Night time politics
- As we leave #politicslive, the debate has started in the Senate over the Adler shotgun import ban. This relates to the lever-action shotgun that has been under a temporary import ban as it waits for the state governments decide what category it should be put in. It caused a controversy over whether David Leyonhjelm was offered a reprieve for the gun in return of his vote on the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). At issue tonight is whether the import ban should be lifted. The debate has just been postponed for the dinner break.
- George Brandis has suggested his own LNP Queensland opposition is “very, very mediocre” when talking to Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger in front of a live microphone. He says One Nation will win a fair few seats in the next Queensland election.
- Peter Dutton has elaborated on his earlier comments regarding mistakes in Australia’s migration stream made under Malcolm Fraser in the 1970s. The two big intakes in that period were Vietnamese and Lebanese migrants. Asked by Labor, Dutton said Lebanese Muslims of second or third generation represented the biggest majority of those charged with terrorism offences.
- One Nation senator Rod Culleton appeared in the high court for a directions hearing on his eligibility as a senator. The hearing was set down for December 7-8. Bob Katter went down there too to provide moral support – interesting given the rumours that he might jump the One Nation ship to Katter. Both men ruled it out today (unless Culleton gets the shove).
- After a Deloitte’s report that predicted a budget deficit blowout of $24bn over the next four years, Scott Morrison did agree the budget situation was worsening - or rather the numbers were moving. A balanced budget by 2020-2021 is not so likely by the sound of the treasurer.
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Question time was led by the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, who flicked most of the questions to the relevant ministers.
That’s it for tonight. Thanks to the brains trust, Paul Karp, Gareth Hutchens, Katharine Murphy and Mike Bowers.
And thanks to Matt Hatter for making me laugh.
@gabriellechan Hello! I do live it when the Senators not brainwashed by, oh, let's say the UN, debate the important issues. #tinfoilahoy pic.twitter.com/jCcLdWZPKy
— The Matt Hatter (@MattGlassDarkly) November 21, 2016
By late this evening, we should have a vote on the Adler and rest assured Guardian will keep you posted.
See you on the morrow.
Updated
Bow to The Donald and rejoice for the western spring.
Is this your size?
Ha! I laugh in the face of danger.
Updated
While Jenny McAllister reads out just about every climate science paper that ever was, let’s consider Sam Dastyari’s hair.
.@samdastyari jokes the Coalition (and @James_Jeffrey) has unleashed "a relentless and unfair attack" on his hairstyle #auspol pic.twitter.com/9VAgFfesdN
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) November 21, 2016
Senator Ian Macdonald thanks Malcolm Roberts for bringing a rational debate on climate change in the Senate.
Labor’s Jenny McAllister says the Senate should not be wasting an hour on whether it is real but should be spending a month on possible solutions.
Updated
LNP Liberal senator Ian Macdonald says it is not appropriate for the Greens to be sniggering. This is an important debate, says he.
Of course the climate changes, it always has.
Macdonald says he had a visit from a little girl from the Pacific Islands. She was worried about her island and climate change. He had to tell her it’s been happening for a long time and there was nothing Australia could do.
The climate of the world continually changes from what it was years ago.
The Greens senator Nick McKim has produced a tin foil hat for One Nation’s senator Malcolm Roberts. He asks, why are we wasting our time on this?
What about the moon landing? Is Tasmania an island?
When you close your eyes senator, is it still there?
Updated
Just in case you missed this in another place:
#orangevotes re-count over and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers win by 50 votes #nswpol
— Antony Green (@AntonyGreenABC) November 21, 2016
Updated
The National party senator John Williams is speaking on climate change now.
In the background, Michaelia Cash calls over Pauline Hanson. They leave the chamber together. Negotiations on the industrial relations bills are obviously continuing apace.
Updated
BTW, the Senate passed Eric Abetz’s motion against the Labor senator Kimberley Kitching by 35-21.
The Senate notes:
- The Fair Work Commission found Ms Kimberley Kitching provided untruthful and unreliable evidence in Health Services Union-Victoria No. 1 Branch [2015] FWC 3359. It also found her conduct strikes at the heart of the integrity of the right of entry permit system. This decision was upheld on appeal by three members.
- Calls on anyone appearing before the Fair Work Commission to provide reliable and truthful evidence.
Updated
Sorry I should explain.
This is the Malcolm Roberts “matter of public importance”, being debated in the Senate.
The policy position of the Australian government towards the disputed theory of global warming with the election of Mr Trump as president, who is well known to reject exaggerated claims of anthropogenic climate change.
Roberts says One Nation is working on its links with the Trump camp. He might be able to help Trump.
Updated
Here comes Malcolm Roberts. He is very excited by the election of Donald J. Trump.
The eeeeelites are wetting their beds, he says.
This is the beginning of the Western Spring.
There is a question in the thread about the Adler disallowance motion. The Senate is a funny place but this is how I understand it.
A disallowance motion reverses or “disallows” previous action. In the case of the Adler, a temporary import ban was put in place. Leyonhjelm moves the disallowance to get rid of the ban.
The key political point is this: if Leyonhjelm wins the vote, the gun comes in (again).
If Leyonhjelm loses the vote, the gun stays out.
The ones to watch are the National party senators.
Updated
After Dutton's QT comments on Lebanese, these pars from my NSC draft document leak in Feb are instructive @lateline https://t.co/EmiUCpwjmO pic.twitter.com/C2E3r1FBxL
— David Lipson (@davidlipson) November 21, 2016
Here is George in all of his glory.
Attorney-General George Brandis says Qld LNP 'very very mediocre' #auspol READ MORE: https://t.co/GpYEiMtdtV https://t.co/b6sx5tzS70
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 21, 2016
The attorney general and Queensland LNP senator George Brandis has been caught on microphone suggesting the Queensland LNP was not great. Sky News has the story.
The answer came in response to a question from the Victorian Liberal president, Michael Kroger: “How are things in Queensland, how’s Tim Nicholls going?”
Um well they’re not very good ... I’d say that the state opposition is very, very mediocre and the state government is very, very mediocre but the thing that is alarming everyone is, as you would expect, the sudden spike in One Nation, which is now at about 16%.
Brandis says it looks as though One Nation will win quite a few seats in Queensland.
Will no one learn about live microphones?
Updated
I have the transcript.
Let’s get back to the senate for a minute. There were 11 speakers on the registered organisations bill and there are another 5 to go.
Given there are other things the senate has to do before it comes back (senate has had question time), we will not get to a vote today.
Instead, we have a matter of public importance from One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts, namely:
The policy position of the Australian Government towards the disputed theory of global warming with the election of Mr Trump as President, who is well known to reject exaggerated claims of anthropogenic climate change.
Then the senate will debate and vote on David Leyonhjelm’s motion to lift the import ban on the Adler shotgun. (If the senate does not vote on this one, the ban will be automatically lifted.)
After that, it is the Penny Wong’s disallowance of the George Brandis legal direction (which the Brandis has already chucked out).
And only then, does the registered organisations bill come back for debate.
Things that make you go hmmmmm.
The Shorten question to Peter Dutton, with his answer.
.@billshortenmp asks Peter Dutton to explain his controversial comments on Malcolm Fraser's immigration policies #qt https://t.co/v0NXF1r4kA
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 21, 2016
The whole Malcolm Fraser-Peter Dutton issue arose from an Andrew Bolt interview on Sky last week. This is what Dutton said originally.
If there is a particular problem that people can point to within a certain community, and we’re talking about a significant number of people in that community who are doing the wrong thing, then clearly mistakes have been made in the past.
The reality is that Malcolm Fraser did make mistakes in bringing some people in in the 1970s and we’re seeing that today. We need to be honest in having that discussion.
In giving the answer, Dutton said it wasn’t fair to define the majority of one group based on a small minority. But by naming the group, he has just defined them.
Immigration minister Peter Dutton’s comments are pretty extraordinary.
He doubles down.
If the Leader of the Opposition wants somehow to conduct a phony debate in this country and not to be honest in relation to these matters, that’s an issue for him. We are doing all that we can through our intelligence agencies and through our border protection agencies to make sure that we detect offences before they occur to make sure that in particular we can disrupt these terrorist offences in particular before they take place. But I’m not going to shy away from the facts.
Peter Dutton says second and third generation Lebanese Muslims make up majority of terrorism related charges
Labor again asks who Peter Dutton was referring to when he suggested Malcolm Fraser made a mistake bringing some migrants to Australia.
Dutton approaches the dispatch box quietly. It is clear he will answer the question. His fellow MPs sit behind him stony faced.
The advice I have is that out of the last 33 people who have been charged with terrorist-related offences in this country, 22 of those people are from second and third generation Lebanese-Muslim background. I’m not going to allow [those] who are hard-working, who have done the right thing by this country, who have contributed, who have worked hard, who have educated their children, I’m not going to allow those people to be defined by those people who are doing the wrong thing and have been charged with terrorist offences or have been involved in crime otherwise.
Free range Barnaby.
Acting PM Barnaby Joyce free-ranging during #QT @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/qIkjrK2oNI
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) November 21, 2016
Bill Shorten asks immigration minister Peter Dutton about his comments: “The reality is Malcolm Fraser did make mistakes in bringing some people in the 1970s.” Which people was the minister referring to? And will the minister now apologise to Australia’s hard working migrant communities, including but not limited to the Vietnamese community?
PDuddy fires up big time.
I’m not going to be misrepresented by this great fraud of Australian politics. I can assure you of that. I won’t be bullied by this union leader.
He says:
I made the point last week that we do have concerns about elements within the Australian society at the moment, in particular some of those who have been involved in criminal activity. Some of those people who have been involved in heading off to Syria and to Iraq and I’m not going to allow the rest of the community, the rest of the community in Sydney and Melbourne in particular to be defined by those small elements who are besmirching the vast majority of people within their own communities. I’m not going to allow that to happen.
Labor to Joyce: Given the 450 gigalitres is to be acquired through investment with on farm infrastructure. Taxpayers paying for farmers to improve their infrastructure, won’t that be negative? Isn’t the case the National party is looking for any excuse while the PM is away to tear apart the bipartisan consensus on the Murray Darling?
I did not entirely understand the answer but I think he said that the Labor South Australia water minister Ian Hunter should turn up to meetings for longer than 10 minutes.
Just by the by, regarding those profanities, SA premier Jay Weatherill has suggested of Ian Hunter’s behaviour:
He was entirely appropriate in his sentiments.
Weatherill said it in a 5AA podcast in South Australia at around the 16:50 mark.
Labor to Barnaby Joyce: Yesterday when speaking about the Acting PM’s plan to dismantle the Murray Darling Basin plan, Senator Xenophon said and I quote, “Barnaby was free ranging the other day. It doesn’t reflect the whole of government policy.” Who communicated this message to Senator Xenophon and was the Senator correct? Was it fair to describe the acting PM as free ranging?
This relates to a fight between the South Australian water minister, Ian Hunter, the Victorian minister and Joyce last week.
Hunter yelled profanities at Joyce and the Victorian minister when they suggested that South Australia would not get its extra 450GL under the Murray Darling Plan.
Joyce tells parliament that the legislation says any water delivered has to “neutral or improved socioeconomic outcomes” for communities.
Updated
Joel Fitzgibbon to Barnaby Joyce: Can the acting PM confirm he doctored his Hansard, forced out the departmental secretary who dared to question his integrity, announced the relocation of the APVMA to his own electorate without releasing the cost benefit analysis, and is free ranging against his colleagues on the Murray Darling Basin, contrary to the PM? Does the acting PM agree with this division in his wake, he’s looking more like the Liberal PM every day?
Joyce says, no he didn’t doctor the Hansard.
Joyce says, yes he does believe in decentralisation.
Joyce says, yes he has a vision.
Updated
Industry minister Greg Hunt gets a government question on the rule of law within industry. CFMEU.
Tanya Plibersek to Barnaby Joyce: The National party education minister in NSW Adrian Piccoli said about Labor’s plan for extra schools funding, “The national support of the reforms right from the start. It’s good policy that benefits country schools and country kids. We don’t play politics with our children’s future.” Does the acting PM agree with his Nationals colleague, or will he continue to make excuses for the government’s policies of cuts that will see every country kid in every country school worse off?
Barnaby Joyce says the Coalition put more money into schools.
And he says Labor is only trying help out the Teachers Federation who hands out for the party on election day.
He says we are not going to follow the dictums of the Teachers Federation, “we will look after the students”.
Updated
Trade and tourism minister Steve Ciobo gets a government question on the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
A government question on alleged union corruption to Christopher Pyne.
Labor’s Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison: If the government drops its plan for a big business tax cut, which costs the budget $50bn, will it be more or less likely that the budget will be in balance in 2021?
Scott Morrison is not going to engage in hypotheticals.
Updated
Greens MP Adam Bandt to Josh Frydenberg, energy and environment minister: At the recent global climate summit, the US climate envoy said because of rapid melting in Antarctica, current levels of global warming can see 1.5m of sea level rise by 2050. Even if the world stopped all pollution tomorrow, by the time a child born today reaches her 30s she would live in a world where the sea is 1.5m higher than now. This isn’t a Green group or climate activists saying this, it’s the US Government. Given our coastal capital cities, what would be the impacts on Australian’s homes, businesses and infrastructure if sea levels rise by 1. 5m?
Frydenberg does not answer the question .
It’s OK for the Member for Melbourne to put his sandals upon the seat, sip his soy latte and sit in the streets of Brunswick and say it’s the end of coal because he put out a press release saying it was the end of coal, to celebrate the loss of jobs in the La Trobe Valley for the people of Hazelwood. Shame on him.
Labor’s Chris Bowen to Barnaby Joyce: Reports today confirm that MYEFO will be released on December 19 and the deficit will be up. Why has the treasurer refused to confirm the government’s own budget papers, which show a return to surplus in 2021? Isn’t this the case the government is so chaotic it would prefer to keep its $50bn tax cut for big business rather than retain Australia’s triple-A credit rating?
Bluster follows and then Joyce flicks the question to Scott Morrison, who then says:
What I said on ABC Radio this morning is we’ll return to surplus when expenditure is less than revenue.
Lols. No answer appears.
Updated
The government question is on the CFMEU.
Labor’s Jenny Macklin to Barnaby Joyce: Under this government’s latest cuts to paid parental leave, a woman working at Coles would lose 10 weeks of paid parental leave, a loss of around $6,700. Can the acting PM explain to mums working at Coles why he thinks that cutting the amount of time they can spend at home breast-feeding their newborn babies is fair?
Barnaby Joyce:
We’re doing so much in this nation to make sure that we are both fair and we are responsible. But we are fair and responsible because we acknowledge, we acknowledge that the task that was left to us by a Labor government, a previous Labor government that left us hundreds of billions of dollars in debt.
Joyce flicks the question to the social services minister, Christian Porter.
Porter accuses Macklin of “unhitching her wagon from the truth”. He says Macklin’s suggestion that women on a median income of $43,000 would be affected by changes to the paid parental leave scheme were not correct.
Not only have you unhitched your wagon from the truth, you have taken a fact and deliberately stated it opposite to try and scare mums into believing they would be affected when they would not be.
Updated
Bob has arrived.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce, the deputy prime minister and Nationals leader, is leading the government as Malcolm Turnbull is still away for Apec.
Tanya Plibersek to Scott Morrison: I refer to an FOI request about paid parental leave submitted to the treasurer’s office when he was social services minister. This request was rejected because it would have taken four days to consider the 550 pages of insults that the treasurer or his colleagues describing working women as double-dippers, fraudsters. Will he apologise for describing working mums in such abusive terms?
Then the speaker asks her to rephrase. She questions Christian Porter, the social services minister, instead.
Porter says neither he nor Scott Morrison have used those terms and he is not surprised at the refusal of the request.
Updated
Question time coming up at 2pm.
Horses for courses: Bob Katter turns up to support Rod Culleton at high court
Bob Katter has appeared outside the high court to express support for Rod Culleton. In an impromptu press conference, he said the case sets a bad precedent.
Katter said that the One Nation party leader, Pauline Hanson, had not supported Culleton, because she agreed to the referral to the high court, did not back his proposed banking royal commission and was continuing the government’s attack on trade unionism through the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill.
Asked if he was encouraging Culleton to join the Katter Australia party, Katter revealed a third party had approached Culleton without Katter’s knowledge but received a “flat knockback”. That was because Culleton was “not a rat” and KAP didn’t “take rats” at any rate.
But Katter then appeared to equivocate, noting that if One Nation “ratted on Culleton” that would be a “horse of a different colour”.
After a delay waiting for Bob, Culleton exited the high court. Asked if he would jump ship from One Nation, he replied:
Well I had a shave this morning and I didn’t see any whiskers – so I’m not a rat.
Culleton said he would stay with One Nation “for now” but, when asked to rule out jumping ship, he said: “If I was to go, it wouldn’t be my choice … it would be up to others.”
Culleton said he wasn’t sure if he would continue to self-represent or appoint counsel but criticised the prospect of the attorney general, George Brandis, appointing counsel to give his side of the argument a run.
Updated
There was a stream of consciousnessness doorstop from Rod Culleton outside the high court. He was asked about rumours that he would join Bob Katter’s Australia Party, to which he said:
I am One Nation at the moment. That is where I was elected.
He wants a jury to hear his case set down for 7 and 8 December in the high court.
He was asked about his state of mind, given his leader Pauline Hanson’s comments regarding his mental stress.
Well look my wife is a psychologist and the last report I got from her was that I am a machine, he says without the hint of a smirk.
Updated
Lunchtime politics
- One Nation senator Rod Culleton has made a brief appearance at the high court, sitting as the court of disputed returns. Justice Robert French has set down the hearing for 7 and 8 December, even though Culleton asked for more time to prepare. French says the Senate composition is too important to wait longer.
- Treasurer Scott Morrison has laid the groundwork for not achieving a budget surplus in 2021 as promised, following a Deloitte’s report which found a likely deficit blowout by $24bn over the next four years.
- The debate on the registered organisations bill has continued all morning in the Senate. It included guest appearances from One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts railing against the elites – being union officials generally and Bill Shorten in particular.
- Immigration minister Peter Dutton has flagged the government may take more refugees fleeing war zones in Syria and Iraq.
Updated
High court to hear Rod Culleton eligibility case in December
The case of Rodney Culleton’s eligibility will be heard by the full high court (sitting as the court of disputed returns) in the December sitting (7th or 8th were suggested as possible dates).
Culleton had wanted the case put off until the new year to allow himself time to prepare, but chief justice Robert French said it was best dealt with expeditiously due to the public interest of determining the Senate’s composition.
Culleton is going to get a chance to lawyer up. If he appoints counsel before 25 November, he will be represented. If not, the Commonwealth will appoint an independent barrister (amicus curiae) to run the argument in defence of Culleton, and in addition Culleton can also represent himself.
This procedure appeared to confuse Culleton who suggested it was “like sleeping with the enemy in a sense”. He raised the issue of “trying to find a senior counsel that loves One Nation”, but French quickly shut down the suggestion the barrister needed to be a Hansonite for the procedure to be fair.
Culleton wants to get counsel, but is not sure if the attorney general will grant aid to pay for it. One of the reasons Culleton wanted the case delayed was, he said, because his piggy bank had “become dehydrated”.
Culleton wasn’t happy with the orders, describing them as procedurally unfair, a “massive workload” for him to prepare his case, and foreshadowing an appeal to the full court of the high court.
Updated
Still in the Senate, Labor’s Kim Carr is having a crack back at One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts over his speech earlier, accusing Labor of being part of the elites. Carr says One Nation is the anti-union and anti-worker.
One Nation is the tool of the elites.
The debate continues on the registered organisation bill.
Updated
.@SenatorCulleton says he's doesn't want to talk about Constitution.
— Matthew Doran (@MattDoran91) November 21, 2016
CJ French says they're hear to talk about the Constitution@abcnews
"At no time had I ever, in my mind, broken the law." @SenatorCulleton #auspol @abcnews
— Matthew Doran (@MattDoran91) November 21, 2016
"I stand here with 50,000 people who elected me." @SenatorCulleton
— Matthew Doran (@MattDoran91) November 21, 2016
"I'm actually not a bad bloke."@abcnews #auspol
From the high court, we are hearing that Rod Culleton has informed Justice Robert French of (Culleton’s) “legal deficit”. But he will struggle on regardless.
Updated
A delegation of farmers and growers have come to Canberra to talk backpackers tax. The issue remains in a stalemate with Labor favouring Jacqui Lambie’s 10.5% proposal and the Coalition’s proposal at 19%. The National Farmers Federation chief executive Tony Mahar is not happy no one is interested in speaking to the delegation.
The NFF reports there is no interest from “key parliamentary decision makers” in meeting them.
Tim Watts and his details.
Not sure it's possible to be swotted at a directions hearing.
— Tim Watts MP (@TimWattsMP) November 21, 2016
Updated
Former Lib MP Dr Sharman Stone has been announced as Australia's next Ambassador for Women and Girls. She'll replace @AusAWG in January 2017
— Naomi Woodley (@naomiwoodley) November 21, 2016
Eric Abetz will move this motion against new senator and Bill Shorten ally Kimberley Kitching.
Later today, following Labor deploying stalling tactics in the last sitting week to defer the motion, the Senate will consider this motion:
That this Senate
- Notes that: The Fair Work Commission found Ms Kimberley Kitching provided untruthful and unreliable evidence in Health Services Union-Victoria No. 1 Branch [2015] FWC 3359. It also found her conduct strikes at the heart of the integrity of the right of entry permit system. This decision was upheld on appeal by three members.
- Calls on anyone appearing before the Fair Work Commission to provide reliable and truthful evidence.
Culleton arriving at High Court: "If I'm swatted today like a mozzie, well then I have done my bit in Australian history" #auspol
— Jennifer Rajca (@jrajca) November 21, 2016
Indi independent Cathy McGowan is speaking on the crossbench marriage equality bill.
McGowan says the people of Indi want marriage equality dealt with and the bill should be allowed to be debated. Given the government’s plebiscite bill has been defeated, it is highly unlikely it would be allowed on for a full debate in the final fortnight of sitting.
One Nation in stereo. One at the high court. One in the Senate.
Malcolm Roberts on Labor:
The party of the working man and woman, the party of Chifley and Curtin, has ceased to exist.
Updated
One Nation senator Rod Culleton appears at the high courts.
Updated
Malcolm Roberts is dumping on Bill Shorten in the Senate relating to the opposition’s former union career.
Roberts is railing against the elites. He puts Shorten in the same basket as former Health Services Union officials Craig Thomson and Kathy Jackson.
The elites would call them the great unwashed … ahh would call us the great unwashed … stopping this bill is what an elite would do.
Roberts draws funding links between CFMEU and Get Up. He talks about Michael O’Connor of the CFMEU, brother of Brendan O’Connor, Labor employment shadow.
Roberts does not mention One Nation’s reported political donations from property developers.
Updated
Rod Culleton: the courts are a roulette wheel for the rich
One Nation senator Rod Culleton has arrived at the high court for the directions hearing in the case into his eligibility as a senator. Culleton claimed the courts needed to be “tidied up” because they were too expensive and had become a “roulette wheel for the rich”, thus why he was representing himself.
Culleton didn’t directly address his eligibility, instead rattling off a very optimistic take on his progress on issues including a bank royal commission and getting Western Australia more GST revenue.
He said he’d given terms for the royal commission to Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten and revealed he is meeting Shorten on Tuesday to discuss them.
All they’ve got to do is sign here, drive away, no more to pay.
On how he’ll fare in the case, Culleton said:
If I’m swatted today like a mozzie, well then I’ve done my bit in Australian history, and nobody can say I haven’t give it my best shot.”
Updated
The registered organisations bill debate continues in the Senate. This is the bill that began its life in 2014 under the Abbott-led Coalition.
One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts says the bill should be supported because it pulls apart
the elites. It brings rule of law to the elites and union bosses who think they are above it.
Updated
With Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum drawing to a close, you might like to review the best and worst of Apec fashion. My personal favourite is South Korea but I will take other nominations.
In less than an hour One Nation senator Rod Culleton will wander down to the high court for his case regarding his own eligibility for the Senate. Two former business associates have questioned his eligibility because at the time he was elected, Culleton was convicted of larceny of a tow truck key. The conviction was later annulled.
Straight afterwards Culleton is hoping to attend a rally to push for a royal commission into the banking industry.
Updated
Labor’s Catherine King is proposing a private member’s bill which would block the use of the Eureka flag on political logos.
It would force the Australian Electoral Commission to consider the historical and cultural context of flags and symbols proposed for party logos.
It will also allow anyone to object to a party logo on the grounds that its use of a flag or symbol is inconsistent with the history or cultural significance of that flag or symbol.
Are you confused?
Recently the Australian Electoral Commission approved the use of the Eureka flag - which features the Southern Cross - on the logo of right wing party Australia First in NSW. The Australia First party president is Jim Saleam, formerly of National Front. He has defended its use.
There is no actual property in the Eureka flag itself. The Eureka flag is a common emblem, used by a lot of community groups and social groups, and other groups. Therefore the Electoral Commission was simply following the law.
King, who is the MP for Ballarat, agrees that the AEC had no choice due to the law. That’s why the law should be changed. The original flag is housed in the Australian Museum of Democracy in her electorate.
Updated
Both chambers have just started. There is private members business in the lower house and the senate is straight on to the registered organisations bill. Senator Doug Cameron opens the batting for Labor.
Jamie Walker at the Oz reports Melbourne property developer, Bill McNee, is one of the major bankrollers of One Nation.
[McNee’s] company, Vicland, funded a year’s rent on One Nation’s headquarters in Brisbane as part of a donation package worth nearly $70,000, financial returns filed with the Electoral Commission of Queensland show.
He stumped up at a critical time for Senator Hanson last year when she was rebuilding the party from scratch, helping lay the platform for her return to federal parliament at the head of a team of four in the Senate.
Confirming his financial support for One Nation yesterday, Mr McNee said: “We wanted to be involved if they were to take government in Queensland. That was the basis of our decision.”
One Nation is likely to be a key player in the next Queensland election. McNee had wound back donations after reportedly donating $150,000 to the Liberals and $70,000-$80,000 to the ALP since 2014.
The Senate will debate David Leyonhjelm’s proposed lifting of the Adler shotgun import ban at 5pm, followed by a One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts’ special on climate change.
As a results of a ballot conducted this morning the senate will debate the following matter between 5- 6pm this afternoon #climatechange pic.twitter.com/FY0lKyyw0u
— Sen. Malcolm Roberts (@SenatorMRoberts) November 20, 2016
Updated
Scott Morrison is up again in a doorstop. He really is the man today.
His main messages:
- Labor should stop opposing $19bn in savings measures.
- Labor should stop opposing the company tax cuts for businesses with over $2m in turnover.
- Morrison quotes economist Stephen Koukoulas, even though he is a former Labor adviser. The Kouk, as he is known, has suggested the Australian economy could be come stranded if our tax rates are too high and Trump and the British government both continue with plans for company tax cuts.
There is hope yet: delighted @ScottMorrisonMP is quoting my work as good policy. Should be more of it.
— Stephen Koukoulas (@TheKouk) November 20, 2016
Updated
After the death of the Coalition’s plebiscite bill, there is still a crossbench marriage equality bill and this will come up for debate today. It is sponsored by Greens MP Adam Bandt, Indi indie Cathy McGowan and Denison indie Andrew Wilkie.
It does this:
Amends the Marriage Act 1961 to:
- define marriage as a union of two people;
- clarify that ministers of religion or chaplains are not bound to solemnise marriage;
- and remove the prohibition of the recognition of same sex marriages solemnised in a foreign country; and the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to make a consequential amendment.
There will be two speakers with five minutes each, expected this morning during private members business. Andrew Wilkie and Cathy McGowan will speak to the bill.
Updated
Scott Morrison is talking about the registered organisations bill. He says union officials should be subject to the same rules as company directors.
The government needs eight of the 10 crossbenchers to pass this or any other bill. That means One Nation, Nick Xenophon and David Leyonhjelm. Xenophon is seeking amendments to protect whistleblowers.
By way of explanation, Labor is moving five amendments to the registered orgs bill.
It wants to make the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) the regulator of union officials rather than the proposed registered organisations commission.
It also wants volunteers to be exempt from the new regulations.
Updated
Scott Morrison is being interviewed by Ray Hadley on 2GB. They are talking about the removal of their gallbladders. Just so you know.
Well hello.
Hi!
Updated
Elevators can take such a long time.
“Of course he is fit to be a senator,” says Pauline Hanson.
One Nation's @PaulineHansonOz on today's 1st High Court hearing re the validity of her WA colleague @SenatorCulleton's election @abcnews pic.twitter.com/gHLSy4D61M
— Matthew Doran (@MattDoran91) November 20, 2016
While there is a long list of legislation, there are a few tasty morsels from private members and others.
Labor is still trying a manoeuvre on the George Brandis solicitor general direction, which led to the resignation of Justin Gleeson. This direction forced all SG advice to get approval from the attorney general. While Brandis chucked it out anyway, Labor wanted to ensure it did not come back in the future.
There is also a vote on Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm’s disallowance on the Adler shotgun import ban. If it succeeds, the temporary ban would be lifted. We will be watching the National party benches for that vote, particularly keen sporting shooter, senator Bridget McKenzie.
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Malcolm Turnbull says when Obama was campaigning he was critical of free trade agreements but was a champion of them in government.
He briefly enters the domestic realm, saying he hopes the Senate sees fit to pass the industrial relations bills, given the disruption of building projects by the “CFMEU’s lawlessness”.
There are not a lot of news lines in the prime minister’s press conference but there is a clear emphasis on Australian interests, Australian children and Australian grandchildren.
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Malcolm Turnbull is in Lima, pontificating on his relationship with Barack Obama.
He says Obama wants Donald Trump to do well. He wants America do well.
We will always be doing this by protecting Australia’s interests, says Turnbull.
If the budget is worse than we thought, Scott Morrison is asked if Australia can afford the government’s planned company tax cuts.
Wage earners aren’t earning enough and that’s why revenue is down. You don’t improve people’s hours, get them to work more, by taxing businesses more. I mean, it’s just completely counterintuitive. You don’t squeeze the lemon harder. Labor say we have to tax people more. You need to tax, tax, tax. What we say is that we need businesses to be more profitable and productive. We need employees to get more hours per week.
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More ScoMo, just in case you missed his message. The budget won’t be fixed by a commodities price blip.
Q: What do we think of Chris Richardson’s projections then?
Again, what he said about the revenue side of the equation is telling and I think it puts to rest some of the more enthusiastic commentary, which says that the budget will all be fixed by the movement in the iron ore price.
With simple maths, treasurer Scott Morrison lays groundwork for no surplus by 2021
You may remember the Coalition promised a balanced budget by 2021 in the July election. This is looking less likely, Scott Morrison confirms.
Q: Your pledge was to balance the budget by 2021?
What I said was that the projections would return to balance in 2021. I’ve always been careful about that and that’s why I pull you up on that. I know others in the past have made bold predictions and promises about this. The 2021 budget was a prediction based on the numbers. The numbers move. They always have.
Q: Right, so if the numbers aren’t there, you won’t get to that.
That’s simple maths. But no one has made that call yet and no one is suggesting that yet.
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Scott Morrison basically suggests things are not great.
Chris Richardson [of Deloitte’s] is right to point out that it is actually the wage earnings and the profit earnings of companies that has the most significant impact on revenue.
In other words, even though there has been a bit of a lift in commodity prices, wage growth is pretty stuffed and profit earnings are down so there will be less tax collected. The Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (Myefo) is not looking good.
There is a Deloitte’s report out this morning which suggests another deficit blowout.
Gareth Hutchens reports:
The federal budget deficit is projected to expand by another $24.3bn over the next four years, as Australia’s record-low wages growth and a shortfall in company tax blow a hole in the income tax take.
It means the Turnbull government’s hopes of returning the budget to balance in 2020-21 have become even slimmer, raising the spectre of a major credit ratings downgrade.
Deloitte Access Economics’s latest Budget Monitor, released on Monday, shows the commonwealth government’s fortunes are tied uncomfortably to rising global commodity prices and the unlikely prospect of the return of inflation.
The treasurer Scott Morrison is speaking on this now.
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Good morning, why so glum?
Don’t despair blogons. On the way into Canberra, the sunrise was 17 different shades of wonderful. It must be a portent of the final sitting weeks before politicians return to their electorates and everyone hits the beach.
Under such circumstances, we are all optimists. Certainly the prime minister was upbeat in Lima over the weekend. He has just had his last meeting with Barack Obama where both leaders underlined the importance of open trade for both countries.
Obama:
There’s a strong alignment of interests between the US and Australia.
Turnbull said it was a “sad moment” and thanked Obama for the leadership he had shown the world over the past eight years.
One of the key talking points at Apec was what will happen to trade over the Trump years. Turnbull was asked by a reporter, whither to for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)? The PM says don’t bury the TPP yet.
Well you seem such an optimistic young man, really you should be more upbeat – don’t be downcast. Look, free trade is a long game, it really is a long game.
A shorter game, though, is this last sitting fortnight. The Turnbull government has a lot to do before parliament rises, if it wants to show it is governing. There is the registered organisations bill, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, the backpackers tax, superannuation reform, more national security legislation ... the list goes on. But again, the trademark Turnbull glass-half-full attitude was unstoppable.
So much pessimism on this beautiful day. We started off with a gloomy question [on the TPP] and now we’re finishing with another one. Well look, I think with the Senate, again it’s a long game and we work away, we respect every single senator. They are all elected by the Australian people, they all have a vote and we’re working hard to achieve a majority on the floor to get our program and the bills we took to the election passed.
The government’s bus driver is Barnaby Joyce, given Turnbull is not back until Tuesday. Hello question time!
In the Senate, first up is the registered organisations bill which would treat union officials like company directors under law. Then we have the vocational education and training legislation. I will give a more comprehensive list in a minute.
The ABCC bills are still listed for Tuesday but probably won’t get to a vote until next week. The government is less confident on that one than the registered organisations bill.
Superannuation and the backpacker tax bills are listed for Wednesday.
In the House, superannuation is listed for Tuesday, plus a whole lot of other bills which we will look at in a minute.
Outside the house, at around 11.30am this very Monday, there will be a directions hearing on the Senate request to consider the eligibility of Bob Day and Rod Culleton in the court of disputed returns – that being the high court.
Culleton was going to shear a sheep, put the belly fleece on his head and represent himself but he has just written a long letter instead, reports Adam Gartrell.
The government may love burning people’s money but I’ll save my money for Christmas presents. I told Santa to put [attorney general George] Brandis on his naughty list too,” Culleton wrote on his Facebook page.
Culleton has called for a postponement of the case against him, arguing it will be in breach of the law for him to appear on a parliamentary sitting day.
From Labor, we can expect more on jobs, jobs, jobs, in line with its campaign on 457 visas. Meanwhile the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has pivoted from criticising Bill Shorten’s campaign to having his own crackdown, condensing the list of occupations eligible for 457 visas .
When Chris Bowen was in the Gillard government as a minister in the Gillard government, it was expanded out quite dramatically – the difficulty of course is to try and get the balance right. In some parts of the country it is very difficult to get a particular worker, say in hospitality or a doctor, whatever the classification might be, but in other parts of the country there is an abundance and most people want to work in capital cities or close to capital cities, but it is very hard to get people in regional areas.
I best get on with this. Hang about with us, Mike Bowers is hunting wabbits and will have some images shortly. I am @gabriellechan and he is @mpbowers so you can join the conversation on the Twits or on my Facebook page. Optimism people.
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