Night time politics summary
- All things being liable to change in the Senate, but it looks as if the childcare package is going to pass with the assistance of the crossbench rather than the Labor party. The senate will sit until it is done. Or dead.
- The Chinese premier Li Keqiang has been hosted to a parliamentary visit. He assured the government that “even when China grows in the future, we will never seek dominance”.
- “We stand ready to work with Australia for peace in our region, for maritime navigation freedom and the freedom of overflight and we will continue to do that,” he said.
- But Li warned that “we don’t want to see taking sides” as happened in the cold war - underlined.
- A report found Australia was losing $6bn a year in revenue from profit shifting. That would fill a budget hole, wouldn’t it?
- The senate will conduct a quickie 18C amendment inquiry, reporting on Tuesday. Then you can expect a ding dong debate on that day.
- A former Peter Reith advisor has been appointed to the Fair Work Commission, in keeping with the tradition of some previous Labor appointments.
- We have another sitting week next week.
Thanks for your company. Apologies again for the comment situation but hope you will understand. I must admit I felt a bit like I was speaking in locked room. Thanks also to my brains trust Gareth Hutchens, Paul Karp and Katharine Murphy. Mike Bowers, take a bow.
I’m off to the pod cupboard so for now, good night.
@mpbowers @gabriellechan @murpharoo @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/U3Cg7O9dKh
— The Matt Hatter (@MattGlassDarkly) March 23, 2017
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Labor supports the Greens bank commission of inquiry and Liberal senator Jane Hume is making it known that Labor was in government for six years and did not institute a banking royal commission.
Hume says the Labor treasurer in 2008 said “Our two market guardians Apra and Asic, the standards they set are world’s best practice.”
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Former Reith advisor appointed to the Fair Work Commission
Employment minister Michaelia Cash has made some interesting appointments to the commission du jour, the Fair Work Commission.
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Peter Anderson has been appointed deputy president, commencing on 18 April 2017. Anderson is a former chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry who now runs his own consultancy, Pinpoint Enterprises, an industrial and business consultancy. (He is also a former advisor to Liberal workplace minister Peter Reith.)
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Alan Colman has been appointed deputy president, commencing on 26 April 2017. Colman is a partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth in Melbourne.
- Sarah McKinnon has been appointed commissioner, commencing on 1 May 2017. McKinnon is general manager, Workplace Relations and Legal Affairs, National Farmers’ Federation.
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Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson has just risen to argue for his bill to launch a commission of inquiry into the banks. This would have the same powers as a royal commission and Whish-Wilson has been pursuing this option like a dog with a bone. This is because the government has consistently ruled out a royal commission.
Whish-Wilson – an ex merchant banker – says there have been 17 parliamentary inquiries into bank behaviour in the federal parliament, more if you count the states.
He says the commission of inquiry, established by the parliament itself, could compel witnesses, search premises and seize documents.
It has support in the senate amongst his Greens colleagues, Labor, Nick Xenophon, Pauline Hanson and Jacqui Lambie. In the lower house, he has the support of National MP George Christensen but he needs one more Coalition MP before it could be established.
Now that would essentially constitute a vote of no confidence in the Turnbull government, so would not be done lightly.
To me it looks unlikely for that reason, but Whish-Wilson tells the senate he is confident he will get the extra vote.
We are not expecting a vote on this bill tonight but there will be a debate.
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Let’s go back to the childcare bill which is before the Senate, remembering that the Senate hours motion yesterday has ensured the bill will be dealt with this week.
Where the parliament would normally rise tonight, the Senate will sit on, until the bill is voted on. While the childcare bill is less contentious than the welfare cuts bill to pay for it, Labor and others have a problem with one main element.
That is the change in hours available for families who do not meet an activity test.
Labor’s shadow Kate Ellis says:
The current changes will halve the access that children from vulnerable and disadvantaged families get from two days a week to one. This cut will have a devastating effect on our youngest, most vulnerable Australians.
We don’t know where this bill will land at this stage. The government is negotiating with both Labor and the crossbenchers.
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That Tony Burke.
Tony Burke is comforted after being sledged by the PM #QT @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/8ICsVL8xHD
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) March 23, 2017
Australia is losing US$6bn a year from profit-shifting by multinationals
Gareth Hutchens reports that Australia is losing US$6bn a year from profit-shifting by multinational corporations, despite attempts by regulators to crack down on the practice.
A new paper titled Global distribution of revenue loss from tax avoidance shows the yearly tax loss is equivalent to 0.4% of Australia’s gross domestic product, more than double the amount lost by Canada.
It is the most detailed country-by-country analysis yet of global profit-shifting, produced by researchers at the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research in Helsinki.
It has reinterpreted a peer-reviewed study published by researchers at the International Monetary Fund in 2016, using a more robust source of national tax revenue data.
The paper estimates global revenue losses of US$500bn annually from profit-shifting, which is more cautious than last year’s IMF paper, which estimated US$600bn.
But its more granular analysis reveals that, while the biggest losses occurred in rich economies such as the United States, lower-income countries are the biggest victims of profit-shifting.
You will notice the dispatch box, which was mentioned by Bill Shorten earlier today, as a gift from the British government.
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I wonder if this is related to postal plebiscites on marriage equality?
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Shorten to Turnbull: Submissions to the Fair Work Commission on the penalty rates decision are due by 4pm tomorrow. Will the government’s submission ask the Fair Work Commission not to implement the penalty rates decision, a decision that could cut the pay of hardworking Australians, or is the PM considering these cuts to penalty rates?
Turnbull reminds that Shorten that he said he would abide by the FWC decision before it was released.
But he does not address the question as to what the government submission will be to the FWC.
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What have you done Bowers?
The PM during #QT today @gabriellechan @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/H1F6HvWTMC
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) March 23, 2017
Tony Burke to Turnbull: This morning the deputy PM has given an extensive interview about the watering down of protections against racist hate speech. An issue he says, “Lives in the extremity of the bell curve. Where do you meet these people? At party meetings. They’re blessed people and have an intense interest in some of the debate. They come into your office to rant and rave about it, all four of them.” Doesn’t this statement reflect government policy and can the PM name all four?
This relates to Barnaby’s takedown of the 18C warriors mentioned in an earlier post.
Turnbull says the government’s policy is contained in the 18C bill before the Senate.
This is kinda awks because Barnaby sits behind Turnbull in shot.
Barnaby seems to be getting texts.
Turnbull carries on. He says the amendment is in keeping with the original intention of the RDA law introduced by the Labor attorney general Michael Lavarch.
Apparently that’s not acceptable to the Labor party. Apparently Australians as a whole aren’t to be trusted. Well, we put our faith in the Australian people. We believe in the fundamental decency and good sense of Australians and we’re committed to them, their freedoms. We support them. And that is the policy of the government.
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Simple questions are always best.
Plibersek to Morrison: Will the $50bn business tax cut be in your budget?
Morrison:
The enterprise tax plan, Mr Speaker, is in the budget.
So it is going to the Senate and it is in the budget, but there is not a price tag on it.
Things that make you go hmmmm.
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Bowen to Morrison: Is the treasurer aware that just a few hours ago the member for Dunkley said the $50bn handout to big business has his full support. Why is the treasurer hanging his backbench out to dry, expecting them to support a $50bn support to big business that he won’t fully commit to being in his budget?
Morrison says clearly the package will be going to the Senate.
I took it to an election with the PM. We won the election. We put it in the budget. We put it in the legislation. It’s coming into the parliament. And we’re going to be voting for it. We’re going to be voting for it in this chamber and voting for it in that chamber.
That sounds like the whole company tax cut package, the small end and the big end, will be going to the Senate to die.
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Labor’s Jim Chalmers to treasurer Scott Morrison: If a deficit of $11bn was a budget emergency in the 2014 budget, what does he call a deficit of $37bn which has more than tripled on his watch? Given the treasurer has tripled the deficit, doesn’t this just prove that the treasurer is completely incompetent and hopelessly out of his depth?
Morrison mentions Chalmers used to work for Wayne Swan.
He also talks about Labor promising surpluses.
Swanny is mouthing “ON YOUR WATCH”.
The hypocrisy, Mr Speaker, of the architects of the fiscal bonfire that they left this government to deal with would turn up with the matches and flicking out of their pockets and the stench of kerosene they use to make the bonfire go even higher.
Then he turns to his Labor shadow Chris Bowen, who supports company tax cuts in his book, Hearts and Minds, which was published by Melbourne University Press.
He has no heart and he’s lost his mind when it comes to this, which is published by Melbourne University Publishing. You know what their motto is – books with spine. You’ve lost yours, shadow treasurer.
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NXT MP Rebekha Sharkie asks Turnbull: In 1978, former PM Fraser appointed the first minister for youth affairs. Successive prime ministers from that date until 2013 appointed youth ministers including three ministers during the Howard government years. Given there are 2.6 million young people aged between 15 and 24 in our country deserving specific representation, PM, will you appoint a minister for young people in this parliament?
After a joke about his youthful ministry, Turnbull says it is a mistake to imagine that only the young care about the young. The PM says young people are always at the forefront of the government’s mind.
We will take that as a no.
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Macklin to Morrison: The government continues to keep cuts to pensioners as government policy and in the budget, despite repeated failed attempts to get them through the parliament. Why then can’t the treasurer also commit to keep his centrepiece $50bn handout to big business in the budget?
Morrison says Labor went around the country before the last election, scaring pensioners, talking about the government cuts to pensions (that is the changes to assets tests).
After several years, at the last moment, on the eve of the election, they slunk into the [parliament] and they backed the changes just days out from the election. That was an act of gross, of gross insult to pensioners around the country.
Which is correct, Labor did back in the pensioner changes at the last minute in their election costings.
But Morrison does not answer the substantive question.
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First government question is on China and the free trade deal.
Second government question is to justice minister Michael Keenan about the number of terrorist threats thwarted, the changes to national security legislation and the security measures on parliament house.
Shorten to Turnbull: This week the PM and his treasurer have repeatedly refused to confirm whether their centrepiece handout to big business is still in the Budget. This policy has just been supported by Government backbenchers in theHouse minutes ago. Will the Government’s centrepiece policy still be on the books in this year’s Budget? What’s the point of this Government when it can’t hold on to its strategies from one hour to the next?
Turnbull says the Labor party used to agree with cutting company tax.
Turnbull asks, how will Labor look if the United States cuts company tax?
Paul Keating had the courage to say company tax rates were needed to remain internationally competitive, says he.
Question time begins.
Labor’s Kate Ellis to social services minister Christian Porter: Today, Early Childhood Australia has said of the government’s childcare changes, “We call on the Senate to block the bill today unless there’s an amendment to increase the base entitlement to 15 hours a week. Why won’t the government agree to at least a minimum of 15 hours a week so that this legislation can pass through the parliament without hurting the most vulnerable Australian children?”
Porter says if the Labor does not support the reforms one million Australian families would lose a significant benefit.
Failing to support the reforms would mean we fail to focus our resources on the hardest working families in Australia on the lowest incomes. That is where childcare is critical. Where a working family earns less than $65,000, they would pay no more than $15 a day.
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Bill Shorten talks about the dispatch boxes in the parliament – at which the leaders speak – and the bound traditions of Australia and the UK.
Australia was there steadfast in solidarity, and we always, as we always have, will stand with the people of Britain today. Bound not just by ties of family but by common values and old affection. United in our continuing determination to defeat terrorism in all its forms. We hope and pray those who have been frightened find comfort. Those who mourn find solace, the injured recover and those taken from us rest in eternal peace.
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Bill Shorten also offers condolences. (The British high commissioner, Menna Rawlings, is on the floor of the parliament.) He thanks the security staff.
The murder of the metropolitan police officer reminds us of the risks our security agencies take on our behalf to keep us safe. And on behalf of all honourable members I want to acknowledge and thank our Australian federal police and the parliamentary security officers for whom this news must strike a particular chord.
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Malcolm Turnbull mentions the strength of Australia’s diversity as a “well-integrated nation”.
As PM Theresa May said earlier this morning, the values of the British parliament command the admiration and respect of free people everywhere. And so they do because they are our values too. We stand, all of us, with the UK. Comforted that we share those values. They’re ours. Freedom of speech, democracy, the rule of law. We will never give in to terror.
Malcolm Turnbull says one of the people injured lives in South Australia.
He sends Britain heartfelt condolences. He references the British MP who tried to resuscitate the British policeman killed in the attack.
This act of heroism is just one of the extraordinary stories that are emerging from this tragedy.
Malcolm Turnbull is making a statement to parliament on the attack on Westminster.
When the Palace of Westminster was under attack by the Nazis, Churchill described the House of Commons as the citadel of British liberty. It is the foundations of our laws, able to face the possibility of national destruction with classical composure. Consistent with this, PM Theresa May has said that parliament will resume tomorrow. This will ensure, as Churchill went on to say, that the House of Commons will continue to play its part in all its broad freedom in British public life.
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Chinese premier Li: we will not overcrowd your hotels
Premier Li also references Turnbull and Shorten’s comments on the Chinese diaspora.
For Chinese people who are still holding the Chinese passport, you show great respect for them. We encourage them all along to respect the laws and regulations when they live in Australia.
We live in such a diverse world and our future is so closely tied with each other. Our cooperation is not only reflected in the political area but also economically and people-to-people ties.
There is bright prospects and great room for further cooperation. More Chinese people will come to Australia, but please rest assured that we will not overcrowd your hotels. We will not put you under big pressure.
He was obviously well briefed on the cultural cross currents. It was a cracker of a speech.
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Premier Li urges Australia: we don't want to see taking sides
Context.
About a week ago, foreign minister Julie Bishop gave a speech in Singapore. Katharine Murphy reported it:
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, has implored the United States to become more engaged in the Indo-Pacific and explicitly referred to the lack of democracy in China, saying history showed “democracy and democratic institutions are essential for nations if they are to reach their economic potential”.
Premier Li said China had a tradition of peace, which was good for not only the people of China but the rest of the world.
Even when China grows in the future, we will never seek dominance. We stand ready to work with Australia for peace in our region, for maritime navigation freedom and the freedom of overflight and we will continue to do that.
As it turns out, Julie Bishop is in the US, but her ears might have been burning when Li continued.
China seeks an independent foreign policy of peace and we pursue a national development path suited to our traditions.
Likewise, we respect your choices in your foreign policy, as long as they are consistent with the UN Charter and international rules, we will work together to maintain them.
We don’t want to see taking sides, as happened during the Cold War.
So based on the United Nations Charter, based on the existing rules that we have agreed upon politically, economically and in the areas of trade, we will continue to work together to seek solutions.
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Premier Li commits to opening the borders for e-commerce, improve regulation oversight, lower tariffs and continue to import more Australian products to give Chinese consumers more options.
Premier Li agrees protectionism is rising, as are voices against economic globalisation.
We cannot deny that in the process of globalisation, indeed, for some parts of the world, for some people, for some countries, there are some problems.
But this is not the issue of globalisation per se, it is not an issue of free trade, but it is all about how to respond to it.
Facing the current historical trend, we need to seize the opportunities available. For example last year with Australia, according to our statistics, our deficit was about US$50bn.
We don’t want to see that trade imbalance. We believe that to resolve trade imbalance we need to continue to expand trade. That is the solution. We cannot close our doors.
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Premier Li Keqiang begins his speech, acknowledging Turnbull and Shorten. He likens his air trip to the Australian-Chinese relationship.
My wife and I, on our way to Australia yesterday, we flew across the clouds. There was lightning but we kept flying. And that is the same for China/Australia relations. It will keep moving forward and forward and forward. We have firm belief in that.
In today’s world, it is a village, it is a community of shared future. We need to work together to maintain peace in our region and in the world.
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Bill Shorten also talked about the relationship between Australia and China, the role of Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam in the relationship, and the Chinese diaspora.
It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the marvellous contribution of the Chinese diaspora to Australian life. No-one ever complains when a Chinese family move next door, when a small business is set up in a suburb or regional town of Australia.
The simple fact is that Chinese Australians make great Australians and we are grateful for their contribution today and every day. To conclude today, we celebrate the great things that have come from small beginnings. Australia and China share a region. We share a marketplace, we share a home and we share a responsibility to strive for peace and progress.
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The China lunch begins.
Malcolm Turnbull has spoken about Australia and China’s shared history and the need to work together to counter the rising tide of protectionism.
Of course, free trade can only thrive in a peaceful and stable environment.
Both our countries know this well. Australia and China have both benefitted immeasurably from the stability in our region that has been underpinned by the rules-based international order.
During this visit, Premier Li and I will discuss, as we have before, the importance of upholding and maintaining stability in our region.
We believe China has much to contribute to global peace and prosperity in this time of rapid change.
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As a result of the 18C vote, we may well have an inquiry tomorrow, which may include Human Rights Committee president Gillian Triggs who happens to be in town.
The Senate also voted to allow the Bell/Brandis inquiry to sit tomorrow.
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18C to be debated in senate next week
While I was sustaining myself, the Senate voted 36-31 to allow the 18C debate to be held next week.
As Katharine foreshadowed, the bill to amend the Racial Discrimination Act will go to a committee. But it will be a quickie inquiry, reporting back to the Senate next Tuesday.
Nick Xenophon and Pauline Hanson voted with the government to exempt the bill from the standing orders – which would have forced debate to wait until budget week. This obviously allows a quick (anticipated) death for the bill rather than dragging it out as Labor would prefer.
Remember Xenophon does not support changing the act though he does support changing the processes with which complaints are dealt with. He just wants to get on with it.
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All of which led assistant minister Angus Taylor to accuse Labor and Mark Dreyfus of wanting a police state.
There is a story in the Oz by Chris Merritt about Labor’s secret plan to extend 18C complaints to include those on sexual orientation, disabilities or age.
It came from some comments made by Labor’s Mark Dreyfus, who has since put out a statement calling it “utterly false”.
The story developed from a public forum with Liberal MP Tim Wilson and 200 others. A person asked from the floor, do you think we should extend 18C to gender and disability and if you do or don’t, why?
Dreyfus:
I was very struck by Tim Wilson’s use of the proposition that there is no present law that prohibits vilifying speech in the federal law.
There is in the Victorian law and in the NSW law, but there’s no federal law which prohibits vilifying speech against someone on the basis of their disability or gender or a range of other attributes in respect of which there is already anti-racial discrimination law.
And Tim has reminded me painfully of the failed project which I hope to return to of consolidating the five anti-discrimination statutes when we are next in government.
One of the things we’ll be looking at is this very point of whether or not we should set a standard about speech generally.
I want to have standards set in a community which respects the dignity of every Australian . I think it’s very important and something to be fought for.
It is actually already Labor policy to streamline discrimination acts. The policy says this:
Develop federal anti-discrimination laws into a single Act to remove unnecessary regulatory overlap and make the system more user-friendly.
As I understand it, the difference is you would not apply 18C to disabilities or gender or anything else but rather bring all the various protections under one law.
There is no actual bill on this matter so I await the outcome.
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Western Australia is probably the only jurisdiction in Australia where the average punter knows exactly how much their state gets back for every dollar it pays in GST.
For the past two years, it’s been $0.30, a record low.
According to a report in The West Australian by economics editor Shane Wright, that figure is likely to increase to $0.38 this year.
Wright reportedly understands that the Commonwealth Grants Commission will recommend the increase in its annual GST report, which will be released tomorrow.
That’s in line with the expectations of the last WA budget forecast but the federal government won’t confirm the prediction, saying only that the commission’s report will be released “in due course”.
The kicker, Wright says, is that WA wouldn’t get another top-up payment to make up for the GST shortfall.
Newly-minted WA premier Mark McGowan has continued predecessor Colin Barnett’s criticism of the GST distribution model, saying he is both shocked and appalled by how WA is treated by the commonwealth and calling on Malcolm Turnbull to “stop shilly-shallying and dilly-dallying” and change the formula.
Doing so, he promised: “would be good for him (Turnbull), it would change his fortunes around”.
The Turnbull government’s failure to address what WA sees as an unfair GST allocation was not solely responsible for Labor’s landslide win at the state election, but it certainly didn’t hurt.
In his only visit to WA during the campaign, Turnbull appeared to step back from his commitment last year to introduce a minimum percentage floor on the amount of GST returned to each state, saying on ABC radio:
“You need to wait a few years until the West Australian share under the current formula climbs back up to what you might call a more normal level.”
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Backroom business on 18C
The Senate is in full backroom, arm twisting mode today with negotiations continuing over the government’s childcare package, and corridor rumbles over 18C.
Labor and the Greens want to send the government’s new bill, giving effect to the changes outlined this week, off to an inquiry.
In the normal course of events, an inquiry would slow down the passage of the bill. The government will want this issue dealt with quickly to continue walking both sides of the street.
Let me explain walking both sides of the street. The government needs to:
1. Show conservatives, the ten columnists at The Australian yelling Do Something Malcolm, and the Sky News night shift – that it is Doing Something, bringing the legislation into the Senate for Quick Consideration. #DoSomething #DoingSomething
2. The government also needs to get past this issue quickly in order to mitigate the political damage it will suffer as a consequence of #DoingSomething. It needs this 18C legislation in, and done, so it can move on to issues that might win the government votes rather than cost it votes. Let’s call this the #MoveOn imperative.
So where does this leave us? Labor and the Greens are saying off to the inquiry. The key Senate bloc for this issue, the Nick Xenophon Team, is also saying yes to an inquiry. (On the substantive question, NXT will support process changes allowing the human rights commission to nix vexatious cases at an earlier stage, but it will not support changing the wording of the legislation.)
So it looks like the 18C bill will go to an inquiry. But Xenophon is saying the inquiry needs to be very quick: meaning hearings tomorrow, and a report by next week, to allow the proposal to be dealt with promptly by the Senate.
As they say in our business, more to come.
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The prime minister’s office has just released a statement on the appointment of Justin Milne as the chairman and a non-executive director of the ABC board.
Milne hails from rural South Australia and the PM says he has vast experience in the media and information technology.
Mr Milne’s deep understanding of traditional and digital media and the broad technology and software industry will be of great benefit to the ABC. His leadership and extensive governance experience will complement the predominantly business and financial management skills of the ABC board.
The Fin Review had predicted the appointment earlier in the week and yesterday Aaron Patrick wrote:
Malcolm Turnbull is about to make the man who helped him become even richer one of the most powerful media figures in Australia.
Justin Milne, whose appointment as chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corp was predicted by The Australian Financial Review’s Rear Window column on Tuesday and not disputed by an official source, was one of forces behind the success of Ozemail, one of Australia’s earliest dial-up internet services.
Milne became Ozemail’s head of datacasting in 1998. Soon afterwards a US phone company, WorldCom, made a successful bid for the Sydney-based company on the Nasdaq stock exchange and made him CEO.
Turnbull, who had already made millions as an investment banker, sold his $500,000 initial stake for $57 million. The two men maintained their relationship, culminating in the decision to appoint him to one of the most politically sensitive board jobs in the country.
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Immigration minister and key conservative Peter Dutton has completed his fireside chat with 2GB host Ray Hadley. Dutton owns the postal plebiscite on marriage equality; that is he confirms he has been talking to his colleagues about options. PDuddy is not a supporter of marriage equality.
There is this option of a postal plebiscite which doesn’t require legislation as I understand. It may achieve in some ways the same outcome to a plebiscite that you would think of in the traditional sense.
It sounds like he is moving into the get-it-sorted-either-way camp.
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There was a changing of the guards over at the parliamentary intel committee since the election. Canning Liberal MP Andrew Hastie is now chair and he has released a rare statement with his deputy chair, Labor MP Anthony Byrne from the committee related to matters outside parliament.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security strongly condemns today’s attack on Westminster.
Our heartfelt sympathies go to the victims of this heinous crime.
The attack is both an indiscriminate crime against innocent persons and an attack against the institutions of democracy that underpin our free and fair society, both in the United Kingdom and in Australia.
The Committee values Australia’s international cooperation with key security allies and strongly supports measures to protect national security.
Recognising the changing threat environment and the increased risk of lone attackers, the Committee has worked very hard on reforms to strengthen Australia’s national security laws. The Committee will continue to work to ensure our agencies have appropriate powers and the resources they need to respond to the ongoing terrorist threat and keep Australians safe.
So I have just heard the ceremonial guns to welcome Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. I can hear a band of sorts thought maybe that is just inside my head. Sometimes that happens.
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Don’t you hate it when your flag gets tangled.
Untangling the flag ahead of a visit by Li Keqiang, premier of the state council-China @gabriellechan @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/xfYvEOFL1U
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) March 22, 2017
National party dances on 18C
Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce has been quite vocal in his criticism of (some) Liberals’ obsession with changing 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. He has had a chat to James Massola et al at Fairfax and has further expanded on his feelings about the change. Joyce’s position is not outright against amending the act per se, to be clear, it is more that he thinks most people don’t give a rats.
This is an issue that if you have to deal with it, deal with it, but deal with it and move on. It is definitely not the issue people are talking about in the beer garden on Friday night or at the counters of banks, or to be quite frank, in the big office blocks when they finish work on Friday night.
What they are talking about is ‘what on Earth is happening to my power prices’. They want a job.
This is an issue, it is an issue but I’ll be frank, it lives in the extremities of the bell curve. Where do you meet those people [who care about 18C]? At party meetings, they are absolutely blessed people and they are terribly politically involved and they have an intense interest in some of the minutiae of debate. They come into your office to rant and rave about it, all four of them.
Resources minister and fellow Nat, Matt Canavan, begs to differ slightly. He spoke to Fran Kelly at the ABC this morning.
I do think we can walk and chew gum at the same time, Fran. And while this is not an issue that exercises my mind, and Barnaby is right in that it doesn’t get raised with you all that often, I do think we need to make changes to ensure that what happened to the students at QUT does not occur again. You shouldn’t be hauled through the courts for innocuous comments on Facebook. People should be allowed to have a joke in this country. It’s part of our Australian culture and way of doing things, I think, without being hauled before the courts.
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The social services (welfare cuts) post-omnibus amendment has just come down to the lower house for a brief mention by the social services minister, Christian Porter, and then we are back on to company tax cuts.
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Greens MP Adam Bandt is speaking against the government’s plan for company tax cuts in the lower house. He says the plan is not only ridiculous but it is harmful.
His general argument is that big corporations are not paying enough tax.
You are going to see yourself kicked at election time again and again and again by Australians who know in their hearts corporations are getting away with murder [on tax] ... and if parliament can’t stand up to big corporates, then no one will.
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Just re the company tax cuts, David Crowe of the Oz reports:
The Australian was told the government was likely to consider its options in light of the dramatic proposal by US President Donald Trump to cut American company tax rates from US35c to US15c in the dollar, which could force similar moves in other countries if congress approves the tax cut.
The Australian understands the government is considering an outcome where it legislates the tax cut to the $10m threshold, drops the tax relief for bigger companies, and rethinks the taxation policy in the light of moves in the US and other countries to reduce company tax rates.
Remember the second part of the package cuts company tax for all companies from 30 to 25 cents in the dollar. So if Crowe is right and they are thinking about the US context, does that suggest the amount would be dropped lower?
So many questions in an Australian political day.
Dear readers. Apologies but the moderators have taken a decision to close the comments thread below this blog at this stage due to the ongoing and unclear nature of the Westminster attack and shooting. We hope to open again soon.
Malcolm Turnbull announced this morning that the police presence would be increased around Parliament House in Canberra following the London attack.
Bill Shorten has spoken about the attack which has now claimed five lives.
The idea horrifies Australians, the idea that the people can walk near the Houses of Parliament and they are subject to murderous assault. Australians should be reassured despite the political domestic debates inAustralia, all of us are united in our hatred and opposition of terrorism and the terrorists should know wherever they are, they will never divide this country. Our sympathies are with the United Kingdom and the English.
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In the Senate this morning, there is private senators’ business which is an odd way of saying any senator can put up bills.
The first bill is on penalty rates, co-sponsored by Labor, the Greens and Jacqui Lambie.
It would “ensure that modern awards cannot be varied to reduce penalty rates or the hours to which penalties rates apply if the variation is likely to result in a reduction in the take-home pay of an employee; and provide that any such determination made by the Fair Work Commission made on or after 22 February 2017 is of no effect.”
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The Chinese premier has a fan club out front.
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The Enterprise Tax Plan is before the lower house. It cuts the company tax rate first for small business and then for all businesses over 10 years and it redefines the definition of small business.
This was released in the last pre-election budget so here is a reminder of what it does. Exactly.
- It cuts the corporate tax rate for small businesses with an aggregated turnover of less than $10m to 27.5% for the 2016-17 financial year and progressively extends that lower rate to all corporate tax entities by the 2023-24 financial year.
- It then cuts corporate tax rate in stages so that by the 2026-27 financial year, the corporate tax rate for all entities will be 25%;
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Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to increase the small business income tax offset to 16% of an eligible individual’s basic income tax liability that relates to their total net small business income from the 2026-27 financial year;
- It will enable small businesses with an aggregated turnover of less than $10m to access most small business tax concessions, and small businesses with an aggregated turnover of less than $5m to access the small business income tax offset.
Now the Senate is not happy with the tax cuts for the larger businesses. Labor and the Greens and the crossbenchers all have slightly different positions.
The most open gate for the government to pass through is with the crossbenchers, who are talking about supporting tax cuts for businesses with turnovers below $10m.
But there has been this ridiculous standoff which has seen the government saying we are not going to split the bill into small business and big business – even though the Senate will only support the cut for small business.
But anyone with a few neurons to rub together would understand there are two options here, as there were with the omnibus bill.
- Dump the bill.
- Split the bill.
The bill is being debated in the lower house.
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Also today, Li Keqiang, the premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, and Madame Cheng Hong will visit parliament. There is a rare short press conference at some stage. Will keep you posted.
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The terror threat level is set at probable. But we will never, ever let the terrorists win. We will defeat and destroy them on the battlefield, we will defeat and defy them at home. We will never change the way we live. We will never let them divide us.
Malcolm Turnbull: Westminster rightly known as the mother of parliaments
Malcolm Turnbull has just held a press conference in Parliament House, following the terrorist attack in London.
He extended Australia’s “heartfelt sympathy and resolute solidarity” to the people of the United Kingdom.
The attack in the British parliament is an attack on parliaments, freedom and democracy everywhere.
Westminster is rightly known as the mother of parliaments.
Almost every element of our parliamentary tradition, here in Australia, is modelled on that of the houses of parliament in London.
We send our condolences, especially to the families of the victims, those injured, including a police officer murdered by the terrorist.
Turnbull said he had received briefings on the attack from Australia’s counter-terrorism coordinator, Tony Sheehan, and the high commissioner in London, Alexander Downer.
He had also spoken to the Australian federal police commissioner and the director general of security, Duncan Lewis.
There would be an increased police presence in Parliament House today.
Australians should be reassured that our agencies are today, as every day, working relentlessly to keep Australians safe.
We are very alert to the vulnerabilities of places of mass gathering and the risk of lone attackers, like the terrorist in London.
Keeping Australians safe is our highest priority. It is the first duty of my government.
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The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, is in Washington.
I extend the Australian’s government’s deepest sympathies over the incident. I understand the British police are treating it as a terrorist incident until other information comes to hand. I can assure Australians that, to this point, no Australians have been identified as being involved. I have spoken to foreign secretary Boris Johnson and passed on our concerns and condolences. I made contact with the Australian high commissioner in London. It has had hallmarks of the recent Isis-inspired terrorist attacks we have seen elsewhere but it is too early to make a conclusion on that point.
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Good morning blogans,
As we wake to news of the attack in London, the prime minister is addressing the media, which I will come to shortly.
Last night there was a willing debate over the bill formerly known as the omnibus, which contains various welfare measures including one which freezes indexation on family tax benefits.
The government changed the sitting hours to ram the bill through the Senate, having secured the numbers from Pauline Hanson and Nick Xenophon among others in return for taking the edge off some of the cuts.
Thanks to Tom Iggulden of the ABC for recording the debate, which was so late it is not yet on the Hansard.
Lambie recalled surviving as a single mother with two kids on a disability pension. There were times when she could not afford bread and milk, or a pair of footy boots for her son. She broke down.
I want you to know that is what it’s like to be at the bottom of the crap pile, through no fault of our own, for many of us. For you to take more money off those people, you have no idea how bloody tough it is for those people. What you are doing is shameful and if you really realised the damage you are continually doing to that part of society you would stop doing it.
The original bill had cuts to family tax benefits but, under negotiations with Xenophon, that had been revised to a freeze on indexation for two years. The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, argued that the indexation freeze was not a cut.
No family will actually receive less as a result of the changes today. They will receive the same payment, many of them will receive higher payments because, of course, relevant low-income eligibility thresholds will continue to be indexed.
Lambie was having none of it.
You are taking money off them. I don’t give a stuff which way you look at it. Freeze is taking money off them. That is what is going on. That is the truth.
And she turned on the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, and hit her where it hurts – accusing her of doing a “deal” with the Liberal party. In the context of the West Australian election and the unpopular preference deal, it was a very targeted political attack. She said her former leader Clive Palmer failed after doing “dirty deals with the Libs”.
He stopped doing what he said he would do for the battler. He was full of it.
Hanson rejected her accusations.
No deals have been done. I have always looked at policy based on what is right for the Australian people, so I don’t bargain with people.
Hanson accused Labor of being a bunch of hypocrites, echoing the Liberal line from question time yesterday.
With the welfare bill done, next up will be the $1.2bn childcare bill, which the $2bn cuts were slated to pay for. The last time I checked, it was not a done deal but it is not so controversial because it is generally a good bill that simplifies payments and advantages low income families. There is a little tinkering with the details though.
Also in parliament today, bills relating to immunisation, carbon farming and seasonal worker incentives. Plus the company tax cuts. But the big one will be what happens to the 18C amendments in the Senate. It is not yet clear whether there will be a debate or whether it will be flicked to a committee.
So stay tuned, keep it nice in the thread, or talk to me on the Twits @gabriellechan and/or if you speak Facebook, find me here. Malcolm Turnbull’s comments on London coming up.
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