So long, farewell
Well good people of Politics Live, that will do for today. You’ve been delightful as always. Let’s part ways for this evening by taking stock of Monday in two points.
- The Turnbull government has emerged with a trigger for a double dissolution election, with the senate knocking back the ABCC bill before it reached committee stage. That means we’ll be off to the polls shortly after the budget on May 3. For the longest election campaign in recent memory. In winter. Apart from all that it will be blooming marvellous.
- The trigger emerged at the end of a combative day, where Labor’s deputy senate leader Stephen Conroy shirt fronted the governor-general for proroguing the parliament, before the Labor leader Bill Shorten shirt fronted Conroy for being rash. The government declared Labor was in the pocket of the CFMEU, while Labor contended the government was in the pocket of the big banks by failing to back a royal commission into the financial services industry. There was more of course, but that’s the main threads.
Now, anyone for tennis?
How good is Bowers. We’ll see you all again in the morning.
It looks like the moment for the prime minister to comment on the events of the evening has passed. His office now says no statement tonight. I think I’ll take that as a cue to fold the tent. I’ll be back shortly with a post summarising where things now sit in federal politics.
The senate is now coming back after its dinner break. In the other chamber, the prime minister has zipped. The House has passed the truckies tribunal repeal.
Active wear is deeply fashionable in the green chamber this evening.
Member for Chifley @edhusicMP arrives for a division from the gym @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/iAAg4o3kBv
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) April 18, 2016
Independent Andrew Wilkie, in his gym gear, is backing Christopher Pyne in this instance. This is much ado about nothing, he says. The House Speaker Tony Smith would also like to get past this procedural skirmish. Labor, however, would like to remain on this point, because the alternative, as Tony Burke puts it, is whips can report whatever number they like during counts. He says that’s an unfortunate precedent. Smith has relented. He’s giving the chamber another division.
Labor is now objecting to the count on the truckies bill. Manager of opposition business Tony Burke says the count doesn’t conform with the standing orders because people moved around during the vote at the direction of government whips.
Manager of government business Christopher Pyne says Burke is ..
.. trying on a juvenile debating point ..
This is a pathetic try on.
Ah, look, a stranger in the House.
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They are still working through the truckies tribunal repeal vote in the House. Into the third reading now.
Down in the House, the government is moving a gag to try and wrap up the truckies tribunal repeal vote now. Labor is getting very cranky. Bit chaotic down there.
Manager of opposition business, Tony Burke.
North Korea would be proud of the leader of the House tonight!
Move the gag. Ring the bells.
One little moment in history. The senate gives the Turnbull government a double dissolution election trigger.
For the record the vote was 36/34.
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It’s possible the prime minister will address the House of Representatives shortly. Stay tuned, in any case I’ll be pushing on until we’ve wrapped up all the elements.
The government has its trigger
And there she blows. The bill has failed to go into second reading.
The government has its double dissolution trigger.
On the second reading vote, crossbenchers with the government: Bob Day, David Leyonhjelm, Dio Wang and Nick Xenophon. With Labor: Jacqui Lambie, Glenn Lazarus, John Madigan and Ricky Muir.
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The chamber is dividing now on the second reading of the bills.
Here’s the employment minister Michaelia Cash, summing up the cognate debate. She thanks senators for their input, but she says the rule of law needs to be restored to building sites.
Michaelia Cash
The parliament can choose if it stands for thuggery or fairness.
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Here’s Glenn Lazarus, confirming he will not support the ABCC bill in its current form. He’s also telling the chamber he is not a politician, despite the evidence to the contrary: him being in parliament. Facts. Minor matters.
'There are two speakers left on the list, @SenatorLazarus and @SenatorCash ...' says @SenatorFifield #auspol #abcc
— RN Drive (@RNDrive) April 18, 2016
Nick Xenophon is telling the chamber he thinks we need a building watchdog, but he’s not sure this model will drive productivity gains and ensure workplace safety. He’s also indicated he would have liked to deliver a vote before the 7 o’clock news, but he’s not sure he can deliver that this evening. Xenophon has told the chamber it is most unlikely that the bill will go into committee. If he’s right, this debate will be over reasonably promptly.
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Greens senator Scott Ludlam in his contribution says he’s hopeful the dystopian ABCC will be kicked to the kerb in the senate within the next couple of hours. I should note in analytical mode there’s a degree of fence mending in evidence right now between the Greens and the union movement. Unions were furious with the Greens about the deal the party did with the government on senate voting reform, believing that deal was more likely to deliver a reborn ABCC in a joint sitting after a double dissolution election. The Greens have some ground to make up here. Unions in recent years have been donating to the Greens as well as the ALP – a trend that worried Labor, to put it mildly.
Liberal senator Eric Abetz has just compared the ABCC to the Keeping Australia Beautiful campaign. My love is like a red red rose. Corruption is like litter.
Please send help. I may have already snapped.
The senate is now back on the ABCC debate. Crossbencher John Madigan has just spoken in opposition to the legislation and Bob Day is making his contribution at the moment. He supports it. He’s also arguing various amendments should be considered in the committee stage. Day is urging his colleagues to allow the legislation to go to a second reading. (Might have to get them back to the chamber first. There isn’t a quorum just at the moment. Ring the bells.)
There’s a bit of corridor chat around tonight about the government, and what it might produce to head off or neutralise Labor’s political sortie on the banking royal commission. If you’ve been with us all day you’ll know Labor was on the hunt for intelligence in question time today. Phil Coorey and James Eyres from the AFR are speculating an announcement isn’t far away.
The federal government could unveil its own banking changes as early as Tuesday in a bid to shut down the politically popular call by Labor to hold a royal commission into the financial services sector. Federal cabinet met late Monday to approve a range of measures to boost the powers and resources of the Australian Securities and Investments Commissions. It is understood, however, that a previously mooted inquiry by ASIC into the banks, was not in the final package.
While I’m in the picture desk, another lovely chamber shot that I haven’t had a chance to share yet. Bronwyn Bishop, the day after the weekend before.
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Meanwhile, the man who once threatened to kill two pampered pooches mulls the sweetest victory of all.
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Wong is not the only Labor figure crab-walking away from Conroy. The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, has issued a short statement saying Conroy’s attack on Cosgrove was intemperate and unnecessary.
The governor general has one of the most important roles in our democracy and that should be respected by everyone. Senator Conroy should confine his remarks to the government.
So, good people, you can pick a box here. Either Labor’s deputy Senate leader didn’t tell colleagues what he was planning (possible, but fairly unusual behaviour), or he did, but with the mischief managed, with the idea of trickiness out there, everyone can retreat from the fray now.
Too cynical? ’Tis the season I’m afraid.
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Over on Sky News, Labor’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, has meanwhile tiptoed away from her colleague Stephen Conroy who decided to throw a rhetorical grenade at the governor general earlier this morning. Wong noted Conroy has a colourful turn of phrase. Then she followed up with his words not being words I would use.
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Back to the Senate now. There’s conflicting mail about whether we will get a vote on the ABCC tonight. Maybe we will, maybe we won’t.
The Liberal senator Cory Bernardi has taken the opportunity to speak in a debate this afternoon voicing opposition to increases in tobacco excise. We know he feels this way, which will make the post-budget period mildly interesting, given it looks like the government might hike the tobacco excise.
Bernardi is just making it known that he’s over the nanny statists. Just in case we missed it.
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A couple of observations about the day: rallying the base
I think it’s worth pausing briefly to make a couple of observations about today.
I did warn you good people first up to pop on your crash helmets. We are now hurtling full tilt towards an election. When we hurtle towards an election the degree of intra-day brutality increases by an order of magnitude. Both the major parties are muscling up for this session.
We’ve seen it in Labor’s decision to take on the governor general in this morning’s sitting – that’s a simple effort to draw attention to procedural “trickiness” and cut through the government’s efforts to portray this parliamentary session as nothing out of the ordinary; and in the muscling up over donations, and the little round robin on the banking royal commission.
We see it in the government’s language about Labor: fiscal wreckers and CFMEU lackeys. That’s a distance away from Malcolm Turnbull’s exciting times and grown-up debates.
Leave no shot in the locker is also in evidence in the unusual (let’s be polite and say unusual) decision the government took today to announce where various surface vessels would be built before fully tying up the various contracts. (Did we mention Adelaide? Shall I mention that again, Adelaide? And WA, and possibly Cairns. #FeelThePyne.)
One broader observation worth making, I think: it’s interesting how much the government feels it has to rally the base right at the moment. Look at this whole foray over owner-drivers. Those folks aren’t Labor folks – they are rusted on Coalition people. This isn’t a big pre-election pitch to swinging voters and marginal seats, it’s about keeping their own people in the cart. So are the industrial bills. Thumping the table about the CFMEU is about feel good for the Liberal party base, rallying against the totemic enemy. Again it’s not a pitch to the centre/swinging voter. It’s about keeping the conservative base bushy-tailed before everyone leaps over the trenches after the budget.
Now, why would that be?
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Back to the dogs, just briefly. The deputy prime minister is savouring his victory over the Canines from the Caribbean.®
Barnaby Joyce has issued the following statement.
I welcome the conclusion of court proceedings against Ms Amber Heard today. I also appreciate Ms Heard’s willingness to take responsibility for her actions last year and her acknowledgment that she broke our national biosecurity laws. These legal proceedings reinforce the clear message I sent internationally last year that we will not tolerate disregard for our biosecurity laws, no matter who you are. These legal proceedings clearly illustrate the government’s serious approach to enforcing our national biosecurity laws, and the fact that there are no exceptions to these laws – they apply to everyone equally. As an island nation, Australia is free of many pests and diseases common throughout the world that have harmed human health, agricultural industries, animals, plants and the environment. We do not want diseases and pests such as rabies, foot and mouth, screwfly, the varroa mite or ehrlichiosis in our country, and we do not want people making their own arrangements for what they bring into our country.
® Mike Bowers
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Back to donations. Some context to that question time foray by Mark Dreyfus. Labor is in the process of trying to set up Senate inquiry into the federal Liberal fundraising foundations at the centre of allegations the NSW Liberal party has breached electoral disclosure laws, and to force Malcolm Turnbull’s cabinet secretary, Arthur Sinodinos, to give evidence before it.
Labor has moved a notice of motion in the senate to set up an inquiry by the Senate finance and public administration references committee to report by 4 May – the day after the federal budget – about “commonwealth legislative provisions relating to oversight of associated entities of political parties, with particular reference to the adequacy of the funding and disclosure regime relating to annual returns; the powers of the Australian Electoral Commission with respect to supervision of the conduct of and reporting by associated entities of political parties; and …[that] senator Sinodinos appear before the committee to answer questions”.
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— Waleed Ally (@maxuthink) April 18, 2016
I will come back to question time to make sense of all that very shortly but you really do need to see this urgently. I mentioned this morning that the Johnny Depp’s dogs case has been on today in Queensland.
The Hollywood couple Depp and Amber Heard have recorded this video about why it’s a very poor idea to breach Australian quarantine laws.
Do look. You won’t be sorry.
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The finance minister and special minister of state, Mathias Cormann, has turned up in the Sky News studios.
Sky’s political editor, David Speers, puts the Dreyfus line of questioning to him.
Cormann tries the dead bat, telling Speers he’ll have a look at what’s been said in the house. He says he didn’t hear reps’ question time – he’s been in the Senate. As a general principle, Cormann says, the AEC should act independently.
There should not be political interference from government.
Speers points out he has the power as minister to do exactly what Dreyfus says: ask the AEC to advise him on the donations. Cormann says this is the first time the issue has been put to him.
Q: So you are open to it?
I don’t know. I’ll look at what’s been said.
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Turnbull moves to shut down question time before Dreyfus gets back to the dispatch box. An interesting sequence, that.
Another Dorothy Dixer on frigates. Then Dreyfus returns.
Q: I refer to the minister’s previous answer. Will the minister report to the house before question time tomorrow on whether the special minister of state will direct the Australian Electoral Commission to report on whether any organisation that received donations from the Free Enterprise Foundation complied with all commonwealth electoral laws?
Scott Morrison declines to provide any guarantee on that score.
I’ll consult with the special minister of state, and I’m sure he’ll report in accordance with the normal practice.
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Dreyfus is persisting. Will the minister ask the AEC to report if any organisation that received donations from the Free Enterprise Foundation complied with all commonwealth electoral laws?
Morrison says he’ll pass that request through to Cormann.
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The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, on electoral funding and disclosure, flowing from recent events in NSW.
Q: My question is to the minister representing the special minister of state. The New South Wales electoral commission recently found that the NSW Liberal party was required to disclose the identities of donors to the Free Enterprise Foundation, regardless of whether they were prohibited donors or not. That disclosure was not made. As a matter of government policy, should an organisation that has been found to have breached NSW electoral laws by the NSW electoral commission be able to claim electoral funding from the Australian Electoral Commission for a federal election?
Scott Morrison, representing Mathias Cormann, who is in the other place.
On behalf of the special minister for state, the member would be aware that the matters he referred to related to New South Wales electoral laws, not to federal electoral laws.
Dreyfus isn’t inclined to stop at the dead bat. He’s inclined to personalise this issue to Morrison, who is a former state director of the Liberal party.
Q: My question is to the minister representing the special minister of state. According to reports, the Millennium Forum was established as a vehicle to conceal the identity of Liberal party donors. The Millennium Forum has never declared a donation to the Australian Electoral Commission, despite some individual donors confirming donations to the forum. Given the Millennium Forum was in operation during the treasurer’s time as director of the NSW Liberal party, a time at which he signed AEC disclosures, has the treasurer advised the prime minister of any conflicts he has in representing the special minister of state?
Morrison says hang on, Labor is asking questions about corruption? Really, given what went on in NSW?
Scott Morrison
They have the gall to come into this place and throw this sort of muck around, Mr Speaker. Those opposite – the party of Craig Thomson, Mr Speaker – has the union got their money back yet from the brothel? I don’t think they have, Mr Speaker.
This, Mr Speaker, is a bankrupt party when it comes to these matters, Mr Speaker. They’re in no position to lecture anyone!
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A boats dixer for the immigration minister, Peter Dutton. Labor will put the people smugglers back in business.
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The manager of government business, Christopher Pyne, is considering the umbilical cord attaching the Labor party to the CFMEU. Unfortunately he’s run out of time.
Labor’s Tanya Plibersek has a question for Scott Morrison.
Q: Will the treasurer take Moody’s advice last week and accept the need for both spending and revenue measures? Or will the treasurer deliver a budget which puts Australia’s prized AAA credit rating at risk?
(Moody’s last week did note rather inconveniently that both spending and revenue measures would be needed to deal with the current fiscal challenge. The government says repeatedly it doesn’t have a revenue problem.)
Morrison objects to Labor delivering fiscal lectures.
This is how you repair a budget, Mr Speaker: you get control of your spending. You get control of your spending. And you reduce your expenditure as a share of the economy.
And Mr Speaker, what you also do is you focus on growth and you focus on jobs. The thing that it supports – investment – to support growth and jobs.
That’s what leads to revenues.
(Well, investment and growth can lead to revenues, it’s true – provided those two things are actually forthcoming.)
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Sick MPs and sick burns. Labor MP Andrew Giles.
Morrison extra unconvincing when saying crass populism is a bad thing - he should reflect on his time as Minister for Immigration #qt
— Andrew Giles MP (@andrewjgiles) April 18, 2016
I suspect the prime minister has the flu. He’s sneezing down in the chamber. Too much time in planes and in different climates will do that to you. Too much time in Canberra will do that to you as well – so many people are sick at the moment.
Labor has meanwhile produced another less than attractive sounding bank case study from Tasmania. The treasurer, Scott Morrison, says bring me the details and my office will be happy to help.
PS: Labor still equals crass populism.
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Hot today, in the invective factory.
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A Dorothy Dixer on the wickedness of Labor increasing various taxes when the economy is in transition.
Then Labor returns to the banking royal commission.
Q: Last night, when asked if the treasurer had spoken to the banks about holding an ASIC inquiry into banks, the prime minister said: “You’d have to ask him.” So, can the treasurer advise the House whether he, or his office, has spoken with any banks since Labor announced its support for a royal commission into the banking and financial services industry – and if so, what was discussed?
Morrison says treasurers are constantly in engagement with members of the banking and financial industry all the time.
It’s our job.
And PS: Labor = crass populism.
Now the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, is on frigates.
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Labor’s Jim Chalmers reminds Malcolm Turnbull about HIH.
Q: I refer to the prime minister’s previous answer, when he said a royal commission into Australia’s banking sector would not pay compensation. Given the prime minister’s close personal knowledge, can the prime minister confirm that victims of HIH, which was subject to a royal commission, received compensation?
(If you aren’t old enough to remember HIH, the company went into liquidation owing more than $5bn. The company was found to be insolvent by the time Turnbull, who at that time was the boss of Goldman Sachs, was appointed to sell the company. It’s a very long story, with many twists and turns, but that gives you the broad brush strokes of it. There was a royal commission into the collapse.)
Turnbull isn’t very pleased with Chalmers. Thank you for that gratuitous reference, he says, but he adds honourable members opposite should not insult the intelligence of the Australian people.
Malcolm Turnbull
A royal commission is an inquiry. The only thing a royal commission can do is ask questions, subpoena documents, examine witnesses, and write a report. That’s all it can do. It cannot initiate compensation for anyone.
The Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie asks about health funding for Tasmania. Malcolm Turnbull offers this: “We’re absolutely committed to ensuring that Tasmanians have the support from the federal government to ensure that they have health services on a par with Australians elsewhere in the country.”
The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, is meanwhile thundering about getting true working people back out on the road.
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Bill Shorten to the prime minister.
Q: The government is reported to be considering directing ASIC to conduct an inquiry into the banking and financial services industry. Can the prime minister confirm that ASIC cannot inquire into its own role or Apra’s role, cannot hold an inquiry in public, and can only investigate individual cases where a royal commission examines systemic issues? When will the prime minister stop appeasing and apologising for the banks and launch a royal commission into the Australian banking sector?
Turnbull waves that one to the treasurer, Scott Morrison.
Morrison says one of the early things the government did after the election was set up an inquiry into financial systems, which he says Labor opposed.
Scott Morrison
What this government did is it initiated a capability review into ASIC, because what those opposite don’t seem to understand is that it’s ASIC that has the powers and that has the authority to prosecute and investigate, including holding public hearings, including dealing with things in public and having general matters that they can investigate, as well as specific matters, and we initiated the capability review into ASIC, to ensure that it has the proper resources and powers to do its job.
Those opposite, in their economic statement before the last election when they were in government, placed an efficiency dividend on ASIC, cutting some $30m from ASIC, and it was done by the now-shadow treasurer when he was treasurer, Mr Speaker. He would remember that!
So now they come to this place, a month or two or however long it is out from an election, and they develop an interest in the banking and financial system. This government has been working on it from day one, Mr Speaker.
Those opposite have opposed it every step of the way.
It’s rank populism.
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The second Dorothy Dixer invites the prime minister to present himself as being the champion of small business, particularly truckies. That would be the owner-driver truckies, not the TWU members. Turnbull says truckies – the owner-driver truckies – know Labor is out to get them.
Malcolm Turnbull
We’re committed to ensuring that those mum-and-dad businesses – those small businesses, those enterprising Australians – can get on and do their work. Labor is determined to keep them out of business.
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The first Dorothy Dixer is on the government’s various fabulousness in contrast with Labor’s general meh-ness.
Labor is back on the banks.
Q: Dennis Scanlan is 75 and he lives in the electorate of Higgins. Dennis says his financial adviser has admitted to ripping him off, but his bank is still trying to sell his house after selling both his business and commercial property. Dennis says ASIC and the Financial Ombudsman Service have told him they can’t help, and his local member – the assistant treasurer – has given him a list of community legal centres, despite the fact that the Liberal government has cut funding to these services. When will the prime minister stop making excuses and launch a royal commission so cases like these can be properly investigated?
Malcolm Turnbull says Labor only wants to run a populist case against the banks. It isn’t interested in outcomes. A royal commission wouldn’t help this individual, the prime minister says.
The prime minister:
Mr Speaker, the only tears from the opposition are, indeed, crocodile tears, Mr Speaker. The men and women of Australia, the small-business men and women who need to be supported by government, were abandoned by Labor, and we are determined to set them right again.
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Question time
It being 2pm, here beginneth the hour of the glower. Labor feels it might open today on banks and royal commissions.
Bill Shorten says, given the prime minister has referred recently to many troubling incidents in the financial services sector, why not a royal commission?
Q: Why won’t the prime minister join with Labor and commit to a royal commission to restore and rebuild trust in the Australian banking sector? Or is this just another case of the prime minister saying one thing and doing the complete opposite?
Malcolm Turnbull suggests Shorten is only an enthusiast for royal commissions in one sector. The Labor leader doesn’t support inquiries such as the royal commission into the construction sector because he’s an apologist for the CFMEU. In order to underscore Shorten’s populism, Turnbull is brandishing some Shorten remarks from 2012. The prime minister says lawyers would be the only winners from a royal commission into banking.
The prime minister:
We are focused on action. We are focused on ensuring that the banks are regulated and that those who break the law are brought to account, and those who get a raw deal are dealt with fairly and compensated appropriately.
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The latest Politics Live employees @murpharoo ? pic.twitter.com/pSOAb6BoSE
— Kate M (@ComissionerKate) April 18, 2016
Meanwhile, in the Senate, amendments are being circulated on the ABCC bill.
ABCC legislation was drafted by a room full of monkeys and a typewriter. Stay tuned for my speech on the #ABCC in the Senate #JLN #auspol
— Jacqui Lambie (@JacquiLambie) April 18, 2016
I wish Politics Live had the assistance of a room full of monkeys.
#JustSaying
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So summarising that defence announcement again just before we get swallowed whole by question time: it was about revealing the locations to build 12 offshore patrol vessels and up to 21 Pacific patrol boats. The locations are the Adelaide shipyards and the Henderson shipyard in WA. Cairns may also get a look-in down the track. The sound of decks being cleared. Yes that was a terrible pun. Let’s move on.
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Really, in case you missed it.
Fantastic news re starting the OPVs build in Adelaide until the Future Frigates build is ready to start! It secures jobs at Osborne #auspol
— Christopher Pyne (@cpyne) April 18, 2016
In case you missed it. Hooray for Adelaide.
Great news for SA - $3bn OPVs to start in Adelaide in 2018 (400 jobs). Job security for Osborne workers until Future Frigates build begins
— Simon Birmingham (@Birmo) April 18, 2016
Some questions about whether the government is really serious about considering crossbench amendments on the ABCC, which get batted in the direction of the portfolio minister, Michaelia Cash.
When should this issue be decided (meaning the vote on the ABCC)? The prime minister would like to encourage the Senate to get on with the job and deal with it.
The prime minister and Payne then get a question about women’s representation in the Liberal party given there have been a string of preselections in recent weeks delivering seats to men.
Malcolm Turnbull says he supports a goal of having 50% women.
I certainly support that. What we do, what we seek to do is to encourage more women to be involved in the party, and there are many women involved in the party and I’m standing next to one of the great role models and leaders in our party, the first woman to be defence minister of Australia, but you have are to remember the Liberal party has a different character to Labor. It is a very much a grassroots movement.
Payne says she encourages women to step up.
I agree the more the better and that is a job ahead of us.
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After a couple of questions about why the build isn’t happening entirely in Adelaide, whether today’s announcement is an intention or a guarantee, whether it might be more cumbersome to build partly in Adelaide and partly in WA, and why Cairns missed out, reporters want to know about Stephen Conroy sledging the governor general. Was this appropriate?
Malcolm Turnbull
Well, not for the first time, senator Conroy has disgraced himself and I look forward to the leader of the opposition publicly disassociating himself from those appalling remarks reflecting, as senator Conroy did, on the integrity and the office of the governor general.
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Reporters want to know about submarines. The prime minister wants to talk about surface ships.
Malcolm Turnbull
We’re talking about surface vessels today.
From the joint media release, here are the details of the projects.
Offshore patrol vessels
- First pass approval for the offshore patrol vessels, with construction to begin in Adelaide from 2018, after the completion of the air warfare destroyers and transfer to Western Australia when the future frigate construction begins in Adelaide in 2020. This approach ensures that jobs and skills are retained in Adelaide.
- As part of the competitive evaluation process three designers have been shortlisted – Damen of the Netherlands, Fassmer of Germany, and Lurssen of Germany – to refine their designs.
- This program is estimated to be worth more than $3bn and will create more than 400 direct jobs.
Future frigates
- First pass approval for the future frigates. Three designers – BAE Systems with the Type 26 Frigate; Fincantieri with the FREMM Frigate, and Navantia with a redesigned F100 – have been shortlisted to refine their designs. The frigates will all be built in Adelaide, incorporating the Australian-developed CEA phased-array radar.
- The competitive evaluation process is on schedule to return second pass approval in 2018, which will allow for construction to commence in Adelaide in 2020.
- This program is estimated to be worth more than $35bn, and will directly create more than 2000 jobs.
Pacific patrol boats
- Combined first and second pass approval for the replacement Pacific patrol boats. Austal Ships Pty Ltd has been selected as the preferred tenderer to construct and maintain up to 21 replacement steel-hulled Pacific patrol boats in Henderson, Western Australia.
- Subject to negotiations, this program is estimated to be worth more than $500m and will directly create more than 130 jobs.
- Austal proposes to conduct support of the replacement Pacific patrol boats, including deep maintenance from Cairns, Queensland. In total, through-life support and sustainment (including deep maintenance) for the Pacific patrol boats is valued at a further $400m over the life of the boats.
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Malcolm Turnbull
These are very important announcements concerning the future of our nation, the future of our security and the future of our modern navy.
(And the immediate political future of the manager of government business at the forthcoming election. Having made my point, into the details now.)
Boats for Adelaide, all the happy (Pyne) times
The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is in his courtyard now with the defence minister, Marise Payne. This announcement is about defence shipbuilding for Adelaide.
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Politics this lunchtime
Let’s take stock because I suspect we can’t do that too much today.
- Parliament is back for a special session to consider the two bills the government would like to use as double-dissolution triggers (the ABCC bill and the registered organisations bill) and one bill the government would like to pass (repeal of the road safety tribunal).
- The governor general faced a lively hour or so when he arrived to preside over the second session of the 44th parliament and he was heckled during his speech. Not content with a bit of sledging, Labor’s Stephen Conroy escalated mid-morning, arguing the governor general had demeaned his office by going along with the government’s plan to prorogue the parliament.
- Before the heckling and the free character assessment, Cosgrove shook the hand of the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, but declined to shake the hand of Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, prompting a small outrage storm cycle which culminated in the governor general calling Plibersek to apologise.
- In between all that, business in the parliament whirred into life. The Senate has been considering the ABCC bill and the house is currently dealing with the repeal of the truckie tribunal.
And so it goes.
The prime minister and the defence minister will address reporters shortly about a looming acquisition. Stay tuned. I’ll have that shortly.
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Never been a more exciting time ...
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A bit more photographic gold from the joint sitting. Behind you.
Beside you.
Me too. Beside you.
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Mike Bowers. Worth more than one thousand words.
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Peter Cosgrove apologises to the deputy Labor leader
While Murph’s been on debates and procedures, I’ve been hot on the tail of an absent handshake. The governor general, Sir Peter Cosgrove, has provoked a small hurricane on social media for this morning’s perceived snub towards Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, whose hand he did not shake after the parliamentary joint sitting.
Cosgrove apparently did not see Plibersek stick out her hand, and as procedure dictated that he only needed to shake the hand of the Senate president, prime minister and leader of the opposition, he did not stop to address her. He did, however, shake the hand of the deputy PM, Barnaby Joyce, which could have led Plibersek to believe he would also greet her.
The action prompted those on the Labor benches to yell out “Know your place”, as Plibersek was the only woman to request a handshake and be denied.
Given the subsequent controversy, Cosgrove has called Plibersek to apologise for the unintentional slight.
A spokesman for Plibersek says the following:
The governor general did call. Ms Plibersek doesn’t discuss details of private conversations. Ms Plibersek’s position is that no apology is necessary, and that the whole thing’s a storm in a teacup.
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Back to the Senate debate and two competing views on the ABCC legislation.
Michaelia Cash first, on the argument that strengthening the building inspectorate will make workplaces more unsafe by preventing unions from undertaking occupational health and safety activities.
I want to make one point on safety very clear. The bill does not contain any provision that would prevent legitimate safety issues in the building industry from being raised and addressed by employees, unions, or state and territory work and health safety regulators. It has not been, currently is not, and will not be industrial action for a worker to stop work because of a reasonable concern over an imminent safety risk. The standard used in the ABCC bill is the standard that currently applies under Labor’s Fair Work Act. Suggestions that the ABCC was responsible for workplace deaths or that members of the government would be happy to see workers die, are not only completely false, they are without any foundation and quite frankly are offensive to those who have lost loved ones.
Labor’s Doug Cameron, on safety, and more besides.
I rise to speak against these bills. These are bills that rest on a foundation of lies, half-truths, and deception. And we have just seen that been paraded here by the minister. These are bills that rob construction workers of basic civil rights. These are bills through which the government thumbs its nose at the basic right of the presumption of innocence. These are bills that pose life-threatening dangers to construction workers. These are bills that give a civil regulator the power to compel construction workers to attend compulsory interrogations for something as innocuous as attending a union meeting. These are bills that provide for searches of construction workers’ homes without a warrant. These are bills that deny construction workers the right to legal representation by the lawyer of their choice. These are bills that reverse the onus of proof for construction workers refusing to undertake unsafe work. And these are bills that will leave a million construction workers with fewer rights than an ice dealer, regardless of what the minister says.
(Fewer rights than an ice dealer is a line out of new CFMEU ads against the ABCC legislation. The government rejects that suggestion, as Cameron has noted.)
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Lest it got lost in the wash before, just a reminder: the attorney general, George Brandis, said earlier that if the House cracked on with the road safety tribunal bill and handed it up to the Senate, the Senate would hit pause on the ABCC debate and consider the road safety repeal bill immediately before moving back to the building and construction commission bill.
Hope that made sense. A lot of bills in that mix. But you lot are quick as foxes.
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Procedure junkies. Down in the green chamber, the government has reordered the business to allow the following program.
- The fair work (registered organisations) amendment bill 2014 be presented without notice, read a first time, second reading moved and the debate on the motion for the second reading being adjourned to a later hour.
- Immediately thereafter the road safety remuneration repeal bill 2016 being presented without notice, read a first time, second reading moved and the debate on the motion for the second reading being adjourned to a later hour.
- Immediately thereafter the road safety remuneration amendment (protecting owner drivers) bill 2016 being presented without notice, read a first time, second reading moved and the debate on the motion for the second reading being adjourned to a later hour.
- When the order of the day for the resumption of debate on the second reading of the road safety remuneration repeal bill 2016 is called on, a cognate debate taking place with the road safety remuneration amendment (protecting owner drivers) bill 2016.
The House is currently considering the repeal bill for the road safety tribunal.
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I’ll catch up with events in the House shortly.
The employment minister, Michaelia Cash, is making her case on the ABCC bill in the Senate. She’s in joining-the-dots mode.
Michaelia Cash:
You may well ask how has this unlawful business model been allowed to develop? Well, unfortunately one crucial factor is that the CFMEU last year alone donated $720,000 to the Labor party, and since 2007 it has filled the coffers of the Labor party to the tune of $7.1m.
It is no coincidence then that at the behest of the CFMEU, the Labor party and those opposite remain wilfully indifferent to the victims of CFMEU thuggery, intimidation and violence in the building industry. But, Mr deputy president, they are also indifferent to the benefits a lawful industry will provide to the Australian people and the Australian economy.
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Quick stocktake
In the event you are just tuning in or are struggling to keep a linear sequence of events today (OK, that might just be me), let’s recap briefly.
- Parliament has resumed for the special sitting to consider various industrial bills before cantering inelegantly in the direction of a double-dissolution election in early July.
- The governor general, Peter Cosgrove, presided over a rowdy opening session this morning in which Labor accused him of demeaning his office by participating in a political exercise, namely going along with the government’s plan to prorogue the parliament to hasten the path to a double-dissolution poll. Ghosts of 1975, the Queen wouldn’t do this – that sort of outraged business. Cosgrove also raised eyebrows by declining to shake hands with Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek.
- Labor has also tried to change the play by moving a motion that Wednesday be dedicated to establishing a royal commission into the banking industry.
- The government is ploughing on through the various distractions of the morning. The Senate is moving in the direction of the ABCC bill as we speak.
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Conroy has been replaced in the debate by the Greens leader, Richard Di Natale. He contends what we are seeing this week are events contrived to suit the prime minister’s personal interest, not the national interest.
Richard Di Natale:
The only way he can get a mandate from his own party to bring them together, to bring those extreme elements into the tent, is to engage in a bit of good old-fashioned union bashing, because nothing brings the Coalition together like a bit of old-fashioned union bashing.
You see, [Turnbull] has lacked the courage to take on those people within his party room, and rather than doing what good prime ministers do and that is to unite the nation, he is taking action to unite his party room, but to divide the nation to his great, great shame.
And that’s why he is losing support.
That is exactly why he is losing support right now.
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While Conroy is digging in, a little photo sequence from Magic Mike capturing the non-handshake from earlier today. Who knows why that happened.
GG handshake for deputy Barnaby Joyce but not for Tanya Plibersek @murpharoo @GuardianAus #poloticslive pic.twitter.com/SVIRTmWOpA
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) April 18, 2016
Stephen Conroy is talking about truthiness in debates over the ABCC, and the truckies tribunal.
We believe the ABCC’s powers are extreme, undemocratic and compromise civil liberties. Workers in the building and construction industry ... deserve better than this.
Conroy says if the government is re-elected, it will give the banks a tax cut. And he lobs this aside at the prime minister on the way through.
Mr Turnbull says: ‘You’ve got to live within your means.’
I would love to live within Mr Turnbull’s means.
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Conroy is rolling on.
Since 1961, Mr president, the parliament has only been prorogued four times, under extraordinary circumstances and never, never, to set the scene for an election. Never to have a manipulation of politics. Never to have a manipulation of politics in this way.
Never in modern history has a government prorogued a parliament to obtain a political advantage, and that is what this government has done. They have prorogued the parliament to obtain a political advantage, and there is no other way.
In fact, the government have boasted about how they have used the proroguing of parliament to give themselves a political advantage.
Even the newspapers are full of it. They have boasted about their clever political manipulation of the parliament by proroguing it. That is without question.
So if they are called out on it, Mr president, it’s fair debate.
It’s fair debate.
He says Labor is ready for the coming election.
The Labor party is ready to seek a mandate, to seek the support of the Australian public, for our agenda.
To reject the negative agenda.
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Stephen Conroy, continuing:
If the Queen had been asked to interfere in the British parliament in this way, there is no way on this earth this would have happened!
That sends the government into overdrive.
Conroy has been warned.
Stephen Conroy: 'The governor general has demeaned his office.'
Labor is now returning to the theme of Peter Cosgrove.
Labor’s deputy Senate leader, Stephen Conroy, is on his feet now. Conroy says today we are seeing the ghost of 1975, the long dead arm of Sir John Kerr. He declares today is a travesty of democracy, an absolute affront.
This is a nuclear attack.
Stephen Conroy:
There is no pretence this is a normal process, a normal process that has gone on. You just had to look around the chamber today. Where were the high court justices? Where were the heads of our military? Where were the hats of our diplomatic community? All told “Don’t come today,” because it is a political stunt; it is not a real opening of the parliament. And, in fact, not just: ‘Don’t come. Please don’t come.’
We don’t want to pretend to the Australian public that this is a real proroguing of the parliament for the purposes with which it had been used traditionally.
This is an absolute affront. We’ve seen today a governor general overturn the will of this chamber, a democratically elected chamber.
That’s what we have seen – a tawdry political stunt, and the governor general has demeaned his office.
A strong governor general would never have agreed to this.
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On the road safety remuneration tribunal (RSRT)Brandis says the following.
George Brandis:
The government will be moving in this session of parliament to abolish the road safety remuneration tribunal and we urge senators to support our attempts to do so.
If the bill to abolish the RSRT comes to the Senate from the House of Representatives while the Senate is debating the ABCC bills, the government is prepared, subject to the will of the chamber, to adjourn the ABCC debate to allow the RSRT abolition bill to be dealt with straightaway on the understanding that the chamber would then resume and finish dealing with the ABCC bills.
If the bill to abolish the RSRT does not pass, we will also at least seek to delay the RSRT payments order coming into effect and, after the election, we will try again to abolish the RSRT.
So noted.
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Brandis is persisting, meanwhile, in the Senate, on why we are here for this special session.
The eternal why.
George Brandis:
Mr president, the building and construction industry employs over a million Australians and represents around 8% of GDP. It is, therefore, one of the largest sectors of the economy and one of the largest sources of employment in this country. Ensuring an efficient and law-abiding building and construction sector is crucial for promoting jobs and growth and is an important part of managing the transition of the economy from the mining boom to a more diversified economy, the central challenge of our economic policy today.
These bills are about improving productivity. They will create jobs. They are about creating opportunities, protecting the tens of thousands of small businesses who employ so many people and reducing the number of days work needlessly lost. Upholding the rule of law will enable building projects to be delivered on time and on budget with cost savings for consumers and for taxpayers.
Taxpayers who rightly expect value for money in building schools, hospitals, roads,rails, airports and more. This is crucial at a time when the government is spending tens of billions of dollars on infrastructure construction around Australia, building our future.
Heckling is continuing.
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Labor's motion on the banks
Just for the record, here’s the Labor motion on the royal commission in full.
That the House:
1. Notes that:
a) Confidence and trust in the financial services industry has been shaken by ongoing revelations of scandals and tens of thousands of Australians being ripped off;
b) Retirees have had their retirement savings gutted;
c) Families have been rorted out of hundreds of thousands of dollars;
d) Small-business owners have lost everything;
e) Life insurance policyholders have been denied justice;
f) It is clear from the breadth and scope of the allegations that the problems in this industry go beyond any one bank or type of financial institution;
g) On 6 April 2016, the prime minister himself said: “There have been too many troubling incidents over recent times for them simply to be dismissed”;
h) Liberal and National parliamentarians have defied the prime minister and the banks and publicly supported a royal commission;
i) Australia has one of the strongest banking systems in the world but we need Australians to have confidence in their banks and financial institutions, to uncover and deal with unethical behaviour that compromises that confidence;
j) There are reports that Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison have been secretly colluding with the banks to concoct a plan to protect them from a royal commission; and
k) Anything less than a royal commission into misconduct in the banking and financial services industry amounts to a cover-up orchestrated by the prime minister and his Liberal government; and
2. Therefore, suspends so much of the standing orders as would prevent:
a) Wednesday, 20 April 2016, being appointed as a sitting day; and
b) Priority being accorded over all other business at that sitting to the following motion to be moved by the leader of the opposition:
That the House calls on the prime minister to request His Excellency the governor general of the commonwealth of Australia issue letters patent to establish a royal commission to inquire into misconduct in the banking and financial services industry.
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By the by, the Shorten motion calls on MPs to sit on Wednesday and debate a bill on a royal commission into banks.
Meanwhile, in the red room, the attorney general, George Brandis, is telling the chamber this is the 29th time in history that a new session of parliament has been called after the parliament was prorogued.
George Brandis
As his excellency has just told us, the reason for recalling the parliament is to enable it, and in particular the Senate, to give full and timely consideration to two important parcels of industrial legislation.
Labor is now heckling Brandis.
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The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, is on his feet in the House now. The manager of government business, Christopher Pyne, is suggesting the opposition leader might want to keep his contribution brief.
The Speaker, Tony Smith, also thinks brevity might be the soul of wit.
Shorten is speaking about the banks and the royal commission he proposes. He’s seeking to establish one, basically.
Bill Shorten:
Anything less than a royal commission into misconduct in the banking and financial services industries amounts to a cover-up orchestrated by the prime minister and the Liberal government.
The Senate is now back in session.
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Procedural skirmishing is still under way in the House. Senate will be back shortly.
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Here’s that non handshake to Tanya Plibersek.
Watch Tanya Plibersek get totally 🔥🔥 by GG Peter Cosgrove. "Know your place" her Labor colleagues heckle. #... https://t.co/8fRLf0cy4b
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) April 17, 2016
Here’s Peter Cosgrove entering the Senate chamber before his address.
I suspect Labor isn’t quite finished with the governor general.
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Some great pictures coming through now. I’ll share them over the next little bit.
The House is not on a break, it’s in session, and procedural skirmishes are under way.
The prime minister has moved that a committee be appointed and the mover be appointed to prepare an address of reply to the speech by the governor general to both houses of Parliament and the committee report at a later hour this day.
Labor moves to amend that motion.
Manager of opposition business, Tony Burke:
Mr Speaker, I move an amendment to the motion that’s just been moved. That the committee also include the member for Warringah and member for Menzies. We have been recalled here to debate Abbott government legislation!
(That’s Tony Abbott and Kevin Andrews. The government is now having to shut that little stunt down.)
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My eyes down in the chamber, Mr Bowers, tells me the governor general shook the hand of the Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, but not Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek.
The Senate is on a short break now.
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Yes, definitely Labor heckling. Muscling up for a big few weeks.
I’ve been wondering what the governor general will say in this opening address, given it is basically a closing address. Normally these speeches are broad-ranging things. Not today folks. This one is short and businesslike.
And, unusually, people are just talking among themselves during the address. It could be sotto voce heckling – I can’t quite hear.
Cosgrove says he’s here to enable the parliament “and in particular the Senate to give fully and timely consideration to two important parcels of legislation” – that’s the ABCC and the registered organisations bill.
Peter Cosgrove
I have, on the advice of my ministers, recalled you so that these bills can be considered again, and have their fate decided without further delay.
My government regards these measures as essential for the rule of law in our workplaces. My government also regards these measures as crucial to its economic plan for promoting jobs and growth, and managing the transition of our economy from one reliant on the mining construction boom to a more diversified economy. That economic plan for jobs, growth, saving and investment will also be reflected in the budget which the treasurer will introduce on May 3, building on initiatives to promote innovation, investment, infrastructure, and access to markets in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
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The governor general, Peter Cosgrove, opens the second session of the 44th parliament
The governor general is sitting in position in the Senate. The usher of the black rod has been sent to gather MPs from the House of Representatives. They’ll be on the move shortly. Ah yes, here they are, on the move.
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Stand by for the ceremonies. MPs are gathering downstairs.
Back briefly on the road safety tribunal, my colleague Paul Karp recently looked at the evidence about whether there was a link between what truck drivers are paid and road safety.
The purpose of setting up the tribunal was to impose minimum pay rates for owner-drivers that were intended to reduce road deaths by removing financial incentives to skip breaks or speed. That was the purpose. But the government argues there’s no link between the two issues, and the tribunal will put hardworking truck drivers out of business.
Paul notes various reviews have found evidence that pay had a statistically significant effect on safety, although studies on the size of the impact varied. Another report prepared for the national transport commission found the link was “overwhelming”.
Figured you’d be interested.
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The governor general, Peter Cosgrove, has just pulled up at the parliament for today’s ceremonial session.
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Meanwhile, in a parallel universe.
Johnny Depp arrives at a Gold Coast court pic.twitter.com/oaYq58MX0v
— ABC Gold Coast (@abcgoldcoast) April 17, 2016
Depp is in court today in a case stemming from the Hollywood star’s decision to bring dogs Pistol and Boo into the country last year without proper customs clearance. Barnaby Joyce thought he might shoot the dogs. Remember that? All the fun times.
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In addition to the industrial bills, the government wants to abolish the road safety remuneration tribunal. I don’t think I’ve had a chance to mention that yet this morning. That’s of course what the truckies’ protest is about.
Unlike the ABCC, the numbers for the repeal of the tribunal look to be there. Owner-drivers have been running a significant campaign with crossbenchers to convince them to scrap it.
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For folks who like an orderly diary, the running order for today. Pomp and ceremony. (Yes, wacky. Said it once; will doubtless say it again.)
- The Senate sits at 9.30am.
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According to the program, the Senate president, Stephen Parry, will take the chair at the opening, with the clerk to read the proclamation calling the parliament together for a new session.
- First order of business is declaring the vacancy after the resignation of the Labor senator Joe Bullock as a senator for the state of Western Australia.
- Next up, the governor general will open the session.
- The governor general will direct the usher of the black rod to summon the members of the House of Representatives to the Senate chamber.
- When the members are seated, the governor general will address both houses and open the session.
- Then a short suspension, and then back to the day’s business.
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Back, just while there’s a spare second, to the separate Newspoll questions I flagged first up on budgetary matters. If this survey is a reliable guide, voters want the budget fixed more than they want tax cuts.
According to Phillip Hudson’s report in the Australian this morning, a majority of the Newspoll sample (65%) wants the government to reduce spending.
Almost 40% want the savings from reducing spending to pay down debt while one-quarter say it should go to delivering tax cuts. Some 23% say there should be an increase in spending on government programs, with this option strongest among Labor and Greens voters.
Overall, 45% of voters believe the Turnbull-led Coalition is more likely to spend responsibly and manage government debt than the Shorten-led ALP, which is favoured by 31%. One-in-six Labor voters and one-in-four Greens supporters believe the Turnbull government would be better than a Shorten government.
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The employment minister, Michaelia Cash, has had primary responsibility for negotiations around the industrial bills. She’s been on the ABC this morning.
Q: Ricky Muir was on the show about 20 minutes ago and he said you guys aren’t too serious about listening to any chance of compromise on this bill. He says it’s nothing more than a charade this week. What do you say?
Michaelia Cash:
I absolutely disagree with him. I have done everything that I could to negotiate in good faith. I’ve spoken with Ricky, my office has spoken with Ricky’s office, but merely because you don’t get the answer that you want when you bring the government amendments, does not mean we’re not negotiating in good faith.
We’ve made it very clear we will not accept amendments that compromise the integrity of the bill. Some of the amendments put forward were going to do that so we determined not to accept them – but again, I have negotiated in good faith at all times.
Q: OK, so you are still open to amendments as this week unfolds?
Absolutely. Look, you know, it’s an ongoing dialogue.
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Xenophon, continuing on AM, is asked whether he thinks the Coalition will win the coming election.
The body language of the opposition tells you they think they are in with a chance.
In brisk procession on the wireless this morning we’ve had the attorney general, George Brandis, the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, and Labor’s Senate leader, Penny Wong.
Brandis was pushed on the ABC’s AM program about whether the government has, in the real world, made any serious efforts to get crossbench support for the ABCC bill.
George Brandis:
We do want this legislation ... We are very serious.
Senate crossbenchers have been out and about this morning saying it’s pretty clear the government isn’t all that serious about considering amendments to the ABCC. It just wants a trigger for a double dissolution.
This was Ricky Muir on ABC News Breakfast a little while ago.
How serious the government is about passing this bill or whether this is more just an operation for them to be able to get to a double dissolution is really the million-dollar question at the moment.
It feels like we’re on the final countdown.
Nick Xenophon is on the wireless calling a spade a spade:
I have no doubt this bill will ultimately fail and we’ll go to an election on July 2.
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Good morning and welcome to the resumption of the edifying spectacle that is pass my damn bills or the puppy gets it.
Yes, parliament (festooned by cranky trucks and their owners courtesy of a protest by owner drivers – and a bunch of crossbenchers) is back for a special sitting which may well culminate in a double-dissolution election on 2 July.
It’s all happening down on the forecourt this morning, and Mike Bowers is all over events like a genial rodent in search of a news-breaking drain pipe.
The prime minister would doubtless prefer to be speeding down the approach ramp to an election with a more favourable poll trend.
Overnight the Ipsos poll published by Fairfax Media has fallen into line with the Essential poll to show the major parties locked in a dead heat on the two-party-preferred measure. The Australian also has a Newspoll this morning which shows Labor maintaining its lead in two-party terms by 51% to the Coalition’s 49%.
Both of those polls on a hypothetical election day would deliver a photo finish and, possibly, a hung parliament.
Ipsos has been more favourable to the Coalition than Newspoll in recent times, but today’s survey is showing the same trend as other polls when it comes to Malcolm Turnbull’s approval ratings. The prime minister’s disapproval rating is up six points in this poll, and his rating as preferred prime minister has dropped seven points since March. I think it’s fair to say the prime minister is now officially post-honeymoon.
Not great news for the government, obviously, but two factors to bear in mind: Turnbull’s position has deteriorated in the preferred prime minister measure, but he’s still more than 20 points in front of the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, in the Ipsos survey. In the Newspoll Turnbull is ahead of Shorten on preferred prime minister 47% to Shorten’s 28%. Ipsos also has Labor’s primary vote at 33%. That’s obviously not very high. But the reading also may not be correct. Newspoll has Labor’s primary vote at 36%.
I don’t think many readers will be surprised to learn today’s Ipsos poll also validates the notion of a royal commission into the banking industry which has been the subject of plenty of political discussion in recent weeks. Labor supports that idea but the government is attempting to hose it down with hints about increased resourcing for the corporate regulator. There’s some additional budget-related questions in the Newspoll which I’ll get back to if I can.
The political news cycle is howling like a typhoon, so let’s stride into the day, which will be large. As part of the government’s procedural contortions to set up a double dissolution, we’ll be treated to a visit this morning by the governor general as part of the proroguing of the parliament. (Yes, seriously wacky I know: a parliament opening when in reality what we are doing here is a parliament closing.)
In case you’ve forgotten where we are up to (and that would be utterly reasonable) parliament has been recalled for three weeks to consider two industrial relations bills: legislation to reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission, and establish a commission for registered organisations. As I mentioned at the top of the post, if the bills don’t pass, we are off to the double-dissolution election almost immediately after the budget, which is due to be handed down on 3 May.
Momentous times, so let’s get into it.
Today’s comments thread is open for your business. Welcome back to Politics Live, people! I’ll get down to chat if I can. You can also reach Magic Mike and me on the twitters. He’s @mpbowers and I’m @murpharoo. You can also reach me on my politics forum on Facebook, which is proving a delightful place to chat. Feel free to stop by.
But for now, whip on your crash helmets and your knee pads and keep your noise-cancelling headphones within reach.
Here comes Monday.
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