Nighty night
It’s been marvellous but I think that will do us for today. Thank you all very much for your fine company on the second last day of the circus. We can all clap our hands in delight at the prospect of tomorrow.
Let’s wrap Wednesday.
- Malcolm Turnbull returned from Paris to find a partial demolition of the house in progress. Turnbull responded to his various challenges by telling angsty colleagues to shut it because the voters are, in fact, watching. He then proceeded to do everything possible to defend his special minister of state without actually specifically defending his special minister of state – evidently buying some time to determine whether Mal Brough’s current predicament is tenable for the government or not.
- Labor got out the water cannons and fired off two procedural salvos in an effort to claim a ministerial scalp in the final week of parliament for 2015.
- Mal Brough for his part went into the House to apologise in the event any person hadn’t understood what he’d said yesterday, producing in the process an account of his actions that did not make sense no matter how much you looked at it. He then proceeded to recant a key admission he’d made on the 60 Minutes program in 2014. No, he had not asked James Ashby to get copies of Peter Slipper’s diaries despite saying very clearly in 2014 that he had because he believed Slipper had committed a crime. I noted earlier Brough has now entered post-plausible territory. How long he’s permitted to remain there is a judgment call the prime minister must make.
- Legislative business also exploded in the odd fireball. The government’s superannuation governance bill hit the fence and just now, it looks like the government’s multinational tax avoidance bill won’t proceed this week.
And so it goes. And so I go. Have a great evening. I’ll see you all in the morning.
On Sky News just now, Brough’s Queensland colleague, Stuart Robert, is facing a number of questions about the special minister of state.
Host David Speers wonders how it is possible for Brough to square the circle between telling 60 Minutes in 2014 that he asked James Ashby to get copies of Peter Slipper’s diary and telling parliament today that he didn’t.
It is, as I’ve noted before, a tough circle to square.
Robert isn’t inclined to square it either.
I don’t square the circle because I don’t have to. There’s an investigation on, and it should run its course.
Q: Will he survive?
Mal? Well, he says he will. There is no reason to think he is not going to back himself ... He is standing by his integrity.
Updated
Just a quick catch up. While everyone was looking at the unfolding drama about Mal Brough and that 60 Minutes interview, the government introduced legislation on its revamped childcare package into the House. The education minister, Simon Birmingham, announced changes to the legislation on Sunday. They include a lower rate of subsidies for families earning $340,000 or more and protections for single parent carers and grandparents. While the government is stressing that compromise is possible, it’s unwavering in its resolve to pay for the childcare package with savings found from cuts to family tax assistance. “They are twins,” the social services minister, Christian Porter, said. “We’ve been very clear from the outset the childcare package absolute has to be paid for.”
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Remiss of me not share the link for Retro-Ruddock’s fundraising drive. It’s an excellent cause. If so inclined, you can donate here.
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Couple of pictures now.
Here is Philip Ruddock in the house in his safari suit. One of those quaint things about Australian politics: a full-throated political attack is under way in question time and there, sitting serene in the middle of things, is a man in a safari suit.
Also quaint: Mike Bowers, as you can guess from the picture I shared before, was chasing Ruddock through the corridor to record the retro-Ruddock passage from the Speaker’s office to Anthony Albanese’s office in the chamber.
Ruddock at one point passed the artist formerly known as Madam Speaker on his perambulation. Bronwyn Bishop noted she would not have dated him, presumably meaning in the days he actually wore a safari suit to the office. Ruddock lobbed a sick burn. “I didn’t date old ladies.”
And another Bowers shot of the Greens from the demo down the front earlier on today. Sitting senators going all crouching tiger hidden dragon. Ah yes, the glory days, when we all occupied the student union.
Updated
It’s worth a quick summation of that session before I bring us up to date with pictures and look forward to the political afternoon.
The two key developments:
- Brough walked back from his key admission on 60 Minutes in 2014 that he had asked James Ashby to procure copies of Slipper’s diary entries, and attempted to argue he had not misled the house. Given the clarity of his statement to Liz Hayes 2014 – it was entirely unambiguous – the walk-back wasn’t all that plausible. Brough right now is in a place I’ll call post-plausible: he’s just trying to remain upright, not reach a decisive victory. His ambition would be to get through the week and then hope the end of the session provides a reprieve rather than a call from the prime minister for him to step aside.
- Turnbull said as little as humanly possible in specific defence of his minister. He stuck to the no new facts formulation (which is a bit hard to cop, given a policy probe would seem to be a significant new fact), but not too emphatically. On the charge of misleading the house, Turnbull declared only that Mark Dreyfus making the claim did not make it so – which isn’t actually an affirmative statement that “My minister did not mislead the house.”
Updated
The question is resolved in the negative. Turnbull wraps question time.
Pyne now moves the motion be put.
Tony Burke leaps to his feet to second the motion.
The prime minister’s standards are now even lower than during utegate ...
Pyne gags immediately.
The manager of government business, Christopher Pyne, raises a point of procedure. This motion is almost the same as the one Labor moved this morning. Pyne is seeking a ruling about whether such a motion can be moved twice on the same day.
Speaker Smith gives him a smile, and says he’ll be allowing the motion to proceed.
(No Madam Speaker flashbacks. We are in a new chamber. All credit to Tony Smith.)
Pyne shifts to plan B, and moves the gag.
Updated
Here comes the suspension of the standing orders.
Dreyfus:
I move ...
(Still gives me Abbott flashbacks, the suspension of the standing orders.)
Updated
Dreyfus to Turnbull:
Q: Is the prime minister’s judgment so bad or did he owe the member for Fisher so much that he gave him responsibility for government integrity?
That one goes to the bin also.
A running “Brough in the rough” tally for the stats-inclined.
Thus far we’ve had eight questions to Brough, two to Turnbull and two to Turnbull that have been ruled out of order.
Updated
Updated
Dreyfus:
Q: On the 19th of November, the prime minister said: “The answer is yes, I do have confidence in Mr Brough.” Why is it that while the prime minister has been away no government member has been willing to speak in the parliament in defence of his minister? Is the prime minister the only member of his government to have any confidence in the special minister of state?
Speaker Smith rules that out of order.
Updated
Dreyfus is back with a quote from Turnbull from 2009.
Q: In June 2009, the prime minister said: “He’s the one that has misled the parliament. That is an offence that should result in the dismissal or resignation of a minister. It is perfectly clear.” Prime minister, isn’t it perfectly clear because the special minister of state misled the parliament yesterday and again this morning he should be sacked immediately?
Turnbull, dripping with sarcasm.
While I know that the shadow attorney general has a very high opinion of his own powers and judgments, it’s simply – simply asserting that someone has misled the parliament does not make it so.
Updated
Tanya Plibersek then turns the question to the prime minister.
Q: Given the special minister of state misled the parliament yesterday, and has misled the parliament again today, why hasn’t the prime minister sacked the special minister of state?
Malcolm Turnbull:
She [Plibersek] would be very well aware, as indeed would the shadow attorney general be very well aware, that guilt or innocence is not determined by public denunciation, here or anywhere else.
The fact of the circumstances relating to these events have been very well known for some years – the evidence or the information about them have been in the public domain for some time. There have been no new developments, no changes or additions to that material.
And if there are new ...
Speaker Smith sits the prime minister down to deal with noise.
Turnbull says he has concluded his answer.
Updated
Dreyfus asks Brough about the Liz Hayes riposte to his “apology” today. I shared earlier a tweet from Hayes in which she said Brough could not have been in any doubt about the question she asked during the 2014 interview. By misleading the house, isn’t Brough showing contempt for the parliament and the public?
Mal Brough:
All I would say to the honourable member is that I have not misled the house. I treat every question seriously and I answer honestly.
Updated
The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, is announcing the new Colombo plan for what must be the 500th time. A marvellous program. So marvellous it is announced most weeks.
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Dreyfus, with the obvious “hang on a minute” question.
Q: After the minister answered the now infamous question on 60 Minutes, Liz Hayes asked a further question: “Why did you do that?” And the minister answered, “Because I believed that Peter Slipper had committed a crime.” If the minister wasn’t admitting to procuring the former Speaker’s diary, why did he then try to justify it on national television?
Mal Brough:
I refer the ... honourable member to my answers for the last two weeks.
(Oh dear.)
Updated
Brough recants his 60 Minutes admission
Dreyfus, getting to the substantive issue.
Q: I ask the same question that was asked by Channel Nine’s Liz Hayes on 60 Minutes: did you ask James Ashby to procure copies of Peter Slipper’s diary for you?
Mal Brough:
No.
Ok. Let’s play compare and contrast.
Liz Hayes, 60 Minutes, 2014.
Q: Did you ask James Ashby to procure copies of Peter Slipper’s diary for you?
Mal Brough:
Yes I did.
Updated
The agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce is telling the chamber about sterilised male fruit flies.
Dreyfus:
Q: In the minister’s statement earlier today he claimed he could have been answering a different part of the question when he answered on 60 Minutes, “Yes, I did.” Given it is obvious from the tapes that there is only one question which was asked, hasn’t the minister not only misled the parliament again, but breached clause 5.1 of the PM’s statement of ministerial standards?
Mal Brough:
I refer the honourable member to my earlier answers.
Updated
The leader of the government in the House, Christopher Pyne, is currently telling the chamber about soil moisture probes.
Dreyfus is back with the nub point.
Q: In the minister’s statement earlier today he claimed he could have been answering a different part of the question when he answered on 60 Minutes: “Yes, I did.” Given it is obvious from the tapes that there is only one question which was asked, isn’t it clear that the minister misled the house again this morning?
Mal Brough:
Thanks, Mr Speaker. I confirm I did not mislead the house and refer you to my earlier answers.
Updated
The independent Andrew Wilkie would like the treasurer to intervene to stop a Chinese buyer acquiring a dairy company. Scott Morrison says the government will make a decision in the national interest, and points to a recent tightening of the regulations around foreign investment.
Now the treasurer is scampering around about growth and jobs and “growth-friendly” policies.
Updated
If you can’t fathom why Labor is persisting with the same question, the point of the persistence goes to misleading the house.
Updated
Labor makes its third attempt on the same question. What question did Brough think he was answering? Brough again refers Dreyfus to his pre-question time statement.
There is the sound of wheels spinning.
There has never been a more exciting time to be an Australian, the prime minister says, in answer to a Dorothy Dixer.
Dreyfus:
Q: My question again is to the special minister of state. Isn’t it clear from the [60 Minutes] tape that there was only one question to answer? What question did the minister think he was answering when he said, ‘Yes, I did’?
Mal Brough:
I again refer the honourable member to my statement of earlier today.
Labor’s Anthony Albanese is on his feet.
Speaker Smith:
The member for Grayndler on a point of order?
Anthony Albanese:
The question was about his statement to parliament!
Speaker Smith:
The member for Grayndler will resume his seat. The minister has answered the question.
He is entitled to answer it in any way he sees fit.
Updated
The prime minister is now telling the house how marvellous it was to meet Bill Gates in Paris.
Updated
Question time
It being 2pm ...
No preamble today. Labor is straight into Mal Brough.
Labor’s Mark Dreyfus wants to know which part of the 60 Minutes question Brough thought he was answering given there was only one question. This relates to the apology Brough made to the house earlier today.
Brough refers Dreyfus to the apology.
I apologise to the house again for unwittingly adding to the confusion rather than clarifying the matter.
The prime minister is currently very intent on his papers.
Updated
More excellent fundraising going on outside the chamber. This is Labor frontbencher Jenny Macklin’s annual barbecue to raise money for Vinnies.
BBQing with Jenny Macklin @GaiBrodtmannMP & @JohnFalzon to raise funds for @VinniesACT. Santa helped out too. pic.twitter.com/KHC3ZCsqf4
— Andrew Leigh (@ALeighMP) December 2, 2015
Updated
Ruddock (in his safari suit) is in the chamber now making a statement about motor neurone disease. It’s an important cause, and I hope people will donate generously, the Liberal MP says.
Ministers Simon Birmingham and Christian Porter are taking journalists through the detail of the government’s childcare reforms. That legislation has hit parliament today. While they are having a press conference in the Blue Room, Philip Ruddock is cruising the building in a safari suit.
Philip Ruddock explains safari suits to speaker Smith, he is raising funds for MND research @murpharoo @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/NznhUmKu9t
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) December 2, 2015
Looks like security is relocating our visitors.
The #peoplesparliament has readjourned outside of parliament house after being unceremoniously booted from inside pic.twitter.com/KbHPqcKUPn
— Glenn Walker (@Glenn_Walker_) December 2, 2015
From the protest down the front.
From the People's Protest at APH #COP21 pic.twitter.com/9rC6W7DQ8g
— Richard Di Natale (@RichardDiNatale) December 2, 2015
STFU: the PM to angsty colleagues
My colleague Daniel Hurst is back from the joint party room debriefing. (Remember, this meeting was held over from yesterday to allow the prime minister an opportunity to address MPs before Christmas.)
I don’t think this message from Turnbull could be clearer. According to the official spokesman, the prime minister told MPs:
The less we talk about ourselves, the more we talk about the people who elect us, the better. We are ending the year in good shape. We are setting ourselves up as a government for the 21st century.
Let’s decode that shall we? 1) Shut up Tony (and friends). 2) I’m not Tony, I don’t have his retro view of the world, so if you all bloody well shut up and get on with this transition we might just win the election. 3) Thank you for listening.
Some other components of the powwow.
Reporting on Paris, the prime minister told colleagues the government did not doubt the implications of climate change but “equally we don’t doubt the ingenuity of mankind to deal with it”.
He confirmed the government would release the innovation statement next week. Then there would be Coag and a tax reform conversation. Our clear message, he said, is that we are not seeking to raise revenue to chase spending. The public accepts that our tax system is outdated and we need to change it, but the purpose of the changes won’t be to raise revenue to spend more – it will be to encourage australians to work save and invest.
One MP counselled colleagues against the political perils of increasing the GST.
Updated
Brough in the rough this lunchtime (and other matters)
Let’s take stock this Wednesday lunchtime. As I put together our summary:
- Labor’s Anthony Albanese is on Sky giving the prime minister some free advice: don’t make the same mistake Tony Abbott did with Bronwyn Bishop and hang on to your colleague for too long. It doesn’t end well.
- Some protesters are occupying the front of the building to draw attention to climate change. It’s a very sizeable contingent.
- And we have had to deal with our overflowing garbage. That’s just an aside. The Parliament House cleaners are on strike.
So, to our known knowns.
- Labor is training guns on the special minister of state, Mal Brough. The government finally has an official line on the embattled minister: due process should be followed, which implies (but does not state categorically) that nothing should happen to the minister until the AFP has made its pronouncements. All well and good, but I think a bit will turn on how Brough gets through question time today. Just a hunch.
- Brough has attempted to blunt the inevitable question time bludgeoning by delivering an apology to the house about his (mis)statement yesterday about 60 Minutes, the one that tried to backtrack from a clear admission he made on the current affairs program that he asked James Ashby to procure copies of Peter Slipper’s diary. Unfortunately for Brough, today’s apologia neither rings entirely true, nor makes sense.
-
Julie Bishop has been the only senior figure to publicly invoke the due process line. The treasurer, Scott Morrison, rather pointedly avoided saying anything at all when asked at a press conference earlier on this morning about new GDP figures.
Hold on to your hats.
It’s going to be a lively question time.
Updated
One more quick news development before I take stock with a lunchtime summary. The ABC is reporting that China is being blamed for a “major cyber attack on the computers at the Bureau of Meteorology, which has compromised sensitive systems across the federal government”.
Updated
A bit more Mr Bowers from round and about the house.
Updated
Updated
Q: I wanted to ask about Mal Brough. He made a statement in the house this morning apologising for the comments he made about 60 Minutes in question time yesterday. Should that be the end of the matter? What do you make of Labor’s assumptions, or assertions I should say, that he misled parliament?
Scott Morrison:
The government is focusing on jobs and growth.
Morrison just gave a 339-word answer to the Brough question. Not one word was devoted to defending his ministerial colleague.
Updated
Q: Is the GST a growth-friendly tax?
Scott Morrison:
Of course ... (pause) it can be.
Back to Morrison.
Q: Have you seen the modelling done for the states on the GST?
(This question relates to the story I’ve referenced that Joe Hockey recommended an increase in the GST to 15% – the one that the shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, says confirms Scott Morrison misled parliament when he said only Labor had investigated options for a GST increase.)
Scott Morrison:
As I said in the house and as I’ve said at numerous press conferences, there was modelling done based on the request from the state and territories to model those outcomes. I presented that at the last meeting of state treasurers to those state treasurers in response. I’ve been transparent.
It’s been hiding in plain sight in press conferences and in the parliament. I don’t think there’s anything terribly revealing about that. The difference is we did that in response to a request from the states. I noticed the shadow treasurer initiated modelling on a broadening of the base of the GST and an increase in its rate. He has chosen not to allow that information to be made available to the government or the public. That’s a matter for him.
Updated
Yeah/nah, Mal: Liz Hayes
Sorry, treasurer, I need to swerve out for a minute to note 60 Minutes reporter Liz Hayes responding to Brough’s incomprehensible apology.
I don't think @MalBrough_MP had any doubt about the question I was asking. And I don't think his explanation/ clarification fools anyone.
— liz hayes (@thelizhayes) December 2, 2015
Updated
Scott Morrison on the GDP.
Over the last seven years the Australian economy has experienced the biggest structural swings in a century. While economic transitions of this magnitude are rarely seamless, rebalancing continues to take place and the Australian economy is evolving, it is broadening and it is growing.
The Turnbull government is backing Australians with our policies, whether it’s in tax, whether it’s in productivity improvements, whether it’s in trade, whether it’s in infrastructure investment, whether it’s for a stronger financial system.
There is a long way to go but Australians understand this and they’re looking to the government to continue to pursue policies that support jobs and growth, which is what we’re doing.
Updated
We’ll leave Brough for a bit to look in on the treasurer, who is releasing new GDP figures. The Australian economy grew by 0.9% in the quarter and 2.5% in the year. Scott Morrison says there are positive signs of a strengthening economy.
Updated
Here’s some video of the apology that makes no sense.
Video: #MalBrough apologises for misleading the Parliament in relation to the Peter Slipper affair #auspol https://t.co/uP0u6zdzZX
— ABC News 24 (@ABCNews24) December 2, 2015
Apart from the obvious weasel words, what on earth can Brough mean by suggesting he was answering a different part of the question?
Let’s recap that bit of the apologia.
Mr Speaker, my recollection of the interview was that the question was put to me in a somewhat disjointed manner, and I answered the question without clarifying precisely what part of the question I was responding to.
Let’s cut to the chase. There was only one part to that question, as the 60 Minutes transcript makes clear. There was a brief stumble at the preamble then the question was put.
Here’s the stumble at the beginning: “Um why then also did you um assis, seek well, [plane noise]” – then the question from Liz Hayes: “Did you ask James Ashby to procure um copies of Peter Slipper’s diary for for you?”
Unless there’s material not yet in the public domain there was only one question to answer.
Updated
Brough is clearly attempting to neutralise the question time attack that will come inevitably at 2pm. I don’t think this apology will cut it. It’s quite clearly weasel words, and generally weasel words don’t cut it.
The Brough statement just now on indulgence
Yesterday during question time I said: ‘In relation to the 60 Minutes interview, what was put to air was not the full question.’
Mr Speaker, my recollection of the interview was that the question was put to me in a somewhat disjointed manner, and I answered the question without clarifying precisely what part of the question I was responding to. This is confirmed by the tape provided by 60 Minutes and that was the reason for my answer yesterday.
Mr Speaker, I have taken the opportunity to review the tape and transcript, and apologise to the house if my statement yesterday unwittingly added to the confusion rather than clarifying the matter.
Updated
Brough attempts to clean up yesterday
The man of the hour, Mal Brough has just entered the chamber to retract what he said yesterday. I didn’t catch the precise formulation but I’ll chase it.
The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, has been stopped by reporters after leaving a function in the building.
Q: Is it tenable for Mal Brough to remain as special minister of state?
I believe the Labor party should be aware of what’s called due process. And in my view due process in relation to this matter should be allowed to run. Therefore the matter should be part of this investigation. Due process, allow it to run.
(I suspect this reasoning means nothing should happen until the police have finished their deliberations.)
Q: Did Brough mislead parliament yesterday?
No, I do not believe he did.
Q: Why not?
Because I don’t believe he did.
(So much to love about our modern “choose your own facts” world.)
Updated
Standing orders in the House of Representatives should be amended to allow MPs to breastfeed or bottle-feed babies in the chamber. A committee report recommends that standing order 257 be amended to note that infants who require care by sitting members are not defined as “visitors” in the chamber. Provisions to allow MPs a proxy vote when caring for infants so that they do not need to physically be in the chamber will continue.
Updated
I’m sorry but we simply must have another one.
Updated
A NSW police spokesman is briefing on the raids conducted in western Sydney this morning. The raid relates to information supplied concerning a threat “to a police station in the greater Sydney area”. No further particulars are forthcoming. The investigation is ongoing.
Updated
Our work here is done.
Updated
One more story I haven’t had time to get to – this time the Daily Telegraph.
The terror reports the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, “had an empty government VIP jet fly from Canberra to Perth to pick up her and her boyfriend from a charity dinner”.
Reporter Daniel Meers says the flight would have cost upwards of $30,000. “Ms Bishop and partner David Panton were the only passengers on the taxpayer-funded RAAF Challenger jet on an overnight flight to Canberra on October 18. The deputy Liberal leader had represented prime minister Malcolm Turnbull at a private dinner for WA Telethon donors that evening but had completed her official public commitments a day earlier by announcing $1.5m in government funding and playing a starring role in the WA telethon.”
Updated
As I said, ratcheting up.
The shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, now out of the chamber and in a parliamentary courtyard with 50 or so of his live filing friends, is continuing variations on a theme.
In any country which has the Westminster system, a minister must not mislead the parliament. If a minister accidentally misleads the parliament, they must correct it at the first available opportunity. That principle has taken a beating from the Turnbull government over the last 24 hours.
Not only do we have the Brough saga but we had the treasurer yesterday in the house claiming that the only people who have modelled an increase in the GST is the former Labor government.
Bowen reminds me too that we have new GDP figures today. We do indeed.
Updated
Now, scenes from a censure.
The man of the hour, Brough in the rough.
Haters gonna hate. Tony Abbott.
And the chamber view.
Updated
Now we can breathe briefly, a selection of Mr Bowers’ best work from round and about this morning.
Updated
Interesting to observe, just like yesterday, no one in the government is explicitly defending Brough in this censure motion. Government folks have also been absent from the radio and television this morning, which suggests to me there’s no definitive line on Brough from the prime minister’s office as yet.
Updated
It’s pretty obvious what’s happening here but let me decode to make sure it’s clear: Labor is attempting to ratchet up pressure on Brough with the aim of claiming his scalp before the parliament breaks for the summer. Preferably now.
It’s hard to say right now whether Turnbull will move against his minister or whether he’ll sit this out – at least until the summer recess. Either way, it’s going to be an interesting day.
Updated
Now Labor has moved on to a second alleged mislead of the House. The shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, says the treasurer, Scott Morrison, has misled the house too over the GST. He’s referencing a Fairfax report this morning that Joe Hockey proposed to increase the GST to 15% when he was the treasurer. That one is being shot down too.
Let’s call this session: practice for question time.
Updated
This is the guts of the motion.
- Yesterday in question time when the special minister of state was asked about statements he had made in relation to the Ashby affair, the minister said: “In relation to the 60 Minutes interview, what was put to air was not the full question.”
- On Channel Nine television news last night, in a story by journalist Laurie Oakes, the original vision of the 60 Minutes interview was played and makes it clear that there were no words omitted which could in any way be considered part of the question the minister was asked.
- As a consequence, the minister clearly misled the House of Representatives during question time yesterday; and at no stage did the minister take the opportunity to correct the record in the parliament despite the House of Representatives sitting until 9.30pm yesterday.
- The minister has misled the parliament and has failed in his obligation under clause 5.1 of the prime minister’s statement of ministerial standards to correct the record as soon as practicable; and the member for Fisher’s commission as special minister for state and minister for defence materiel and science must be terminated forthwith.
- [This motion] censures the prime minister for his atrocious judgement in appointing the member for Fisher as minister with responsibility for government integrity; and for his complete and utter failure to show leadership and sack or even stand aside the special minister of state from his ministerial responsibilities.
Updated
Labor’s Tony Burke, seconding the censure motion.
Are ministers now allowed to lie to the parliament? Will the manager of government business defend the minister in the next speech? I want to hear that!
Pyne then gags Burke.
Mal Brough is sitting on the backbench for this gag motion about his future on the frontbench.
— David Lipson (@davidlipson) December 1, 2015
The motion censures the prime minister for his atrocious judgment in appointing the member responsible for government integrity and his complete and utter failure to show leadership and sack or even stand aside the special minister of state from his ministerial responsibilities.
Manager of government business, Christopher Pyne, is now moving the gag.
Labor opens the Brough bombardment early
Dreyfus has walked into the house this morning to launch a censure motion against the special minister of state, Mal Brough, and the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull.
The motion calls on Turnbull to sack Brough, or stand him aside.
Updated
With Turnbull home, I’m relieved of the duty of covering politics in two hemispheres but I remain acutely interested in events in Paris. My colleague Lenore Taylor is keeping us all in touch with key developments at the UN-led climate summit.
- The first of two news offerings this morning is the Australian environment minister, Greg Hunt, telling an OECD event that the government approved Adani’s controversial $16bn Carmichael coalmine because it was not a “neo-colonialist” power that tried to tell poor countries what to do. “I hope you would agree the poorest countries should be able to decide their own energy future. I am not a neo-colonialist. I think the poorest should be able to make their own decisions,” Hunt said.
- The second is an interview with the Marshall Island’s foreign minister, Tony de Brum, who said he was hoping Australia might soon start to take the countries’ fears about the impact of climate change as seriously as the US president did.
As developments come to hand, I’ll keep you posted.
Updated
There’s an interesting story in the Australian this morning that suggests Australia has taken a significant step towards enhancing defence cooperation with China but has forgotten to tell anyone about it. The Australian’s defence correspondent, Brendan Nicholson, happened upon the development via Chinese sources.
Australia and China have agreed to upgrade defence and security cooperation to tackle counter-terrorism jointly in the region, train together for peacekeeping operations and exchange senior military personnel. The enhanced military-to-military relationship was agreed at ‘candid and friendly’ talks in Canberra this week between defence chiefs from both countries, Chinese government sources told the Australian last night.
As Brendan points out, closer defence ties with Beijing comes at a time when there are significant regional tensions over China’s posture in the South China Sea.
At the recent Apec summit in Manila Malcolm Turnbull said Australia supported the US. America recently sent a warship through disputed territory in the Spratly archipelago in a direct challenge to China’s territorial claims. But Turnbull has declined to say whether Australia would support the US practically by joining any future freedom of navigation exercise.
Updated
The other event under way as we go live this morning is a police raid in western Sydney. This morning police raided at least one home in Merrylands. A statement from NSW police said the searches were being conducted under the powers of firearms prohibition orders “which were previously served on a number of men linked to the addresses being searched”. Police did not confirm the raids were related to counter-terrorism, but the ABC reported the raid was in the same street where raids took place in October after the shooting murder of police employee Curtis Cheng. The house in Lockwood Street is understood to have been raided several times before.
Updated
Super governance bill – out the back door
I mentioned in the first post there are a couple of contentious bills on the agenda that may not have the numbers to clear the Senate, one being a superannuation governance bill.
Right on cue, the crossbench, Labor and the Greens have confirmed it’s thumbs down for this proposal. They’ve issued a joint statement.
A coalition of senators has today confirmed it will not support the government’s proposal to change the structure of superannuation boards. The superannuation legislation amendment (trustee governance) bill 2015 was introduced to parliament soon after Tony Abbott was replaced as prime minister in September, and would force not-for-profit industry funds to implement a number of changes to their governance arrangements which would impose additional administrative costs and other burdens on the funds. Crossbench and opposition senators think this bill goes too far. Senator John Madigan, senator Glenn Lazarus and senator Jacqui Lambie have suggested an alternative to imposing these changes by legislation, and instead propose an industry review of not-for-profit fund governance.
There will be a press conference in a little bit. The bill remains on the Senate order of business today. I don’t know if the bill will proceed to a vote or whether the government will pull it.
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Wags out in full force this morning.
Apparently Google knows something that we don’t. pic.twitter.com/cuSNhPunOi
— Stilgherrian (@stilgherrian) December 1, 2015
Mark Dreyfus was stopped by reporters after his interview on Radio National just a few moments ago.
Mark Dreyfus:
It appears that Mal Brough has misled parliament. He said yesterday that the 60 Minutes interview in which he gave clear answers to clear questions had been selectively edited.
I was invited by Channel Nine to listen and to watch the unedited version of that interview, and it’s absolutely clear that the question he was asked was what he answered, that there wasn’t a selective editing.
That appears then that he has misled parliament.
Q: What does it say about Malcolm Turnbull’s judgment that he appointed Brough to a role safeguarding integrity?
Whatever else one can say about Mal Brough, he’s clearly good at plotting. This was a reward from Malcolm Turnbull to him, on Mal Brough’s role – as yet undisclosed – in the plotting that took place over this year to remove Tony Abbott as prime minister of Australia.
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Good morning
Hello good people and welcome to Wednesday. The Warren Truss power grab has come to its inevitable conclusion. The eagle has landed. After a hectic summit season, Malcolm Turnbull is back in the national capital, and can now stow his passport until after Christmas.
The prime minister’s homecoming sees him flying into the history wars. After promising not to be a wrecker, Tony Abbott has proceeded in quick order to shirtfronting thought criminals, most particularly his former deputy, Julie Bishop. You bet you are, you bet I am.
Turnbull also needs to consider the immediate prospects of his special minister of state, Mal Brough. As my colleague Daniel Hurst reports, Brough faces fresh parliamentary pressure over his role in the downfall of the former Speaker Peter Slipper, after his attempt to walk away from a key admission was undermined by 60 Minutes releasing the unedited interview exchange. Late yesterday the Nine Network published transcripts of its interview with Brough and released video after the special minister of state accused the program of selectively editing a question about his contact with Slipper’s former staffer James Ashby.
The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has been on the ABC this morning.
Q: Is this a sacking offence?
Mark Dreyfus:
He appears to have misled parliament. We’ve said all along he shouldn’t have been appointed, but at the very least he must step aside.
Q: Why? Specifically what are you accusing him of?
[Brough] is under investigation by the Australian federal police. Extraordinarily, the Australian federal police executed a search warrant at his house. I cannot remember the last time a serving minister in the commonwealth – government of the commonwealth – was the subject of a search warrant executed on his own house.
He is the minister for government integrity, Fran. Perhaps you might argue for another minister he doesn’t have to stand aside just yet but the minister for government integrity, the person that is responsible for standards in the electoral commission, in the parliament, in relation to the staff of members of parliament, that is one of his responsibilities – there is a long list. We need someone that is absolutely beyond reproach.
I am afraid that Mal Brough has shown himself to be not that.
As well as the double double toil and trouble, we have the inevitable run to the door in terms of final session legislation.
We expect the citizenship bill to clear the Senate today. It didn’t last night because the crossbenchers expressed many objections. It will also be interesting to see what business gets bowled up for the final 48 hours. There are a couple of contentious bills including one on multinational tax avoidance and another on superannuation governance – which are supposed to be priorities – but the government may not actually have the numbers to get through.
We wait, we see. You don’t have to wait.
You can dash in the direction of the comments thread, which is open for your business. Mikearoo and I are also up and at ’em on the Twits. He’s @mpbowers and I’m @murpharoo
Pour yourself a stiff single malt. It’s never too early. Here comes Wednesday.
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