Night time politics
- Malcolm Turnbull has rejected Labor’s attack on climate change and marriage equality. Turnbull argued as long as carbon abatement occurs, it doesn’t matter how it is done. Turnbull has been famously critical of Direct Action, the Coalition climate policy which he now has to sell.
- Cabinet speculation continued with news revealed that Peter Dutton had attempted to resign from the ministry by text due to his support for Tony Abbott. Malcolm Turnbull said he was an “enthusiast” for women in positions of power and influence but no deets will be released until the weekend.
- The China free trade agreement bill came to the house, as did the bill to make young people wait 28 days for unemployment benefits. The fair work bill also came to the Senate but senator Ricky Muir has learned to do the numbers and has gathered enough crossbenchers to excise a large part of the bill.
- Joe Hockey announced more residential real estate divestments by foreign buyers from a range of different countries. Hockey also introduced a previously announced bill on multinational tax avoidance.
And that is it my friends. Thanks to the brains trust of Lenore Taylor, Shalailah Medhora, Daniel Hurst and Melissa Davey. Also thanks to Katharine Murphy for her help over these last crazy days.
And hey, Mikey Bowers, what can I say?
I will leave you with a tweet and Bowers’ photos of Abbott loyalists who are pretty keen to be seen doing their jobs as Turnbull draws up his new ministry. They are all trying to put their best happy (sad) face forward.
Here I am, just getting on with the job.
The Small Business Helpline, established by the Coalition Government, has received a quarter of a million calls pic.twitter.com/VRqegESI8V
— Eric Abetz (@SenatorAbetz) September 16, 2015
Continuity is very important. Hint, hint.
Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian
The best water reform ever. Tick!
I would hope that there would be a degree of continuity.
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The house has just heard statements from immigration minister Peter Dutton and his shadow Richard Marles on the humanitarian intake of 12,000 Syrian refugees.
Where does all of this leave moi?
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I promised Daniel Hurst’s explainer on the fair work bill, which looks like it will be gutted by one Ricky Muir, onetime sawmiller and senator for the Australian Motoring Enthusiasts party. Daniel’s story is here:
The Coalition could be forced to accept the gutting of its workplace relations legislation in order to win Senate support for changes to enterprise bargaining on major new construction and mining projects.
Crossbench senators met with the employment minister, Eric Abetz, on Tuesday and have proposed amendments to remove most of the elements of the federal government’s stalled fair work amendment bill.
The original bill would have changed individual flexibility arrangements, wound back union right of entry rules, prevented absent people from taking or accruing leave when they were receiving workers’ compensation, and amended the procedures for the Fair Work Commission to consider unfair dismissal claims.
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Liberal senator Ian Macdonald has excelled himself today. Yet again, he has delivered a tirade on climate change to the Senate, condemning leftie journalists, inner-city hipsters, unwashed socialists and others. Australian kids have been brainwashed about climate change, which is a “fad, farce or hoax”.
The children of Australia have been brainwashed into thinking that if we turn off a light in Australia somehow that is going to stop climate change.
Then Labor’s Doug Cameron, who is Scottish Australian, was speaking during question time, when Macdonald interjected:
On the point of order, I said learn to speak Australian mate.
Labor Senate leader Penny Wong objected and deputy president Gavin Marshall ruled it was not unparliamentary. Wong disagreed.
I would say in a multicultural society that things ought not be said in the national parliament.
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Lenore Taylor has picked apart the Coalition deal, which is worth a read.
The “$4bn bribe” some newspapers alleged the National party has “forced” out of the new prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, crumbles to a series of uncertain and unfunded aspirations when examined in detail.
The headline “win”, heralded as “great news” by the Nationals, was a pledge to pay an extra $1000 to single-income families with a child under one who earn less than $100,000 a year.
But as Turnbull pointed out on Wednesday, this was part of a detailed package of changes being negotiated for several months by the social services minister, Scott Morrison, with both the Nationals and the Senate crossbench. The government has insisted the family tax benefit cuts are necessary to pay for the new childcare payments announced in this year’s budget but it has been unable to get them through the Senate. The current plan includes removing family tax benefit payments for sole parents or single-income earners when the youngest child turns six.
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Education minister @cpyne before #QT #wasThatStinkeye @gabriellechan @GuardianAus http://t.co/x9ZKYtZ0Y8 pic.twitter.com/0EBecKmJLv
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) September 16, 2015
The magic of Bowers.
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#WhereisTony
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Helloooo!
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Democracy has a price.
Malcolm Turnbull is asked by Labor: in 2010, the current PM said, “I think people know what I stand for. You know, they know that I have strong convictions, committed principles and I’m prepared to stand up for them.” Given that just in the last 24 hours the PM has sold out on climate change, marriage equality, renewable energy and the Murray-Darling, what other government policy is the PM willing to sell out to appease his personal ambition?
Turnbull:
Again, the leader of the opposition consistently confuses the means and processes with the objective. I support marriage equality. Many of my colleagues do not. Many of the leader of the opposition’s colleagues do not. The question of how – that is the substantive issue. The question of how to resolve the matter – whether it is a free vote or a plebiscite – is a question of process. Each approach has its advantages. One, I suppose, is faster and costs less. The other one gives every Australian a say and it has a cost. Democracy has a price.
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Our colleague down the hall at Fairfax, Latika Bourke, is reporting:
One of the government’s rising stars, Kelly O’Dwyer, has been advised to express more breast milk for her newborn baby to avoid her breastfeeding interfering with her duties in the parliamentary chamber.
The advice came from the office of the government’s chief whip, Scott Buchholz, who subsequently had to consult his Labor counterpart to find out how to better deal with a breastfeeding MP in accordance with the standing orders.
We are just checking on this.
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Labor asks Turnbull about his comments on marriage equality weeks ago. “The reason I haven’t advocated a plebiscite after the next election is that it would mean, it will mean that this issue is a live issue all the way up to the next election.” Why did you say one thing a month ago and another thing now?
Turnbull says the Coalition party room dealt with it and came up with the policy position for a plebiscite after the next election.
We’ve made that decision. It is thoroughly democratic. Every Australian will get a vote. Every Australian will get a vote and so at the next election, the next election, the leader of the opposition will be saying vote Labor so you, the Australian people, can’t get a direct say yourself on this issue.
Tony Burke makes the point that Turnbull made the comment after the party room had made the decision.
Ah, the compromises you have to make in politics.
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Scott Morrison gets a question on ... you guessed it: the Chafta.
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Labor’s Tanya Plibersek to Malcolm Turnbull: can the PM confirm how much money he will restore to the foreign aid program after the cabinet he was part of cut the budget by $11.3bn?
Turnbull:
If the honourable member wanted to get a serious answer she should ask a serious question. If all she’s interested in is making an allegation, making a political argument across the dispatch box, that is fine. But it’s a complete waste of question time.
Plibersek:
I would rather an answer than the mansplaining I’m getting from the prime minister.
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There is a question to the agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, on the importance of the Chafta to WA industries and the seat of Canning.
If you believe in agricultural industries, you have to vote for Andrew Hastie and the Liberal party on the weekend, says Barnaby.
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Labor to Turnbull: the minister for defence described the PM as “someone whose focus seems to have been almost entirely on himself and on undermining the government. But yesterday the minister of defence was all over TV pleading for his job. So, PM, will the minister of defence still be the minister for defence this time next week?
Christopher Pyne, as leader of the house, objects but the Speaker says the last bit of the question is OK. Turnbull says he will announce the cabinet shortly.
Just so you know, at the moment, however, there is no one in cabinet.
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Another question on the Chafta to education minister Christopher Pyne.
Pyne says he is a great enthusiast for the Chafta.
He is having a crack at Labor because Penny Wong gave a speech favourable to the Chafta.
Who nobbled Penny?
In the meantime, here is Mike Bowers.
A little tête-à-tête.
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Andrew Leigh of Labor wants to know: will the treasurer’s multinational tax bill introduced in the house today cover activities in known tax havens such as Bermuda, the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands? Did the treasurer consult with the new PM on the multinational tax bill before he introduced it?
Hockey says yes, Turnbull did support it when it went through cabinet.
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Hockey notes the Asian infrastructure investment bank enabling legislation passed through the Senate.
And that means we are going to get more opportunities in the Asian region and that’s terrific.
This is the China-driven bank which the Abbott government originally declined to join and then relented and committed to join. Hockey was always in favour of it but it was reported that Julie Bishop argued against it, due to security reasons.
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There is a government question to Joe Hockey on the government’s economic plan.
Labor to Turnbull: Will the PM rule out reselling environmental water entitlements in the Murray-Darling back to irrigators? Has the PM abandoned his own reforms and is this the price that he had to pay to become PM?
Turnbull says the reforms he completed with John Howard are “very settled”.
It’s a very complex matter in the too-hard basket for 100 years, says Turnbull.
Turnbull says Labor “regard every single farmer, every single irrigator, as an environmental vandal”.
The PM does not rule out reselling water entitlements.
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China Free Trade Agreement government question to Andrew Robb.
There was a question to Julie Bishop on the China Free Trade Agreement, in relation to Canning.
Now Labor to Turnbull: Will the PM join Labor in adopting a policy to ensure that 50% of Australia’s energy is sourced from renewables by 2030?
The questions from the leader of the opposition get worse and worse. He is highlighting one of the most reckless proposals the Labor party has made. Fancy proposing, without any idea of the cost of the abatement, the cost of proposing that 50% of energy had to come from renewables! What if that reduction in emissions you needed could come more cost-effectively from carbon storage, by planting trees, by soil carbon, by using gas, by using clean coal, by energy efficiency?
Turnbull says Shorten is just upset because Greg Hunt has a good policy.
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Andrew Wilkie, Tassie independent, wants to know what has happened to the $16m Cadbury grant that Tony Abbott promised and then dropped.
Turnbull defends the fund, which you will remember was controversial due to lobbyist links to the Abbott government.
He says the development would have increased demand for dairy products and created jobs but unfortunately Cadbury withdrew.
Instead the money will go into a jobs and investment fund. The Tasmanian government will put $8m into the fund and the private sector will need to put in $2 for every $1 of government spending.
Labor to Turnbull: The Australian Industry Group has calculated that achieving the government’s 2030 emission reduction targets through government payments under the emissions reduction fund would cost between $100 and 250bn. Does the current PM consider $250 bn an appropriate price to pay to keep the National party and the right-wing extremists happy just to achieve his life-long ambition to become PM?
Turnbull:
If he wants to make a case that the government’s policy cannot achieve what it said – we have said it will or if it hasn’t achieved what we said it will, then he should make that case rather than throwing out there absurd numbers which he knows have no basis in reality.
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While Warren Truss is talking, Joel Fitzgibbon reckons the Nats leader has been played off a break by Turnbull.
He put this statement out:
Now they say it is all OK because they have a ‘new agreement’ which extracts certain concessions for the bush.
These claims have been vague and remain unsubstantiated.
The Nationals must release the [Coalition] agreement or leave people living and working in rural and regional Australia to assume that the bloke from Point Piper has played the Nationals off a break.
Deputy PM and Nationals leader Warren Truss gets a question on infrastructure in Western Australia. #CanningVotes
Here is Twitter corro Matt Hatter, who is riffing off Labor’s formulation of the Abbott-Turnbull government.
@gabriellechan Hello there. 'Abbott-Turnbull Govt'? Perhaps...the About-Turn Govt. #politicslive #qt pic.twitter.com/QezA9pcUis
— The Matt Hatter (@MattGlassDarkly) September 16, 2015
Labor to Turnbull: Yesterday the PM told the house that under Tony Abbott’s Direct Action policy “this government is cutting emissions”. But models released just this month show that under Direct Action, emissions from Australia’s biggest polluter increase by 20% in the next 15 years. When did the PM sell out his beliefs on climate change?
Turnbull flicks the question to Greg Hunt. There is a kerfuffle over whether that is allowed and Speaker Smith gives it a tick.
We love the environment on this side, says Hunt.
The latest inventory statement showed Australia had its lowest emissions figures since 2004, he says.
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A government question to Turnbull on the economic challenges in Western Australia, particularly the seat of Canning. Turnbull says Chafta is the answer for diverse economic opportunity.
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Question time.
Labor to Turnbull: The PM famously previously said, I will not lead a party that is not as committed to effective action on climate change as I am. Isn’t that exactly what the PM is doing when it comes to his government’s Direct Action policy and has the PM sold out his principles to achieve his personal ambition?
Turnbull:
The challenge of responding to climate change in the context of an international agreement is to reduce emissions. It doesn’t matter how you reduce those emissions, whether you have an emissions trading scheme, whether you have an emissions reduction fund, whether you have a carbon tax, whether you have regulation. There are so many tools that are available but each of them have different costs and benefits in different contexts and at different times ... the object is to reduce emissions, we are reducing emissions and that is the environmental objective.
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I meant to come back to the issue of climate change and the deal struck with the Nationals to maintain the current Direct Action policy. It is worth remembering that the seeds of an emissions trading scheme is buried in Direct Action as part of the safeguards mechanism.
Direct Action pays businesses to reduce carbon through a reverse auction but the safeguard ensures polluters cannot go above their present carbon emissions. Lenore Taylor has written oodles on this issue, the latest you can read here.
But the solution to his dilemma is hidden in the details of the Direct Action policy, details which allow the policy to be “dialled up” into a baseline and credit emissions trading scheme that has a better chance of actually reducing Australia’s output of greenhouse gases.
The key lies in the “safeguards” the government is finalising to make sure businesses that are not seeking money from the “Direct Action” fund don’t increase their emissions and undo all the reductions the government is buying.
As a result, in theory, Turnbull could stick to his promise to the Nationals while still bringing in what is effectively a carbon emissions trading scheme. #justsaying
The Greens are holding a press conference now.
Richard di Natale has congratulated Malcolm Turnbull on the prime ministership but then attacked with the next breath.
The really tragic thing, with the announcement today that Malcolm Turnbull has struck with the National party, is we’ve got another politician, another leader who clearly says one thing but believes another. He’s a man who said he wouldn’t lead a party that wasn’t as committed to climate change as he was. He’s a man who understands the science when it comes to climate change and yet here he is backing Tony Abbott’s climate policies into the next election.
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Break out your slurpies, Maltesers and popcorn! #qt is coming up in @AboutTheHouse #auspol pic.twitter.com/de7PbYRABV
— Paul Osborne AAP (@osbornep) September 16, 2015
Love love love
While we are talking crossbench issues, I mean to give you some Glenn Lazarus quotes from Fran Kelly’s interview this morning.
Lazarus goes to the issues around the fractious relationship between the Senate and the Abbott government. It sounds like The Brick, at least, is feeling much more hopeful about working with Malcolm Turnbull.
I was pretty frustrated with Tony Abbott, I’ve got to admit with my crossbench colleagues. They had the same opinion, there was no enthusiasm to meet with us. It was very difficult to get a meeting with him and in the 15 months or so I have only had one meeting.
Lazarus said Turnbull seems to be a “lot more forthcoming with his time”.
He seems to be a guy that has a caring nature about him and he seems to be prepared to listen, and that was something Tony Abbott didn’t do.
But he warned Turnbull that he would not vote for controversial higher education deregulation. He also had some advice for him:
[He should] get out of his eastern suburbs, get out into the rural and regional areas and see how tough some people are doing it ... the current government is out of touch with the people ... the one thing going for Malcolm is he is a self-made person, he knows what it is to run a business.
He reminds listeners that 80% of Queensland is in drought. Rural Australia is suffering from the “scourge of mining”, “no water”, “dying livestock” and people are effected health-wise, physically and mentally. He wants Turnbull to drop the green lawfare proposal which limits challenges to development projects to those “directly affected”.
But:
We don’t want to be difficult.
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Lunchtime politics
- The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has offered his resignation in a text to Malcolm Turnbull but the PM says he will not speculate on the make-up of his ministry.
- Joe Hockey announced more divestment orders to foreign buyers of residential real estate worth up to $8.1m per property.
- Bills for the China-Australia free trade agreement and multinational tax avoidance have been introduced to parliament by the Turnbull government.
- Scott Morrison has reintroduced a bill to make young people wait 28 days for unemployment benefits, one week after it was rejected by the Senate.
- The Nationals are trumpeting their Coalition agreement, even though many of the items, such as competition policy and cash for stay-at-home parents, would require cabinet agreement. On water, which was transferred under the Nats agreement, environment minister Greg Hunt says he is relaxed, while Labor is horrified.
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Senator Ricky Muir has gathered support among the crossbenchers to excise significant parts of the government’s fair work bill.
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Bowers has run into an old mate in parliament.
Mark Chandler from QLD chapter of @barriecassidy appreciation society @InsidersABC @TalkingPicsABC #BackToYouBarrie pic.twitter.com/5QwfWAeRk5
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) September 16, 2015
Difficult times.
How did we all get here?
Is Dan Andrews making his way for the door?
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Bill Shorten and Jenny Macklin are talking about the NDIS. Shorten started the ball rolling on the NDIS as a parliamentary secretary and Jenny Macklin drove it as minister under Labor. Apropos blog post at 11.03pm, Macklin makes the point that that money is the budget to pay for that remaining $5bn hole. This is not currently allocated in the budget for the NDIS rollout.
You cannot have the commonwealth government signing agreements for the full rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme today unless the money is in the budget. It is in the budget.
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I’m told the PM has just taken a call from Barack Obama.
Ricky Muir seeking to gut Fair Work bill
The Fair Work bill is being debated in the Senate.
This amends the Fair Work Act 2009 by:
- requests for extended periods of unpaid parental leave;
- the payment of annual leave upon termination of employment;
- taking or accruing leave while receiving workers’ compensation;
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the requirements for flexibility terms in modern awards and enterprise agreements and individual flexibility arrangements made under those terms;
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the negotiation of single-enterprise greenfields agreements;
- the transfer of business rules; application for a protected action ballot order;
- right of entry framework;
- the Fair Work Commission not having to hold a conference or hearing to dismiss an unfair dismissal application;
- interest payments on unclaimed monies.
Senator Ricky Muir is amending the bill, with the support of Bob Day, Glenn Lazarus and John Madigan. Without going into details – Daniel Hurst will have a story up on this later in the day – Muir’s amendment excises a fair portion of the bill.
Just for your interest, Labor has started referring to the government as the:
Abbott-Turnbull government
Labor appears to be having trouble letting go of Abbott just yet.
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So ... here we are.
Awks.
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Malcolm #5.
Twinkle twinkle.
Bill Shorten and Jenny Macklin are coming up on the NDIS.
A taxing time.
Greg “my work is done” Hunt.
I have to catch up on so many Bowers works.
Malcolm Turnbull says changing water back to the agriculture, where it sat prior to 2007, is completely reasonable and unremarkable.
After Lenore asks about the commitment on more money for stay at home parents, as per the Nationals agreement, Malcolm Turnbull says the commitment is just for cabinet consideration.
As I wrote this morning.
Malcolm Turnbull says he has too much work in the transition to go to Canning this weekend.
He also says while he has had a conversation with Tony Abbott, he cannot advise what the former PM plans to do.
He won’t talk about the ministry and its make-up, including women.
There is no greater enthusiast than me for seeing women in positions of power and influence in parliament, in ministries right across the country. I can assure you of that. I am very committed to that but I am not going to say any more about the new ministerial arrangements.
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Malcolm Turnbull is asked about the effects test, the competition policy change that the National party and the small business minister Bruce Billson is pushing for.
Turnbull says it will go to cabinet.
Ministry decisions are coming later, says Malcolm Turnbull, but “kind of you to ask”.
The arithmetic of the NDIS:
According to Mitch Fifield, the NDIS is a a $22bn a year operation.
- $10bn comes from the states, which they would have been investing in disability in the absence of the NDIS.
- $3bn from the commonwealth, which would have been investing in a range of disability programs.
- That leaves $9bn, which will be the commonwealth’s additional contribution, and of that, 40% is covered by the half a percent increase in the Medicare levy.
- That leaves a bit over $5bn in the first full year which is not covered by an existing or newly identified funding.
Rest assured, we are fully committed to funding the NDIS, says Fifield.
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Daniel Andrews:
There is a group of politicians sitting up here but it is not our day, this is a day for those who have campaigned for so long to deliver this sort of equity, this empowerment, this justice for those in our community who have every right to expect the fair go that the National Disability Insurance Scheme will offer them.
Andrews gives a shout out to the federal minister Mitch Fifield’s role.
FYI, Fifield held the line against budget cuts in the Abbott government. Fifield is also a key supporter of Turnbull.
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Mike Baird:
This is an incredibly exciting day. It is great to be here with the PM, as indeed one of his first actions [is] to bring into effect the most significant social policy this country has done in a long time. Very proud to be here supporting it and I should acknowledge the role of the former prime minister who, in opposition, said this should be above politics, absolutely should be above politics.
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Malcolm Turnbull is speaking now about the NDIS.
The agreements we are signing give certainty to around 140,000 people with disabilities in NSW and around 105,000 people with disabilities in Victoria. The agreements also give certainty to their families, who will receive help from the NDIS. The roll-out will be carefully managed to ensure the delivery of an NDIS that stands the test of time.
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Malcolm Turnbull is coming up shortly to sign a National Disibility Insurance Scheme (NDIS) agreement with NSW premier Mike Baird and Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
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As you may know from yesterday, Ray Hadley is conducting a witch hunt of sorts to determine who voted for Malcolm Turnbull.
This is the latest.
Ray Hadley just hung up on Liberal MP John Alexander because he wouldn't declare who he voted for in a secret ballot.
— Ryan Sheales (@RyanSheales) September 15, 2015
In the Hockey flurry, I failed to post this, from Daniel Hurst on Chafta.
The trade minister, Andrew Robb, has addressed the House of Representatives to introduce the enabling legislation to bring into effect the China-Australia free trade agreement (Chafta).
He explains the legislation as follows:
The Customs Amendment (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2015 amends the Customs Act 1901 to implement Australia’s obligations under Chapter 3 of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (Chafta).
Chapter 3 sets out the rules of origin criteria and related documentary requirements for determining the eligibility of goods to obtain preferential tariff entry into Australia under the Agreement. The complementary Customs Tariff Amendment (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation) bill 2015, will amend the Customs Tariff Act 1995 to set out Australia’s tariff commitments under the agreement.
Robb is at pains to emphasise the lack of legislative amendments relating to migration or employment laws, in light of the campaign by the Labor party for greater safeguards to protect Australian jobs.
He says:
These quite modest bills represent the only legislative amendments that the parliament will need to pass to allow the government to bring Chafta into force … this puts a lie to many of the actions we have seen, the misrepresentations, the mistruths, the deliberate scaring of people across the community that has occurred, led by the CFMEU and the ETU and others.
Robb hopes “common sense will prevail” and there will be a return to bipartisanship on trade deals.
(On that note, the Labor leader, Bill Shorten sought to reach out to Malcolm Turnbull to resolve the free trade issue on Tuesday, writing to the new prime minister seeking a meeting to discuss Labor’s proposals for jobs safeguards. Shorten said he believed “complementary safeguards” could be formulated without delaying the agreement’s timely implementation, and it would be best to find a bipartisan approach.)
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Hockey is asked to explain to voters why the leadership change was necessary.
My message is the worse thing you can do is see a change of government. We had six years of Labor. It was bad in policy, bad in principle. They did some things right but they did a hell of a lot of damage to the country. We are collectively doing our best to improve Australia and we will continue to do it.
Hockey: I have always been loyal and supportive of leaders
Joe Hockey says he has had discussions with Malcolm Turnbull on portfolios and that is all he can say. He goes back to his loyalty to Abbott.
As all of you know, and you see it all, I am instinctively a loyal person. You know that. And I see the job that I have as being loyal to the Australian people. That is why I am doing my job. It’s what I’m here for, to be loyal to the Australian people, to do what is right for them. And in relation to prime ministers, I have always been loyal and supportive of leaders. And that is not going to change. I’m sorry, but I don’t disclose discussions.
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Joe Hockey is asked whether he will revisit the superannuation laws and the bank deposit tax, given Tony Abbott (who ruled them out) is now gone. He says it’s up to Malcolm Turnbull.
Are you gutless not to resign from the ministry?
No.
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About online purchases, how is that going to work? Is there going to be some obligation for companies to do it or are you asking them nicely?
Joe Hockey:
This is the challenge. A number of countries around the world have introduced this equivalent legislation in relation to online purchases. There are companies like Amazon and Facebook and others that are prepared to work with countries wherever they may be located to apply consumption taxes, should that country request it. That is because they don’t pay the tax themselves, it’s their customers that pay the tax. So I am absolutely confident, and the commissioner might add, that those sorts of companies will work with the tax office to apply GST to their sales in Australia.
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Back to multinational tax avoidance and GST on online goods (which will be introduced in coming weeks), Australian Tax Office (ATO) commissioner Jordan is calling for the media to acknowledge the leadership of treasurer Joe Hockey on this issue.
I think we should acknowledge the leadership that the treasurer has demonstrated by getting this legislation up into the house because it will give us, it will give us the ATO significant new power to drag back into the Australian tax net income from sales where the economic activity is clearly arising.
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Tax office going through residential real estate ownership like a dose of salts
The tax commissioner Chris Jordan says there are 50 people already devoted in his office to checking residential property ownership. They are looking through feeds from a range of departments including data analytics.
We are seeing examples of very young people who are here on maybe a student visa never having lodged a tax return yet acquiring property of, say, $5m. This does cause us to have some spin-off benefits by being the tax office. We will be looking also where is the income if people have these places rented. How come you have not disclosed income? We will be looking closely at where the source of that income has come from, checking whether it’s untaxed income in Australia or has it come from the proceeds of crime? We will be taking strong action and a lot of our work now is encouraging people to come forward before the first of December to make use of that concessionary penalty regime up until that time.
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Joe Hockey has signed further divestment orders from properties held by citizens of Singapore, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and China. The lowest value purchase price was $265,000, the highest $8.1m.
Joe Hockey is also announcing further divestments in illegal purchases of residential real estate.
There are now over 500 investigations into over $1bn of residential real estate that may be held unlawfully by foreign nationals in Australia. We have already announced seven divestments in relation to property.
Hockey says the government is restoring integrity into the system.
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Joe Hockey says he has two announcements. Tax + ?
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Joe Hockey is coming up shortly on the multinational tax avoidance bill but everyone is wondering whether he will resign.
Meanwhile Malcolm Turnbull is appearing shortly as well at a cricket event organised by the former PM’s office.
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I understand Peter Dutton has offered Turnbull his resignation. PM hasn't accepted it yet. If asked to stay, Dutton will stay.
— David Speers (@David_Speers) September 15, 2015
Dutton reportedly resigned from ministry
Sky News is reporting that Peter Dutton has offered his resignation from the ministry.
More soon.
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This was Andrews’ announcement.
Preps for 6 flag event #MuralHall Sport or National security? @gabriellechan @GuardianAus http://t.co/x9ZKYtZ0Y8 pic.twitter.com/HnVHMeaKX3
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) September 15, 2015
First successful air strikes in Syria and by the way, can I keep my job?
Australia has undertaken its first successful airstrikes in eastern Syria against Isis, or Daesh, targets, the defence minister, Kevin Andrews, has confirmed.
“Two days ago, Australian hornet fighter aircraft destroyed a Daesh armoured personnel carrier with a precision guided missile,” Andrews said.
The news was first broken in a statement issued by the US military, Australia’s partners in the region.
When asked by reporters why the Australian public had to hear the news from the US government, Andrews answered that he had been planning to include the announcement in his six monthly statement to parliament, due today.
Andrews, a long-time supporter of former prime minster Tony Abbott, is pushing to keep the defence portfolio in the wake of Monday night’s successful leadership challenge by Malcolm Turnbull.
“I think that continuity is quite important in this instance,” he said, adding that the government is “virtually weeks away” from releasing its much anticipated defence white paper.
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China Free Trade Agreement legislation introduced to the house
Ok, things are moving quickly here. Andrew Robb, trade minister, is introducing the enabling legislation on the controversial China Free Trade Agreement, hereafter known as Chafta. (I will be in trouble with Murph for that.)
The opportunities in Asia are spectacular, says Robb.
The financial services council says the increased access will create another 10,000 jobs in that area alone.
Robb says the Customs Amendment (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation) bill 2015 (and associated tariff reduction bill) is the only bit of legislation needed. The government does not need to change the migration act.
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Bill making young unemployed people wait 28 days for benefits reintroduced to the house.
Social services minister Scott Morrison has introduced four bills. One of them is the youth employment bill, which would have made young unemployed people wait before they received benefits.
This bill was rejected by the Senate last week. Something is up for it to be reintroduced so quickly.
It is in most part the same bill as the bill rejected by the Senate.
The key measure is the four-week waiting period for young unemployed under 25 to get benefits. This is a scale back from its first version in the 2014 budget, which wanted a six-month wait.
That’s the point where we can have an intervention. That’s the point where we can change a life.
It worked in New Zealand, says Morrison.
Small businesses should not have to compete with the Newstart allowance to get workers, he says.
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Parliament has resumed and Joe Hockey has introduced the tax laws amendment (combating multinational tax avoidance) bill to the house.
The new laws were to target 30 companies to “stop multinationals using complex schemes to escape paying tax”.
“Under this new law, when we catch companies cheating, they will have to pay back double what they owe, plus interest,” Hockey told us after the last budget.
Daniel Hurst is poring through the legislation now to work out if anything has changed. Bear with us.
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Greg Hunt on water: my work here is done
Environment minister Greg Hunt just passed the water amendment which capped government buybacks. While Labor has kittens about giving water to the Nationals, Hunt says he did not want water anyways.
It wasn’t a portfolio element that I sought but I was asked to have and we didn’t just achieve the outcome, we’ve just had the two greatest years of water reform in Australian history and my work is complete – and in Barnaby, you’ve got somebody who lives in the basin, who has the ear of the farm community, who has had the portfolio, and is a very good man.
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Costings of Nationals package: we trust our Liberal brothers and sisters
Nationals senator Matt Canavan says the families element of the Nationals deal, which will be considered by cabinet, will cost $130m, and if agreed to, it would be funded from the “broader families package”.
He points out the movement of the water portfolio amounts to $2.5bn worth of responsibility to agriculture, and thus to the Nats. I would point out that the money has not been increased. It is just moved to a new master. But there will be more funding for mobile black spots, which is a big issue in the bush, and for regional students to study in universities.
All up, the estimates are between $2 and $4 billion. Not everything has been precisely costed at this stage but we have made a high-level agreement, because we trust our Liberal brothers and sisters, and we will work out some of those details in a new government when that is formed.
Here is Canavan’s reasoning for the stay-at-home parents policy, which he has been pushing for some time. Remember this was the thing that upset the Nats when Tony Abbott was trying to get his “rolled gold paid parental leave” policy up.
I’ve been saying for some months that I don’t think the tax system should try and socially engineer parental outcomes. I think it’s very important we give parents the opportunity to stay home and look after their children, particularly when they’re young and it’s really important for the child, too. All research says that if you can spend full-time with new-born babies it makes a big difference and this [initiative] provides a little more assistance for parents with children below one to be able to make that choice, and I’m all about giving parents more choice and giving parents more ability to spend more time with their families.
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Where’s that big smile Josh?
The whole world has turned upside down. 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones and Bill Shorten had a little love-in, on the perils of politics and Tony Abbott’s generous spirit.
Shorten:
There is a human dimension which gets sometimes lost in the press coverage and the argument and the toing and froing, and I know his family and I know his staff and I know him and you can’t argue that he didn’t believe in what he was doing at all times. He did.
Jones:
And it’s true what you said, I laughed when you said about your frustration. Just when you were going to get angry with him, something very personal and sometimes quite flattering and gentle would come across the pathway. I don’t know whether it was the Jesuit training or what it was, but there was underneath all that a very generous spirit.
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Attorney general George Brandis was very fulsome in his reasons for supporting Malcolm Turnbull last night on 7.30 Report and on Sunrise this morning.
I think it will probably be remembered as a government that on occasions struggled to explain itself to the Australian people. I, along with a number of my senior colleagues, were becoming very concerned that the situation was becoming irretrievable and that we were at very real peril of losing the 2016 election to the Labor party, which in my view would be a catastrophe for Australia.
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Senator Matt Canavan is speaking about the Nationals agreement with the Liberals, under Malcolm Turnbull.
He starts by making a wild claim on deputy prime minister Warren Truss.
I just want to say I think Warren Truss is the Jarryd Hayne of Australian politics this morning.
Former environment minister Labor’s Tony Burke says he is horrified that the government has handed water back to the Nats. But Canavan, one of the Nats young turks, says:
There is always got to be a balance between economic, social and environmental outcomes in the Murray-Darling Basin and one of those important outcomes is to ensure we protect the food production sector. It delivers 40% of our food so everyone can keep getting access to cheap and affordable food. There’s 2 million people who live in the basin. We need to protect their jobs. And of course we need to protect the thousands of wetlands that are in the basin too. But we have done that in a Coalition government. Water used to be in the agricultural department before 2007 and this just returns to what we had then.
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Ministry bets
Barrie Cassidy is reporting that even though Joe Hockey will not stand down, Scott Morrison will be offered the treasury portfolio. Cassidy’s bets include:
- Treasurer: Scott Morrison
- Immigration minister: Michaelia Cash (currently assisting)
- Employment minister: Arthur Sinodinos
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Communications minister: Joe Hockey
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Six things Barnaby Joyce could do on water. By the pesky Tony Windsor.
In the course of my live blogging, I have been having a Twitter conversation with former New England independent Tony Windsor. Windsor has been messing with the mind of his successor, the agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce. Given Joyce now has water in his portfolio, he is calling on the minister to use it to do something about the $1.2bn Shenhua Watermark mine on the Liverpool Plains. Windsor is toying with running in his old seat against Joyce.
@pnank @gabriellechan @The_Nationals If Joyce gets water he can't hide behind his "done everything I can " excuse on Liv Plains groundwater
— Tony Windsor (@TonyHWindsor) September 15, 2015
@gabriellechan @pnank @The_Nationals The Water Trigger relates to mining and CSG - his Ministry can prevent Shenhua proceeding
— Tony Windsor (@TonyHWindsor) September 15, 2015
@gabriellechan @pnank @The_Nationals He could request a full risk profile of cumulative risks to water on the LIv Plains including Shenhua
— Tony Windsor (@TonyHWindsor) September 15, 2015
@gabriellechan @pnank @The_Nationals He could use the balance of power to declare the LP a no go zone due to high risk to water
— Tony Windsor (@TonyHWindsor) September 15, 2015
@gabriellechan @pnank @The_Nationals He could have a serious conversation with Malcolm about cross over points re Water Act & water trigger
— Tony Windsor (@TonyHWindsor) September 15, 2015
@gabriellechan @pnank @The_Nationals He could seek mentoring as Bob Baldwin did from Malcolm on how water leg works & relates to M Darling
— Tony Windsor (@TonyHWindsor) September 15, 2015
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There is a whole lot of King is Dead, Long Live the King going on this morning. Finance minister Mathias Cormann, a staunch Abbott supporter, has just done a doorstop, talking about the leadership change as “ancient history”.
I look forward to doing everything I can to support the new leader, to support Malcolm Turnbull. I support unequivocally the new leader. I’m a team player. It is incumbent for all of us to unite behind the leadership team of Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop. All of this is now ancient history ... I think all of us now need to put the past behind us.
Josh Frydenberg, the assistant treasurer and Abbott supporter, looks a little glum on ABC 24. He is one of the rising stars of the government but presumably he is one of a number of Abbott supporters who await their ministry fate. He is trying to smile though, when asked about the poll bounce.
I mean there is, you know, rolling polls in this business that we’re in of politics, but certainly Malcolm Turnbull is off to a good start. He performed very well in parliament yesterday. I don’t think Labor put a glove on him and clearly we’ve now got an agreement with the National party which is important because we are a coalition and we will get on and continue to prosecute our economic and national security agenda.
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Just by the by, the United States “central command” says Australian fighter jets have dropped their first bombs inside Syria. Turnbull will have to get his head around that one.
Remember, he met with the director general of security, Duncan Lewis, straight after his first leadership meeting yesterday.
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Lenore Taylor has written a fabulous profile of the new PM here, dubbed the Malcolm Experiment. Here is a taste:
Australians have high hopes for the Turnbull experiment. A snap poll on his first day as prime minister suggested he is the preferred PM for 70% of the nation. He has at most a year to vindicate the voters’ confidence and also to justify the wrenching decision made by his colleagues on Monday – to do what they had always criticised the Labor party for doing: overthrowing a first-term prime minister in the dead of night.
Malcolm Turnbull is still finalising his ministry and that announcement is expected at the weekend, along with the Canning byelection. Remember that?
Our friends at Crikey have reported the Reachtel poll – with the then hypothetical leadership of Malcolm Turnbull.
The Poll Bludger, William Bowe reports yesterday:
A ReachTEL poll conducted in the electorate as the action unfolded last night found the Liberal lead at its usual 52-48, but that this would blow out to 57-43 if Malcolm Turnbull was leader. Under the assumption of Tony Abbott’s leadership, Andrew Hastie had 45.3% of the primary vote, Matt Keogh 36.4%, and the Greens 7.4%. Three earlier Reachtel polls had Hastie between 46.5% and 47.3%, Keogh between 33.0% and 35.5%, and the Greens between 8.0% and 9.6%. The respondent-allocated two-party preferred result is 52-48 to Hastie, suggesting a preference share of a bit under 40% – quite a bit higher than the 25% or so of earlier Reachtel polls, but still below the 2013 result of 48%.
In other words, the Liberals are expecting an immediate poll bounce from the Turnbull leadership. If only we could see the Liberal strategist Mark Textor’s numbers.
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Good morning blogans,
The most interesting thing on the ReturnBull era - as my colleague Katharine Murphy calls it - is the juggling act the new prime minister is undertaking to balance all the interests in the Liberal-National coalition.
On the top of the list was the Coalition agreement with the National party.
The main point is that responsibility for water goes from the environment portfolio to agriculture.
The interesting thing to remember is most of the deal is predicated on cabinet consideration. Cabinet must consider – but not necessarily act on – the following:
- the effects test in competition policy which would stop big businesses dominating particular markets at the expense of smaller operators (like farmers). It is called the effects test because a regulator would take into account the effect of business behaviour on the market.
- $1000 a year for 140,000 stay at home parents under Family Tax Benefit part B.
The Nationals have obviously been reading trade agreements because the deal includes a side letter, with commitment to maintaining current conservative policies on climate change and a plebiscite on same sex marriage after the next election. More on those in a moment.
There is a whole lot of commentary around this morning so I will give you a touch of that in a moment. Join us on the Twits @gabriellechan and @mpbowers. Let’s hit publish.
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