Night time political summary
- The prime minister has defended his pre-election promise of no cuts to the ABC and SBS, saying “this is a government which has fundamentally kept faith with the Australian people”.
- Abbott’s comments come as managing director Mark Scott announced 400 jobs would go under wide-ranging cuts to programs and offices at the ABC.
- Regional coalition members and senators have cried foul over Scott’s cuts to regional services, saying he should start with the Ultimo office.
- Jacqui Lambie has quit the Palmer United Party and voted as an independent for a crossbench senate wind farm inquiry, supported by the Coalition.
- Scott Morrison said it was necessary to set “a high bar” for Australian citizenship as the parliament debated changes to the Australian Citizenship Act which would give more power to the immigration minister.
- Former Labor MP Craig Thomson was warned by a Victorian judge that she could increase his 12 month sentence at the beginning of his sentencing appeal on his conviction on charges relating to misuse of union credit cards.
- And Tony Abbott’s use of the term “shirtfront” in relation to Russian president Vladimir Putin has forced a dictionary change to a broader definition.
- And Shalailah Medhora reports, a government-dominated senate committee looking at the Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload bill will hand down its report later tonight. Both Labor and the Greens will release dissenting reports. The legislation would see the reintroduction of temporary protection visas and the redefinition of who can be deemed a refugee.
Tomorrow, supporters of the ABC will descend on parliament house at 11.30am. Also tomorrow, we have joint party room and caucus meetings.
Thanks for your company, thanks to Mike Bowers and the brains trust and goodnight.
Updated
Alliteration alert! More from Liberal senator Ian Macdonald on the ABC cuts.
ABC Ultimo is a bloated bastion of broadcasting bureaucrats who have had their snouts in the public trough for far too long. It’s time they took their cuts, rather than shifting the pain onto others. Instead, however, the Board and Management of the ABC are protecting themselves from the cuts and instead inflicting the damage on regional Australia. The location and nature of the cuts is entirely the decision of the ABC management, not the Government.
It has been a long day and you can tell.
Nick Xenophon with tongue firmly in cheek explains the new senate balance of power to @GuardianAus @gabriellechan pic.twitter.com/QnWlMUI2oz
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) November 24, 2014
Essentially, rural Liberals and National Party MPs and senators are up in arms about the nature of Mark Scott’s plans to deliver the government’s cuts. We have had Christopher Pyne’s petition on change.org not to close South Australian television production. We have had Liberal MP for Gilmore Ann Sudmalis’ letter to Scott describing his decision to close the Nowra ABC office as “deplorable”. And then Liberal senator Ian Macdonald’s call for cuts to fall in Ultimo, not regional Australia.
Jobs losses in Rockhampton and other regional centres are a disgrace. These are essential services that keep the people of regional Australia informed and engaged in what is happening in the world, says Macdonald.
It appears someone did not think of the fact that small remote offices are the least “efficient” of offices financially, notwithstanding their important function.
Speaking to the ABC cuts, National senator Bridget McKenzie says it looks as though managing director Mark Scott sees regional broadcasting as “the more annoying distraction” to the more exciting areas of prime television and current affairs and:
competing in city markets with yet another fabulous brekkie program. But it’s not good enough, the ABC charter is to be a national broadcaster, not just another Sydney or Melbourne network.
Greens senator Scott Ludlam has spoken on the ABC cuts, particularly the idea that the public broadcaster should just “knuckle down” like the commercial media companies.
It gives the game away. The fact is from a purely commercial point of view, it is inefficient to cover local sport. It is inefficient to maintain small regional bureaux in places like Wagin or Morewell. It is inefficient to maintain dedicated state based current affairs programs. It’s probably really expensive and inefficient to put investigative reporters into the field. These things from a purely commercial point of view are inefficient and that’s why we have public broadcasters to provide those things because the private sector won’t.
Updated
The senate is currently debating a matter of public importance on ABC and SBS funding.
South Australian senator Anne Ruston, a rural Liberal based in Renmark, says no one is asking Mark Scott to do anything more than efficiency dividends. Ruston implies that Scott has targeted popular programs to increase pressure on the government.
Everybody seems to think there is nothing wrong with the ABC becoming more efficient than Mr Scott. The real tragedy is this is just another step along the road of centralisation.
Ruston says currently 50% of staff already work in Sydney and Scott’s changes will just increase the Sydney-centric nature of the ABC.
To be clear about what this means, you need only to read Lenore’s story from last week.
Here is the salient point:
The new inquiry – the latest in a long list of investigations into renewable energy and wind power – is proposed by crossbench senators David Leyonhjelm and Bob Day and Liberal Chris Back, all of whom have argued for the abolition of the renewable energy target, which underpins wind energy in Australia.
Senate votes for wind turbine inquiry - RET in the balance
Voting for the wind turbine inquiry is the Coalition, Bob Day, David Leyonhjelm, John Madigan, Nick Xenophon and Jacqui Lambie.
Labor, Greens, Dio Wang, Glenn Lazarus oppose.
The inquiry goes ahead, with the COCs (Coalition of Commonsense) winning the day.
Lambie’s vote has already changed the dynamic in the senate.
Updated
Senator David Leyonhjelm has moved for the establishment of an inquiry into wind turbines, as reported by Lenore Taylor last week. Greens leader Christine Milne has objected on the grounds that the government will only support the inquiry if another senate committee is cut. So that could be either the inquiries into the Coalition’s budget cuts or the Queensland inquiry. Either way, the government would be happier.
The senate is voting now on the issue.
National Party senator Barry O’Sullivan has called for a novel punishment for perpetrators of domestic violence. The former policeman said he spent too much of his time investigating acts of violence and intimidation within families.
We’ve got plenty of uninhabited sub-arctic islands with active volcanoes surrounding some of the world’s stormiest waters. They’d be the perfect dumping ground for these deadbeat cowards. We can send them there without a coat. This principle worked for England in the late 1700s and there is no reason it won’t work again now.
Paul Farrell has an interesting report on the recent terrorism raids.
Police officers covertly listened to a phone call between a lawyer and a client who had been detained without charge under a preventative detention order (PDO) during September’s counter-terrorism raids in Sydney.
Surveillance of calls is mandatory under the PDO legislation, but the orders had never previously been used since their introduction in 2005, and there is no mechanism for lawyers to be alerted to the fact that clients have been placed on a PDO.
Legal critics have described the covert surveillance as a serious breach of the client’s legal rights.
Senator John Madigan is asking why the government is picking on “soft” targets on Skynews, presumably he is talking about the budget cuts. Though I missed the first part, Madigan says the government will not address tax issues around things like negative gearing because it is too explosive. So government does the easy things.
Total ejections for question time = 7. They were Labor MPs Claydon, Champion, Dreyfus, Bowen, Ellis, King and Snowdon.
I’m here to help.
This government has fundamentally kept faith with the Australian people...
Why on earth did the prime minister lie?
Breaking. Labor loses vote suspension of standing orders regarding Tony Abbott’s broken promises: 43-85.
Goldilocks! This chair is just right....
Bill Shorten #division #InTheGrownUpsChair http://t.co/TfWb94wF6n @gabriellechan @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/y2wwTJoUhD
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) November 24, 2014
Peak Zinger. A nod to Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell from Mike Bowers.
Bill Shorten #SuspensionOfStandingOrders #peakZinger @GuardianAus @gabriellechan http://t.co/TfWb94wF6n pic.twitter.com/09SyGFQ2Y0
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) November 24, 2014
Given this is a numbers game, Labor will lose this vote.
Now voting on the suspension of standing orders. Tony Abbott did not leave the chamber during the suspension debate, which is unusual.
Labor communications spokesman Jason Clare speaks to the Labor motion. Clare quotes Abbott who said before the election, “What I want to do is re-establish the bonds of trustthat should exist between government and the people.”
So he says all of that and then he gets into government and breaks every promise he ever made. Hollywood couldn’t make this sort of stuff up. It’s like Jekyll and Hyde. I sometimes think he must have Abb-nesia because by making all of these promises and then breaking them, he’s shredded his credibility. People trusted this prime minister, they might have had their doubts but they put their faith in him. They trusted him. And I don’t think they will again. Now people don’t like it when politicians lie to them but there’s something they hate even more than that. They hate it when people lie about lying.
Christopher Pyne outlines the differences between Labor and the Coalition.
The fundamental difference between this side of the House and the Opposition is we care about the Australian public and they care about the Australian Labor Party. So we will keep doing what we’re doing. We will keep governing for the betterment of Australia and I’m absolutely confident that at the next election the Australian public will support us.
Christopher Pyne:
In a 6 year period they managed to knife two prime ministers in the back, led by the Leader of the Opposition. Bill the Knife. In fact he was exposed by Paul Kelly in his excellent book where Paul Kelly wrote, “The Gillard camp was contemptuous of Shorten, considering him weak and duplicitous.” Weak and duplicitous and the Australian public know that for all the huffing and puffing, all the confected outrage from the Leader of the Opposition, he has not at any point said that he would put any of the money back that he claims has been taken from any of the areas of Government spending.
From Mike Bowers in the back row...
Barnaby and Joe #QT @GuardianAus @gabriellechan #politicslive http://t.co/TfWb94wF6n pic.twitter.com/DY1ADJxTWA
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) November 24, 2014
Christopher Pyne is now defending the prime minister who sits and watches him at the dispatch box.
Pyne is delivering a lecture on the 43rd parliament, around changing Labor leadership and Shorten’s part in it as a numbers man.
Shorten raises Abbott’s campaign against former prime minister Julia Gillard.
Why on earth did the prime minister lie? This is a prime minister who made his reputation more than any other figure in modern Australian politics when he tried to crucify Julia Gillard, he said he wouldn’t break his promises. But then what they did now is there is no prime minister who has ever broken so many promises. Look at this smirking fellow. He’s so happy with himself.
Bill Shorten is going through all of Abbott’s pre-election promises:
They say before the election they support needs-based funding. They say before the election these are the best friends public schools will ever see but then once they get elected they break their promise but it doesn’t just stop at hospitals and doesn’t just stop at schools. How about the submarines promise? Who knows what deal this prime minister has done with the prime minister of Japan and the Americans not to build submarines in Australia?
Shorten says Abbott is calling the 400 ABC employees who have lost their jobs “waste”.
How dare he say as he shuts down the ABC radio in Morwell, “That is just a waste,” and in Gladstone and in Nowra. This is a Prime Minister who doesn’t know the value of the people who work for the public service ofAustralia.
Meanwhile six Labor members have been ejected by Speaker Bishop.
Now Labor attempts a suspension of standing orders for a motion to censure the prime minister.
The motion lists Tony Abbott’s broken promises.
The prime minister stared down the barrel of the camera the night before the election and he promised, no cuts to education. No cuts to health. No change to pensions. No change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS.
Labor is seeking to suspend standing orders to debate the ABC and SBS cuts. Christopher Pyne is arguing that Labor can’t do that in between questions. He also points out that the member for Ballarat has not left the house as directed.
Tony Abbott is getting riled, yelling at Bill Shorten. The broken promise line appears to be getting under his skin.
This wrecker, this man with no answers and just one long complaint should stand up at the dispatch box and tell people is he going to give the ABC an extra $250 million? If he won’t do that he is a fraud.
After ducking and weaving on the actual broken promise, Tony Abbott then says instead of just getting $6.9bn over the next five years, the ABC and the SBS are getting $6.6 billion.
No biggie.
Shorten to Abbott: Is the following transcript an accurate report of the SBS interview that the Prime Minister did on 6 September 20 13? “No cuts to the ABC or SBS.” Is that accurate?
Speaker Bishop says rephrase, as Abbott is not responsible for transcripts.
Shorten: did the Prime Minister say on the night before the election, September 6, 2013, on SBS television, did he actually say, “No cuts to the ABC or SBS.”?
Abbott:
I didn’t say there would be special treatment for the ABC.
Another question on China Free Trade Agreement to Christopher Pyne about education exports.
Plibersek to Abbott: Did the prime minister promise on the night before the election that there would be no cuts to the ABC or SBS?
Abbott said we never promised special treatment for the ABC and SBS.
Abbott quotes what my colleague Katharine Murphy might call the “underpants” version of an ABC promise by Malcolm Turnbull and Joe Hockey, who before the election left the door open in case there were efficiency cuts across the board. Which might suggest, don’t listen to me Tony Abbott, leader, but listen to those below me.
Then he quotes Louise Evans’ opinion piece in Fairfax this morn, former Radio National manager, who said there was “flab” to be cut from the ABC.
Have you signed my ABC petition?
Perhaps @cpyne is asking the PM if he has signed his petition? @GuardianAus @gabriellechan http://t.co/TfWb94wF6n pic.twitter.com/OwrKauDaXt
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) November 24, 2014
Now it’s the agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce’s turn for a question on the China Free Trade Agreement.
It’s going to bring real money back into the streets of regional towns.
Shorten asks Abbott, as he promised no health cuts, why is the Prime Minister costing Victorians an extra $200 million a year just to go to the doctor?
Tony Abbott says the “modest copayment” is needed to address deficit. No mention of promises.
Another government question on the China Free Trade Agreement to trade minister Andrew Robb. Robb quotes former Labor leader and minister Simon Crean, who is now chair of the Australia Livestock Exporters Council on how important the Agreement is to Australian industry.
Andrew Robb also quoted former Labor PM Kevin Rudd:
I should leave, of course, the last word, as always, to KRudd. Those opposite don’t want to hear it but I’ll give it to them. “If you look at the whole package, on the trade side, the investment side, I think this is genuinely a win-win for both sides.”
Independent Andrew Wilkie asks about cuts to the SBS program Dateline.
Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull says the changes are entirely as a result of a programming decision.
This is purely a programming decision and it has got nothing to do with the efficiencies that have been called upon SBS to undertake as a consequence to the reductions in funding in the budget.
Shorten to Abbott: the Prime Minister promised no new or increased taxes. So why is the Prime Minister’s petrol tax ambush costing Victorian motorists an extra $569 million over the next four years?
It’s true that we have restored an old tax, the fuel excise indexation, that the Labor Party put in place and which was suspended for a period of time by the former government....what we are doing is tackling the debt and deficit disaster that members opposite left us and that’s what the public elected us to do.
A Dixer to Joe Hockey on the free trade agreements. Hockey says:
We are on the threshold of our greatest ever era as a nation.
Hockey is saying the economy is changing and exports have to reflect the growth in services. At the moment, he says resources and agriculture is doing the “heavy lifting” in exports. Increased export of services to China and India with their growing middle classes is:
the ticket to our future.
Shorten to Abbott: Is the Prime Minister seriously denying that he said on SBS TV on 6 September, in that famous interview, “No cuts to education, no cuts to health. No change to pensions. No change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS.”
Abbott:
I stand by my statements, including the statements to this parliament and as for the ABC, what this government is doing with the ABC is applying for the first time in 20 years an efficiency dividend...the ABC should not be exempted.
Second government question on the China Free Trade Agreement. Tony Abbott lauds trade minister Andrew Robb and DFAT officials.
Few things that this government has done are as important to our long-term future as these free trade agreements and in particular the free trade agreement with China.
Deputy leader Warren Truss is ill.
First question from Bill Shorten is on Tony Abbott’s broken promises, notably the ABC cuts.
This is a government which has fundamentally kept faith with the Australian people. We are doing what the people elected us to do, says Abbott.
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull must be looking forward to this.
Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull arrives for #QT with the #PM @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/l3BpJVzEcX
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) November 24, 2014
Behind them, Barnaby Joyce, agriculture minister and future National Party leader, will cop some stick on the ABC cuts, I would wager.
Updated
Now a condolence by Tony Abbott for former Queensland Labor premier Wayne Goss.
I am of a different political persuasion, (but) I think all of us in this House can say that he did change Queensland for the better. As Campbell Newman put it, he acted with tenacity, determination and courage and in first becoming Premier, Wayne Goss won over swathes of voters who never before had voted for his party.
Shorten also speaks briefly on Withers.
Reg Withers did not go into politics to be loved, especially not by his opponents. But he was, by all accounts, a genial man, he was an intelligent man.
Condolence motion first up for Reg Withers, the toe cutter, from Tony Abbott.
He gained the nickname the Toe Cutter and he was quite proud of this nickname. It seemed he thought it was better to be a toe cutter than a fence sitter, Madam Speaker. As Opposition Leader in the Senate, his tactic of deferring rather than defeating the supply bills was a key to the resolution of the dismissal crisis of 1975.
Abbott said he was proud to work with Withers to defeat the referendum for a republic in 1999.
Question time coming up people.
I have neglected to mention the debate this morning around the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Psychoactive Substances and Other Measures) Bill 2014.
This bill introduces a whole new range of offences to the Criminal Code Act 1995, including:
- introduce an offence of importing all substances that have a psychoactive effect;
- introduce an offence for importing a substance which is similar to a serious drug;
- introduce international firearms trafficking offences and mandatory minimum sentences;
- extend existing cross-border disposal or acquisition firearms offences;
- and clarify that certain slavery offences have universal jurisdiction.
Ludlam: ABC cuts “a deep contempt for the intelligence of the Australian public”.
Senator Madigan, who has expressed concern about the higher education bill without flagging his voting intentions, was singing the praises of practical education programs all the way through from early education upwards.
We need a cohesive policy for education from the paddock to the plate. And I don’t hear a lot about that.
You can take the boy out of the country...
Senator John Madigan is giving fellow senator Jacqui Lambie some advice on ABC’s Capital Hill.
Just be true to yourself and seekout - seek the truth from others and check what you’re tell told.
Madigan is welcoming the new dynamic in the senate, which is points out was designed to be a house of review rather than a rubber stamp. Madigan says - not in so many words - a lot of politicians get the wrong end of the stick. He relates an anecdote of an unnamed senator giving him incorrect information on a particular bill.
Now, if the Senate is to work, if parliament is to work, I know it might be a novel idea for some, but just play with a straight bat. Acknowledge when your opposition opponent has a credible point, is telling the truth. Let’s just start telling the truth. Let’s start having credible argument which is based on fact. You can have your ideology, you can have your point of view on a particular thing and interpret it your way, but just tell the truth and I would suggest that things will go a lot better for everyone.
Any bets on the senator involved?
The government wins the citizenship vote in the lower house- unsurprisingly - 82-49.
Daniel Hurst has given us a taste of Clive Palmer’s reaction to Lambie’s resignation.
In an interview with Guardian Australia, the PUP leader, Clive Palmer, played down the practical effect of Jacqui Lambie’s resignation. Palmer said Lambie was “only one senator” and had no more power than fellow PUP senators Dio Wang or Glenn Lazarus.
He said Lambie often spoke about standing up for Tasmanians, but had given three jobs to Queenslanders. Palmer said Lambie had clearly expressed PUP’s principles in her first speech to the Senate.
“It’s quite amazing that in a period of a few short months that someone has got overwhelmed by the power of the place,” he said.
Asked whether he was considering taking legal action against Lambie over campaign costs, Palmer said: “I haven’t thought about that … I’m thinking about policy … We’ve still got three senators in our voting bloc [including Ricky Muir of the Motoring Enthusiast Party].”
Despite issuing a series of strongly worded press releases criticising Lambie, Palmer said reports of a falling-out were “manufactured by her camp” and he had been unable to speak to her for the past five weeks.
The citizenship bill, among other things:
- extends good character requirements;
- clarifys residency requirements and related matters;
- determines the circumstances in which a person‟s approval as an Australian citizen may or must be cancelled;
- determines the circumstances in which the minister may defer a person making the pledge of commitment to become an Australian citizen;
- determines the circumstances in which a person‟s Australian citizenship may be revoked;
- the power of the Minister to specify certain matters in a legislative instrument;
- determines the use of personal information obtained under the Migration Act 1958 (the Migration Act) or the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations) for the purposes of the Act and the Australian Citizenship Regulations 2007 (Citizenship Regulations);
- determines the disclosure of personal information obtained under the Act or the Citizenship Regulations for the purposes of the Migration Act or the Migration Regulations.
In other words, gives a whole lot more power to Scott Morrison, who says Australia needs a “high bar” when it comes to its citizenship.
The question is, whose bar?
The parliament is currently debating the Australian Citizenship Act amendment, which gives the minister more power to veto or revoke Australian citizenship.
Immigration minister Scott Morrison says Australia is “the best immigration country on earth”. That’s why people seek to undermine it, he says.
According to Morrison, the changes seek to “preserve the integrity of the program”.
Our best defence our enemies is our social cohesion.
The house is now dividing on the citizenship amendment.
Updated
Lunchtime politics summary
- Senator Jacqui Lambie has quit the Palmer United Party to serve as an independent, on the urgings, she says, of her voters and supporters. She may change the equation in the senate around the Renewable Energy Target and the Clean Energy Finance Corp, among other legislation. She has committed not to vote for higher education deregulation or Medicare copayments.
- Managing director Mark Scott has announced 400 jobs to go in wide-ranging cuts to the ABC, shutting Adelaide and Perth television production and slashing the radio budget.
- The parliament is currently debating the Australian Citizenship Act amendment, which gives the minister more power to veto or revoke Australian citizenship.
Former Labor MP Craig Thomson is in court today appealing his sentence for convictions for theft and dishonesty relating to his use of credit cards. Judge Carolyn Douglas has warned him ahead of the appeal that she could actually increase the sentence after the appeal. He was originally sentenced to a year in prison with nine months suspended.
Thomson was convicted of 65 theft and dishonesty offences for using his HSU credit cards to pay for escort services, personal travel and expenses such as firewood and cigarettes while he was national secretary.
Christopher Pyne is protesting against his government cuts. What I mean is, he is protesting against the way in which ABC managing director Mark Scott is implementing his government cuts to the ABC.
My letters this morning to @mscott and James Spigelman of the ABC: the ABC must not stop production in SA. #auspol pic.twitter.com/JcHApf0Kzx
— Christopher Pyne (@cpyne) November 23, 2014
Updated
Eric Abetz has made it clear in spite of Lambie’s threats to never ever negotiate until the defence force gets its pay rise, the government is not for moving.
The government’s position is clear, that the Australian Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal has made a determination in relation to defence pay and let’s keep in mind. This is in the context where we are borrowing $1,000 million a month just to pay the interest on existing borrowings, so any increased wages for anybody ultimately comes out from even more borrowings. That is why I - on behalf of the government - went to the Remuneration Tribunal saying that for MPs the pay increase should be zero, nothing at all. So that’s the context in which we’re operating and therefore a 1.5% for the ADF, small, modest as it is...
It is not on, says Eric.
If you want to watch the whole Jacqui Lambie PUP resignation statement, here t’is.
The ABC has put out a statement regarding the cuts. It says potentially, 10% of the ABC workforce or 400 people, could lose their jobs. A lot of the following is quite general, so can I recommend Helen Davidson’s live blog for the gory details for both the ABC and SBS.
Changes include:
A comprehensive review of the ABC’s property holdings, with its Lanceley Place site in Sydney to be sold and the closure of five regional radio outposts;
The closure of the Adelaide television production studio and the winding down of remaining non-news television production in the remaining states; and
A rationalisation of television outside broadcast vans and a scaling back of television sporting broadcasts.
The ABC has also proposed the creation of two new divisions and a $20 million digital investment fund.
A new Regional division, to operate from mid-2015, will harness the ABC’s skills, knowledge and infrastructure to better serve rural and regional communities.
ABC Digital Network will prioritise the ABC’s online and mobile expenditure, ensuring better research and the delivery of products and services that connect with a digital audience.
Television and radio
A new national 7.30 program on Fridays to replace the current State edition, with extended cross-platform coverage of state and territory issues seven days a week.
Moving Lateline to a new fixed timeslot on ABC News 24.
Restructuring the ABC’s foreign bureaux to create multiplatform hubs and opening a Beirut post;
Changes to ABC Local programming, Radio National and ABC Classic FM;
An overhaul of ABC TV’s sports coverage, with a focus on national sporting events.
Most of this morning’s blerg has involved the outside of the chambers. It will hearten every taxpayer to know there is some action inside the chambers. It is not strictly about legislation mind you. In the lower house, Victorian Liberal MP Sarah Henderson has moved what might be called the Victorian Election Wedgie, regarding the East West Link.
This is the big road project in Victoria, created by the Liberal Napthine government, which the Abbott government has funded to the tune of $1.5bn and which the Labor opposition leader Daniel Andrews has opposed.
Henderson’s motion notes the critical nature of the East West Link, in improving traffic in Melbourne. It also notes Andrews has described the project as a “grand hoax” and has opposed the project.
So the parliament is debating whether Victorians should vote for Daniel Andrews.
And just to prove the day is not getting any easier, Dan Tehan is quoting Fredrich Nietzsche.
I’m not upset you lied to me Daniel Andrews, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you .
Eric Abetz is speaking the Lyndall Curtis on the ABC. He can’t explain why Jacqui Lambie doesn’t like him. What’s not to love?
I have not reciprocated a I don’t intend to reciprocate. I don’t know why she has made those comments, that’s for her to explain. As far as I’m concerned, there is a task to be undertaken on behalf of the Australian people and that is a task that every Senator needs to bear in mind and whether they like somebody or don’t like somebody, should not come into the equation.
You don’t have to say you love me, just be close at hand.
Jacqui Lambie resigns as her chief of staff Rob Messenger watches on. No doubt, with delight.
Jacqui Lambie says she gets on with most senators, “apart from (Liberal senate leader) Eric Abetz”.
She wants the government to talk to her about defence pay, after which she will negotiate on the CEFC, the RET, temporary protection visas for refugees.
Lambie loves solar.
I’m very big on the solar, I’m a very big supporter of the solar, very big supporter of the hydro that’s in Tasmania and the rest is up for negotiation obviously.
Jacqui Lambie rules out starting her own party, saying she has learnt her lesson with minor parties and feels she will have a better chance standing on her own two feet as an independent.
Lambie is asked about the CEFC.
We’re having great difficulties down in Tasmania, there’s 10,000 direct and indirect jobs on the line here over the RET and the clean finance situation ... so I just want to get to the bottom of it. I’d like to see also with Tasmania that the hydro and that is counted, it’s 100% renewable energy down in Tasmania and basically we’ve been getting the worst end when it comes to the RET.
Jacqui Lambie delivered her resignation to Clive Palmer this morning at 10am, two minutes before she got up in the senate.
Lambie invited the Coalition to come and speak to her regarding defence pay.
The doors are open, it would be nice for a Coalition member to come and speak to me in reference to and see if we get this debacle settled. It was a pretty tough weekend and once again I appreciate the advice from the Tasmanians and my family and friends down there of the weekend and I’m just glad that it’s over and done with this morning.
A door stop now from Jacqui Lambie, who says she entered into no contract with Clive Palmer.
I think that Tasmanians are very I aware for a couple of years before I joined the Palmer United Party that I sold my own house and invested a lot of money into getting that seat myself.
In less than 30 minutes, ABC offices around the country will lock their doors and learn their fate when Mark Scott outlines changes resulting from the government’s budget cuts. My colleague Helen Davidson is driving a live blog on the ABC. Check it out for all the latest updates.
In the meantime, if I can express a personal outrage at the early announcement of the death of the ABC’s Bush Telegraph.
Can confirm that we at @RNBushTele have been cut. Thanks for your thoughts. We will keep going until Christmas #ABCcuts
— RN Bush Telegraph (@RNBushTele) November 23, 2014
The program was a personal favourite of mine - one of the few places people living in regional and rural Australia could hear a wide range of news relating to our lives.
In a beautiful piece of timing, ABC journalist Heather Ewart will present her three part series on the National Party, called A Country Road tomorrow night. A little preview yesterday showed Barnaby Joyce saying the National Party had no obligation to campaign against assistance for SPC because the seat was held by the Liberal Party rather than the Nats. That right there, may be the answer to the constant question, why is a party dedicated to country Australia dying.
If you can’t stand up for constituents and their interests - be they rural businesses or rural coverage - when you are in government, what is the point in staying in government? This is a party that could hold the balance of power most elections...
Jacqui Lambie lays out her agenda
To recap: Lambie welcomed the chance to be free to negotiate with the government and other senators “in good faith”. She mentioned reform of:
- The Clean Energy Finance Corporation
- The Renewable Energy Target
- The unfair cost of transporting passengers and goods across Bass Strait.
She said she would NEVER vote for the Medicare copayments or the higher education changes.
Lambie wants $121m to raise the ADF pay offer by 1.5% as well as returning Christmas leave and travel entitlements. If Tony Abbott agrees, Lambie says:
I feel sure the Australian people will forgive him and he will be viewed as a better leader.
The only thing to do at this point is share a photo provided by @MattGlassDarkly via Twitter.
@gabriellechan Manipulating the PUP - shocking new evidence. #skullduggary #politicslive pic.twitter.com/PALhXKL0UL
— The Matt Hatter (@MattGlassDarkly) November 23, 2014
Jacqui Lambie says she will not be drawn into a personal fight with Clive Palmer. She says he has been blessed with wealth and power by god.
God bless Australia, God bless my Tasmania and our beautiful Southern Cross.
New independent Lambie will not support higher ed or copayments
Jacqui Lambie is making a statement to the senate. She says most voters and supporters has urged her to resign. She will not vote for higher education changes or the Medicare copayments.
She says if the Abbott government improves its pay offer to the defence forces she is sure Australians will forgive him.
Jacqui Lambie has resigned from the Palmer United Party.
Jacqui Lambie has resigned from the Palmer United Party.
Updated
Clive Palmer continues his war on Channel 7:
Jacqui Lambie as I said is currently controlled by lobbyists. She has been suspended from attending party meetings. She has no influence on what she do. She is just making things up because she can get media coverage. It’s all about her, not about the people of this state, of Tasmania, not about the people of Australia.
Just to bypass south to Victoria, Liberal premier Denis Napthine is facing the last week of his campaign. Labor has remained ahead in the polls and the Victorian Liberals have sent some pretty clear messages in the life of the campaign, that the Abbott government is partly to blame.
Napthine was asked on Skynews whether Tony Abbott’s lack of popularity was an issue.
The premier believes Victorians will start focussing on Victorian issues in this last week.
Bill Shorten spoke earlier for White Ribbon Day.
It’s time for men to start talking to men, about family violence. This is not about a certain type of offender from a particular class or ethnicity, nor indeed is it about ‘powerless’ women. Family violence can be perpetrated in any postcode, it can afflict any woman.
A troop of police commissioners united for women and girls.
Ken Lay and Peter Cosgrove on White Ribbon Day.
Just back to Jacqui Lambie briefly to outline the events of the weekend, just in case you were having a life. Lambie was in Tassie consulting with her voters, supporters and mentors, including an unnamed large poppy grower on what to do about her predicament.
Clive Palmer was getting more and more frustrated that he could not control Lambie. By last night, as Lambie was flying in, Palmer put out a statement raising allegations that Lambie had accepted disability payments at the same time she was on a fulltime salary for Palmer United.
Furthermore, Palmer alleges that in January 2014, before she started in the senate but while she was a paid member of PUP, Lambie supported the establishment of an Australian Defence Veterans Party (Lambie Party). He accused Lambie of acting dishonestly, lying about him and using veterans to increase her public standing without acting on their behalf.
Having a person of questionable honesty who had previously been charged and convicted by the Australian Army has been a disappointment for the Palmer United Party. Senator Lambie never declared her convictions prior to her endorsement for the Palmer United Party.
Lambie’s chief of staff Rob Messenger said Camp Jacqui will be putting out an “in-depth” statement later today.
The other moving part today is the announcement of just how the cuts will impact on the ABC. Amanda Meade has prepared this preview, ahead of an 11am staff briefing by ABC managing director AND EDITOR IN CHIEF Mark Scott.
The clouds are gathering over Canberra.
Tony Abbott spoke this morning at a White Ribbon event with opposition leader Bill Shorten, police commissioner Ken Lay. Abbott said it was not just a social scourge, it is a very serious crime.
I just want to say to any woman in our country who is feeling vulnerable, who is feeling frightened - please, do not suffer in silence. Please, make contact with the police in the first instance. You should not suffer in silence and know from today’s event that you are never alone. All of us are there to help. Anyone who is being persecuted, anyone who is being oppressed but particularly women and children who are being persecuted, who are being oppressed or victimised in their own homes. It must never happen. And our job is to make sure that it stops.
Updated
Lambie set to quit Palmer United
Good morning blogans,
It is going to be a huge sitting final parliamentary sitting fortnight, the last of 2014. All the action - as usual - is in the senate and I am reminded, once again, of the predictions after the 43rd parliament, where the balance of power was held by independents Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott, Andrew Wilkie, Bob Katter and the Greens Adam Bandt. Commentators said Australians would never go for indies again.
And yet here we are, with a hung senate that is splintering once again into new factions as we speak. The big story this morning is the split in the Palmer United Party which may see Jacqui Lambie leaving PUP to sit as an independent. Last week, she joined Motoring Enthusiasts Party senator Ricky Muir to vote down the Coalition’s Fofa laws.
Of course, the grumblings in a minor party would not normally be such big news, but the point is that PUP’s rumble in the jungle changes the dynamics of the senate again. As Family First senator Bob Day pointed out, the government needs three factions of two senators each. Critically, PUP can no longer block government legislation without the support of another senator.
This means as the government looks to push through its higher education changes, Labor, Greens and PUP need another senator to block it.
But this does not make things easier for the government, which already faces another block on an important piece of legislation. That is, the removal of the $900m Automotive Transformation Scheme, a support program for the car industry in anticipation of the closure the car industry in Victoria and South Australia. Which means the government has another $900m hole to fill in its budget. The Coalition of Commonsense looks like it will block the bill, including senator Nick Xenophon and senator John Madigan.
The aforementioned Bob Day - a noted economic rationalist - also happens to be a South Australian senator. So he said this morning, though he thinks the car industry support has been bad policy for 40 years,
I will have to stick with it for my state of South Australia.
And Day has advice for PUP senators Dio Wang and Glenn Lazarus, whom have held the box seat since the senate changed in July.
They will have to work the room and lobby...Wang and Lazarus are going to find a whole new ball game in the senate.
Jacqui Lambie eschewed the senate doors routine and drove under the building to escape the media.
Elsewhere in the house, Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten have spoken at an event on the issue of domestic violence for White Ribbon Day. I will bring you some of those speeches shortly. Remember one woman is killed every week in this country at the hands of someone they know. It puts the senate shenanigans in perspective.
But stay with me. Mike Bowers and I will try to keep up. Join us on Twitter @gabriellechan and @mpbowers.
