Well.
I’m not even sure what to say about today, let alone this week.
It’s a whole 10 days until parliament is back, but you have to think it is going to look a little different.
Malcolm Turnbull is surely looking forward to getting on that plane.
How much longer will Barnaby Joyce hang on? That is anyone’s guess, but if this afternoon made anything clear, it’s that the relationship between the prime minister and his deputy is terminal. There is no coming back from what Turnbull said this afternoon and it was very deliberate. He may not be able to sack Joyce, but he all but laid out the sword for him to fall on.
Morality is now an issue for the Australian parliament. And I guess that means that political journalism has a sex round now. The PM has left a pretty big loophole in his changes to the ministerial code of conduct, by only banning relationships between ministers and staff in their own office, but I have been assured more changes are coming. They would need to because, otherwise, every time a staff member changed offices, which is a fairly regular occurrence here for a variety of reasons ranging from personality clashes to promotions, the assumption will be that there was some sort of relationship going on.
But that is a problem for another day.
For now, I say a huge thank you to Mike Bowers, who once again went above and beyond for you. And you should head to his Twitter (@mpbowers) and his Instagram (@mikepbowers) pages to see his day. The Guardian brains trust managed to drag me through another day of typing thousands and thousands of words, by keeping me in good spirits, finding what I had missed and cleaning up my (many) typos. (Pesky fingers move faster than my brain a lot of the time.)
And another big thank you, as always, to you, for following along all day (and all week) and for being as engaged in the process as you are.
You can catch me in between sittings (and in between my other job of writing articles for you guys in the off-weeks) at @amyremeikis and @ifyouseeamy, where you’ll find video updates during the day. You can also catch me, if you are in Canberra next week, at the latest politics in the pub. My wisdom is free, but you’ll probably need a drink to get through it. (Registration link is below)
The first #PoliticsInThePub for 2018: The Year Ahead with @rharris334 @AmyRemeikis @marija_ziv hosted by @BenOquist with @TheAusInstitute.
— A n d r e w (@andrewwhiteau) February 15, 2018
Free but bookings essential.https://t.co/95Gy9ykfno pic.twitter.com/YqLZnC1T8O
Stay turned to the Guardian Australia site for updates to the Joyce and other situations and please have a lovely, lovely weekend.
I’ll see you back here on 26 February, when not only is the House sitting but we also have estimates.
Take care of you.
Updated
And here is the part of Malcolm Turnbull’s press conference I didn’t get to transcribe.
His office has just sent through the transcript (which is normal practice, although it has to be said, it is not usually this quick).
JOURNALIST:
Why would you not urge Barnaby Joyce to resign now?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Barnaby Joyce is the leader of the National party, the leader of the party, member of the Coalition. Our Coalition partner. Barnaby has acknowledged his fault, his error, his grief about his conduct. He has to consider his own position obviously. These are matters for Barnaby Joyce to reflect on. He has made a very grave error of judgement, in an area that traditionally, I suppose, has been regarded as private and personal and you can understand the reasons for that. Everyone has been anxious – whatever they may have thought about Barnaby’s conduct – everyone has been anxious to try to avoid any further hurt or distress to his wife and daughters.
I mean, again, this situation is not uncommon. Marriages do break up. People do have affairs with others, of course. But we have to recognise that here in this place, we have such important responsibilities. We don’t, in practical terms, have the privacy that many others do. We have to acknowledge that we must have a higher standard. So henceforth, that is why I am making this change.
JOURNALIST:
It is uncommon to create two new jobs for your girlfriend though – it isn’t just a matter of an affair. Why not ask [the department of the prime minister and cabinet secretary] Martin Parkinson to investigate whether there has been any breach of ministerial standards, which you have previously done with other ministers like Sussan Ley and Jamie Briggs?
PRIME MINISTER:
On the ministerial standards, there have been a number of claims about a breach of ministerial standards made. Barnaby has given me an unequivocal assurance that he had not breached those standards. You can see from the debate in the House today regarding, for example, the apartment in Armidale. If he had asked for a gift, that would have been a breach of the ministerial standards. He says he didn’t. Apparently the man who provided it to him, says he didn’t. Again, those who believe he has breached ministerial standards or want to believe that, should actually make the case for where the breach has occurred. That, bluntly, is the point.
JOURNALIST:
Greg Maguire told both me and another journalist Rick Morton at the Australian, that Barnaby Joyce rang him looking for accommodation, so why not just refer it to Martin Parkinson to clear up for certain whether there has been a breach of these standards?
PRIME MINISTER:
Sharri, I don’t want to spend the afternoon talking about this particular matter. The breach of the standard would be if he had gone and asked for a free apartment, right? From what Barnaby has said, he did not do that. He has said that and pointed to examples of Mr Maguire confirming that. I should also note that he said – Barnaby said and I have no reason to doubt him – that at the time he had a conversation with Mr Maguire, he was not only not a minister, but not a member of parliament.
JOURNALIST:
If Mr Joyce’s actions are so profoundly wrong that they force a rewrite of the ministerial standards, isn’t that the most powerful argument that Barnaby Joyce should not be a minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Barnaby is the leader of the National party, OK? They are our Coalition partners. They have a coalition agreement and you all know – every single one of you know – that the standard I have set out today is a big change. You all know and many of you have written it. You have said that these thing are private matters, personal matters, right? Fair enough. And you know what? I do not want to get into a debate about whether that approach was appropriate in the past or at any time. I’m not interested in an archaeological exercise.
I know there are all sorts of stories about former ministers and former leaders and colourful tales that find their way into books. I am saying that from today, this change is being made in a way that is very, very clear. It couldn’t be clearer. This is a bright line.
I am saying that in these workplaces here, the minister’s offices, ministers must behave accordingly and they must not – I don’t care if they are married or single, I don’t care – they must not have sexual relations with their staff. That’s it.
JOURNALIST:
Isn’t the fact that you have changed the code such that Barnaby Joyce’s actions would now form a breach of the code, show that you have lost personal confidence in him?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, it shows that if he did what he did last year, tomorrow or today, he would be in breach of the code. Look, again, let’s not kid ourselves. There was a different culture here that had gone on for a long time. I think many women in this building, who work in this building, understand very powerfully what I am saying. This is a change I am making from today.
You can argue it should have been made years ago, but you can’t live your life backwards. The change is being made today. That is the standard I am setting as prime minister of Australia, today.
Updated
Just on an earlier issue, here is the part of the transcript from the Michaelia Cash press conference just before lunch, where she was asked about the AWU raids:
QUESTION: Senator Cash, is your office being investigated by the AFP over the media tip off of the AWU raid.
MINISTER CASH: No.
QUESTION: If your office isn’t being investigated why did you claim public interest immunity in Senate committee hearings?
MINISTER CASH: Because as an AFP investigation the AFP itself claimed public interest immunity.
QUESTION: But if your office isn’t being investigated wouldn’t releasing those internal communications demonstrate that you had, and your office had, no role in coordinating the media tip offs about the raids?
MINISTER CASH: Again, I have complied at all times with the law and the procedures of the Senate. We are here though to talk about jobs growth. Would you like to ask a question on jobs growth? Would anyone like to ask a question about jobs growth?
QUESTION: On Mark Lee’s attempt to get a job in your office, why was it inappropriate for him to no longer take that role?
MINISTER CASH: I answered these questions last year. Again, would anyone like to talk about jobs growth?
Updated
Labor’s shadow attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, has said that it is “clear the prime minister has lost all confidence in his deputy prime minister but is refusing to do the right thing and sack him”.
Dreyfus told reporters in Canberra the controversy “is not about Barnaby Joyce’s private life, it’s about his use of taxpayers’ money and ... his ministerial office”.
He said it was “extraordinary” that Malcolm Turnbull had said Joyce committed a shocking error of judgment and should consider his position.
Asked about the idea of banning sex between ministers and their staff in the ministerial code, Dreyfus says sex in the office “causes problems but there is a real difficulty in legislating for personal relations”.
Dreyfus did not commit Labor to support the change in the code, describing it as a “thought bubble” that was “a distraction from the prime minister’s extraordinary weakness in refusing to sack Barnaby Joyce from his position”.
Updated
So a clarification on what the prime minister is banning – at this stage. There are more changes coming – as Sky News just reported and we have verified, despite this statement:
So as you will see I have today added to the standards to make a very clear and unequivocal provision; ministers, regardless of whether they are married or single, must not engage in sexual relations with staff.
Doing so will constitute a breach of the standards and while this new standard is very specific, ministers should be acutely aware of the context in which I making this change and the need for them always to behave in their personal relations with others and especially their staff, the staff of other ministers or members of the Australian public service, with integrity and respect.
The ban is only on staff in a minister’s own office. If a staffer is in another office, or moved to another office, the affair can continue.
Updated
Cathy McGowan, who last week suggested a #bonkban might be needed for parliament house, has put out a statement following the prime minister’s edict:
Indi MP Cathy McGowan says a code of conduct for everyone working at Parliament could still be required #auspol pic.twitter.com/1hEtTBfwNk
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) February 15, 2018
Mark Dreyfus is on ABC radio continuing the prosecution of Barnaby Joyce for “misleading” parliament.
December must seem like it was light years away:
“I am very confident we will be able to see a disciplined approach to teamwork within the Coalition,” Malcolm Turnbull said on 3 December.
“Having Barnaby back as [the Nationals] leader is obviously very important.”
On the night of the byelection: “We’re getting the band back together.”
And Barnaby Joyce, on the night of the byelection, said he took his re-election as a “sacred duty” which he would do “everything in my power” to honour.
Updated
The House has just adjourned.
I don’t think anyone will be hanging around much longer than they need to, today.
The rush for the exit will be swift and brutal.
Also worth noting from that press conference, the prime minister did not express confidence in his deputy.
He would only say he was the leader of the National Party (ie they have to fix it).
Updated
Mark Dreyfus has put out his own statement:
It’s clear the prime minister has lost all confidence in his deputy, but he’s refusing to do the right thing and sack him.
This isn’t about Barnaby’s private life, it’s about his use of public money and use of his ministerial office.
If Turnbull doesn’t get that, he’s living on another planet.
Malcolm Turnbull has called his deputy’s behaviour a shocking error of judgment, and has told him to consider his position.
Turnbull should have sacked his deputy today, instead he’s handed him a leave pass.
Malcolm Turnbull is ignoring his own Statement of Ministerial Standards – that he signs off on. His integrity is in tatters.
Barnaby Joyce breached the ministerial standards when he sought a gift of free accommodation from his rich mate.
Barnaby Joyce breached the ministerial standards when he repeatedly misled the House.
A prime minister with real judgement and leadership would have sacked Barnaby Joyce days ago.
A deputy prime minister with real judgement would have resigned days ago.
Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce have turned the two most senior positions in the Australian Government into a laughing stock.
Updated
The whole statement:
“There has been a lot of discussion about if he complied with ministerial standards, whether he complied with the requirements for disclosing use of government entitlements.
“Barnaby has given me, as I said in the house, an unequivocal assurance that he has complied with the ministerial standards and with both the use and reporting of ministerial and other entitlements.
“But I think we know that the real issue is the terrible hurt and humiliation that Barnaby by his conduct has visited on his wife, Natalie, and their daughters, and indeed, his new partner.
“Barnaby made a shocking error of judgment in having an affair with a young woman working in his office. In doing so he has set off a world of woe for those women and appalled all of us.
“Our hearts go out to them, it has been a dreadful thing for them to go through in the glare of publicity. Marriage breakups are dreadful. But to do it, to have it, to experience it, in the full glare of the spotlight, is a dreadful business.
“Now, Barnaby knows he made that shocking error of judgment. He knows he let down his wife and daughters. And he has apologised for that. And to them. And he is taking leave next week.
“And I’ve encouraged him to take that leave. I think he needs that leave. He needs that time to reflect. He needs that time to seek forgiveness and understanding from his wife and girls. He needs to make a new home for his partner and their baby that is coming in April.
“But, this raises today, or this has raised this week, some very serious issues about the culture of this place. Of this place. Of this parliament.
“And there has been a lot of discussion of the ministerial code of conduct. It is a document that was drafted a long time ago, and it gets amended from time to time, but the truth is, that it is deficient. It is truly deficient. It does not speak strongly enough to values that we all should live, values of respect, or respectful workplaces. Of workplaces where women are respected.
“And I recognise that respect in workplaces is not entirely a gender issue, but the truth is, as we know, most of the ministers, most of the bosses in this building if you like, are men. And there is a gender, a real gender perspective, here.
“I am making today, some changes to the ministerial standards. And I want to say that these will not be the last ones I will make. I will be working through this rather old document, and making sure that it speaks clearly about the values of respect in workplaces, the values of integrity that Australians expect us to have.
“Now, let me read to you now the additional words that I am including as of today;
‘This statement is not and cannot be a comprehensive statement of rules. Ministers need to exercise their judgment and their common sense in complying with both the principles and spirit of the standards and their letter.
‘Ministers must recognise that while they are entitled to privacy in personal matters, they occupy positions of great responsibility and public trust. The public have high expectations of them in terms of their personal conduct and decorum.
‘Ministers should be very conscious that their spouses and children sacrifice a great deal so they can carry on their political career and their families deserve honour and respect.
‘Ministers should also recognise that they must lead by example. Values should be lived.’
“So as you will see I have today added to the standards to make a very clear and unequivocal provision; ministers, regardless of whether they are married or single, must not engage in sexual relations with staff.
“Doing so will constitute a breach of the standards and while this new standard is very specific, ministers should be acutely aware of the context in which I making this change and the need for them always to behave in their personal relations with others and especially their staff, the staff of other ministers or members of the Australian public service, with integrity and respect.
“Now, I think we all know that Barnaby’s error of judgment, that is the foundation of the woes that have followed, particularly for his family and indeed for his new partner.
“That error of judgment is something that for a very long time people in this building, and indeed in the press gallery, have regarded as being a personal or private matter.
“I have no interest in prying into people’s personal or private affairs, at all.
“I am not here to moralise. But, we must recognise that whatever may have been acceptable or to which a blind eye was turned in the past, today, in 2018, it is not acceptable for a minister to have a sexual relationship is with somebody who works for them.
“It is a very bad workplace practice.
“And everybody knows that no good comes of it. So, and of course, you know what attitudes in the corporate world and elsewhere are to this kind of thing.
“So it is about time that this change was made. Probably should have been made a long time ago. While I have inherited this ministerial code from other authors, and other prime ministers, ultimately, it is my signature on it and mine alone.
“And this is the standard that I will hold from this day forth all of my ministers to.”
Updated
So just to recap the Stop the Bonks resolution:
Malcolm Turnbull has reflected on the morality and judgement of the deputy prime minister;
He has told his deputy to go and reflect on his future;
He has banned sexual relationships between ministers and their staff (from today);
He has criticised the culture of the Australian parliament and said it must change.
Updated
On the question of the breach of ministerial standards (in answer to Sharri Markson, who brought up that Greg Maguire told her Barnaby Joyce called him about somewhere to stay, not the other way round as Joyce told parliament), Malcolm Turnbull had this to say:
Well, look, I do not want to spend the afternoon talking about this particular matter; the breach of the standard would be if he had gone and asked for a free apartment, right?
“From what Barnaby has said, he did not do that and he has said and pointed to examples of Mr Maguire confirming that. I should also note that he said, Barnaby said, at the time he had a conversation with Mr Maguire, he was not only not a minister but not a Member of Parliament.”
Updated
And from the prime minister himself:
.@TurnbullMalcolm: This change couldn't be clearer, ministers must not have sexual relations with their staff. pic.twitter.com/Y8JDFChJ3X
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 15, 2018
That sound you hear is #bonkban rushing to trend on Twitter.
You may have heard the prime minister mention in there that Barnaby Joyce needs this week off to have time to “reflect”.
Not only did he just make a direct reflection on Joyce, saying he made a very grave error of judgment, he also told him to take this week to think about his future.
He can’t sack him. But he just made his thoughts very clear and very public.
I do not want to get into a debate about whether that approach was appropriate in the past or at any time. I am not interested. I’m not interested in an archaeological exercise and I know there are all sorts of stories about former ministers and leaders and colourful tales that find their way in the book. I am saying that, from today, this change is being made in a way that is very, very clear, couldn’t be clearer.
This is a bright line and I am saying that, in these workplaces here, the ministers’ offices, ministers must behave accordingly.
[Whether] they are married or single, I not care.
They must not have sexual relations with their staff, that’s it.
Updated
The prime minister on the changes to the ministerial code of conduct:
It is a document that has been drafted a long time ago and gets amended from time to time, but the truth is that it is deficient. It is truly deficient. It does not speak strongly enough for the values that we should all live, values of respect, respectful workplaces, of workplaces where women are respected, and I recognise that respect in workplaces is not entirely a gender issue, of course.
But, the truth is as we know, is most of the ministers, most of the bosses in this building if you like, are men and there is a gender, a real gender perspective here.
Today I will be making some changes to the ministerial standards and I want to say that these will not be the last ones I will make. I will be working through this rather old document and making sure that it speaks clearly about the values of respect in workplaces, the values of integrity that Australians expect us to have. Let me read now the additional words I am including as of today:
“This statement is not and cannot be a comprehensive statement of rules. Ministers need to exercise their judgment and common sense in complying with both the principles and spirit of the standards and their letter. Ministers must recognise that while they are entitled to privacy in personal matters, that occupy positions of great responsibility and public trust. The public have high expectations of them in terms of their personal conduct and decorum. Ministers should be very conscious that their spouses and children sacrifice a great deal so they can carry on their political career and their families deserve honour and respect. Ministers should also recognise that they must lead by example. So, I have today added to the standards to make a very clear and unequivocal provision, ministers, regardless of whether they are married or single, must not engage in sexual relations with staff. Doing so will constitute a breach of the standards and while this new standard is very specific, ministers should be acutely aware of the context in which I making this change and the need for them always to behave in their personal relations with others and especially their staff, the staff of other ministers or members of the Austrian public service, with integrity and respect.”
Now I think we all know that Barnaby’s error of judgment, that is the foundation of the woes that have followed, particularly for his family and indeed for his new partner. That error of judgment is something that for a very long time people in this building, and indeed in the press gallery, have regarded as being a personal or private matter. I have no interest in prying into people’s personal or private affairs, at all. I am not here to moralise. But, we must recognise that whatever may have been acceptable or to which a blind eye was turned in the past, today, in 2018, it is not acceptable for a minister to have a sexual relationship is with somebody who works for them. It is a very bad workplace practice.
And everybody knows that no good comes of it. So, and of course, you know what attitudes in the corporate world and elsewhere are to this kind of thing. It is about time that this change was made. Probably should have been made a long time ago. While I have inherited this ministerial code from other authors, and other prime ministers, ultimately, it is my signature on it and mine alone.
And this is the standard that I will hold from this day forth all of my ministers too.
Updated
“This is the standard that I will hold all my ministers to,” Malcolm Turnbull says
PM: "I have today added to the [ministerial] standards a very clear and unequivocal provision: ministers, regardless of whether they are married or single, must not engage in sexual relations with their staff. Doing so will constitute a breach of the standards" #auspol
— Political Alert (@political_alert) February 15, 2018
Ministers banned from sexual relationships with staff
Malcolm Turnbull says the code of ministerial conduct is “deficient and does not speak strongly enough” for the workplace values that are needed.
I am making today some change to the ministerial standards and I want to say that these will not be the last ones I will make. I will be working through this rather old document and make sure that it speaks clearly the values of workplaces, the values of integrity Australians expect us to have.
He has banned all sexual relationships between ministers and their staff.
From today, all sexual relationships between ministers and their staff is banned. But the prime minister said he is not here to “moralise”.
On Barnaby Joyce he said:
But I think we know that the real issue is the terrible hurt and humiliation that Barnaby, by his conduct, has visited on his wife, Natalie, and their daughters and indeed his new partner.
Barnaby made a shocking error of judgment in having an affair with a young woman working in his office. In doing so, he has set off a world of woe for those women and appalled all of us. Our hearts go out to them. It has been a dreadful thing for them to go through in the glare of the public lens. Marriage break-ups are dreadful but to do it ... in the full glare of the spotlight is a dreadful business.
Barnaby knows he made that shocking error of judgment ... He needs that leave, he needs that time to reflect, he needs that time to seek that understanding from his wife and girls, he needs the time to make a new home for his partner and new baby.
Updated
And by sacking, I should also point out that yes, I know the leader of the Liberals can’t sack the leader of the Nationals, but I understand it won’t involve his resignation either.
We await the PM
I’m told the statement will be about Barnaby Joyce (because of course) but while there are some “strong” words planned, don’t expect anyone to be sacked.
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull to make statement.
The prime minister has just called a press conference for 4.50pm.
The official brief is to make a statement.
This is quite unusual for this time of the week.
Updated
David Speers had a chat to Ken O’Dowd, who has never had so much attention before, earlier today:
.@KenODowdMP says the Nationals will stick with @Barnaby_Joyce 'until something else happens' but hopefully the controversy 'is all behind us now.'
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 15, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/p6G6JTJ4Ry #Speers #auspol pic.twitter.com/JW31IEdCee
*Narrator: it was not behind them
The Secretary of the Department of Agriculture has just provided this letter to Ag Minister David Littleproud re: QT allegations #auspol pic.twitter.com/KSzXWsXkLX
— Amy Remeikis (@AmyRemeikis) February 15, 2018
Acting Prime Minister in waiting Mathias Cormann in the senate this afternoon @AmyRemeikis @GuardianAus #politicslive https://t.co/KmEQa6iN77 pic.twitter.com/L4RYakVtfI
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) February 15, 2018
The Senate calls for Barnaby Joyce to be sacked
Over in the Senate, it is dividing to see if the motion
“The Senate calls on the deputy prime minister to resign from his position of deputy prime minister of Australia for clearly breaching the standards required of ministers; and if he does not resign, calls on the National party to sack him as leader”
gets up.
It may be worth noting that while Bridget McKenzie and Barry O’Sullivan spoke in defence of Barnaby Joyce, no Liberal senators got up.
Ayes: 35
Noes: 29
It’s symbolic, as the Senate can’t force his resignation. But it is not a great look.
Updated
Nat MP Llew O’Brien tells me he’s ok with Joyce taking leave.“I told him to take it easy and make sure he gets some quality time with Vikki”
— Caitlyn Gribbin (@CaitlynGribbin) February 15, 2018
Just why we are all still letting that question time settle, a thought, (which I am sure a few of you may have had, but in my excuse I am tired and it’s been a long week).
Given as the deputy prime minister said today, he wanted to pay Greg Maguire for his accommodation, and was knocked back, why didn’t he just take housing somewhere else, where he could pay?
Updated
I didn’t get to it in question time, because, well, it was insane.
But Anne Davies has put together a piece on Greg Maguire’s business interests in New England.
From her report:
The APVMA is now in the final stages of a tender for a new office of about 3,000 sq metres in Armidale. A spokeswoman said it was currently negotiating with the preferred tenderer and could not reveal the names of those involved.
At that size, the office will either require a refurbishment of an existing property or building a new one. That will be good for Armidale’s economy and locals have hailed Joyce’s decision.
Its also proved a boon for Joyce’s benefactor Greg Maguire, who is providing Joyce and his new partner, Vikki Campion, with a rent-free townhouse in Armidale.
As the owner of the largest and most upmarket hotel in Armidale, the Powerhouse Hotel, Maguire has seen a steady stream of APVMA employees staying there.
An APVMA spokeswoman said staff travelling to Armidale were paid a daily travel allowance, which they then chose how to spend, and that the Powerhouse was one of the suppliers on the government’s list. There was no preferred supplier, she said.
You’ll find the whole article, here
Updated
Please enjoy the prime minister turning to The Google to search for answer to a question about Barnaby Joyce #qt pic.twitter.com/BPo6sStwNL
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) February 15, 2018
Barnaby Joyce’s office has confirmed the deputy prime minister asked for personal leave because “he wanted to support his family and partner after such intense public focus on personal matters”.
Reports from the Senate are that Nigel Scullion has left, as Labor fights to have its motion calling for Joyce’s sacking passed. Bridget McKenzie is launching a defence.
Updated
There may have been three interviews, but no one else was in the field for Vikki Campion’s move to Matt Canavan’s office:
Matt Canavan confirms Vikki Campion was only person interviewed for role in his office when she moved from office of Barnaby Joyce.
— James Elton-Pym (@JamesEltonPym) February 15, 2018
"Ms Campion was the only person interviewed for the role coz she had the skills and experience and she was well known of course." #auspol @SBSNews
And Barnaby Joyce gets up and ambles off the front bench to the sounds of a thousand camera shutters, capturing what could, quite possibly, be the last time he walks away from the front bench this parliament.
Over in the Senate, and this is being debated:
“The Senate calls on the deputy prime minister to resign from his position of deputy prime minister of Australia for clearly breaching the standards required of ministers; and if he does not resign, calls on the National party to sack him as leader.”
Labor looks like having the numbers. It doesn’t do anything, but it adds to the pressure.
Is anyone talking about what the government is doing right now? It has now been more than a week of Barnaby Joyce. And the prime minister just sought to stop some of the blood flow by sin binning him as acting PM next week. That is not the move of a leader who has confidence in his deputy. And it’s just as damaging as anything Labor just threw at him.
Updated
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull:
“Today the prime minister has issued a stunning vote of no-confidence in the ability of the deputy prime minister to be the acting prime minister. Therefore will the deputy prime minister go on leave time when the prime minister is overseas in the future? Does the deputy prime minister taking leave next week concede he can’t do his job both as acting prime minister or indeed deputy prime minister of Australia?”
Turnbull:
“It does not.”
And he calls time on QT
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull, using his ‘very serious issue’ voice, complete with ‘this is very serious’ hand movements, answers:
Just in terms of the ministerial standards, I have received absolutely unequivocal assurances from the deputy prime minister that he has fully complied with all parliamentary disclosure requirements and with the statement of ministerial standards.
He has given me - he has given me unequivocal assurances that he has been scrupulous in ensuring the legitimacy and accuracy for any entitlement to ministerial or parliamentary travel allowance. If the members opposite wish to assert that he has breached a clause in the ministerial standards, then they should say so and identify the clause.
... I want to deal with - well, we will deal with the matter relating to Mr Maguire. The ministerial standards says at 2.21, ‘ministers in their official capacity may accept customary official gifts, hospitality, tokens of appreciation, but must not seek or encourage any form of gift in their personal capacity’.
Now, the deputy prime minister has given his response to that. He has given a response to that. He has made it clear. His account is that he did not encourage or solicit the gift, and unless honourable members opposite are able to present a case that his statements are false, then, he has not breached that particular ministerial standard which I just quoted from.
Note the caveat of “that particular” ministerial standard. That is quite particular.
Both Sharri Markson and Rick Morton, the reporters who spoke to Greg Maguire, say Maguire told them Joyce approached him (and this was before all of this was an issue). Joyce says that is not true. So, now we sit at another stalemate.
Updated
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull:
“All this week the prime minister has expressed confidence in the deputy prime minister. Given it has been confirmed this week that the deputy prime minister personally oversaw the reallocation of staff where he had a conflict of interest, breached the ministerial standards by asking for rent-free accommodation, repeatedly misled the house and allowed agencies to use taxpayers’ money to pay his close business mate, when will the prime minister do, as is required under his own ministerial standards and sack the deputy prime minister?”
Christopher Pyne interjects:
“There is a great deal of licence given to questions but the questions have to contain some truthfulness. There are two assertions made in that question which [have] already been dealt with and are clearly untrue. The first is that the deputy prime minister asked for free accommodation. He has made it perfectly clear that that was not the case, and the second one being that he intervened to provide funds for a business person, for a grant which he would have been asked to make as a decision maker, so I don’t believe that question should be allowed to stand and the opposition should be allowed to rephrase it as necessary, but as a question, it breaches the standing orders.”
Tony Smith says that “whether something is factually accurate or not is not a requirement of the standing orders” he has a problem with the imputations in the question, but he allows it.
Updated
Wait, the prime minister has received some new information while a dixer was going on.
“I just add to that answer about the deputy prime minister’s statement. It appears from the register of members’ interests that his disclosure which included the references to the premises on Armidale was received on 15 January, 2018. It appears to have been signed by the deputy prime minister on 3 January, but for reasons perhaps which the clerk could advise, it wasn’t posted on the website until 12 February. So that’s dealt with that comprehensively, I hope.”
Updated
Chris Bowen to Malcolm Turnbull:
“When the deputy prime minister stood beside the Prime Minister in Toowoomba and boasted about how cheap it was to live in Armidale, had the deputy prime minister advised the prime minister, in accordance with the ministerial standards, that he was living in a rent-free home? Or was the prime minister completely unaware of this?”
Turnbull struggles to answer this one. It’s a bit of a dog’s breakfast, to be honest.
I thank the honourable member for his question. I don’t know - I don’t recall the deputy prime minister advising me of that. However, he did, of course, provide advice in the normal way and early in - when was it February or January?
He stops to check with Joyce.
No, just checking because it was quite recently.
...I just want to be clear. He filed a ministerial – sorry a member’s interest statement and one of the obligations is to do that under the ministerial standards, he has done that, and he disclosed that he had free accommodation in Armidale...
...Look, in clause 11, of his statement, he states, ‘Post election [received] 6-month tenancy of Armidale premises’. Prior to that I was not aware that he had rent-free accommodation in Armidale.
Updated
Just throwing back to what Barnaby’s deputy Bridget McKenzie said just yesterday (my goodness, a day really is a long time in politics).
I have every confidence and I will give you my solid, rolled-gold guarantee here, that come tomorrow, come Friday, Barnaby Joyce will be leading the National party, a great party almost 100 years delivering for the regions and we are just going from strength to strength.
I just wouldn’t believe whoever you are talking to and I would love to know who it is, because everybody that I am speaking to in the party, knows that Barnaby Joyce delivers for the regions, everybody in our regional communities knows that, he is like a rock star when you have him on the ground and that is just going to continue.
Updated
Anthony Albanese to Barnaby Joyce:
“In his statement to the house today, the deputy prime minister said, ‘Basically mates don’t pay for things when they’re helping other mates out.’ As a cabinet minister, the deputy prime minister is in the privileged position of administering government agencies. How many times has the deputy prime minister used taxpayers’ money to help his mate out?”
“Outrageous,” comes from the government backbench. “Albo, you’re better than this.”
Tony Smith rules the question in order.
“It is outrageous,” Tim Watts yells back. He’s booted from the chamber.
Joyce:
Obviously the idea that at this point in time I could determine a) who my mates are, and b) determine [inaudible] is absolutely and patently absurd.
Updated
Just received a text from an MP :
“What does it look like up there?”
Not great, is the answer. Not great.
Updated
Mark Dreyfus to Barnaby Joyce:
“Ministers are required to ensure that official decisions made by them as ministers are unaffected by bias or irrelevant consideration such as considerations of private advantage. How can the deputy prime minister be satisfied that he has complied with this ministerial standard?”
Joyce:
I’ve been advised that it was for a function in Armidale, obviously decisions in the vicinity of $5,000 don’t generally go across the minister’s table. I’m unaware of any decision that I would ever have made to be part of that decision, and anything beyond that, I will take it on notice.
Updated
Mike Bowers is working overtime in the chamber today
Updated
Mark Dreyfus to Barnaby Joyce (I am skipping all dixers, because really, does anyone care?).
“Isn’t it the case that because of the decisions of the deputy prime minister, Mr Maguire had received at the least $5,000 of taxpayers’ money when he gave the deputy prime minister free accommodation?”
It is ruled out of order.
Updated
Mark Dreyfus to Barnaby Joyce:
“In addition to the over $5,000 of taxpayers’ money, did Mr Maguire’s business receive any more taxpayers’ money because any of the more than 80 attendees were booked to stay at the hotel which was selected by the government to host the event?”
“Is that all you’ve got,” a Coalition backbencher yells.
Christopher Pyne tries to stop the questions.
“Mr Speaker, for the deputy prime minister to be able to be questioned about this particular matter, it needs to have been in his portfolio at the time he was a minister and the member for Isaacs has not clarified whether he is talking about a grant under the Department of Agriculture or the Department of Transport and Infrastructure.”
Tony Burke steps up for Labor to allow the question:
“The question refers specifically to the previous answers of the deputy prime minister. He is referring specifically to that. It is referring also to the document of a question on notice from the Senate. None of that has been disputed, but the relevance of it to the standing orders is quite specifically the following on from an earlier answer where the deputy said he had no idea this payment had been made and given that he was present at the event, it is a legitimate line of inquiry.”
Tony Smith allows the question.
Joyce:
“As I said, I will take the section on notice for which he referred to in the previous answer and [I say it] again. As to where people stay after a function, honestly I would have no idea, but. So I won’t be able to answer that part of the question.”
Joyce seems very, very flat. So does much of the government. You could hear a pin drop in this chamber each time Dreyfus gets up and Joyce takes the despatch box.
Updated
Mark Dreyfus to Barnaby Joyce:
“My question is to the deputy prime minister and I refer to his previous answers. Would the deputy prime minister advise the house whether he or his office played any role in selecting his close friend’s business to receive more than $5,000 in taxpayers’ money, or is the house meant to believe that it was just an extraordinary coincidence that an agency under his administration chose a venue owned by his close friend, out of all the venues in Tamworth?”
“There are thousands,” a Coalition MP interjects. (I think that is the point of Labor’s question, but anyway.)
Joyce:
I know he is making much of this. We’ve said we will take it on notice because I was unaware and I will get back to you.
Updated
Mark Dreyfus to Barnaby Joyce:
“I refer to his previous answer: How can the deputy prime minister claim he was unaware of the payment of more than $5,000 of taxpayers’ money to a business owned by Mr Greg Maguire when the payment was made for an event at the Quality Hotel Powerhouse in Armidale, and the deputy prime minister personally attended, in front of more than 80 witnesses? How can the deputy prime minister say he didn’t know when more than 80 people saw him there?”
“What? What? What do you mean?” comes from the Coalition benches.
Joyce:
I thank the honourable member for Isaacs for his question. It would not seem surprising in a multiple billion dollar department that I’m not aware of a $5,000 payment.”
“You were there! You were there!” yells Labor.
Ken O’Dowd asks Joyce the next dixer. No one is paying attention.
Updated
So, taxpayer money went to a company owned by the businessman who has provided free housing to the deputy prime minister, from a department the deputy prime minister administered.
He said he didn’t know.
But this is the danger in politicians accepting “gifts” from “close friends”.
Updated
Mark Dreyfus to Barnaby Joyce:
“I refer to his previous answer. Answers to questions on notice from Senate estimates make clear an agency under the deputy prime minister’s administration made a payment of more than $5,000 of taxpayers money to a business owned by the deputy prime minister’s close friend, Greg Maguire. Is it the position of the deputy prime minister that he was unaware of this payment?
“Oooooh, really?” comes from the Coalition benches at the mention of the figure.
Joyce:
I have to admit I was unaware of that $5,000 payment.
Updated
For the last time this week DPM BJ arrives for #qt @AmyRemeikis @GuardianAus #politicslive https://t.co/KmEQa6iN77 pic.twitter.com/CJbqGVPuBo
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) February 15, 2018
Mark Dreyfus to Barnaby Joyce:
“Is the deputy prime minister aware of any taxpayer money going to businesses owned by Mr Greg Maguire? Did the deputy prime minister, his office or any departments or agencies under his administration have any involvement in organising, facilitating or approving such payments?”
Joyce:
I’m not aware of any. But I will take the question on notice.
One would think that is something Joyce would have looked into BEFORE accepting the accommodation?
Updated
Cathy McGowan has the independent question today. It’s to Barnaby Joyce:
“This week you met with the Victorian minister for public transport and major projects. And I hope you discussed the north-east Victorian rail line, which is maintained by the ARTC. Can you tell the House, or can you give us an update on the scope of workforce in the $100 million upgrade? When will the scope of works be released for public consultation? And when will work commence and can you tell the community of north-east Victoria when we can expect completion of the track works that will allow operation of the new trains?”
For those who complain about my ban on dixers (which, for those who are not familiar with the term is a throw back to the advice columnist Dorothy Dix, who was known to write her own questions) this is what I think government backbencher questions should be like - something that actually deals with the concerns of their electorate.
Joyce:
“It is that we are working on the line that you have stated. We are spending $100 million on that line. We will look to start consultation in around about the middle of this year. It is vitally important, as that being part of the link, not only for a commuter network, but also in what we need to do on the inland rail. Now, it’s incredibly important that we get the agreement in place, so that we can deal with any land acquisition requirements, and working with that, with the minister for Victoria, we look forward to a vast improvement, as part of this Coalition’s investment in infrastructure, especially investment in rail infrastructure.
Updated
Mark Dreyfus to Barnaby Joyce:
The ministerial standards require ministers to not mislead the parliament. Four times the deputy prime minister told the parliament that he did not approach Mr Greg Maguire to ask him for a place to stay. Since then, the Daily Telegraph and the Australian have both publicly confirmed that Mr Maguire told them it was the deputy prime minister who phoned Mr Maguire. Has the deputy prime minister already misled the parliament four times today in breach of the ministerial standards?”
Joyce:
“I stand by my statement of this morning. I did not ring Mr Maguire and ask him for a place for free. I did not.”
He sits down after Labor interjections. Pat Conroy is warned.
Joyce:
“Mr Maguire approached me. He made an offer. I offered to pay for it. He said that I didn’t have to worry about it because I was a mate. If you just think about it logically... you would hardly ring someone up, ask for something for free, then offer to pay for it, then get it for free. That’s because it didn’t happen. It is as per the statement.”
Updated
Scott Morrison has the next #deathtodixer
Moving on. Everyone else in the chamber has.
Barnaby Joyce is once again intently reading something with quite a bit of highlighter.
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull:
“Doesn’t the prime minister’s announcement just before Question Time about the arrangements of who will be acting prime minister confirm that the deputy prime minister cannot do his job? Or are we simply meant to believe it’s all a big coincidence?”
Turnbull:
“The deputy prime minister is on leave next week.”
As recently as this morning, Barnaby Joyce was to be acting prime minister. That is how quickly this all changed.
Joyce might make it through the week, but it is hard to see how in the long run, he comes back from this.
Updated
With that announcement, the prime minister basically just told the country, exactly how much confidence he has in Barnaby Joyce.
Question time begins
And for some reason, we go straight to a dixer.
Because there is no such thing as too much punishment, why not just start off with it.
Barnaby Joyce will NOT be acting prime minister
Malcolm Turnbull announces the deputy prime minister will be taking “personal leave” until Sunday, 25 February.
Julie Bishop is in the UK
So come on down, acting prime minister, Mathias Cormann
Updated
Barnaby Joyce has just entered the chamber, with Malcolm Turnbull and Christopher Pyne walking behind him. He couldn’t help but look up at the press gallery as he walked in, the camera shutter noise alone would have been enough to get his attention.
The jobs minister, Michaelia Cash, has held a press conference to trumpet the fact 16,000 jobs were created in January, the 16th consecutive month of growth.
But because it was the first press conference Cash has given in Canberra for months, many of the questions (OK, they were mine) focused on the leak to the media about the AFP raid on the Australian Workers Union headquarters.
Cash said her office is not being investigated over the tipoff.
Asked why she had claimed public interest immunity over internal communications, she replied: “There is an AFP investigation, and the AFP itself claimed public interest immunity ... Again, I have complied at all times with the law and the procedures of the Senate.”
Asked if she is concerned that Barnaby Joyce’s account of Greg Maguire approaching him with the offer of accommodation differed from Maguire’s, she replied: “Mr Joyce has addressed all of these issues personally, himself,” and then she pivoted to jobs, science, anything really except the question of whether the deputy prime minister had mislead parliament.
Updated
Australia mourns the lives lost in the senseless and horrific shooting at a Florida school. We pray that those injured have a swift recovery and send our love and sympathy to the victims and their families.
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) February 15, 2018
We are about to head into the chamber for question time, the last one before Barnaby Joyce becomes acting prime minister next week.
Updated
Brendan O’Connor had a few things to say about the latest unemployment figures:
We will welcome, as we always will, job growth. Any time there’s been any positive indicators, we welcome them, but we also say it’s the nature of the work that’s been created, and there are many people being displaced or made redundant in full-time work, and they cannot find full-time jobs when looking to reconnect to the labour market. That is a concern to Labor, and I think the government needs to address that. I think firstly we should be looking at the way in which workers are dealt with in the labour market. We are concerned that casualisation is growing. The use of contractors is a false way and is leading to no minimum guarantee of hours. Having people wait by the phone to see if they work the following day is not a recipe for the workforce of this nation to have a decent life. What people want to see is more secure work.
Updated
Part of the South Australian federal Liberal team gathered together to condemn the disallowance motion, which is threatening to see the Murray-Darling basin plan fall apart.
Tony Pasin was part of that delegation:
“The point I want to make is that South Australian communities stand to benefit the most from this plan in full and on time. Therefore, South Australians stand to lose the most from the plan being blown up. And to watch last night South Australian senators, effectively vote against the implementation of this plan beggared belief.”
Updated
The Greens are continuing to prosecute their case for an audit into the Murray-Darling basin plan.
Richard Di Natale:
We have to get that water and we have to start prioritising those communities, the health of the river, over Barnaby Joyce’s mates, those big, corporate, greedy irrigators. That is the choice we face at the moment. We have now a fighting chance of doing it, a chance of doing that, of resetting the Murray-Darling basin plan, so that we have a plan that looks after the river and the people who depend on it, not just a few corporate irrigators up in the northern part of the basin.
Updated
Even given the latest US school mass shooting (you’ll find more on that tragedy, here) things are really, really quiet here.
Labor is working out tactics for question time. The government is working on how it bats them away. The end result, is no one is talking.
Over in the senate, the Greens just moved this motion:
That the Senate –
notes the Budget Priorities Statement 2018-19 of the Australian Council of Social Service launched this week in Canberra;
- recognises that research from 2017 shows that single rates of unemployment payments are completely inadequate to cover basic living costs; and
- acknowledges that our social safety net currently fails to protect those seeking work from falling into poverty;
- notes that the Australian Council of Social Service calls for an increase of $75 a week to allowance payments for single people from 1 January 2019;
- urges the Federal Government to increase the single rate of Newstart and related allowances by $75 a week.
It was voted down with Labor and the Coalition voting no.
Updated
Michaelia Cash is holding a doorstop on the unemployment figures (yes, Paul Karp is there, among others, to ask her about the AFP investigation).
She’s feeling pretty chuffed. And in what sounds like an election pitch asks “would you trust Bill Shorten with your job?”
Updated
Cory Bernardi is back on Sky (at least someone looks like they are enjoying themselves in this building lately!).
Here’s his latest take on Barnaby Joyce:
The decision of the National party to stick with Barnaby Joyce rules a line under his personal life, it is none of our business quite frankly. I think there are reasonable questions and there are political questions, which can be asked, appointments and appropriations of staffing, that is entirely within the purview of parliament, but let’s move on and focus on some other issues. If Labor and others want to pursue questions about ministerial accountability and standards, it should have nothing to do with his marriage and private relationships. It has got to do with a quibble of public finance.”
Updated
Kelly O’Dwyer is going after illegal tobacco sales.
The first of two pieces of legislation aimed at the illicit tobacco market have been tabled in parliament this morning. Here is what O’Dwyer had to say in her statement:
Under the current legislation, before charges can be laid under the Excise or Customs Act, the origin of the illegal tobacco seized in Australia has to be proven. As the origin of tobacco cannot be readily determined, this obviously limits the ability to impose penalties even where substantial quantities are involved.
Furthermore, the current law has inconsistent penalties and limitations on how they can be applied.
This measure will ensure that tobacco products imported and consumed domestically are fully taxed and comply with Australian regulations.
Updated
Peter Dutton has left open the possibility of reducing immigration numbers in his chat to 2GB radio.
Asked about Jim Molan’s comments in his first Senate speech yesterday that he was concerned about the level of immigration, Dutton said the government was not “tied” to the current levels of migration.
He said it was a “perfectly legitimate argument” to say that cities were overcrowded and Australians are stuck in traffic, although it’s a “different story as you go round the country”.
“We need to encourage people out into the regions. We need to reduce the numbers where we believe it’s in our national interests. We’ve reduced the numbers by 100,000 since Labor was in government. If we have to bring it back further, that is what we will do.”
Updated
Peter Dutton had his regular chat to 2GB a little bit ago.
“Barnaby in his own words said he made a mistake, you can only feel for his wife and his daughters, the whole situation is a mess of his own making, he admits that.
“Has he broken the law? No. Has he acted immorally? Yes.”
The Greens are calling for a full audit of the Murray-Darling basin plan.
Sarah Hanson-Young:
Until we have a full, independent audit, until we have transparency on where billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money has gone, the millions of people who rely on the Murray-Darling basin cannot be assured that the plan is delivering what it was supposed to; securing stronger environmental flows to ensure the river would survive, and be able to sustain basin communities.
Updated
The latest labour force figures are in, with unemployment sitting at 5.5%.
Here is what the ABS had to say about it:
The latest labour force figures show that monthly trend full-time employment increased for the 15th straight month in January 2018.
Full-time employment grew by a further 9,000 persons in January, while part-time employment increased by 14,000 persons, underpinning a total increase in employment of 23,000 persons.
Full-time employment has now increased by around 292,000 since January 2017 and makes up the majority of the 395,000 net increase in employment over the period. In line with the increasing female participation in the labour force, female full-time employment accounted for 55% of the full-time employment growth over the past year.
Over the past year, trend employment increased by 3.3%, which is above the average year-on-year growth over the past 20 years (1.9%).
“Prior to the past two months, the last time it was 3.3% or higher was back in February 2008, before the global financial crisis” [Bjorn] Jarvis said.
The trend monthly hours worked decreased slightly, by 1.2 million hours (0.1%), with the annual figure continuing to show strong growth (2.7%).
You’ll find the whole report here.
Updated
And after the flurry of activity this morning, this place has gone very, very quiet again.
It is going to be a loooooong day for some of us
Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce in the chamber this morning as the Opposition moved to suspend standing orders @AmyRemeikis @GuardianAus #politicslive https://t.co/KmEQa6iN77 pic.twitter.com/U2n2TWLwlb
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) February 15, 2018
Before he was made to bolt into the chamber, Mike Bowers was in the other place:
Updated
Here is the quote from Greg Maguire to Sharri Markson:
Greg Maguire:
— Sharri Markson (@SharriMarkson) February 14, 2018
"When he contacted me, because he knows I own a lot of buildings, he said have I got anything available.
"He wanted to rent the apartment for a few months and I said, ‘I’m happy to let you stay there until you sort yourself out."
Welcome to Canberra, Senator @KKeneally pic.twitter.com/jLQAG3CmPr
— Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) February 14, 2018
Mike Bowers was in the chamber, as Labor made its first move on Barnaby Joyce today
Updated
Given two reporters, separately, have stated Greg Maguire told them, on the record, that Barnaby Joyce approached him for a place to stay, and Joyce has just told parliament the exact opposite, I think Labor will be adding “misleading parliament” to their attack list.
Updated
The News Corp reporters who spoke to Greg Maguire, Sharri Markson and Rick Morton have confirmed that Maguire told them both, separately, that Barnaby Joyce approached him.
Greg Maguire told Rick Morton at The Oz the same thing he told me - that Joyce rang him asking for a place to stay. Barnaby Joyce told Parliament the opposite. https://t.co/7FkxEa2WwB
— Sharri Markson (@SharriMarkson) February 14, 2018
Updated
Bob Katter has popped up on Sky. He says that Matt Canavan and Damian Drum should be in more trouble than Barnaby Joyce. Eventually.
If I was in his shoes, which I am not likely to be, because quite frankly I would not have made the mistake that he has made, and acted as irresponsibly as he done, but if I was voting if he should stay or he should go, I would vote that he should stay. And I think he’d be pretty stupid to pull out, but the media pressure will continue. And really, I think it is up to the media.
I don’t think his conduct, putting aside the fact you have a young staffer and you are having an affair with them, putting aside that, which is a moral question and we shouldn’t be going to that, but the issue, that she would then be getting a job, I never thought he was under the gun. I though Canavan and Drum are the people who should be looked at. Why did you employ her? He had no right to direct them to employ her, at the end of the day you are the responsible minister and you have to take responsibility.
Let a thousand flowers bloom.
Updated
Mathias Cormann has told Samantha Maiden on Sky that he will “take him [Barnaby Joyce] by his word”.
Updated
The questions are not going to stop
Barnaby's friend has previously told @SharriMarkson that Barnaby rang to ask for a place to say
— Bevan Shields (@BevanShields) February 14, 2018
Barnaby in Parliament just now says his friend made the first offer of the free apartment.
Either way, why does it matter who approached who? #auspol
Just on the division, Mike Bowers (who was in the chamber) tells me that Andrew Wilkie, Adam Bandt, Cathy McGowan and Rebekha Sharkie voted with the opposition, but he couldn’t spot Bob Katter.
That is not unusual.
Updated
At least I am not the only one looking tired today. It’s been a massive couple of weeks.
And we have a whole year ahead of us!
Updated
The MPs file out of the chamber again.
Labor was never going to win that, but you just got a taste of what question time is going to be like.
The division result:
Ayes - 70
Noes - 73
Barnaby Joyce says that if “we start throwing stones, then every person [in parliament] will start to have some questions asked of them”.
What I can also state is that I offered to pay for it. I can also state that basically, he said, as a friend, he would not take any money, that he was quite happy to help me for that period of time. I don’t think I can be more succinct than that.
A division is called.
Updated
He now goes through the chronology:
After it became apparent with the deliberations of the high court that I was no longer a member of parliament, and had to stand, I went through the process of being endorsed and it was at that time that Mr Maguire approached me, as did many other friends, approached me, to offer support.
At the time, in the discussions, he said, “You’re living out of a suitcase and this is basically something that I should try and help you with”. I took him up on the offer but I offered to pay for it. He said basically mates don’t pay for things when they’re helping other mates out and that’s precisely what happened.
His daughter had just moved out of the apartment – and it is not a – people say it’s a luxury apartment. It’s not. It’s an apartment in Armidale. She had moved out. He said, “It’s free. There’s no one using it and you’re welcome to use it to basically get back up on your feet.”
Might I remind the House that at that point in time I was not a member of parliament. I was merely, basically, a person standing for election and therefore at that point in time, even though I was not bound by the ministerial code of conduct, because I was not a minister, nonetheless, nonetheless it’s quite clear that I did not approach Mr Maguire for assistance. Mr Maguire approached me and offered help. After the election, I disclosed on my members’ interests that I was living in Armidale in a house that had been provided to me.
“I ... I believe that I did everything that I believe was fully transparent. In fact, at the time, it was said that because it’s from a personal friend that you’re not obliged to declare it. I said I wanted to declare it because I wanted to be fully transparent on the issue. Now, I might also say that this circumstance, my personal circumstances, have been up hill down dale in this last week. I acknowledge that. I accept that, and that is the price of a political life. I might also state that, on issues such as this, in this place, that it is without a shadow of a doubt that people are going to start having questions asked of them and that might be the process of the parliament, as to exactly how that works. But, um, in due course, as with most people, I don’t think it’s unusual in a marriage break-up, things will no doubt settle down with making sure that I find another house. I think that any person watching this – sadly about 40% to 50% of marriages break down – this is not completely out of the ballpark. So I state once more I did not, I did not approach Mr Maguire for any help. I did not approach him.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce defends himself
The deputy prime minister is responding to Labor’s motion:
Of course, most people would realise that the time of a marriage break-up, it is not unusual for those who you are close to to offer support. I do pay for a house. I pay for one in Tamworth. I pay for one in Tamworth for Natalie and the girls and I continue to do that and will continue to do that. So the issue that I don’t pay for a house in the electorate is not correct. Not for one moment do I suggest that this situation for my family is anything but incredibly difficult and, as I’ve said before, I apologise for that.
Updated
Chris Bowen seconds the motion:
He thought he wouldn’t be found out. He thought he could sneak in a misleading declaration and that nobody would be the wiser. Well, we all make judgments in life. We all make our decisions. We all have to live with the consequences. This deputy prime minister chose not to make a full declaration to the Australian people. He’s entitled to make arrangements for his accommodation. That, in many senses, is entirely a matter for him. But it’s rent-free. If he’s receiving a benefit, then the ministerial guidelines are crystal clear as the member for Isaacs clearly made plain to the House. It is crystal clear. This is not a grey area. This is not a matter of nuance. This is a matter of black and white. This is an open-and-shut case and that case says this deputy prime minister should resign.
Updated
And now we are getting to the crux of the matter.
Mark Dreyfus:
And what do we know, what do we know, from Mr Greg Maguire? The wealthy New England businessman and National party donor, who has commented in the paper about his interactions with the deputy prime minister? We know that the deputy prime minister rang him up and asked him for a place to stay, right. Now, that’s what – and I hear from the deputy prime minister that he now wants to deny what his rich mate has told the newspapers, so perhaps we’ll be hearing from him. Here we have the clearest possible breach. We have the deputy prime minister of Australia ringing up a mate, asking him for free accommodation, getting that free accommodation and then, further, in the register of public interests, which standards also require the deputy prime minister to comply with, putting this ridiculous phrase. He said that he’d received a post-election residual of six months’ tenancy on Armidale premises. Now, what is that meant to mean? Perhaps the deputy prime minister can explain it to us ... because he certainly hasn’t explained it to us, up to this point. What the register of members’ interests, which the ministerial standards require this member to actually state, and properly disclose, what they require is that he disclose gifts valued at more than $300, where they’re received from other than official sources.
Updated
The motion:
I move – that so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the deputy manager of opposition business from moving the following motion immediately.
The House:
1. Notes:
a. The Daily Telegraph reports today that the deputy prime minister rang a
benefactor for a place to stay and received a gift of rent-free accommodation worth
an estimated $12,000;
b. The deputy prime minister continues to benefit from this gift;
c. The prime minister’s own statement of ministerial standards clearly states
ministers “must not seek or encourage any form of gift in their personal capacity”;
d. The prime minister alone is responsible for enforcing his own ministerial
standards;
e. This is an open and shut case of a breach of the ministerial standards; and
f. If the prime minister will not take action on such a clear and egregious breach of
his ministerial standards then they are worthless; and
2. Therefore, calls on the prime minister to immediately sack the deputy prime minister for clearly breaching the prime minister’s statement of ministerial standards.
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Barnaby Joyce has just walked into the chamber as Mark Dreyfus continues his suspension of standing orders motion:
The deputy prime minister has dismally failed to uphold the principles of these standards and that’s before I even get to the actual wording of the requirement in these standards as it [relates] to gifts, which is what this motion relates to. These standards set an actual standard of conduct. They are directed not merely to some petty fogging lawyer’s interpretation, as we’ve heard from the prime minister in this house, they are directed at looking that people can look at the prime minister’s conduct, look at the deputy prime minister’s conduct and see that they are performing in their office, that they are conducting themselves in their office as we and as the people of Australia would expect them to and that means disclosing honestly. It means paying attention to the principles that underlie these standards. And upholding them.
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Kristina Keneally is officially a senator
Mark Dreyfus:
Now, we are not asserting criminality. Of course everyone in this place, everyone in this country is expected to abide by the laws of the nation. But surely the Deputy Prime Minister of our country, the second most SeniorMinister in the government of the Commonwealth, is expected to adhere to a somewhat higher standard than merely obeying the law of this country. What an extraordinarily low bar for the member for Maranoa, this newly promoted minister, to be setting for the standard of conduct of ministers in this place. It ought to be clear, it ought to be clear that this statement of ministerial standards is setting a much, much higher standard of conduct for ministers in this place.”
Labor suspends standing orders to try to force Joyce sacking
Mark Dreyfus has opened up parliament with a motion to suspend standing orders, as Labor moves to force the government to sack Barnaby Joyce.
They don’t have the numbers, but it will be interesting to see what the crossbench does.
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Sarah Hanson-Young told Radio National this morning the senate disallowance motion to stop the Murray Darling basin plan changes was necessary, because no one actually had any idea of where the water was going.
They don’t know how much water has been stolen. Billions of dollars has been spent buying water that now is not in the river, because it’s been sucked out, stolen by big corporate irrigators. So if you’re using a methodology that is based on what the plan said should happen five years ago, yet people have been stealing more water than they were ever entitled to, the numbers just don’t add up.”
This battle has been creeping along for a while now. Expect it to just get bigger.
New South Wales have said they can no longer support the plan. Victoria has also announced it is walking away.
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James McGrath is the latest Coalition MP to be trotted out to talk about Barnaby Joyce. He told Sky that Joyce’s leadership would survive, quoting Winston Churchill: “If you’re going through hell, keep going”.
Barnaby and his family are going through hell. I think the less we talk about it the better and just focus on where the government is going in a policy direction.
The Queensland senator said he was confident there was no conflict with the ministerial standards, over how Vikki Campion was hired:
I think Labor has to put up or shut up. I mean, my understanding, for example, is that the media adviser in question, when she went to Senator Canavan’s office, went through three job interviews to get the position. I think the interesting thing about Labor is, they are applying their low standards to everybody else and they think we are like them when it comes to giving jobs for the boys and jobs for the girls. We are not. She went through three job interviews to get that job in Senator Canavan’s office.
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The latest calm before the storm shot, from Mike Bowers
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Indigenous issues should have dominated parliament this week, given it is the 10th anniversary of the national apology to the stolen generations, and saw the latest Closing the Gap report handed in.
Curiously, no dixer to the prime minister has been on this topic. Labor, which has said it will look at legislating the Uluru Statement from the Heart call for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, has questioned the government on its plans. Malcolm Turnbull used the opportunity to completely rule out taking the idea on board, saying he was concerned it would see a “third chamber of parliament” created, and was uncomfortable with an elected body excluding non-Indigenous Australians. Critics have labelled the government response scare mongering. Turnbull told Labor to take it to the next election.
Linda Burney had a few things to say about that this morning:
The fact that the prime minister has threatened to make this an election issue I think is reprehensible. Labor has been incredibly pragmatic. If there is not going to be a referendum about establishing a voice to the parliament, we will legislate. As Bill Shorten said, we will work with you but we will not wait with you.
This is threatening the bipartisan of Aboriginal affairs that has been established over two decades now. We want to work with the government. But if the government is not prepared to work with Labor, we will not wait for the government.
Aboriginal people across this country have said loud and clear there needs to be a body that is advising, not vetoing what the government is doing in relation to the Indigenous space.
I know that many people just see this as statistics but the statistics are real children, real people that are dying to early, that are not getting the outcomes that the rest of the country is experiencing. And for the prime minister to say no, we’ll make this an election issue and propagating a scaremongering campaign about a voice to the parliament is completely unacceptable to my party.
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Some happy news in the Abbott household this morning. Frances Loch [nee Abbott] announced she took care of the “official” marriage business with Sam Loch this week, with the celebration to come later.
Congratulations to Sam and Frances Loch. When her heart is set on something, she sure goes for it!
— Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) February 14, 2018
One of Barnaby Joyce’s most ardent supporters, David Littleproud, took to ABC to slam Labor for helping to kill off the Murray-Darling Basin plan:
As a result of the Senate decision last night, it’s voted against its own legislation to bring a whole lot of uncertainty. We’ve had the New South Wales and Victoria state minister now come out and put in question any viable pathway forward for this plan. This was a tragic day on the Murray-Darling plan. It was a pivotal moment and Labor blinked and decided to pay politicians instead of leadership. My stand is still out to guide this plan through but unfortunately I fear South Australia is going to do themselves out of a thousand gigalitres of water because of this recklessness by the Australian Labor party in voting against their own legislation.
And of course, he defended his leader:
Barnaby Joyce has been the greatest deputy prime minister for rural and regional Australia in our history. The delivery of infrastructure and services to people of rural and regional Australia is second-to-none since he became deputy prime minister. I think he obviously wants to continue to do that and so long as he delivers the infrastructure and the services that those people expect, it’s time to put this aside, stop focusing on someone’s personal life. That’s his personal life. People out there in voter land want delivery.
Unfortunate choice of words aside, Littleproud, like most of Joyce’s other key supporters (which is most of the Queensland and NSW contingent) relies on Joyce for his own success. If Joyce falls, then so does the career trajectory of quite a few Nationals. And they still think he is their greatest chance of fighting off One Nation in their electorates at the next federal election.
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Despite Barnaby Joyce’s office confirming to Fairfax Media that the deputy prime minister was paid a salary by the Nationals:
Mr Joyce’s office confirmed late on Wednesday the Nationals leader was paid a salary during the campaign, but said it had been advised by the party that it is “not unprecedented for candidates to receive a form of income in exceptional circumstances”.
… the Nationals’ state director has taken to Twitter to deny it:
Well this is untrue https://t.co/SM1jpmax5p
— Nathan Quigley (@Nathan_Quigley) February 14, 2018
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Barnaby Joyce 'confident' he'll survive as leader
Barnaby Joyce though, is not planning on going anywhere.
He was stopped in his way into parliament this morning and said he had the support of the party room. Apparently, that is all the support you need.
I think it’s, you know, I’ve got the support of my party room. I’ve got the, you know, we are back into business, we’re working hard, doing what we are supposed to do, and that is good.
Is he confident he’ll survive as leader?
Yes I am. Very confident.
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Bill Shorten has had a (very) quick chat to journalists after the UN Women for International Women’s Day parliamentary breakfast (and before the trolling starts, International Men’s Day is a thing, and it’s 19 November – although I would argue it is every day).
He has ramped up his own rhetoric on Barnaby Joyce, saying his position is “untenable”.
The circus has got to end. In 2017 – I said that was a low point in the way Australians viewed parliament, but it was never in my wild imagination that we would see the circus we’ve got now. Australians want us to stop talking about ourselves and get on with talking about them. I think Mr Joyce’s position is untenable and I think Malcolm Turnbull, time for leadership – you need to act.
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Kristina Keneally to be sworn in
Labor’s newest senator will be sworn into the Senate at 9.30am this morning
Which means the Senate just has George Brandis to replace (the LNP is going through a very interesting pre-selection battle for that spot, which is to be decided next month – and it has to be, as the Queensland parliament isn’t sitting at all in April because of the Commonwealth Games) and Skye Kakoschke-Moore’s spot, which the high court will formalise on Friday. Unless something insane happens, it will go to the former NXT member, Tim Storer.
The Senate is also looking at Doug Cameron’s motion to have department officials front estimates to face questions about Vikki Campion’s staffing moves.
And the government has admitted its tabling of the special purpose flights is late (the last ones tabled are for 2016 so, you know, just a little tardy) and is expected to table the reports today, so Kimberley Kitching has agreed to withdraw her motion demanding the government hands them over.
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Just to breaking international news, South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma has bowed to party pressure and resigned, effective immediately.
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Good morning and welcome to day eight
Just let that sink in for a moment. We are only eight days into the parliamentary year.
I don’t know about you, but I feel as though I have lived a lifetime or two during this sitting fortnight.
Still, I imagine Barnaby Joyce feels as though he’s lived about three. He is holding on to his political life, by – as he threw out yesterday to Bill Shorten to the never-ending mirth of Labor backbenchers – “the skin of his teeth”.
He made it through an internal revolt (for now) but Labor is not going to let off the pressure, over the free accommodation he has received from his “close friend”, Tamworth businessman Greg Maguire, and the travel he took with his former staffer and new partner, Vikki Campion. I would expect to see more of that later today in question time, the final one before Joyce becomes acting PM.
Katharine Murphy writes about that here.
Fairfax reports Joyce was paid almost $50,000 during his byelection campaign by the Nationals party, despite earning $400,000 or so since becoming deputy prime minister. Apparently, he still needed his salary. It also published the first ReachTEL poll of New England since the affair became public, finding a third of his supporters have deserted him since the byelection.
The Daily Telegraph reports that Joyce and Campion continued to work together while she was pregnant and officially attached to other offices, and has a photo of the two of them clowning around with a carp fish.
Front page of The Daily Telegraph #auspol pic.twitter.com/qjeXKjq9jh
— Christopher Dore (@wrongdorey) February 14, 2018
In non-Barnaby news, Labor and the Greens passed a Senate disallowance motion overnight to stop the changes to the Murray-Darling basin plan. NSW has already signalled it will pull out of the agreement. Anne Davies has more on that here.
The mining union are putting pressure on Labor to leave Adani alone, reasoning it is not worth winning the Batman byelection in Melbourne to lose central Queensland.
And Kristina Keneally should be joining the Senate today.
Mike Bowers is out and about, because of course he is. The man does not stop. You can pin him down at @mpbowers and @mikepbowers. You can find me in the comments, or more immediately at @amyremeikis or, to see part of our day, on my Instagram story at @ifyouseeamy. Quite a few of you have been messaging me there and I promise I am working my way through responding.
I am on coffee number two, so this should be a GREAT day. Grab your poison of choice, strap in, and, as Her Pettiness Taylor Swift would say, let the games begin!
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