That’s where we are going to end the blog today.
It’s been a DAY.
Parliament will rest for a week before returning for another fortnight on 24 February. We also have estimates in that sitting fortnight as well, so brace yourself for that.
I’ll be back on general political news duties next week, as will the rest of the bureau, so make sure you check back to see what Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin and Paul Karp have for you, along with Mike Bowers.
A very big thank you to them, and the rest of the Guardian brains trust for all their work today. Yes, I know there were a few more typos than usual, but it has been a very long two weeks and I type thousands of words a day, so by Thursday they are going to slip in. Apolgiess (that’s a joke!)
Have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for joining us and remember – take care of you.
Updated
The committee ends the sports grants hearing for the night.
The main takeaways:
- 43% of the funded projects were ineligible.
- There were 28 versions of the electorate spreadsheet.
- Projects could go from eligible to ineligible and vice versa within hours.
- There were no reasons given for the changes, or for why one project was approved or not.
- The prime minister’s office was consulted multiple times.
As Katharine Murphy wrote a short time ago, Bridget McKenzie’s resignation was not the end of the #sportsrorts affair.
Updated
This is along the same lines of defence as “reverse pork barrelling”:
Matt Canavan is now claiming that the Bridget McKenzie HAD TO consider the spread of projects by electorate and party TO AVOID a finding of partisanship.
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) February 13, 2020
For context, Canavan was referring to an auditor general report from 2010-11, under a different auditor general and a Labor government, which was criticised for giving too many grants to Labor electorates.
Which Canavan says means Bridget McKenzie had no choice but to consider the electorates these grants were going to.
Updated
The statement continues:
The continuation of the travel restrictions means that for a further week, foreign nationals – excluding permanent residents – who have been in mainland China will not be allowed to enter Australia for 14 days from the time they left.
As before, Australian citizens and permanent residents will still be able to enter, as will their immediate family members (spouses, legal guardians and dependants only).
We continue to require Australian citizens, permanent residents and their families who have been in mainland China from 1 February 2020, and who return Australia, to self-isolate for 14 days from the time they left mainland China.
Australia is one of 58 countries that has introduced some form of travel restrictions on passengers who have been in mainland China.
The AHPPC has advised that the situation with Coronavirus in mainland China has not improved in the past two weeks.
There is continuing and concerning growth of cases and mortality in Hubei province and further, though slower, growth in other regions of mainland China.
On the advice of the AHPPC, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will maintain its travel advice for mainland China at “Do not travel” until there is a material change in the global situation.
Border measures to screen passengers on flights and vessels from mainland China and for people who have been in, or transited through, mainland China in the past 14 days will also continue.
Updated
The official statement on the extension on the travel ban has been released:
The National Security Committee of Cabinet has today agreed to extend the entry restrictions on foreign nationals who have recently been in mainland China for a further week from 15 February 2020 to protect Australians from the risk of coronavirus.
As always, our priority is to keep Australians safe.
This decision is underpinned by medical advice and recommendations from the Commonwealth’s Chief Medical Officer and chief medical officers from each state and territory, on the steps necessary to contain the spread of coronavirus.
The Chief Medical Officer confirmed that our arrangements to protect Australians from coronavirus are working - there are no confirmed cases among Australian citizens and residents who have returned to Australia since the introduction of the border measures on 1 February 2020.
The restrictions will be reviewed by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) in one week.
We are announcing this decision now to give certainty to travellers, businesses and organisations.
The spreadsheets of proposed funding proposals would go out, and emails would come back from the prime minister’s office, making arguments for various projects, the committee has been told.
Brian Boyd says he won’t speculate on what was in the PM&C report that found the process was fine, because he hasn’t seen it and speculation is “not what auditors do”.
Updated
More from the #sportsrorts hearing: Audit office gave then-Minister McKenzie the appropriate opportunity to provide a contrary view with respect to the evidence put out in the ANAO report - she did not provide a response. #auspol
— Janet Rice (@janet_rice) February 13, 2020
Here is how the Liberal senator Eric Abetz managed to confirm that almost half of the funded projects were ineligible. That is a very big deal, because the government’s biggest defence of this process is that no rules were broken, and all the funded projects were eligible:
Abetz:
... Next issue I seek to clarify: You did find that no ineligible project or application was funded?
Brian Boyd:
No Senator, that’s not what we found. So if you go to the start of chapter three, which is the chapter on assessment, the finding there was “ineligible applications were identified and no applications assessed as ineligible were awarded grant funding”.
So that’s the Sport Australia eligibility assessment process.
What then happened subsequently was there’s applications, late applications were taken on board, which were ineligible under the guidelines.
Amendments were made for existing applications ,which were ineligible under the guidelines, and they were funded.
But at the time – this relates to the Sport Australia assessment process. Sport Australia removed from its list those assessed as ineligible – that’s what that finding is. Subsequent to that there were the five new applications, the four amended applications.
And then because things took longer – because you are now running two rounds, rather than three, and funding agreements are in place – you had eight projects where, according to the details provided by the proponent, the project had been completed before the funding grant was signed. They’re ineligible under the program.
And there were 270-something where the project had started before the funding agreement was signed, which is also ineligible under the program.
So we get to around 43% of those which were awarded funding, by the time the funding agreement signed, were ineligible.
Updated
Eric Abetz says he is glad the terrible “politicisation” of this process is now on the record.
I’d die of irony, if Barnaby Joyce hadn’t already earlier killed me.
Matt Canavan is now complaining about the division of time for questions on the committee. Anthony Chisholm (Labor) says you know what else wasn't fair, the allocation of the sports grants #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) February 13, 2020
Updated
The auditor general has also not seen the PM&C report that Scott Morrison has relied upon to say there is no problem in terms of the legal authority Bridget McKenzie held to make the decisions she did, so he can’t say whether or not it is contradictory to his own findings (that is it’s unclear what legal authority she had to make the decisions).
The Auditor-General is asked to comment on the Gaetjens report which (we think) presents a different picture to the ANAO. He says he can't comment on Gaetjens because he hasn't seen it. Commenting would be speculation "and that's not what we do" #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) February 13, 2020
Updated
The original advice from Sport Australia was broad – it was the minister’s office which added in the seat information.
Updated
A little earlier in the hearing, the auditor general (who was appointed by Tony Abbott in 2015), Grant Hehir, said the report had a couple of lessons for those moving forward:
It is poor practice for entities to be instructed what their advice should recommend rather than providing their own recommendations that are developed through an evidence-based approach.
... Potential applicants and other stakeholders have a right to expect program funding decisions will be made in a manner and on a basis consistent with published program guidelines.
Updated
The man of the hour:
Updated
When asked about the audit office’s evidence this evening that 43% of the projects that received funding were ineligible, Scott Morrison said that he “was quoting the auditor general”, in defending the program on those grounds.
I haven’t seen that evidence, I haven’t seen that statement, I will review that.
Updated
Eric Abetz’s face here is worth the 10-second watch:
Abetz own goal #auspol pic.twitter.com/Hnk4X3OXhw
— Anthony Chisholm (@AnthonyChisholm) February 13, 2020
Updated
A reminder that the government has told the states to wait until April to discuss the economic impacts of coronavirus:
When asked if the government had considered financial assistance for affected sectors, particularly the university sector, Scott Morrison said that the government was looking at “sensible options” to mitigate the impact of the travel ban.
“The challenge in managing this is you don’t know what you don’t know, and there is still a lot that we don’t know,” Morrison said.
“We are taking a cautious approach, but a very mindful approach, mindful that these bans do have an impact.”
Eric Abetz was doing his best Poirot at the end of the auditor general session there, trying to discover the qualification of the assessors, as well as WhAt dId LaBOr gEt, but it was mostly just filibustering.
Updated
Linda Reynolds is going MUCH harder than Melissa Price on this.
Much, much harder.
As Minister for Defence, I am proud of this Government’s commitment to build 12 Attack class submarines here in Australia. pic.twitter.com/ceiwhVwn2a
— Linda Reynolds (@lindareynoldswa) February 13, 2020
Updated
Travel ban for foreign nationals extended due to coronavirus
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has announced the travel ban on foreign nationals arriving from China will be in place for another week.
It will then be reviewed.
The decision was made by the National Security Committee today based on advice from the chief medical officer and state officers.
“Australia’s arrangements to protect Australia from coronavirus are working ... they are doing the job,” Morrison said.
“We did not take this decision lightly.
“We are doing everything we can to keep Australians safe at this time and to ensure we are mitigating everything that is possible to address any of the threats.”
The prime minister said the government was aware of the disruption being caused by the virus and the economic disruption, but the ban was needed to keep people safe.
The health minister, Greg Hunt, said the measures the government had taken were working.
He said there were no cases of coronavirus that had been identified in either Christmas Island or at Howard Springs where Australians are quarantined.
“This remains good news and it means the advice of the medical officers is keeping Australians safe,” Hunt said.
Updated
Almost half of the sports projects funded were ineligible, says auditor general office
Brian Boyd from the audit office has contradicted the prime minister and Bridget McKenzie’s claim that no ineligible projects were funded.
In fact, some 43% of applications were ineligible:
- 270 projects had started work when they signed agreements – ineligible;
- 8 had finished work when they signed agreements – ineligible;
- 5 late applications were accepted – ineligible; and
- there were amendments to four applications – ineligible.
Basically, the projects were assessed as eligible at the point that Sport Australia looked at them, but circumstances changed. So the quote that Scott Morrison has relied on to defend the program is shot.
Updated
The Australian government has officially extended the travel ban for foreign nationals from China for another week amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.
Updated
Around 43% of projects – or 290 – were ineligible for funding by the time the grants were awarded, because the process took so long, we’ve just been told.
Paul Karp will have more for you on that in a moment.
Updated
“At the end of the day, the evidence before us was the minister made all the decisions,” says Grant Hehir on the process.
Audit office witnesses say PM's office made "direct and indirect" representations - but it was clear McKenzie was the decisionmaker, because not all PMO representations were followed. #auspol #sportsrorts
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) February 13, 2020
Updated
Brian Boyd said the officer asked about the changes – why projects went from approved to not approved, or not approved to approved – and were told by those involved they either did not know or could not recall.
Just to repeat – there was no reason recorded at the time.
Asked why some projects that had scored close to 100 by Sport Australia went from approved to not approved, the auditor general’s office was told “could not recall”.
Updated
Brian Boyd from the auditor-general’s office says there were at least 28 versions of the sports grant spreadsheets made – with some assessments for projects changed “within hours” – and there was no obvious reason as to why the assessment had changed (from either approved to not approved or vice versa).
There was no record made about why one application was funded and another was not.
Updated
Sports grants spreadsheets only shared with prime minister's office
Back in the committee hearing, and the auditor general has confirmed there were “comfortably dozens” of emails between the prime minister’s office and Bridget McKenzie’s office during the sports grants process.
There were also quite a few versions of the spreadsheet (“dozens”) before the final version was decided on.
The only evidence the auditor general saw of the spreadsheet being shared was between the prime minister’s office and McKenzie’s office.
Updated
Parliament has been adjourned.
Scott Morrison will give an update on coronavirus (Covid-19) at 5.30pm. He is expected to extend the quarantine for foreign nationals for another fortnight – the national security committee has been meeting on that today.
Updated
Meanwhile, this is what Melissa Price was avoiding during question time today:
Extraordinary statement just issued by Defence Minister @lindareynoldswa lashing @navalgroup_AU over its "disappointing" comments on Australian Industry Content in Future Submarines program. She'll discuss concerns with her French counterpart @florence_parly in Munich tomorrow
— Andrew Greene (@AndrewBGreene) February 13, 2020
What did the auditor general want to provide an opportunity to respond to?
This.
These are the parts of the ANAO report sent to the PM's office: it includes the revelation Bridget McKenzie's office used COLOUR CODED SPREADSHEETS #auspol #sportsrorts pic.twitter.com/TgfTJLDfFw
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) February 13, 2020
This is the footnote about the colour-coding pic.twitter.com/Rt85gQ4j1r
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) February 13, 2020
They did not get a response
Updated
The report was provided on 14 November 2019 to the adviser in the prime minister’s office.
Hehir says no documents were provided to the auditor general in response.
Updated
The audit period took 10 months.
We move from Don Farrell to Katy Gallagher, who asks why an adviser to the prime minister received extracts from the auditor general’s proposed report before it was tabled.
Grant Hehir says it was “pretty standard practice” to give “natural justice” to those mentioned in the report.
Updated
Grant Hehir repeats that the audit office is not sure what the legal authority was that allowed Bridget McKenzie to make the decisions she did.
Updated
Auditor general fronts sports grants inquiry
Grant Hehir is delivering his opening statement to the Senate committee looking at the government’s sports grant program
Updated
From Mike Bowers’ lens to your eyeballs:
Michael McCormack gestures to all his friends.
Scott Morrison also looks for Michael McCormack’s friends
He finally learned to smile.
Updated
Labor’s Tony Burke is talking to Patricia Karvelas about last night’s factional dinner:
Sorry if I sound not especially engaged with the excitement of the fact a group of members for parliament were all invited to dinner on an email chain, and they were encouraged to talk about a particular policy issue if they came along.
This happens in Canberra across a range of different opinions, different parties every night of the week.
That’s what has always happened. All that has happened is a journalist got hold of some emails which say no more than what members for parliament have said publicly.
Updated
The auditor general will appear at the Senate inquiry into the sports grant affair in about 30 minutes.
Updated
Asked if he voted for Llew O’Brien in the deputy speaker ballot, Barnaby Joyce says it was a secret ballot and “the reason ballots are secret is that you don’t tell people how you vote. Otherwise don’t bother having them.” Which leads to this exchange:
Joyce: Who did you vote for at the last election?
Ben Fordham: Who did I vote for? Which election? It’s none of your business.
Joyce: A-ha! You want to keep half your listeners, don’t you Cyclone.
Fordham: Ha, ha, ha, no, no, no, well you got me there. It’s a bit like saying to someone what do you earn, it is one of those questions, you are right, you are right.
Joyce: It is a secret ballot.
Fordham: I am not going to ask you who you voted for in the last federal election, I know you voted for yourself.
Joyce: When is the last time you had a nookie? See these are the sort of questions you just don’t answer.
Fordham: When was the last time I what? When was the last time you had a WHAT?
Joyce: NOOKIE – you!
Fordham: You are watching too much Married at First Sight.
Joyce: Mate, I know they are all out of my league, mate, that crowd.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the former deputy prime minister of Australia – who is currently chasing his former job.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce was live in the studio for that interview, which means he is not in Canberra, for parliament.
Barnaby Joyce is “not going to bullshit people” and say that he and Michael McCormack are friends, but he does joke out that he respects the job he is doing.
Today marks 12 years since the Federal Government’s apology to the Stolen Generations.
— Ken Wyatt MP (@KenWyattMP) February 13, 2020
This was an important moment of reflection, healing & truth-telling for our Nation.
There’s more to do to help those impacted & we will continue to walk with them and support them.
There are members of the government – and the frontbench at that – who walked out of this apology. That also needs to be remembered.
Updated
The Labor senator Tony Sheldon is delivering a speech in the chamber wearing no tie and what looks like a sports jacket and I think the dress standards may be slightly different in the Senate compared to the House.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce is speaking to Sydney radio 2GB about the podcast he is making with Matt Canavan.
He’s always there to help.
Question time has ended.
And for those who missed Stuart Robert’s answer on how the government can’t tell you how many people are owed money from robodebt, because finding it is a “manual” process, here you go:
The hapless Stuart Robert tells #qt he can’t say how many Australians were sent illegal computer-generated robodebt notices because “the process is highly MANUAL in terms of finding the data ...” pic.twitter.com/EC7xRNBezk
— Mark Dreyfus (@markdreyfusQCMP) February 13, 2020
Updated
Scott Morrison somehow turns a question from Bob Katter on market gardens into an attack on the Labor right faction dinner:
The member for Kennedy, like the many members that represent north Queensland – and I have got to say, there are so many members on this side of the House who represent north Queensland – they know what is important on the ground in those communities, Mr Speaker, and what I find disappointing is that 20 members of the Labor party have to gather together in a restaurant somewhere to try and get this leader of the Labor party to understand what is going on in regional Australia.
He doesn’t get it, they know he doesn’t get it, Mr Speaker. I have concluded my answer and I would ask that further questions be placed on the notice board.
Tony Smith had attempted to sit the prime minister down, because Anthony Albanese had got to his feet to ask about relevance, which is why Morrison continued all of that as one answer there.
Updated
Richard Marles to Melissa Price on the submarine job issue:
This failure is costing Australian jobs, so why didn’t they provide a guarantee in the local jobs contract?
Price:
I think it is worth reminding what I have said earlier, which is that there are currently 137 Australian companies who are already in the project.
We on this side, and I am sure all of those on the other side, are very committed to ensuring that we’ve similar Australian industry content with respect to our $200bn investment. But Mr Speaker, getting this lecture from Labor, it is quite extraordinary. We do know in six years Labor did not commission the building of one naval vessel in an Australian yard. Not one naval vessel in an Australian yard. By contrast, we currently have 4,000 shipbuilding jobs in this country and we need 15,000.
Price is reminded that was not the question. Again. And again, Tony Smith reminds her she can take it on notice. A suggestion she ignores for a second or third time:
We are currently in the design phase and it has been very clear from the documentation that once the design, which is a very unique design, highly technical design, of these 12 submarines, once that process is finished, we will then negotiate an Australian industry content.
In the meantime, the prime minister, myself, we on this side and I am sure those on that side, we are backing small and medium-sized Australian businesses to ensure we get the maximum Australian industry content and we are backing Australian businesses all the way.
Updated
Meanwhile, the Coalition has passed 19 pieces of ‘national security’ legislation since 2013.
The ghost of community theatre failure that possesses the Liberal MP Vince Connolly has once again forced the member of Stirling to his feet, where he delivers his dixer to Christian Porter like he has come from Rigel VII and is desperately attempting to convince the humans he is one of them.
Updated
Mike Freelander to Scott Morrison:
I dedicated my working life to the health of children. Children with developmental delay and other disabilities including autism requiring developmental diagnosis to qualify for the NDIS, children in disadvantaged areas, are waiting ... Why?
Morrison:
I will ask the minister for the NDIS to add to my answer. Can I commend you on the work you have been doing in that area over a lifetime, I know that area well and the high regard you are held in terms of the support you give to families and paediatric support in your community. I understand the reason for the question today and your deep concern about these matters.
I share that concern and that’s why we are providing support to the NDIS to make sure they can adjust the issues you raise in this place today. I will ask the minister go into those details.
Stuart Robert:
Yeah, thanks PM. Let me also reinforce the work over Dr Freelander’s long history of service.
When it comes to health diagnosis, we understand that is the responsibility of state, we can say it is unacceptable in terms of the length, it is the responsibility of state health authorities.
Having said that, a diagnosis is not required for access into the early childhood intervention stream of the NDIS, that is clear in law and practice.
In terms of access, the data showed people turning up with children seeking early intervention through the early intervention pathways are getting an access decision in three days. You don’t need a diagnosis to enter the NDIS, that is down over 50 days. In terms of people accessing a plan, it has dropped from 54 days.
Anticipating a range of issues the commonwealth learned on the second phase of functional assessment trial, which will conclude this month, all going well with results, and so far they are very positive, the commonwealth will go to market for a functional assessment partner, and will introduce functional assessments from one July this year. To quantify access to the scheme.
Recognising the member’s key point, it is important to understand, and for parents and the nation to understand, you don’t need a diagnosis to provide an early child intervention partner.
The act does not require a diagnosis, but I tell parents to get hold of the NDIS, speak to an early childhood early intervention partner, get that intervention as quickly as possible. The system is designed for it, access is currently three days.
As Stephanie Dalzell, the ABC reporter who broke the story on the diagnosis rates, has repeatedly said today, diagnoses are important for a range of issues – not just the NDIS – and where you live, in terms of postcode, can really impact how long you are waiting for that important answer.
Updated
Dutton smiles, Fletcher feels a disturbance in the force”as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced” @AmyRemeikis @GuardianAus #PoliticsLive pic.twitter.com/uhZzKn5uNE
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) February 13, 2020
Richard Marles to Melissa Price:
When hundreds of defence industry workers at Osborne and Adelaide have lost their jobs, and there’s reports of another 34 job losses announced today, why on earth is the government sending hull fabrication jobs to France, instead of keeping them here in Australia on the future submarines?
Price:
Mr Speaker, there’s currently 4,000 jobs in shipbuilding at this point in time. We need 15,000 shipbuilding jobs.
But once again, we’ll not be lectured by those opposite. 4,000 jobs now, 15,000 jobs now, and we’re working very hard to ensure we have the skill set in this country to ensure that we have the sovereign capability.
We’ll build those 12 submarines in Australia. We will build the workforce that we need.
Updated
Richard Marles to Melissa Price:
The contract for Australia’s Collins-class submarines included a requirement for 70% local content, that was ultimately exceeded.
This government asserted that 90% would be local content. Why on earth is there no binding percentage requirement for local content in the government’s contract for the future submarines?
Price:
We are delivering a sovereign defence capability and, as I said in my last answer, mandating a minimum portion of Australian industry, particularly at this time ... during the design phase, would be counterproductive.
... We won’t be lectured by those opposite. I would like to know how many submarines those opposite were considering to build. I think it’s zero.
Just a reminder that even the design process is delayed:
Updated
Peter Dutton is now giving the worst description of the Muriel’s Wedding Deidre Chambers gag I have ever heard.
Michael McCormack finds it uproariously hilarious. That’s how bad it is.
Updated
It’s time for JUST HOW SAFE ARE YOU with Peter Dutton.
Shockingly – the answer is the same as it always is.
IMAGINE IF LABOR WAS IN CHARGE.
DUM.......DUM.......DUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMM
Richard Marles to Melissa Price:
What binding commitment to a percentage of local content did the government write into its contract for the future submarines?
Price starts by talking about the Morrison government investment in the submarine program, but Tony Smith stops her to say it was a tight question, her time for preamble is over, and if she wants she can take it on notice.
She does not take the hint.
Price:
We do know in term of the contract, sovereign control is critically important to us, as well as maximising Australian industry.
We’re currently in the design phrase for the submarines. There’s over 130 Australian companies and organisations subcontracted.
The actual proportion of Australian content on the submarines, Mr Speaker, will be determined as the design of the submarines is completed.
... Aussie, Australian small companies are vital to the construction of our submarines. And I’m committed, the prime minister is committed, we are all committed here to building 12 submarines in this country, using Australian industry content.
We have faith in our Australian industry. We are backing Australian industry. We are building 12 submarines in our country because we are going to create more shipbuilding jobs.
Updated
Three things to take from that:
- Stuart Robert is still calling a court finding that the use of income averaging to calculate robodebts is illegal and its subsequent suspension based on that finding “a refinement”.
- The government still can’t say whether it will repay the estimated $1.5bn it recouped from the scheme or even how many people are owed money. Because it is a MANUAL process (whereas robodebt, which the government defended for years, was automatic)
- No-voice Stuart Robert is among the best Stuart Roberts.
Updated
Government robodebt payback hampered by 'manual' search process
Bill Shorten to Stuart Robert:
Minister, how many Australians received debt notices issued under the government’s illegal robodebt scheme, how much money are they owed, and when will they be repaid?
Robert:
As I responded to the leader of the opposition last week, the government announced that it has made a further refinement to the income compliance program, which is part of our ongoing commitment to continually strengthen and improve the scheme. It’s undergone a number of improvements since its inception under Labor in 2011.
In response to feedback, it will make the program more robust when receiving more information. We’ve been carefully and methodically working to identify those customers whose debts may have been calculated using apportioned ATO PAYG...
Tony Smith:
I’ve given the minister ample time for a preamble. The question itself didn’t have a preamble. It asked for figures, essentially. And whilst the minister can’t be expected to have those answers with him, he needs to be relevant to the question, or take it on notice.
Robert:
The process is highly manual in terms of finding the data and [it is] complex...as I informed the house.
... It’s not appropriate to pre-empt that process and as I advised the House last week. I say the same thing now ...
He then decides he has concluded his answer.
Updated
Scott Morrison was just asked a dixer that basically was, can you deliver all the lines you have about the Labor right faction meeting in three minutes?
The prime minister is thrilled to comply:
Mr Speaker, I wish there was an alternative, that the Labor party might speak of, but there isn’t one, at present, Mr Speaker.
They have no alternative policy when it comes to this issue. So, Mr Speaker, when 20 members of the Labor party gather at the Otis restaurant, what I’m more mystified by, they can find a consistent position of the leader of the opposition that they can actually oppose, Mr Speaker.
I’m staggered they can find any consistency in the opposition leader’s policy on emissions or electricity or coal, because he has it each way every day.
My advice to those meeting down at the Otis regularly, just wait till tomorrow, you’ll have another policy.
He’s going to go odds and evens on climate policy. It will be – Joel, the member for Hunter, will agree with it on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, but, and the member for Sydney can have her day on Tuesday and Thursday and Saturday, and as we go around the chamber, they will all get their go, because he’ll agree with every single one of you on every single position you have.
What that says about the leader of the opposition is his each way, every way, every day approach to policy is the reason why this leader of the Labor party can’t be trusted any more than the last one.
The last one liked to do dodgy deals around lazy Susans, this one is just the same, Mr Speaker.
Updated
This place is filled with grown-up babies at the best of times, but today they are proving they are well overdue for a timeout and a nap.
As a sidenote, I was never sent to my room for a timeout, because that is where my toys and books were. I was sent to the bathroom instead. Jokes on my parents though, because I used to hide books and toys in the towel cupboard.
And that’s why I am the well-adjusted blogger you see before you today.
Updated
Julie Collins to Greg Hunt:
Why is the government privatising the Aged Care Assessment Team, the only part of the system that everyone accepts is working well, including the New South Wales minister, Brad Hazzard, who describes this as a plan that lacks logic?
Hunt:
I reject the proposition in that question. I do that for a number of reasons. Firstly, because under the current scheme, under the current scheme, there are non-government contracts. And that is a very important thing to note.
The second thing, though, and I want to challenge the fundamental assumption that things need, say, stay exactly as they are. They couldn’t be better.
All of this questioning is about how things can be better. They can be better in terms of the assessment system and the way that the experience of families occurs. How do I know this? In the Tune review, precisely the question that was raised by the member has been addressed.
The answer goes on, but that is the crux of it.
Updated
Angus Taylor gets the next dixer, and continues to prove that maybe, just maybe, vision boards and The Secret really do work.
Anthony Albanese to Greg Hunt:
Why do over one quarter of younger people who go into aged care die within a single year of entry?
Hunt:
In terms of individual cases, very much dependent on the circumstances. Younger people who go into aged care would be going in because they have a very serious condition, whether it’s an acquired brain injury, whether it’s some form of ... degenerative condition, or some other form of accident or illness.
Having said that, the person who wrote into the terms of the royal commission the involvement and engagement and treatment of younger people in residential aged care was this person, the prime minister.
I had the privilege of sitting with him when we drafted those terms. That was his personal passion. That was the focus and the humanity and the concern. What we have also seen is we have accepted the royal commission’s embrace of those terms of reference.
And in particular, there are three targets which the royal commission included in its interim findings, precisely to address the care and concern and cause of any harm relating to young people in aged care.
Firstly, that people under the age of – that no people under the age of 45 should enter residential care by 2022. We have accepted and embraced that.
No people under the age of 45 should be living in aged care by 2022. So living in, let alone entering.
And thirdly, that no people under the age of 65 should be living in residential aged care by 2025.
These are standards which have never been set before. These are goals which have never been set, and these are targets which have never been set and which we will achieve. So it’s a deep and powerful commitment.
So I would make this point – that under the former government, the number of younger people living in residential aged care moved from 6,577 to 6,478 in 2010.
Now it’s down to 5,606, and we’re decreasing still further.
It’s become one of the priorities for the prime minister, and the relevant minister, and what we have seen is that the number of younger people entering residential, so this is entering residential aged care, has already decreased by 536 to 416 in March to June of 2019. A 22% decline, before the royal commission’s interim findings.
So the reason that these standards have been set is because the commission found the importance and need for them. But the reason the commission had that power was because this person, the member for Cook, the prime minister of Australia, personally drafted them.
Updated
Josh Frydenberg gets his next chance to display his impressive lack of microphone skills with another dixer.
Has he learnt that a microphone is designed to amplify your voice yet?
No. Sadly, he has not.
He does get in an Otis mention though.
Updated
The bowl of microwaved rice wearing a House of Reps pin, Michael McCormack, delivers the first mention of the ‘Otis group’ – that came in at 26 minutes.
I guess some people have to try to find personality wherever they can.
He talks about the menu having ‘ravioli and egg yolk’ at the restaurant the Labor right faction met at – but he neglects to mention that even egg yolk has more substance and colour than him.
He ignores the calls from Labor about when he is getting an invite on the Matt Canavan-hosted Weatherboard and Iron podcast.
Updated
Ged Kearney gets the next question, either because someone from the Coalition forgot to jump, or Tony Smith went to the wrong side of the chamber.
She asks Greg Hunt:
The aged care royal commission drew attention to inadequate prevention and management of wounds [including residents and patients sometimes being left to sit in their own urine], sometimes leading to septicaemia and death ... [why is the government not addressing this neglect]?
Hunt begins by talking about what Labor had promised, which is basically a repeat of the last two answers on this topic.
Anthony Albanese gets up:
The point of order is on relevance. It wasn’t about the opposition, we can’t fund things from opposition, only the government can.
Tony Smith rules that is not a point of order, so Hunt continues:
And in terms of those recommendations, not only have we adopted all of the findings of the interim report, but it stands in stark contrast to the utter hypocrisy and failure of the opposition. Given a chance, given a chance only a few months ago, they could have provided one, how many home care places did they provide? Zero. Now, in terms of the other items within the royal commission, it’s an uncomfortable truth for the opposition, they had a chance and their provision was zero. But in terms ...
Albanese points out there was no reference to alternative approaches in the question, and it was not about politics (which causes the government side of the chamber to laugh). Smith agrees with him and tells Hunt to get on with it.
Hunt repeats his previous answers.
Updated
Helen Haines asks about the delay in the government’s federal integrity commission legislation and Christian Porter tells her it is coming, but needs consultation, yadda yadda yaddda, and everything is fine and the #sportsrorts affair is not proof that there needs to be one.
Updated
Greg Hunt accuses Labor opposition of aged care 'neglect'
Julie Collins to Greg Hunt:
The minister just boasted about 10,000 more home care packages, only half of which are currently available. 28,000 older Australians died while waiting for their home care packages. Australians who have contributed all of their lives deserve better. Will the minister admit now that 5,000 packages in response to a waiting list of over 112,000 amounts to neglect?
Hunt:
I want to respond to the member with a very clear position.
What we have done, we have done based on advice as to what is both the safest way to implement, to respond rapidly, and to respond to the royal commission.
It was a royal commission which the prime minister called.
It was a royal commission which he called as one of his first actions precisely to bring to light, precisely to bring to light all of the potential issues.
And the commission’s done a fantastic job.
In responding and accepting all of the commission’s interim findings, we made two points in relation to home care.
One, 10,000 places. Secondly, in addition to that, that’s part of a 44,000-place increase in the last two years, or an increase from 60,000 to 150,000, a 150% increase whilst we’ve been in government.
But two, we also accept their proposal for a broader strategic restructure. We are working in preparing for that, but of course, we’ll have to see what the commission themselves recommends as their final recommendation.
But we got on with it immediately. We got on with it immediately. I would remind the House at the same time as we have increased by 150% home care places, at a dramatically faster rate than the rate of older Australians has grown, which means we have a far higher per capita rate of home care places for older Australians than ever existed under Labor when they were in government, Labor had a chance during the course of the royal commission to match what we were doing, and they failed. Zero places.
Not one, not a dollar, zero places on something they now seem to believe matters after the royal commission had been called. I would call what they did at the last election neglect.
Updated
The purpose of this dixer seems to be, “prime minister, why were we elected?”, so Scott Morrison can remind his party they won government.
Updated
Julie Collins to Greg Hunt:
The median waiting time for the highest level of approved home care packages is almost three years. And the aged care royal commission found people who waited more than six months for a home care package had a 20% higher risk of death. Why on earth are older Australians facing a three-year delay when the minister knows it increases the risk of death?
Hunt:
The royal commission did make findings and we responded. We responded rapidly.
That included 10,000 additional home care places, which has been part of a 44,000-place increase in the last year and a half and a tiny bit more.
We have taken the number of home care places from 60,000 when we came to office to 150,000 now. That is a 150% increase.
That is a dramatic increase in the number of home care places and at the last election, I note the opposition had a chance to contribute to the number of home care places and they provided zero. Zero home care places. So at a time when we have added 44,000, at a time ... in the last two years, at a time when we have increased by 150% the number of home care places, they added zero.
At the very moment they had the chance to take a stand, to invest a dollar, at the time they were raising $387bn in taxes, and they provided zero.
Not one extra home care place. So we have invested and increased by 150% the number of home care places, they had a chance, only a few months ago, to do this.
At a time, at a time when we had called a royal commission ...
Tony Burke stands up on relevance, but Hunt has decided he has concluded his answer.
Updated
Anthony Albanese to Greg Hunt:
Why are up to half of all older Australians in residential aged care malnourished?
Hunt talks about the royal commission into aged care and the government’s response so far:
So let us be absolutely clear – we thank the royal commission for their findings. We embrace what they have found.
We called that out and any other findings, we also embraced.
That’s why we established not just a royal commission, but a commissioner, a permanent standing commissioner, responsible for health and safety in aged care.
And these are the actions that we’ve taken, as I say, increasing not just in residential care, but also in home care, the support, the encouragement, and the protections, and we’ll continue to do that without fear or favour.
Updated
Question time begins
How long will it take for the first ‘Otis’ mention?
Time will tell.
Has someone told Peter Dutton? Or is he still hunting down the arsonists who caused the rain?
Questions on notice: "Does the Minister know who Mr Matt Kean is." #auspol pic.twitter.com/jiSD9qSbWP
— Luke Henriques-Gomes (@lukehgomes) February 13, 2020
Updated
The ABC’s Stephanie Dalzell, who had a very important story today about delays in diagnosis for children with developmental delays (which has massive implications under the NDIS) has just spoken to the minister responsible, Stuart Robert:
Hospital records obtained under Freedom of Investigation laws have revealed children with developmental delays in parts of the country are waiting as long as 700 days - simply for a diagnosis. Story with the ABC's FOI Editor @abcMMckinnon https://t.co/KgfYJ4ocPw
— Stephanie Dalzell (@steph_dalzell) February 12, 2020
SD: You’re encouraging them to have a discussion but the AMA’s encouraging you to have a discussion with the NDIS in that you are potentially out of touch with what is happening on the ground. Is that a possibility?
SR: No, I’m pretty clear on how the NDIA runs. I run the organisation. It knows its response built is under the act and it knows it needs to get children in quickly and it is doing that.
The quarterly data came out yesterday and it shows access decisions for children into early intervention is three days.
SD: We’re not talking about access decisions here. We’re talking about a diagnosis. Why are families telling us they are not able to access NDIS money without the diagnosis?
SR: I’m telling you that is incorrect. You can access funding under the ...
SD: [You are saying] the families are lying to us.
SR: I’m saying that through the pathway there is now, they can go through early childhood, to their early childhood partner to get access to the children and if they’re having trouble with that, contact NDIS or the local MP because the law is very clear.
My agency is very clear, the pathways are very clear, we are absolutely committed to taking care of children in the early childhood pathway and access right now. Six months ago it was 43 days and today it is three days from committing, speaking to an early childhood partner to accessing the NDIS.
Robert blamed the states for any delays.
Updated
David Gillespie:
“At the moment, and going forward, I am supporting our leader.”
“The right man, for the moment” https://t.co/kx9K2JtRV6
— Brett Mason (@BrettMasonNews) February 13, 2020
Updated
It’s the downhill run to question time.
I feel a serious case of ennui coming on.
If you needed any more proof that Pauline Hanson is desperate, absolutely desperate, for your attention, she has just retweeted the ABC Insiders account, which referenced her speech yesterday.
The man who helped kick off all the Nationals leadership issues by refusing to give him his support publicly, when asked on Sky News last week during his ill-fated deputy leader tilt, now says people aren’t concerned with the “rats and mice” issues that happen “in the bubble”.
David Gillespie wants everyone to get over it.
Sure. As SOON AS YOU STOP TALKING ABOUT AN ISSUE YOUR OWN PARTY CREATED AND CONTINUES TO STOKE.
Updated
On the question of whether or not Barnaby Joyce would have another crack at the Nationals leadership, David Gillespie, who went for deputy leader and lost, tells Sky News that is “crystal ball stuff”.
“The focus of earlier in the week is now in the rear-view mirror and we are focusing on what people put us here to do.”
He says that “we all have varying levels” of relationships and support “in the building” but at the moment, he is supporting Michael McCormack as leader.
Updated
An emergency alarm has gone off somewhere in the building, causing a few of the automatic doors to close.
And it’s not because DPS has decided to quarantine the Australian public from its representatives, apparently.
And another tweet from Pauline Hanson, who isn’t in this for publicity as well.
Culture wars aren’t going to start themselves – it takes time, a retweet button, and plenty of stupidity.
Updated
If Peter Dutton thinks 4-3 in the high court is “a fairly split decision” goodness knows what he thinks of the 51.57% – 48.43% two party preferred vote which won the Coalition the election.
Updated
Labor has responded to attorney general Christian Porter’s suggestion the government could use other powers to deport Indigenous non-citizens, after the high court held it cannot use the “aliens” power.
The shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, told Guardian Australia:
“Labor rightly respects the decision of the high court; we expect the same from Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton.”
It will be interesting to see what Labor makes of any attempt to use the immigration power or race power to re-legalise deportation of Indigenous non-citizens, if the Coalition brings such a proposal to parliament.
Updated
Matt Canavan made a joke on Sky News about wanting to join the “Otis group”.
He then held a doorstop interview to talk about the same things he has been talking about all week – coal is good, need to do more on coal, doing what he can for his constituents yadda, yadda, yadda – before leaving because he had things to do.
But then he remembered he hadn’t repeated his Otis group “joke” and, presumably recognising he’d have a better chance of making some other news packages tonight by commenting on the Labor right faction dinner, returned to the cameras to make his “joke” again.
Mike Bowers was there for when he turned back – and once again proved why politicians love advancers.
Updated
Peter Dutton looking to 'restrict the damage' of high court Indigenous decision
The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, has done his regular 2GB spot and unsurprisingly he agrees with attorney general Christian Porter that something should be done to regain the federal government’s powers to deport Indigenous non-citizens.
Dutton said:
I’m with the chief justice. This is a decision of the high court – as people will know it was four [justices] to three, a fairly split decision. The chief justice has made some very good points. The attorney general and our general counsel are having a look at it at the moment. There are significant repercussions. It essentially creates another class of people, which I think is a very bad thing. Obviously we have to adhere to the law, they’ve interpreted the constitution. But for us it makes it harder: there may be other areas, particularly around citizenship or claims that people will now make, and no doubt lawyers will seek to exploit that. We’ll wait for legal advice about our options to legislate where we can and try to restrict the damage.
Dutton said the high court had “created another class of people” – in reference to the new category of Indigenous non-citizen non-aliens termed “belongers by the majority – and the aliens power in the constitution “doesn’t apply to them”.
He said while the government could not legislate to overturn that restriction, the government would “see what we can do to rectify it”.
In his minority judgment, justice Stephen Gageler laid out a blueprint for the government to follow to reinstate its deportation laws – suggesting the immigration power or the race power could be used to reinstate the ability to deport Aboriginal non-citizen non-aliens.
Updated
Pauline Hanson is still tweeting about her speech yesterday.
Someone really, really, really wants attention today.
That Lowe is Philip Lowe, the RBA governor:
Lowe says there is very high debt being carried by households and we have very high housing prices.
— Shane Wright (@swrighteconomy) February 13, 2020
Updated
Lols
EXCLUSIVE: We can reveal that a well-organised and powerful group of Federal MPs have been plotting to quit coal and deliver a Green New Deal #auspol https://t.co/OA1GlOugaS pic.twitter.com/sU3v1iFc4D
— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) February 13, 2020
Because Matt Canavan hasn’t had enough media attention of late, having only appeared in front of a camera every day this week, he has launched his own podcast.
Weatherboard and Iron – coming to a not listened list near you.
As a Queenslander, I get it. In terms of what Queensland is doing on emissions reduction, it is ahead of the federal position. And yes, Adani was approved, and that’s a whole other cluster, but a lot of Queenslanders – the 50% which live in the south-east – are not in the thrall of coal.
Queensland is the largest decentralised state in Australia. Half the population lives outside the cities. That is what makes it a moody bish, and that is why it’s politics are always all over the shop. But it also means that one person does not, and cannot, speak for what the whole state wants. Hence Chalmers’s frustrations.
Updated
Also on RN this morning, Jim Chalmers got a bit shirty about Queensland’s views on climate being represented federally by Matt Canavan.
Fran Kelly: Anthony Albanese on this program this week also said that he “doesn’t think there’s a place for a new coal fired power plant in Australia”. You’re a Queenslander. Will this make it harder for Labor to win back those coal seats up north?
Chalmers: I don’t think so, Fran. There’s two parts to your question.
The first bit – the point that Anthony is making, rightly, is that new coal-fired plants are not a smart investment.
They don’t make economic sense when there’s cheaper and cleaner renewable technology available, and investors have made that clear for some time now. So that’s part of your question.
The other part about Queensland is really important.
There is no prouder Queenslander than me.
I don’t like how Queensland gets caricatured on these issues by this simplified belief there is one homogenous view in Queensland and that Matt Canavan is somehow the arbiter of that view.
There are a range of views in Queensland. There’s also a recognition that we can find a way to do something about climate change without abandoning some of our traditional strengths and while being cognisant of the impact on some of the communities, particularly in central and north Queensland.
That is not beyond us, Fran. Queenslanders do want us to do something about climate change. They want us to be cognisant of those other issues. They want us to be sensible about it and that’s what we’ll be.
Updated
And then there was this on 6 February, from Scott Morrison’s interview with Alan Jones:
Alan Jones: Are you concerned in any way about the objectivity of the advice coming from the World Health Organisation? These are the people who are saying, in spite of other countries cancelling their flights, keep the borders open, keep the borders open, yet they have, of course, declared it an international emergency.
The head of the World Health Organisation is this bloke Adhanom, and I made this point twice yesterday. He’s the member of the Ethiopian Marxist Leninist party in Ethiopia, are renegotiating billions of dollars in loans from Beijing and for a railway line that links the capital to Djibouti.
So why wouldn’t he be congratulating China on their work in containing the virus? Do you think that people believe that China has been really transparent in all of this?
The World Health Organisation says you can have confidence in China’s capacity to control the outbreak, but it was only in December that eight doctors were arrested and forced to confess to spreading false rumours, which weren’t, in fact, false. Are you concerned about the objectivity of this advice?
Morrison: Let me answer it this way. When we started taking our action, we were one of the first countries to do so, we were doing that completely independent, frankly, of what the declarations were of the WHO.
We moved – I mean, our chief medical officer, Dr Brendan Murphy, was calling for the WHO to declare this a week before they did. So we were working on the basis of Brendan Murphy’s advice.
You know, we were accessing information from the WHO, and in crises like this you have to be, you have to ensure that you’re acting on your own information. You draw it from a range of different sources and you make the calls in Australia’s interests. I mean, the WHO has never supported travel bans.
That’s a policy position they’ve had for a long time. Now we’ve had one, we were one of the first countries, ours actually activated before the United States’ one did.
So we have, we’ve been very proactive on this and we’ve noted all the things the WHO and others said. But frankly, we’re making the calls based on what we think is best for Australia.
And you’ve got to always in this environment, I think, be careful about the information you’re using. You’ve got to interrogate it. But we’re relying on our health advisers.
Updated
Scott Morrison spoke this morning about the virus formerly known as coronavirus – now called Covid-19 by the World Health Organisation.
He said the virus was being contained in Australia, thanks to the advice of the chief medical officer, and the whole of government response.
He then went into one of the issues facing the response, which was misinformation about the virus (the chief medical officer also spoke on this earlier this week, warning that xenophobia was creeping into people’s response to the virus).
Here is what Morrison said:
Now one of the things you always have to address is misinformation.
I mean, this is true in in any area of natural disaster.
I mean, one of the things that used to frustrate me so much, when I visited so many incident control centres, is we would have dedicated resources to people just correcting misinformation on social media.
And I gotta say mainstream media as well, reports that were just simply wrong.
I think the media on these issues also do a tremendous job.
But correcting misinformation is something I’d hope the media would be a great partner in doing.
Updated
Jim Chalmers was speaking to Fran Kelly this morning, as we have mentioned. Here is what he had to say about the promised surplus:
We’ve said all along that the priority should be supporting communities affected by the fires and some of these other challenges as well. It remains to be seen how big an impact those things will have on the budget. The budget surplus is really a test that the government has set for itself. We won’t know for a little while yet whether they have met that test.
And on whether Labor would prefer the government to spend, rather than save for a surplus:
We’ve been very constructive about that. If the government falls short of this test that they set for themselves it won’t only be because of the fires, coronavirus or drought. It will be a combination of things, including a long period of economic mismanagement which has seen them fall well short of their forecasts for growth, wages and other things in the economy. We’ll look at the numbers when they come out. We’ve been constructive about it. This is a government that promised a surplus in its first year and every year after that but they haven’t delivered a surplus yet and that’s why they’ve more than doubled government debt.
I know that John Howard and Peter Costello really, really loved saying that the budget was like a household budget and that the surplus was saving money in the bank while paying down credit cards, but it’s really not like that. Money the government cuts is money it is cutting from you.
Updated
The Senate looks fairly boring today, but there is the first sports grant Senate inquiry hearing scheduled later today.
The auditor general, Grant Hehir, is appearing at that inquiry from 4pm.
Updated
Continued from previous post:
Labor has also been rumbling post-election with a succession of rightwingers having views about how to do a redux on climate policy and the shadow minister, Mark Butler, gritting his teeth and saying we are not going to shrink from doing what needs to be done.
We know that Fitzgibbon and some others in the right of Labor think the ALP has to do more to appeal to their traditional constituency rather than being seen to sign up, exclusively, to progressive values in the city.
We know that Fitzgibbon has positioned himself as the key person to carry this message post-election.
Commonsense tells you he’d be assembling a caucus of opportunity to better express this view internally.
But the crux of this story remains in development. If there is to be a fight, the fight doesn’t happen in a Kingston restaurant, when factional folks meet for dinner. There are factional dinners every week parliament sits. The argument happens in the shadow cabinet and the caucus.
The rubber is going to hit the road when Labor fleshes out its climate policy. The party (as Anthony Albanese told Radio National this week) has already started trying to put that picture together – but there’s a way to go.
Updated
Morning all.
“The only breakaway I’m aware of is the Otis breakaway,” chortled Scott Morrison to the reporters stopping him after a Women’s Day breakfast in the parliament.
The prime minister is referring to a story broadcast on Ten last night concerning a group of Labor rightwingers dining together at a Kingston restaurant, presumably called Otis.
At one level, this story is nothing at all – “Labor rightwingers in Labor rightwingers eat dinner shock”.
At another level the anecdote tells you something of what’s going on inside Labor at the opening of the new political year.
Let’s work through this. The Otis group is largely comprised of conservative rightwingers in the small states.
The NSW rightwinger Joel Fitzgibbon was also in attendance at this week’s dinner. We know that both the government and Labor are having difficulties trying to land positions on climate change that are sympathetic to sensibilities in coal communities and in the cities. Both sides are having difficulties because this is a really difficult task. Liberals and Nationals have been in open disagreement during the past fortnight.
Updated
Darren Chester is back in the chamber.
The Gippsland MP collapsed yesterday, which he says the doctors have put down to fatigue. He is back on deck today and says he is fine.
Anthony Albanese questioned over 'Otis group' faction meeting
Anthony Albanese also spoke about the right faction meeting at a press conference this morning:
Q: Can I start first with the Otis group. Apparently, you didn’t know about this group. What discussions have you had with members of that group?
AA: I suspect that people went out to dinner last night too and they had dinner in a few restaurants. I did. That’s what happens in Canberra. People go out and people chat about ideas. There is nothing unusual about this.
Q: Is there tension, though, within the party about coalminers versus climate change?
AA: The Labor party is united in our position that climate change is real, that we need to act on lowering our emissions. And indeed that – as I outlined in the Jobs and the Future work vision statement, in Perth, a statement that was unanimously agreed to by the caucus – good action on climate change means more jobs, lower emissions and lower energy prices. That’s Labor’s objective.
The division in this House is on the other side. The Coalition of chaos. We see Michael McCormack last night on TV say that we’ll just wait and see whether there’s another challenge to his leadership.
We’ve seen the Coalition that has an absolute majority on the floor in the House of Representatives actually lose a vote on the floor this week. Not just lose, but get slaughtered, 75 to 67. The fact is they are in chaos.
That is why we have no plan for anything except marketing and spin from this government. No plan for the economy. No plan for climate change. No plan for energy. No plan for wages.
Updated
If you needed any more proof that Pauline Hanson really, really, really wants to stir the outrage pot, she has tweeted out her speech on Closing the Gap multiple times today already.
Scott Morrison was also asked this morning if he was worried about a potential “breakaway” group within the Coalition – that would be the LNP MPs who are once again agitating to set themselves up as their own party room, because it is a day ending with Y and some of the Queenslanders are upset.
The only breakaway I am aware of is the Otis breakaway.
I don’t know if that’s Milo and Otis or it’s just Otis or how many others there are involved in this.
But more than 20 Labor MPs getting together ... I don’t think there’s a lazy Susan at the Otis, but that tends to be the way things are done in the Labor party.
They go off to lunches, they make deals, and it seems the leader of the opposition has a few things to explain when it comes to his last trip around the lazy Susan.
Thursday is always the worst day of the week.
Also – Milo and Otis jokes are cancelled. It was a movie that came out a million years ago and I think kittens died. So no.
Updated
And the bells are ringing for the start of parliament.
Huzzah.
Jacqui Lambie was just on Sky News. She told Annelise Nielsen and Tom Connell that she will not speak to the government about its “ensuring integrity’ bill (the union-busting one that failed after Pauline Hanson pulled her support from it late last year) until the government releases Gaetjen’s sports affairs report.
The government doesn’t have a timetable on that bill as yet, so it might not be the pressure point some people hope it will be. Plus, if Hanson supports it, it will pass.
Updated
On the pressure Michael McCormack has been under as Nationals leader, Scott Morrison says:
He has the full support of his colleagues, he has my full support as prime minister, and we have a lot of work to do, with dams to build, with roads to build, with the economy … to continue to build in rural and regional Australia which is going to bounce back.
Rural and regional Australia is going to bounce back strongly under the policies that we’re putting in place as a government. [They] have been rolling out for many, many years and rural and regional Australia, particularly through the drought, is doing it tough.
People in rural and regional Australia can see those opportunities ahead.
They can see the hope and we’re going to continue to get behind them to realise the hopes they have for the future.
Updated
Pauline Hanson is being Pauline Hanson, as she attempts to get as much attention as possible during Queensland’s election year.
Her latest attempt to stir outrage was her speech on Closing the Gap. She has blamed Indigenous people for not doing enough to improve their lives, while completely ignoring more than 200 years of systemic disadvantage and attempts by white governments to wipe Indigenous people, and their culture, from the map.
Here is some of what she had to say:
Closing the Gap is complete rubbish, and my thoughts are echoed by many Aboriginals who take the time to meet with me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a joke. The call for recognition is just a feel-good smokescreen that hides the true problems.
The biggest problem facing Aboriginal Australians today is their own lack of commitment and responsibility to helping themselves.
Closing the Gap is the marketing term used by politicians and bureaucrats so they can feel good about themselves and get in front of TV cameras and pretend they’re doing something to lift remote First Nations people out of their self-perpetuating hell holes.
Most Australians know that tens of billions of dollars are spent each year to help alter the standard of living between those in remote Aboriginal communities and even those living in our developed parts of Australia.
When you spend billions of dollars a year on any group of people you expect outcomes. Sadly, those billions have gone to the non-productive, unrepentant Aboriginal industry, not to where it should go, the grassroots Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is an industry that has achieved no notable benefits in pulling our First Nations people out of squalor, domestic violence and poverty.
When I speak here today I represent the quiet Australians, those Australians who have had a gutful of the billion dollar handouts with very little to show for them.
Updated
Good morning. It’s the final sitting day for this fortnight, but there’s a lot to fit in. Today’s Daily Program is now online at https://t.co/3XF8cXp2AA pic.twitter.com/uKpxROykWa
— Australian House of Representatives (@AboutTheHouse) February 12, 2020
Oh, and some within the LNP (the Queensland Liberal-National party, which is one formal party instead of a coalition) are talking about breaking away and sitting as their own party.
They are *always* talking about breaking away. It’s their thing. It’s what they do. It happens every single parliamentary year.
And yet ... here they are. Probably because reason prevails and they remember they will have absolute zero power if they remove themselves from the party rooms that are actually in government/have larger numbers.
It’s as ridiculous as getting excited over a Labor faction meeting.
Updated
Parliament is hosting the UN Women’s International Womens’ Day breakfast this morning (the actual day, 8 March, is on a Sunday this year, and falls after parliament sits).
Before anyone whaddabouts me, International Men’s Day is 19 November and you are more than free to hold your own morning tea.
Updated
Good morning
Welcome to the last sitting day of this week. There is a one week break after this, and the mood in the building could best be described as ‘GETOUTOFMYWAYIHAVETOGETOUTOFHERE’, which, honestly, is a mood most of them have put on themselves.
The Nationals are still trying to convince everyone that they have moved on. Party president Larry Anthony had a chat to Laura Jayes on Sky News this morning, where he said that the party wasn’t at its “finest” when it was talking about itself. Which might explain the last two years.
That follows Michael McCormack’s interview with the Nine Network’s Chris Uhlmann yesterday, where he said that people hadn’t seen what a fighter he was yet. (Insert eyeroll emoji)
On that front though, it is worth pointing out that the Barnaby Joyce camp didn’t have the numbers when they challenged – which we know because they lost – and they have since lost a number, with Llew O’Brien no longer sitting as a National (he is a sitting as a LNP MP now, and only joins the joint party room) so you would think that McCormack is safe, at least for now. But the nufty keeps talking about it, so he is keeping it in the public eye, because there is nothing the Nationals like more than relevance.
A dose of reality would be great.
Meanwhile, it does pay to turn attention back to the promised surplus, with the economic conditions making it increasingly likely Josh Frydenberg is about to join the Wayne Swan club – promising a surplus without delivering one. The bushfires, the drought, the world economy and now Covid-19 (formerly known as coronavirus) is having a massive impact on a surplus which was already downgraded at the mid year update.
Jim Chalmers is keen to keep it in the public view, telling the ABC this morning that the government is about to fail a test it set itself.
And then there is this mastery of doublespeak from the prime minister during the election campaign:
“We have brought our budget back to surplus,” Morrison said during a leaders’ debate.
“We’re the party and government that has done that. And I think Australians can trust us to keep it in surplus”.
“It’s not in surplus now,” Sabra Lane, the moderator, said.
“I said next year,” Scott Morrison answered (he had not, but you should be used to that by now).
“I said we brought the budget back to surplus next year”.
I mean I get it. I have reached my ideal weight next year too.
We’ll have all of that, and everything else that happens as we cover the death throes of the first sitting week. You have Mike Bowers, Sarah Martin, Paul Karp and Katharine Murphy, and I have had half a coffee, so we are all winners.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.
Updated
