Night time politics
- Today, schools funding dominated the political agenda. Negotiations between the Greens and the Coalition continued with no resolution. The Senate crossbench is also in the mix. The government needs 10 votes to pass its Gonski 2.0 package. Labor pursued the government over schools funding in question time to which Malcolm Turnbull told the house that Labor used to believe in needs-based funding.
- The issue will go to the Coalition party room tomorrow morning, including any amendments to appease the Greens or the crossbench. Already senator Chris Back has warned he could cross the floor on the issue, given it is his last week and he has nothing to lose. Abbott ally Kevin Andrews is also unhappy at doing any deals with the Greens.
- So in other words, education minister Birmingham can offer something to the Greens and lose some in the party room or not deal with the Greens and be forced to deal with the competing requests on the crossbench. At this stage, the crossbench is looking more likely at coming across than the Greens. One Nation has committed to support the schools package, Nick Xenophon is saying nothing newsworthy at this point.
- The Senate economics legislation committee reported on the major bank levy, throwing small bones to the banking sector including a review of the 0.06% tax and consideration of a sunset clause and a suspension power for the treasurer. To be used in case of dire straits for major banks. Both major parties are supporting the levy anyway.
- The bank levy bill passed the lower house and is now before the Senate where we are expecting a vote tonight.
- The Medicare guarantee fund has passed the lower house. The fund is really just an artifice to make it look like funding is guaranteed but it does not bind a government to spend the Medicare levy on Medicare itself. There are still associated procedural ramrods being applied by Christopher Pyne as we put the blog to bed.
- The Senate delayed the extension of the GST to imported online goods under $1,000 by 12 months in order to conduct a Productivity Commission review.
Tomorrow, we have party room meetings. The Coalition pinch point will be around the schools package and some on going rumbling on the Finkel report. The Labor pinch point will be around the government’s citizenship bill, which toughens up the test with English language test, and applies a longer waiting list for citizenship.
Thanks to my brains trust, Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp, Gareth Hutchens and Mike Bowers.
See you here, same time, same bat station.
Good night.
Updated
The Medicare guarantee fund bill has passed and now the leader of the government, Christopher Pyne is moving to push that bill through. All this to get through the Senate this week.
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Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson is speaking on the bank levy bill in the Senate. This is the speaker list and my mail has it that there will be a vote on this bill tonight.
- K. GALLAGHER
- WHISH-WILSON
- POLLEY
- BURSTON
- KETTER
- XENOPHON
- LAMBIE
- BERNARDI
- DI NATALE
- CORMANN
It will pass with Labor and Greens support, among others.
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Now the house is voting on the Labor suspension of standing orders. The suspension is lost.
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OK Tony Burke has been gagged. Then Labor’s Catherine King had a try at debate but she has been gagged.
After some procedural stuff, Smith rules Labor can go ahead and debate but Christopher Pyne gags debate again.
Another vote.
Labor is trying to suspend standing orders on the Medicare guarantee fund to allow more debate because Tony Burke contends that the debate has been cut short.
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Labor loses the motion on the Medicare guarantee fund. Now the bill is being voted on.
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Australian Bankers Association CEO Anna Bligh has welcomed the Senate committee recommendations for a review of the bank levy and the consideration of a sunset clause.
The ABA supports the committee’s recommendation for a parliamentary review in two years’ time to examine the impacts of the tax, including if it is appropriate to introduce a sunset clause once the budget is in surplus. This review was recommended by a number of banks and I’m pleased to see the committee take the concerns of affected banks seriously.
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The Coalition wins the gag. Labor’s amendment goes to the vote now.
In the lower house, Labor moved an amendment to the Medicare guarantee fund bill, I touched on earlier.
It reads that:
consideration of the bill and related bills be deferred until the minister amends them to include actual guarantees for the future of Medicare, specifically amendments that:
(1) set out the purpose of Medicare, namely to provide a universal public health insurance scheme that provides access to medical, pharmaceutical and public hospital services based on clinical need, not capacity to pay;
(2) include funding to support universal access to public hospital treatment, along with medical and pharmaceutical benefits, in the purpose;
(3) guarantee immediate and annual indexation of Medicare rebates that have been frozen by this government;
(4) guarantee proper commonwealth investment in public hospitals, so that all Australians can access acute care without financial or other barriers; and
(5) guarantee that savings from the Medicare benefits schedule review and agreements with stakeholders will be reinvested in Medicare, and not used as an excuse for further cuts.
After some debate, Christopher Pyne has moved the gag and the house is voting to put the question. You could expect the government would win the gag, knock off the Labor amendment and move to the vote on the Medicare guarantee fund. But best not assume anything in a chamber with a majority of one.
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Greens leader Richard Di Natale says the primary condition for Gonski is getting the policy right and rejects the idea that the schools funding package needs to pass the Senate this week.
He tells David Speers on Sky that in some areas of the Coalition’s Gonski 2.0 package, there is improvement on Labor’s Gonski 1.0.
Updated
One Nation’s Pauline Hanson is giving a speech on high gas prices and why Japanese companies get Australian gas cheaper than Australians.
She says Australia does not have a proper disclosure regime to allow gas companies to disclose information on production costs, sales and prices. This means it’s impossible for governments to write clear policy.
Not only that, she says we have given away our gas resources for peppercorn rents – to the point where foreign owned multinational companies like Chevron pay more in political donations to parties than they pay in tax.
Fair cop.
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Tony Smith announces Jenny Wilkinson as new Parliamentary Budget Officer. Ms Wilkinson is currently a Treasury division head. #auspol
— Dan Conifer (@DanConifer) June 19, 2017
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Major bank levy should be reviewed, Senate committee says
The major bank levy report has landed. The government-dominated committee recommended five measures, including a two-year review, checking out the issues for including foreign banks vis a vis Macquarie Bank which competes with foreign banks, and looking at a treasurer power to suspend the levy in dire straits.
Recommendation one
The committee recommends a review be conducted by the Senate economics legislation committee in a minimum of two years to examine:
• the efficacy of the policy in fulfilling its stated objectives;
• the effect on competition in the Australian banking market; and
• whether the levy is required in perpetuity, including the need for a further review at the time the stated objective of the levy is achieved; that is when the budget has been ‘repaired’.
Recommendation two
The committee recommends that Treasury closely examine issues relating to the technical aspects of the bills to determine if changes are required to avoid double taxation and/or to narrow the liability base.
Recommendation three
The committee recommends that Treasury provide greater explanation as to the rationale for the method of liability calculation which presently excludes foreign banks, and specifically provide an explanation as to why Macquarie Bank is subject to the levy while foreign based competitors are not.
Recommendation four
The committee recommends that the legislation be amended so that the Treasurer may, on the advice of APRA, suspend the application of the levy to any or all authorised deposit-taking institutions in extreme financial or economic circumstances.
Recommendation five
Subject to consideration of the other recommendations, the committee recommends that the bills be passed.
Labor senators supported the recommendations but said the whole levy process, including leaks and lack of consultation, was shambolic.
Updated
Plibersek to Turnbull: How is it fair or needs-based that the prime minister is cutting $846 million from public schools in New South Wales over the next two years alone, but is giving the elite Kings School an extra $19m over the next 10 years?
He quotes the former NSW Coalition education minister and Gonski fan Adrian Piccoli, who came out this morning in Fairfax in support of Gonski 2.0.
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Labor to Turnbull: Under this prime minister, public schools in my electorate faced a $15m cut,including Wanella East College, Hallett Cove school, and Christie’s Beach high school. How is it fair that this prime minister is cutting $22bn from schools at the same time he’s giving millionaires a tax cut?
Frydenberg takes the question.
He does not answer the question but just lists the various increases in the sector funding.
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A Dutts Dixer on citizenship. Immigration minister Peter Dutton speaks on the citizenship crackdown. This is a preview for the Labor caucus party room discussion tomorrow.
This leader of the opposition...
Oh not me again, says Shorten.
Yes it is you again...
Labor’s Warren Snowden to Frydenberg: It’s reported that 151 public schools in the Northern Territory will have their funding cut because of claims by your Government that they are over-funded. Prime Minister, is that correct? And will the Prime Minister release the full list of schools -including public schools - that the Government claims are over-funded, instead of selectively briefing out the names of just a select few?
Frydenberg says under Gonski 2.0, the independent school sector will be 5.1% better off over 10 years, the Catholic school sector will be 5.6% better off the government school sector will be 1.3% better off.
But he doesn’t release the full list of NT schools.
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Shorten to Turnbull: Media reports state that the Parliamentary Budget Office has confirmed that the government’s cutting $3.1bn from Catholic schools. The Department of Education data shows the government is cutting $4.6bn from Catholic schools. Prime minister, which figure is correct?Does the prime minister seriously expect parents with children at Catholic schools to believe that fees won’t go up?
Turnbull says there is an $18.6bn over the next decade.
- Funding for students in our schools will increase by an average of 4.1% every single year from 2018 to 2027.
- It’ll be 3.5% increase for students in Catholic schools overall. 4.1% for students in independent schools.
He does not talk about either the PBO’s costings or the Department of Education figures.
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Labor’s Andrew Giles to Josh Frydenberg: Why did every member of this government – including the member for Menzies – vote in this very house for $22bn of cuts to schools? Will the prime minister now admit to the Australian people, and every member of this house, that he’s cutting funds to Catholic schools?
Frydenberg let’s slip...
The member for Scullin may be interested to know that, under the Turnbull government’s plan, there are 46 seats … ah schools …
He says Catholic schools will get $3.4bn extra over the decade, and in Victoria, the Catholic school system, per student, will see an increase of 3.3%.
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Plibersek to Turnbull: When will the PM admit his cuts to Catholic schools threaten choices?
Frydenberg takes the question, representing the education minister in the lower house.
Frydenberg goes through a series of funding increases at schools visited by the opposition leader.
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Industry, innovation and science minister, Arthur Sinodinos, has addressed the Grenfell fire after Labor called for an urgent Senate committee hearing to consider what Australia should do to avoid a similar disaster.
The health and safety risks of non-conforming building products is a priority of this government.
He noted that since 1994 the Building Code of Australia has banned the use of combustible materials on external walls of buildings.
Sinodinos said the prime minister will write to premiers and chief ministers and request information on the enforcement activities they undertake because they are “at the front line” of compliance.
He said the existing Senate inquiry into non-conforming building materials would be enlarged to consider the regulatory framework and enforcement to prevent similar disasters in Australia.
Plibersek asks about school funding cuts, for disabled students.
Turnbull says disabled students will get funding loadings under the Gonski model.
He then raises a Labor “fact sheet” which he says is an example of the “pathetic misleading diatribes” of the member for Sydney.
He says Labor has a chance to bring the school funding wars to an end.
Labor has started Senate question time by targeting George Brandis (representing the PM) over the government’s schools funding plan.
Labor’s Penny Wong referred to Kevin Andrews’ complaints that the Coalition party room didn’t see modelling that the Catholic sector would lose $4.6bn compared with current arrangements, and senator Chris Back warning he may cross the floor.
Brandis said that education minister, Simon Birmingham, had not misled the Coalition party room because it is “false to suggest that [the Catholic system] will lose any money at all under the proposal that senator Birmingham has brought to the parliament”.
In fact, over the 10 year period funding to the Catholic system will increase by $2.8bn.
An additional $18.6bn over 10 years to 2027 will deliver $11.9bn to government schools, $2.8bn to Catholic and $3.8bn to independent schools, he said. “Every single system benefits.”
Asked about the electoral difficulty of the Coalition striking a deal with the Greens, Brandis said he hopes they and every crossbench senator backs the reform he called “the best to school funding for a generation”.
He said it implements “genuine, transparent, nationally consistent needs based funding”.
Denison independent Andrew Wilkie asks a city deal for Hobart. These are the projects that require coordination and funding from local, state and federal governments. Wilkie says Turnbull was down in Tasmania talking up his support but nothing has happened. Turnbull suggests he would like to do something but the federal government needs the support of state and local governments.
Shorten to Turnbull: This document from the PMO confirms a $22bn cut from schools, why is the government giving millionaires a tax cut in 12 days time?
Turnbull starts up.
There was a time when the leader of the opposition supported needs based funding...
Tanya Plibersek to Turnbull.
Then you ruined it...
General uproar...
Turnbull quotes Ken Boston, Gonski panellist.
Someone on Labor’s frontbench suggests something less than flattering about Boston.
Oh this is like the court of a Renaissance pope, says Turnbull, what with all the ex-communications...
Just by way of an aside, part of the problem for the government is they have been telling us for years that governments can control energy prices. Every question time, the Abbott opposition told us prices were going up because of Labor’s carbon price. Now the Coalition has made a rod for its own back.
Second Dixer - this time to the treasurer - about bringing down power prices.
The first Dixer to Turnbull is on the government’s policies to bring down power prices.
Labor’s Jenny Macklin asks Turnbull, given the power price rises expected on July 1, why is the government cutting the pensioner energy supplements and giving millionaires a tax cut (the end of the high earners temporary deficit levy)?
Turnbull flicks the question to social services minister Christian Porter.
Porter says Labor banked the savings from the energy supplement.
Shorten to Turnbull: On July 1, Energy Australia electricity prices for the average household in New South Wales will rise by nearly 20%, or about $320 per year. Energy Australia has explained, “Doing nothing means higher prices and less reliable energy for all customers.” Will the prime minister now commit to work with Labor in the national interest to end the policy paralysis which continues to mean higher electricity prices for all Australians?
Turnbull says increased power prices is all Labor’s fault.
Updated
The major bank levy committee report has just landed in the Senate.
The government is now introducing the bank levy bill to the Senate. Three minutes to question time.
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Lunch time politics
- Liberal senator Chris Back and Liberal MP Kevin Andrews are joining the list of Greens and crossbenchers to negotiate with education minister Simon Birmingham over his schools funding package. The vote is likely to be Wednesday but we have a lot of farnarkling to go before then.
- Newspoll continues to have Labor in front on a 2PP basis 53-47.
- The Senate has delayed a government plan to charge GST on imported online goods. Labor, the Greens and assorted crossbenchers have delayed its introduction by at least a year and referred the issue to the Productivity Commission for a review.
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The major banks levy has cleared the lower house and comes to the Senate next.
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There is a filibuster happening in the Senate because the bank levy bill has only just passed the house and is not ready to come to the senate yet.
That means they just talk among themselves until question time at 2pm.
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You can consider the Medicare guarantee fund as a rebadging exercise to overcome the political problem that a large part of the electorate don’t trust the Coalition on Medicare – as evidenced at the last election.
Chris Bowen says there is no locked box here to guarantee funds, they are not even attempting to bind a future parliament.
Bowen says even the constitution underlines,
the only fund in any meaningful sense is the general consolidated revenue fund.
Don’t take my word for it. Or Bowen’s word for it. This is the former secretary of the commonwealth health department, Stephen Duckett, now director of the health program at the Grattan Institute in the Conversation.
It will do this by allocating revenue from the recently increased (from 2% to 2.5%) Medicare levy, after paying for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), into a Medicare Guarantee Fund.
The government will then cover the shortfall to cover the costs of Medicare – defined in these budget announcements as a combination of expenditure from the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). In Morrison’s words:
Proceeds from the Medicare levy will be paid into the fund. An additional contribution from income tax revenue will also be paid into the Medicare Guarantee Fund to make up the difference.
Based on the sketchy information so far available, this fund appears to be no more than an accounting trick. The size of the fund will be determined each year based on projected MBS and PBS expenditure. The balancing item, which is the extra proportion of non-NDIS revenue, will also be adjusted each year in line with those expenditure projections.
The guarantee part is that only the MBS and PBS expenditures can be paid from the fund, “by law”. This might sound good, but don’t be fooled. The Medicare guarantee fund is nothing more than a rebadging exercise: it changes the badge on a policy in the hope people might think it is a new policy.
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Bank levy clears the lower house
Pardon me. The gag motion on Labor’s debate of the bank levy has succeeded.
The bank levy has passed the lower house.
Now, on to the Medicare guarantee bill.
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Chris Bowen is speaking on the bank levy bill. He is railing on the black hole in estimates as to how much the bank levy will raise. The big five banks have estimated they will pay $1.1bn between them on the tax in the first year. The treasurer estimates it will be north of $1.5bn.
Bowen says this is a black hole, “in black and white”.
He also reminds the house that on Friday at the Senate bank levy committee hearing, treasury officials admitted they had assumed some “pass through” of the levy to consumers.
Updated
The lower house is voting on a Labor amendment to the government’s bank levy bill:
(1) there is support in the parliament for the major bank levy;
(2) the big four banks have made legal disclosures to the ASX that suggests there is a $2bn budget black hole in the major bank levy forecasts;
(3) the consultation process leading up to the tabling of this legislation was badly mishandled by the treasurer;
(4) the government should come clean on the potential impact that the levy will have on consumers;
(5) the government has instituted at least 12 government reviews and measures relating to the banks, doing everything other than institute a royal commission; and
(6) only a royal commission into the banks will deliver the systematic, structural and cultural change that the banking and financial services sector needs.”
Now the amendment was lost 70-76.
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Sam Maiden on Sky is reporting the Greens have confirmed they want an extra $5bn in schools funding over the decade – bringing the total funding package to $24bn over 10 years.
This does not mean the Greens have confirmed their support. It is just what is on the table. The government has yet to confirm they will stump up the cash.
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Senate has voted 32-16 in favour of the amended bill on GST low value goods, which would delay the implementation of the tax on imported goods below $1,000 to 1 July 2018. It will also refer the issue for a Productivity Commission review.
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The Senate Twitter account tells me that the Senate committee report into the major banks levy will appear at around 5pm today.
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The Greens move to abolish GST on sanitary goods has failed 33-15.
In the lower house, the chamber is on to the major bank levy.
Greens senator Larissa Waters moves her amendment to abolish GST on sanitary goods. She says those products should not be treated as luxury goods.
Finance minister Mathias Cormann says they are not luxury goods, they are just not listed as GST-exempted items.
Labor’s Katy Gallagher says while Labor supports in principle a change in the way sanitary goods are treated, Labor does not support an amendment now with this bill.
Waters says sanitary goods should be treated as health items, just as condoms, lube and sunscreen are.
NXT senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore says NXT will support the Greens amendment.
Division required. Ring the bells.
Without Labor’s support, this shall not pass.
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Finance minister Mathias Cormann says the government is ready to administer GST on low value imported goods from July 1 this year. He does not support Labor’s amendments.
Labor’s Katy Gallagher says let’s delay the GST low-value goods bill for another 12 months to July 2018. Let’s not kid ourselves this thing can be implemented in 11 days by July 1 this year.
She says Labor supports it in principle but the implementation is a mess.
Shock horror. Liberal National senator Ian Macdonald says he’s inclined to agree with Labor.
This is a bill that must pass at some stage, he says. But the delay to get the implementation right is probs good.
(My slang, not his.)
Updated
The Greens amendment to the GST low-value goods bill has gone down, 10-36.
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Parliamentary Friends of Women’s AFL.
Senate is voting on the GST low-value goods bill.
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Kevin Andrews: Restore Catholic funding or Gonski 2.0 gets it
The former Abbott government minister has threatened his own government’s school funding package in the pages of the Australian.
“I’m concerned about what the report says about what the modelling shows … that is different from what we are told … and it backs the claims the Catholic sector is making. I want to see a satisfactory answer.
Mr Andrews warned he would not sign off in the lower house on any deal the government does with the Greens on school funding.
“I think it would trigger difficulties because it’s contrary, if the report is true about the impact on the various systems, well then that’s contrary to what was agreed to in the House and certainly much worse than what I expected,’’ Mr Andrews said.
Cabinet is expected to approve the package when it is debated later today. However, the Government faces a revolt in the party room meeting tomorrow unless elements affecting the funding of Catholic schools are not addressed.
The report is the funding modelling done by the education department and reported by Matthew Knott in the SMH.
While the education bill has already passed through the lower house, if the government makes any amendments at the behest of the Greens or the crossbenchers, it will have to get back to the lower house for a final vote. In which case, Kevin could cross the floor.
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The Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson says the Greens will oppose the GST on low-value online goods:
- because GST is a regressive tax
- it was not collected historically because it is not an efficient tax to collect
Whish-Wilson says its not clear how the Australian Tax Office will collect from scattered diverse overseas online suppliers, mailing goods into Australia every day.
We have sympathy with the idea of parity and equity with our domestic retailers ... but it’s not clear that it will deliver parity.
He says he is not sure why the government is rushing through legislation rather than getting it right.
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This afternoons MPI from @PaulineHansonOz will debate:
— Sen. Malcolm Roberts (@SenatorMRoberts) June 18, 2017
'The need to understand why the Japanese pay less for our gas than we do?'#AUSpol
On the GST bill, Cory Bernardi says he is not here to put taxes up.
He says the 10% GST on imported goods would be the equivalent of a tariff. Bernardi says stores like Costco which sell imported low-value goods are doing consumers a favour and improving competition. He will vote for the delay and he hopes its delayed for a long time.
Updated
We’ve reported that the Australian Education Union is against Gonski 2.0 (even with concessions) and that where goes the AEU, so will go the Greens.
Further to that, note that the AEU’s NSW branch, the NSW Teachers Federation, is now concentrating its social media fire on the Nick Xenophon Team:
Australian students need @Nick_Xenophon and the Senate to stand up for the full #Gonski. Don't pass @TurnbullMalcolm's cuts! pic.twitter.com/OYt9xRnoVL
— Teachers Federation (@TeachersFed) June 19, 2017
To recap, if Labor wants to delay the GST bill, the government has the choice of negotiating with the Greens or the crossbench.
It looks as though Bernardi, Leyonhjelm and One Nation are talking closely in favour of the delay. If the government goes the Green route, they want to see a cut to GST on sanitary goods. No final answer as yet.
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@gabriellechan "So what do you want to pass this fellas?" "Big guns. Black lungs. More nuns." @mpbowers #auspol pic.twitter.com/5sfH49xrPl
— The Matt Hatter (@MattGlassDarkly) June 19, 2017
Senate likely to delay GST for imported online goods
Apropos those negotiations in the Senate. There is a move to delay the bill for a GST on imported online goods below $1,000. Labor wants to delay the bill in favour of the Productivity Commission review over the next 12 months.
Cory Bernardi has been busy. He is opposed to it because it is a tax increase.
The online GST bill
Updated
Crossbench negotiations are occurring.
My kingdom for a lapel mic.
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Axe the tax: Greens call for end to GST on tampons
The Senate has gone straight to a debate over the government bill which introduces GST on imported items bought online for less than $1,000.
The Greens are using the bill to try to abolish the tampon tax.
They say costings show that States could axe the tampon tax and still be $185m better off after the government’s proposed changes to the GST.
Senator Larissa Waters has encapsulated her argument thus:
The government’s plan to make GST payable on items purchased online for under $1,000 would raise an extra $300m. Removing the GST from sanitary products would cost $115m, so states and territories would still be $185m ahead.
The LNP senator Ian Macdonald is speaking in favour on levying GST on imported online goods. He has argued one of his constituents runs an adult goods shopfront who is behind the eight ball when it comes to GST. He has to levy $10 GST on the price, his overseas competitors do not. Mail order shops also have the advantage of postal delivery – which is obviously preferred by some in this business, says Macdonald.
He has yet to touch on sanitary goods.
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Greens party room meeting has begun. Is Gonski 2.0 gonski or hereski to stayski? #auspol
— Paul Osborne AAP (@osbornep) June 18, 2017
Michelle Grattan of the Conversation has evoked the Greens position on climate policy when considering the party’s position on Gonski. She notes its education spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, is trying to drag the party to support the Turnbull package – but it’s a tough gig.
So what’s going on here?
This is going on: the Australian Education Union (AEU) is standing on the Greens’ neck. The AEU wants this as an issue at the election. And the Greens are frightened of the union, especially what it could do to the party’s aspirations in inner city seats.
The teachers’ union has a lot of political clout and there is extensive overlap between its membership and the support base of the Greens. The New South Wales branch of the Greens is strongly identified with the union line.
On Sunday the union position was simply that the Greens must block the legislation this week. It will be lobbying them hard in Canberra over the next few days.
It’s a sordid tale of the power of politics over policy – and it leaves the Greens exposed in their periodic bids to present themselves as the party of principle.
Just as they are responsible for Australia not having a better climate change policy, because they refused to accept the Rudd government’s efforts to put one in place, so too if they don’t cut a schools deal, they will be open to the criticism of trying to stymie the introduction of a more needs-based schools policy.
Inexplicably, the National Catholic Education Commission – which opposes the package – tweeted its support for the column.
.@michellegrattan explained school funding problem well. More important that we get the model right; it's broken now. Plan doesn't fix it
— NCECommission (@NatCathEd) June 18, 2017
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Twitter wars.
As you prepare to go to sleep, remember this front-page headline from today. This is what the Minister has in mind for Catholic schools pic.twitter.com/MuXbeYWsfM
— NCECommission (@NatCathEd) June 18, 2017
Yearly growth for Catholic education under our Gonski needs-based funding plan #auspol pic.twitter.com/3TSXX2C0vW
— Simon Birmingham (@Birmo) June 18, 2017
The other piece focusing the minds of senators is the leaked modelling via Matthew Knott of Fairfax at the weekend.
The Department of Education data shows the country’s public schools would receive a $4 billion windfall over the next decade if the Turnbull government’s school funding changes pass while Catholic schools would be $4.6 billion worse off than under the current legislation.
The leaked modelling examines how public, Catholic and private schools around the country would be affected by the Senate’s decision to block or support the new funding model.
It shows Catholic schools would lose $705 million over the next four years if the new model is passed while public schools would gain $693 million.
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The program begins with private members’ business this morn.
Also in the house, we can expect the Medicare levy increase to pay for the national disability insurance scheme. Labor opposes the rise for anyone under $87,000 a year.
The quickie Senate inquiry into the bank levy reports today but given that Labor supports the 0.06% tax on the five major banks, presumably it will move in an orderly fashion from the house towards the Senate.
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To explain what Labor’s beef is with the Turnbull government school package, Tanya Plibersek wrote to the crossbench on Friday, setting out the case for the negative.
The government’s proposed legislation is not fair, is not sector-blind and it is not needs-based.
Central to Labor’s opposition is that the Coalition promise to fund 20% of the school resourcing standard for government schools and 80% for non-government schools (a higher proportion because of their historic role as the primary funder) is “arbitrary”. (The existing proportion is 77% for non-government schools and 17% for government schools.)
The letter noted that only public schools in Western Australia, Tasmania and the ACT would reach 100% of the SRS because their state governments tip in more than 80%. NSW public schools would get a total of 90.1%, Victoria 85.3%, Queensland 90.9%, South Australia 93.6% and the Northern Territory 85.8%.
Under the bill, 85% of public schools will not reach their SRS by 2027. The Department of Education and Training has confirmed that by 2027 the vast majority of public schools will not be funded at their full SRS.
Under these proposed arrangements the Northern Territory government school sector would receive annual funding indexation of just 1.3% a year, a real cut, which would result in less support for our must vulnerable students.
This reduction in funding would mean that after 10 years Northern Territory public schools would be funded at just 85.8% of their SRS. This is contrary to the Gonski principle that the neediest students should receive the largest funding increases.
The Turnbull government has reportedly tried to address these concerns through a proposal that states be compelled to contribute 75% of the SRS for their public schools. That hasn’t swayed the Australian Education Union, and the Greens are therefore very unlikely to accept the compromise either.
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Just some background on the Coalition-Greens negotiations on the school package.
Mark Kenny and Matthew Knott of Fairfax had the details on Saturday:
In the new offer Senator Birmingham has offered to reduce the time frame over which schools would reach their target funding level from 10 years to six. This would result in more money overall and more of that funding delivered faster.
The government estimates that it would add $1.5 billion to the funding package over the four-year budget period and as much as $5 billion over the decade.
Also proposed in the package, which would require final sign-off from cabinet, is a national schools resourcing body to act as an independent watchdog.
The schools resourcing body was one of the original recommendations in the Gonski report and neither major party have got to it.
Now to numbers.
The government would need 10 votes in the Senate, where Labor is opposed. That could be nine Greens plus one or four One Nations, three Xenophones and three others.
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Listen up, kids: let me tell you about a time, long ago, when Newspoll results instantly got blazing front page coverage #auspol pic.twitter.com/fxwz8FARhe
— Ed Husic (@edhusicMP) June 18, 2017
Labor continues to lead 53-47
Paul Karp reports:
The Turnbull government remains stuck behind Labor, trailing 53 points to 47 in two-party-preferred terms in Monday’s Newspoll, despite a string of policy changes since the May budget.
Labor also leads the Coalition on primary votes, 37 points to 36, although Malcolm Turnbull has maintained his lead as preferred prime minister over Bill Shorten in the poll of 1,786 respondents, conducted from Thursday to Sunday.
The poll confirms the government has not received a poll bounce despite populist measures in the May budget, such as the big bank tax, a renewed focus on traditional Coalition strengths of citizenship, migration and terrorism, and policy changes in school funding, energy and the environment.
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Waiting for Gonski
Good morning, blogans,
Welcome to the last sitting week before the long winter recess. For these four days, we are Waiting for Gonski, which is only slightly slower than Waiting for Godot. For the education minister, Simon Birmingham, it is one step forward, two steps back.
Gonski 2.0 is the Turnbull government’s school funding package, which seeks to implement a nationwide per student funding formula, with loading for disadvantages. The various pointy bits are these:
- Some of the states lose their funding deals previously signed with Julia Gillard.
- The Catholic system is unhappy because it loses some of its funding growth to bring it back to level pegging with other systems.
- The Labor party is opposed and the Greens are still negotiating, as are Senate crossbenchers.
- The government needs 10 votes in the Senate to pass the bill.
As One Nation, via Senator Brian Burston, finally revealed it would back the bill, one of the Liberal senators dropped off the other side.
Burston told the Oz:
It’s a fair deal, it’s based on need, and the fact a school can apply for extra funding based on special needs I think is a good thing.
Steph Balogh notes in the story “even though party leader Pauline Hanson remained coy on One Nation’s position”. Perhaps all things are liable to change without notice.
Meanwhile, the retiring Liberal senator Chris Back told Sabra Lane that “my legacy is very strongly is to support Catholic schools” – oh, and other sectors as well.
I’m not satisfied that the arrangement for the funding for Catholic schools around Australia is as it should be.
He wants parts of the package delayed, relating to the formula which determines funding, effectively measuring the socioeconomic status of schools. The funding relates to funding for the 2018 school year, so there is a level of urgency, but Back has a message for the minister.
Please don’t make me vote against the government in my last week.
The Greens remain live but they are seriously spooked by the Australian Education Union, which remains opposed – as is clear in this story by Katharine Murphy and Paul Karp.
The AEU has told senators to vote against, even though Gonski 2.0 is a clearer and more consistent formula than the status quo. Labor remains opposed because it is $22bn less in future funding than it is promising.
I would have thought it would be more politically useful to let the Coalition have the fight with overfunded Catholic schools and then ramp up the funding amount in office.
Anyway, Gonski is the major moving part over the week but I will bring you the full program as we go. Talk to us in the thread, on the Twits @gabriellechan or on Facebook.
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