Night time summary
- As we leave this day, the senate is debating the Greens/Coalition deal. In return for Greens support to lower the threshold for Firb review of agriculture land and agribusiness, the government has agreed to institute a register for water entitlements for foreign investments. The details of the water register will be ironed out in public consultation. Labor doesn’t like the “cosy” deal.
- The government has rejected calls by former defence minister and backbencher Kevin Andrews to push the US to put troops on the ground, including Australian special forces. We won’t act unilaterally, says Turnbull.
- The senate has backed a Greens motion calling on the removal of all children from offshore detention and the mandatory reporting of abuse in offshore detention facilities. The government is expected to ignore this.
- UN chief Ban Ki-Moon has asked Malcolm Turnbull to reconsider his asylum seeker policy but the government is not for moving.
-
Parliament has passed the Bradshaw bill, which allows pursuit of murder suspects overseas.
- National security committee met today.
We have cabinet and shadow cabinet tonight.
Tomorrow, we have party room meetings.
#BrickParliament has been taking a break, so here is Mike Bowers latest contribution of Kevin Andrews call to arms, lowered from a former speaker’s chopper.
It really needs to be observed with the Mission Impossible soundtrack.
Thanks to Mikey Bowers, Shalailah Medhora, Daniel Hurst, Lenore Taylor and you, the reader, for the input.
Good night.
Meanwhile in the lower house, the dual nationals citizenship bill debate is continuing. Asked for guidance on its passing, the advice was, it will be a long night.
Coalition/Greens deal on water entitlement register hypocritical, says Penny Wong
In the senate, Penny Wong wants to know what the details of the proposed water entitlements register for foreign investors under the government’s “cosy” deal with the Greens. The bill is currently in the committee stage.
It’s all up for public consultation, says finance minister Mathias Cormann.
Wong makes the point that the government did not consult the states and territories on the deal. Cormann says the issue of who holds information on water entitlements is a technical issue.
Wong commented earlier to Daniel Hurst.
Scott Morrison has joined forces with the Greens to push through retrograde legislation which will deter investment and hurt jobs growth.
It is extraordinarily hypocritical for the Government to be claiming Australia is “open for business” while it is doing everything it can to impose new red tape and barriers on the investment Australia needs.
Business will rightly be alarmed to see the Liberal Party making a common cause with protectionists in the National Party and the Greens on a core economic reform issue.
It’s disappointing Andrew Robb has gone missing and given the political fringe licence to damage Australia’s investment reputation.
Agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce told the ABC:
You can make money out of mud, but you’ll never make it out of dust.
Parliament passes Bradshaw bill
The crime legislation bill (known as the Bradshaw Bill) has today passed the parliament. The amendments will mean law enforcement agencies will now have the powers to pursue individuals suspected of murdering or committing manslaughter against Australians citizens or residents in foreign countries prior to 2002 if investigations in the foreign country did not properly investigate the crime. It is named after Anthea Bradshaw, an Adelaide woman who was murdered in Brunei.
Before you hop on a train - or whatever you do - check out Lenore Taylor’s comment piece on the national security shenanigans today.
Tony Abbott and his supporters have been laying a pretty obvious trail for the past few weeks which has now arrived at the explicit suggestion they have been hinting at – that Malcolm Turnbull is weak on terrorism.
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64.
Helen Bender to government: fix the imbalance of power between farming and mining
Helen Bender has been in the parliament with Phil Laird of Lock the Gate. Helen is the daughter of George Bender who committed suicide after 10 years of negotiations with gas mining companies. She asked gained notoriety when she questioned assistant health minister Fiona Nash on Q&A over whether farmers should have a right of veto in regard to miners rights. Bender and Laird were meeting with members of energy minister Josh Frydenberg’s office. Frydenberg is putting the issue on the agenda of the December Coag meeting while Greg Hunt said farmers had a moral right over their land.
My message is we have lost George and we can’t change that. But if there is no change implemented now, every future generation is going to lose. It’s about the impacts now for future generations, the health, the environment.
Bender says the number one issue for her is the imbalance of power weighted in favour of mining companies.
Right now, the monster they have created is a self regulatory industry. They ask once and they can force you into Land and Environment courts. That whole ability to go straight to land court has to be removed because that is the threat, that’s the stress they put landholders under.
Bender says the solution is not about more compensation - as has been suggested by some.
When you see a farmer’s livelihood taken away from them without any rights, that’s the emotional stress that this industry has put on to these landholders.
Since she appeared on Q&A, Bender says she has had many calls and messages from people asking her to run for parliament as an independent. Bender is not ruling anything in or out at this stage.
Updated
Greens MP Adam Bandt is speaking against the citizenship bill.
Senate calls on removal of children from detention and mandatory abuse reporting
The Senate has passed Greens amendment to a migration bill that would see the removal of all children from immigration detention, and the mandatory reporting of abuse in offshore facilities.
The migration and maritime powers amendment bill would stop people who have had their applications for protection visas knocked back from applying again.
The Greens amended that bill to state that the immigration minister must find alternative accommodation for asylum seeker children, that all abuse must be reported and that journalists can be granted access to detention facilities.
The government must decide whether or not to support the amendments when the bill goes back to the house of reps for approval.
Just like the kidnap bill, shooting down the migration amendments would mean that the other elements of the bill would also not pass.
Richard Di Natale is pretty excited about two big policy wins today:
- the water register for foreign investors
- the passage of senate amendments calling for the speedy release of children in detention.
What we are seeing here is the Greens are the ideas factory in the Australian parliament.
Sarah Hanson-Young says it is up to the Malcolm Turnbull whether to accept the will of the senate or to “re-detain children”.
He can make a difference to their Christmas.
There are some scary top lips in the building at the mo.
The lower house is now onto the Australian citizenship amendments (allegiance to Australia) bill. This bill strips Australian citizenship from dual nationals if they are engaged in terrorist activities.
This is from the explanatory memo.
The bill introduces three new ways in which a person, who is a national or citizen of a country other than Australia, can cease to be an Australian citizen:
- the person renounces their Australian citizenship if the person acts inconsistently with their allegiance to Australia by engaging in specified terrorist-related conduct;
- the person ceases to be an Australian citizen if the person fights for, or is in the service of, a declared terrorist organisation. A declared terrorist organisation is any terrorist organisation as defined by the Criminal Code and declared by the Minister to apply;
- the person ceases to be an Australian citizen if the person is convicted of a specified terrorism offence as prescribed in the Criminal Code.
The offences include:
- engaging in international terrorist activities using explosive or lethal devices;
- engaging in a terrorist act;
- providing or receiving training connected with preparation for, engagement in, or assistance in a terrorist act;
- directing the activities of a terrorist organisation;
- recruiting for a terrorist organisation;
- financing terrorism; financing a terrorist;
- engaging in foreign incursions and recruitment.
No thanks Ban Ki-Moon, we stopped the boats.
The government’s Senate leader, George Brandis, has ruled out softening Australia’s border protection policies after the UN secretary general called for a rethink of Operation Sovereign Borders.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked during Senate question time whether the government would consider Ban Ki-moon’s request, which was conveyed during a meeting with the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, in Malaysia yesterday.
Brandis replied that the government’s policies had successfully “stopped the people smuggling trade” and deaths at sea, and had led to a reduction in the number of children in detention.
We won’t be going back to the bad old days; we won’t be embracing those failed policies - not for a moment.
Hanson-Young followed up by asking about the asylum-seeker boat that was seen near Christmas Island on Friday.
Brandis said the government did not comment on “on-water matters”.
Is that a diary I see before me?
Condoléances.
Tony Abbott and Kevin Andrews have a chat while Malcolm Turnbull tells the chamber, Australia will not go it alone to send troops to Syria.
Updated
Shalailah Medhora reports from the senate that attorney general George Brandis revealed the latest statistics on foreign fighters.
- 110 Australians fighting in Iraq and Syria of the 25,000 foreign fighters there.
- One-fifth of that overall number are from Western countries.
- A further 30 Australians have returned home after fighting abroad.
Dreyfus asks Mal Brough as special minister of state responsibility for ministerial integrity, is it appropriate for a person to procure another person to access restricted data held on a government computer?
I welcome the question and I point out to the shadow minister - as he should know above all else - that it’s integrity, in all things parliamentary, are essential. This is no different.
Brough enjoys Turnbull's confidence, notwithstanding Ashby matter
Dreyfus asks Turnbull, given Mal Brough admitted on national television that he asked a commonwealth officer to copy Peter Slipper’s diaries without Slipper’s authorisation, why did the prime minister appoint him as special minister of state. Does Brough have Turnbull’s confidence?
The minister enjoys my confidence and I refer you to the answer he just gave to your earlier question.
Updated
Environment minister Greg Hunt gets a question on the green army program.
Mark Dreyfus to special minister of state Mal Brough: Is it appropriate to ask a Commonwealth officer to produce copies of the official diary of his employer when that Commonwealth officer is not authorised to provide copies to the person asking?
This goes to the Brough-Ashby case which I will reprise in a minute.
Argument begins over whether the question is in order.
Speaker Smith rules part of it is in order.
Brough says he has made a full statement (on the Ashby matter).
Christopher Pyne, innovation revolutionary, receives a Dixer on the loss of 250 jobs at the Arrium One Steel in Whyalla. Pyne talks about the glut due to China’s production and the reform of the anti-dumping commission.
Labor’s Ed Husic asks the prime minister why cuts to family payments will effect 19,000 families in his western Sydney electorate of Chifley and only 3,000 families in Turnbull’s eastern suburbs electorate of Wentworth.
The honourable member knows that the government plans to reform and restructure the family tax benefit, to give families more money each fortnight, encourage work force participation and fund the new childcare system.
Updated
A Labor question to Turnbull: Which GST propositions are fanciful?
Then a Dixer on the Esperance fires to justice minister and West Australian Michael Keenan.
A Dixer to immigration minister Peter Dutton: Will the Minister update the house on Australia’s response to the Syrian humanitarian crisis? What security and other screening arrangements has the government put in place to ensure Australia is helping those most in need - women, children and families of persecuted minorities?
Dutton says there are currently 2,800 people under consideration “in the process of having their security checks undertaken as well as their health checks”.
He says if there are any security concerns, the government will put the application aside and go to the next person.
Dutton also underlines that the intake will include many Christians as they are among the persecuted minorities.
Updated
Labor’s GST strategy reminds me of the Coalition’s carbon tax scare campaign from 2011-13. In the case of the latter, Abbott prosecuted case after case of the carbon tax adding to the bills of individual voters. Labor is convinced the GST rise is a real fear in the electorate.
The treasurer gets a Dixer on global growth targets.
Then Chris Bowen to Turnbull: The PM has asked for a serious conversation about tax inAustralia. But is the PM seriously asking Australians to have a conversation about extending the GST to rent and paying more to rent their home? Why won’t the PM just rule out putting a 15% GST on everybody’s rent?
Let me say that the object of a full discussion on tax is not to salami slice the debate and rule out one thing after another. That is where the former Labor government got into trouble with the Henry tax review.
Greens MP Adam Bandt asks about the greenhouse gas emissions produced by the Adani coalmine. Turnbull took the question on notice and promised to get back to him. That hasn’t happened yet. Bandt wants to know whether he is embarrassed in the lead up to Paris.
What the honourable member overlooks is Australia is taking to the Paris conference of the parties very substantial emissions...cuts in targets. Our cuts of 26 to 28% reduction from 2005 are very substantial and when they are measured on a per capita basis which is the only way they can reasonably be compared with other countries, they are second only to the emission cuts offered by Brazil.
Turnbull says while Bandt would never approve of coal, the PM met the Chinese premier to ensure Australian coal, which has lower emissions, will more easily be imported by China through a change in administrative rules. More Australian coal exports, in other words.
Not sure that Bandt would be interested in that answer.
Updated
Labor’s Tanya Plibersek to the PM: Will the PM rule out increasing the cost of renting for Australians by applying a 15% GST to rent? How would a 15% GST on rent affect people saving for a home?
Turnbull flicks the question to treasurer Scott Morrison.
Labor to Turnbull: The PM has just told the parliament he wants to have a conversation with Australians about tax. So when will the PM tell a young family exactly how much longer they will have to save to buy their first home because of his 15% GST?
Turnbull says he has just answered that question.
Next, a Dixer on free trade agreements and exciting opportunities.
Updated
Meanwhile Turnbull has a message for his colleague Kevin Andrews on his call to send troops to Syria.
We are working with our coalition allies and that is as it should be. We have to destroy ISIL together. But we cannot and should not act unilaterally. Not only because that would be obviously unreasonable and unwise, but because it would be in violation of our agreement with the government of Iraq. Now I know that many people here and in the United States have argued that America and its allies should dispatch a large expeditionary force to conquer and hold the ISIL forces in much the same way that Iraq was occupied in 2003. That is not the policy of the United States government or any of the coalition partners and it is unrealistic for Australia to embark on any military operations in that region other than in partnership with our allies.
In the senate, George Brandis has sent a message to his colleague Cory Bernardi on the 12,000 Syrian refugees.
These attacks give no reason to reduce our commitment to helping those who flee the barbarism of Isil and other terrorists. Indeed, they demonstrate more graphically why it is necessary, both to stand resolutely against Isil, and also, to help as best we can its many innocent victims, including the 12,000 Syrian refugees we have rightly committed to take,.
Next, a Dixer to Turnbull on the global response to the recent terrorist attacks.
Labor asks Turnbull: The Housing Industry Association has warned that increasing the GST to 15% could price many Australians out of home ownership. Does the PM agree with the Housing Industry Association that increasing the GST to 15% would make it even harder for young Australians to buy a home?
I don’t feel they’ve been away at all. Nothing has changed. Question time is just as it was when I left! The leader of the opposition seems persuaded that the government is proposing to introduce a 15% GST. The government has no such policy.
Bill Shorten follows and pays tribute to the farmer Kim Curnow and the three other victims.
There is another statement on indulgence from the prime minister, this time for the four people who died in the Esperance bushfires.
The tragedy of people going about their daily lives in a farming community in Esperance only to be confronted by fire storm drives home to all of us a very grave dangers to life and property as the bushfire season is upon us.
Speaker Tony Smith asks the chamber to rise in support of the statements of Turnbull and Shorten and as a mark of respect to the victims.
Bill Shorten uses the example of a French football player Lassana Diarra, a practising Muslim, who lost his cousin in the attacks.
It does not matter what faith terrorists invoke, if they invoke a faith, it does not matter what imagined injustice they pretend have to suffered, it does not matter what name terrorists claim to act in or what flag they wave. Regardless of the religious symbol they claim to love, the nightmare is always the same - spreading fear, inciting hatred and division.
Turnbull speaks about the attacks on Paris and elsewhere.
Paris, the city of light, was assaulted by godless Isil murderers who blasphemously claimed to be killing in the name of God, who claimed to be killing in the name of Islam but defamed and blasphemed Islam itself.
He says terrorism is not just a problem for the west. Just recently, there have been attacks on Beirut, Ankara, Tunisia and Nigeria.
Turnbull reiterates the need for a united front from governments to defeat Isil and he praised Muslim leaders “who have spoken out for an authentic, moderate and tolerant Islam”.
Updated
The prime minister is making a statement to the house on terrorist attacks in Paris. The French ambassador Christophe Lecourtier is in the chamber.
Carols for question time.
For Warren Entsch. Get well soon, via @MattGlassDarkly.
@gabriellechan Geez Warren, at least take me out to dinner first... #GetWellSoonEntschy #cowetiquette pic.twitter.com/7vDcKnW88X
— The Matt Hatter (@MattGlassDarkly) November 23, 2015
Greens win water entitlement register for foreign investors
The Coalition/Greens deal on foreign investment relates to the bill which applies to foreign investors, including foreign government investors, and lower the thresholds for investments in agricultural land.
Labor wants to amend the bill to scrap requirements for Foreign Investment Review Board (Firb) screening of agribusiness investments worth more than $55 million.
They will also amend the bill to increase the Firb screening threshold for investment in agricultural land from the government’s proposed $15 million (cumulative) to $50 million (non-cumulative).
Under the Coalition proposal, United States, United Kingdom and Chile would have agriculture land and investment thresholds of $1.094bn.
Singapore and Thailand would have an ag land threshold of $50m and $55m for agribusiness.
Japan, Korea, China and the rest of the world would have an ag land threshold of $15m (cumulative) and $55m for agribusiness.
It is understood the Greens have won changes which inserts a sunset clause into the foreign land register bill. The government has committed to establish a similar register for foreign owners investing in water entitlements by December 2016. If that legislation does not materialise, the foreign land ownership bill lapses.
BREAKING: Greens & Coalition do a deal that'll see tighter #foreigninvestment scrutiny law pass Senate. #auspol #agchatoz @ABCRural @abcnews
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) November 23, 2015
Dribble and sputum
Freedom man, senator David Leyonhjelm, spoke in favour of the no jab, no pay bill.
It’s bad enough that people continue to bring wave upon wave of these little blighters into the world, the least they can do is immunise their bundles of dribble and sputum so they don’t make the rest of us sick.
Cory Bernardi: reconsider the 12,000 Syrian refugees
The good senator wants the government to rethink its policy on Syrian refugees.
I do think that cabinet now needs to reconsider the decision to take in 12,000 additional refugees on the basis of evidence that’s come to light over the last week or so. Firstly, we know that a number of people claiming to be refugees have used the same falsified documents to enter Europe. We also know that the FBI in America has said they cannot effectively screen or vouch for the bonafides of those claims to be refugees because there is no database that there is a plethora of fraud length falsified documents and you can’t go into Syria to prove up the back story.
Kevin Andrews: Isis airstrikes need support on the ground
Kevin Andrews is speaking on the ABC, fleshing out his thoughts on sending Australian special soldiers to Syria.
I think my assessment would be that, in a sense, president Obama has probably over-learnt the lessons of president Bush. We may have made some mistakes in terms of the early Iraq interventions but now it seems to me that the pendulum has swung the other way and we are at risk of not doing enough. It’s not about more troops necessarily but it’s about concentrating our efforts to ensure that we defeat ISIL.
Andrews says the airstrikes need support on the ground and used the Kurdish support on the ground in Iraq of an example of an effective campaign.
You’ll never be able to drop bombs where you need to drop them adequately or in sufficient numbers unless you have some presence on the ground for a start.
Andrews rejected Scott Morrison’s criticism that Australia could not go it alone and send troops.
We should look at a special force, a coalition, [I’m] not talking about Australia alone and about necessarily large numbers. As I said in the article, it’s a false choice between saying let’s just continue to do what we do and some massive large scale invasion of Syria. There is an in between position, carefully calibrated which goes after ISIL and its leadership which would bring about a more effective response.
Lunch time politics
- Kevin Andrews has been helpful, suggesting the government should push the United States to put troops on the ground in Syria. Two senior government members, treasurer Scott Morrison and innovation minister Christopher Pyne, have pointed out that Australia is hardly going to go at it alone. Pyne added that no one (that means Kevin) suggested such a thing the last two years (when Andrews was in cabinet).
- United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon has asked Malcolm Turnbull to reconsider the government’s asylum seeker policies and “share responsibilities”.
- Labor wants to debate the government’s strategy on Syria and Iraq but the Coalition won’t come at it.
- Bob Katter wants to criminalise paparazzi taking pictures of celebrities kids.
Christopher Pyne has been asked about Kevin Andrews call for special forces in Syria.
Pyne says the government is in lock step with international coalition fighting Isis.
Australia is a model international citizen, says the innovation minister.
Pyne makes the point that he does not recall a proposal coming forward to put “boots on the ground in the middle east”. Brackets, while Kevin Andrews was in cabinet, close brackets.
No need to get ahead of ourselves, he says.
If we are asked to, if the US asks us, we will certainly consider it.
Labor calls for debate on Syria and Iraq policy
Labor’s foreign affairs spokesman Tanya Plibersek has moved a motion which calls for foreign minister Julie Bishop to support a parliamentary debate in the next two weeks on the government’s strategy in response to the crisis in Syria and Iraq.
Government MPs have been speaking against it, so it does not look like passing the house.
Updated
The aforementioned No Jab No Pay bill, which links welfare payments to immunisation, has passed the senate without amendment.
The dual citizenship “allegiance to Australia” bill is the fourth instalment of national security legislation in this term of government. Attorney general George Brandis liked to refer to them as tranches, so let’s wander through them.
- Extra powers for Asio.
- Tougher penalties for foreign fighters and inclusion of “no-go zones”.
- New rules for metadata.
- Stripping Australian citizenship for dual nationals.
Looking down the barrel, we are also expecting something to tighten control orders, including lowering the age at which they can be applied. That would be number five.
Justice minister Michael Keenan has been asked whether there will be any more bills.
That is an ongoing process. If it is the case that we are required to do more than obviously the government will continue that. At this stage we believe we’ve got the setting right.
UN chief asks Turnbull to "share responsibilities" and reconsider Coalition's asylum seeker policies
Daniel Hurst reports the United Nations chief, Ban Ki-moon, personally called on Malcolm Turnbull to reconsider Australia’s policy on turning back asylum seeker boats during a meeting in Malaysia. He also raised concerns about conditions in Australia’s offshore detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island.
The summary report of the meeting said:
The secretary general expressed concern over the detention conditions in Australia’s offshore processing centres and encouraged the prime minister to reconsider Operation Sovereign Borders.
Ban noted Australia’s “longstanding commitment to refugee resettlement” and “appealed to the prime minister to share responsibilities”.
President and Speaker get their heads together.
Katter introduces the anti-paparazzi bill
Queensland independent Bob Katter has introduced a private members bill which would insert a new criminal offence provision for paparazzi who harass
the children of celebrities or any other person due to that person’s vocation or occupation, through their attempt to photograph or record the child’s image or voice, whether by following or lying in wait for the child.
The children of persons of prominence should not be forced into the public arena for public scrutiny. Everyone has a right to privacy unless and except that they place themselves in the public arena. The taking of photographs of children against their will or permission, or that of their parent or guardian, should be illegal.
There has been no indication of support from the Coalition or Labor.
It is the most exciting time to be a flag waver.
PM @TurnbullMalcolm engages in some patriotism at the #ASEAN celebrations in Kuala Lumpur https://t.co/OSNpPSjYo4 https://t.co/NvDMHvxjqv
— ABC News (@abcnews) November 22, 2015
Hats off Aunty.
The Cairns Post reports their local LNP MP, Warren Entsch, has received five stitches after an accident in his cattle yards.
Entsch was pregnancy testing his cattle, a process which involves manual examination.
But one of them had a long memory and lined him up afterwards, when his guard was down. She punted him head first into a steel gate, cutting his forehead.
As they told me at Atherton Hospital, I’m fortunate I’m a politician because it seems to them that I not only do I have thick skin, but I’ve got a thick skull as well, so there was no damage.
Entsch joked to reporter Daniel Bateman he had learnt never to turn his back on a female – of any species – and to not be complacent when working with livestock.
The cattle in the embryo program are all relatively quiet. But obviously, after an invasive procedure, this cow was feeling a bit out of sorts. The fact that I was rude enough to turn my back on her was enough to provoke the reaction.
The senate is debating the social services (no jab, no pay) bill.
The bill is to:
ensure children fully meet immunisation requirements for payment of child care benefit, child care rebate or the family tax benefit part A supplement; and extend the immunisation requirements to include children of all ages.
It has the support of Labor.
The Greens support the bill but they want it to take effect on 1 Jan 2018 so that data systems are best placed to ensure payments are not removed unnecessarily.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale is also trying to amend to recognise the GP is the person best placed to use their clinical judgement in assessing who is eligible for medical exemption to vaccination.
Labor is not supporting the Greens amendment.
The parliamentary giving tree will be launched in a few moments. The senate president, Stephen Parry and the speaker Tony Smith will turn on the lights while the Burgmann Anglican School Choir will sing a few carols.
Yea verily, Christmas is just around the corner.
Stalking the halls.
FFFFFFar out Kevin.
Morrison has underlined several times that Australia is part of a coalition of forces and will not act unilaterally by sending troops. But to be fair to Andrews, he was suggesting Australia push the United States to change the parameters of the involvement to ensure boots on the ground. He did not suggest that Australia alone should send special forces troops.
Here is more of Morrison:
It’s important in these situations that we remain very calm and that we work in concert with our partners in this theatre and that we don’t have some sort of hot-headed response to these issues, that we remain very measured and calibrated with our partners and we remain focused on getting the job done.
Morrison is asked what is “at play” in the government, with Tony Abbott and Kevin Andrews calling for a different approach on national security. Morrison says he won’t go into commentary and then apparently contrasts the less inflammatory approach of the new leadership.
What we won’t entertain is the sort of approach which will set one Australian against another because that’s what Daesh wants. Daesh wants conflict in this country. It wants that. And we’re going to deny them that. I think Australians will also not be intimidated out of the free and open lifestyle that we enjoy in this country.
Scott Morrison slaps down Kevin Andrews call for special forces in Syria
The treasurer has rejected the former defence minister’s free advice on Syria. Andrews urged Turnbull to show leadership and call on the US to send special operations forces and related personnel to defeat Isis. Surely not, says Morrison.
Once again I don’t think anyone is suggesting that Australia should be acting unilaterally on these issues. And to suggest that we should take some unilateral action in this area, I would find very surprising. I’m sure that’s not what the former defence minister would be suggesting. That would be contrary to everything that was previously being done and equally under his own administration.
Scott Morrison: we don't want a hot-headed response to terrorism
There is a counter insurgency going on within the right in the Coalition and some of supporters. Andrew Bolt has written a column today critical of Turnbull for:
siding with the catastrophically weak president Barack Obama.
Kevin Andrews column urged Turnbull to show some leadership and send special operations forces into Syria.
2GB’s Ray Hadley has criticised the PM this morning for comments he made before coming to the leadership. I am trying to track those comments but the substance, according to Hadley, was that the debate on national security and counter-terrorism shouldn’t be over the top or descend into a caricature.
Treasurer Scott Morrison says Turnbull has always had a realistic approach to national security.
His and the government’s approach, says Morrison, has been very “deliberate and sober”.
What you don’t want...is a hot headed response.
Morrison said what happened in Paris was “horrendous”. He said while it was coordinated, he would not describe it as “sophisticated”.
Parliament sits at 10am this morning. While the dual nationals citizenship bill is the key thing in the lower house, the senate has a storm of legislation coming up - as is always the case at the end of the sitting year. These are the bills on the draft program today:
- Social Services Legislation Amendment (No Jab, No Pay) Bill 2015
- Migration and Maritime Powers Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2015
- Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
- Migration Amendment (Charging for a Migration Outcome) Bill 2015
- Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Trustee Governance) Bill 2015
- Shipping Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
So there are some controversial ones in there.
The foreign acquisitions bill, which changes the limits for some foreign buyers before review by the Foreign Investment Review Board (Firb).
The shipping bill relates to changes that free up ships to employ foreign crews. Remember the Australian cruise operator who alleged and it turned out to be correct, that a government official had advised him one of his options was to sack his Australian crew and hire a cheaper foreign crew.
I’m struggling to understand the origins of the war over the make up of 12,000 Syrian refugees. Under Tony Abbott, cabinet originally agreed that the numbers would focus on persecuted minorities. After a story in the Weekend Oz in which Catholic leaders expressed concerns at the plans being “derailed, Turnbull reasserted there were no changes in the original plan. That is, persecuted minorities, including Christians, would be heavily represented in the intake.
Certainly some ministers, such as the treasurer Scott Morrison, have been underlining his expectation that the majority would be Christians.
But Tony Abbott said:
There are Muslim minorities, Druze, Turkmen, Kurds, there are non-Muslim minorities, Christians, various sorts, Jews, Yazidis, Armenians, so there are persecuted minorities that are Muslim, there are persecuted minorities that are non-Muslim and our focus is on the persecuted minorities who have been displaced and are very unlikely ever to be able to go back to their original homes.
(Note: this quote previously incorrectly attributed to Julie Bishop.)
But nowhere, have we seen any numbers as to what the make up of the 12,000 refugees will be. Obviously there is some difference of opinion within the government on how those numbers should fall. Which is partly what is leading to the concerns of Catholic leaders.
The only new information on it this morning is from the NSW refugee resettlement co-ordinator general, Peter Shergold. Shalailah Medhora reports he has backed the government’s screening and security policies, saying that the rigorous process means that the resettlement of 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees will likely occur in 2017.
I’m working on the basis that the vast majority will come next year in 12 or 18 months, not six months. I think it’s appropriate that screening, security, character checks are all be done before they arrive.
Where the refugees will be resettled has not yet been determined, Shergold said, adding that some NSW regional centres like Wagga Wagga, Armidale and Coffs Harbour have said they will take the new arrivals if asked to.
It will depend on how many will be sponsored by family, and how many come without those connections. This is a free and an open country. People will move over time.”
Updated
Send troops to Syria, says Kevin Andrews
Back to the hawks.
Kevin Andrews says that the US is drifting on its response to the Isis threat.
This is why Obama’s response to the Paris atrocities and his remarks in Turkey are worrying. At a time when the coalition of nations fighting IS is seeking a strong, united response, Mr Obama said, “But what I’m not interested in doing is posing or pursuing some notion of American leadership or America winning, or whatever other slogans they come up with.”
Andrews says Obama has created a “false choice” between a “full scale invasion” of Syria or a political solution. Lying in the middle, says Andrews, is a “calibrated military response”.
Here is the Andrews plan.
First, no matter how much the West loathes President Putin, it should co-operate with him to defeat IS.
Secondly, the idea of removing Assad should be postponed until and unless there is a credible alternative. Surely we should have learnt by now that removing a dictator without having an achievable plan for a viable alternative leaves a vacuum that enemies like IS will fill.
Thirdly, a concerted campaign by coalition special operations forces and related personnel is required to defeat IS.
Good morning bloganistas,
Welcome to the last parliamentary fortnight of the year. It is all about national security in parliament as Malcolm Turnbull flies in after an 11 day tour which included three world summits.
First job is to reconvene the national security committee which includes:
Warren Truss, Julie Bishop, George Brandis, Marise Payne, Scott Morrison and Arthur Sinodinos.
Also up for debate is the “allegiance to Australia” bill that would strip dual nationals of their Australian citizenship for terrorist offences. It has bipartisan support. But remember there was argy bargy in the last sitting week because immigration minister Peter Dutton tried to push it through the house without allowing proper scrutiny and debate. We should hear a lot more of that today.
The hawks are circling. After Tony Abbott’s call for troops in Syria, his former defence minister Kevin Andrews has written a similar opinion this morning in the Financial Review. I will come to that in a moment.
Also on the parliamentary agenda is higher education. In the senate, changes to superannuation trustee rules and the shipping changes should come up today.
Also, Mike Bowers has arrived. We are on Twitter @gabriellechan and @mpbowers, so join us there or below in the thread. Onwards.
