Night time politics
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Malcolm Turnbull has come under pressure over investments in managed funds which are registered in the tax haven, the Cayman Island. Turnbull says all his earnings from the funds are taxed in Australia.
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Water policy jumped to the top of political agenda again. It started with seven out of eight crossbenchers calling for agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce to take total control of water. (The Nats are worried his assistant minister Anne Ruston might get some extra roles.) Joyce met with Turnbull this afternoon and we are yet to find out what happened. But bear in mind Turnbull already committed to give Barnaby water responsibilities. The debate carried on in the senate and Liberal senator Bill Heffernan got pinged for unparliamentary language in a rather passionate intervention on using water (science). An F word was involved.
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A Russian embassy spokesman has rejected evidence from a Dutch inquiry into MH17 that it was a Russian-built Buk missile. He suggested it was a Soviet-built missile and that such weapons are no longer used by Russia.
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Turnbull has met with the prime minister’s indigenous advisory council for the first time - the one chosen by Tony Abbott. Faced with the issue of getting Indigenous kids to school, Turnbull suggested an app for teachers to alert parents when their children are absent.
- We’re all philistines now. A Liberal MP has complained that most of the artwork in Parliament House is offensive and appalling. He singled out a painting by one-time war artist Wendy Sharpe because it had a bare bottom in it. Children passing the painting appeared not to notice said bottom.
Thanks to the brains trust, Shalailah Medhora, Daniel Hurst and Lenore Taylor. Tomorrow the prime minister will meet with the security agencies.
Here is Question Time: The Musical, by Mike Bowers.
Good night.
#QT the musical @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/8WaHig4sfH
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) October 14, 2015
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Russian embassy spokesman critical of Australian approach on MH17
Alexander Odoevskiy says Russia wants an open investigation rather than one run by the five countries in the joint investigation - Malaysia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine and Australia.
Tony Abbott from day one said it’s a Russian missile, Russian backed rebels, etc etc. We do not name anybody. We say lets do a comprehensive technical and criminal investigation not a secret one...just to prove what has been named by the leaders of some countries on the first day of downing MH17.
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A spokesman for the Russian embassy, Alexander Odoevskiy, is speaking to David Speers on Sky News.
Odoevskiy says the Russian government rejects the key MH17 finding that the plane was shut down by a Russian-built Buk missile. He suggests it was an older missile, produced by the Soviet Union as opposed to Russia. These missiles are no longer in use, says Odoevskiy.
An app that alerts parents when their children aren’t at school, as proposed by the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, could help reduce truancy rates in Indigenous communities.
Turnbull met with the Indigenous Advisory Council in Canberra on Wednesday, in his first meeting with the group since taking the prime ministership in September.
The prime minister, an avowed technology enthusiast, proposed the creation of a smartphone app that teachers in Indigenous communities could use to let parents know when their children are skipping school.
Chairman of the advisory Council, Warren Mundine, said the group had been discussing the problem of school truancy with Turnbull.
Within five minutes he said, why don’t we get an app. Now it’s about how we trial it and test things and make sure its doing the stuff that we need to do.
Mundine has said that Turnbull’s leadership represents a dynamic change.
He said... we need to think outside of boundaries and have crazy ideas,” he said.
The senate is now debating a matter of public importance - that being water policy. As it happens, Barnaby Joyce has a meeting with the prime minister as to portfolio responsibilities.
The Nats, including John Williams, is arguing that Joyce needs full control over water while Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has said it would be a joke to give Joyce control. She remembers he once told South Australians that if they wanted more water out of the Murray, they should move further upstream.
Joel Fitzgibbon and Genevieve the Jersey.
You can’t put the serial enthusiast down.
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Champion remains champion in the order of the boot.
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Clive Palmer has sashayed out the front to speak bovine.
.@CliveFPalmer is on the Parliament lawn with us to celebrate the #ADICvision pic.twitter.com/UzBWczsDrh
— ADF (@AusDairyFarmers) October 14, 2015
Labor asks Turnbull about the Cayman Islands-registered Zebedee Growth Fund, in which the PM has invested.
Turnbull repeats that the income earned from the fund is taxed in Australia.
So far, Labor’s point would appear to be that Turnbull is rich. Which we knew.
Tony Burke asks Turnbull about the dates he invested in the managed funds, to which the PM replies that it would appear Labor really doesn’t understand the way managed funds work.
Managed funds, he said, mean that taxes are paid on income in Australia.
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The territories minister, Paul Fletcher, gets a question on the Sky Muster satellite to deliver broadband in remote and regional Australia.
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Bowen to Turnbull: Is it the government’s position that the Cayman Island is a tax haven, as tax commissioner Chris Jordan has said?
Turnbull uses the previous statement (13:24) below which is that he and his wife, Lucy, have used managed funds to ensure his investment decisions are not made by himself or Lucy. It also means that the fund income is taxed in Australia.
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Labor’s Mark Dreyfus asks whether his declaration of pecuniary interests is up to date. Turnbull says he works to ensure that it is but if he is aware of any issues, let him know.
Figaro! Figaro, Figarooooooooooo!
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There have been two questions on the Trans Pacific Partnership, including one from the former speaker Bronwyn Bishop.
In the Senate, Sam Dastyari asks in question time whether Turnbull was present for tax transparency laws in cabinet. Arthur Sinodinos says he has only been cabinet secretary since the leadership change and he was not aware of any discussions in cabinet since then.
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Labor to Turnbull: YesterdayCoalition senators on the Senate Economics Committee delivered a report backing the PM’s legislation which ensured that corporations with a turnover of $100bn a year will be kept secret. Given according to the tax office one in five of these companies paid no tax last year, is the PM concerned about this lack of transparency and will his government act?
(This feels like it could go towards Labor’s attack on Turnbull regarding Cayman Islands investments.)
Once again the Labor Party is endeavouring to run a new campaign on the politics of envy. It’s trying to whip up a class war, the reality is we have a good tax system in Australia, every treasurer, including the current treasurer, has been committed to ensuring the taxes paid and that everybody whopays their part and we are doing so.
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The weight of government.
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A Dixer to Kelly O’Dwyer: Will the minister outline what action the government is taking to preserve the integrity of the taxation system and confidence in the Australian economy?
This is about the serious financial crimes taskforce.
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Two big guys.
Clive talks to Joe before #QT @gabriellechan @GuardianAus http://t.co/Jf3fVHFh6W pic.twitter.com/CWWIVHyuB3
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) October 14, 2015
There was a Dixer to the agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, about building trade relations on his recent trip to Indonesia.
Labor to Scott Morrison: will the PM consider Labor’s plan to make multinational corporations pay their fair share of taxation in Australia, a plan that will improve the budget bottom line by at least $7bn over the next decade?
Morrison says Labor’s plan is outside the OECD rules and, as such, the policy is a “blunt instrument” and a “revenue grab”.
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Clive Palmer asks the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, about the secrecy surrounding circumstances of children in detention. Why is the government imprisoning and radicalising little children at taxpayers’ expense?
Dutton says the government is working through the cases until there were no children in detention. He says in some cases it is difficult because a father may not have an Asio security clearance to live in the community.
I have in those instances said to the mother, for example, we will allow the release of the mother and the children into the community because we don’t have a security concern in relation to the mother or children. In some circumstances, that mother, those parents have taken the decision that the mother and children can be released and in some circumstances they have decided to remain in detention with the father.
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Labor asks Scott Morrison about his previous statements about not taxing superannuation and if he will stand by his statements, given Malcolm Turnbull opened the door to super changes, which would be taken to the next election.
Morrison says the Coalition has a good record on super so trust us.
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A Dixer to Morrison on a more agile and innovative economy.
Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison: I refer to the treasurer’s statements yesterday in question time about the importance of reducing government spending. Is government spending this financial year expected to be higher or lower than the level of spending forecast for the same year at the time of the last election?
Morrison references the Pre Election Fiscal Outlook (Pefo).
One of those assumptions was that some thousands of people would continue to arrive in Australia by boat but yet they didn’t account for $1.2bn worth of expenditure that was necessary to ensure that we could deal with the recklessness that those opposite left behind.
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Andrew Hastie, in his first question in the house, to Turnbull: Will the PM update the House on why Australia is strongly positioned to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the global economy?
Turnbull says, as he has so often, it is an exciting time to be an Australian. Australia is well placed to take advantage of its position in Asia.
A little cheek. He mentions the National Australia Bank confidence survey, which showed business confidence lifted in September. It was cheeky because the SMH story linked the rise in confidence to Turnbull’s takeover.
Shorten to Turnbull: The PM would be aware that the total cost of superannuation tax concessions is forecast to outstrip the cost of the age pension within four years. Therefore can the PM please explain the logic of the Liberal government cutting part pensions instead of reducing superannuation concessions for high-income earners who already have millions of dollars in superannuation?
Turnbull dismisses it as “the politics of envy”.
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Bill Shorten says justice requires us to find out who was responsible.
Because grief is not ultimately about how someone is taken from you or even why. It is about who has gone and what you will miss. The unfinished conversations, the too late statements of love, unmade plans for shared adventures, the familiar places and the memories you made there together. This is the lonely road of mourning.
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Malcolm Turnbull says the investigating countries will continue “undaunted”.
We deplore the conduct of Russia using its Security Council veto in July to block the establishment of a special international criminal tribunal.
Malcolm Turnbull starts QT with a statement on indulgence regarding the MH17.
He mentions the victims, one of whom he knew. His voice breaks.
The destruction of MH17 and the murder of its passengers and crew was a shocking, shameful, cowardly crime. It was set against, and part of, a continuing geopolitical aftershocks of the collapse of the Soviet Union more than 25years ago. But it was a deeply personal tragedy for the victims and their families; 38 Australians were killed, but 23 million Australians mourned. Many because we knew the victims. [In] my own case the Sacred Heart nun Sister Philomene Tiernan whose earthly life devoted to love and learning was snuffed out because of ignorance. All of us because we knew there but for the grace of God goes me or those we love.
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Early for #QT @kevinandrewsmp @GuardianAus @gabriellechan #politicslive pic.twitter.com/7axcsvzjED
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) October 14, 2015
The job seeker compliance bill mentioned in previous posts has passed the lower house 80-49.
Question time is coming up. Grab a cuppa.
Adam Bandt has not missed the opportunity while art is on the agenda.
Art is more than country landscapes. The human body is far from the most offensive thing on show in this building. MPs who vote to lock kids up in detention then complain about a bare buttock have a lot of hide.
New Arts Minister Mitch Fifield must end the Liberal’s arts attack and immediately restore independence to Australian arts by scrapping Brandis’ NPEA and returning this funding to the Australia Council.
Did you know a rich dude is prime minister?
Cheeky.
Lib MP says this art is inappropriate for Parl House, but(t) there's more to art than country landscapes #thisisart pic.twitter.com/L3Q00y714E
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) October 14, 2015
Daniel Hurst’s story on Craig Kelly is up and very punny.
#CallMeAPhilistine
Love parliament art - eg this fab photo by Trent Parke of emus in shark bay @SabraLane @KJBar @GrahamPerrettMP pic.twitter.com/HYKroEhrrA
— Melissa Parke MP (@MelissaParkeMP) October 14, 2015
Malcolm Turnbull responds to Sam Dastyari's allegations on Cayman Islands
In a statement from the prime minister:
When I became a minister all of my investments were approved under the ministerial code of conduct by the secretary of PM&C.
In order to avoid conflicts of interest almost all of my financial investments are in overseas managed funds which means that I have no say in which companies they invest in.
Thousands of managed funds with investors outside of the USA are registered in the Cayman Islands with the result that the income of the fund is taxed in the hands of the investors in their own home jurisdictions.
So all of my income from my investments including funds registered in the Cayman Islands is taxed in Australia.
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Message to Craig Kelly, via Matt Hatter.
@gabriellechan I may not know parliamentary art, but I know what I like. #Zebrull pic.twitter.com/q6S70sAl2i
— The Matt Hatter (@MattGlassDarkly) October 14, 2015
Meanwhile, over in the United States ...
There is a whole lot of love.
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Labor attacks Malcolm Turnbull on Cayman Island investments
Labor senator Sam Dastyari is talking about Malcolm Turnbull’s alleged investments in the Cayman Islands.
Dastyari says nearly 19,000 corporations claim to be headquartered in Ugland House in the Cayman Islands, “one of the pre-eminent places in the world for tax minimisation”.
So you have to ask who invests in the companies that claim to be headquartered in this house?
Well friends, among them is our prime minister, Mr Malcolm Turnbull.
Dastyari says in January this year, Turnbull updated his register of member’s interests to include new investment in one growth fund incorporated in Ugland House and one other also registered in the Caymans.
I think there will be more coming in question time.
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Lunchtime political summary
Here is what has happened thus far in politics:
- A Liberal MP has complained that most of the artwork in Parliament House is appalling and singled out a painting by one-time war artist Wendy Sharpe because it had a bare bottom in it. Children passing the painting appeared not to notice said bottom.
- The lower house debated compliance changes which required the unemployed to pay penalties for stuffing up job interviews, refusing job offers or refusing to work for the dole.
- Seven out of eight Senate crossbenchers have called for Barnaby Joyce to take full control of water rather than the 95% control of water he has now. The crossbenchers have previously initiated another review of the Murray Darling Basin management and the Nats are trying to ensure that Turnbull does not do something tricky that somehow undermines his Coalition agreement to hand water back to agriculture. The PM has a meeting with Joyce today, hence the crossbenchers show this morning. It would appear the Nats have been busy in the Senate.
- The healthy welfare card bill is still being debated in the Senate.
- Turnbull has met with Indigenous advisory council and we will hear more about the outcome at 3.15pm.
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The assistant treasurer, Kelly O’Dwyer, and the justice minister, Michael Keenan, announced there are eight new matters under investigation involving serious financial crime.
Craig has uploaded a few more pictures with the following message:
THE ‘ARTWORK’ OF PARLIAMENT HOUSE
Am I missing something?
Perhaps I didn’t pay attention in arts classes at school.
There are a range of artworks to which he objects, including:
Passers by 1.
Passers by 2.
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Craig Kelly MP is having a crack at this artwork in P/H #CallMeAPhilistine @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/nRJQhRmXs3
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) October 14, 2015
Will Kelly win over the “clique of correct, highbrow, holier-than-thou ‘you must like this shit’ brigade’
Of course art stoush is not new.
It was one Tony Abbott and his good friend and former political colleague Ross Cameron who agitated so hard in 2003 that they won a review by none other than the late Betty Churcher.
The inimitable Annabelle Crabb reprised the story back in 2008.
In 2003, the Howard government minister Tony Abbott and his good friend Ross Cameron, then the member for Parramatta, declared something of a cultural jihad on the parliamentary collection, which Abbott described rather pungently as “avant garde crap”.
Both men felt that the collection should offer more landscapes and traditional portraits, and Mr Cameron – a well-known parliamentary controversialist – entertained his colleagues in many a party room meeting with scathing critical interpretations of the more adventurous works he had encountered on his travels through the building.
The two of them were so vigorous in their campaign that they won a review of the acquisitions policy, conducted in 2004 by the venerable Betty Churcher, former director of the NGA.
Churcher eventually recommended that the living-artists-only guideline be abandoned and that new acquisitions in the short term be directed towards ensuring members had access to works with which they felt comfortable.
She further recommended, in a perhaps unwitting irony, that high-quality reproductions of well-known works such as the bird watercolours of John Gould might satisfy those with more classic tastes.
Cameron proclaimed the report to be a “victory over this little clique of correct, highbrow, holier-than-thou, ‘you must like this shit’ brigade’.
It was to be his final victory. He was one of the few Liberal members to lose his seat in the 2004 election, perhaps voted out – who knows? – by a small but determined group of Parramatta-based installation artists.
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Call me a philistine. Ok, you're a philistine.
Liberal MP and Tony Abbott supporter Craig Kelly has taken to Facebook regarding a Wendy Sharpe artwork in the parliament. For those who have not visited these halls, the best thing about this place is the artwork.
This is from Kelly’s page.
THE ARTWORK OF PARLIAMENT HOUSE
Call me a philistine, but I think most of the artwork around Parliament House is appalling.
The picture attached is a piece of artwork that greets all visitors as they walk into Parliament to visit the House of Representatives chamber.
Do you think this painting is suitable for Parliament House ?
Sharpe is a highly accomplished Australian artist and in 1999 was appointed an Australian official artist attached to the Australian army history unit in Dili, East Timor.
At this stage, Kelly has 52 Likes and the first comment says:
This is what happens when the Progressives take control. Standards slip.
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The lower house is onto another social security bill which would make unemployed pay penalties for not looking for work, stuffing up an interview or refusing to take part in work for the dole programs.
If the bill goes ahead, from July 2016:
Job seekers must enter an “Employment Pathway Plan” or may lose their payment.
Currently, there is no financial penalty imposed for an initial refusal to enter into an Employment Pathway Plan despite it being a basic qualification requirement for job seekers to receive participation payments.
Job seekers will be penalised for acting “inappropriately” in an interview/appointment.
If a job seeker acts in an inappropriate manner during an appointment, a job seeker‘s participation payment may not be payable until the job seeker attends a new appointment.
Job seekers who do not Work for the Dole or get training will have a penalty deducted from the period in which they refused - known as No Show No Pay.
This would ensure the impact of the penalty is more immediate and would provide a more direct deterrent than under the current legislation, which requires that the penalty amount be deducted from a later fortnightly instalment period.
Job seekers who don’t show they are looking for work, may lose their payment until they do.
Once adequate job search efforts have been demonstrated, the job seeker would receive full back pay. Currently, it 3 can take at least fourteen weeks of ongoing inadequate job search before a job seeker‘s participation payment is impacted in any way.
Nationals MP John Cobb says the new compliance measures are completely reasonable.
It’s not trying to make life unliveable it is trying to do the right thing by the taxpayers and their families...we are not getting rid of safety nets, in some ways we are strengthening them.
Labor MP Lisa Chester says there are just not enough jobs
For a party that likes small government, they really like to standover job seekers. Really likes to demonise them and say they are people bludging on the system.
The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is meeting with his Indigenous advisory council today. Remember, this is the group chosen by Tony Abbott and headed by Warren Mundine.
There was a question as to whether it would survive the Lib spill but he advised Mundine they would be kept on. Shalailah did a story here:
Tony Abbott’s hand-picked advisory group on Indigenous affairs has a chance to bring in more community voices and be more forthright in its advice, after it won a reprieve from the new prime minister, the deputy chair of the council, Ngiare Brown, has said.
The fate of the prime minister’s Indigenous advisory council had been unclear until Tuesday night when newly appointed Liberal leader, Malcolm Turnbull, rang its chairman, Warren Mundine, to say the group would stay on under his prime ministership.
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The Senate has just got to the bill to allow trial sites for the so-called healthy welfare card. Ceduna in South Australia is the first town to sign up for the trial.
It has passed the second reading so the bill now goes into a committee stage, which means senators get to ask ministers about the details. The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, has carriage of it in the Senate.
Regular readers will know I am a big fan of this stage of parliamentary process. It is so much more meaningful to be able to ask sensible questions of the minister rather than just make back and forth speeches designed to whack each other. While political points are obviously still made, the questions are much more meaningful than the stuff you generally see in question time.
For example, the Greens are asking where the funding is coming from for the trials.
Fifield says the funding comes from both the Indigenous advancement strategy and the social services budget.
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7/8 crossbenchers call for water to go to Barnaby Joyce.
From Shalailah:
Seven of the eight Senate crossbenchers have fronted journalists in a rare show of force, urging the government to redress what they say is an imbalance in water policy.
The independent senator John Madigan said the current water policy was “tilted” towards the environment. He has articulated three demands from the group of crossbenchers.
First, they want a guarantee from the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, that all responsibility for water management will fall to the agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce. (Most of it does.)
Second, they want to pause the progress of the Murray-Darling basin plan until a Senate select committee has reported back to parliament.
Third, they want social and economic considerations given equal weighting to environmental concerns in the 2007 water act.
Madigan:
If we’re not saving the environment for people, who are we saving it for?
Family First senator Bob Day:
It’s a simple formula. Family farms and communities will thrive if they have enough water. If they don’t get enough water, they’ll die.
The Liberal Democrat senator, David Leyonhjelm, said now is the time to push for the reforms, because both the government and opposition have an “appetite” to listen to the crossbenchers.
Why now? Because portfolios are being rearranged now. Because the new Turnbull government is rearranging things to suit its agenda for the rest of its term. It’s much harder to achieve change once everything is bedded down. It’s because things are in flux right now.
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Thanks to ABC camera person Nick Haggarty for enlightening us on what Mike Bowers does when he is not in the office.
.@mpbowers getting a close up of @Nick_Xenophon #auspol @abcnews @ABCNews24 pic.twitter.com/njKw1G5EWp
— Nick Haggarty (@NickHaggarty) October 13, 2015
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While Shalailah is working on the crossbench water spray – see what I did there? – here is another snippet on the change in dynamics among between the new leadership and the Senate.
The crossbenchers were asked about contact with the government. David Leyonhjelm said “at least we get text messages now”. Dio Wang was asked if anything has changed.
Journalist: Were you not getting text messages from Tony Abbott?
As a matter of fact, I don’t have Tony Abbott’s mobile number. We never exchanged text messages.
Journalist: When did you obtain Malcolm Turnbull’s?
During our first meeting, some time last year.
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In the House, there have been a few customs bills and they are now on to the social services amendments.
The first bill – cost of living concession bill – excludes a South Australian pensioner payment from commonwealth assessments.
The second bill – low income supplement bill – cuts this supplement worth $300 a year from July 2017. The cut was included in another social services bill which was blocked in the Senate last month.
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Our colleague at the West Australian, Andrew Probyn, has a great story about Christmas Island’s transformation into a Kiwi Alcatraz.
There is a major diplomatic stoush brewing over Christmas Island’s transformation into a ‘Kiwi Alcatraz’, with another batch of hardened New Zealand criminals waiting to be deported expected on the island soon.
NZ prime minister John Key will raise the fate of 240 Kiwis in Australian detention centres when Malcolm Turnbull goes to Auckland on his first overseas trip as PM this week.
There are 40 Kiwis held on Christmas Island with another 40 to 50 expected to be transferred there within a fortnight.
This would make New Zealanders the biggest population of detainees on the island, which now holds 285 people.
Key confirmed yesterday that about 1000 Kiwis were “in the pipeline for deportation from Australia”.
The surge comes from tough new immigration rules whereby people given jail terms that totalled a year or more would have their Australian visas cancelled. Previously this applied generally to people convicted of single offences that attracted jail terms of a year or more.
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The assistant treasurer, Kelly O’Dwyer, and the justice minister, Michael Keenan, are holding a press conference on a financial crime taskforce right now.
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What is the name of this new band?
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Lenore Taylor has a good story that puts the marriage equality debate back on the Coalition party room coffee table. Warren Entsch, Liberal MP and marriage equality advocate, gave the new Canning MP, Andrew Hastie, a verbal clip over the ear. Lenore reports:
Liberal MPs who support marriage equality want legislation setting the date and question for a plebiscite to be passed during this parliament, and say the Coalition party room should be given another chance to choose ‘an alternative course’.
Queensland MP Warren Entsch, who co-sponsored the cross-party bill for marriage equality still before the parliament, said he would talk to the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, this week about the issue.
Entsch said the stated position of the newest Liberal MP – Andrew Hastie – undermined the purpose of holding a plebiscite. During last month’s Canning byelection Hastie said his parliamentary vote on marriage equality would be in line with the results of the plebiscite in his electorate, rather than the national result.
Entsch:
We can’t bind parliamentarians’ votes but the very strongly endorsed view of the party room was that the outcome of a people’s vote should be adhered to. Either you have a people’s vote or you don’t. There would be no point in having a people’s vote and then ignoring it. We really can’t have it both ways.
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Julie Bishop has also touched on her meetings with the defence minister, Marise Payne, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and the defence secretary, Ash Carter. The Oz reported that Australia could be directly involved in patrols in the South China Sea.
A US defence official close to the talks told the Australian that under the proposals to be considered for the royal Australian navy, ‘certainly the South China Sea will be a focus’.
Bishop said this morning that Australia was not taking sides and simply wanted to de-escalate tensions.
Australia has an interest in ensuring there is freedom of navigation and freedom over overflight over the South China Sea and around the South China Sea. This is where about two-thirds of our merchandise trade passes through this area so it is very important to us that there be a rules-based international order in place and that includes upholding the principles of freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight.
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S Club 7. Jacqui Lambie is there in spirit.
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Shalailah Medhora came across seven of the eight crossbenchers down at the Senate doors. It was about water. But first, the independent senator Glenn Lazarus reflected on failing in public life, apropros Tony Abbott’s fall.
Lazarus:
I unfortunately experienced the situation where I was dropped from the NRL into the reserve grade, and it was very uncomfortable, let me tell you.
Journalist:
Did you act like a sook as well?
Lazarus:
I did, yes. I absolutely did. I couldn’t train that day. I went home, and consoled in my wife [sic]. It’s not a good feeling, let me tell you.
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Good morning blogans and bloganistas,
This morning the political agenda is dominated by the reaction to MH17. The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, has said Australia will pursue a criminal investigation into the shooting down of MH17, which killed 298 people, including 38 Australians. Bishop said the initial Dutch investigation has discovered what shot down the plane. Now the world had to find out who shot down the plan.
So that’s now certain and we will continue to support a criminal investigation. There are five members of the joint investigation team – Malaysia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine and Australia – and I expect that that investigation likewise will be meticulous, independent and credible. Once that report has been concluded, then we need to have a prosecuting authority to receive it so we can hold the perpetrators of this atrocity to account.
Bishop says the events have changed the assumptions about the height at which airlines are safe. The report criticised Ukraine for not closing the airspace over the conflict zone.
It’s quite clear that this atrocity in Ukraine has now alerted the globe to the possibility that commercial aircraft, in commercial air space, albeit over a conflict zone could be shot down. It was assumed that planes flying at 30,000 feet or more would be safe over conflicts but I think this has certainly awakened the globe to the possibility. Airlines like Qantas already take action to avoid conflict zones, and the government is working closely with our airlines to ensure the safety of passengers aboard these flights is absolutely paramount.
Bishop says the findings will be very distressing for the families of those killed and any compensation claims would require findings from the criminal investigation.
That would be the normal course in any criminal system. I think that being able to identify the perpetrators of the crime would be a precondition to demanding compensation.
Stay with us. There has been a major doorstop which united all the Senate crossbenchers calling for all water responsibilities under the agriculture portfolio. I will bring you that in a mo. Mike Bowers has been down at the press conference so some images will be up shortly. Join us on the Twits @gabriellechan and @mpbowers.
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