Night time politics
A much more sedate start to the week than we have seen lately, but we have learnt a few things
AGL chief Andy Vesey fronted for his meeting with the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, over the future of the Liddell power station. Both sides described it as “constructive” but nothing concrete has come from it.
Instead, Frydenberg says:
- AGL have agreed to take a proposal to its board to keep Liddell open for another five years beyond 2022, or sell it to another investor who would be willing to keep it running.
- It has also agreed to investigate options to ensure additional despatchable supply to the market, comparable with what Liddell produces, so there is no shortfall.
- It has asked for 90 days to prepare that proposal.
- Financial assistance from the government wasn’t part of the day’s discussions.
So stay tuned.
Pauline Hanson is worried abut ‘multiple marriage’. But it is OK, because “a lot of the gays don’t even agree with same-sex marriage either.”
Barnaby Joyce wants people to “just get out of my face” when it comes to the marriage equality campaign.
Matt Canavan is “probably one of the smartest people in politics,” according to Joyce.
Matt Canavan created a furore when he told Sky News the marriage equality debate “hasn’t been that bad”, adding people should “stop being delicate little flowers and have a proper debate”.
The same-sex marriage postal survey ballot paper was released – it will start being posted out tomorrow.
Labor and the government are working furiously on legislation to add safeguards to campaign materials.
The government passed three pieces of legislation:
- International Monetary Agreements Amendment Bill 2017
- Liquid Fuel Emergency Amendment Bill 2017
- Product Emissions Standards Bill
NSW’s top water bureaucrat, Gavin Hanlon, is facing misconduct proceedings following the interim report into allegations of Murray-Darling water theft.
Energy continues to dominate the parliamentary agenda.
Media reform is inching closer – but doesn’t seem to be quite there yet.
That is pretty much it for today – we’ll be back tomorrow for more fun and games – expect more on marriage equality and energy policy, and if the government is lucky, media reforms may finally look like being cleared from the agenda.
A big thank you to everyone for nursing me through my first day, especially the Guardian Australia parliament brains trust, Katharine Murphy, Gareth Hutchens and Paul Karp, and particularly Gabrielle Chan and Mike Bowers for the guiding me through the jitters.
See you tomorrow.
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As the government and Labor attempt to nut out urgent safeguards for the marriage equality campaign, keep an eye out for the materials.
Same-sex marriage survey: help us track dubious claims and misleading material https://t.co/1bUAnoHllj
— Greg Jericho (@GrogsGamut) September 11, 2017
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We are still waiting on any word from AGL chief Andy Vesey’s meeting with Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg
Vesey wouldn’t say whether or not the government was right when it said AGL could be tempted into selling the Liddell power station to an investor willing to keep it open beyond 2022, as he walked into parliament.
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Sarah Hanson-Young is speaking to David Speers and says she doesn’t think media reforms, which are due to come up in the Senate at any moment, will be voted on tonight.
The Greens came back to the government negotiating table when it became obvious that One Nation could potentially strike a deal with the government which could affect future funding for the ABC.
The government placed those demands in another piece of legislation. But the Greens are still talking to the communications minister, Mitch Fifield, over protections and incentives for smaller media companies, while Nick Xenophon negotiates better tax breaks. But it doesn’t look like the final deal has been struck as yet.
On another note, Hanson-Young has seized the opportunity to give a shoutout to her friend – Jacinda Ardern – the New Zealand Labour leader who has been defying all expectations in NZ’s election campaign.
NZ heads to the polls on 23 September.
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Back in the Senate, and it looks like the Greens were attempting to wedge Labor into a position on Liddell.
They just moved the motion:
That the Senate supports the closure of Liddell power station in 2022, as currently planned, and calls on the government to:
a) abandon any attempts to extend the life of this ageing coal-fired power station;
b) address any issues of security of supply through means identified by the Australian Energy Market Operator, such as dispatchable renewables, storage and demand management; and
c) develop a plan for the orderly retirement of coal-fired power stations in Australia.
It was defeated, seven to 44.
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Looks like the ABS has included quite the jaunty exclamation mark on the marriage equality postal survey. These should be in your hands very soon.
Here it is: your first look at the same-sex marriage postal form #auspol pic.twitter.com/7R5b9nhNk1
— Bevan Shields (@BevanShields) September 11, 2017
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AGL chief Andy Vesey is in the building for his meeting with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and energy minister Josh Frydenberg.
The government is hoping to convince Vesey to keep the ageing Liddell power station open beyond 2022, when it is slated to be closed, or at least sell it to someone who will keep it going.
Vesey has repeatedly stated AGL’s intention to get out of coal. So it should be an interesting chat.
Keeping old coal plants open won't deliver the reliable, affordable energy our customers need: https://t.co/vY0WJGkEBS
— Andy Vesey (@AndyVesey_AGL) September 5, 2017
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Labor’s Julie Collins and Terri Butler have jointly condemned Matt Canavan’s “delicate little flowers” comments in regards to the marriage equality debate, as “callous and dangerous and shows an appalling lack of judgement”.
There is no room for any person to be given a license to air hateful, ignorant or unsubstantiated views that may cause harm,” Collins and Butler said in their joint release.
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Nothing like a Harry Potter reference to get tempers flaring...always
Guess I need to share this again. https://t.co/u9DH9yH4TX
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) September 11, 2017
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See no evil, et al
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Looking too pleased Mr Husic.
Lionel Murphy documents to be released on Thursday
Senate president, Stephen Parry, has given on update on release of documents from the Lionel Murphy misconduct inquiry. The documents will be tabled in both houses of parliament at 9.30am on Thursday and be available on the Australian Parliament House website.
If you want the background on these docs, Richard Ackland did a piece here.
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What is probably the last question is a Dixer to immigration minister Peter Dutton on border protection.
Shorten to Turnbull: His minister for energy has said, and I quote, we are moving away from coal, and that is not a bad thing. Does the minister’s statement reflect the policy?
Turnbull comes out all bluff and bluster, speaking of Labor blunders and tragedies.
There is a transition in the energy market from thermal power to cleaner sources of generation. That is a fact...
For a short history lesson on broader facts, read Katharine Murphy here.
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Tony Abbott & Ian Goodenough during a division @AmyRemeikis @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/790APHdqCA
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) September 11, 2017
Labor’s Pat Conroy to Turnbull: On the weekend the National Party, the member for New England of whom is the most senior official, voted to disregard renewable energy sources. Will it affect the [renewable energy] players in New England?
Turnbull appears to confirm the Nationals motion against renewables means nothing.
The policies of the Coalition government are determined by the Cabinet and the Coalition.
Turnbull quotes Conroy’s first speech.
He has said coal mining began as soon as European settlement began. It permeates every aspect of life in the Hunter. In March this year, he said, and I quote the honourable member, he said, clean coal is a lie. It is not the future for this nation. In fact, he said, it is doing a great disservice to the coal communities of this country to dangle the prospect of future coal-fired generation in this country.
(The government has spent the past few days targeting Labor MPs in coal seats, such as Conroy and Joel Fitzgibbon.)
Conroy was forced to withdraw an unparliamentary comment during the PM’s answer.
Pat Conroy withdraws after calling PM an "idiot"
— Matthew Doran (@MattDoran91) September 11, 2017
This is only Monday #qt
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Bill Shorten sits on the government benches during a division @AmyRemeikis @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/elJ4MX9ES4
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) September 11, 2017
Labor’s Chris Bowen to Morrison: The government’s report said that implementing a clean energy target would put downward pressure on energy prices. At a time when wages are flatlining and the government supports penalty rate cuts, why is the treasurer not fighting for a clean energy target?
Morrison does not address the clean energy target but tries this Harry Potter riff:
If he went to Hogwarts, he would have been in the house of Slytherin. The only difference between him and other members of Slytherin is that some of them came good.
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Energy and environment minister Josh Frydenberg gets a Dixer on power but when he tries to use the incredibly clever* nicknames Blackout Bill and Brown Out Bowen, speaker Smith sits him down and the Coalition loses the question.
*sarcasm warning
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Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison: This Thursday is the anniversary of the prime minister promising new economic leadership. With the government in its fifth year in office, can the treasurer confirm that under this government, household debt is up, underemployment is up and wages growth is down?
Morrison welcomes the first Labor question to him in more than 100 days. He predicts ruin and damnation (taxes up!) under a future Labor government.
They want to take a big, soggy tax blanket and throw it over the Australian economy. That is the plan of the leader of the opposition and the shadow treasurer.
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George Brandis rejoices in Coalition diversity
Labor’s questions in Senate question time have focused on the clean energy target, after the Nationals conference passed a motion calling for an end to subsidies for renewables within five years.
Simon Birmingham denied the government was standing in the way of a mechanism that would reduce prices, explaining it was carefully considering its position before responding to the Finkel review recommendation for a CET.
Asked about George Christensen’s threat to cross the floor if the government proposes a CET, George Brandis says the Coalition “rejoices” in the diversity of opinions but Christensen’s view is “not the policy of the government”.
After a Dorothy Dixer to Michaelia Cash the employment minister goes on a bit of a tear about a report the SDA is paying 10% of union members’ fees to Coles and Woolworths as an administration fee for deducting union fees.
Cash:
What does the SDA or employer actually get from this arrangement? Nobody knows, because until recently, nobody knew about this transaction. What it means is that with up to $500 per year being paid in membership fees, of that $50 goes back to Coles or Woolies. All I can say is it must be a very complex deduction process. What this is is another example of concern about the financial deals done by big unions and big employers.”
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Smiles all round.
Definite mood change from last I saw him.
Mark Butler to Turnbull: Can the prime minister confirm that on the 18th of July, Senator Canavan became aware that he was an Italian citizen. On 24 July Senator Canavan triggered a legal instrument requiring the government to act on price controls and the next day he resigned from cabinet. Why did the prime minister allow Senator Canavan to make decisions on export controls the day before he resigned, when he was already fully aware there were doubts over his qualifications to be a member of parliament?
The PM starts on how energy prices are all Labor’s fault and accuses Butler of failing on the energy issue when in government.
All of the ministers are eligible to sit in this house, and indeed, in the Senate. We rely on the advice we have received.
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Speaker Smith has now ruled - as anticipated - no more gags against Barnaby Joyce.
Everyone goes back to their pews. Still another half hour or so to go of QT so we shall see if Labor tries again. Last week Speaker Smith said enough with the gag.
Labor loses the attempt to gag Joyce by 64-72.
Andrew Wilkie, Cathy McGowan and NXT’s Rebekha Sharkie are abstaining from the gag vote.
Labor moves that Barnaby Joyce be no longer heard. Adam Bandt votes with Labor. #qt
— David Crowe (@CroweDM) September 11, 2017
Labor gags Barnaby Joyce. Again.
There is a Dixer to Barnaby Joyce but Labor moves the member no longer be heard.
GAG.
A vote ensues.
The move is over Joyce’s fitness to answer questions, given the high court citizenship case.
Labor has exceeded Tony Abbott’s record for suspending question time.
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Denison independent Andrew Wilkie says Centrelink causes more complaints to his office than any other issue. When will the government fix it?
Human services minister Alan Tudge says he is driving the largest improvement program to Centrelink ever.
Tudge says the Centrelink system has not been changed for 30 years but that’s all changing, says he. He says call waiting times are improving, you can track claims on phones and you can get answers via the virtual assistant.
Wilkie looks unconvinced.
Keen to hear any experiences on Centrelink, dear readers.
Labor’s Jason Clare to Turnbull: On 24 July, Matt Canavan notified the government’s intention to pull the trigger on gas export controls. Is the government refusing to pull the trigger because there are doubts about Senator Matt Canavan’s beginning of the gas export control process?
Turnbull says no, refers him to previous answers and sits down.
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The second government question is also on energy. Interesting when both government and opposition pursue the same subjects (albeit from different points of view). It is clearly the issue of the day for voters.
Plibersek to Turnbull: Power prices have never been higher than under this government, now in its fifth year. He used to acknowledge that the fastest way to bring down power prices was to act on gas. Is the government refusing to pull the trigger on gas export controls because there are serious legal doubts about the ministerial actions of the deputy prime minister? Why are doubts about his deputy standing in the way of lower power prices for Australians today?
Turnbull says the minister’s determination was taken after lots of advice from various quarters so the decision is all good. Not in so many words ... but more.
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First government question is on how the Coalition’s energy policy *unicorn* is pushing down energy prices.
Turnbull makes a suggestion about Labor MPs:
They are all making the sign of solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood, they might want to think about that.
Labor MPs were holding up four fingers to signify how long the government has been in power.
Turnbull suggests holding four fingers up is the sign of the Muslim Brotherhood, to which Labor calls on him to withdraw. Turnbull does withdraw, reluctantly.
No substantive points made in the answer.
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OK people it is Gabrielle Chan back with you for QT.
Shorten to Turnbull: The Liberal government is now in its fifth year of office. Since the 2013 election, have power prices gone up or down?
Turnbull starts off calling Shorten Blackout Bill and Speaker Smith pulls him into line. *such a bad joke*.
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Lunchtime politics
- Barnaby Joyce has told advocates on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate to calm down, stop yelling and “get out of my face”. Matt Canavan – temporarily not the resources minister – has simultaneously suggested people should stop being delicate little flowers and get on with a proper marriage debate.
- Amendments have passed the Senate to ensure “modern communications” such as texts are covered by the Electoral Act. Both the Coalition and Labor supported the changes which arose from the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters hearings into the 2016 election. This is the bill that is the end result of Malcolm Turnbull’s cranky election night speech, specifically Labor texts making claims on the Coalition’s Medicare plans.
- The Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (Naif) is looking at another railway project for a mining operation, according to reports by Fairfax after an unintended leak of classified documents.
- Two other bills have passed the Senate, one relating to international borrowings and another relating to liquid fuel. The Senate is currently debating product emissions legislation.
- If the Senate passes the product emissions bill, it will be on to – drum roll – the bill to dump cross-media ownership laws. We still don’t know whether the media bill will pass as Nick Xenophon continues to play his cards close to his chest. While One Nation wants to toughen requirements for the ABC, Xenophon wants tax breaks for small independent publishers.
-
Question time coming up at 2pm.
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Nicole Hasham from Fairfax is reporting a confidentiality breach within the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility revealed a second mining project is being considered for a government loan.
Hasham reports the proponents of WA’s Balla Balla project have approached the NAIF for funding.
That would make it the second mining project looking for public funds, with Adani’s Carmichael mine in Queensland the current focus of the debate of how the $5bn fund should be spent.
We are seeking to confirm and will let you know what we learn.
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Jumping back into the Senate for a moment; after absolutely whipping through its first two pieces of legislation, it seems to have become a little bogged down in number three – the liquid fuel emergency amendment bill 2017, of all things.
Essentially, the government wants permission to enter into commercial arrangements for oil stockholdings.
Nick Xenophon has a lot of questions about this one. A lot.
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This from NSW could have federal implications...
AAP reports that NSW’s top water bureaucrat Gavin Hanlon is facing misconduct procedures after an interim report into allegations of water theft in the Murray Darling Basin was submitted to the state government.
The report released on Monday found an urgent fix is needed in NSW to repair an “ineffectual” water-compliance and enforcement system.
In July, Four Corners also revealed recordings of the NSW deputy director general of the NSW Department of Primary Industries, Gavin Hanlon, allegedly offering to share internal “debranded” government information with a group of irrigators via a Dropbox account. Hanlon has referred the matter to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac).
The NSW government appointed the former head of the National Water Commission, Ken Matthews, to investigate the claims and his team has since met with almost 40 people and received more than 3,000 documents.
Matthews on Monday recommended a set of reforms to help overhaul the system – which he labeled “ineffectual” and in need of significant and urgent improvement – saying no change was not an option.
Along with Matthews’s probe, the allegations of water theft had been referred to the state’s independent commission against corruption.
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Speaking to Sky News, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has responded to Nationals senator Matt Canavan’s “delicate little flowers” comment on the marriage equality debate.
Mental health in the gay and lesbian community is a very big issue – it is an issue in the broader community of course – but there are young people in particular who are struggling with coming out, they are struggling with this debate.
We keep being told it is a respectful debate, but it is not always a respectful debate and the fact of the matter is, we have made the point that this postal survey is wrong for a whole range of reasons, one of them is some of the things that are being said in this debate is very unfortunate and if you are saying to people who are on the other side of the argument to grow a spine and to listen to the arguments I think that is, frankly, a pretty unfortunate way of putting it.”
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While we’re speaking of the postal survey campaign, Liberal senator James Paterson has had a little to say about that campaign safeguard legislation the government and Labor have spent the weekend pulling together, AAP reports.
He seems to agree with shadow attorney Mark Dreyfus that it would be impossible for any legislation to regulate all communications during the campaign.
“Truth in advertising is almost certainly unconstitutional and a violation of the implied right to political communication,” Paterson told reporters.
“I think we should be very careful about going further than we normally do for normal elections.”
Here’s one of the smartest people in politics (as declared by Barnaby Joyce) asking everyone to “stop being delicate little flowers and have a proper debate” on marriage equality
. @mattjcan says can’t we ‘just grow a spine and grow up’ on same sex marriage debate which ‘hasn’t been that bad’ https://t.co/eHYQeJY3NN pic.twitter.com/gegL6kqibe
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) September 11, 2017
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The Great Barrier Reef is fine - and everyone should stop saying otherwise, says LNP Senator Ian Macdonald.
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We’ve moved on to the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Welfare Reform) Bill in the House - and Labor’s Anne Aly is arguing against the government’s plan to drug test welfare recipients. She says the infrastructure isn’t in place to support drug users who are attempting to overcome their addiction and instead of helping, the legislation will hinder rehabilitation attempts.
Speaking of truth in advertising, LNP senator Ian Macdonald has once again taken umbrage at the claim the Great Barrier Reef is dying.
But Greens Senator Nick McKim said it was beyond time Macdonald acknowledged climate change was real, particularly as Hurricane Irma lashed the Florida coast.
The Greens are warning climate change is the single greatest threat to Australia’s national security, with AAP reporting Peter Whish-Wilson’s frustration at “short-term stupid politics” and its impact on climate action.
“Politics is failing this planet,” Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
“When you see the potentially trillions of dollars of damage that are being done to the US economy by these super storms … then you understand why climate change is the biggest single threat to our national security in Australia as well.
AAP reports a Senate inquiry into the impact of climate change, described as the “first of its kind”, has just finished taking submissions and will meet this week to set dates for its first public hearings.
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Politics really can create strange bedfellows - Pauline Hanson has just taken the Senate floor to give her support to a Greens amendment, which would make it an offence for inaccurate or misleading statements to be included in election advertising.
For Hanson, it is personal - she says the CFMEU is running a scare campaign against One Nation “and it’s not even an election yet”.
But really, the amendment, like all of the Greens amendments, needs the support of either the government or Labor to get up, and neither seem so inclined.
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YouGov, a UK import to the Australian polling market, held a briefing this morning with their chief executive, Stephan Shakespeare.
YouGov has a good record in the UK – correctly predicting a hung parliament before the 2017 election and accurately predicting 93% of constituencies.
At the briefing, we heard the main difference between YouGov and other Australian polls is YouGov is using respondent allocated preferences, rather than looking at how they voted at the last election. Take this with a grain of salt, because Morgan poll has also tried this, but YouGov also claims to have better sampling by collecting more information about respondents.
In Australia, YouGov has been swimming against the current of the other polls: finding in July that the Coalition lead Labor in two-party preferred terms; and then finding they were split 50-50. YouGov accounts for the difference in this way: with One Nation increasing its vote since the 2016 election, and most One Nation votes coming from the Coalition, the votes are flowing back to the Coalition.
Shakespeare:
“We think that historical precedent here could be misleading. And this – in a way – is where you do have some potential echo with other elections. You’re normally right to use historical precedent, history normally repeats itself, but when it changes you’re not going to catch it and you’ll be caught out. That’s what happened with the Brexit ... it could be, again, by not asking people the exact order of their preference those polls are not fully catching a lot of One Nation voters are going to put the Liberal Party second.”
Shakespeare said on current numbers YouGov predicts the yes campaign will win the same-sex marriage postal survey. He said people’s response on whether they intend to vote “correlate very strongly” with those who actually vote. All polls so far, including Guardian’s Essential poll, have found that yes voters are more likely to vote than no voters.
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Back in the House for a moment and Bob Katter is holding a map of the world and reading out the countries which use ethanol as a fuel source, as part of his push for the Renewable Fuel Bill. Ethanol is not a new issue for Katter - or his party. It has formed a big part of his Katter’s Australian Party platform in Queensland.
He says it is about saving lives. It would also be about saving farmers – ethanol would open up a huge market for grain growers.
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Still in the Senate and One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts has a bit to say about the Electoral and Other Legislation Amendment Bill - he called the Mediscare campaign “deplorable”.
He says One Nation will support the bill because they want to start putting “the trust back into politics” and believes this is one of the first steps to putting “people first”.
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Hello - it’s Amy. I’ve been given the keys for the first time, but no need to panic - the glorious Gabrielle Chan remains less than two feet (0.6m) away to help guide me through. I look forward to getting to know all of you as we go along. I’m thrilled to be here, but don’t be shy in letting me know your thoughts.
Alright, everyone strapped in? Let’s get started.
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The Senate has ripped through its first bill, International Monetary Agreements Amendment (New Arrangements to Borrow) Bill 2017.
They are now onto the electoral amendments - aka Mediscare changes. Labor is supporting these changes. The Greens are trying to amend the bill but without Labor support they have no chance of getting up.
Labor will also support the following two bills:
- Liquid Fuel Emergency Amendment Bill 2017
- Product Emissions Standards Bill 2017
Which means the Senate may even get to the media bill today, which junks the current cross media ownership laws (2 out of 3 rule and the reach rule). But we won’t hold our breath.
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And one more Barnaby moment because I cannot resist. Joyce was asked about the temporarily suspended resources minister Matt Canavan, who on the weekend described renewables as a short term sugar hit. (This is the minister who, once suspended, said it was an honour to represent the mining sector.)
Joyce essentially said Canavan - a former adviser to Barnaby – did not need to stick to the songsheet because he was no longer a member of cabinet (for the time being).
Matt Canavan is probably one of the smartest people in Australian politics, there is no doubt about that.
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Barnaby Joyce: Don't yell at me about marriage, get out of my face
I have to travel back to Barnaby Road for a minute.
He spoke to Karvelas about energy policy, as reported earlier, but he also spoke about the marriage debate.
Joyce says people are “sick of being yelled at by in some instances, both sides”. His point is they have made up their mind already and they will send their ballot back and be done with it.
This is Barnaby’s position - that we all know.
I have told people that I believe in the current definition of marriage. I am no saint, I just think that is a contract that works. If you want to know my position, there it is...
Malcolm Turnbull is allowed to express his views and good luck to him. This is not something that is going to go along party lines, it is going to go along people’s personal views...
Joyce says he will back the outcome of the marriage survey, whatever the result.
If they want to keep the definition as it is, which is currently my position, then it stays where it is and it is so simple, but I just don’t want people standing in the corner yelling at me telling me if I don’t agree with them, then I am somehow less than human. Just get out of my face.
Queensland LNP MP and assistant minister James McGrath has called for former and serving defence force personnel and their families to be given priority boarding at airports.
McGrath has written to the CEOs of Qantas, Virgin, Jetstar, Tigerair and REX asking them to introduce the measure, AAP reports.
This simple gesture, to afford these men and women priority boarding, would go a long way to further encourage a culture of appreciation of the service and sacrifice our servicemen and women have made.
The National Mental Health Commission’s co-chair, Professor Allan Fels has issued a statement warning the same sex marriage debate has heightened discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) people.
Despite the fact the majority of Australians are supportive of LGBTIQ people, unfortunately unacceptable sentiments are being expressed around the debate,” Professor Fels said.
LGBTIQ people have been experiencing damaging behavior in their workplaces, communities and in social and traditional media.
The Commission is alarmed about the potential negative health impacts these debates are having on individuals, couples and families who face scrutiny and judgement.
Fels’s co-chair Lucy Brogden is trying to inject some “empirical evidence” into debate.
For example, same sex marriage policies are associated with a reduction in the proportion of high school students reporting suicide attempts, according to research in America.
Another myth opponents of same-sex marriage claim, is that children from same-sex parent families experience poorer health and social outcomes – research contradicts this.
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Housekeeping 2.
In the Senate, we have the electoral amendments which are essentially the Coalition’s response to the so-called Mediscare campaign at the last election.
The new bill comes after the report by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters.
It will extend laws to “modern communication channels” and
require all paid electoral advertising to be authorised; require entities subject to the electoral funding and financial disclosure regime to include this information in their political communications; ensure the obligation to authorise electoral and referendum matter primarily rests with those responsible for the decision to communicate it...
It will also introduce civil penalties administered by the Australian Electoral Commission.
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Housekeeping 1.
In the lower house, we have private members’ bills and committee biz this morning. In the arvo, we move on to government business including the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Welfare Reform) Bill 2017.
This is the bill that streamlines multiple payments for a main payments but the issue for our purposes is that welfare recipients will no longer be able to use “drug or alcohol dependency as an excuse for failing to meet their requirements”.
This bill came out of this year’s budget and here is a ready reckoner on all the details.
The other government bill in the house is the Australian Border Force Amendment (Protected Information) Bill 2017.
Gareth Hutchens reported the guts of this last month:
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has put forward amendments to the 2015 Australian Border Force Act that will make it easier for social workers, lawyers, nurses and security guards working in Australia’s offshore detention centres to talk publicly about the shocking treatment of refugees without being jailed.
Refugee advocates say it represents a stunning backdown on the government’s controversial legislation, arguing the government is only doing so because it is in the middle of a high court challenge against the legislation that it knows it will lose.
There is also question time at 2pm.
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Matt Hatter makes an early guest appearance.
@gabriellechan @AmyRemeikis 🎶Good morning🎶 I hope @Barnaby_Joyce got the chance to limber up before discussing the Nats energy policy. pic.twitter.com/7SQrx0fWMJ
— The Matt Hatter (@MattGlassDarkly) September 10, 2017
I’m sorry to boom the Barnaby photo but while we are on the DPM, Sarah Martin of the West Oz reports that the Nats ran a fund-raising speed-dating program before their weekend national conference.
With Joyce in the high court over citizenship, he may well be facing a byelection that would cost a bomb and bring out all sorts of people with money campaigning against him. Even the former New England independent Tony Windsor has not ruled out a tilt.
The party offered all comers access to federal MPs at $8,000 a pop but Martin reports party insiders said the fundraising was not specifically about New England. Except that it would help if the Nats had to fight a campaign there. A federal election campaign is up to two years out.
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James Massola reports on a Fairfax Ipsos poll, which has Labor continuing its lead on a two-party preferred basis but Bill Shorten taking a bit of a dive.
Bill Shorten’s popularity and standing as preferred prime minister has taken a hammering from voters but Labor has kept its election-winning lead over the Turnbull government.
The findings, contained in September’s Fairfax-Ipsos poll, show Labor has maintained the 53 per cent to 47 per cent lead in the two-party preferred vote it enjoyed in May, based on 2016 election preference flows.
Massola says if the swing was uniform, which it rarely is, it would mean a loss of 16 seats to the Coalition and a loss of government.
But Labor strategists will be concerned at the big dip in voters’ assessment of Mr Shorten’s performance; approval of the opposition leader fell 6 percentage points since May, from 42 per cent to 36 per cent while his disapproval spiked from 47 per cent to 52 per cent, a statistically significant net 11-point shift.
It is one poll but there you have it. The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, told the ABC that the job of opposition leader is the hardest one in the country and oppositions often get voted in when the opposition leader’s approval ratings are not so good. Ish.
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Is Mike Bowers making a point about running on borrowed time?
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Malcolm Turnbull is speaking to Eddie Maguire on MMM in Melbourne.
He is being urbane Malcolm, full of bonhomie.
The PM skates over the top of a brief flurry about a picture of him on social media “multitasking”, holding his grand-daughter and drinking a beer. It really was a crap story in a tabloid so we won’t go any further there.
But to the more substantive issues, Turnbull prosecutes his conservative argument in support of marriage equality. This is the argument he gave at the weekend that marriage was a conservative institution and we should be extending it to the couple down the road.
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A lot of the gays don't even agree, says Hanson
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has gone down the Cory Bernardi highway and raised the next step from same-sex marriage: multiple marriage.
What I am concerned about is that if the parliament chooses to implement this next thing, are they going to implement multiple marriages? That is of concern to me ...
But Hanson does not agree with the survey, which is a waste of money. Take it to the next election and discuss it again, says Pauline. Ad infinitum.
I think it is farcical and irresponsible to waste $122m when it should go to the next election and we should look at the implications.
Even some of the gays don’t agree with marriage equality, says Hanson.
A lot of the gays don’t even agree with same-sex marriage either.
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Just back to Joyce for a minute, Karvelas presses him on the disconnection between the Nationals’ motion to remove all subsidies from renewables (as opposed to fossil fuels) and the Liberals stated need to include renewables.
He says Australia has to meet its international agreements – read Paris – and renewables are a part of that.
So the underlying message from the Nationals leader is that the party’s weekend motion allowed the Nats to send a message but it would be business as usual in the Coalition party room.
The point of the National party is you don’t go out and preach to them, they tell you what is happening in their electorates. They tell you what is happening at their local town or their country city or in their remote area.
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Good morning blog people,
Gabrielle Chan here. I am making a short guest appearance to get your new live blogger, Amy Remeikis, into the swing.
There are a number of moving parts this morning.
First to marriage equality and the postal survey. The government and Labor have been meeting over the weekend to discuss how to ensure hate speech is limited as far as legislatively possible.
Labor’s shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said while Labor did not approve of the marriage survey, he wanted to ensure that it was conducted as decently as possible. By Dreyfus’s account, the government has agreed and he was speaking rather positively about the government’s engagement on negotiations.
He expects protective legislation to be finalised between Labor and the government by the end of the day and for it to be passed before the end of the week, given the ballot papers are being posted out as we speak.
Labor’s main ask – apart from the usual electoral authorisations – was to outlaw vilification. Asked what sort of vilification by Patricia Karvelas, Dreyfus said we all know what vilification looks like.
But today, the government would like to have us all thinking about energy. Not so much the fact that they don’t have an energy policy to speak of but that they are getting tough on energy companies. Malcolm Turnbull will meet with AGL’s Andy Vesey to discuss the dirty issue of the Liddell coal-fired power station. That is the one AGL wants to close by 2022 and the Coalition wants them to sell instead to an unknown investor who would really love to get into coal for the foreseeable future.
The only trouble – or one of the troubles – as Katharine Murphy reports, is that even Nationals’ Andrew Broad thinks Liddell is “about stuffed”.
The chairman of federal parliament’s environment and energy committee says a fresh approach is needed on energy policy, including a new federal loan mechanism to upgrade the coal fleet and a “lock in” mechanism for the clean energy target.
Ahead of a much telegraphed meeting in Canberra on Monday between the Turnbull government and the head of AGL, Andy Vesey, about extending the operating life of the Liddell power station, the Nationals MP Andrew Broad told Guardian Australia he believed the ageing New South Wales plant was “about stuffed”.
Broad is the chairman of parliament’s multi-partisan standing committee on environment and energy, and that committee has been pursuing an extensive inquiry into modernising Australia’s electricity grid, which will report soon.
And that is coming from a Nat, whose party at the weekend passed a motion at their weekend federal conference calling for subsidies for renewables to be phased out within five years.
The deputy PM, Barnaby Joyce, has also been speaking to Karvelas on the ABC.
Joyce is ducking and weaving on the issue of energy, particularly given the Nats passed the motion against renewables. Will the Nats agree to the clean energy target – the last and biggest recommendation from the Finkel report – if it includes support for renewables.
We are guided by our party and we respect the views of our party. We are not instructed by it. We have to make sure that we take those negotiations into a Coalition, into our business arrangement with the Liberal party.
Confused? I am.
At some stage later today, I will do a baton change with Amy Remeikis once she gets her feet under the desk. Talk to me in the thread, or on the Twits @gabriellechan and @AmyRemeikis. The man with the lens Mike Bowers is stalking the building. You can talk to him and see his pics here or on the Twits @mpbowers.
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