was a failing over the Monis letter.
It’s long overdue Senator George Brandis has finally admitted there was a failing in the handling of correspondence sent to his office by Man Haron Monis. He has done everything he could to cover up his office’s blunders.
I don’t understand why he was not prepared to admit the same last night under questioning from Labor senators.
The 2015 Senate inquiry into this matter was highly critical of the handling of the Monis correspondence and found there was inadequate disclosure of the facts to the Parliament. Senator Brandis has assured that significant process changes have since been made, and Labor will seek to confirm this with Asio at Senate hearings tonight.
After a litany of serious mistakes and gaffes since he got the job, I don’t think anyone has any confidence in the Attorney-General to do his job properly.
Updated
Bill Shorten has spoken to caucus. It is about school funding and the government’s Gonski 2.0 funding package from the budget.
I thought that after the last election that maybe we had won the argument on education. I thought maybe we could, at least, put the debate about the future of the funding of schools aside, that the government would get the message that school funding should not be a political football. It should just be a political priority. But there is very much a clear choice emerging in Australia. And the choice is as simple. Do you want to properly fund the early years of a child’s learning? Do you want to properly fund our schools?
IMO the point is that Labor has won the argument on Gonski. The government has moved a long way back towards the centre on school funding (when you consider the first 2014 education cuts over 10 years). The Turnbull government is now committing to put in place an underlying needs based formula with loadings for disadvantage. This is good.
So that formula is what the Gonski report recommended. That requires cuts to some private schools and smaller increases for others as the formula is implemented.
That is a huge move for the Coalition and a step forward from the Gillard agreements, which were also a step forward from where school funding was pre-2013.
The Gonski per student formula is worth supporting. Labor is now arguing about the level of dollars applied to that formula. If the Gonski formula is supported in parliament, Labor can ramp that funding level up by the $22bn when they are in government.
But the whole schools package still hangs in the balance. Greens MP Adam Bandt will vote against it in the lower house along with Labor. When/if it passes the lower house, it will go to a Senate inquiry and then, depending on what the Greens do, the government will have to negotiate with some or all of the crossbench.
The other thing the Gonski panel recommended was an independent, arms-length school funding body to determine the level of funding applied to the formula. This would be an unashamedly good thing to take this ridiculous ongoing political argy bargy that comes with school funding year on year. NO SIDE IS PROMISING THIS INDEPENDENT BODY. #justsaying
Updated
Labor says Macdonald should have taken it to the court of disputed returns and he's "undermining the credibility of the election" #estimates
— Michael Koziol (@michaelkoziol) May 24, 2017
The AFP is still investigating 6 cases of voter fraud at the last election. Can't say if it is Herbert (37 votes decided it) #estimates
— Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) May 24, 2017
Over in legal and constitutional affairs estimates, the AFP is in the chair and they are being asked about voter fraud in the seat of Herbert where the result went down to the wire. Eventually after a long slow count, Liberal MP Ewen Jones lost his seat to Labor’s Cathy O’Toole.
The AFP says there were 42 serious cases of multiple voting.
#Estimates discussing potential voter fraud in Herbert
— Michael Koziol (@michaelkoziol) May 24, 2017
Macdonald: You can't just ask them if they voted twice
AFP: That's exactly what we do
The agriculture department says the cost of the move is $26m over six years and one scientific officer is currently recruited to the Armidale office. They are working out of an old Centrelink office.
Kim Carr says that will be good for APVMA scientists.
Labor’s Kim Carr is asking David Williamson, deputy secretary of the agriculture department, if any other locations other than Armidale were considered for the decentralisation move. (Remember it was announced by Joyce in the midst of a electoral death battle with former independent Tony Windsor.)
Williamson says no, we were implementing an election commitment to move the agency to Armidale.
Not Toowoomba, asks Carr.
No.
Thanks to Anna Vidot of the ABC.
@lucybarbour #APVMA says its performance rates do fluctuate, but acknowledge the latest ones aren't *great* exactly... #estimates
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) May 24, 2017
The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority is before estimates right now, answering questions on the move to Armidale ordered by local member and aforementioned deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce.
And lo... once more unto the #APVMA #estimates, tweeps, once more.
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) May 24, 2017
Acting CEO Stefanie Janiec in the hot seat this time around.
Barnaby Joyce: every religion has murderers at the periphery
Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has been speaking to Kieran Gilbert on Sky about life, religion and Manchester.
He condemns the Manchester attacks, saying “these people” think murder will change the world.
But he makes the point that terrorists have always been around in every religion.
These people have always been around and every religion has them at their periphery. I’m Catholic, in Northern Ireland we had the IRA, who decided they were going to change the world by murdering people. I don’t agree with that. These people believe they are going to change the world by murdering people. We have seen it in Buddhism, we have seen it in Hinduism. It’s murder. It’s wrong and we have got to make sure as a nation, people can go to the cricket, can go to the rugby, go down the street, go to the park, enjoy life, be Australian and leave other people alone to have their beliefs because they are probably different to yours. Don’t change the world by violence, change the world by argument, cogent argument.
Joyce says Australian values include equality, leaving other people alone, compassion, tolerance, being kind, doing your bit.
People say it all sounds a bit old fashioned but its not. If you really had an empathy for other people around you, you wouldn’t want to blow them up. You would say they’re just like me. Leave them alone.
Whatever you think of the DPM, Barnaby is very good on these messages and speaks to a constituency, part of which potentially crosses into One Nation territory. So it is heartening that he takes every opportunity to underline religious tolerance. This is not the first time he has said this stuff.
Good morning blogans,
The Canberra fog had enveloped parliament house as I trudged in, a little weary as a result of the possum rave on my roof last night. It seems every creature from the district was dancing on my flat roof, or perhaps there was a marsupial Olympics. Anyway, enough of my problems...
George Brandis is the man of the morning. He has been speaking to media this morning after the NSW Coroner’s report into the Lindt cafe siege which ended with the deaths of Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson as well as the perpetrator Man Haron Monis.
The coroner had a lot to say about the NSW police service and they way they handled the raid.
He also had a bit to say about the commonwealth – our purview – particularly in relation to passing on correspondence that may flag potential security threats. This was in relation to a letter Monis wrote to the attorney general’s department two months before the siege.
At the time, Brandis told a Senate committee:
There was no reason to believe that any member of the attorney general’s department staff would have known that Monis ... was a person of concern at that particular time.
At the time, Labor’s Mark Dreyfus thought that the letter should have prompted further investigation, given it was “a letter from a man on bail for serious violence offences, who had been in litigation with the commonwealth in the high court, asking about communication with the head of Isil”.
Last night Brandis was questioned by Labor in Senate estimates about this comment in the NSW Coroner’s report, which says:
There does not appear to be an effective policy in place to require the commonwealth bureaucracy to forward correspondence received by it to Asio where that correspondence is relevant to security considerations.
Brandis said it was not a consequential letter and the department had changed its practices. But after a semantic argument about what constituted an government wide policy, he declined to say that there was one across all agencies.
He is a little more forthcoming this morning.
On ABC AM, Brandis said there were no adverse findings of commonwealth agencies but there were “helpful suggestions” for the feds.
He said his department had reviewed their processes two years ago. The AG’s department also talked to other departments about their processes but Brandis said he would check again following the report.
Brandis tries to avoid a question about regretting the failure to pass on correspondence. He says post fact reviews – including by the head of Asio – have found the letter would have made no difference to the outcome.
Sabra Lane presses him. Do you personally regret it?
Well of course because I asked my department to tighten up their correspondence handling practices. I would prefer that it had been handed on and if that occurred today it would be handed on.
The other element of the Lindt siege crossing the state-federal boundary relates to when to engage other security agencies and the defence.
Brandis said military call-out powers were being reviewed and a submission would be taken to cabinet.
Plainly there is an argument, particularly when there is a serious terrorist event to deploy all of the capabilities the nation can summon, whether it be the policing and intelligence capability or the military capability.
If you were not around late yesterday, you may have missed Tony Abbott’s intervention, rising to the challenge of all things national security. Shoot to kill, he told 2GB.
We need to change our protocols dealing with terrorist sieges because terrorists don’t expect to get out alive and they don’t care who they kill. I think we do need to give the police a shoot to kill power when they reasonably think they are in a terrorist situation, and we do need to ensure, without supplanting the appropriate role of the police as the lead agency in a terrorist situation, that there is close cooperation, without muddying the lines of command, close cooperation between the military and the police.
Talk to me on the Twits @gabriellechan on Facebook or in the thread. Writers Fest bloke @mpbowers should be back this morning, fog notwithstanding. Hey ho, let’s go.
Updated
