Well, the day is most definitely winding down now.
Tomorrow is the joint party-room meeting. Plus, everyone else’s party-room meeting. As well as more Barnaby Joyce questions.
Labor had the chance to go for the jugular with Joyce today in question time, after Scott Morrison all but laid out the red carpet (or threw Joyce under the bus, depending on where you sit on the saga within the government) with his answer to the question who was responsible to signing off on the appointments of Vikki Campion:
These are addressed by the leader of the National party.”
But now that has had time to sit and stew, I predict you can expect more questions on that tomorrow.
The high court will hear Skye Kakoschke-Moore challenge former-Nick Xenophon Team candidate and party member Tim Storer for the NXT’s Senate spot. The argument there is that she is still a member of the political party that won the spot (she had to resign from the Senate during the dual-citizenship flurry) and Storer is not (he quit the party) and therefore should not be eligible.
That should be a very interesting case. Stay tuned.
Mike Bowers will be back with you all tomorrow morning. There may be running, there may not be, but there will certainly be amazing photos. Remember to follow along with him at @mpbowers and @mikepbowers.
All of the thanks to the Guardian brains trust. They do so much behind the scenes to make all my ramblings make sense, and in person – keeping me updated with things I may have missed and keeping me fed and watered and standing.
And to you, readers, as always, the biggest thank you, for playing along and making me laugh. Or cringe. Some days I am not sure. But thank you all the same. You’ll find me at @amyremeikis or @ifyouseeamy when I am not here.
Get some rest, and have a lovely evening. We’ll be back tomorrow just after 8am.
Updated
Wayne Swan, who confirmed over the weekend he would be resigning at the next election (which I reported last month and was roundly criticised for, I might add) tells David Speers on Sky that the debate over whether or not Vikki Campion was Barnaby Joyce’s partner or not is a “farce”.
“It is very clear that the code of conduct is no longer worth the paper it is written on,” he says.
Asked whether Joyce can survive this scandal:
“I can’t see it,” he says.
“No.”
Updated
Interesting news out of Queensland
#BREAKING The Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath has announced the Queensland electoral commissioner Walter van der Merwe has been suspended over "serious allegations".
— ABC Brisbane (@abcbrisbane) February 12, 2018
Mike was certainly kept busy this question time:
Malcolm Turnbull and Nigel Scullion have released a joint statement on Closing the Gap:
The tenth Closing the Gap report is the most promising snapshot since 2011 – with three of the seven targets on track to be met, including the target to halve child mortality.
The report, tabled today, shows health and education outcomes improving. In addition to the target to halve child mortality, the targets for early childhood education and Year 12 attainment are both on track.
This demonstrates the power of a collaborative approach between governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Even where targets are not on track, we have achieved solid progress in many areas compared with a decade ago.
Immunisation rates are higher, levels of antenatal care are increasing, circulatory disease has declined, and smoking rates are down.
While we celebrate these important accomplishments, it remains clear we need to continue to work in partnership with Indigenous communities to deliver improved outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people into the future.
With four of the existing targets expiring this year, the Council of Australian Governments (Coag) is working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to refresh the Closing the Gap agenda.
A renewed approach to Closing the Gap will be underpinned by the needs and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. We have heard very clearly the need for jurisdictional specific targets to give more granularity to improvements, and help focus efforts where we need to accelerate progress.
The success of the Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP) shows what we can achieve together when we set targets for which we have sole responsibility. The IPP target was achieved three years ahead of schedule and has now eclipsed $1 billion in contracts to Indigenous businesses since it was launched two-and-a-half years ago, up from just $6.2 million in 2012-13.
The Indigenous Business Sector Strategy, launched today, is a new suite of initiatives to ensure sustainable economic success for Indigenous owned-and-run businesses. New Indigenous Business Hubs will become one-stop shops for business advice and support, and a new $27 million Indigenous Entrepreneurs Capital Scheme will unlock a wider range of finance and capital.
More microfinance will ensure that Indigenous Australians in regional and remote Australia have access to the advice and capital they need to turn their idea into a new business.
Also launched today, the Indigenous Grants Policy (IGP) will pilot a new approach to Indigenous service delivery. The new IGP will apply the principles of the IPP to our service delivery funding, to increase the number of Indigenous owned and controlled organisations delivering the billions worth of grants that are intended to benefit Indigenous Australians.
A new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund represents a significant reform in the land rights journey of our country, as the $2 billion land acquisition fund set up following the Mabo (No 2) decision has been plagued with poor returns, meaning lost opportunities for the Indigenous Estate. Our reform will see the fund transferred to the Future Fund, delivering a $1.5 billion benefit over 20 years.
These additional funds will also mean that the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC), the commonwealth agency that acquires land on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, can now have its remit expanded to include sea country.
We will move the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (Aiatsis) into the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to play a more strategic role in informing the government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and languages.
These new initiatives have been the result of extensive nationwide consultations and demonstrates the Turnbull government’s commitment to working with First Australians to deliver a prosperous future.
Updated
Labor’s Milton Dick follows up Tim Hammond’s question with another question for Kelly O’Dwyer, which Scott Morrison answers in his best “sharks-are-on-the-last-six-this-close-to-the-try-line-in-the-final-with-three-points-in-it” delivery.
Two years ago the government received a report which confirmed vulnerable Australians already struggling to get by are being ripped off by unscrupulous payday lenders who charge massive interest and leave people on crippling debt they don’t have a chance of repaying. Two years on from this report, with vulnerable Australians still being exploited, why has the minister failed to introduce legislation to end dodgy behaviour in this industry?
There is a lot of yelling, but the minister does not answer the question.
Question time ends.
Updated
Tim Hammond to Scott Morrison:
“I refer to reports that a group of government backbenchers known as the parliamentary friends of payday lending have enlisted the treasurer to water down the minister for revenue’s payday lending legislation. Why is this government protecting unscrupulous operators by watering down this important legislation instead of protecting Australians who are already … vulnerable Australians who are already doing it tough?”
Morrison:
“As the matter falls to my portfolio, I can inform the member the report is entire false.”
Paul “Fletch-don’t-kill-my-vibe” (trademark Ed Husic) Fletcher kills the vibe with the next dixer.
Updated
“I’m sorry, the old Amy can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, because she’s dead.” #deathtodixers
Anthony Albanese to Barnaby Joyce:
My question is to the deputy PM and minister for infrastructure. I refer to his answers today in which he has defended Victoria’s under 10% of federal infrastructure funding by mentioning funds that have been reallocated; argued inland rail would benefit Tasmania; defended South Australia receiving 2% of funds in his portfolio by talking about his colleague’s portfolio. And on the Northern Roads program being not spent, he referred to the Nullarbor. Is it the infrastructure [minister] simply not up to the job that he has been given?”
Christopher Pyne tries to jump in and save Joyce from taking the despatch box once again, but Tony Smith rejects his entreaty.
Joyce:
And I acknowledge the question because he’s talking about people being not up to the job and I know he’s got someone well and truly in mind when he believes is not up to the job. He’s not up to the job, and I think this is a great opportunity for the member for Grayndler to show his wares, to show his wares to the Australian people and to show his wares to the leader of the opposition.
I know that you understand more than most that equity and grants money – we’re spending vastly more than you did in infrastructure and spending. We know you have no money on the table for the inland [rail]. And I know that you know more than most that you’re going to take money off the table for dams and don’t believe in infrastructure. But I believe in you, the member for Grayndler. Good luck, old mate.
I’m not sure Joyce should be talking to anyone about showing someone your wares, but then self-reflection isn’t a favourite pastime in this place.
Updated
Michael Keenan, as the minister for human services, is taking this dixer. He’s talking about people not keeping Centrelink up to date with their relationship changes.
I KID YOU NOT.
He says, “If you’re doing the wrong thing, if you’re defrauding Australian taxpayers, we will find you and you will face the consequences of your actions”.
But I guess in the wake of today’s new definition of what a “partner” is, unless you’re married you are in the clear, right?
Updated
Ugh. We just had an “alternative approaches” dixer and I fell asleep.
Updated
The member for Solomon Luke Gosling is the next to call Barnaby Joyce to the despatch box:
“Why do the budget papers show that of the $100 million allocated last financial year to the Northern Australian Roads program, only $12 million was actually invested? An 88% underspend in this area of great need.”
Gosling was VERY invested in that delivery.
Joyce:
Something-something-something-roads.
Updated
Amanda Rishworth to Barnaby Joyce:
“Why is federal infrastructure funding for South Australia just $95 million in 2020-21, or just 2% of the federal infrastructure budget?”
Joyce:
Something-something-something-frigates, something-something-something-Murray Darling
Updated
What’s that about expressing confidence being the mark of (political) death?
Labor remembers.
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull on Stuart Robert (February 2016):
My question is to the prime minister. Given that the prime minister has already expressed confidence in the former prime minister, the former treasurer, the former minister for cities and the former special minister of state, does the prime minister still retain confidence in the current minister for human services and minister for veterans’ affairs?
Turnbull: I thank the leader of the opposition for his question. I can confirm that I have confidence in all of my ministers, including the minister for human Services.
Robert was made to step down four days later.
Mark Dreyfus to Malcolm Turnbull on Mal Brough (November 2015):
My question is to the prime minister. Given the member for Fisher had admitted on national television that he had asked a commonwealth officer to procure copies of the official diary of his employer without the authorisation of his employer, why did the prime minister then give him responsibility for government integrity by appointing him as special minister of state? Does the prime minister maintain confidence in the minister?
Turnbull: The minister enjoys my confidence, and I refer you to the answer that he just gave to your earlier question.
Brough left just over a month later.
Updated
We move on to a dixer for Greg Hunt.
Anthony Albanese calls up Barnaby Joyce again:
“I refer to the government’s own budget papers that show federal infrastructure investment in Tasmania will fall from $174 million this financial year to $53 million in 2019-20. Is this a reflection of the fact not a single new federal funded infrastructure project has been commenced under either the Abbott or the Turnbull-Joyce governments?”
Joyce:
Something-something-something dams. Something-something-something inland rail.
Updated
Someone had to have the worst take:
Ah yes, please tell me more pic.twitter.com/lZHI5F3SrV
— Rudi (@RudiEdsall) February 12, 2018
Updated
Bill Shorten says his question is for the deputy Prime Minister and the chamber draws breathe in unison:
“Victoria is the fastest growing state in the nation. It is home to one in four Australians. So why is Victoria only receiving 9.7%o f the Federal Infrastructure Budget in 2017-18 Budget?”
While Labor backbenchers yell, “why do you hate Victoria”, and the government backbenchers yell about “they rejected it”, Joyce attempts to answer the question:
“It was interesting this morning, we were going through the briefing on Victoria and it’s always such a shame when $1.5 billion is offered to Victoria they rejected it. Obviously on the road east from Melbourne where this money was supposed to be spent, they decided not to spend it. They chose to spend it on the Monash Freeway. And it was not actually the terms and conditions. So when we have a government in Victoria that wishes to actually negotiate with us in a proper form, in good faith for what is actually the initial agreement,then we have a much better capacity to deliver, to deliver the infrastructure that’s required.”
He then moves on to Inland rail. Anthony Albanese stands up to object, and Joyce yells something like “here comes the next leader of the Labor party” and the whole chamber explodes. But he is done. We move on to Josh Frydenberg delivering the latest government spin disguised as a question for a constituent. #deathtodixers
From the Mike Bowers lens to your eyeballs:
Updated
Steve Ciobo seeks to win the award for most boring dixer answer ever, with several uses of the word “resolutely”.
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull:
“Next week the PM will be overseas. Will the deputy PM be acting PM in his absence? Does the PM still retain confidence in his deputy PM?”
Turnbull:
Yes to both questions.”
Updated
Peter Dutton gets his daily dose of dixer, so we have time to note that Scott Morrison just invited Labor to ask Barnaby Joyce himself about the staffing allocations.
Mark Dreyfus is back:
“I refer to the treasurer’s answer just now in which he stated the National party approved the creation of a new position last year in either the office of minister Canavan or the office of the Nationals’ whip. Which National party minister was he referring to? If he doesn’t know, will he find out and report back to the House before the end of question time?”
Scott Morrison:
“First of all, I made no such suggestion about an additional position. That was the assertion made by the member. That’s not something I’ve commented on and nor does the government go along with the idea that’s been put forward. These are addressed by the leader of the National party.”
Updated
While the next #deathtodixer threatens to see my brain leak from my ears, we can report Derryn Hinch has issued Tony Burke an apology:
On Sunrise this morning, I was asked for my opinion on foreign minister Julie Bishop’s comment yesterday about Labor’s attacks on Barnaby Joyce. She said: ‘People in glass houses …’. In response I said that Tony Burke ‘got involved with a staffer’.
I was referring to past media reports about the former minister.
Mr Burke told me today that those false reports had been withdrawn and he had received an apology.
He and Skye Laris are married and their relationship commenced in December 2013, more than two and a half years after they ceased working together.
I unreservedly apologise to Mr Burke and Ms Laris for any hurt my comments may have caused them.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce gets the next #deathtodixers, but barely gets above a flush.
We move to Mark Dreyfus asking:
“I refer to the PM’s answer just now. Which minister or office in the government approved the creation of a new position last year in either the office of Mr Canavan or the office of the then Nationals whip? Will the government release the documents relating to the creation of those positions?”
Scott Morrison, representing the special minister of state, takes it:
I refer the member to the PM’s response because he made it very clear these are matters that are dealt with by the National party. Thank you.”
Updated
Andrew Wilkie has the crossbench question for today:
“The Department of Human Services ICT [information and communication technology] jobs are being shed in Hobart in spite of an assurance from the government this would not occur. I’m told whenever an ICT specialist moves to another role, the department doesn’t refill the position and staff have been told at the end of their current assignments they’ll be deployed elsewhere. In other words, the government is reneging on its promise by stealth. Will you commit to stop the shedding of Hobart ICT jobs and give an assurance more broadly the government will maintain at least the current number of public service jobs in Hobart?”
Turnbull:
“The government recognises the importance of a strong and responsive public service. Ultimately, the role of the public service is to deliver services for the public as efficiently as possible and that’s why we’re constantly looking for ways to improve the quality of services delivered by the public service, including through our commitment to digital transformation. Now, in relation to the Department of Human Services’ Hobart ICT staff, I’m advised these employees are currently responsible for supporting the work of the National Disability Insurance Agency, including helpdesk work. As to the members’ assertion staff would be redeployed elsewhere after their current assignment, I can assure that the minister will continue to offer these employees a position within that department, including opportunities to be positioned in Hobart. I’d also add the staffing profile of the Department of Human Services in Tasmania is substantial, at 1,904 employees across the state, according to its last annual report. And the government agrees it is committed to ensuring all Tasmanians get the services they need. And I note, before I conclude, that last year 7,700 new jobs were created inTasmania.”
Updated
Vikki Campion job 'did not breach code of conduct' – PM
First Labor question on the Barnaby Joyce affair.
Mark Dreyfus to Malcolm Turnbull:
Under section 12 the PM can approve the allocation of staff to a member or senator. So is the PM or his office involved in creating a new position last year in either the office of Minister Canavan or the office of the then-Nationals whip?
Turnbull:
I’m advised that the Nationals are provided with a number of personal staff positions as a share of the government’s overall staffing pool. The distribution of those staff members between Nationals’ offices is a matter for the National party. I’m further advised that at no time did the Nationals fill all vacant staffing positions. Now, as for the staffing moves between the offices the honourable member referred to, the deputy PM addressed this in a statement on February 10, in which he said that he had not discussed Ms Campion’s employment with me or my office. He confirmed that the Nationals were responsible for decisions relating to staffing. And that the PM’s office has an administrative role in informing the Department of Finance of changes.
Updated
Scott Morrison gets the next #deathtodixer and in his rehearsed answer, we get another charming folksy analogy:
“The Labor party is about as useful to the economic debate in these times as a pig-shearing competition. Lots of squealing, no wool.”
Does anyone actually talk like this in real life?
Updated
#Deathtodixers
We move on.
Linda Burney to Malcolm Turnbull:
An estimated 17,664 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were living in out-of-home care last year, compared with [9070] when Kevin Rudd issued the apology to the stolen generations. Will he urgently address the alarming numbers of Indigenous children living in out-of-home care away from family and community?
Serious and important issue voice Turnbull:
Despite our occasional differences here in the House, I want to pay respect to the honourable member for her, for the extraordinary role model she provides as the first Aboriginal woman elected to the House of Representatives, sitting opposite the minister for Indigenous health, Ken Wyatt, I may be forgiven for using his name, the first Aboriginal man to be elected to the House of Representatives. Look, again, the opposition has proposed to have a summit on this matter. We obviously consult, we are consulting more thoroughly and comprehensively than ever before. When Chris Sarra said to me at a football match, I might say originally, that we’ve got to do things with Indigenous Australians, not to them, it absolutely, it absolutely cut through. He was dead right. That is what we have to do. And we need to engage more and consult more and we’ve done that. And I’ll just say in terms of what the honourable member raised, all questions gratefully received.
We’ve just had a special gathering here. I look forward to doing more. The critical thing is to get as much power and authority and accountability as well informed as possible. As I said in my remarks earlier today, and evolved to as local as a position as possible. In other words, to make sure the people who are closest to the problems and the challenges are most empowered to deal with them and ensure that the funds and the resources and so forth that government provides are best employed. I’ll consider the honourable member’s question and I just want to thank her for the spirit in which she asked it.
Updated
Question time begins
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull:
It’s 10 years since Kevin Rudd’s historic national apology to the stolen generations. It’s more than 20 years after the Bringing Them Home report. So will the PM join with Labor and commit to establishing a compensation scheme for the few remaining survivors of the stolen generation within commonwealth jurisdictions?
Turnbull:
The leader of the opposition, when he spoke in response to the tabling of Closing the Gap report, said he believed there were 150 surviving members of the stolen generations. Our advice is that there are, in fact, up to 500. So I just note that point. We noted his commitment that he made. We commissioned some work by the Healing Foundation to inform the government on how best to support surviving victims of the stolen generations and their families. As the honourable member understands we’re committed to working to doing things with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, not doing things to them. So the report will be due in April. And we will be considering that and obviously with the advice of our Indigenous Advisory Committee and other Indigenous leaders, as we demonstrated last week at the special gathering. We’ll be considering that report and then forming a response. I understand the spirit in which the honourable member made the commitment but I trust he understands that, as we’ve seen with refreshing the Closing the Gap targets, it’s taking a few months longer than I would have preferred. But the important thing is that we do things with Indigenous Australians, not do things to them. And that’s been one of the criticisms of the first set of targets. We’ve taken that on board and the next set are going to be the result of very careful consultation.
So, an actual answer. You can tell because the prime minister was using his “this is an important, serious matter” voice and not his “look how funny and clever I am” voice, which he deploys for dixers and political attacks. And it is not Turnbull-specific. They all have their theatre voices.
Updated
The chamber is filling with MPs and we are about to begin.
Julie Bishop is not in the chamber – she is in Kuwait.
Updated
Question time is about to begin, so I am about to head into the chamber. What fun and games await us? Will we get the definition of “partner”? What about a friend with benefits? Does a Tinder hook-up count?
Updated
Here is a sentence I never thought I would be writing; but Ian Macdonald was right!
A sharp-eyed scribe just pointed this story out to me from two years ago, when the Queensland LNP senator was complaining about the Tony Abbott ministerial code of conduct, particularly when it came to spouses vs extramarital partners.
“What I find intolerable is that because my wife happens to be married to me, she is unable to be paid for the work which she continues to do for me,” Macdonald told the head of the finance department in a letter first published by Crikey.
“I reiterate that if, rather than my wife, I was employing a mistress, that would be in order. It appears that simply because my wife is married to me she is precluded from receiving payment from her work.”
Updated
Rudd finishes with a word on the Barnaby Joyce situation:
My view on that is that this is a tragic set of personal and family circumstances. From my own experience, I know that politics is a brutal business for all of us who are in it, and at multiple levels, and for those reasons I have not the slightest intention of contributing to the public discussion of it.
Updated
Kevin Rudd has delivered some strong criticism of Malcolm Turnbull’s handling of China, accusing the government of engaging in “neo-McCarthyism”:
Representatives of a democratic society, duly elected, and a strong continuing ally to the United States, but we did not see that as therefore the basis upon which to launch some anti-Chinese jihad of the type I have seen in the current political discourse by the government. All this was used in part by Mr Turnbull to deal with the particular circumstances surrounding Senator [Sam] Dastyari, and I think as a result of that, after a period of time, Mr Turnbull found himself almost unable to control himself in terms of pursuing a domestic political agenda.
What I would say more broadly is a considered, mature, balanced, long-term strategy for engaging China is the way to go. Not one which begins to wave the flag of neo-McCarthyism in this country against the Chinese community that live here. Speak to good patriotic Chinese Australians about how they feel being fingered by Mr Turnbull generically, as a result of some of the comments made, and we create an unnecessary feeling of anxiety.
In dealing with our challenges, in engaging with a country which is a one-party state, and which is run by a Communist party that does not share our values, nothing has changed. It has always been like that. It’s been the constant in Australian politics since the day of diplomatic recognition in 1972. Our challenge is to pursue a balanced strategy, that maximises our national interests and asserts the liberal democratic society that we are, and enforces Australian laws. The laws that should be robust enough.
The law that is not robust enough is the donations law, that relates to foreign donations. There is one culprit to that, Malcolm Turnbull. He prevented it from passing the Senate. If you’re serious, Mr Turnbull, about dealing with this challenge and its influence on Australian political parties, start there.
Updated
Over at the Press Club, Kevin Rudd was just asked about Labor’s “leadership tension”.
Here is what he had to say:
We’re fortunate to have in the team Albo, a first-class political leader in his own right. We’re fortunate to have Bill Shorten as leader. And I believe our combined challenge lies in causing the Australian people to conclude that it’s time to get rid of this mob – and having just come from Queensland, I reckon the mood is about to do just that.
Updated
Campion wasn't considered to be Joyce's 'partner'
Further on that statement Fairfax reported (that Vikki Campion wasn’t considered to be Barnaby Joyce’s “partner” so no ministerial code of conduct rules were broken), this appears, from several chats with government sources this morning, to be the reasoning behind it:
-
“Malcolm Turnbull wasn’t aware of the relationship, so he didn’t give it his approval” (which appears to contradict reporting that Turnbull was made aware of the relationship some time last year. As to the when, well, that has basically been a game of table tennis);
- “Joyce is still married, so Campion doesn’t count as his partner” (despite the pair now living together, and Joyce apparently not living in his marital home from August last year);
- “National party staffing is a National party matter” (any sign-off from the PM’s office is apparently just an “administrative” tick).
Take from that what you will.
Updated
And for those asking who was in the chamber as Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten delivered their Closing the Gap statements:
The prime minister’s office has told Fairfax Vikki Campion’s jobs did not breach the ministerial code of conduct – because she was not considered to be Barnaby Joyce’s partner at the time.
BREAKING: Malcolm Turnbull's office says Vikki Campion jobs did not breach rules because she was not Barnaby Joyce's 'partner' https://t.co/c4Zrg9sbvt #auspol @jamesmassola @adamgartrell
— Federal Politics (@PoliticsFairfax) February 12, 2018
Labor to look at legislating an Indigenous voice to parliament
Bill Shorten is about to speak to parliament on the same issue (Closing the Gap).
He is going to tell them that Labor will look at legislate an Indigenous voice to parliament. Here is some of what he is expected to say:
Six months ago, after Garma, I wrote to the prime minister proposing we establish a joint parliamentary committee to put momentum behind Makarrata and to work towards finalising a referendum question.
That invitation stands and I hope we can resolve that process and agree on a referendum question and timeline.
But let me clear: bipartisanship does not mean an agreement to do nothing, it cannot be used as an alibi for inaction.
So if the current stalemate cannot be broken, if the government do not reconsider their rejection of the Statement from the Heart – and it is not too late to do so, not at all …
… if we cannot move to a referendum together, then the next Labor government will instead, as a first step, look to legislate for a voice to parliament.
I say to the prime minister and the government – we will work with you, but we will not wait for you.
We will begin the detailed design work in Opposition – working with Uluru delegates and many other First Nations people who have led the thinking on this issue.
And if we form government, we will quickly move to finalise legislation which establishes the voice and includes a clear pathway to constitutional change, enshrining the voice in the nation’s birth certificate.”
Updated
And over in the Senate, what is being debated?
The Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill 2017 is now being debated in the #Senate https://t.co/Rlcf7enhGy
— Australian Senate (@AuSenate) February 12, 2018
Updated
And for those who are not near a television, or can’t stream the speech, follow my colleague Calla Wahlquist: @callapilla
Turnbull lists the rollout of the cashless debit card as part of the government's commitment to listening to Aboriginal communities. He's using his #ClosingTheGap speech to push it.
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) February 12, 2018
Anyone wanting to watch parliament live, as Malcolm Turnbull delivers the Closing the Gap report, head here
From Turnbull’s speech:
Indigenous leaders have written to me saying that despite some small gains, those people is across the nation concede that the Closing the Gap targets were inappropriate and that there was no community buying from the outset, and that has to change. Last week, Coag had clearly stated their desire for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be equal in this work and to have real skin in the game in terms of accountability and opportunity. We heard the need to take the time and get the refresh of the Closing the Gap targets right and Coag agree to extending the time frame to October this year. We must work diligently and respectfully and this will allow us the time to do both. This three-way engagement, between commonwealth, state and territory, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, will build more accountability into a refreshed agenda.”
Updated
The 10th Closing the Gap report is tabled in parliament
Malcolm Turnbull is delivering the 10th Closing the Gap report to parliament.
The Prime Minister has tabled the annual report to Parliament on progress in #ClosingTheGap. Read the report here: https://t.co/mt7dbq3Uj8 #auspol pic.twitter.com/CMH0VMKe0x
— Political Alert (@political_alert) February 12, 2018
Updated
The ABC has just announced the Australian Financial Review’s political editor, Laura Tingle, is moving to Aunty, where she will be chief political correspondent for 7.30.
Updated
The National Press Club address is about to begin, featuring this man:
He's Kevin' he's from Queensland and he's back @AmyRemeikis @GuardianAus #politicslive https://t.co/nc6BUUd6wj pic.twitter.com/wdy2fxjsjO
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) February 12, 2018
Michelle Rowland has responded to the government’s take on the NBN:
According to NBN Co’s half-year results, taxpayers are looking at a further $450m cost blowout on the HFC (hybrid fibre co-axial) network.
The half-year results published today show the HFC cost has increased from $2,258 to $2,403 per premises.
This cost increase, if spread across the 3.1m premises due to receive HFC, would be expected to deliver a $450m hit to taxpayers.
This comes separately to the $500m potential revenue hit from the HFC halt announced in late 2017.
Despite this, it remains unclear if consumers and taxpayers are actually getting the complete story.
This is not a multi-technology mix — it’s a multi-technology mess.
Updated
We have had the first “100 per cent support” in relation to Barnaby Joyce:
Nigel Scullion angry when cornered by journalists asking about Joyce - "fair dinkum, this is the biggest beat-up I've ever seen ... I tell you what, the people who keep Barnaby in his position are National Party people and he has 100% support from all of us"
— Stephen Dziedzic (@stephendziedzic) February 11, 2018
I think we have discovered at least one #deathtodixers question today. Mitch Fifield and Mathias Cormann have found some NBN silver linings. From their joint statement:
NBN Co Limited’s 2017-18 half-yearly results show the company is continuing to achieve strong growth in activations as it speeds towards connecting 8 million premises by 2020.
NBN remains on track to complete the initial build by 2020, with over 95% of premises now in design, under construction or able to order a network service.
NBN is continuing to deliver strongly against the key targets, with $891 million in total revenue in the half year to 31 December 2017.
The financial results also show that as at 31 December 2017:
· more than half of all Australian premises were able to order a national broadband network service, with 6.1 million premises ready to connect;
· there were nearly 3.4 million premises with an active NBN service, more than double the number recorded for the previous year; and
· the average revenue per user has increased 2% to $44, up from $43.
Connections hit a record for the half year, with more than 7,000 premises switched on every working day, totalling 942,000.
The government’s approach means NBN is connecting more Australians living in both metropolitan and regional areas sooner, allowing them to realise the benefits of fast, affordable broadband.
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Yup. The joint party room meeting looks like it is going to be a barrel of laughs.
As the Nationals sit through what has to be one of the more awkward party room meetings, here is a quick refresher on some of the comments made this morning.
We’ve also taken a look at the usual staffing allocations for Whips. Vikki Campion was understood to be a senior advisor. Looking at those staffing allocations from the last few years (as provided to Senate estimates), Whips don’t usually receive senior advisors. The highest staffing allocation is usually at advisor. From the story:
There has been a focus on taxpayer-funded travel and on Campion’s movements in government staff positions once she left Joyce’s office. Labor has signalled over the weekend that it intends to investigate Joyce’s expenditure of taxpayer funds.
Campion was first moved to the office of then resources minister Matt Canavan, but once he moved to the backbench after becoming embroiled in the dual citizenship controversy, she was employed in the office of Nationals whip, Damian Drum.
As the Daily Telegraph first reported over the weekend, Drum’s staffing allocation was increased from six to seven to accommodate Campion.
Campion was understood to have moved to Drum’s office on her six-figure salary as a senior advisor. Campion’s contract ended in December last year.
An assessment of staffing allocations, tabled for Senate estimates over the last three years, shows the Nationals whip does not usually receive an allocation for a senior advisor. Of the four electorate officers, plus one or two personal staff allocations, the maximum level has traditionally been that of advisor.
The highest position allocated to the chief government whip, a more senior position than that of the Nationals whip, is also advisor.
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Of the six Liberal MPs who boycotted the stolen generations national apology (which was delivered by then-prime minister Kevin Rudd 10 years ago tomorrow), only Peter Dutton remains in parliament.
For those looking for a refresher, he was joined by Wilson Tuckey, Don Randall, Dennis Jensen, Alby Schultz and Sophie Mirabella. Quite the list.
Dutton spoke about why he chose to walk away from the apology while on Q&A in March 2010:
I regarded it as something which was not going to deliver tangible outcomes to kids who are being raped and tortured in communities in the 21st century. Now, if I thought for a moment that it was going to deliver positive outcomes to those kids, to their families, to those communities, then I would support it in a heartbeat. But I thought it distracted us from that.
And I have just seen a link to this story from Buzzfeed last year (for anyone who wants a visual).
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Malcolm Turnbull attended the Indigenous economic development showcase this morning. He did not take any questions.
The Nationals have started filing into their party room meeting.
The first public hearing in the banking royal commission has just gotten under way in Melbourne.
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Pat Dodson had a chat to AM’s Sabre Lane this morning about the Closing the Gap report. He said he welcomed the progress which has been made.
I mean, the depression that we felt a couple of days ago, when we had the report from the Indigenous group, was very sobering, that it wasn’t being progressed.
If there are progress, as microscopic as it might be, that’s refreshing.
The methodology by which you get those outcomes is critical, and I don’t see much evidence that that’s changing, as well as what the results are.
It’d be important to make sure the Indigenous participation in Closing the Gap over all of these fronts is resourced, and that they are clearly participants in the way of delivering the services.
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Here is what Labor’s Andrew Leigh had to say about the Barnaby Joyce situation this morning on Sky:
I don’t care what parliamentarians do in their consensual personal lives. I think the only question here is just making sure the taxpayers’ resources were used appropriately, just as we would ask in any circumstance. We need to know that the stable operation of government will continue. It’s important to know, for example, who will be the acting prime minister when the prime minister goes to the United States next week. They’re the sort of questions of public policy that are important.
... There’s been comments that have been made to me that that won’t be the case. I think it’s useful to have that confirmed and to have that clarity going forward.
... This is a building which is abuzz with rumours, Kieran [Gilbert]. I think it’s important for some of that stuff to be put to rest: to know the appointments were made in accord with appropriate procedures, to know that the acting arrangements will continue. This is Closing the Gap week, we’ve got a huge challenge there. We need to have the parliament and the government focused on these challenges.
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John “Wacka” Williams has been back on Sky ahead of the Nationals party room. He was talking about the banking royal commission (which he was instrumental in pushing for) but of course was asked about Barnaby Joyce again:
As to whether he believes his party boss was looking at resigning, he had this to say:
No, we walked to the aeroplane (yesterday) and I said “You OK mate”, he said “Yeah, I am going OK,” he’s OK. It’s a lot of pressure on Barnaby, it’s a lot of pressure on his family, we are dealing with human beings here, they are human beings, they are not bullet-proof, big cement structures, they are human beings. I just said to Barnaby, “I hope you are going OK, give me a call if you want to have a chat”, and he said, he’s OK.
But is he in the frame of mind to step aside?
“I have no idea. Sorry I can’t help you there.”
Will Joyce be acting PM next week, when Malcolm Turnbull heads to the US?
He doesn’t know and hasn’t been part of the discussions.
And does he think Joyce will speak about the situation in the party room meeting later this morning?
I would probably expect Barnaby to say a few words and give us an update and see what happens from there. Hopefully what is discussed in the Nationals party room will remain in the Nationals party room.
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Things are still ticking over in the Senate:
The Murray-Darling basin plan is meant to be under debate, but that will probably be delayed, like it was all of last week.
And, in what is becoming an almost daily occurrence, new senators are being sworn in. Today it is Richard Colbeck (welcome back) and Steve Martin.
Kristina Keneally is expected to be sworn in on Thursday.
There are still two Senate spots to be decided – George Brandis’s replacement and Skye Kakoschke-Moore’s replacement. The Queensland LNP have opened up the nomination process for Brandis’s spot, while the high court will decide the South Australian Senate spot.
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Kevin Rudd will be at the National Press Club today, talking the apology and the seven hard targets which were put in place as part of Closing the Gap.
The report being tabled today is expected to say three of the seven are on target to be met, including in childhood mortality and early education.
Paul Karp has written about it here.
Talking to Sky this morning, Rudd said he was criticised for having set such hard targets:
My aspiration at the time was to set hard targets, hard targets, because overcoming 210 years of disadvantage was a bloody hard thing. So when people say they were too hard, and we are not on track to meet them, I say, “Well, so what?” The key thing is ... of the seven targets we set, we are on track to meet three of the seven, but in all of them what you see is some improvement, significant improvement, or a lot of improvement, if not full realisation of the target, so I say today, let’s not bash, let’s enhance the targets, but we should not water them down.
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Mike Bowers was out very early this morning to capture the calm before the storm.
He wants you to know he did not run*. But he watched others who did.
*He has since scolded me. He ran from his apartment to the car, because he was running late this morning. So there was some running.
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Kevin Rudd is back in the press gallery, 10 years after he delivered a national apology to the stolen generations.
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Just on that (the prime minister’s office involvement), Simon Birmingham said he believed it to be part of “certain administrative steps”.
All of those usual practices were followed, as is always the case. Now in terms of the movement of staff, everybody should remember that when Matt Canavan stepped down from the ministry, there was no replacement minister appointed and it is not unusual in those circumstances that staff would have been redeployed across the government to continue doing their jobs in different ways.
He still points the finger at the opposition for the ongoing controversy:
They are trying to create a whisper campaign or a smear campaign, I am not actually sure what Labor’s real allegation here is, as I said staffing details are made public, travel details are made public, all of these areas of information are published in the normal course of events and there is nothing that has been hidden.
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The government is still sticking to the line that Barnaby Joyce’s private business is his private business. Which it is. But when taxpayer money is involved, well, then it becomes the taxpayers’ business as well.
As we know, Labor is planning on pursuing Joyce and the government over whether any public funds were misspent during the relationship.
Simon Birmingham suggested on Sky it was a whispering campaign from the opposition:
This is a very sad situation and it is one I am sure all parties would wish was’t being played out in the national spotlight. In the end, there are lots of whispers being mounted it seems, but very few real substantive allegations that I have seen being made.
Mr Joyce has, I think, handled himself appropriately, all government staffing matters have been gone through all of the normal processes and in the end, what we have here is just a family breakdown and that is something they ought to be given the time to deal with, in private, as is appropriate.”
Many of you would have seen the ministerial code of conduct, which says the prime minister needs to approve any appointment which involves a MP’s partner. The Nationals have said they get to make their own appointments.
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Good morning and welcome to week two
We pick up where we left off, with Barnaby Joyce’s affair continuing to dominate the agenda.
More particularly, whether his new partner, Vikki Campion, received any special treatment when she was moved from his office last year.
Campion was moved to Matt Canavan’s office, but when Canavan stepped down from the cabinet during his citizenship case, Campion worked for former Nationals whip, Damian Drum.
As the Daily Telegraph first reported over the weekend, Drum’s staffing allocation was increased from six to seven to accommodate Campion. Labor has indicated it will pursue the government over whether any taxpayer funds were misused during the affair. Campion’s contract ended in December last year.
Joyce has said there was no misuse of public funds, but there are now those who are openly questioning whether or not he will still be leader by the time the next election rolls around.
Nationals senator John “Wacka” Williams couldn’t answer whether Joyce would still be leader by the next election:
I don’t know if he’s done anything wrong by the law of the taxpayers. I can’t judge on that. How do I form an opinion when I don’t know. That is just speculation.
Expect a lot more on that.
The latest Closing the Gap report will also be tabled in parliament today. Kevin Rudd has been spotted in the building. And there will be a bit more on Susan Lamb although it looks like the “nuclear option” with the government using its numbers to force her referral is off the table for now.
Mike Bowers is out and about – you can follow him on Twitter @mpbowers and @mikepbowers. And you can follow me on @amyremeikis or @ifyouseeamy, where you’ll find behind-the-scenes updates from Mike and I, as the day rolls round.
Got your coffee?
Let the games begin.
Nationals Senator John Williams says he can't be sure #BarnabyJoyce will be the Nationals leader at the next election - "Let's see how all of the travel things come out" pic.twitter.com/79DGIdO9Gm
— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) February 11, 2018
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