Night time politics
That is your lot for the night.
- Today began with an Indigenous ceremony to mark the 50 year anniversary of the 1967 referendum. Both leaders spoke in the house to a gallery with many Indigenous campaigners. It appears, due to an organising glitch by an outside organiser, Opposition members were not invited.
- Greens MP Adam Bandt indicated he would vote against the school funding package but the Greens reserve their right to change the position following the Senate inquiry into the Turnbull government’s Gonski 2.0 package.
- Education minister Simon Birmingham said if Gonski 2.0 is voted down, schools will lose funding if the Labor status quo circa 2013 remains in legislation.
- A nasty comment piece appeared in Quadrant suggesting the Manchester bombing should have happened in the Q&A studio, causing ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie to call for an apology and communications minister Mitch Fifield to condemn the article.
- Question time was again dominated by debate on the bank levy. Labor suggested it wouldn’t raise what the government had estimated and the government said the banks had different estimates. Their problem.
- Two more Labor MPs outlined their distaste for the Adani project.
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The NSW Coroner has raised questions as to whether there is an appropriate policy in place for letters outlining potential national security information to be passed on to relevant agencies after a letter by the Lindt siege perpetrator to the attorney general’s department failed to get passed on.
Thanks so much for your company and to the brains trust, Paul Karp, Gareth Hutchens and Katharine Murphy. Mike Bowers is winging his way up to the Sydney Writers’ Festival but will be back in time for tomorrow’s sitting.
Laters blogans.
Good night.
Updated
This is the direct quote from the NSW Coroner’s report (in the light of the failure to pass on the Monis letter):
There does not appear to be an effective policy in place to require the commonwealth bureaucracy to forward correspondence received by it to Asio where that correspondence is relevant to security considerations.
Brandis says he will consider all recommendations as they apply to the commonwealth.
I’m not in a position ... to give you a detailed response to this report.
Updated
Senator Ian Macdonald suggests the Monis letter was “rather innocuous”.
Brandis says:
In view of the events that happened I’m not going to say that.
Asio assessed the letter after the fact and director general Duncan Lewis said it would not have made any difference [passing it on] says Brandis.
Penny Wong asks if it was a serious failure?
It is not a consequential failure, Brandis says.
Brandis says it was not addressed to him, nor did it come to him.
Updated
George Brandis is now arguing that the government has implemented changes to ensure letters such as the one written by Monis will be passed onto Asio.
Letters from AG’s department get passed on to Asio, he says. Labor questions whether other departments have a similar policy because the NSW Coroner – according to Labor – says there is not an effective policy in place to pass on such letters across all government departments.
(I have been a bit busy today so have not read the NSW Coroner’s report into the Lindt siege.)
Brandis says the coroner’s recommendation was directed to all of government, not just the AG’s department.
Watts says yours is the lead agency (given AG’s is responsible for national security). Why haven’t you put the policy in place?
It’s not a recommendation to the Attorney General’s Department. It’s a recommendation to all agencies.
Updated
Murray Watt asks Brandis how he responds to the NSW Coroner suggesting there was a “knowledge gap” as a result of failing to pass on the Monis letter.
There is argy bargy over whether the coroner found the failure to pass on the letter was consequential.
Brandis:
There is no finding in this report that it was consequential.
Labor’s Murray Watt now questions Brandis about his statement.
Let’s just remind ourselves of the details of this issue.
This is from our report via AAP at the time:
George Brandis, the attorney general, has played down the significance of a letter he received from Man Haron Monis asking whether it was legal to contact Islamic State extremists two months before he stormed Sydney’s Lindt cafe.
Brandis told a Senate estimates hearing that department staff did not consider the letter threatening, despite it being received weeks after Australia’s terrorism threat level was raised to high.
“There was no reason to believe that any member of the Attorney General’s Department staff would have known that Monis ... was a person of concern at that particular time,” he said.
Mark Dreyfus, the shadow attorney general, said the letter should have prompted further investigation.
“A letter from a man on bail for serious violence offences, who had been in litigation with the commonwealth in the high court, asking about communication with the head of Isil should not have been treated as routine,” Dreyfus told the ABC radio. “It’s something that should have been referred.”
Updated
by stunning coincidence, the ABC drops this right before they're due to face abetz in #estimates. craven and wrong: https://t.co/fAS3DiHXyU
— Scott Ludlam (@SenatorLudlam) May 24, 2017
The attorney general has made a statement regarding the Lindt cafe report to estimates committee.
It relates to the recommendations relating to the federal government.
Labor is keen to question George Brandis on these matters, particularly around the handling of a letter by Monis that was sent to the federal government. At the time, Labor said it should have warranted further investigation.
Regarding the various recommendations from the NSW Coroner, Brandis essentially states that the federal government has already reassessed various security arrangements following the Lindt cafe siege.
For example, recommendation 40 says that the federal government should liaise with Asio in regard to such letters. Brandis says such correspondence is routinely referred to Asio now.
Recommendation 41 asks that the AG and Asio confer with the Psychological Society regarding restrictions on patient confidentiality when considering radicalisation. The recommendation says the Society might consider amending its guidelines to enable psychologists to report risks relating to terrorist risks.
Brandis says the government has already engaged with the Psychological Society on this issue.
He says the government is constantly assessing and reassessing security measures related to potential national security threats.
Updated
The tax and revenue committee is starting now.
The Australian National Audit Office is giving evidence, including Andrew Morris, executive director, perfomance audit services group and Tom Ioannou, acting deputy auditor general.
It may touch on the Plutus ATO scandal and you can watch it here.
Updated
FYI the last item on Adani:
Adani's lobbyist is a company run by David Moore and Cameron Milner, former Campbell Newman and Shorten staffers respectively #estimates
— Kylar Loussikian (@kloussikian) May 24, 2017
Labor continues to divide over Adani.
Katharine Murphy reports:
Lisa Singh has already outlined her opposition to Labor support for the Adani project.
Now two more Labor MPs have taken a stand against the controversial Adani coalmine, with Victorians David Feeney and Peter Khalil expressing objections.
Rightwinger Feeney issued a statement on Facebook after a meeting with local activists, declaring the environmental costs of the Adani project “too high”.
Khalil’s statement says the project should not go ahead “if it doesn’t stack up commercially and environmentally”.
This comes as the Queensland Labor government has yet to sort itself out on royalty holidays.
Federal Labor’s position is that the Adani mine can proceed on its merits but the project should not be given funding.
By Paul Karp.
Could you explain why cattle are alive when they are slaughtered?
Pauline Hanson asked today if cows are alive when they're slaughtered under halal certification. pic.twitter.com/dKaeWfUlf8
— BuzzFeedOz Politics (@BuzzFeedOzPol) May 24, 2017
Linda Burney and other opposition MPs did not get invitations to 1967 ceremony
Labor’s Tony Burke has taken up an issue with the Speaker, not in relation to his duties.
Burke says government MPs received invitations to the Indigenous ceremonies celebrating 50 years since the 1967 referendum in the morning.
Most opposition members did not receive an invitation, including Indigenous MP Linda Burney who was not counted in the census until that referendum.
Speaker Smith says the event was organised by an outside organisation. He thanks Burke for raising it in a respectful way. Labor thanks him for the advice.
Updated
Labor budget suspension motion goes down on the numbers.
A government question to Barnaby Joyce on inland rail.
Barnabus is goading Anthony Albanese.
Given the inland rail doesn’t go to the port but stops 84km short of the port, he might want to address that.
Updated
The Greens should not block the Gonski 2.0 schools funding bill because public schools will get less under current legislated funding growth rates, Simon Birmingham has warned.
The government argues that Gonski 2.0 increases schools funding by $2bn over four years (or $18bn over 10), while Labor has said it is a $22bn cut relative to needs-based funding agreements with the states.
On Tuesday, Greens education spokeswoman, Sarah-Hanson Young, introduced a possible third-way through the funding debate when she said the Greens would examine whether blocking the Gonski 2.0 bill could increase schools funding by locking in default rates of funding growth in the current law.
Asked at a doorstop at Queanbeyan Public School on Wednesday if the Turnbull government plan would give more than legislated indexation, Birmingham said “for schools like this, absolutely”.
What we see under our reforms is growth across government schools forecast to be for 10 years in excess of 5% per student per annum in funding – it is clearly above the current maximum rate allowed under the Australian Education Act.
The Australian Education Act grants 4.7% funding growth to schools that are not yet at their resource standard, including all public schools. Those already above the standard receive 3% a year growth.
The Turnbull plan cuts indexation from 4.7% for needy schools to 3.56% for all schools for the first two years, but offers public schools an average annual increase in per student funding of 5.2% over four years.
It’s possible both he and Sarah Hanson-Young are right: public schools stand to benefit, but overall across all systems the funding may be less than if the current indexation were continued. Birmingham declined to answer whether, in aggregate, all schools would get more funding under Gonski 2.0 or the current legislation.
Updated
The attorney general, George Brandis, has told Senate estimates he will provide a statement on the Lindt cafe siege inquest later in the afternoon.
Brandis said he met ASIO director general of security, Duncan Lewis, and AFP commissioner, Andrew Colvin, at lunch time today and discussed the coroner’s report. He said the statement would make observations on the report “of a preliminary nature”. Labor is keen to ask him about letters sent to him and the attorney general’s department by Monis.
Updated
Game of Tones, series 7.
Looking forward to my weekly chat with Ben from 4.30pm https://t.co/zzhc4f1YWn
— Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) May 24, 2017
This is the original motion:
That the house notes:
(a) both Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank have advised the bank tax is likely to fall short of forecasts in the Budget;
(b) yesterday in Question Time, the Treasurer used a figure to defend his bank tax which represents only nine months of payments against the full 12 month figure reported by the banks;
(c) the big four banks have reported the bank tax will raise $965m over 12 months;
(d) the Budget clearly states the bank tax will raise $1.6bn over 12 months;
(e) this leaves a significant shortfall in the bank tax, blowing a $2bn black hole in the budget over four years; and
(f) the treasurer sought to mislead this House about the bank tax and his $2bn black hole; and
(2) calls on the Treasurer to:
(a) admit there is a $2bn black hole in the budget because of his incompetence;
(b) admit he sought to mislead the House about his $2 billion black hole;
(c) come clean by immediately releasing the bank tax legislation and explaining how he intends to fill the $2bn black hole he has blown in the budget; and
(d) apologise to every member of this House for his underhanded attempts to mislead them.
Updated
Government wins the second gag. Now the suspension motion is put.
Updated
Updated
Government wins the gag. Bowen sits down. Tony Burke rises to speak. Government gags both.
Updated
Not sure what Bowen is doing here...
Christopher Pyne, leader of the government in the house, moves to gag Chris Bowen.
The bells ring for the vote.
Updated
Labor treasury shadow Chris Bowen moves a suspension of standing orders during question time.
It is on what he calls the budget shortfall regarding estimates as to how much the bank tax will raise.
Bowen to Morrison: are disclosures to the Australian Stock Exchange, statements by Morgan Stanley and the treasurer’s refusal to give straight answers to basic questions all lead to one conclusion, there is a $2bn hole in this budget. When will the treasurer admit this blackhole and what cuts will the treasurer bring back to fill it?
Morrison:
He can run as hard down this dry gully as he likes, Mr Speaker but it is a dry gully. What the government has done has set out a very clear measure.
Jim Chalmers to Scott Morrison: Morgan Stanley has said that the bank tax may only raise $1bn in its first full year and Deutsche Bank has said that the bank tax is likely to fall short of the $6.2 billion targeted in the budget. Treasurer, there is a $2bn hole in your budget. How will the government fill it?
Morrison says the only thing consuming Labor is the poor ole’ big banks.
He says the budget numbers are outlined in the budget papers and accuses Labor of having a budget hole due to its policy to reverse the small business cuts.
While Labor opposed the company tax cuts, they have not committed to reversing the legislation.
Updated
Bowen to Morrison: The big four banks disclosures to the Australian Stock Exchange show a $2bn black hole in the bank tax. Does the treasurer have any reason to believe these disclosures are inaccurate, given a false statement to the Australian Stock Exchange would be an offence under the Corporations Act?
Morrison says he assumes the banks know what they are doing.
Mr Speaker, I cast no aspersions on the banks. I cast none. They are making statements that I assume that they believe are fully accurate from their perspective. I assume they are because that’s what they’re obliged to do.
Updated
Bowen to Morrison: The big four banks have reported to the Australian Stock Exchange that they will pay $965m over 12 months for the bank tax. Isn’t it the case that this falls well short of the 12-month figure in the Budget of $1.6 billion for the bank tax? When will the Treasurer admit, just admit, that he has a $2 billion black hole?
Morrison says the four major banks and Macquarie each were able to retain their credit rating after the budget when regional banks sadly were not able to maintain theirs.
That is why the bank levy was announced, to make up for the implicit guarantee for big banks, he says.
The shadow treasurer may want to sit there with no clothes on when it comes to issues like this ... it is a horrible thought... I apologise to the House... but at the same time he represents a party that brought in a $12 billion mining tax that didn’t barely raise a sniffle, Mr Speaker, and for that they should hang their heads in shame.
Updated
Bowen to Morrison: Why did the treasurer in question time yesterday use a figure of $1.2bn which represents only 9 months of payments compared to the full 12-month figure reported by the banks to the Australian Stock Exchange. Was the treasurer seeking to paper over the $2bn black hole in the bank tax?
Morrison:
It is a simple statement of fact that that was the cash position for 17/18 and we also outlined the accrual position, which was $1.6bn.
Updated
Andrew Wilkie to Malcolm Turnbull: Waiting times are the longest for any state, for example, 936 days for urgent gastro and liver appointments and doctors tell me patients are dying while waiting for appointments. Ambulance Tasmania has the slowest response time of any state. No wonder the AMA has lost confidence and the Royal Hobart hospital staff association warns of a severe risk to patient safety over this winter. Prime minister, considering the federal government spends billions of dollars on Tasmanian health, will you now order an urgent inquiry into this dangerous, costly and avoidable fiasco?
Turnbull says funding for health is at a record high but the commonwealth is not responsible for health.
I recognise the concerns the honourable member has, but I would say to the honourable member that the provision of the substantial financial support the Commonwealth makes to Tasmania enables the state government to deliver for its part on the public hospital services for which it is responsible. Those are the Tasmanian government’s constitutional responsibilities.
Updated
Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison: Is the treasurer aware that the $1.2 billion figure he used in parliament yesterday in relation to the bank tax is completely misleading? Because it represents only nine months of payments compared to the full 12-month figure reported by the banks to the Australian Stock Exchange?
Morrison riffs off the old Commonwealth Bank ad, which bank are you appearing for?
The figure I referred to was the gross cash figure for 17/18 which is set out in the budget papers for 17/18. I was asked about what the figure would be in 2017/18, that’s what the figure is in 2017/18.
Updated
There is another government question on Manchester, including an updated travel warning to the UK from foreign minister Julie Bishop.
Plibersek to Turnbull: Does the prime minister agree with this statement in relation to his schools policy: “Compared to Labor’s arrangements, this representing a saving of $22.3 billion over 10 years.” If not, why did the Prime Minister’s Office distribute this document to journalists stating that his schools policy was a $22.3bn saving, compared to Labor’s policy? He was prepared to put it in writing. Why won’t he say it out loud?
Turnbull quotes the Age’s editorial this morning.
Talking about Labor’s credibility deficit and The Age editorialised, ‘this is neutered by another time-tested political parameter. Exorbitant promises are unconvincing, unless those making them can demonstrate the capacity to actually fund them.’
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull’s statement on Manchester and its aftermath is as it has been throughout the day.
Our agencies with whom I and my ministers are in constant touch are constantly upgrading, reviewing, adjusting our response measures. We must be more agile than those who seek to do us harm. We will always work tirelessly to keep Australians safe, and we do that by destroying Daesh in the field in the Middle East and by destroying their networks here at home.
Bill Shorten joins him to make a statement on indulgence. He says it was an attack aimed at innocent fun.
I just want to share the comments of Mrs Charlotte Campbell. She spoke to the media. Her words could be the parents of any of us in this House or indeed any Australian. She said, “I’m at home phoning everybody - hospitals, police, the centres that the children have been put in. Her dad is in Manchester looking for her. I’ve got my friends looking for her. I’ve got people I don’t even know looking for her. People messaging me saying that, “we’ve got her photo,” looking for her and we will get in contact if we see her, and I’m just hearing nothing. They basically told me to stay put and wait for a phone call.
Very soon after that, Mrs Campbell had a phone ring with the worst possible news. Her daughter, Olivia, was only 15 years old, and in time the shock will fade and the news will move on, but for families, the grief will remain. We will retain and remain our shared determination to defeat terrorism.
Updated
Matthew Killoran at the Courier Mail reports:
A key One Nation staffer Sean Black has been arrested by detectives.
Mr Black is a media adviser to Queensland senator Malcolm Roberts and was taken through the Roma Street watch-house just before midday Wednesday.
Details of the allegations cannot be reported for legal reasons. Charges have not yet been laid.
Updated
The first government question is on Manchester by way of sympathies and update.
Question time folks.
Shorten to Turnbull: Over the 10 years from 2018 to 2027, what is the difference in dollar terms between the prime minister’s schools policy and the policy under the previous Labor government?
Turnbull describes Labor’s funding as “fantasy”.
I will tell you what we’re spending, $18.6 billion in additional money over the next decade ...
The Labor Party’s education policy was unjust, inconsistent and a corruption of what David Gonski recommended.
Updated
The joy of estimates.
Updated
#Manchester bomber was the son of Muslim refugees. We must look honestly at the problem of 2nd generation Muslim radicalisation. #auspol
— Pauline Hanson (@PaulineHansonOz) May 24, 2017
Lunch time summary
- Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten have commemorated and celebrated the 1967 referendum, while saying there was still a long way to go to overcome Indigenous disadvantage. Many Indigenous campaigners attended the parliament, including on the floor of the house.
- Malcolm Turnbull says all security is under review at major events after the bombing in Manchester. The PM says he expects the review to be completed shortly and will go to the Council of Australian Governments meeting in July.
- A particularly offensive argument has been published on right wing magazine Quadrant’s website by Roger Franklin suggesting it would have been preferable to bomb the ABC’s Q&A. ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie has called for an apology and communications minister Mitch Fifield has described it as sick and unhinged.
- The cost of the proposed Snowy Hydro expansion could blow out to $2bn due to an upgrade to the poles and wires infrastructure. According to Senate estimates last night, the government knew this.
- Pauline Hanson has defended James Ashby, saying he was offered a One Nation senate seat but declined because he didn’t want to do anything to threaten Hanson’s election.
Updated
Arts Minister Mitch Fifield calls Quadrant comments on Manchester attack "sick and unhinged", says its a new low in public debate #estimates
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) May 24, 2017
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield says he's just become aware of the Quadrant article and is pleased the ABC has condemned it #estimates
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) May 24, 2017
Notice of something coming up just after 4pm:
The parliament’s tax and revenue committee will meet with the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) for public hearings into taxpayers’ engagement with the ATO.
Nat MP Kevin Hogan is the chair of that committee. Given the$165m Plutus ATO scandal the Committee will also consider the “robustness of ATO regulatory powers and practices to identify black economy traders and collect revenue due as payments systems go electronic”.
Updated
Adam Bandt: Labor's political opportunism jaw-dropping on schools
Adam Bandt calls on the government to fund Catholic schools directly – rather than calculating the funding and giving to the Catholic education offices in a lump sum – to ensure each school gets its fair share.
The Greens do not support Labor’s locking in law of ever-rising funding to wealthy schools that don’t need it.
And it is jaw-dropping to watch Labor now become the staunch defenders of over-funded Catholic schools, showing this is just rank political opportunism by the ALP.
The Greens believe government should fund Catholic schools directly, put an end to using poorer Catholic schools to subsidise wealthier ones, and I challenge Labor to agree with us on that.
Updated
Adam Bandt signals he won't be voting for schools package in the lower house
After a bit of a fan dance by the Greens, Adam Bandt has underlined his opposition to the elements of the government’s Gonski 2.0.
He has also said Julie Gillard’s promise that no school would be worse off has entrenched inequities and undermined needs-based funding.
I will not support cuts to funding to schools in my electorate and I will not support a reduction in funding to public schools around the country.
We will use the Senate inquiry to shine a spotlight on this bill and consult with parents and teachers and their unions to determine what is needed to implement the original Gonski plan.
We mustn’t forget that the Gillard Labor government’s promise that no private school would get a reduction in funding has exacerbated the inequities in funding.
The special deals for the Catholic education sector and other school systems and the refusal to legislate the funding increases to the states, despite the Gonski report’s recommendation to do so, are major failings of the Gillard Labor government arrangements.
As a result, what we currently have is not ‘needs-based funding’.
He calls for a return to the original Gonski recommendations.
This post has been amended. It originally said the Greens would not be voting for the Turnbull’s governments schools package in the senate as well. While lower house MP Adam Bandt signalled he would be voting against the bill in the lower house, the Greens overall position is that they will await the outcome of the senate inquiry before deciding on a final position in the senate.
Updated
George Brandis: Trump's intelligence sharing is not a security risk to Oz
AAP reports:
Australian authorities have not reviewed intelligence-sharing arrangements with the US in light of the controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s loose lips.
Pressure is mounting on the US president over interactions with Russia, including his reported disclosure of classified information with its foreign minister.
“President Trump is not a security risk to Australia,” the attorney general, George Brandis, told a Senate hearing in Canberra on Wednesday, adding he was the democratically-elected leader of the nation’s most important ally and intelligence partner.
Asked if the five eyes intelligence-sharing arrangement – between Australia, the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand – was as stable as it was before Trump’s victory, Brandis said: “Nothing has changed”.
Greens senator Nick McKim argued the propensity of Trump to “blab” about things warranted Australia to reconsider providing the US with highly sensitive information.
“Quite frankly, I’m astounded that events in the last couple of weeks have not resulted in a reconsideration of the intelligence that Australia shares with the US,” McKim said, noting reports other nations were withholding intelligence to the US.
Updated
AAP reports:
Arts Minister Mitch Fifield has ruled out selling the iconic painting Blue Poles despite the suggestion of one of his Liberal colleagues.
Senator James Paterson last year said it was time to cash in the Jackson Pollock painting Gough Whitlam famously bought for the national gallery in the 1970s for $1.3 million, but now valued at about $350 million, to pay down federal debt.
Senator Fifield told a Senate hearing in Canberra on Wednesday the government wouldn’t be selling the “destination” artwork, noting “decisions about the collection are ones for the council of the gallery”.
ABC boss Michelle Guthrie says Quadrant sunk to new low in debate
Managing director of the ABC, Michelle Guthrie has demanded an apology and removal from Quadrant magazine.
Quadrant promotes itself as ‘the leading general intellectual journal of ideas’. Those words ring hollow in the wake of last night’s vicious and offensive attack on the ABC, its staff and its program guests.
To take issue with our programming and our content is one thing. But to express the wish that, if there were any justice, the horrific terrorist bombing in Manchester would have taken place in the ABC’s Ultimo studio and killed those assembled there is a new low in Australian public debate.
This was part of the offending piece.
Life isn’t fair and death less so. Had there been a shred of justice, that blast would have detonated in an Ultimo TV studio. Unlike those young girls in Manchester, their lives snuffed out before they could begin, none of the panel’s likely casualties would have represented the slightest reduction in humanity’s intelligence, decency, empathy or honesty.
It has since been amended to this.
Life isn’t fair and death less so. What if that blast had detonated in an Ultimo TV studio? Unlike those young girls in Manchester, their lives snuffed out before they could begin, none of the panel’s likely casualties would have represented the slightest reduction in humanity’s intelligence, decency, empathy or honesty.
Guthrie will appear at senate estimates tonight.
Updated
Warrior Wong demolishes glass with bare hands.
**CLEAN UP IN COMMITTEE ROOM**@SenatorWong assures #estimates she didn't break the glass pic.twitter.com/b8sN1qKn3P
— Matthew Doran (@MattDoran91) May 24, 2017
The education debate continues in the lower house.
It largely consists of Labor MPs reading out how much their local schools would lose if the Coalition’s school funding package goes ahead compared with Labor’s promised funding plan.
Liberal MPs are arguing the plan brings the needs-based funding formula closer into line with the original Gonski report.
Updated
Birmingham: the media are mostly nice people but can be tricky sometimes. #auspol @gabriellechan
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) May 24, 2017
Birmingham: "my favourite colour is... green". Not blue. Green. "I suspect it's because of the environment, trees, grass" @gabriellechan
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) May 24, 2017
Friend of the blog, Anna Vidot of the ABC, is reporting from the rural affairs estimates.
Wow.
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) May 24, 2017
HALF the prawns coming into Australia were infected with #whitespot, Dept Ag says its OperationCatti report shows. #estimates #auspol
This is based on what the Dept knew at the time, and "retrofits knowledge" they have now, #estimates was told. #whitespot
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) May 24, 2017
Updated
Birmingham: "it took me several tries to get into parliament". Try try try again! #auspol @gabriellechan pic.twitter.com/aBCXcJfMmo
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) May 24, 2017
Hey diddle diddle...
Simon Birmingham reading on school visit to Queenbeyan Public School #auspol ping @gabriellechan pic.twitter.com/ZEE4m7ABdP
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) May 24, 2017
In the house, we are back to the school funding package.
This is weird.
While #estimates enjoys morning tea, let us ponder this: ~a TONNE of meat was seized from intl passengers at GoldCoast airport ALONE last yr
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) May 24, 2017
It really was a pretty amazing moment, having so many Indigenous campaigners here.
Nice.
The fake refugee rev up was simply to keep the applications coming in, or rather to “keep the run rate going”. Thanks to Mark Di Stefano of Buzzfeed.
Using a cricket metaphor, Immigration confirms nearly all of the so-called "fake refugees" would have already lodged claims by this year. pic.twitter.com/VcLVECIV2N
— Mark Di Stefano 🤙🏻 (@MarkDiStef) May 24, 2017
Senator Pauline Hanson has popped up to ask questions at Ag #Estimates!! Rural Affairs committee is full of new faces today! #auspol
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) May 24, 2017
Hanson: what happens to Aus cattle killed under halal certification.
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) May 24, 2017
Dept says they're all stunned prior to slaughter. #estimates #auspol
Hanson says she's been advised cattle are alive when slaughtered.
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) May 24, 2017
Dept points out stunned is alive, but unconscious. #estimates #auspol
One of the referendum campaigners, Aunty Dulcie Flower, slipped next to a fountain at the ceremony in parliament house this morning. It is an easy mistake as there is a black moat around the base of the fountain on an otherwise white floor. Mike Bowers has also come a cropper twice in there before, once walking backwards. The deputy PM Barnaby Joyce was one of a number who came to her aid.
Mike Bowers checked on her and she said
only my dignity is damaged.
Updated
Updated
Treasurer Scott Morrison is introducing the bill to increase the Medicare levy by 0.5% to pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Morrison has said all the money will go towards the NDIS. He says Labor has failed to support the “shared responsibility”, given Labor is only supporting the rise for those on incomes above $87,000.
He says Labor is not putting the money towards the NDIS. (I think this claim is on the basis that Labor says it was fully funded when they left office.)
Bill Shorten recognises constitutional recognition is hard and is not the final word, but it says Australians are prepared to write a new chapter.
It has to be as real as Australia can make it.
He says the parliament waits for the advice from the meeting at Uluru. Shorten acknowledges the government in 1967 did not fund the “no” case in the referendum.
Both sides supported the referendum, so 50 years on, Shorten says surely the parliament can find bipartisanship on a constitutional referendum.
It is our turn to step up, not to find fault but to find common ground.
Shorten says then in the future we can look back and say remember when we stepped up.
Updated
Bill Shorten says in too many ways, not enough has changed.
Too many Indigenous men are more likely to go to jail than to university.
Too many mothers still lose their precious babies through preventable disease.
Changing this means tackling the nitty gritty of disadvantage.
He says the regional differences and community differences have their own cultures and particular circumstances.
But every community has the right to participate in the Australian community.
Bill Shorten honours one of the campaigners, Pastor Doug, a former footballer, who screened a film showing Aboriginal hardship in 1957.
It captured hunger and disease. It showed children too weak to brush flies from their faces. One newspaper said there were cries of disgust and horror, and people openly wept.
The meeting attended by 1500, supported by the Australian Workers Union, launched the first petition to parliament for constitutional change. In the years that followed, folding tables and clipboards were set up in church halls and shopping streets, in country towns and big cities.
And by 1963, campaigners for change had collected 103,000 names before the internet, before social media, before smartphones. It was human commitment, face-to-face meetings, persuasive arguing.
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Shorten: census a racist system which broke families and shattered connections
Bill Shorten calls out the racism of the census as it existed pre-1967.
Exclusion from the census was a disgraceful insult. A bitter legacy of the better fight over federation and [its obsession with] race. Far more harm was done by the failure to make laws with regards to Australians. This gave successive federal commonwealth governments an alibi for failure. It left First Australians at the mercy of patchwork policies. Fighting against institutionalised prejudice with inequality and [denied] basic freedoms. A racist system which broke families and shattered connections with the country.
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Bill Shorten says today’s events commemorate and celebrate two signal moments in the Australian story.
We honour the heroes who made it possible. The 1967 referendum and the high court’s Mabo decision were triumphs for truth telling and decency. Both were platforms for further progress. And, overwhelmingly, both were victories authored by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. People who for so long had been relegated to silent roles, written out of the script altogether, finally took centre stage. In 1967, they looked non-Indigenous Australia in the eye and said, “Count us together, make us one people”.
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Bill Shorten begins his statement to the house.
I want to thank our friends from the Torres Strait for that welcome ceremony. It is always astonishing to see the world’s oldest culture brought to life right in front of you. And on behalf of the opposition, I want to give a special welcome to the original warriors for change, and their proud family members. Your presence here today enriches this day. It puts a human face on our history. In fighting to be part of the Australian identity, you, in fact, gifted, a larger identity to all Australians. You and your guests simply make us more proud to be Australian.
The PM has announced a $138m Indigenous education package “to enable the economic and social inclusion for which the 1967 campaign was fought”.
We are joined today by 50 Indigenous youths parliamentarians who stand today on the shoulders of these giants. I want to thank the ‘67 referendum campaigners and the Mabo campaigners for the gift they gave our nation. I thank all First Australians, who preserved their ancient culture. Your culture defines who you are, it speaks to your country, your identity, your belonging. And as we embrace in reconciliation, your culture enriches us all. For time out of mind, for more than 50,000 years, your people and your culture have shaped and been shaped, cared for and been cared by, defined and been defined by this land, our land, Australia.
The prime minister names too many Indigenous people to record who were involved in the campaign, who worked towards the 1967 referendum.
He moves on to the Mabo case, acknowledging Eddie’s widow Bonita.
It was Eddie Mabo and the other plaintiffs, James Rice and others, whose perseverance brought about the High Court’s decision to bring about the rights of the people of the Murray islands and the Torres Strait. They are all represented here today. I want to acknowledge the presence of Eddie Mabo’s wife and their daughter Gale. Eddie Mabo was an advocate of the 1967 referendum, fighting for equal rights, including education. But despite the success of the ‘67 campaign in 1972, Eddie Mabo still had to get permission of the Queensland authorities to visit his dying father. That permission was denied. Six weeks later he died.
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Malcolm Turnbull acknowledges the work being done in Uluru on the proposed constitutional referendum.
It is vitally important our First Australians consider and debate the models of recognition free of political interference and the diversity of views and opinions within the Indigenous communities are discussed. The next step in constitutional recognition needs to be embraced by all Australians. But it needs first to be embraced by our First Australians if it is to be proposed at all.
Turnbull talks about an Indigenous campaigner, who said:
The government counted everything, they counted the cattle, the cars the TV, but they didn’t count us, it was like we were invisible.
He reflects on the Australia of 1967.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in many parts of the country could still not freely attend public swimming pools, sit in a public class room without fear of exclusion, have a drink at the pubs with their mates, and fundamentally, our First Australians could not shape their own identity. This discrimination and exclusion diminished us all as Australians. It did not reflect the sacrifice and contribution the First Australians made to our nation, or the humanity of all of us.
Speaker Tony Smith welcomes people in the gallery, including those involved in campaigning for the 1967 referendum and the 25th anniversary of the Mabo decision.
Malcolm Turnbull begins with an acknowledgement in an Indigenous language.
He begins talking about people of diverse backgrounds in Australia living in harmony.
We know that we have not always treated our First Australians with the respect that they deserve. Truth is the first step towards healing.
Turnbull says truth is the first step to healing.
Laws controlled where our First Australians could and couldn’t move, what they could and couldn’t do. Lives demeaned, lives diminished. Generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were removed from their families and communities and we acknowledge that this separated children from their mothers and fathers, their families, their land, languages and cultures, cared for by their ancestors for over 50,000 years.
Indigenous diggers returned from war having defended our freedoms and the rule of law were denied the rights of citizenship for which they had so fiercely fought. But 50 years ago, our nation was given the opportunity to vote for change and, Mr Speaker, our nation did. No member of this place authorised a “no” case. The parliament and the community were united.
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There are ceremonies around the house to mark 50 years since the 1967 referendum in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were first counted.
Paul Daley wrote about how there is quite a job to go on equality.
There was a cultural ceremony just after 9am.
Now the PM is going to make a statement to the house, as is Bill Shorten.
Overnight, Labor has released a plan to force company directors to register under an identification number to ensure they cannot wind down companies, take the assets, leave creditors high and dry and start a new company.
Labor’s Andrew Leigh has explained the policy via video.
Pity you had to see him on a burning day.
Expansion of Snowy Hydro could cost $2bn more than flagged
From our next-door neighbours at AAP:
Environment minister Josh Frydenberg knew the expansion of the Snowy Hydro scheme could cost nearly double the $2bn price Australians were told by the prime minister.
A massive expansion of the iconic hydropower scheme will also require a major upgrade to the poles and wires needed to transmit the electricity it creates.
Snowy Hydro is working with NSW electricity grid operator Transgrid to determine how much that would cost.
Chief operating officer Roger Whitby was reluctant to give a ballpark estimate when he appeared before a Senate committee, saying it depended on many factors, but eventually conceded it was “potentially more than $1bn” but less than $2bn.
Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull visited the Snowy Mountains in mid-March to announce a feasibility study into expanding the scheme to provide more storage and backup energy capacity.
During interviews in the immediate aftermath, he said it would cost $2bn to build.
But environment department officials revealed to senators they had always known there would be an extra cost for the transmission upgrade.
“The fact that there would be an extra cost of transmission, the transmission augmentation, that’s always been part of all briefings provided,” deputy secretary Rob Heferen told the Senate committee on Tuesday night.
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Senate estimates will continue today.
The department of finance is in the hot seat today.
All the art galleries – which come under the arts portfolio – will also be answering questions.
The biosecurity sections of the department of agriculture will also be answering questions, presumably around white spot in prawns and a few other juicy bits.
The ABC is up after dinner so we will have reports on that overnight.
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Turnbull was asked, given the bomber was born in Manchester, what Australia is doing to identify and intervene in radicalisation processes.
Turnbull repeated that 63 people had been arrested on terrorism charges and noted the report into the Lindt Cafe siege would come down today.
Today, the coroner’s report on the Lindt Cafe siege will be handed down and this is a moment too to reflect on the tragic loss of life there, of Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson ... and this is a moment too to reflect on the tragic loss of life there ... And again our heartfelt sympathies, condolences and prayers go to their families.
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Malcolm Turnbull says Australian intelligence services have disrupted and stopped a dozen major terrorist plots since September 2014, including one before Christmas involving plans to detonate a bomb and commit other attacks in and around Federation Square.
He says the key to disrupting plans is good intelligence.
This is a constantly evolving, it’s a dynamic environment. We must be as agile as our enemies. We must be more agile than our enemies. So we have to learn from every incident.
Malcolm Turnbull says security at mass events in Australia is always under constant review.
You’ll see heightened police presences, more obstacles, bollard, barriers put in the way to prevent vehicle-borne attacks.
The PM says the Australian and New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee pulls together Australian and New Zealand jurisdictions to develop a national strategy to coordinate state and territory police services, local governments and the owners and operators of various venues and events.
Then the government’s counter-terrorism coordinator will discuss progress at Coag next month. The review should be received and endorsed by the Counter-Terrorism Committee from July.
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Malcolm Turnbull speaks to the UK PM
The prime minister is speaking on AM.
He has spoken to the UK PM, Theresa May, overnight, offering Australia’s sympathies.
Turnbull repeats May’s message that UK authorities have found evidence of a wider plot.
So in that sense, the attack is not over. Until all of those associated with this criminal have been rounded up, their networks broken and their connections uncovered and brought to justice.
Turnbull has just spoken to the Australian director general of security, the head of Asio and his counter-terrorism coordinator. He repeats that the threat level remains “probable”.
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Pauline, I don't want to do anything that will destroy your chances
Good morning blogans,
Obviously overnight the terrible aftermath of the bombing in Manchester is still unfolding with the first victims being identified, including an eight-year-old girl Saffie Rose Roussos with a sunny smile. If you want to follow the news, including the unfolding government and security reaction, we are continuing our live blog here.
In Australia, the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has spoken again about the tragic events and its reverberations this morning.
She says there is no evidence that the terrorist threat in Australia – which is “probable” – should change.
If it should change we would act on the advice of our security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies as to what would be appropriate.
In more work-a-day political matters, Pauline Hanson spoke to Sky overnight regarding the pressure on the party over leaked recordings of her chief of staff, James Ashby, suggesting money-making schemes raised from their own candidates. Hanson and Ashby have said the schemes never went ahead. She told Paul Murray that people were trying to get to her through Ashby.
They are trying to undermine me through James Ashby, to get rid of James because we work so well together.
He is capable, very articulate young man who has no ambitions to be a member of parliament because I have already offered that job to him in the last election if he would stand on the ticket with me.
He said, ‘Pauline, no I don’t’, he said, ‘because I don’t want to do anything that will destroy your chances of getting elected to parliament’.
#liabilities
But former One Nation candidate Lynette Keehn has spoken to Primrose Riordan and Rosie Lewis at the Oz. She said she had to put her campaign costs on her credit card.
Despite obtaining 18% of the primary vote, Lynette Keehn says she did not receive any return of funds from the One Nation executive.
“My understanding was that when you got your 4% in votes … anything after that you get paid per vote,” Ms Keehn told The Australian.
“Yes, I did (ask for a refund). Well, I was told that doesn’t happen.”
Ms Keehn, who is now searching for a job while looking after her seriously ill husband, said she was left with debts of $5,000-$7,000 from campaign costs.
The party is now subject to an AFP investigation after Labor’s Murray Watts referred the matter.
Now the house is sitting at 9.30am and Senate estimates continue.
The bill for a Medicare levy rise is coming to the House and the Gonski 2.0 debate continues. Let’s get to it. Talk to me in the thread, on the Twits @gabriellechan and @mpbowers or on Facebook.
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