Night time politics
It was a long and winding day but in the end, not a lot moved.
- As a high court challenge was filed against the postal survey, the Australian parliament debated marriage equality after Labor raised a matter of public importance. Bill Shorten pledged to campaign hard for marriage equality and promised Labor would stand beside the LGBTI community. Liberal MP Tim Wilson accused him of moral posturing over the issue, given Labor failed to change the Marriage Act during their six years in government. Wilson said he didn’t think the numbers were there in the senate for a private members bill to pass. Turnbull said if the court challenge failed and the Australian people did not get their say, he would not facilitate a free vote in the parliament. Industry minister Arthur Sinodinos said the marriage equality survey was a simple question, not a culture war. He was looking at Tony Abbott at the time.
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The Coalition has celebrated the passage of the corrupting benefits bill that outlaws employer payments to unions while negotiating enterprise bargaining agreements.
That is it for the sitting week. Thanks for your company and to my brains trust, Mike Bowers, Paul Karp, Gareth Hutchens and Katharine Murphy. We will be back next week on Monday bright and early.
Good night.
Things that make you go hmmm.
The ringside view
It won’t translate on television, but in the chamber that contribution from Bill Shorten was electric. Shorten used the matter of public importance speech in the House after question time to eviscerate the postal plebiscite, but also rally people behind the vote.
We cannot let illegitimate tactics deter us.
He said the LGBTI community needed to maintain hope, maintain enthusiasm.
It’s time now to get involved. It’s time to organise and fight for equality.
As his words rang out, government members in the chamber began to get exercised. The Liberal MP Tim Wilson shouted Shorten had no idea what vilification was like. A group of Nationals started shouting that Shorten had six years to do something on marriage equality and did nothing. The Liberal MP Russell Broadbent turned around to Wilson and hushed him.
As the interjections went back and forth, Shorten said he holds Malcolm Turnbull responsible for “every hurtful bit of filth this debate will unleash”. He wound up by speaking directly to the LGBTI community and to young people. “You are not alone in this fight ahead. I will be voting for a yes vote.”
The MPs sitting behind him murmured their approval, and the Labor side broke out in applause.
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Liberal MP Tim Wilson says he is the only person in the chamber who is engaged to his same sex partner.
It is frustrating to watch the moral posturing of those on the other side.
He says we could have seen this issue resolved through the plebiscite, which was not his preference but it would have been done.
Wilson says he watched while the previous Labor prime ministers stalled and blocked.
Wilson says it is not simply a matter of him and other Liberal supporters of marriage equality crossing the floor. He said while a private members’ bill might pass the house it would not pass the Senate because Labor cannot deliver the numbers required.
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I want to bring you something from earlier today when I was juggling.
This motion from Greens senator Nick McKim. He explains it.
This will be put to a vote shortly. We need all the votes we can get to evacuate the camps. ALP & Lib MPs with a conscience should show it. pic.twitter.com/AGceZvYw2D
— Nick McKim (@NickMcKim) August 10, 2017
People. Are. Dying. #EvacuateNow pic.twitter.com/aygGZWCVGS
— Nick McKim (@NickMcKim) August 10, 2017
Watch as a minister won't even mention Hamed Shamshiripour, who died in her government's offshore prison, by name. #EvacuateNow pic.twitter.com/bNHuGKieZM
— Nick McKim (@NickMcKim) August 10, 2017
The motion failed. Some Labor Senators voted against it, others fled the chamber. pic.twitter.com/P1BFPQniaK
— Nick McKim (@NickMcKim) August 10, 2017
Bill Shorten says Labor will stand with the LGBTI community, especially young people and they will never be on their own.
He gets sustained applause.
Things are quite testy in the chamber.
Transport minister Darren Chester, the Nationals minister who supports marriage equality, says Shorten used to support a plebiscite.
He says Labor should trust the Australian people.
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The marriage equality postal survey is vulnerable to voter fraud because Australians will not be given individual identifiers by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, experts have warned.
The move to anonymise the process is designed to address concerns that if ballots included personal identifiers the ABS would be able to match Australians’ opinions on same-sex marriage with other personal information, in effect spoiling the concept of the secret vote.
But now the former ABS chief, Bill McLennan, and two privacy experts have warned if voters are not sent an individual identifier, the ABS will struggle to determine who has voted.
McLennan said the ABS “has no powers to ensure that the right people are answering” surveys.
After the question is mailed to 14 Smith Street, whoever picks it up and answers it, that’s who answers it.
You don’t know who they are ... It’s just a matter of practicality, it’s not a statistical issue. How do you do it? Ask them for a birth certificate and watch them fill it out? Bugger that, it’s not possible.
Bill Shorten says the postal survey is costly, unnecessary, a political contrivance and denies parliament the chance to lead.
But he says the most powerful act is to vote yes to marriage equality.
Get your name on the electoral roll now
Get your voice heard.
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Bill Shorten is speaking on a matter of public importance regarding marriage equality.
Labor’s Tony Burke to Turnbull: The prime minister’s ministerial standards prohibit former ministers from lobbying members of parliament on any matter relating to their previous portfolio for 18 months. Reports now are confirming that MPs were lobbied by someone. Has the prime minister taken any action in relation to what is an obvious breach of ministerial standards.
Turnbull said he would get the secretary of his department of prime minister and cabinet to investigate.
This relates to the former member for Dunkley and former small business minister Bruce Billson, who admitted to receiving salary from the Franchise Council before he left the parliament.
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Labor’s Mark Dreyfus to Turnbull: Yesterday, the Prime Minister said that allegations involving Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy and alleged mafia boss Tony Madafferi would be carefully examined by federal authorities. The member for Dunkley has since admitted to discussing funds-raising arrangements with the alleged bag man in this scheme. Given the Prime Minister’s promise of a careful examination, are federal authorities examining whether the member for Dunkley breached Commonwealth laws.
Christopher Pyne says the question has been answered already.
Speaker Smith rules the question asked and answered.
Labor’s Ed Husic is taunting small business minister Michael McCormack over losing the ABS question to Scott Morrison.
#IstandwithMick #giveMickachance #qt
— Ed Husic (@edhusicMP) August 10, 2017
Mark Dreyfus to Malcolm Turnbull: Yesterday, the prime minister said that allegations involving Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy and alleged mafia boss Tony Madafferi would be carefully examined by federal authorities but the office has concluded the investigation has concluded. Given the prime minister has promised a careful examination of this matter, how did the prime minister expect the Electoral Commission to conduct a careful examination in less than 24 hours. Has the prime minister asked the AFP to conduct an investigation, if not, why not?
Turnbull says the Australian Electoral Commission has advised the special minister of state that there is nothing on this matter that would warrant referral to the Australian federal police.
In the past, the member for Isaacs, a former attorney general and a shadow attorney general, has been generous in his advice to the Australian federal police. If he feels this conclusion by the AEC or the AFP should have matters drawn to their attention, I have got no doubt he will write to them in the normal way.
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Labor’s Tony Burke to small biz minister Michael McCormack: Can the minister for small business confirm to the house as the responsible minister for the Australian Bureau of Statistics there has been one meeting to discuss the marriage postal vote? That there has been no written advice and that there has been no discussion of the risks? If there has been discussion of the risks in writing or in the meeting, can he please advice the house what the risks are?
Christopher Pyne, government leader in the house, runs interference.
Pyne says it was the treasurer’s direction, so Labor should be asking Scott Morrison.
(Morrison is more politically adept.)
Burke says the ABS is on the small business minister’s letter head.
Pyne says the treasurer is the cabinet minister.
Speaker Smith reminds the house, the prime minister can direct the question to whomever he likes – at which the PM suggests the treasurer take the question.
Uproar.
Morrison simply states he gave the direction and Labor could look it up. But it does not go to any advice from the public service about the postal survey.
Tony Burke seeks to table advice that the Australian Electoral Commission website has crashed.
His request is denied.
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The minister in charge of the ABS Michael McCormack is now being called “Survey Monkey” by the opposition in the parliamentary chamber.
— Mark Di Stefano 🤙🏻 (@MarkDiStef) August 10, 2017
Re the ABC staff warning to be impartial on marriage laws.
It used to be a crime for Aboriginal men to marry white women #justsaying
— Emma Alberici (@albericie) August 9, 2017
Again, Labor to small business minister Michael McCormack: Has the minister sought or received advice whether there are risks attached to the postal ballot on marriage equality and what did the advice say?
McCormack says he did have a meeting with the Australian Bureau of Statistics commissioner.
They will do their very best to ensure the household survey is conducted responsibly and well.
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Labor’s Andrew Leigh to small business minister Michael McCormack: It goes to his responsibility for the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The ABS had five years to prepare for the census and the government made an absolute shambles of it. But the government has given the same agency just weeks to prepare for the $122m postal survey. Has the minister sought or received advice on whether there are any risks associated with this process?
McCormack says questions have only been raised over the ABS because Labor was knocking the census.
(I think the census stuff-up might have had something to do with it.)
There is no answer though on seeking or receiving advice on the postal survey process.
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my Brexit referendum ballot papers arrived from the UK 3 weeks after the vote. Post is bad
— Claire Phipps (@Claire_Phipps) August 10, 2017
Labor to Turnbull: On Sky News, the attorney general couldn’t say whether Australians overseas would participate in the $122m survey on marriage equality. Will they receive their forms?
Turnbull:
I am advised by the minister when Australians are overseas and on the electoral roll and registered as an overseas voter, the request for response will be sent directly to them.
*Given we are still waiting for Paul Karp’s postcard, sent five weeks ago from the northern hemisphere, not sure how the ballot papers and responses will get there and back in time.
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You’re terrible Michael.
Leader of the House. Christopher Pyne #qt @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #ploticslive pic.twitter.com/IyA5wHqz16
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) August 10, 2017
Labor Lingiari MP Warren Snowden to Turnbull: Thousands of voters in my electorate have no access to direct mail services, many can only send and receive mail once a week, around 20% are not on the electoral roll. During elections, the AEC takes over two weeks to visit 220 polling places to allow the people to have their say. How will the prime minister guarantee people like this will have their say on the question of marriage equality.
Lingiari takes in most of the Northern Territory.
Turnbull says:
I would encourage him, as an enthusiast for democracy, to get them on the electoral roll so they can participate in this plebiscite which will ensure that every Australian has their say on this issue.
He says if there are 20% not on the roll, they would not have had a say in the compulsory plebiscite either.
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PDuddy, otherwise known as immigration minister Peter Dutton, is taking a question about Bill Shorten’s union background.
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Kennedy independent Bob Katter asks a long and convoluted question about attempts by the Queensland government to remove Christian moral teachings. He wants to be assured they won’t be replaced by a long list of other things which don’t entirely make sense but justice minister Michael Keenan simply says yes.
Plibersek to Turnbull: Can the prime minister confirm that the Commonwealth Electoral Act protections against electoral fraud, bribery and intimidation will apply in his $122 million survey?
Turnbull says the protections will include all the protections under the telecommunications legislation, which makes it an offence to tamper with the mail. It will be covered by the protections under the Census and Statistics Act, which makes it an offence to provide false or misleading statements, and the Criminal Code itself provides multiple offences which prohibit a person from interfering with the collection of statistics, including to obstruct, hinder or intimidate an official in his duties.
But, he says, if Labor is worried about it, they should have backed the compulsory plebiscite.
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Plibersek to Turnbull: Can the prime minister confirm that Commonwealth Electoral Act protections against bribery and intimidation do not apply to his $122m survey?
Turnbull does not answer.
The survey, as she describes it, will give every single Australian their say. It will be conducted in accordance with the law. It will give every Australian their say. I encourage every Australian to exercise their right to have their say.
*You have 14 days to enrol if you are not on the electoral rolls already. Tell the young ‘uns.
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First government question is on the corrupting benefits bill.
Shorten to Turnbull: The prime minister has failed to put downward pressure on power prices by implementing the clean energy target as recommended by the Finkel report. He is wasting $120 million on a survey because he is too weak to have a survey in this house. When will this paralysis end? Why can’t the prime minister lead his government instead of being humiliated by the right wing of his party?
Turnbull says only Shorten could be so confused to combine same-sex marriage and power prices.
The largest single factor on energy prices, electricity prices, right now, right now, is the price of gas. Why is gas so expensive? It is so expensive, Mr Speaker, because a federal Labor government and a Queensland state Labor government allowed a big export facility to be built on Curtis Island without any regard for the consequences for the Australian domestic gas market.
I distinctly remember being told the gas shortage was a result of Labor state governments not allowing conventional and unconventional gas development. That was then. This is now.
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James Massola at Fairfax is reporting Labor will campaign for a yes vote.
Labor will pull out all the stops and campaign for a “yes” vote in the looming postal plebiscite on same sex marriage, Bill Shorten will confirm, putting to bed suggestions the federal ALP could boycott the vote.
Mr Shorten is due to announce Labor’s plan to campaign for a “yes” vote in a speech after question time on Thursday.
Apologies people. I had to retire to the pod cupboard for a chat. Question time coming.
Lunch time politics
- The prime minister said there would be no free vote unless the Australian people had their say, which means if the high court challenge to the postal survey succeeds, there is no clear path forward to a conscience vote on marriage equality.
- Malcolm Turnbull has been crowing about the passage of the corrupting benefits bill, which outlaws payments from employers to unions. Turnbull said if a union official took benefits such as a holiday from an employer – naming Bill Shorten – it would now be illegal.
- The prime minister’s private email server has reportedly been used in planning a counter-terrorism meeting according to reports on Buzzfeed.
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ABC News editorial policy manager Mark Maley has reportedly written to staff to remind them to remain impartial in the same sex marriage debate, the Oz reports.
Please remember that approximately 40% of the population opposes the change and more importantly that the ABC does not have a position on the issue.
It is very important that we are impartial and that all perspectives are given a fair hearing and treated with respect by the ABC.
In this charged environment I would also urge everyone to be circumspect on social media — advocating for one side or the other will make it more difficult for the ABC to be seen as impartial. The more high-profile you are the more important discretion is.
It comes after conservative and assistant multicultural affairs minister Zed Seselja accused the ABC of basically running the yes case on Sky this morning.
We’ve seen a lot of censorship of those arguing against change in the Marriage Act, Media Watch has commented that even the ABC, who are tasked with being fair in their charter, haven’t actually been fair on this issue and haven’t equally given both sides an airing.
Those arguing against change do have a lot of things stacked against them, virtually every media outlet is campaigning for change, the ABC has effectively been campaigning for change and there is a lot of corporate money that we’ve seen.
I suspect we will see the ‘yes’ case out spend the ‘no’ case by probably ten to one but that doesn’t mean the Australian people won’t still make a decision that they don’t want to see the Marriage Act changed.
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Meanwhile, out on the lawns...
The Greens are trying to suspend standing orders in the Senate over cuts to dental programs and benefits of dental floss.
The motions states:
(i) this week is the Australian Dental Association’s Dental Health Week,
(ii) this year’s theme is Oral Health for Busy Lives,
(iii) 16% of Australians say they don’t visit a dentist because they are too busy, and 65% of Australians have not visited the dentist in more than two years, and
(iv) essential oral hygiene and preventive habits, such as brushing and flossing, should be a priority of all Australian adults; and
(b) further notes that the Australian Government:
(i) has cut $300m dollars a year from the National Partnership Agreement on adult dental health, drastically reducing access to public dental care for the many Australians who rely on these services;
(ii) has cynically cut funding to the Child Dental Benefits Scheme by $300 per child last year, in an appalling attempt to “balance the budget” off the back of dental care for disadvantaged Australian children, until the Senate forced them to back track; and
(c) Calls of the government to urgently end its sustained attack on public dental and restore the much-needed funding to ensure Australians have access to the care they need.
The Greens win the motion.
Updated
Labor to make an announcement on how it will engage with the same-sex marriage postal vote this arvo
— Lane Sainty (@lanesainty) August 10, 2017
Labor bill to protect small business against big business passes Senate
The Senate today passed Labor’s Competition and Consumer Legislation Amendment (Small Business Access to Justice) Bill 2017 which would help small businesses take cases of anti-competitive behaviour to court.
At the moment, small businesses are less likely to take up private litigation against anti-competitive behaviour because big businesses of the the risk of bankruptcy from legal fees.
The bill would allow a small business to request a “no adverse costs order” early in a court case. If the judge decides that the case is in the public interest, the small business will not have the risk of paying the other side’s costs if they lose.
But it has only passed the Senate and will now go to the house where we can assume the Coalition will vote it down.
Labor’s shadow assistant treasurer, Andrew Leigh, called on the prime minister to back the little guy when the bill comes down.
This bill means small businesses won’t have to fear being bankrupted by legal fees if they lose in court. Now we just need Malcolm Turnbull and his team to back them instead of multinational goliaths.
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The citizenship bill is up for debate in the lower house again.
- The bill extends permanent residency requirements from one year to “at least four years” before someone can apply for citizenship.
- It requires most applicants to provide evidence of “competent” English-language proficiency before they can become a citizen.
- It would give the immigration minister power to overrule decisions on citizenship applications by the administrative appeals tribunal if the minister doesn’t think the decisions are in the national interest.
- It would also give the minister power to decide whether or not the applicant has integrated into the Australian community.
Labor’s Mike Kelly is speaking against the bill. He talks about people in Malcolm Turnbull’s own electorate, including the Westfield billionaire Frank Lowy, a self-described boat person who could speak little English when he arrived as a boy.
There are Holocaust survivors in his electorate who have gone on to make magnificent contributions to this country.
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The only three paths to marriage equality in this term
This morning I asked the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, if there would be a free parliamentary vote if the high court struck down the postal survey on same-sex marriage. Is there a Plan C?
He replied:
Our policy is very clear. We will not facilitate the introduction of a private member’s bill on this matter unless the Australian people have given their support through a yes vote through this national vote that we are now undertaking.
Short answer: no, a free vote is not government policy, even if the high court strikes down the postal survey.
But that doesn’t mean it’s game over for marriage equality in this term of parliament if advocates win their challenge.
Even after the Liberal party room resolved to stick with the plebiscite policy, the Liberal MP and same-sex marriage advocate Warren Entsch reserved his right to cross the floor to bring on a marriage debate.
A spokesman for the Liberal MP Trevor Evans (one of the other Famous Five who forced the Coalition party room to revisit the issue) told Guardian Australia on Thursday he would “not entertain hypotheticals” about what would happen if the high court struck down the voluntary survey.
Note, that does not rule out crossing the floor.
There are now roughly three paths to marriage equality this term:
- Challenge to postal survey fails, survey returns a yes vote, parliament votes and Coalition MPs and senators are freed up to join Labor, Greens and others to legalise it.
- Challenge to postal survey fails, survey returns a no vote but turnout is so low and process so compromised that “rebel” Liberal MPs cross the floor to suspend standing orders and bring on a debate anyway (risky!/less likely).
- Challenge succeeds, “rebel” Liberal MPs use the fact no compulsory or voluntary postal plebiscite is possible to cross the floor and bring on a free vote.
Simple! Said no one, anywhere, ever.
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PM’s private email server reportedly used in planning a counter-terrorism meeting
Paul Farrell and Mark Di Stefano have an extraordinary story about the prime minister’s private email server reportedly being used in planning a counter-terrorism meeting.
It’s been more than two years since it emerged that Malcolm Turnbull was using a private email server for some government communication, drawing parallels with US presidential candidate Hilary Clinton’s controversial use of her own email server to discuss national security matters while she was secretary of state.
But there has been a more muted response to Turnbull’s email use, with the way he conducts government business over the private server largely unknown.
BuzzFeed News can now publish the first ever cache of documents released from Turnbull’s private email server – emails sent to his personal @turnbull.com.au address – after a two year freedom of information battle with the government.
The documents show eight instances where Turnbull’s private email server was sent official business, including to schedule a meeting following the terror-related shooting of a police worker in Sydney.
The PM’s adviser on cyber security, Alistair Campbell, said no big deal.
As you will be able to see from these documents, none of these documents are a sensitive classification or indeed any sensitive material. As we have repeatedly said classified communication takes place on appropriately secure channels.
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Bid for judicial inquiry into Murray-Darling water theft allegations fails
The corrupting benefits bill has just been ticked off by the lower house so that is done.
Just before that, the house considered the Murray-Darling motion which passed the Senate last night.
A majority in the Senate:
(a) affirms its support for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan;
(b) expresses deep concerns about allegations of theft and corruption in management of water resources in the Barwon-Darling Basin raised by the Four Corners report on 24 July 2017;
(c) notes the matter has been referred to the Australian National Audit Office and New South Wales authorities for investigation;
(d) considers a state-based inquiry into allegations, revealed in the report, to be insufficient and that the only way to ensure confidence in states’ commitment to achieve the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is through a national investigation;
(e) calls for the establishment of an independent national judicial inquiry through the Council of Australian Governments; and
(f) calls on all governments to commit to achieving a healthy, sustainable Murray-Darling Basin which supports the future prosperity of the communities which rely upon it.
It did not pass the house.
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Malcolm Turnbull is asked:
Q: On this announcement today, the Heydon royal commission didn’t make any adverse findings against Bill Shorten. What the minister and you were saying today – under these new laws, he would be found a criminal and put in jail, is that correct?
Turnbull:
What Michaelia is saying is that conduct of Mr Shorten if it were repeated, under these laws, would attract criminal sanctions. Yes, that’s right. If you take benefits from an employer of that kind ... in the course of ... enterprise agreement negotiations, that is made unlawful.
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If postal survey is struck down, no free vote, PM says
Paul Karp asks if the court challenge to the postal survey succeeds, there will be no free vote in parliament.
Q: If the postal plebiscite is struck down ... ?
Our policy is very clear. We will not facilitate the introduction of a private members’ bill on this matter unless the Australian people have given their support through a yes vote through this national vote that we are now undertaking.
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The employment minister, Michaelia Cash, says the bill is unashamedly pro-worker and anti-corruption.
Last night we officially ended the sweetheart deals that are done between employers and unions that have been done for decades and decades, that do nothing to benefit the workers.
In fact, one of the deals that is now banned under this legislation and could potentially face time in jail, is of course a union official who gets on to an employer’s private jet, enjoys a holiday in Cuba while sipping Cristal champagne but at the same time is negotiating an agreement with that employer. Yes, you’re right, it was Bill Shorten.
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Malcolm Turnbull is lauding the passage of the corrupting benefits bill last night, which outlaws payments from employers to unions.
Who wanted to retain them? Who was on the side of corrupt union officials? Bill Shorten. For years, as the Heydon royal commission revealed, unions – the CFMEU and the Australian Workers’ Union in particular – have received payments for employers in return for trading away workers’ benefits, receive payments for employers, at the same time as enterprise bargains were being negotiated, and not disclosed to the members.
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The prime minister is holding a press conference in five minutes with the employment minister, Michaelia Cash.
There is a slew of bills relating to product emissions standards in the lower house.
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Mel Davey has reported on the requirements of the English language test, including the Irish vet who failed. It may add a little nuance to the day as the parliament debates the changes proposed by the immigration minister, Peter Dutton.
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The former high court justice Michael Kirby, who has lived with his partner Johan van Vloten for 50 years, will boycott the postal survey.
Speaking to Fran Kelly this morning, he was firm but frank about his views. He would not touch on the chances of the high court challenge, as he did not appreciate former judges making interventions when he was on the bench. But he made it clear he thought the postal survey was completely inappropriate, pointing out if it was around for the changes to the White Australia policy, things would still be the same.
I mean it’s just a complete political improvisation and it’s completely unacceptable and it should stop, and I feel as a citizen I’m being treated in a second-class way and I’m not going to take any part in it whatsoever.
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Housekeeping.
Parliament begins at 9.30am.
We have government business all morning in the lower house, including the citizenship bill with its changes to English language testing and residency rules. Labor will oppose.
The bill to implement the higher end of the corporate tax cuts (over $50m turnover) will resume later in the arvo.
In the Senate, the vulnerable workers bill that toughens up rules around franchises and the Fair Work Act – flowing from the 7/Eleven pay scandal – will be debated.
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Now that the government plans to send a voluntary postal ballot on marriage to all electors, politicians of every stripe are being asked how they’ll conduct themselves in the campaign.
The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, was asked on Radio National if she’d call out hate speech and her role in the campaign.
She replied:
With a plebiscite the people have their say ... We call for calm, we call for respect. We call for the Australian people to exercise their democratic right to have a say on an issue, and that’s what I expect of the Australian people.
There will be no formal yes and no campaign – this is another issue Labor have delivered by voting against the plebiscite legislation ... So I’ll work within my electorate – I’m the member for Curtin – I’ll work within my electorate in relation to this matter.
After Malcolm Turnbull said he’d support a yes vote but there were other calls on his time, we’re still lacking a prominent frontbench Liberal to come out and say they’ll dedicate their time, nationwide, to marriage equality.
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Mr & Mr.
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Meanwhile the $$$ committed to the GoFundMe page to raise money for the high court challenge by advocates and the independent MP Andrew Wilkie is climbing steadily.
Just before 9am, there was more than $33,500 committed.
The case is being lodged today.
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Call out hate speech? Morrison says yeah, nah
Last night on Radio National, Mathias Cormann was grilled about the consequences of the fact the Electoral Act will not apply to the postal vote on marriage equality because it is being run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Cormann said the “usual laws apply” to the mail system, such as criminal offences against theft of letters. Asked about whether material would have to be authorised, he replied:
If the Senate had passed our bill, as proposed, then the normal electoral laws would have applied. But the parliament didn’t … so this is now going to be a matter for the ABS to determine … all of the arrangements.
Whatever “arrangements” are to be made they can’t include offences against distributing misleading material or requiring that material be authorised. Expect more of claims like the Australian Christian Lobby’s description of children of gay parents as a “stolen generation”.
At a media conference on Thursday Scott Morrison was asked why politicians were protected from misleading claims such as that they were unfit to raise children, but gay parents wouldn’t be.
First, Morrison replied:
I have no idea what you’re referring to.
When it was explained that electoral law protections would not apply to the plebiscite, Morrison said: “There are discrimination laws in this country, and they should be upheld.”
But, unlike section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, there is no uniform protection against hate speech based on sexuality.
When that was pointed out to Morrison, he said:
I have great confidence that the mainstream of Australia will conduct themselves on this issue like on any other issue, with respect and integrity … I regret that at both ends of the discussion people will say things that Australians do not like.
Asked if he would commit to call hate speech out, Morrison said: “I’m not participating in the politics of the plebiscite.”
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The rehabilitation of Sam Dastyari continues.
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Scott Morrison talked to Sabra Lane on AM about the consumer measures put in place yesterday to force electricity companies to provide more transparent information.
The treasurer would not reveal what the government had threatened the power companies with to get them to agree to the changes.
Morrison compares the power companies to the banks, saying both are big, heavily regulated sectors with large companies “where the deck is firmly stacked in favour of those companies”.
He said the government had taken steps against the banks in the budget, with a levy and executive accountability.
Which leads him to the elephant in the room, stable energy policy, which is one of the things power companies say has forced up prices. This is because the energy sector won’t invest in more supply until its knows WTF is going on with future policies.
We want that supply, we want that investment and that requires certainty and that is what the government is working methodically to achieve.
Earlier the science minister, Arthur Sinodinos, said the government had adopted 49 of the 50 Finkel recommendations – the clean energy target being the odd one out. He said the energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, was doing further modelling and analysis on the options and the issue would be taken back to the party room meeting in the next few weeks.
Then he made the point that unless something was done about the consumer concerns, those concerns would push out action on climate change.
You can’t allow this debate to get to a point where, because people have overwhelming concerns about affordability or security or reliability, they then start to put a lower-order priority on dealing with greenhouse gas emissions. We’ve got to be able to deal with all these as we go along.
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Get on the roll people, 24 August is the deadline
Morrison's direction for marriage postal vote to ABS. People have til 24 August to apply or get on the roll #auspol https://t.co/EnaFyAS1Cw pic.twitter.com/EIgjGsU12j
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) August 9, 2017
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Message to Tony: it's not about a culture war or any other war
Good morning culture warriors,
Today is Thursday. The mornings are getting lighter but blustery conditions continue in this place.
The industry and science minister, Arthur Sinodinos, has been doing the rounds for National Science Week but he was asked about Tony Abbott’s comments yesterday.
Abbott made an effort to drop down to the doors to the media to insert himself into the marriage debate. He said a no vote would protect religious freedom, freedom of speech and “stop political correctness in its tracks”.
But Sinodinos said the marriage survey (he called it a plebiscite) was a pretty straightforward proposition.
It’s based on the question we were going to ask as part of the compulsory plebiscite if we’d been able to get that up but thanks to the Senate, we couldn’t.
The proposition is whether the definition of marriage should include same-sex marriage. It’s not about a culture war. It’s not about finding all sorts of other wars.
Sinodinos said the PM had urged everyone to conduct a respectful debate.
I encourage everybody to be respectful towards each other about this and to hopefully come forward with an outcome with allows us to be out of this process more unified, perhaps, than we are now.
So you would put Sinodinos in the glass-half-full camp. But as someone who reported on the 1998 constitutional convention for a republic, which Abbott wrecked so convincingly, I am a little more pessimistic. In this strange #auspol universe, he was up against Malcolm Turnbull (leading the republican movement) then too. They really are a fascinating pair of star-crossed bruvvers.
Stay with me and talk to me in the thread or the Twits @gabriellechan or Facebook if that is your thing. The treasurer, Scott Morrison, is around, as is the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, on the war of rhetoric between the other odd couple, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump.
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