Pull your heads in, its time to wrap a lively day in Parliament @gabriellechan @GuardianAus http://t.co/WuqwsA01tt pic.twitter.com/N4SmSiS8dA
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) March 2, 2015
Night time political wrap
- George Brandis was censured by the senate today for his treatment of Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs. Lambie, Lazarus and Wang voted with Labor and the Greens.
- Mosul was declared a designated area, which means any Australian who travels to the area without a legitimate reason could face 10 years jail.
- The Palmer United Party senators have threatened to support no more government bills until the “chaos” ends, ensuring more chaos in the senate. Lambie has already made this threat over the defence force pay issue.
- The government has established a voluntary code between supermarkets and suppliers to try to address concerns over supermarket power.
- Trade minister Andrew Robb urged his colleagues to pull their heads in on the leadership issue, suggesting the momentum of change at the top was dying down.
- An $18m school security package was announced to provide funding for security guards and equipment.
Thanks to my colleagues and brains trust, Mike Bowers, Daniel Hurst, Shalailah Medhora and Lenore Taylor.
Finally - Rosie Batty speaking on domestic violence.
See you on the morrow.
My colleague Shalailah Medhora has reported on industrial action which may affect more than half of the total pool of commonwealth public servants.
Australia is in the midst of an “unprecedented level of industrial action” within the public service, as workers refuse to accept pay offers put forward by the government, according to a trade union.
The departments of defence, employment, agriculture, human services and veterans’ affairs, as well as the CSIRO and tax office, have all moved to take industrial action over pay and conditions.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) said industrial action is now on the cards for agencies that represent half of the commonwealth’s nearly 160,000 public service workers.
Australian of the year, Rosie Batty, is addressing MPs and senators on domestic violence.
Australian of the Year Rosie Batty about to address bipartisan Parliamentary group against family violence #auspol pic.twitter.com/6kq72vKfHH
— Darren Chester MP (@DarrenChesterMP) March 2, 2015
#politicslive amendment. The fair work bill - which was voted down - did not include Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) changes, as I reported earlier. For the record, the bill:
- establishes the Registered Organisations Commission and provides it with investigation and information gathering powers to monitor and regulate registered organisations;
- and provide for the appointment, functions and powers of the commissioner
- amends the requirements on officers’ disclosure of material personal interests and change grounds for disqualification and ineligibility for office;
- increase financial accounting and disclosure obligations for registered organisations and their officers;
- increases civil penalties and introduce criminal offences for serious breaches of officers’ duties and new offences in relation to the conduct of investigations.
Coalition's fair work bill is voted down.
The fair work bill is voted down 30-33.
Division now on the fair work bill.
Laming's List: budget savings over the next 10 years
Queensland LNP dissident Andrew Laming was the first MP to come out after Tony Abbott’s National Press Club #resetII speech to throw a spanner in the works.
Now, all members, senators and staff have received the results of Laming’s request to the parliamentary budget office (PBO) for costings on government policies as yet unlegislated over the next 10 years.
In other words, all the policies that came out in the budget, that have not been introduced or cannot get through the senate.
The headline figure? $112, 673 million over the next 10 years.
Thanks to Laming, you can see the full list here.
Updated
Mike Bowers snuck down to the cabinet room prior to ministers’ locking the door.
Happy cabinet day.
Not so much.
Fair work bill debated in senate
The senate is now debating the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment bill. This is the one Tony Abbott promised before the election to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) as a “tough cop on the beat” for the building industry. It also establishes a new registered organisations commission to monitor the conduct of unions and business groups.
It looks like it could go down, as Palmer United senators and Ricky Muir have indicated they are unlikely to vote for the bill. Jacqui Lambie is speaking on the bill now.
Lambie says unlike some government senators - “including senator Abetz” - she does not have an “ingrained hatred of unions”, while noting like the corporate world, there are rogues.
The unions, just like the corporate world, have had their fair share of fraudsters, crooks and stand over men who have ripped off their members.
She said the bill could be seen as “an ideological attack on Australian workers”.
FYI, cabinet is meeting tonight.
Question time colour from the lens of Mike Bowers.
Updated
The urgency motion on food labelling passed on voices in the senate. Which means that food labelling is urgent.
Independent senator John Madigan channels John Howard on the food labelling debate.
Australians have a right to know what food comes into our country and the circumstances in which it comes.
Madigan says Australians are having imported food “shoved down their throats”.
The confusing information on the labels means usually consumers “have bitten off more than they can chew”.
Madigan is obviously challenging our own Daniel Hurst in the punny department.
Queensland LNP senator Matt Canavan is speaking to the food labelling debate in the senate. He says in China, “they want to know where their food comes from”. You can walk into a supermarket and the food is in different sections, according to countries, he says.
In Australia, it is confusing and when the labelling is confusing, people ignore it, says Canavan.
Labor senator Glenn Sterle calls Australian labelling laws “a load of bull” and a disgrace.
All we want is Australians to be able to walk into a food outlet and know whether it’s Australian made.
Senator John Williams is speaking on the Greens urgency motion. Williams is quoting SBS TV chef Matthew Evans on the conditions at overseas fish farms. Williams says as a fifth generation farmer, he is proud of Australia’s
clean green food.
The labelling system as it is now, is simply confusing, says Williams. He says labels are often deliberately misleading, such as use of Australian maps on imported food products.
Greens leader Christine Milne is talking about the need for clear food labelling. She says she has introduced legislation three times to get rid of the nonsense “made from Australian and imported ingredients”.
The Greens want food products to include a table with the amounts of substantial ingredients and where they come from. Milne says “big food companies” keep knocking off the bill.
Earlier today, Bob Katter introduced a private members bill to the house that would see imported products carry a warning:
Warning: Imported food. This food has not been grown or processed under Australian health and hygiene standards and may be injurious to your health.
Katter and independent Andrew Wilkie, who seconded Katter’s bill, had the assistance of Snow White, who Mike Bowers caught up with earlier today. Ms White, of course, knows the dangers of poisoned fruit all too well.
Updated
There are many questions regarding this photo.
It is Albo’s birthday. This much is clear from the Rabbitoh’s cake. But why does he have his shoes off?
And does that other cake belong to Matthew Franklin, his press secretary? And if the answer is yes, why is it larger than the boss’?
Happy birthday @AlboMP Horrible choice in cake though! pic.twitter.com/swa2wIiTyb
— Pat Conroy MP (@PatConroy1) March 2, 2015
The Greens are moving for the senate to debate the following as a matter of urgency:
The need for the Abbott government to immediately implement Country of Origin food labelling legislation to protect public health and Australian farmers.
Smiling, smiling, smiling...
Andrew Wilkie’s brief frontbench experience.
Waiting for their mates.
Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott’s defender in chief, Josh Frydenberg.
Speaker Bishop has ruled on a tweet by Labor MP Jim Chalmers. Chalmers was thrown out after he used unparliamentary language but then repeating the sin in a tweet below.
Time and time again Tony Abbott has proven to be a #pathologicalliar - Triggs, pensions, SBS, health, ed the list goes on and on #auspol #qt
— Jim Chalmers MP (@JEChalmers) February 26, 2015
Christopher Pyne complained but after question time, Speaker Bishop resisted extending her ruling to the tweet. She did warn though, that parliamentary privilege did not cover MPs outside of the chamber and by extension, on social media.
Abbott says George Brandis is a ripper AG, as he has got some important metadata legislation and he was right on Gillian Triggs.
The attorney is right to say that the government has lost confidence in the president of the Human Rights Commission because the president of the Human Rights Commission is incapable of understanding this simple fact that it is better to get people out of detention than it is to get them into detention.
Bill Shorten asks Tony Abbott:
Given that the prime minister’s attorney general couldn’t explain what metadata is, said that everyone has right to be a bigot and directed the secretary of his department to ask the president of the Human Rights Commission to resign, how can the prime minister still have any confidence in his attorney-general?
Christopher Pyne as leader of the house says they are assertions and therefore out of order. Speaker Bishop says answer the question but ignore the first part.
Abbott brings out a tongue twister.
What we have seen yet again from the leader of the opposition is the jeering, sneering and smearing, which unfortunately is all that this opposition is capable of.
Environment minister Greg Hunt is asked about the removal of the carbon tax.
Meanwhile, here is Joe Hockey hamming it up in #qt.
An animated Treasurer Joe Hockey #QT @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive http://t.co/WuqwsA01tt pic.twitter.com/LjwKiztFn1
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) March 2, 2015
Bill Shorten asks Abbott about Malcolm Turnbull’s recent tongue-in-cheek comments:
Does the prime minister still agree with the statement by the minister for communications, and I quote, “of course every single member of the Government supported every element in the Budget. Of course. We are a united Government.”
Well said. You can do nothing better than quote ministers in this government and I applaud the leader of the opposition for quoting ministers in this government, particularly the minister for communications who put it very well.
A general question on broken promises to Tony Abbott, referring to backflips on paid parental leave, submarines and now Medicare copayment.
This very wide-ranging series of smears and abuse does give me an opportunity to talk about what this government is doing to protect the Australian people...
A question to immigration minister Peter Dutton on border control. It would appear the government has moved more towards the Malcolm Turnbull formulation on children in detention. That is, forget about shooting Gillian Triggs. There were many more children in detention under Labor and the government is making progress on moving them out.
(There is) 114 children in held detention in Australia, the number reducing every day compared to 1992 children in detention under Labor.
Tony Abbott is asked by Labor if he still agrees with his statement in September that his unfair GP tax is “good policy”.
For four years as health minister I protected and sustained Medicare as its best friend and as prime minister we will protect and sustain our great Medicare system.
Fancy meeting you here.
Meanwhile, in the back stalls...
A question now on the school security program.
Labor’s Andrew Leigh - former economics professor and author - asks Tony Abbott to confirm the Australian Tax Office will recover $1bn in new tax revenue because of a program funded by the previous Labor government while cutting 4,700 staff from the tax office.
Joe Hockey rises to answer instead.
Over 3,000 staff have gone out of the Australian Taxation Office and that was announced by Labor....They’ve set you up, old son. They’ve set you up. They don’t like your book, they don’t like your support of government policy.
Julie Bishop is asked about the declaration of Mosul as a terrorist no-go zone.
Since taking control of Mosul last year, Daesh has directed its terrorist activities from this district. It’s used terrorist attacks extensively against civilians and carrying out mass executions and beheadings. Recent atrocities include the crucifixion of 17 young men, a woman was stoned to death, the public execution of 13 teenage boys whose crime allegedly was to watch an Asian Cup soccer match. These mad men are seeking to take the world back to the dark ages.
There is a government question to Christopher Pyne on the higher education reforms which are languishing before the senate.
Then Chris Bowen has another go on the intergenerational report, asking whether the GP co-payment would be included in the report?
Will the IGR projections be rendered inaccurate even before it is released?
Hockey says no.
It won’t be inaccurate before it’s released because it is representing a 40-year projection of the state of the economy, the state of the budget and also, importantly, about the demographic change.
Greens senator Penny Wright asks George Brandis whether the minister would be “induced to accept a role on the backbench” in the event of a leadership change.
Brandis replies:
You changed. You used to be a serious person. Sorry about that.
Back to Dan Hurst in the senate:
Labor’s pursuit of George Brandis continues.
The opposition senator Jacinta Collins asks Brandis to confirm he asked the secretary of his department to convey the offer of a specific role to Triggs at the meeting in Sydney on 3 February.
Brandis says the issue was addressed “thoroughly” by him and his departmental secretary at Senate estimates last week.
There is nothing more to say.
After Brandis attacks Collins for her “disgraceful” attack on the secretary of the Attorney-General’s department in the earlier censure debate, he responds to an interjection by saying:
Gillian Triggs is not a public servant and her integrity has never been attacked by anyone.
There is a government question to the treasurer on fixing the budget, allowing Joe Hockey to preview the intergenerational report to be released on Thursday.
Then Chris Bowen asks Hockey, will the net overseas migration numbers underpinning the intergenerational report match the advice that was provide to the government by the immigration department?
Hockey says “we will release a number that is larger than what Labor had in its last intergenerational report.
Queensland independent Bob Katter asks about the loss of jobs in industries like sugar and mining. He asks if Tony Abbott will consider guarantees to get superannuation funds into big projects.
Abbott says he does not share Katter’s pessimism.
I just don’t share his despair and his pessimism about the Australian economy...I know that sugar has certainly had its difficulties in recent times but right now sugar is in a reasonable state and my intention is to try to ensure that through ongoing free trade negotiations, including the Trans Pacific partnership that we do a better deal for the sugar producers of Australia.
Bill Shorten asks Tony Abbott why voters should take the prime minister’s promises seriously, particularly the promise to drop the Medicare copayment ahead of the NSW election.
This from a member of parliament who back-stabbed two prime ministers, says Abbott.
Abbott says he is working “hand-in-glove” with NSW premier Mike Baird.
Labor has announced that it will cancel the second harbour rail crossing, they’ll cancel the Parramatta light rail, they’ll cancel road upgrades around Sydney’s second airport and Western Sydney’s first airport, they’ll cancel all of that and they’ve said they’ll cancel stage three of WestC onnex.
I am very pleased to be working hand-in-glove with the NSW premier, Mike Baird, I’m very happy to be standing shoulder to shoulder with Mike Baird as I was just nine days ago in Sydney.
It would appear Abbott will be present during the NSW election. Unlike the Queensland election.
Joe Hockey is asked a government question on building jobs growth and the economy is good for western Sydney and the rest of Australia.
Read NSW election for western Sydney. It’s all about the marginals.
Small business minister Bruce Billson takes a government question on the aforementioned food and grocery code. Then Tanya Plibersek asks Tony Abbott if he agrees with his finance minister Mathias Cormann “that the GP tax is still desirable”?
Abbott does not answer the question and simply says he wants to ensure Medicare stays sustainable and protects the vulnerable.
Chris Bowen asks Joe Hockey whether the government will work with Labor on the multinational tax avoidance proposal.
Hockey said he welcomed Labor’s “new found” enthusiasm for tax reform but said Treasury advised proposals like Labor’s policy change on “thin capitalisation” rules would cost jobs.
The advice of Treasury was the proposal in relation to thin capitalisation will cost Australian jobs. ...Now why would the Treasury say it will cost Australian jobs?...what happens at the moment, which the opposition doesn’t understand, is shareholders expect on their equity investments a better return than the cost of debt.
So equity actually costs more than debt and Labor’s saying they want to penalise international companies that lend to their Australian operations to expand their operations. They want to penalise those companies that use borrowings to expand their operations in Australia and they want them to put up more capital.
I’ll tell you what, that will cost jobs at Unilever, at Shell, at McDonalds, at IBM. That will cost Australian jobs because if you make it more expensive for international businesses tooperate in Australia they will simply reduce their operations.
Daniel Hurst reports from the senate:
Labor Senate leader Penny Wong is pursuing George Brandis over his treatment of Gillian Triggs. Wong asks Brandis to acknowledge he had involved the secretary of his department on a partisan attack on the president of the Human Rights Commission.
She asks if Brandis will resign.
There has been no personal attack on the president of the Human Rights Commission, Brandis says.
Brandis accuses a Labor senator, Jacinta Collins, of “a disgraceful attack on the integrity of the secretary of my department” by questioning the secretary’s testimony to Senate estimates last week.
Updated
Question time now. In the senate, Penny Wong opens with a question to George Brandis on Triggs. In the house, Bill Shorten refers to Labor’s multinational tax policy.
I refer to Labor’s plan today to make multinational corporations pay their fair share of tax. Given this plan would raise more than double what the prime minister’s unfair GP tax would raise, why is the prime minister still slugging Australians with his unfair GP tax rather than making multinational corporations pay their fair share?
Abbott answers that Labor should be supporting the government’s budget measures, as yet unpassed. He says he will make an announcement on the Medicare copayment “in due course”.
There is a bit of a Coalition skirmish over the issue of fracking in Victoria. The Victorian Nationals have announced a farmers’ veto of coal seam gas ahead of a byelection in the seat of Gippsland South. CSG and mining generally have been a big issue in rural seats and the Nats are keen to hold the seat after they lost Shepparton to an independent in the last election.
But former Howard minister Peter Reith has given the Nats a whack for getting into bed with the Greens.
It’s very disappointing when the National party is going to the left and getting into bed with the Greens at the expense of investment and job opportunities in eastern Victoria,’’ Reith told Rick Wallace at the Oz.
Unemployment and jobs are big issues and the Nationals are just playing populist politics. There are very few champions for jobs and investment in Gippsland. The opportunities are very limited for economic development in that part of the state. By lining up with the Greens, the National party are trying to win votes, but even that’s not certain. It’s bad policy and poor politics.
Federal MP Darren Chester could not resist the bait.
Libs sending out yesterday's hero Peter Reith to attack The Nats in Gippsland South is a desperate move. We will focus on issues #teamdanny
— Darren Chester MP (@DarrenChesterMP) March 1, 2015
Updated
Three amigos.
Updated
Mike Bowers has helpfully provided this representation of the Brandis censure.
#censuredOff #BrickAbetz & #BrickMcGrath assist #BrickBrandis from the chamber @gabriellechan http://t.co/WuqwsA01tt pic.twitter.com/yh6jdCu9kG
— Mike Bowers (@mpbowers) March 2, 2015
In case you are wondering at the upshot of the censure, it is a slap on the wrist. But it is worth noting it looks as though it has never happened before.
@TimStephens10 I can't find any record of a successful censure of an Attorney-General in a search of our Parlinfo database
— Australian Senate (@AuSenate) March 2, 2015
Lunchtime political summary
- The senate has censured the attorney general George Brandis for his treatment of Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs. Labor’s motion was supported by the Greens, Palmer United Party senators Glenn Lazarus and Dio Wang and their erstwhile colleague Jacqui Lambie.
- Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, has been declared a designated area which means any Australian travelling there must have a legitimate reason or could face a maximum term of 10 years jail.
- Ensuring more chaos, the Palmer United Party announced it would abstain from voting on the Coalition’s bills “until government chaos ended”. The threat by the two PUP senators complicates the Coalition’s legislative agenda because a third senator, the independent Jacqui Lambie, still intends to vote against all government bills until the defence force pay offer is fixed.
- Momentum for leadership change is dying, according to trade minister Andrew Robb, helpfully suggesting anyone still harbouring thirst for change should pull their heads in.
- Schools at risk of “intolerance” will receive funding for security guards and equipment to ensure the safety of staff and students.
- A voluntary food and grocery code will be implemented from tomorrow.
When the votes were read out and it became clear that the Labor censure motion of George Brandis had succeeded, government senators yelled “shame! shame!” at Labor.
George Brandis is officially censured. 35-32
George Brandis is officially censured - 35-32 - on his actions in regard to Gillian Triggs, president of the Human Rights Commission.
How senators lined up on censure of George Brandis
Voting for the censure: ALP, Greens, Lambie, Lazarus and Wang.
Voting against, Coalition, Day and Xenophon.
At this stage we cannot see David Leyonhjelm or Ricky Muir.
Updated
Labor senator Penny Wong is re-prosecuting her case.
I am disappointed that senator Xenophon has swallowed this argument, says Wong.
Division on the censure. Labor needs the Greens and four cross benchers.
Updated
Xenophon won't support the full censure motion against George Brandis
Nick Xenophon believes Brandis has erred “significantly” on his handing of Triggs and supports the first four parts of the motion. But not the last.
Just to remind you, here’s the motion.
I move that the senate censures the attorney-general (Senator Brandis) for:
(1) failing to defend the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Professor Gillian Triggs, from malicious attacks;
(2) seeking to obtain the resignation of Professor Triggs by facilitating the offer of an alternative role that would have required her to relinquish her position as President;
(3) refusing to fully account for his conduct when appearing before a committee of the Senate;
(4) undermining Australia’s commitment to upholding human rights; and
(5) being unfit to hold the office of Attorney-General.
Independent Nick Xenophon says there should be a royal commission into children in detention.
Curiously, Xenophon notes Malcolm Turnbull comments on Q and A in which he pointed to how many less children there are in detention under the Coalition.
There is some merit in that, says Xenophon.
He agrees with Brandis that it is possible to criticise the Human Rights Commission but believes the attorney general failed to defend Triggs, so supports the first part of the motion.
But he does not believe Brandis is “unfit to hold office”.
Liberal senator Linda Reynolds says its a shame Labor is “playing the man” - that is George Brandis - not the ball. As opposed to the woman.
Do your job attorney, says Lambie.
The data retention report has been tabled in the house. This was the bipartisan report released on Friday which backed the Abbott government’s proposed data retention scheme, but demanded more certainty about the customer details that would be stored and the agencies that would gain access.
Some in the house are cranky that the government did not allow more debate on it.
Democracy in action: #dataretention report tabled in House of Reps & apart from Chair, Dep Chair & Govt Whip, no extra debate permitted
— Ed Husic (@edhusicMP) March 2, 2015
Now an offence to travel to Mosul as it is declared a designated area
Mosul, the second biggest city in Iraq, has been declared a “designated area” by the federal government. That means it is an offence to travel there unless you have a legitimate purpose. This law passed parliament under the second tranche of the national security laws.
Liberal senator Linda Reynolds is up next defending George Brandis.
Labor senator Jacinta Collins dissects Brandis’s defence. She notes Brandis’s characterisation of criticism not being personal. She points the Senate towards a column by Piers Akerman, criticising Triggs’s treatment of her disabled daughter.
Collins makes the point that the Forgotten Children report is critical of both governments and is critical of the amount of time children are in detention.
Updated
And another thing ...
Updated
Jacqui Lambie says it’s become very clear average Australians are “absolutely disgusted” at the political attacks on Triggs. She says the attacks were designed to “appeal to the base” of the Liberal party and shore up Tony Abbott’s leadership.
She hopes the leadership changes and people with “kind hearts” are given the job of leading the nation.
Lambie says if she was giving Brandis a report card – it would say “poor”.
Updated
Key crossbencher Jacqui Lambie supports censure of George Brandis
Lambie says you can’t support Professor Triggs and not support the censure motion against Brandis.
So vicious and extreme, there are no shades of grey in this debate.
She describes the government’s criticism as “unbalanced personal attacks on Triggs”.
Lambie calls for the release of all the children in detention, “not just the ones you released before Christmas – all of them”.
Do your job properly.
She wants a royal commission into the harm done against these:
innocent little human beings.
She describes the attacks as:
Pathetic stupid politics that is damaging the Liberal brand ... and it shows Mr Abbott has not changed.
Updated
George Brandis says the Human Rights Commission is an entirely different beast than a court. (My words, not his.) The HRC is like Asic or the ACCC.
This parliament should be a fierce guardian of its rights to call members of the executive and its agencies into account.
Updated
On the question of failing to defend Gillian Triggs (in the censure motion against him), George Brandis says he has been “very careful” to say he has a “high regard” for Professor Triggs. Nevertheless, again, he says he has lost confidence in Triggs.
Just because a person might be a distinguished academic, doesn’t mean they have the skills to manage an executive office.
Brandis says if he defended Triggs and told the parliament he did have confidence in Triggs, he would be “misleading the parliament”.
George Brandis says the Human Rights Commission must be above politics and therefore by making decisions which favour one side of politics, Gillian Triggs as president has failed.
To say that is not to criticise her integrity.
George Brandis upbraids Penny Wong, whom he accuses of calling out “bully boy”.
There can be no doubt at all there has been a collapse in confidence in Gillian Triggs on my side of politics.
George Brandis says Australian people are entitled to know he lost confidence in Gillian Triggs
On the question of asking Triggs to resign, Brandis says he has never had a conversation with Triggs on the matter of resignation. There was a conversation between his department head Chris Moraitis who told the senate estimates he did not ask Triggs to resign.
I had lost confidence in Professor Triggs as the president of the Human Rights Commission and that fact I consider is something the Australian public are entitled to know.
George Brandis says he was not asked anything by the Greens either.
I gave a lengthy and detailed answer which goes over four pages of the Hansard record and I was not asked another question.
Labor’s Jacinta Collins says the AG had a chance to answer all the substantive points by the chair.
George Brandis is on his feet now to defend himself.
He starts with the point that he attended estimates for six hours and Labor only asked him one question.
Here are the more substantive points from Eric Abetz’s defence of Brandis.
The first argument is that Labor has been critical of independent statutory authorities.
On failing to defend Triggs, Abetz says Labor has “besmirched” the public service commissioner and the fair work building and construction director.
They have to come with clean hands.
(Which seems to make the point that, if you can besmirch, we can besmirch.)
The second argument is free speech.
Abetz said he does not buy Wong’s point that parliamentarians do not have the right to be critical. Triggs has to do her duty. If she does not, parliamentarians have the right to criticise.
The third argument is that Brandis was there throughout the whole estimates hearing. Therefore he was happy to account.
Senator Ian Macdonald, who was in the chair in senate estimates when Triggs was attacked, raises to make a point to senate president (Liberal) Dean Smith that there have been three “attackers” of the censure and only one “defender”.
If I may put it like that, says Macdonald.
Smith says there is no point of order. Wong (Labor) spoke first, then Abetz, followed by Milne (Greens) and Claire Moore (Labor). Everyone has had a turn.
Christine Milne is speaking for the censure motion against George Brandis. She is noting the “campaign” against Triggs in The Australian newspaper. Milne is suggesting that the prime minister and the AG set up criticism from before The Forgotten Children report was released.
We do not believe he is fit to hold the office of AG and not only that, his behaviour has demeaned the senate and the parliament.
Milne says the government should have focussed on the situation for children in detention rather than going after Triggs.
Updated
Eric Abetz defends a great steward of the Australian taxpayers dollar
Penny Wong has fired up first thing in the senate to censure George Brandis, noting it was no small thing to move to censure a minister.
The attorney general has tried to pressure professor Triggs to resign precisely because she was doing her job.
Defending George Brandis, senator Eric Abetz says the censure motion has all the hallmarks of Labor. He describes Brandis as:
a great steward of the Australian taxpayers’ dollar and human rights.
Updated
Penny Wong moving to censure George Brandis over Gillian Triggs
Penny Wong is seeking to censure George Brandis for his treatment of the head of the Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs.
This is as a result of evidence heard in the senate estimates hearings last week. Thanks for Adam Gartrell for the full motion.
The censure motion against George Brandis currently being debated in the Senate #auspol pic.twitter.com/DPYuwHxXgA
— Adam Gartrell (@adamgartrell) March 1, 2015
Updated
It appears #politicslive is behind the times. I have yet to download the app Wickr which allows “private, encrypted and self-destructing data” to be electronically shredded to leave no trace of messages.
The Oz reports that the app has been the preferred method of communication between Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison during the leadership spill. Those agitating for change have joined the switch from regular texts to Wickr.
Apparently it is the equivalent of the Mission Impossible suitcase. This post explodes in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...
Updated
This measure is about winding back some of the powers of the supermarket duopoly – Coles and Woolworths. It requires a grocery supply agreement, which sets some parameters between suppliers and supermarkets. In the past suppliers have argued the big supermarkets negotiate for delivery of goods and then change the ground rules, such as setting new “marketing” fees.
Bruce Billson describes the code thus:
What this code does is it sets a framework for fair and healthy commercial interactions between the supermarket chains and their suppliers. It acts, if you will, as a bumper rail, within which fair and free commercial negotiations can take place but not to see those negotiations stray into areas that are detrimental to the suppliers and then in turn to Australian consumers.
The mediation will allow suppliers to take disputes to “senior members of the supermarket chains” and failing that, outside to an as yet unnamed “avenue”.
Documents need to be maintained so that if necessary, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to “exercise its general powers”.
Updated
Ok – wrong on food labelling.
The small business minister, Bruce Billson, has announced the Australian Food and Grocery code will come into force as of tomorrow.
This industry-led initiative recognises concerns about the pressure particularly smaller suppliers are facing in the supply chain to our largest supermarkets in Australia.
Updated
A couple of journalists have pointed out to Michael Keenan that the secure schools program has been around since 2007. So what’s new? Why the fuss?
This is a continuation of an existing program, but we’ve slightly altered it since we’ve come to government. Before we came togovernment, we made acommitment that we’d beallocating this $18 million. It funds things such as CCTV, improved lighting, other confidence enhancing security measures. But the change that we’ve made is that it can now also fund security guards which has been an important piece of the puzzle for some schools to enhance their security arrangements.
There’s the tweak.
Michael Keenan, walking a tightrope between war and peace ...
Q: Is it recognition of growing sectarian violence in Australia?
I don’t think that’s the case at all. I don’t think that that is good way of characterising it. Australia is a very tolerant country.
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The Secure Schools funds were delivered under a competitive process, which means some schools missed out. Michael Keenan says he is confident he has made the correct judgment.
He also says the government have received no specific threat to any schools.
We’re not aware of any specific threat to any of the 54 schools that are receiving this funding but it’s a sensible precautionary measure to make sure that we can improve the confidence of students, parents and teachers who come to these institutions.
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$18m for school security upgrades
More commentators in a minute. In the meantime, justice minister Michael Keenan is speaking about school security in Sydney.
Keenan says the $18m school funding was promised before the last election. Schools applied for funding and the 54 which won funding had a slightly high risk profile.
It’s a commitment that we made prior to the last election to make sure that we were partnering with schools that might be at particular risk of intolerance.
A number of commentators have some detailed analysis of the Ipsos poll, making two points:
1. Predicting it would be used by Abbott supporters as evidence of life.
2. Pointing to devastatingly low support for Abbott, when compared with Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop.
Here is Laura Tingle in the Financial Review:
[Abbott supporters] will be able to argue that the baseline messages the government has been trying to deliver have been getting through the static, whether that be on national security, a clampdown on foreign investment or on generally looking like the government is in charge of dealing with the electorate’s apparent fears of “baddies” and “berries”...
But his approval ratings remain abysmal, and in comparison with Malcolm Turnbull, voters’ views of his attributes are devastating ...
The fact that Mr Abbott now even trails Julia Gillard on questions of competence, economic policy, trustworthiness, and strong leadership – all issues on which he relentlessly challenged her credentials – must be particularly galling and show just how much trouble he is in.
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Here are some more details on security funding for schools, again from the Tele.
There are 54 schools to receive funding, more than half the schools are Jewish and Islamic schools.
- 22 are government and independent schools.
- 29 of the 54 are located in NSW, most in western Sydney.
- 15 are in Victoria.
- Four are in Western Australia.
- Two are in South Australia.
- One each in Northern Territory and the ACT.
The funding relates to the prospect of external attacks, but in November last year the AFP called on teachers to be on the lookout for students who may be in the process of being radicalised.
The Australian Council of Jewish Schools has called for increased school security.
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Justice minister Michael Keenan has a press conference in Sydney, announcing an initiative – unloaded last night to News – to put $18m towards schools vulnerable to the rising threat of Isis.
It is the first time the federal government has provided funding for on-site security guards in the education system and has been driven by fears of potential lone-wolf and racist attacks at government, independent, Islamic and Jewish schools.
The money will be used for guards and security equipment such as CCTV.
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Politics weekly agenda so far
Now to the meaty bits.
Here is what we are expecting today and this week.
National security:
- $18m for security upgrades for vulnerable schools.
- A pending announcement on sending more troops to Iraq.
Budget:
- The PM is expected to drop the Medicare co-payment.
- The measure to make young unemployed people wait six months for the dole is also on the chopping block.
Food labelling:
Small business minister Bruce Billson is up shortly with the head of the Food and Grocery Council, Gary Dawson, in the blue room. We are tipping a food labelling announcement.
Finance:
The Intergenerational Report is due out on Thursday.
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Last night, the prime minister hosted backbenchers and ministers at a par-tay – or perhaps a more sober drinks in the cabinet ante room – as part of the new, consultative leadership. But, Lenore Taylor reports, the despair in some sections of the party room continues and the more conservative rump is thinking, if there has to be a change then it must be Julie Bishop. Malcolm Turnbull’s succession became conventional wisdom very quickly. But it discounts Bishop and Scott Morrison, both of whom have much more support within the right, some of whom would rather go over the cliff than vote for Turnbull.
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Labor announces multinational tax avoidance policy
Tony Abbott is beginning the parliamentary week with a big push on policy so Labor is getting in early with a plan to target multinational tax avoidance which would bring in $1.9bn in revenue over three years.
My colleague Daniel Hurst has this story already:
The federal opposition has proposed a $1.9bn package targeting multinational tax avoidance, with most of the savings slated to come from changes to the amount of debt for which companies can claim deductions in Australia.
Bowing to sustained government pressure to start spelling out alternative budget savings, Labor’s leader, Bill Shorten, said the measures were designed to ensure everyone paid “their fair share of tax”.
They include $1.65bn from changing the current “thin capitalisation” rules to ensure companies could no longer claim up to a 60% debt-to-equity ratio for their Australian operations. The relevant test would instead be the ratio of the company’s entire global operations.
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Tony Abbott's breathes as polls narrow
Good morning blogans,
So begins the parliamentary week, on this second day of March. As we slide down to the ides, leadership talk continues to bubble. If it’s Monday, there must be a new poll. This time the Fairfax-Ipsos numbers show a bounce for Tony Abbott, picking up on where last week’s Newspoll took off. That is, a slight rise for the Coalition overall.
Here are the key points:
- The Coalition has pared back Labor’s lead to 51%-49% on a two-party preferred basis.
- The Coalition’s primary vote is up 4% to 42%, corresponding to a drop by 4% for Labor, with its primary down to 36%.
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Malcolm Turnbull is still preferred leader, with 39% ticking his box compared with 19% for Abbott. Julie Bishop is floating in the middle at 26%.
Trade minister Andrew Robb this morning used the poll to bang the collective heads of unnamed elusive Coalition sources.
The solid dismissal of the spill motion just three weeks ago showed that overwhelmingly, colleagues wanted to see the prime minister given some clear air and the opportunity to get things back on track and I do feel that the significant turnaround in the polls is also conclusive proof that the voters want that as well.
This elusive group of unnamed colleagues have a responsibility to the rest of the team and the country to pull their heads in.”
My blog buddy Mike Bowers has been up early and captured the prime minister heading off to the office in his trademark Liberal blue polo shirt. Bowers and I will be bringing you all the news and images so stay with us today. We welcome your conversation in the comments below or on the Twits @gabriellechan or @mpbowers.
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