So long, farewell, this way, out the door
Perhaps it was that news of the motion tomorrow to extend the sitting hours. Perhaps it was the creative effort required by the pantomime. But I’ve suddenly powered down. Let’s wrap until tomorrow.
Today, Wednesday.
- The education minister barnstormed out of Senate defeat for his higher education package to Education 2.0.
- In a press conference, Christopher Pyne was coy on the price tag of his various compromises. The matter was taken out of his hands once the new bill was presented to the House of Representatives – the savings associated with the higher education package as presented at the May budget totalled $3.9bn. This morning the savings were booked at only $450m. That’s some serious shrinkage.
-
Economic growth printed lower than forecast, which sparked a dive in the value of the dollar and led the treasurer Joe Hockey to declare that everything was absolutely fine but everything must also absolutely change. He also urged everyone to spend for Australia.
- Immigration minister Scott Morrison attempted to woo the PUPs to support highly controversial migration legislation with a promise that he’d boost the humanitarian intake. It’s not yet clear whether it will be PUPs up or PUPs down. That’s tomorrow’s happy or sad ending.
- There were two notable events in the House of Representatives. The roof sprung a leak during a brief thunderstorm. And ladies made some herstory (geddit). The chamber was controlled for a whole Question Time by three women: Two Bishops and a Plibersek.
There was more, but that’s the main things. Have a lovely evening. See you bright and early on the morrows.
Introducing #BrickJames
Introducing QLD LNP #bricksenator James McGrath @murpharoo @GuardianAus http://t.co/jWRQosoG2q pic.twitter.com/9WlHRiDKSV
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) December 3, 2014
We thought we would unleash the Liberal senator James McGrath given the Christmas speech about gender neutral coal.
Updated
But wait – there's more
Ok, a couple of things.
- I’m told the government will shortly amend the order of business for this evening to bring on the debate about the abolition of the National Water Commission. This indicates that Scott Morrison has not yet persuaded Clive Palmer to support the SHEVs. If the numbers suddenly materialise on migration, the Senate will come back to this bill tonight.
- Now in more sombre news – I’m told the government will put a motion tomorrow to extend the sitting hours until such time as the mandated business is done. This could mean parliament sits Friday and beyond. Don’t think about it. I’m not.
Liberal senator James McGrath must have read the panto. In a speech just now in the Senate in the MPI debate, McGrath is dreaming about Santa.
If you’re lucky you’ll get a nice lump of Queensland coal in your stockings.
The Greens will get gender neutral coal in their stockings.
Brilliant.
#BrickSenate: a Christmas pantomime
Mr Bowers has been spurred on to new heights of creativity this afternoon. Given today is the second last parliamentary sitting day of the year, here is a Christmas panto.
Santa has made an unscheduled call to #BrickSenate this afternoon to deliver bounty. Upon entering the chamber, Santa unfurled his sack and brandished Intelligence Committee Barbie.
Santa (winningly):
Come ladies. Claim your prize.
What about us, cried the men of the red room (mulishly).
Santa (triumphantly):
Fret not conservative men of a certain age ... and Mathias Cormann.
In my sack you will find Intelligence Committee Ken!
The men rejoice. Hear hear, is the cry.
But, a twist.
Green senator Larissa Waters leaps from her seat brandishing a sword.
Waters:
How dare you old sad hipster.
This is the nativity, not the heteronormativity!
Santa lacks an immediate resort to his favourite internet search engine and Wikipedia so he is uncertain what language the blonde woman is speaking, and given ladies should not over exert themselves, he’s concerned that she’s seeking confrontation. Santa is a man of peace, not of war.
The acting deputy president Cory Bernardi strides forth to Take Charge.
Bernardi (decisively, while furtively trousering Intelligence Committee Ken):
Grow up and get out.
Bernardi :
Oh, it’s you Man of Christmas.
Bernardi leans in for closer inspection.
He looks suddenly crestfallen. Bernardi observes Santa has entered the chamber in garments obscuring his face, breaching Standing Order We Just Make This Stuff Up.
Bernardi moves in to evict the intruder.
[Curtain falls]
Universities Australia: in, or out?
Actually hold fire, not quite yet on the special. We are still creating. So first – a prize for any reader who can resolve whether Universities Australia is backing Education 2.0, or whether it is leaving the education minister high and dry. My assessment is this lobby group is well and truly astride the barbed wire fence.
Their statement this afternoon in full. Let your eyes jump to the bolded words.
Universities Australia has welcomed the government’s introduction of a new higher education bill into the parliament but has reiterated its view that the bill does not go far enough in ensuring fairness and affordability.
“Regrettably the new bill does not provide any relief on the 20 per cent cut to funding - a cut which amounts to around $2 billion to be stripped from universities,” said Chief Executive of Universities Australia, Ms Belinda Robinson.
“Without moderation, this cut will put significant upward pressure on student fees and will make it difficult to win the support of the university sector or the crossbench.
“Despite this concern, the new bill is heading in the right direction. We particularly thank and acknowledge the significant contribution made by the crossbenchers, including in securing these amendments.”
Ms Robinson said important concessions including a modest structural adjustment fund, a guarantee that fees will be lower for domestic students than for international students and substantial changes to the student loan scheme, showed the Government was listening.
“We welcome Minister Pyne’s comments that the Government will be engaging with Universities Australia over the summer about our remaining concerns with the bill,” Ms Robinson said.
“As part of these conversations we will also be reiterating our support for a larger structural adjustment package of $500 million and the establishment of an independent, expert panel to oversee the changes.
“With these amendments the government’s package can deliver a strong and sustainable future for higher education and research.”
Ms Robinson said that now the debate on the new bill has been adjourned, all those involved can take a deep breath and return after the break with renewed focus in 2015.
The migration debate is expected back later on this afternoon. In the meantime, I have some special coming up next.
Blow me down. What are those WOMEN doing there?
Water from the sky
Drips in the House, a sequence, by Mike Bowers.
The hours of glowers are over. Questions have been placed on the notice papers. At the end of the Reps session, Madam Speaker noted a little history had been made – the House was in the grip of women. Two Bishops and a Tanya. The ladies looked just a bit pleased with their efforts.
Foreign Minister JBish driving the #QT bus @murpharoo @GuardianAus http://t.co/jWRQosoG2q pic.twitter.com/UIwM8IVqDM
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) December 3, 2014
I’ll catch up with some pictures shortly and then work out where the SHEVs are at in the Senate.
My attention has been drawn to the red place, where the defence minister David Johnston is having a hard time. It has been drawn to his attention by the Labor senate leader Penny Wong that the South Australian parliament has passed a motion critical of Johnston, and the Coalition’s broken election promise on submarines.
Wong points out that Johnston has now been censured by the Senate, rebuked by the prime minister, insulted by his junior minister, and now rebuked by the South Australian parliament, including Liberals in the South Australian parliament.
Is it time for you to do the honourable thing and resign, Wong asks Johnston?
Johnston:
Mr President, defintely not.
Updated
Chris Bowen is back with a question for Joe Hockey. When will you admit the budget destroyed confidence in the economy?
It didn’t says Hockey. Some jobs have gone, yes. But we are the only people with a plan to create more jobs. The treasurer is on jobs growth and the two speed economy. Hockey loves to laugh at Wayne Swan, and present him as a buffoon – but their rhetoric in this portfolio is almost identical. Same issues, same catchphrases. Treasury has plugged in the chip.
House of Drips-the reps has sprung a leak during #QT @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive http://t.co/jWRQosoG2q pic.twitter.com/T2AGgZsaK3
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) December 3, 2014
Why did the treasurer sacrifice Australian automotive jobs to get a free trade deal with China? This question is from Mark Butler, presumably wearing his Adelaide hat.
Joe Hockey yesterday drew a very clear link between ending industry assistance for Australian automotive manufacturers and the successful conclusion of the China FTA. In fact he said it three times.
The treasurer is not resiling.
Hockey:
We regret that international manufacturers in Australia have closed plants. But the fact is if we continue to have protection it impedes our ability to get other countries to break down protection of their industries.
The treasurer says the government is in the job creation business – not the subsidising foreign companies business.
(That might be news to the car workers in Adelaide.)
Speaker Bronwyn Bishop: "I notice that our roof is leaking." #auspol pic.twitter.com/WIOLoIFhwJ
— Kerrin Binnie (@kerrinbinnie) December 3, 2014
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen is interested in leaks of the budgetary type. How are you going to make up for the big hole in the budget created by Christopher Pyne’s wheeling and dealing on Education 2.0?
Hockey says the package still offers savings. And then there is much bluster.
#BrickSenate @mpbowers @murpharoo pic.twitter.com/CanCj5iVzZ
— Sean Brooke (@SeanBrooke23) December 3, 2014
Madam Speaker:
I notice that our roof is leaking. I realise leaking is regular problem for political parties, however we may need a bucket.
Ok, now we have a situation.
Parliament House is leaking - literally. Water dripping into House of Reps as I tweet! Knock yourself out with the best puns #auspol
— Darren Chester MP (@DarrenChesterMP) December 3, 2014
Sorry I know you don’t care but ..
Storm hitting Canberra CBD head-on. Looks nasty. Warning from BoM. Stay off the roads, I’d suggest pic.twitter.com/BpcNHqJbGn
— Frank Keany (@redneckninja) December 3, 2014
Good news from faraway lands.
Great news out of Korea overnight; #KAFTA endorsed by National Assembly. Entry into force imminent
— Andrew Robb (@AndrewRobbMP) December 3, 2014
There seems to be a typhoon outside.
You have to earn the future.
Hockey again.
A huge thunderstorm is about the erupt in the capital. Sharp drop in barometric pressure may explain the proliferation of words without meaning.
Pyne is pressed on why he won’t drop Education 2.0, and why has he forced Glenn Lazarus to change his phone number? Madam Speaker fails to see how Pyne is responsible for the phone.
Moving forward ..
Oh Lord. Joe Hockey just said it.
Terrible triggers.
First question went to Pyne on dropping the higher education package. The education minister thought it terribly indecorous to be shouting in partisan fashion on the day of Hughes funeral. (Nice try).
Bishop got a question on the Colombo Plan to enable her to announce the Colombo Plan for what must be the 800th time.
Now we are back to dropping Education 2.0. To Pyne. Why are you doing this when there isn’t consensus among Vice Chancellors, even?
Pyne says everyone loves it, apart from Stephen Parker of the University of Canberra. Pyne says the ABC managed to track down the only VC in the country to stray off the song sheet. (Fact check: Actually it was us, not the ABC. And the intervention was from a speech, delivered in public. It wasn’t hard to track down. It wasn’t a subtle intervention.)
Pyne suggests Parker doesn’t entirely hate it. (Fact check: Parker seems to entirely hate it.)
Question time
Bonus. It is ladies day in the chamber. Julie Bishop is in the big chair – Warren Truss has been diverted by personal matters. Across the chamber is Tanya Plibersek. So let’s trial the prime minister and opposition leader in exile.
Go.
Question time is coming – minus the two leaders, who have flown out for the funeral of Phillip Hughes.
Brick by brick. Piece by piece, chortle by chortle, our #BrickGreens are taking shape.
L-R: #BrickLudlam, #BrickHansonYoung, #BrickRhiannon, #BrickMilne.
Aka: #PlayAh, #SideFringe #HelmetHead and #WonderWoman.
Laura Tingle from the Australian Financial Review wants to know what the budget strategy is now, because it’s not very clear. What’s the outlook for surpluses? Hockey says the government laid down a timeframe in the budget. He says obviously, if the government has something to say about that, he’ll do it in orderly fashion, he says, in MYEFO, not on the fly here. Hockey says the government will not go chasing falling revenue with savage spending cuts. He says the economy doesn’t need that in the short term.
The sum of those parts means the surplus outlook will be bad, basically.
There are no excuses for us not continuing economic reform.
We are in our 24th year of growth. If we want another decade of growth we have to change. We have to be better at what we can do.
There’s the news grab.
On the way through, Hockey says these national accounts are a powerful argument for why the new Victorian premier should build that road that he just told voters he wouldn’t build.
I’d say to the new Premier of Victoria, now is not the time to cancel an infrastructure project is that delivers 7,000 new jobs in Victoria. Now is not the time to do it. If you need any evidence, look at the national accounts today.
Q: Shouldn’t the federal government respect the mandate of the new government of Victoria and be flexible about the money being provided for infrastructure? Especially as you want a different Commonwealth-State relationship with more emphasis on the States?
Hockey:
One of the reasons why we put in not only $1.5bn to make East-West happen now, but we have offered another $1.5bn for East-West, is we need it to happen now.
We need this infrastructure to be under activity now.
Unless the new Premier of Victoria has ready to roll projects that it can make up for the loss of the East-West, he is going to detract from the Victorian economy and cost of Victorian economy jobs.
A billion here, a billion there, swings and roundabouts
Hockey is asked whether he’ll factor in the benefits of the recent FTAs to the Commonwealth’s books. He says yes, he’ll factor in the FTA with Japan in MYEFO, but he’s inclined to be more cautious with the other agreements at this point.
Q: Is this a wake-up call on the economy and budget? Will the government take any message out of results today and out of MYEFO to rethink budget policy?
Hockey:
We have a plan we are implementing. Thank God we got rid of the carbon tax, which hit at the beginning of the September quarter. Energy consumption lifted. That is quite a stark indicator of how significant it’s been. Oil prices have come down, that is going to help us as well. There is a flip side to falling commodity prices, which for exports reduces our nation’s income.
Our plan is kicking in. Getting rid of the carbon tax, getting rid of the mining tax, stopping the industry assistance, which helps with the free trade agreements. Getting on with the job of structural repair.
I took a view in forming the budget this year will not be as strong as we would have hoped originally. Therefore, we could not go harder. I took that quite obvious decision, but what we did in the May budget was put in place structural reforms that strengthened the budget over the medium term.
Get us back to sustainable surplus. Some argued we went too far, but we got it right.
Q: How much harder has that process of structural reform of the budget and bringing the budget back to surplus been made by things like Christopher Pyne giving away a couple of billion worth of savings in the higher education bill in order to compromise with the Senate?
Hockey:
Swings and roundabouts.
Good God, don’t mention the R word.
Q: Per capita, disposeable income is down 0.8 for two quarters in a row and combine that with rising unemployment. Do you concede in parts of the economy now it will be feeling like a recession?
Hockey:
No.
Joe Hockey addresses reporters
Ok, Hockey is starting his GDP press conference glass half full.
From the random not very meaningful stats department – Hockey says this growth figure is better than the first growth figure recorded under the former Labor government. (I wonder if he means Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard?)
Hockey, unusually, is sticking resolutely to a script he has in front of him.
He says the annual number is only just below expectations. A falling Australian dollar is good news. But he says the national accounts have a clear message: doing nothing is not a viable option. The budget must be restored to health. The roads must be built.
Doing nothing on economic reform is not an option for our country. This government is determined to continue to deliver its economic action strategy. This involves getting the budget under control, removing taxes, removing red tape, building infrastructure and growing trade. This all helps Australia to cope with events that are beyond our control.
Even though economic growth over the last 12 months is considerably better than the previous 12 months there’s still much work to be done. We are determined to work with the Australian people to strengthen the Australian economy, to take advantage of the many positive opportunities that lie ahead in 2015 and beyond.
The treasurer is coming up very shortly – any early predictions on the line?
Who actually owns this number? The ALP via Facebook is currently urging mass demon dialing of the education minister Christopher Pyne.
He’s not listening to the people or the Parliament. We hear he listens to text messages though: text Christopher Pyne on 0477 333 555 and tell him what you think about $100,000 degrees.
Early feedback in the thread. Steve: Why would you ask us to text a number thats disconnected?
Leave that one with you.
The treasurer Joe Hockey will speak to reporters at 1pm. Heavy congestion in the Blue Room today. Might have to bring in traffic control.
All by my-seeelll ..f.
All by my-sellll ..f.
Skip back in time. This was the education minister waiting to launch Education 2.0.
The value of the Australian dollar dropped on that poorly GDP news to below US84 cents – from around US84.66 cents.
Independent senator John Madigan says the whole asylum debate is polarised to the point of being very counterproductive. Madigan says he wants a solution for people currently in limbo. He says all the folks in the chamber will finish up this final sitting week and go home to their families. Everyone knows where they are going. Not the bunch of asylum seekers – 30,000 of them – who now face uncertainty about how they will be processed.
But he says certainty can’t trump decency and dignity. Madigan says he can’t support this package. He’s in the no column.
Updated
Independent senator Nick Xenophon is speaking in the SHEVs debate in the Senate now. He’s a yes vote. He’s not hugely enamoured with this proposal, but his concern is a no vote will mean asylum seekers currently languishing in limbo will be worse off.
Morrison counted Xenophon in his yes column at the press conference earlier.
Updated
Growth .. sluggish
While we had the calculators out in our nit-picking picnic the GDP figures I flagged first up this morning, landed.
The news is not great. The annual rate of economic growth is 2.7%. The quarterly figure was 0.3%.
The financial markets were predicting annual number with a 3 in front of it.
Presumably to make the Education 2.0 blow out look less horrendous, we should note for completeness that an entirely new funding horizon has been injected into the explanatory memorandum. Savings are now projected over a ten year timeframe – over the decade, the calculation is $5.8bn.
So the original $3.9bn over four is now $5.8bn over ten.
Meanwhile, back in the Senate, folks are mulling the SHEVs. This will go on until statements at 12.45pm.
Noon already. Outrageous, the relentless passage of time.
Maybe I’ve missed something here, or my logic is faulty. One thing is absolutely certain: Politics Live readers are smart cookies. If I’m wrong, you’ll be onto me.
Calculators at forty paces
Just thinking about that new calculation on the net savings on the higher education package – come from a little mental stroll with Daniel and I.
We’ve had the calculator out.
- I’ve already flagged this morning on Politics Live that a structural adjustment fund for universities was $300m according to Pyne last night, and only $100m this morning. This was always a bit odd.
- Well .. given the total savings courtesy of the concessions are now $451m net – imagine if an extra $200m had to come off that bottomline? The net savings figure would then have a two in front of it. That’s basically hitting the ocean floor. That’s basically don’t even bother territory.
- Just for the record: the universities actually want the fund to be $500m, certainly not $100m and not $300m.
- Universities Australia last night was backing away from the package because the uni fund wasn’t generous enough. So .. we could actually end up spending money to get deregulation through, which would be .. well .. kind of mad, wouldn’t it?
This is one hot mustard pickle.
Sorry, that new fact fluttered slightly across the Morrison outing.
Bottomline on that?
The immigration minister has upped his offer on the migration bill to try and persuade the wobbling PUPs to stick.
Perhaps they will, perhaps they won’t.
And we haven’t yet calculated the cost of the unicorns.
The high price of persistence
A reader tells me the new explanatory memorandum for Education 2.0 reveals the price tag associated with the amendments for the higher education package.
It’s large.
Orig Higher Ed bill explanatory memo calculated savings of $3.5b across fwd estimates; new one calculates at only $451m. Ping @murpharoo
— Snowman Bowden (@sj_bowden) December 3, 2014
My colleague Daniel Hurst asked Pyne to quantify the cost of his concessions in the press conference this morning. Pyne refused to answer Daniel’s question. He said wait for MYEFO.
Well, turns out we don’t have to. The ever diligent Daniel was already exploring other avenues. He says the net figure of $451m is correct.
The original proposal banked savings worth $3.9bn over four years.
That’s some hit.
Are there priority countries for the increased refugee intake?
Q: In increasing the humanitarian intake are there any particular areas you are looking at taking?
Morrison:
Not at this stage.
Q: What is your plan B if this doesn’t get through the Senate?
Morrison:
I am on plan A.
Morrison is asked whether he’s prepared to split the bill if there objections.
Q: Would it be acceptable to pass the temporary protection visa and SHEV part of the bill but not the other part?
Morrison:
My negotiations have been about a complete package.
Q: If the bill is not passed by the Senate, will you still proceed with processing the legacy case load?
I am not going to speculate on the second part of the question. My focus is still working on the bill passing.
Will Clive Palmer back this enhanced package in?
Morrison:
It’s a matter for Palmer United party what they do in the Senate.
Morrison’s pitch:
The ultimate determination of this bill is in the hands of the Senate, it is not for me to comment on the position of individual Senators. I will leave that to those Senators. But I thank them for the good discussions we have been in.
We are all very aware of what we have discussed and what we would like to achieve and I’m happy for the Senate to now consider the matter. But I note this – we need to move forward and the government will need to move forward on this.
We will need to process these individuals and we cannot allow this matter to continue to go on in the way it has, which has been in a holding pattern because of the intransigence of Labor and the Greens in the Senate.
This is our opportunity to make the situation better and I frankly commend the bill to the Senate.
Palmer plus: refugee intake to increase
Morrison is clearly upping the deal on the SHEVs.
He’s said if the package is approved by the Senate, after clearing the legacy case load backlog, the government will increase the refugee and humanitarian intake in the next Budget by a total of 7,500 places.
Currently the intake is 13,750. The increase takes it to 18,750.
Let’s do the two step.
Foreign minister Julie Bishop has just told reporters if the Coalition moves to cut the foreign aid budget again then that will be Labor’s fault because there used to be surpluses and now there wasn’t because Labor spent all the moolah so obviously .. Never mind.
Immigration minister Scott Morrison in an separate event agrees entirely that everything is absolutely Labor’s fault – although the Greens also get a love tap for hand wringing. Morrison is addressing his wobbly SHEVs now. His demeanour is like a freight train.
We will fight them in the parliament ..
#ShortenSweet
Here’s my colleague Lenore Taylor on the SHEVs.
The government faces another major Senate defeat with Labor, the Greens, the Palmer United party (PUP) and other crossbench senators insisting that 30,000 asylum seekers living in limbo in Australia receive the possibility of a permanent visa. Even as Senate debate began on the government’s Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014, the PUP senators wrote to the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, saying they could not agree to the bill as it stands, and telling him to bring it back next year.
The bill reintroduces temporary protection visas (TPVs), and promises future regulations to implement the deal between Morrison and Clive Palmer to introduce a “safe haven” visa to give refugees who work in regional areas a “pathway” to permanent residency.
The legislation goes far beyond what had been agreed with PUP in restricting refugee rights and does not provide details or a clear pathway for safe haven visa holders to achieve permanent residency.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, the government’s new Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (SHEVs) – sorry, that’s a bad acronym – the alternative visa to TPVs, is being debated.
The SHEV is not looking good right now. The government thought it had a deal with the Palmer United party to get this new regime through the parliament, but the PUP has been equivocating in recent days.
The immigration minister Scott Morrison is due to address reporters soon.
Education 2.0 hits the House
Pyne has proceeded to introduce Education 2.0 to the House. The education minister is telling the chamber these are essential reforms and the message here today is he’s prepared to listen.
Pyne:
This is not just a budget measure, it is a great reform. It is some of the most important reform in generations.
Good riddance
One more little piece of superb. It’s all in the hands.
#Cliev.
The many faces of Christopher Pyne, by Mike Bowers, Wednesday edition.
The Lambie motion to suspend the standing orders in the senate failed.
The Labor leader Bill Shorten is making sure he’s got tonight’s TV grabs completely covered given he got snuffed out quickly in the House. He’s called on a special caucus meeting and invited 100 or so friends with cameras.
Shorten:
Christopher Pyne cannot text his way out of this humiliation because it’s bad for Australia and it’s bad for Australian students.
Given everything is following a boomerang trajectory this morning, Shorten picks up Pyne’s recent hat tips to Winston Churchill – and returned them to sender.
The minister for education has traipsed through the media quoting – styling himself – on Winston Churchill.
Can I on behalf of the caucus just say this to him and the government: Labor will fight these changes to higher education.
We shall fight them in the parliament, we shall fight them in the community. We shall fight for opportunity. We shall fight for a fair university system and we shall never surrender.
(Churchill was fighting on the beaches.)
Sorry, split screening is always inelegant. Pyne has wrapped up. The procedural shoutfest came to nothing.
There’s another procedural scrap in the Senate. Jacqui Lambie is attempting to suspend standing orders to allow debate on her private members bill on defence pay.
Now, just to recap on some facts of education 2.0 – the new bill will basically contain all the concessions the government made to the crossbench in the past 48 hours. These concessions were not put in the existing bill because Senate debate was junked at the second reading.
So basically that means:
- Retaining CPI indexation for HECS debts.
- An interest rate pasue on debts for primary carers of kids under five.
- The structural adjustment fund. As we’ve flagged, that fund might be $100m or it might be $300m. Pyne has mentioned both figures.
- A scholarship fund.
- A requirement that domestic fees are lower than international fees.
- A direction to the competition commission to monitor prices and act on price gouging.
(In the back pocket, flowers, chocolates and a unicorn.)
Updated
Back to the man in question. Is this a not very subtle book cooking exercise?
Q: The argument was made this morning that part of the reason for putting this bill to the house today was that the savings on the bill would be available for you to put on the books in MYEFO. Is that a reason the bill is brought to the house today?
Pyne (perish the thought):
No.
Thank you very much.
Genius.
Christopher Pyne: Holy senate rejection, Abbottman! @murpharoo @mpbowers #BrickReps not #BrickSenate pic.twitter.com/nO71aeHZWN
— Captain Haymaker (@CaptainHaymaker) December 2, 2014
The great expanding and shrinking uni transition fund
One curiousity from Education 2.0.
Last night, Pyne told Universities Australia he would increase the offer for a transition fund for universities from $100m to $300m. This morning the proposed transition fund is back to $100m. That was the number Pyne used in the press conference. $100m, not $300m.
Perhaps the minister is losing track. Perhaps he’s set reset on that one to give himself headroom in the new negotiations.
Updated
Labor is still shouting in the House. The government is moving gags.
The manager of opposition business, Tony Burke says the education minister can’t be bothered fronting the chamber. (Labor will know full well that Pyne is having a press conference now, this timing is quite deliberate.)
Burke:
They are running scared!
(Made for television outrage. This used to be Tony Abbott’s specialty.)
The education minister dances around the point of whether there will be $100,000 degrees. He’s then asked about how much the concessions put to the Senate crossbench over the past few days have cost the total package. One suspects the price tag is high. Pyne says we’ll all have to wait for MYEFO to find out the total numbers.
Q: The original start date for this was 2016. Are you having to move that timetable back?
Pyne:
No.
Pyne is asked, given his commitment to the package, whether the government is prepared to dissolve the Senate to clear the current roadblock. No, is the answer.
Sure there will be setbacks. This is a setback. But does that mean the government gives up and calls an election? Absolutely not!
Pyne is asked twice about whether he’ll compromise on the 20% cut to university funding.
The first time he obfuscates. The second time he says possibly.
I’m always prepared to negotiate. Whether it’s with Universities Australia, whether it’s with the crossbenchers. I’ve been quite flexible, not quite Houdini, but I’ve been as flexible as I can be.
Back to Pyne and 2.0
Q: Every single one of these concessions you’re putting into the new bill was on offer to the Senate yesterday and the Senate chose not even to debate them. What are you hoping will happen over the next couple of months to persuade them? It’s not like you’re offering anything new here?
Pyne:
Time and persuasion, Phil.
The purpose of the suspension underway now is to try and bring on immediate debate on the new bill. Pyne wants the bill to sit on the shelf until next year. That will get the government through the Mid Year Economic Forecasts, and also allow some breathing space for a reboot. This is a stunt from Labor, no more no less. It’s an effort to ramp up the appearance of chaos. The government has the numbers in the House of Representatives.
Labor moves to derail proceedings in the House
While Pyne is talking to reporters, the Labor leader Bill Shorten is moving in the chamber to censure the government for trying to impose “$100,000 degrees.”
He’s suspending the standing orders.
Higher education 2.0
Christopher Pyne is speaking to reporters now in the Blue Room. He’s saying he’ll bowl up the same (amended) proposal as the Senate rejected yesterday.
Pyne:
We will not be guillotining the bill and rushing it through the parliament. It is a new reform Bill. I believe it picks up many of the concerns of the crossbenchers and the community. We’ll introduce the Bill. It will go through the normal stages of House which means it will sit on the table until we return for the next sitting which will be in February. Labor will have the opportunity to go through their party processes, we’ll then have the debate when we return.
Don’t, stop, thinking about toooo - morrow.
Yes, yes. Tone down your applause. It’s embarrassing. I’m just a humble parliamentarian.
No, please. Stop.
Junior frontbencher Josh Frydenberg has penned a column for the Herald Sun in Melbourne this morning with the provocative title: Ten Lessons To Get Liberals Back On Track.
Everyone will have their favourite in the list. Mine is number six.
Frydenberg:
Avoid the fringe and play to the middle. John Howard said that when he entered parliament, 40 per cent backed the Coalition, 40 per cent supported Labor and 20 per cent were up for grabs. When he left parliament, he said that the ratio had moved to 30:30:40.
Parties should always be conscious of the ground upon which elections will be decided. Divisive issues like abortion act as a lightning rod for extreme views and when the law is settled and accepted, parties should avoid opening up damaging debates.
Yep, Clive’s in a boat.
Oh Captain my Captain-Clive at a get up event farewell ing the budget @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/HmZB1luyak
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) December 2, 2014
GetUp is engaging currently in some elaborate performance art down the front of the building. I’m seeing pictures on Twitter of Clive Palmer in a boat.
I should have mentioned in relation to Lazarus and the Christmas light beer shandy with Pyne that he said he’ll have to clear that with his GP first. The PUP man was hospitalised this week with kidney stones.
The revised education bill is not listed on the notice paper for business in the House today, but we expect it to be introduced after the Pyne press conference. A couple of migration issues are listed for debate in the Senate.
I should mention that Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten will be absent for at least part of today because they are attending the funeral in Macksville for the cricketer Phillip Hughes.
Perhaps Lazarus has a sneaky slab in his shopping bag?
Fresh from signalling he might need a restraining order against Christopher Pyne yesterday, the PUP senator Glenn Lazarus is soundling less inclined to subject the education minister to a spear tackle. He’s told reporters on the doors this morning he’d like to have a drink with Pyne. No roses, no chocolates, but possibly a light beer shandy. Lazarus has told Radio National Pyne is a good minister and a nice guy – but he’s clear he doesn’t want his kids or other kids paying more for their education.
This reform must happen and the government is not about to take it off the table.
Christopher Pyne’s tour of the broadcast studios in the press gallery corridor continues with him calling on Sky News. He’s scheduled a media conference for 9.30am.
I know there’s a risk of bumping off Joe Hilderbrand in the self adulation stakes with sharing third party endorsements – but it’s been great how much readers and folks in the parliament have enjoed #BrickSenate.
Praise for this whole #BrickSenate thing. For the first time ppl have been able to work out what happens in the Senate @mpbowers @murpharoo
— Alex Hawke MP (@AlexHawkeMP) December 2, 2014
Who will we unveil today? Stay tuned ..
(That teaser was terrible. I don’t know who we’ll unveil yet because Bowers and I have not yet had coffee.)
In addition to shocking and aweing the airwaves this morning, the education minister was interviewed last night by Leigh Sales on the ABC’s 730 program. I’d say that appearance was Peak Pyne. Worth a look if you missed it.
Q: Christopher Pyne, it’s been a pretty messy year for the government hasn’t it?
Christopher Pyne:
No.
The education minister on ABC radio.
Good morning and welcome to Wednesday, the day after Tuesday and the day before Thursday. (It is actually Wednesday, right?)
We pick up seamlessly from where we left off last night on Politics Live. The government suffered a major defeat in the Senate on Tuesday evening, with the chamber rebuffing the Coalition’s higher education package. The education minister Christopher Pyne is a chap not inclined to backward steps, so a new bill will hit the House of Representatives this morning. As Pyne said on the radio this morning, great reform is inevitable. (Well, not always sadly, but it’s good to approach a big task undaunted.)
So education 2.0 will be one of today’s preoccupations in the Canberra gazebo. New GDP figures are also expected later on. Presumably that data will help the government try and prepare the ground for the release of the Mid Year Economic Forecast. All indications to date suggest the political strategy for MYEFO is tell voters simultaneously that everything is absolutely tip top and everything is terrible because Labor has made it terrible and Labor bloody well needs to make it unterrible. (Because why talk about you and what you want to do with government when you can talk endlessly about your opponents steadfastly blocking an agenda that voters really don’t like? Genius really.)
One more thing before we start the long swim across the rip. David Crowe has a very interesting story in The Australian this morning. Crowe reports the Coalition’s backbench economics committee has “refused to approve a draft bill to set up the controversial (medical research) fund in a blunt signal to ministers that it would not “rubber-stamp” fresh ideas after seeing the government struggle to argue for its existing reforms.”
So what, you say? Well, for Canberra tea leaf readers this is a harbinger. The Coalition backbench thus far has been sheep-like in its obedience to the mandated program and the messages.
It’s been plastered on smiles and ‘yes I know we’ve suffered a 6% swing in a year, but everything is fine’. So this modest pushback is interesting. (For readers who don’t know the process, legislation goes through government committees for clearance before going to the party room for approval.)
In addition to the little economics committee boilover, there has also been complaints this week from Senate crossbenchers that the government is comprehensively botching the program. Things move on and off the agenda, seemingly randomly. Labor has made merry with the uncertainty, running all sorts of stunts and tactics.
Anyway Politics Live is now, and will ever be, a stunt free zone. The comments thread is wide open, awaiting your insights. I too am awaiting your insights on the Twits. You can reach us there @murpharoo and @mpbowers
