Night time politics
That’s your bloomin’ lot for the evening, as Peter Cundall would say.
Today,
- Labor MP Emma Husar gave a searing personal speech about her father’s violence towards her mother and the scars it left on her.
- The Coalition government has threatened to sue a man for using the Medicare logo on his Save Medicare site, despite Coalition MPs using the logos on their campaign material.
- The Coalition’s superannuation policies passed the parliament. There was much cheering on the government benches.
- The backpacker tax remains in limbo though Barnaby Joyce refused to rule out negotiating on the 19% proposal.
- Fraser immigration minister Ian McPhee was highly critical of Peter Dutton’s comments regarding the Lebanese Muslim Australian community.
- Barnaby Joyce ruled out a sugar tax after a policy recommendation by the Grattan Institute to combat obesity.
-
On White Ribbon Day, the Coalition announced an e-safety commissioner on revenge porn and Labor announced a policy to protect domestic violence victims from cross examination by perpetrators.
- One Nation - well I am not really sure what happened with One Nation. Rod Culleton and his leader Pauline Hanson tried to have a meeting at the same time as actively avoiding each other. The four senators split on a superannuation vote, 2 for, 2 agin. Then Culleton and Hanson had a meeting. It’s all G now, they say.
- Hanson said Trump followed her policies.
- Treasurer Scott Morrison said Trump released corporate tax cut policies after the Coalition did. He counselled Bill Shorten not to look to Bernie Sanders’ policies but to Trump instead.
You know it makes sense.
Thanks to the brains trust, Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp and Gareth Hutchens.
Tomorrow is Thursday.
I leave you with a picture of the father of the Nats, former senator Ron Boswell who named his biggest achievement in his valedictory speech many years ago as the defeat of One Nation in Queensland. He campaigned assiduously against the party in its first flush of success.
At the time, he said:
In the fight of my life against Pauline Hanson, I risked everything to stand up against her regressive, narrow view of Australia. To defeat Pauline Hanson and One Nation in 2001 has been my greatest political achievement.
He returned to parliament today as a special guest at the Nats’ barbeque and Pauline Hanson was in the house.
Goodnight.
Updated
Pauline Hanson: Trump followed me
Pauline Hanson has praised conservative senator Cory Bernardi and said that Malcolm Turnbull had moved to the right to hold the top job and stave off “revolt” in his party.
In comments at the Tourism & Transport Forum Australia on Wednesday, Hanson also said Donald Trump was “saying what I was saying 20 years ago.”
She said conservative senator Cory Bernardi is “a straight shooter and I think he’s said a lot of things that are in line with my views and opinions”.
Asked whether Turnbull had moved to the right, she said: “Well he has moved, otherwise he wouldn’t be there, there would’ve been a revolt.”
He has changed. He has to start listening to voters.
If you were with us during question time, you would know treasurer Scott Morrison said Trump had announced his corporate tax cuts after the Coalition had done so in the 2016 budget.
Updated
Also in the senate, Labor’s Glenn Sterle made a joke about a zebra while women’s minister Michaelia Cash was making a point about respect for women on White Ribbon Day.
Cash was wearing a black and white jacket.
Senator Glenn Sterle warned after suggesting a Coalition Senator looked like a zebra.
— Henry Belot (@Henry_Belot) November 23, 2016
It comes a day after Labor senator Doug Cameron said Cash needed finance minister Mathias Cormann to “hold her hand”.
Updated
Just before Emma Husar’s speech, Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm asked the following question regarding domestic violence:
.@DavidLeyonhjelm asking about what support is available for the one in three men who are victims of domestic violence #auspol #senateQT
— Belinda Merhab (@belinda_merhab) November 23, 2016
George Christensen tweeted 10 minutes ago:
Very good question. All domestic violence is bad not just that of men against women. https://t.co/wbgk9P5XgM
— George Christensen (@GChristensenMP) November 23, 2016
Updated
There was a whole lot of barbequeing going on in Canberra today.
There was this cancer “barbecure”.
And there was the also a National party seafood barbeque.
Updated
In a matter of moments, there will be a panel - again at the Tourism and Transport Forum that will feature crossbench senators Pauline Hanson, Jacqui Lambie and Derryn Hinch.
After chasing each other around the building today, One Nation senator Rodney Culleton has had his meeting with party leader Pauline Hanson.
The meeting happened in Hanson’s office, so she won that little arm wrestle, although Culleton told Sky News it was “a little patronising” of her to request his attendance on ABC TV last night.
Culleton told Guardian Australia he explained the circumstances around the Queensland attorney general’s decision to refer his letter to a magistrate to the Queensland police, after concerns it may amount to a threat or perverting the course of justice.
Culleton denies the letter was a threat and said it was written “in the interest of justice” on behalf of a distressed individual. He said Hanson was “very comfortable” with his explanation and “fully supportive of me”.
Culleton said Hanson had asked if he was “alright to keep going” because she wanted to check her senators were “firing on all cylinders”. Culleton said he was OK, and she accepted that.
The pair also discussed the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill. Culleton foreshadowed further amendments but didn’t commit to vote one way or the other.
Asked if he would attend One Nation party room meetings, he told Guardian Australia “once I’m fully over the high court case, I suppose”. One Nation party room meetings are “not compulsory” he said, and Hanson wasn’t the type of leader to tell people what to do.
Culleton told Sky News he was not pleased Hanson had backed the Senate referral of his eligibility, claiming she and others had “been misled”.
Updated
Emma Husar's speech in full
Labor MP for Lindsay, Emma Husar’s, speech in full.
In my first speech in this place I said 29 out of my 36 years of life had been affected by domestic violence.
I am a survivor of family violence, and it has taken me a long time to overcome the trauma of that to be where I am today.
I know there are a lot of women out there who suffer in silence. Today I stand in solidarity with survivors, with those women afraid to speak, and I will use my story, told in this place to advocate for the change we need.
I will use the eve of white ribbon day as an opportunity to shine a light into the darkest corner of my own life.
The first 13 years of my life was marred with physical domestic violence, committed towards my mother, at the hands of my always drunk-when-abusive Father.
My Dad was the son of a World War Two German soldier who committed many acts of violence against his wife and against his seven children. My father had been raised in a house where violence was the accepted norm and at a time when society said these were private matters.
Whilst the blows that landed on my mother during my childhood didn’t land on me physically – they may as well have. The trauma inflicted was the same. I recall it vividly and in great detail.
Each episode of this violence over my 13-years was different but the aftermath was always the same: Dad would apologise, promise to be different, and that would work for just a short time.
One evening, at the end of another round of abuse, Dad launched the family dinner of that evening at the wall.
The stain remained on that wall for a very long time – the stain in my heart would linger much longer. Mum then bundled my sister and I into the family car and fled.
We would go to the refuges in our community, until, after so many years and so many incidents, my father knew the locations and we were not safe there anymore. We then shifted to staying in hotels, which were located above pubs where the people below were loud and sometimes their noise would spill into the streets, waking me and reminding me that I wasn’t in my own bed, in my own home.
I was in a foreign place, because I was not safe.
One night, when Mum was hurrying to get my sister and I out. Dad had removed and smashed the distributor cap from the car rendering it useless and us trapped. The Police fetched us this time.
I still remember sitting in the Police station well into the early hours of the morning and the officers in Penrith police giving us pink milk while we waited. The police did their best.
Again, after this event my Mum returned home.
We know why women return time and time again even when their lives are massively disrupted along with their children’s’, and I hope that the blame that was launched at my Mum during the 90’s for not leaving, is no longer part of the “solution” around domestic violence – and I hope the questions of ‘why doesn’t she just leave’ quit being asked.
Eventually, though, the courage rises up, services step up and women stand up. Finally leaving. But not before one last terrible incident.
There were 13-police cars the last time physical violence affected my childhood. But this was the end of the physical violence, once and for all. Whilst the physical part ceased other abuse around finance and control ramped up.
Sadly, the wheel of domestic violence continues to affect my life as a grown woman, with children of my own. The last 16-years of my life have been and continue to be affected by domestic and family violence.
In the limited time I have left, I would like to thank Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for his continued support of my current situation, his understanding, and the support he provides to me. I would also like to thank my caucus colleagues and staff who know my story, who don’t judge me and continue to provide support.
I would like to acknowledge the Penrith Women’s Health Service who have been providing services to my community for 30-years, including to my Mum then, and to my family now.
Sometimes in my experience I have found that, mostly, victims don’t talk about domestic violence because other people don’t talk about domestic violence.
For many years I was embarrassed and ashamed. I know that I shouldn’t be but I am.
I hope that today, I have lent my voice, my story, and my passion for advocating change, to the choir of the white ribbon movement who call on us to stand up, speak out and act.
Dr Mike Freedlander, Labor MP and paediatrician, has just described the most horrific injuries suffered by children as a result of domestic violence.
He questions the use of the term “domestic violence”. Domestic might suggest it is a lesser form of violence, whereas it is far from that.
He describes twin babies with cerebral palsy who were bashed so badly their heads were like the shells of boiled eggs. A little boy whose liver at autopsy was like red jelly. A three-year-old girl who was bashed so badly she never saw, walked or talked again. A six-year-old girl starved.
These are real things and they have been real things to me in my career. We know there is a strong correlation with violence against children with violence against women.
This has been a very raw afternoon in the house.
Updated
Llew O’Brien, the new National MP for Wide Bay, acknowledged and thanked Emma Husar for her speech. He is a former police officer and talks from a different experience. He says the focus is rightly on the effect on women but reminds the chamber that sometimes men are the victims of women and men and women both suffer in same-sex relationships. It is a very respectful, nuanced speech.
Updated
Emma Husar with a very personal story on domestic violence
Emma Husar, Labor MP for Lindsay.
She says the first 13 years of her life was marred by family violence. She has described her father’s violence towards her mother. She says while the blows did not land on her, they may as well have. It scarred her.
She described her father chasing them from refuges to cheap pub rooms to try to escape his violence. Waking up in strange rooms with bar room noise reminding her that she was not in her own bed.
Husar’s mother returned home, because she had nowhere else to go.
The last time there was violence, Husar says there were 13 police cars present.
She thanks the Penrith Women’s Services who provided her family with help.
She is breaking down.
I am ashamed. I shouldn’t be but I am.
The most amazing speech.
Updated
Labor has listed a matter of public importance, “the need to address family violence as a national priority”.
Labor’s Terri Butler has spoken and now human services minister Alan Tudge.
Labor has spoken about cuts to legal services affecting domestic violence victims. Butler also used it to prosecute the Labor policy of changing court arrangements for victims.
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull does not get up in time to call for an end to question time so Labor squeezes one more question in.
Did the prime minister have any advanced notice of the contents of his deputy Barnaby Joyce’s letter of 17 November?
Turnbull:
The commitment of our government to the basin plan is absolute but it is a plan which presents significant challenges which the member for Watson understood back in 2012 which he had the northern basin aspects of the plan reviewed to look at precisely these issues of ensuring that there is neutral or improved socioeconomic outcomes.
Updated
Earlier Paul Karp reported on the One Nation split in a senate vote. The vote was on superannuation: Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts voted with the Greens, while Brian Burston and Rod Culleton voted with Labor and the government.
Hanson and Culleton were absent during Question time. Burston and Roberts were in the senate.
There was a government question on electricity supply and then another Murray Darling question.
Shorten to Turnbull: I refer to the deputy prime minister’s letter of 17 November indicating to the SA government, indicating that the government would abandon its obligation to deliver 450 gigalitres of water to the Murray-Darling Basin through efficiency measures. Does the deputy prime minister’s letter reflect government policy?
The leader of the opposition could you assist us by showing where in the letter does the word “abandonment” is used? Not once.
Turnbull says the government supports the plan but the plan has conditions which the government must adhere to.
Updated
Labor’s Tony Burke to Malcolm Turnbull: When the deputy prime minister personally insisted on receiving the water portfolio, did he keep secret from the prime minister his intention to undermine the additional 450 gigalitres on the Murray-Darling Basin plan? Did the prime minister have any idea prior to Friday that his deputy had put in writing that the basin plan wouldn’t be completed and since then, has the prime minister in any way reprimanded the deputy prime minister for free ranging on the basin plan?
(These two are both former water ministers.)
Turnbull says Burke’s question amounts to one misrepresentation after another. He says the clause about the requirement for no negative impact on communities comes from the 2012 version of the Murray Darling Basin plan, which Tony Burke oversaw.
This is the plan the honourable member promulgated as minister and the section to which I referred is in his plan and that is part of the plan to which we are committed.
Updated
A government question to social services minister Christian Porter on the improvement of the domestic violence hotline.
Government threatening to sue over use of Medicare logo on Save Medicare website
Tony Burke to Malcolm Turnbull: Can the prime minister confirm his government has threatened to sue Mark Rogers, a Sydney grandfather, over his use of the Medicare logo on his Save Medicare website? Will the government be threatening legal action against the Liberal party, the member for Ford, the minister for trade, the member for Bonner and the health minister who have all used the Medicare logo in their own political material?
Turnbull says yes to the substantive question.
That litigation is as he has described.
Updated
Peter Dutton gets a government question on securing borders and third-party settlements. He says the US Homeland Security department has been out to work out rapid screening methods for the refugees taken into Australia. But most of the answer goes to whacking Labor on asylum seekers.
Updated
Not happy, Bowers.
Labor to Turnbull: I refer to the video of a Brisbane 7-Eleven employee being forced to return half her wages to her employer in cash. As a result of this cashback scam, staff are paid $11 an hour below the minimum wage. Given the prime minister’s own ministerial standards requires ministers to act with the highest standard of integrity, how can the prime minister possibly justify his ongoing holdings in managed funds which invest in 7-Eleven?
Turnbull says his managed funds are managed by an external advisor at arms’ length, much like a superannuation fund. He says to Labor, if you want to go there, check what all MPs superannuation funds invest in.
Updated
Next government question is on unions.
Labor to Malcolm Turnbull: The member for Mallee said the deputy prime minister was right to abandon the bipartisan commitment for an additional 450 gigalitres in the Murray-Darling Basin plan, saying “SA will get more water than it can actually handle”. Is it the position of the government that the basin plan delivers more water than SA can actually handle?
Turnbull quotes section 7.17 of the basin plan.
What it makes very clear is that it must be neutral or improved socioeconomic outcomes to be associated with the removal or the conversion of water from consumptive to environmental uses. That is what is in the plan. That is what the plan says. Nobody is saying it is easy. I think it was Mark Twain who said whisky is for drinking and water is for fighting over.
Updated
A government question to health minister Sussan Ley on union regulation.
Chris Bowen to Malcolm Turnbull: Yesterday the minister for revenue said she wanted to lift superannuation funds to the same standards as the banks. Is the former NSW Liberal leader and chairman of Industry Super Australia Peter Collins accurately describing Government policy when he says “If super funds were responsible for failures in financial advice, failure to pass on interest rates cuts and remuneration and other forms of profit gauging by banks, there would have been a Royal Commission into super funds in a flash”.
Turnbull:
The honourable member knows very well that the Government’s sought to ensure that there are independent directors on industry super funds. That is hardly a radical proposal. This has been resisted by a number of the vested interests associated with the industry super funds where, in many cases, as the honourable member knows, the directors are drawn solely from the employers and the unions. All we are seeking into is to install what is regarded as corporate governance 101 in the rest of the corporate world. The honourable member should take care to represent the interests of the members as opposed to once again representing the interests of union bosses who are very happy to sit in those well paid directorships.
Bob Katter invokes the spirit of the Magna Carta during a question to Barnaby Joyce #QT @gabriellechan @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/8U3lm5Axj8
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) November 23, 2016
Defence industry minister Christopher Pyne gets a government question on the registered organisations bill that passed this week.
Tanya Plibersek to Kelly O’Dwyer: It has been revealed that Australia’s biggest banks will have to pay almost $180 million in compensation because they spent years charging over 200 customers fees for services that they didn’t actually receive. Is this what the minister meant when she said she wanted to lift superannuation funds to the same standards as banks? Does the minister really want superannuation account holders to be treated the way banks treat their customers?
This relates to Gareth Hutchens’ story yesterday about a speech O’Dwyer gave to the superannuation industry.
They [super funds] think it is acceptable that they have lower governance standards than that that currently applies to banks and life insurance companies. It is ridiculous. It is ridiculous to think that millions of Australians who have their money in superannuation funds would have funds that have lower governance standards than that currently applying to banks and to life insurance companies. It is not actually something that we have dreamt up on this side of the house. There was a review that was undertaken under Labor’s watch by Jeremy Cooper, a hand-picked person from Labor for the job, who concluded that the governance standard for superannuation funds was not up to the mark.
Updated
Shorten to Turnbull: Today ratings agency Standard & Poor’s warned Australia’s AAA credit rating will be at risk unless the government stands by its commitment to a surplus in 2021. On this basis, why is the prime minister still persisting with his $50bn tax handout to big business when a ratings downgrade will push up the mortgage repayments for Australian homeowners?
Turnbull:
Turning to the ratings agencies, they have been absolutely crystal clear their concern is that the government’s budget will not be passed through the parliament because of the reckless opposition of the Labor party. That is what their concern is. They recognise that we have a plan, we have an economic plan, which sets out a path towards a budget surplus.
Updated
In the Senate: Greens senator Nick McKim has asked the attorney general, George Brandis, whether immigration minister Peter Dutton’s comments about letting Lebanese immigrants to Australia being a “mistake” had harmed deradicalisation efforts.
Brandis replies:
That is certainly not the case ... nothing Mr Dutton has said has in any way prejudiced or compromised that engagement. There has been no suggestion from [the national security] agencies or my department to that effect.
He says the Australian government and its agencies work in “in close collaboration with Australia’s Muslim leadership” to counter “the siren song of terrorism recruiters … who would lure their youth onto the path of self-destruction”.
McKim then quotes Asio director, Duncan Lewis, who told Senate estimates last month that “comments about members of Islamic faith being unwelcome here made engagement with Islamic community more difficult”.
Brandis replies that Lewis “wasn’t asked about Dutton’s remark” and he had met Lewis as recently as yesterday and he did not express concern about the immigration minister’s comments.
Updated
Bob Katter to Barnaby Joyce: you are aware of the notorious Flinders river water allocations. Almost all of these waters are worth over $180m have been granted to two [large] corporations. This was in contrast to a refusal to even consider submissions from the people of the area itself that were based upon economic development, industry and community benefit. The most serious questions of ministerial and departmental impropriety are raised here. In light of this ... to provide for the enrichment of the rich, would the minister consider right-to-sustenance legislation, rights enshrined in and from the time of the Magna Carta itself?
The nub of Joyce’s answer:
The water licences are predominantly a state issue, especially on the Flinders. I note the concerns you have and we too are wanting to develop the north and build more water infrastructure.
The government question is also to Joyce on the ABCC.
Updated
Jim Chalmers to Scott Morrison: Ratings agency Standard & Poors has today warned that Australia’s AAA rating will be at risk unless revenue is increased in a sustained way. Why is the treasurer refusing to support sensible reforms on negative gearing and capital gains?
Morrison does not touch on negative gearing as such.
Those opposite are a one trick pony when it comes to the budget. The only thing they are able to come up with is just tax people more. They are addicted to tax.
Updated
The next government question is on Labor blocking the government’s savings.
Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has today warned that Australia’s AAA credit rating will be at risk unless the treasurer stands by his commitment to a surplus in 2021. A commitment which is in the treasurer’s own budget papers bearing his name. Does the treasurer take any responsibility for placing Australia’s AAA rating at risk with his chaotic management of the budget?
Scott Morrison says the government is trying to repair the budget but Labor is standing in the way. He has $40bn in savings up his sleeve, $20bn has passed and $20bn is blocked by Labor.
You know what happened at the last election. You took a $16.5 billion deficit increase to the last election and it is no surprise that the Australian people rejected you.
Updated
The first government question is about delivering on promises - union regulations and superannuation.
Shorten to Turnbull: Rosie Batty, the Productivity Commission, the Victorian Royal Commission into family violence have recommended that family violence survivors shouldn’t be cross-examined in court by their abusers. Will the Prime Minister join with Labor to amend the Family Law Act to ensure that vulnerable witnesses are protected during court proceedings?
Turnbull gives a fulsome answer:
We all understand the cross-examination of a victim by the alleged perpetrator is a very traumatic experience.
We are working very closely with the stakeholders in this area, in particular the judges and magistrates in the family courts to progress measures to support vulnerable witnesses.
We are establishing integrated duty lawyer and domestic violence support services in the family law courts to improve the support available to victims and that includes assisting them to draft notices of risk and access alternative ways to give evidence.
We have also commissioned a bench book which provides guidance for all judicial officers dealing with domestic and family violence, including guidelines for courtroom management to minimise secondary abuse through court processes of those who have experienced family violence.
Judges and judicial officers always have a discretion in this area and we are encouraging them to use this very actively to ensure that these distressing circumstances don’t occur. I noted what the honourable member opposite proposed this morning and the funding that he recommended which at first examination would not appear to us to be adequate for the task that he has proposed.
Question time now. First question is on domestic violence.
Scott Morrison: Don't look to Sanders and Corbyn, look to Trump
I will just end on one last point from Scott Morrison and Kelly O’Dwyer’s press conference.
The discussion got around to the the rest of the government’s agenda, including the corporate tax cuts.
The objective is to increase the amount of work people can get, the amount of hours they can get, the amount of wages they can earn and the profits the companies can do. That’s what you do. You don’t squeeze a lemon until you get arthritis.
What you do is cut the tax rates particularly for small and medium-sized business to give them to the room to do this. What Labor is doing by blocking this is leaving Australia economically stranded.
They are looking to Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn for their tax policy advice. Not where they should be looking, to Theresa May and, indeed, Donald Trump. He announced it after - I understand - we announced our Budget.
I’m sure he will give the Australian Government credit for that..Nevertheless, it is a great idea to support investment in jobs. It is a great idea. The Labor Party used to believe in it.
Scott Morrison is asked: How confident are you in bringing a surplus in 20-21?
I am as confident as I can be on the basis of the parameter projections in the budget. The real question is – the budget will return to balance where we can be most confident, when the Labor party accepts its economic responsibility to pass the savings that are in this budget. That’s what it boils down to.
Updated
Scott Morrison is holding a press conference now.
He goes to the Standard & Poors warning about budget repair and the superannuation reforms passing the house.
This was the AAP take on S&P:
As a global credit rating agency issued yet another warning to Australia about the risk of losing its top tier rating, a leading business group believes the Turnbull government is “trying very hard” to repair the budget.
Standard & Poor’s global ratings director Craig Michaels has told a conference in Australia if the budget is returned to surplus in 2020/21 as promised it would still be consistent with the AAA rating.
“But if there’s more slippage beyond that then that probably wouldn’t be,” Mr Michaels warned.
Scott Morrison is asked about the political pain involved in the superannuation reform, given the harrumphing in the conservative end of the Coalition about cutting back concessions for the wealthy.
I think it is a sustainable reform, I think it is a fair reform, I think it is a necessary reform. We have a world-leading superannuation system in this country and this is even more so. Yes, we had to make the case and make the argument, and we had to take it through the parliament, with our colleagues, and work through all of those issues, but that’s the work of government. That’s the work of reform.
Much is often written about where’s the reform by commentators. Well, it is looking you right in the face. Today’s reforms passed through the parliament were not easily won but they were important to achieve.
Updated
After Pauline Hanson didn’t go to Rodney Culleton’s office at 11:30, he went down to a Cure Cancer Australia BBQ at noon.
As soon as he entered the courtyard, Hanson left.
Culleton then gave a press conference at which he said he’d hoped to speak to Hanson at the BBQ, wasn’t sure if she’d avoided him, then speculated she may have left because she was “camera shy” or wanted to escape the rain in Canberra.
No, she didn’t come to the scheduled 11:30 [meeting] ... I can’t force her to come, she’ll come, well, anyway, she didn’t show up.”
Asked why the pair hadn’t met yet, Culleton blamed his tight schedule, Senate divisions and preparing for the challenge in the high court to his eligibility as a senator. He also confirmed he didn’t attend the party room meeting on Wednesday, and said he went to a White Ribbon function instead.
I will speak to her – but there’s no big issue ... I might grab Pauline and we just go to a quiet restaurant and do it over a bottle of red wine and talk it through, that’s probably the better environment.
A spokesman for Hanson said “we’re hopeful Rod will agree to come to Pauline’s office as requested”. So, it seems a large part of the dispute is who will come to whose office.
Culleton said “we’re not a bloc” and noted in one division today the party split 2-2. He said he was “allergic to rules” when asked about the prospect Hanson could demand all correspondence and media statements go through her office.
Culleton criticised the Senate for referring his eligibility to the high court, and blamed attorney general George Brandis for the referral, who he said “put two outboard motors on a piece of driftwood and thinks he’s going to carve the river up”.
Culleton said reports of a surge for One Nation in Western Australia were down to his efforts and asked “why wouldn’t” he continue in the party.
Updated
Nat MP Andrew Broad:
Hey I got a wedgie at school.
Labor MP Anne Aly:
You didn’t get a wedgie because you’re brown.
Nats MP @broad4mallee had an interesting analogy for Labor's Anne Aly, on receiving racist emails@abcnews #auspol pic.twitter.com/j0whmkttgK
— Matthew Doran (@MattDoran91) November 23, 2016
Updated
Lunchtime politics
Apologies people. I stepped away from the machine to talk to real people.
Let me just summarise the day so far.
- The government’s superannuation reforms, which wind back generous tax concessions, have passed the Senate. The treasurer and financial services minister will be having a press conference shortly.
- The Senate has started the backpacker tax debate but Labor still opposes the government’s 19% rate. Labor and Jacqui Lambie are favouring 10.5%.
- During a national security statement to parliament, Bill Shorten has called on Malcolm Turnbull to rein in his immigration minister, Peter Dutton, as former Fraser minister Ian McPhee criticised Dutton’s characterisation of the Fraser government’s immigration mistakes.
- Labor MP Anne Aly has revealed she has had threatening emails, including comments on her Facebook page. The police are investigating.
- Labor’s Tony Burke and the Liberals’ Tim Wilson have debated Labor’s proposed race motion.
- Pauline Hanson and Rod Culleton still have not managed to get together, notwithstanding being in the same building. They were, in fact, at the same BBQ just now.
Updated
Just an update on threats against Labor MP Anne Aly. She talked about threatening emails. A quick look at her Facebook page reveals death threats. We are told police are investigating.
Coalition superannuation reforms pass the Senate
I should have mentioned earlier, the Coalition’s superannuation reforms have passed the Senate with Labor support.
Updated
Pauline Hanson does not turn up to Culleton meeting
Turns out the meeting between Rodney Culleton and Pauline Hanson was scheduled for 11:30 but Hanson never showed up.
The standoff (your office or mine) and political theatre continues and Culleton is off to Nationals bbq.
The backpacker tax debate has started in the Senate.
Updated
After some to-ing and fro-ing about whether Senator Rodney Culleton and One Nation party leader, Pauline Hanson, would meet last night or this morning, and whose office to meet in, the meeting is on now (at 11:30 on Culleton’s home turf).
The meeting was called because Culleton was referred to police after a letter he allegedly sent to a Cairns magistrate prompted concerns in judicial ranks of a possible attempt to pervert the course of justice and threaten a judicial officer.
Culleton’s chief of staff, Margaret Menzel, told Guardian Australia this morning that Culleton intended to remain a One Nation senator, as “he’s been elected as a One Nation senator after Pauline Hanson chose him as a candidate”.
Menzel refused to comment on obvious signs of dysfunction such as Hanson summoning Culleton to her office through a piece to camera on the ABC. Culleton didn’t attend the One Nation partyroom meeting this morning. When asked when Culleton last attended, Menzel said:
I couldn’t say. He has no ring through his nose ... I don’t know his every movement. He’s still managing to do his job – full credit to him.
Updated
Nats MPs Andrew Broad brushed off Aly's death threats saying "yeah, I got some wedgies in school, so you know..." pic.twitter.com/08QJ4RagyY
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) November 23, 2016
Labor MP Anne Aly has recieved death threats over Dutton's Lebanese terror comments... despite not being Lebanese https://t.co/lZ69XEZ6CY pic.twitter.com/4o8yns05Ar
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) November 23, 2016
Tim Wilson accuses Tony Burke of "confected outrage" on race
Former freedom human rights commissioner and Liberal Goldstein MP Tim Wilson is speaking on the race motion. This debate is in the secondary chamber, the federation chamber.
He suggests that Labor is using the motion – though he agrees with the basic principles – to score cheap political points.
He describes other speakers (i.e. Tony Burke) as venting “confected outrage”.
Wilson is going through Australia’s “generous” migration program.
You can’t build public confidence and public support ... unless the public believes the borders are secure. That is what this government has achieved and it is one of its great legacies.
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Tony Burke on race motion: I have no doubt Dutton's comments will win him votes. I don't care.
Labor’s MP for Watson, Tony Burke, is speaking to the race motion which was initiated by Labor. They want everyone including the prime minister to sign up to the motion which commits to a non-discriminatory immigration policy.
He says given Peter Dutton’s recent comments regarding the Lebanese Muslim second- and third-generation migrants, it is clear that not all MPs support the motion – that is a non-discriminatory immigration policy.
I have no doubt the immigration ministers comments will win him votes. I don’t care.
He said Dutton’s comments may win him votes but it will not make the job of security agencies any easier.
I don’t want there to be partisanship in a motion like this.
Burke said he brought it forward because he hoped it would be an almost unanimous statement from the parliament against a small minority such as One Nation.
I want it to be true.
He acknowledges Turnbull did not back in the particular words of Dutton.
But he said you can’t equivocate on matters of race. Burke says you have to go back to the white Australia policy to find an immigration minister who talked about excluding a particular group.
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Bill Shorten: we don't call them second- or third-generation migrants, we call them Australians
Shorten continues and refers to Cowan MP, Anne Aly, counter-terrorism expert.
It is time for some leadership from the prime minister. It is time that the minister for immigration was brought into line.
As the remarkable member for Cowan has said, the member for Cowan who was involved in driving WA Labor’s cyber-security strategy seven years ago, she said this morning, and I agree, “I am fearful that the minister for immigration’s comments will be used by an extreme view who would seek to harm the fabric of our society”.
Second- and third-generation migrants are teachers, they are police officers, they are entrepreneurs, they are members of this parliament on both sides of the house. They serve in our hospitals and they serve in the uniform of our country.
They raise children, they pay tax, they build communities, they coach local sporting teams, they create small businesses, they volunteer. They do as I say, sit on both sides of which chamber. We in the Labor party don’t start by calling them second- and third-generation migrants, we call them Australians.
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Bill Shorten: Peter Dutton's comments were "loud lazy disrespect"
Bill Shorten is warming up.
All of these are reasons why the minister for immigration’s recent comments were so profoundly wrong. Suggesting it was a mistake to allow a generation of migrants to come to Australia more than three decades ago because of the crimes of a tiny handful of their grandchildren is not just ignorant and insulting, it is not just a denigration of people who have worked so hard and given so much to this country.
The comments weren’t just a repudiation of the success of Australia, a nation made great by migration and multiculturalism. The minister’s comments, his ignorant comments, contradict and undermine and fly in the face of every briefing I have ever received from our security agencies who explain to us how best to counter radicalisation, about defeating extremism.
Loud, lazy disrespect – wholesale labelling of entire communities for the actions of a tiny minority – aid and abet the isolation and resentment that the extremists pray upon.
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Bill Shorten goes through the changing global security setting. Then he moves onto the importance of an inclusive nation.
When I talk about our citizens, I am mindful one of the most powerful assets in the fight against terrorism doesn’t wear a uniform or wield a weapon. It is our united harmonious inclusive nation.
As the prime minister said so well in parliament only last month, terrorists and extremists want the wider Australian community to turn against Australian Muslims. He said the message to Australian Muslims is, “You’re not wanted here, you will never be accepted here, you cannot be Australian”.
In this place, we have a solemn responsibility to counter that argument of the extremists to the extreme right and the extremists within the Middle East who say that being a Muslim citizen of this democracy is incompatible with their faith. We need to counter that argument, not amplify it.
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Bill Shorten speaks next.
He thanks the government for keeping Labor informed, including former PM Tony Abbott.
There are many issues that can divide this parliament, often deeply, all of us in this place on all sides share a common determination to keep Australia safe. We are all committed to ensuring our people, our institutions and our commercial enterprises are protected by the most up to date technology.
Turnbull: when we see extremist behaviour it should be called out
Malcolm Turnbull has gone through the government’s legislation on counter-terrorism.
He finishes on Australia’s multicultural and inclusive society. This is the interesting bit, in the context of Peter Dutton’s comment.
We are one of the most successful multicultural societies in the world. From the oldest human cultures of our first Australians to the newborn baby in the arms of its immigrant mother, we are stronger because of our diversity but that does not mean that we should be blind to or ignorant of the challenges our society face. When we see extremist behaviour, it should be called out for what it is.
The prime minister gets a very large hear, hear from his own benches at that statement.
When we see vulnerability, it should be addressed by all Australians, by government, by business, by community. We all have a stake in this. It is the combination of our national attributes of security, diversity, freedom and the prosperity which they enable, that make us best-placed as a society to unite against terrorism and violent extremism. As I have said many times, the glue that holds us together is mutual respect. Mutual respect. The recognition that each of us is entitled to the same respect, the same dignity and opportunities.
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Turnbull says re the nexus between criminality and terrorism, a pilot of the national criminal intelligence system is underway in the Australian criminal intelligence commission.
Turnbull says a review after the terrorist acts overseas found Australia already has robust legislative policy and operational arrangements in place.
But it identified some areas requiring further work.
A key finding was the need to continue working on how to best protect public places. I can confirm that in response to the review, we have committed as a priority to develop a national strategy for places of mass gathering, including a nationally consistent approach to risk assessment for such places.
The review also confirmed there are a diverse range of factors that could make someone vulnerable to radicalisation, from mental health issues, to a history of criminality.
The review found such factors might increase the vulnerability of lone actors to the propaganda of terrorist organisations offering them some perverse sense of inclusion. We need to better support our front line professionals,including health professionals to respond to Australians who may be at risk of radicalising towards violent extremism.
I have therefore asked our agencies, the Attorney-General, the Minister for Health and ageing and the minister assisting me on counter-terrorism to work with the states and territories, peak bodies, international partners and the community to identify what more can be done in this area to help both carers and patients taking great care, we do not stigmatise some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.
Turnbull says the director general of security has reviewed the national terrorism threat level and that it remains unchanged at probable.
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Turnbull says in recent weeks three individuals have been charged with foreign incursion offences. These latest arrests bring to 55 the number of people charged from 24 counter-terrorism operations around Australia since September 2014.
Malcolm Turnbull says Australia approaches the new global challenges with a strong foundation of freedom and diversity.
He restates:
The next mass casualty attack on Australian victims could be somewhere in south-east Asia where Daesh propaganda is galvanised existing networks of extremists, preyed on vulnerable young people and attracted new recruits.
Turnbull says that is why Australia is working with its allies to defeat Daesh.
He tips his hat to the United States and Trump critics who urge a reconsideration of the US alliance.
We and we alone determine whether and how our forces are put in harm’s way but the closeness of our relationship ensures that no ally has more influence than we do. That influence is one which is highly valued now and in the future as President Obama reminded us in Lima on Sunday. Those who assert that our ties and our alliance with the United States should be reconsidered fail to recognise that a strong, trusted, forthright Australia is a powerful force for good, whether it is on the fields of conflict or in the corridors of power in Washington.
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The prime minister is shortly going to deliver a statement on cybersecurity. Katharine Murphy wrote a preview this morning.
The prime minister will tell parliament on Wednesday that Australia’s cyber capability, through the Australian Signals Directorate, is being deployed offensively to support coalition military operations against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Malcolm Turnbull will make a security statement at noon addressing directly the sensitive subject of Australia’s offensive cyber capabilities – while the minister assisting the prime minister on cyber security, Dan Tehan, will use a separate outing at the National Press Club to argue that, domestically, Australia needs to step up its preparedness against hacking and malicious cyber-attacks.
In April the government confirmed that the Bureau of Meteorology and the Department of Parliamentary Services had been targets of cyber-attacks and the prime minister also confirmed for the first time that Australia possessed the capability to launch such attacks.
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Fraser immigration minister: Fraser followed international law and morality that was discarded from Howard government on
Ian Macphee was immigration minister in Malcolm Fraser’s government.
He has acknowledged justifiable anger in the community to immigration minister Peter Dutton’s comments on the Lebanese migrant intakes of the 1970s in a statement to the ABC via the Refugee Council, reported by AAP.
We have had a succession of inadequate immigration ministers in recent years but Dutton is setting the standards even lower.
He described Dutton and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson as “ignorant, alarmist voices”.
The Fraser government honoured international law and morality. From the Howard government onwards these have been increasingly discarded.
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Bill Shorten is asked about Labor’s policy to tighten employer regulations on 457, such as advertising before taking on workers. A tourism operators asked the opposition leader about his policy because she relied 457 workers for a small proportion of her workforce.
There are bona fide skills shortages in the Australian economy which can’t be fixed unless you bring in some people from overseas. So the 457 program is a valid and legitimate part of the Australian economy and our economic strategy in terms of generating jobs and productivity. But what we do want to see is a greater focus on labour market testing, because it is not your business which is the challenge, but we see people coming into Australia being ripped off under various visas.
None of us ... weren’t appalled when we saw that ABC footage of a worker at 7-Eleven on a temporary visa handing back half their pay to the boss.
This is remarkable stuff.
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Barnaby Joyce won't comment on backpacker tax compromise
Barnaby Joyce was asked a lot of questions about the backpacker tax but the bottom line was he would not comment on whether the government would hold the line on 19% given Labor is supporting Jacqui Lambie’s proposed rate of 10.5%.
He says the Labor/Lambie position would see overseas workers paid less tax than Australians.
Bill Shorten is speaking across the hall at the Tourism and Transport Forum.
He is also asked about the backpacker tax.
The government has been very mischievous. They have characterised our position of a 10.5% tax rate as charging backpackers less in tax than we charge Australians. That is not the case. There is no way, under any modelling, that a backpacker is going to be paying less tax than an Australian for doing comparable work but putting a rate at 32% and even 19%, they haven’t shown us the modelling for that.
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Barnaby Joyce on sugar tax: the Australian Tax Office will not save your health
Barnaby Joyce is asked the obvious question, why do we tax cigarettes and not sugar?
Cigarettes are no good for you but no one is suggesting that, if you have a can of soft drink once a week, it will really affect your health. If you want to live on Mothers or whatever they call them, or super-saturated drinks, it is not a tax that will save you, it’s common sense. Nil by mouth – cut down on what you eat.
Q: Why are we getting so fat?
A couple of reasons, because people are sitting on their backside too much and eating too much food and not just soft drinks, eating too many chips and other food. Of course it’s unsurprising and everybody is standing around right here now looking at everybody else’s stomach. Well, so the issue is take the responsibility upon yourself. The Australian Taxation Office is not going to save your health, right? Do not go to the ATO as opposed to go to your doctor or put on a pair of sandshoes and walk around the block and, if you can, go for a run. The ATO is not a better solution than jumping in the pool and going for a swim. The ATO is not a better solution than reducing your portion size.
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Barnaby Joyce: Bugger a sugar tax, just eat less and exercise more
The Grattan Institute has proposed a sugar tax.
The deputy prime minister says a sugar tax is “bonkers” but now the tax idea is getting a head of steam, he thought he would nip it in the bud.
It is a tax where apparently if you put sugar in your coffee shop, in your latte, that isn’t a problem, but if you buy a can of drink that is a problem. You’ve got to nip these things in the bud from the word go.
He says Mexico tried it and sugar jobs were lost but consumption went up.
Our sugar consumption in Australia is reducing. We believe in being healthy but we don’t believe you have a health policy that is led by a tax on sugar because if you want to deal with being overweight, well, here is a rough suggestion: stop eating so much and do a bit of exercise. There is two bits of handy advice and you can get that for free.
Malcolm Turnbull is speaking at the Tourism and Transport Forum this morning.
The prime minister is outlining government initiatives in the tourism and transport sector. One of the policies he mentions is the national broadband network (NBN), including its turn around from an “utterly failed project” to super fast connectivity.
This has been a massive turn around and it is delivering super fast connectivity right across Australia in the most remote areas by satellite, many regional areas by fixed wireless and the bulk of the country by fixed line.
It is a critically important step ... It will power tourism across Australia. It will open new business opportunities and allow operators to better connect with their overseas markets and customers and better enable those millennials and the parents, of whom Katie spoke, to share their experiences on Instagram, Facebook and the other social media platforms that as you all know are so powerful and influential in terms of promoting awareness and making foreign visitors or potential foreign visitors eager and interested, excited about coming to Australia.
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Labor counter-terrorism expert and MP Anne Aly received threatening emails after Peter Dutton's comments
From AAP:
Counter-terror expert and Labor MP Anne Aly says she has received threatening emails in the wake of immigration minister Peter Dutton’s comments about Lebanese Muslim immigration.
Aly said the comments had stoked fear and division and jarred with the prime minister’s assertion that an inclusive nation was the best weapon against terrorism.
If Malcolm Turnbull believes that, if he really believes that, he would have come out and slapped down Peter Dutton’s disgraceful comments against migrant Australians who have helped to build this nation.
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The superannuation bills are coming into the Senate now. It is worth reiterating the changes in the bill, given the internal Coalition fights over reforms to limit the generous tax concessions on superannuation. There have been several versions of these plans.
You may remember the reforms Malcolm Turnbull declared were “ironclad” during the election were changed in September after much teeth-gnashing at the July election result.
Conservatives in the party suggested it was a reason for the loss of some seats and the loss of party donations.
The treasurer, Scott Morrison, finally landed here:
- The government will no longer introduce a lifetime non-concessional contributions cap of $500,000, backdated to 2007. Instead, it will allow people to make annual non-concessional contributions worth up to $100,000 until their super balance reaches $1.6m.
- People under 65 will still be able to “bring forward” three years’ worth of non-concessional contributions in recognition of the fact that such contributions are often made in lump sums. The vast bulk of lump sum payments are typically less than $200,000, the government says.
- Individuals with a super balance of more than $1.6m will no longer be eligible to make non-concessional (after tax) contributions from 1 July 2017. This limit will be tied and indexed to the transfer balance cap.
The bottom line is the reforms limit the tax concessions for superannuation especially for high income earners. Labor supports limiting tax concessions for wealthy individuals (indeed they announced their policy well in advance of the government) but they are trying to amend the bill.
The important bit though is they will not insist on the amendments. So the government’s bill is likely to get through. But never say never in this Senate.
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Some more detail on the e-safety measures announced earlier. This is from the communications minister, Mitch Fifield, and the minister for women, Michaelia Cash.
The Turnbull government will also conduct a public consultation process on a proposed civil penalties regime targeted at both perpetrators and sites which host intimate images and videos shared without consent.
A discussion paper will be released in early 2017 and feedback will be sought from the e-safety commissioner, federal and state police, women’s safety organisations, mental health experts, schools and education departments, the Online Safety Consultative Working Group and others.
In parallel, the commonwealth government is working with states and territories through Coag to support a nationally consistent approach to criminal offences relating to the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.
Importantly, the commissioner’s existing legislated powers regarding cyberbullying material targeted at an Australian child will remain solely focused on children, while the office’s work regarding online safety for adults will be centred around advice and online reporting.
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Rod, excuse me, I’m party leader
He did what?
Cash and Culleton are talking to Margaret Menzel, chief of staff and dodger of James Ashby’s phone.
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E-safety commissioner to push for consistent laws on revenge porn
The government’s announcement regards a new e-safety commissioner who will push for consistent laws across all states.
Turnbull has announced an online safety expert, Julie Inman Grant, as e-safety commissioner, working with his cyber security adviser Alastair MacGibbon.
Much of the discussion at the press conference is around penalties for revenge porn and education will be a key part of the process, says Michaelia Cash.
The overwhelming feedback, as you travel around Australia and you do talk to people about what is the appropriate policy response, it is acknowledged that at a federal level, there is already in place criminal laws and minister Fifield’s taken you through that and there have been successful prosecutions.
Normally these matters are taken care of at a state and territory level and that is why the Coag process to ensure consistency across our states and territories in relation to those laws is so important.
Then when you talk to people who have been subjected to it, many of them say to you, ‘All I wanted was the image removed, I just wanted the image removed’. That is very much going to be a focus of what Julie is going to be looking at, how do we respond in the first instance to the person coming forward and saying ‘Just get the image down’.
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There have been White Ribbon events this morning with both Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten speaking at a breakfast.
Here is Turnbull:
I want to acknowledge the victims of domestic violence and their families, whose courage and suffering we honour today. Yours are the faces and the stories behind the statistics that we are determined to change. Today, I recommit to my role as a White Ribbon ambassador and I encourage all men to wear a white ribbon as a sign of respect for women, as a sign that you do not tolerate violence or disrespect of women and as a vow to stand up and speak wherever you see it. We stand together, men and women, and condemn the actions of the few who commit domestic violence and we call on all men to respect women and show they abhor violence against women.
Shorten has put forward this proposal:
That’s why I’m putting forward a proposition today on White Ribbon Day that Labor would amend the Family Law Act to compel judges and family violence cases to consider whether a witness should be protected under a range of mechanisms, such as video conferencing, and if the judge believes the available mechanisms under the act are insufficient to protect a vulnerable witness, the judge should be empowered to direct that all unrepresented litigants, the men and the women, should be represented by legal aid.
Turnbull has announced something further and the minister for women, Michaelia Cash, is holding a press conference on this right now. Details coming shortly.
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Also in the Senate, the memorial Justin Gleeson legal direction disallowance will finally hit the chamber.
To explain, Labor is trying to make sure the legal direction that led to the resignation of solicitor general Justin Gleeson is dead, buried and cremated.
The disallowance will make clear that these directions are dead. And will also highlight George Brandis, obviously. That is expected sometime after 5pm.
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From our mates at AAP:
Senator Culleton said he was “absolutely” happy to meet Senator Hanson and “the other boys” as well.
“Nothing wrong with that, is there?” he said as he arrived at Parliament House.
Asked whether he was happy to remain in One Nation, Culleton said it wasn’t a question of whether he was happy or not.
“When Pauline chose me as a candidate and I was committed to running as a senator I did it under the One Nation banner and I have principles,” he said.
“Now whether the going gets tough … I have to serve my team for my constituents because that’s how they voted me to parliament.”
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Here is the full Derryn Hinch.
The independent senator Derryn Hinch has confirmed that negotiations with the government over paid parental leave could settle on 20 weeks.
Compromise is not a word that was much in my journalistic career I would think over 50 years, but I’m learning in Canberra it’s a very important one. I’d hope that certainly – 1 January was far too soon to bring anything in – I was pushing for 22 weeks, and not starting until 1 August.
I’ve had long talks with Christian Porter [the social services minister]. I think we can get the government back to starting at maybe 1 October and at least get 20 weeks, so if you’ve got 14 weeks from your employer you get six weeks from the government as well.
If we can get 1 October, that means no woman who’s pregnant right now will be affected at all. That’s one of the things I was getting from people, from mothers’ groups I met with in Melbourne, that they felt they’d had it sprung on them now and they’d already spent the money.
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Pauline Hanson has declined to answer questions about Culleton and her criticism of the Family Court after quickly departing an event
— Frank Keany (@FJKeany) November 22, 2016
Rod Culleton is trying to have breakfast but his adviser knocked coffee cups which crashed to the floor... pic.twitter.com/wXvC12yWim
— Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) November 22, 2016
Housekeeping.
The Senate is where it’s at – as usual. Here is the government business we are expecting today.
- Treasury laws amendment (fair and sustainable superannuation) bill 2016
- Superannuation (excess transfer balance tax) imposition bill 2016 (subject to introduction)
- 1 – Income tax rates amendment (working holiday maker reform) bill 2016, treasury laws amendment (working holiday maker reform) bill 2016, superannuation (departing Australia superannuation payments tax) amendment bill 2016, passenger movement charge amendment bill 2016 – resumption of second reading debate
- 2 – VET student loans bill 2016, VET student loans (consequential amendments and transitional provisions) bill 2016, VET student loans (charges) bill 2016 – resumption of second reading debate 2
- 3 – Building and construction industry (improving productivity) bill 2013, building and construction industry (consequential and transitional provisions) bill 2013 – resumption of second reading debate
So we have super, followed by backpackers tax. Hard to imagine the Senate getting past those two biggies in one day but there is the urgency of deadlines to focus the mind.
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Gareth Hutchens will have the full paid parental report in a minute regarding Hinch’s negotiations.
Hinch says on paid parental leave that he was pushing for 22 weeks. He said after talks with the social services minister, Christian Porter, he could get the government to back a start date of 1 October with at least 20 weeks.
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Derryn Hinch supports the Australian Building and Construction Commission with some amendments.
I think by next week, as a Christmas present, I think the government may go home with some sort of deal.
Hinch describes the three Nick Xenophon Team senators and himself as the “newly formed gang of four”.
He says we will see more cooperation between the four senators in future. He and Xenophon have pointed out that with four votes they can block any legislation.
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Derryn Hinch has been on AM, he is keen to add protections for subcontractors (something we covered yesterday).
He says the government was “good” on his auditors amendments for registered organisations and the whistleblower reforms which he and Nick Xenophon pushed for.
I am encouraged by the government.
He says the last crossbench didn’t have that sort of relationship with the government.
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Liberal human rights committee members urge parliament to vote for lifetime ban in spite of report
Joint statement of the government members of the joint parliamentary committee on human rights
- Ian Goodenough MP, chair
- Senator Linda Reynolds
- Senator James Paterson
- Russell Broadbent MP
- Julian Leeser MP
The government members of the joint parliamentary committee on human rights unreservedly support the migration legislation amendment (regional processing cohort) bill 2016 and encourage all members of the parliament to vote for the bill. The bill is critical to prevent people smugglers and their evil trade.
The legal advice referred to in the report was not drafted by the committee members and represents one opinion. Reports the committee has found that the bill is not needed are inaccurate. As with most of the committee’s reports, the minister has merely been asked to provide further information. This is standard practice of scrutiny committees.
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Rod, excuse me, I'm party leader ...
Good morning dear readers,
Pulling all the threads of Australian politics together today is a bit like mustering cats.
So I will keep it straight.
Rod Culleton has continued to live out his political career in the news, with this report from Josh Robertson:
One Nation senator Rodney Culleton has been referred to police after a letter he allegedly sent to a Cairns magistrate prompted concerns in judicial ranks of a possible attempt to pervert the course of justice and threaten a judicial officer.
The Queensland attorney general, Yvette D’Ath, referred the matter to police commissioner Ian Stewart on Monday after the state’s chief magistrate, Ray Rinaudo, expressed concern the letter could trigger the offences.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said she had no knowledge of the letter and had called for an urgent meeting with Culleton for him to ‘explain his position’.
His leader Pauline Hanson wants to have a chat. She looked straight down the barrel of the ABC cameras in the marble hall in parliament and delivered the message.
Rod, excuse me, I’m party leader, I expect you to come to my office …
Last night Paul Karp reported that the Coalition-dominated human rights committee, chaired by Liberal MP Ian Goodenough, did not like its own policy for a lifetime refugee travel ban.
The Coalition’s proposed lifetime refugee travel ban is a ‘severe and exceptional’ measure and there is ‘no suggestion’ refugees present a danger to Australia, a parliamentary committee has said.
The parliamentary joint committee on human rights, chaired by Liberal MP Ian Goodenough, said in a report released on Tuesday the ban appeared to have a disproportionate effect on people of certain nationalities and could be discriminatory.
The travel ban was proposed by the Coalition in October as a means to deter asylum seekers from coming to Australia. It would prevent refugees who were adults when sent for offshore processing on Manus Island and Nauru from ever visiting Australia, unless the immigration minister granted an exemption.
The committee concluded it was ‘severe and exceptional’ to impose the ban because it applied to ‘people who have committed no crime and are entitled as a matter of international law to seek asylum in Australia’.
Goodenough has released a statement and I will have that to you shortly. Talk to me, send me tips, factchecks and thoughts in the thread, or via Twitter @gabriellechan or Facebook. Mike Bowers @mpbowers is in the building.
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