Night time politics
We might finish up there, with the ABCC debate going on in the Senate and the country of origin bill in the House. It has been quite a day.
- The Coalition backed down on the 19% backpacker tax, accepting a 15% compromise after steadfastly refusing any compromise since the last backdown in September this year. The government introduced new bills rather than amend the old ones and we expect they will get to the Senate by Wednesday. Barnaby Joyce said it was a win for the Nats because it was Labor’s tax, except that it wasn’t – it was introduced in the 2015 budget.
- Joyce also said his decision to move the APVMA to his electorate was the right thing to do and was entirely coincidental that it was in Armidale.
- George Brandis explained some of the details of the Bell litigation to the Senate, except the bit which explained why he implemented the legal direction to the solicitor general, forcing him to seek approval from Brandis before he gave advice to government departments. Brandis did explain that Joe Hockey was the one having a conversation with the WA government – a conversation that Brandis did not know about. (Hark! Do I hear a bus?) Penny Wong said Brandis should explain himself properly. Turnbull told question time he did not know the details of any verbal directions between the AG and the SG. He had obviously not sought to ask. Which is a worry.
Thanks to the brains trust Paul Karp, Gareth Hutchens and Katharine Murphy.
Mike Bowers, your pictures were tops.
See you on the morrow.
Goodnight.
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New backpacker bills introduced into the house
The Coalition has introduced new bills for the latest backpacker tax rate of 15% and the $5 increase in the passenger movement charge (PMC). These bills will likely be debated tomorrow and then go to the Senate on Wednesday though I have given up making bold predictions.
Both bills had previously passed the house and the Senate albeit with amendments.
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Women in front.
Men in the back.
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What is it with goats?
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, was asked about Labor’s 457 visa crackdown. The Daily Tele had a story this morning about a deal done between fast food chains and the former Labor government.
The flood of foreign visas during oppposition leader Bill Shorten’s time as workplace minister in the Gillard government also extended the program to 650 so-called professions including union officials and goat herders.
The revelations will come as an embarrassment for an opposition leader who has sought to whip up a foreign worker backlash in the wake of the Trump victory in the US by claiming he wanted to crack down on 457s.
In one of the little-known labour agreements approved by Labor in 2012, McDonald’s was given sponsor rights to bring in 285 foreign workers. Hungry Jack’s hired at least 74 people on 457s, KFC brought in 88 foreign workers, while other lesser-known fast food outlets hired 32.
Dutton:
This is a leader of the opposition who says one thing outside of this chamber and a very different thing inside of this chamber. The leader of the opposition is here saying he wants to introduce a bill in relation to 457 visas ... When he was the employment minister, a minister in the Gillard and Rudd governments, he did the complete opposite. Can you imagine the surprise this morning when this leader of the opposition woke up to this headline in the Daily Telegraph: “Do you want lies with that?”
The government is, of course, narrowing the occupations allowed to come in under 457s. They are cracking down on 457s while at the same time as criticising Labor for cracking down.
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Barnaby Joyce: APVMA move to my own seat coincidental
I did not hear the question but presume it is about moving the pesticides agency to Tamworth.
He says the Nats are very proud of its decentralisation policy.
Joyce says the NSW Labor government moved the minerals department to Maitland to one of its seats.
Of the APVMA move (announced during the election campaign when he was challenged by Tony Windsor), Joyce says:
It’s coincidental it’s in the seat of New England. It is absolutely a proper fit.
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What’s your message to farmers today who are furious the way the Coalition has handled this issue over the past 18 months?
Barnaby Joyce:
I’d say to farmers right from the word go we were the ones who brought $40m on the table to resolve the issue. Not the Labor party. We stated quite clearly we would resolve this issue. Not the Labor party. The Labor party were the ones who brought about this rate in the first place.
This is not true.
This rate was brought in at the 2015 Abbott/Hockey budget.
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There is a flock of Nats in the Senate courtyard speaking on backpackers.
Barnaby Joyce speaks first and then Fiona Nash. They are justifying the policy twists and turns, including the final landing spot. Nash says:
Politics is the art of what’s possible and we now have a 15% rate. It’s a very sensible outcome. It’s a good outcome. Compromise is reality in this parliament.
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Barnaby Joyce is doing a press conference in five minutes on the backpacker tax.
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Paul Karp reports that senator David Leyonhjelm wants to tear down the goat’s cheese curtain. This day may get worse.
The ABC and SBS will be forced to remove themselves from the “goat’s cheese curtain” by holding community forums under a deal struck between the government and senator David Leyonhjelm.
Leyonhjelm announced the deal for his vote on the Australian building and construction commission bill on Monday, in addition to a promise that the federal government lead a reform process to loosen suppression orders on court reporting.
But the deal could still be torn up if the government agrees to further water down buybacks in its horse trading with the Nick Xenophon Team, Leyonhjelm warned.
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Shorten to Turnbull: Yesterday, the former prime minister and member for Warringah said: “It is good that we are no longer talking about innovation and agility because, frankly, it loses people.” Almost at the same time the minister for finance said: “I think innovation and agility is an important part of our economic plan.” Whose lead will the prime minister follow today and is agility still central to your government’s policies?
Innovation is essential to our government, Turnbull says.
Innovation is the driver of productivity and without continued growth and productivity, Australians cannot be competitive, our living standards cannot be maintained.
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Most of the government questions have been on unions, union corruption and the need for the government’s Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison: Given the treasurer has been contradicted by the NSW Liberal government on negative gearing, first argued there were excesses in negative gearing and then attacked Labor’s reforms to negative gearing and was rolled in cabinet when he himself argued for changes to negative gearing and now doesn’t know what negative gearing is. Isn’t it plain this treasurer’s just incompetent?
Morrison does not go to negative gearing policy.
This is the shadow treasurer who, at the last election, thought the right plan for Australia was to increase the deficit by $16.5 billion.
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Thanks to Paul Karp for this.
Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison: On Friday the treasurer said: “What negative gearing is is the ability for you to deduct what is a business expense against a business income.” Does the treasurer realise that is actually not negative gearing? Is the reason the treasurer refuses to reform negative gearing is because he doesn’t know what it is?
Morrison:
It is a very simple tax principle. When you incur costs in earning that income, you can recoup the costs in claiming deductions for those. I was drawing a comparison with businesses in the way that a rental of a property is like running a business.
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This is extraordinary, from the Australian National Audit Office.
This is what the ANAO just said about $5 BILLION in tax deductions the oil and gas companies have made. pic.twitter.com/amviqtmXR3
— Peter Whish-Wilson (@SenatorSurfer) November 28, 2016
Tony Burke to Barnaby Joyce: I refer to the Murray-Darling Basin plan. Will the government guarantee to acquire the additional 450 gigalitres of water through infrastructure investment?
Joyce says the government will deliver the plan and it would be better if Labor came up with some ideas.
It sounds like Labor thinks the government is doing a deal to deliver the 450GL to South Australia to get Nick Xenophon across the line on the ABCC bill.
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A quick view from the red place: Brandis in the Senate
The attorney general, George Brandis, is, unsurprisingly, taking much of the heat in question time today.
Both Labor and the Greens are trying to get to the bottom of whether or not Brandis told the then solicitor general, Justin Gleeson, to run dead in the high court matter about the Bell Group – which is a central allegation in the West Australian’s news report last Friday.
Brandis has invoked his statement before question time as all the information anyone could possibly want. The Brandis statement didn’t actually address this point, hence all the questions.
Brandis doesn’t want to get into his conversation with Gleeson on the basis that would breach privilege.
He eventually tells the Senate Gleeson sought instructions from Brandis to argue certain points during the litigation on the matter of the corporations law, and “I gave him the instructions he sought”.
(Which is more or less the formulation he used during his parliamentary statement.)
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Shorten to Turnbull: I refer to the statement of the attorney general in the Senate today and the answer just given by the minister for revenue. Is it seriously the position of the government that the only person to blame for the WA kick back scandal is Joe Hockey?
Turnbull says he has dealt with this issue.
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Tanya Plibersek to financial services minister, Kelly O’Dwyer, as minister responsible for the Australian Tax Office. In state parliament, the West Australian treasurer has said the ATO acted in the Bell Group litigation “contrary to the direction or advice of the assistant treasurer, Kelly O’Dwyer”. What direction or advice did the minister give to the ATO on this matter?
O’Dwyer says she fully supported the ATO in the matter:
When I was made aware of assertions being made by WA ministers regarding dealings with the former treasurer, the honourable Joe Hockey, regarding the Bell litigation, I sought a briefing from the ATO.
The ATO advised me it had a legal obligation and a sound case to intervene in the proceedings in the high court of Australia to protect the interests of the commonwealth.
I fully supported the ATO position and so advised the attorney general of the joint position of myself and the ATO to which the attorney general actually refers to in his detailed statement in the Senate.
This position was subsequently vindicated by the high court in a unanimous decision.
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Tony Burke asks Malcolm Turnbull again about more correspondence between the WA and commonwealth governments involving Christian Porter. Labor wants to know where the correspondence is and Turnbull says Brandis tabled the documents. He said the documents Labor requested may be confidential.
(Apologies, bear with me, the transcript is broken and this is a very technical matter.)
The Bell Group litigation as everyone knows has been going on for over 20 years. It is a modern version of the Jarndyce litigation ... in the book Bleak House. What the Australian government sought to do was to deal with it. The legislation that they passed had a fatal flaw in it which was, well, perhaps, it may have had others, but the fatal flaw was that it was inconsistent with the federal Taxation Act, which was raised by a number of parties in litigation, including the Australian Taxation Office, and was the basis for it being struck down.
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Malcolm Turnbull is again asked by Bill Shorten about what exchanges between attorney general George Brandis and former solicitor general Justin Gleeson.
Turnbull again says he was not a party to the conversations so he does not know.
Cathy McGowan to Turnbull: This morning in this place, I introduced a bill, a private members bill, the Charter of Budget Honesty regional Australia impact statements bill. This bill calls on the government to release with each Budget or MYEFO regional Australia statements that outline the impact of fiscal policy on those of us who live outside the city. My question Mr Prime Minister is can you give the assurance to the house that this bill will be brought onto consideration and to demonstrate to those of us who live in rural and regional Australia that our issues are taken account of by the government in preparation of its fiscal policy?
Malcolm Turnbull:
No doubt, we will have differences at election time but we are absolutely united in our commitment to regional Australia and our determination to ensure that the Budget and every element of our policy delivers for regional Australians. We will have a close look at her bill and I thank her for raising it.
Prime minister does not know what happened between attorney general and solicitor general
Dreyfus to Turnbull: Did the attorney general verbally instruct the solicitor general not to run a particular argument in the Bell case in the high court? This is not covered by the attorney general’s statement in the Senate today and the attorney general has said on Sky News today: “I am not going into that matter.”
Malcolm Turnbull states:
The shadow attorney general is asking me what transpired in a conversation between two distinguished members of the bar at which I was not present. Obviously I don’t know what transpired between them but the attorney general has set out his account of the events.
If Turnbull does not know the answer to this question and has not been briefed, that’s a failure of government process – at best.
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Scott Morrison is asked a government question about budget repair.
Shorten to Turnbull: In the Senate today the attorney general said about the WA kick back scandal: “There was never any agreement or understanding.” So why, on Friday, did the West Australian newspaper report “Senator Brandis told Mr Gleeson an understanding had been reached between the federal and WA governments”, and why is the treasurer of WA insisting that there was an understanding and agreement between WA and the federal government? Who is telling the truth?
Turnbull says Shorten is misleading the house and George Brandis’s statement was comprehensive and lengthy.
Nothing to see here.
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The first government question is about the Coalition’s economic record and the need for the ABCC bill.
Shorten to Turnbull: I refer to this letter which details an agreement between the federal government and the [WA] Liberal government. Does the prime minister seriously expect the Australian people to believe that there was no agreement between the federal and West Australian governments on the WA kick back scandal?
Turnbull says Shorten had not simply taken leave of his senses, he has taken leave of reality.
Turnbull says of Mark Dreyfus and Bill Shorten:
I hope a future Labor government doesn’t ever appoint [Dreyfus] to the bench. He will dispense with the trial and go straight to the execution. There will be no need for any of that rule of law or due process. We are seeing now the absolute embodiment of post-truth politics, falsehoods from the leader of the opposition.
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Regarding the the privileges committee recommendation which has upheld Jason Clare’s right to privilege over leaked NBN documents.
For this recommendation to have weight, the parliament has to vote and agree.
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Senator David Leyonhjelm has announced his deal on the ABCC bill:
The government has agreed to remove the onus of proof imposed on employees by the bill to establish they took action because of a reasonable concern about an imminent threat to safety. Employees shouldn’t be wondering about their legal position like this when it comes to matters of safety. I have negotiated for our taxpayer-funded broadcasters to have more accountability to their shareholders. Their shareholders being Australians. The ABC and SBS will hold open community forums in conjunction with their board meetings with some to be held in regional areas.
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We have question time coming up at 2pm. Blimey, this day is moving quickly.
Back to George Brandis. We are still not clear on the legal direction from Brandis to Gleeson to gain his approval before giving legal advice to government departments. We are also not clear on whether Brandis asked Gleeson to avoid a certain argument to allegedly help out WA.
He was asked again on Sky by Peter Van Onselen.
Look, I’m not going to disclose legal advice. But when there is a large matter before any court, including the high court, of course you have discussions with your barrister and of course you discuss a range of options and the posture and strategy that you should take. Now I’m not going to into that matter.
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Malcolm Turnbull spoke to the parliament on the Indigenous campaign against domestic violence at the same time as the Brandis statement at noon.
Thank you to those who led the ceremony, the story the two sisters, a story of creation. Your dance brings a message from the beginning of time – a message of love, a message of respect, a call to men to respect women – the mothers who gave them life, the wives who give their children life, the sisters who carry their culture through thousands and thousands of years, from time [immemorial]. You are using the strength of your culture to seek to stop this violence.
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Brandis: there was no evidence of Hockey-Nahan agreement
Brandis is asked, does this call into question ambassador Hockey’s record, and should it?
Brandis:
No, it doesn’t, not slightly. As I said in response to your colleague, the evidence we have of the discussion or discussions between Mr Hockey and Dr Nahan is that contained in the exchange of letters of April 2015, which do not [constitute] evidence, let alone constitute, an agreement.
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Brandis says:
At all times commonwealth ministers, including me, acted to protect the interests of the commonwealth. We acted on the solicitor general’s advice, the interests of the commonwealth were protected ... The position the commonwealth took in relation to the Income Tax Assessment Act ... the principal issue before the high court, was resolved on terms favourable to the commonwealth.
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George Brandis: Mark Dreyfus will lie through his teeth
In a doorstop after his statement, Brandis accuses Labor’s Bill Shorten and Mark Dreyfus of “serial lying”.
The things they have said had no basis whatever in fact. No basis whatever. But I’m sorry to say that we live in an era, as far as the Labor party and the Greens are concerned, what is lately become known as post-truth politics. It is absolutely of no concern to Mr Dreyfus that he will lie through his teeth, that Mr Dreyfus is prepared to lie and lie again to make things up, to fantasise, to make the most reckless and offensive allegations with no facts to support him whatsoever.
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Lunchtime politics
- The Coalition has backed down on the backpacker tax, accepting a decrease from 19% down to 15% to get it passed in the Senate. It looks like it now has the support of the crossbenchers but not Labor and the Greens.
- Labor is attempting to draw ministers Christian Porter and Kelly O’Dwyer into the mess involving the case between the commonwealth and the WA government relating to the Bell Group. George Brandis agreed to give a statement to the Senate at midday to flesh out details on the long and complex story. Labor alleges that in order to help the WA Liberal government, Brandis ran dead on a case which would have clawed back revenue from the insolvency of the Bell Group.
- Brandis said he did not know of the conversations between the WA government and the former treasurer, Joe Hockey, regarding the litigation. Brandis was forced to explain his role in the Bell Group litigation but he did not shed any light on the legal direction he gave to the former solicitor general, Justin Gleeson.
- Labor tried to suspend standing orders in the lower house to discuss Brandis but the government gagged Labor MPs and shut down the motion.
- The ABCC bill has been debated in the Senate this morning but no deal as yet. Derryn Hinch and Nick Xenophon say a deal is at least 24 hours away.
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The powerful parliamentary privileges committee has upheld the claim of parliamentary privilege by the member for Blaxland, Jason Clare, in relation to material seized under a search warrant executed by the Australian federal police on 24 August 2016, that the Australian federal police be advised of the ruling by the House and that the materials held by the clerk of the House be returned to the member for Blaxland. This relates to the NBN leaked documents. In other words, the parliament has told the police they cannot have access to the documents leaked to Clare.
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Greens senator Nick McKim says Brandis should resign or he should be sacked by Malcolm Turnbull if he instructed Gleeson not to run the strongest argument on the Bell matter.
Did they really think that states effectively inventing their own version of commonwealth tax laws wouldn’t be an issue for the high court? Of course it was going to be an issue for the high court. As it turned out, it was an issue for the high court. It was a 7-0 decision by which the high court struck down the Bell act. That is as clear cut as you get: 7-0. It was the most extraordinary deal that occurred here between the commonwealth Liberal government and the state Liberal government.
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Greens senator Nick McKim:
Let’s be very clear about what that allegation is. That allegation is that the attorney general instructed the then solicitor general, Mr Gleeson, to effectively run dead on the strongest argument he had at his disposal in the high court ... That statement that we have just heard from the attorney general did not rebut that allegation.
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A-G Brandis says there is no evidence to suggest a deal was struck between Joe Hockey and the WA treasurer Dr Nehan. https://t.co/jgYnnxhw9v
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 28, 2016
The key points of WA treasurer Nahan's letter, and Hockey's response tabled by Brandis today. pic.twitter.com/AO8i5KsDJ7
— Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) November 28, 2016
Wong: “Magically you woke up one morning and thought I will muzzle the solicitor general.”
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Now the lower house is voting on the Labor suspension motion, which presumably will go down as well.
Meanwhile Penny Wong is pointing out the fact that Brandis did not explain – if he agreed with Gleeson – why did he make the legal direction to force Gleeson to get approval for future advice.
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In the lower house Labor is trying to suspend standing orders to debate George Brandis’s role.
The government gagged Tony Burke successfully.
Now the government is voting to gag Mark Dreyfus.
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Penny Wong describes the deal between the commonwealth and the WA government as a “political fix”.
What is a few hundred million dollars between friends anyway? It is very interesting that all of a sudden out of that appears the direction that requires Mr Justin Gleeson to get this bloke’s permission before he acts for people and provides advice. Where was that in the statement? Where was that? All of a sudden did it just come out of the ether? In relation to the GST, we don’t know yet what relevance the GST debate had to this political fix.
Penny Wong says Brandis has thrown Joe Hockey, former treasurer and now US ambassador, under a bus.
It throws Joe Hockey under a bus. How convenient that you go after the bloke who can’t defend himself. How convenient that somehow the bloke who has left – “it was all him”, all of this constitutional advice and all of this kerfuffle, Senator Brandis was involved in, all the discussions with lawyers and the attorney general from WA – well actually it was all Joe’s fault. Very convenient. I suppose the first question is: are you going to recall him ...
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Brandis goes to the political points.
He rejects it was a sweetheart deal on GST.
It has also been suggested by some commentators that there is some relationship between this matter and the question of WA’s share of the GST. Not so far as I am aware. However, as I have said, I have no knowledge of what passed between Mr Hockey and Dr Nahan other than what is revealed by the April 2015 exchange of letters, which lends no credence to that view.
Brandis also rejects that he failed to protect commonwealth interests.
Finally, it has been asserted absurdly by Mr Dreyfus and the opposition that I have somehow failed sufficiently to protect the interests of the commonwealth, but every decision I made in this matter did protect the interests of the commonwealth, by supporting the decision of the ATO to intervene in the matter and by deciding to accept Mr Gleeson’s advice that the commonwealth of Australia should also intervene in the matter.
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Brandis:
Gleeson represented both the ATO and the commonwealth of Australia. In the week following the hearing, I had a meeting in Perth with Dr Nahan and Mr Mischin who expressed in strong terms their disappointment that I had given instructions for the commonwealth to intervene and that the ATO had intervened. The high court delivered its judgment on 16 May. It upheld the constitutional challenge to the validity of the Bell act on the basis of the revenue question.
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But Gleeson “was strongly of the view that the commonwealth should intervene”.
I saw the force of what Mr Gleeson put to me and I accepted his advice. Accordingly, on 30 March, on my instructions, the commonwealth gave a notice of intervention in the proceedings. After the commonwealth’s notice of intervention was served, there were several conversations instigated by WA ministers in an attempt to resolve the matter.
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Lots of discussions followed over the next few days, then Brandis says:
I arrived at the firm conclusion that it was desirable that the ATO should intervene to protect the interests of the commonwealth, not withstanding the views that had been expressed by Mr Mischin [WA’s attorney general] and Dr Nahan regarding Dr Nahan’s discussions with Mr Hockey and the related exchange of correspondence. I was also of the view at that stage that it was not necessary for the commonwealth to intervene in addition to the ATO.
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Brandis said he first knew of the matter on 3 March this year when the social services minister, Christian Porter (former WA treasurer and attorney general), came to visit him.
Porter had a discussion with him.
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There was a letter between Nahan and Hockey in April 2015.
Mr Hockey’s letter provides no basis for the claim that an agreement or understanding had been arrived at between the commonwealth and WA governments. Although it is clear that some ministers of the WA government had a different view.
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Brandis says it was in the interests of the commonwealth to settle the matter.
It is relevant here to point out that I subsequently learned that there had been discussions between the former commonwealth treasurer, Mr Hockey, and the treasurer of WA, Dr Nahan, with a view to settling the commonwealth’s claim in the Bell winding up. Since the commonwealth’s proof of debt was for some $167m and a total post liquidation tax assessment of some $298m, it was plainly in the commonwealth’s interests that the matter be settled or otherwise expeditiously finalised.
He says neither he nor Kelly O’Dwyer were aware of the Hockey-Nahan discussion.
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Brandis says:
The Bell Act came into force on 26 November 2015.
The following day some of the Bell Group creditors commenced proceedings in the original jurisdiction of the high court, challenging its constitutional validity.
They did so primarily on the ground that insofar as the act dealt with debts due to the commonwealth in the form of taxation revenue, its provisions were inconsistent with the Income Tax Assessment Act and the Taxation Administration Act and should therefore be struck down ...
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Brandis:
Those familiar with corporate insolvency and this is one of the fields in which I used to specialise when I was in practice, have seen enough examples of administrations in which, after all the costs have been incurred in litigation, there is literally not a cent left over for the creditors. In order to avoid that eventuality, in 2015, that is at a time when the matter had been going on for more than 20 years already, the parliament of WA passed a special act of parliament, the Bell Group Company’s Finalisation of Matters and Distribution of Proceeds Act 2015 which I will refer to in these remarks as the Bell act.
He says one of the features of the Bell act was “a particular sequence for the prioritisation of creditors”.
The Commonwealth Corporations Act makes provision in an ordinary winding up for the priority in which proofs of debt are paid so that, for example, secured creditors rank above unsecured creditors.
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George Brandis says of the winding up of the Bell group:
It is the most complicated and costly corporate winding up in Australian history.
Brandis says the cost estimates are in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
It is a feature of this winding up that several of the original creditor companies have long since been taken over by professional litigation funders whose interest has been in prolonging the litigation.
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George Brandis is coming up.
Not quite linking arms.
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He told me to go forth and multiply.
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FYI there was a little tête-à-tête about some comments from the Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm about Nick Xenophon’s water horse trading, reported by Phil Coorey at the Fin.
Nick can go and get fucked, South Australia has no right to claim any more water.
Xenophon’s reply:
He effectively told me to go forth and multiply. Libertarians use colourful language.
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The Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson says the backpacker tax compromise of 15% is still too high. He will try to amend it to cancel the 95% superannuation tax rate.
The Senate really should not be supporting this proposal on a 15% backpacker rate. With the 95% clawback on superannuation of backpackers then the effective tax rate is closer to 24% which is no longer competitive with our neighbours. This is roughly double the effective rate of tax paid by working holidaymakers in New Zealand. We are seeking advice on whether we can move an amendment to this new bill to cancel the superannuation clawbacks.
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Hinch says the tone from the government in negotiations has been good. He is on everyone’s call list, including the employment minister, Michaelia Cash, Malcolm Turnbull and the opposition leader, Bill Shorten.
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Hinch is holding out on the so-called clause 11, that is:
If you have signed [enterprise bargaining agreements] with the unions from April 2014 that clash with the code, then you will not get government contracts.
Hinch does not like the retrospective nature of that code.
By the way, the “building code” governs the rules for government contracts – as I understand.
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Senator Derryn Hinch tells reporters he needs more time on the ABCC bill – another 24 hours, perhaps.
He wants sanctions on employers who breach worker safety laws.
If you are getting tough on unions, you have to get tough on the bosses as well.
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We do know that Nick Xenophon wants more water for South Australia but I am still not clear on the details of what the Xenophon team actually wants.
He is asked whether the plan would be “something less than the 450 gigalitres”. Is that the case?
I think you are jumping to conclusions. The plan is the plan. The plan had mechanisms in place to achieve that through water-efficiency measures, but before that, there is up to 650 gigalitres in water savings that can be achieved where you can show that you can achieve an environmental benefit and that involves projects such as the Menindee Lakes, the weir on the border of NSW and Victoria. These are big water-saving mergers that need to involve the cooperation of those states, but I would have thought Menindee Lakes, if it is done in a way that takes into accounts the concerns of the Broken Hill community could work effectively.
I am not much clearer on the Xenophon wishlist.
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@FedNatDirector @The_Nationals Scott Mitchell has been an outstanding Director of @The_Nationals and a key part of the Coalition team. Wish you well mate! #auspol
— Tony Nutt (@tony_nutt) November 28, 2016
Xenophon says he is still talking to the government about the ABCC bill. He says the odds for the ABCC are 50-50 at the minute.
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Nick Xenophon and his fellow MP Rebekha Sharkie are talking about the welfare trial – worth $30m – to allow welfare recipients to earn up to $5,000 before their benefits cut out.
They hope it will open up a new pool of workers.
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The federal director of the National party, Scott Mitchell, is stepping down.
With the dust now settled on the Federal election I have today advised the Federal Management Committee and the Parliamentary Party Room of The Nationals that I intend to step down as Federal Director in early 2017.
It has been a privilege to be Federal Director for almost five years and Campaign Director for the past two Federal elections. These were historic elections where The Nationals played a significant role – in 2013, under the leadership of Warren Truss, defeating the Rudd Labor Government, and in 2016, under the Leadership of Barnaby Joyce, ensuring the re-election of the Coalition.
At both elections we gained seats, which led to increased representation in the Coalition Ministry.
I have been honoured to work closely with two Nationals Leaders in Warren and Barnaby and I thank them both for their support and friendship. I have also been privileged to work closely with two Prime Ministers in Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.
There are many people to thank, including State Directors, particularly Nathan Quigley, Lincoln Folo, Brad Henderson, Sally Branson and Jamie Forsyth. I also thank Mike Sexton, Peter Langhorne, Frank Jackson, Darcy Tronson, John Griffin, my Campaign Headquarters Teams, and my team in the Federal Secretariat. I also wish to acknowledge the late, David Whitrow.
Like both the Liberal Party counterparts with whom I have worked, I am a strong Coalitionist, and I want to thank Tony Nutt, and Brian Loughnane for the exceptional working relationships that we achieved and enjoyed in the interest of delivering strong Coalition government to the people of Australia.
I wish to thank my Executive of Larry Anthony, Dexter Davies, John Sharp, Ann McKenzie and past Federal Presidents Christine Ferguson and John Tanner as well as the Federal Parliamentary Party and particularly Mark Coulton MP.
I also thank our many grass roots members, who work anonymously for the good of the nation, and without whom the party would not exist.
I wish my successor all the best.
I am departing this job in the knowledge that The Nationals are in a strong position to do well at the next election and keep Australia in the safe hands of a Coalition government.
I wish The Nationals all the very best for the future and I look forward to pursuing new opportunities in 2017.
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High-stakes negotiations.
Thanks to the new rules in the Senate, readers now get a sense of what goes on away from speaker with the call.
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High noon.
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Christmas cheer between Scott Morrison and Pauline Hanson:
Q to Morrison: She spoke to you yesterday, how did that conversation go?
It was a convivial and warm conversation, as my conversations with Pauline Hanson are, I wished her a merry Christmas, as she did me.
Nick Xenophon is coming up at 11.15am.
Before getting distracted by backpackers tax, I promised the full detail of the new Penny Wong motion. As you can see, Labor is trying to extract specific details on George Brandis.
I move that –
That —
(1) the Senate requires the Attorney-General to attend the Chamber at 12 noon today; and
(2) at 12 noon business be interrupted to enable the Attorney-General (Senator Brandis) to attend the Chamber; to provide the Senate with a full explanation of his actions with respect to the Bell Group litigation including;
(a) any discussions he had with the Government of Western Australia relating to this litigation and the Western Australian Bell Group Companies (Finalisation of Matters and Distribution of Proceeds) Amendment Bill 2016,
(b) any discussions he had with Prime Minister Turnbull, former Prime Minister Abbott, Treasurer Morrison, former Treasurer Hockey, the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann), the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services (Ms O’Dwyer), or the Minister for Social Services (Mr Porter), or any other minister relating to the litigation or the West Australian legislation;
(c) any directions he gave to the former Solicitor-General in relation to this matter,
(3) at the conclusion of the explanation any senator may move to take note of the explanation.
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The Xenophon amendment allows those on welfare to earn $5,000 before losing money. This measure allows people to do seasonal work without losing money and having the administrative nightmare of going off welfare and back on for a month’s work. It is designed to ensure more Australians take up seasonal work.
Backpacker tax breakthrough: Great news for Aussie job seekers too, as govt backs NXT plan to allow them to earn up to $5k without penalty.
— Nick Xenophon (@Nick_Xenophon) November 27, 2016
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One more point to note about this backpacker debacle.
While the headline rate of the tax – if passed – is 15%, it is actually closer to 24%.
Why?
Because the savings measures already passed to pay for the shortfall include a 95% tax rate on the 9% superannuation paid for by growers on behalf of backpackers. That ensures that the lot – the full 9% – will go to government. Which backpacker will bother applying to claim 5% of their super when they leave?
Growers are pretty cranky about this and it has not gone unnoticed.
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Q: How much responsibility do you wear for this? You are falling in now behind the 15% and it was 19 before. Do you bear some of that responsibility?
Sarah McKinnon of the NFF at a doorstop:
I think what we bear responsibility for is bringing this issue to the parliament for debate. What we have always said is we will support 19% or a lower rate if it can get through the parliament. There is no point supporting a rate that can’t get through the parliament because what we end up with is ongoing games and uncertainty. We welcome the compromise. It is a position which reflects our position which has been the case since March this year.
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The National Farmers’ Federation’s workplace relations manager, Sarah McKinnon, says the NFF supported a figure of between 15% and 19% in March this year.
I want to put this issue to bed once and for all. We need to be able to get the message out there to the backpacker community, that we have fought hard for them and delivered a fair rate and we very much want them to come to the farm and stick around. Anyone who is thinking about packing up and going home to Christmas, let us say to you now, don’t do that, think about the great experience you can have over the next 12 months. Stick around because you are welcome.
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Joel Fitzgibbon has been pressed on his claim that backpacker numbers will drop off at the 15% rate. He says if the rate is lower, more will be likely to come.
We run on instinct – of course we do. It is a commonsense thing.
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Anthony Albanese:
The tourism sector got a double whammy, because the tourism sector was also hit by the increase of the passenger movement charge. That happened in exactly the same format as the backpacker tax. No modelling, no consultation with the sector, and last Thursday we saw on the floor of the Senate a motion of amending the legislation on the passenger movement charge, handed to the One Nation senators, written by the government which then it was ruled by the clerks that they couldn’t actually move on the floor of the Senate.
On the passenger movement charge, Albo is talking about Hanson’s stated amendment that the PMC should be frozen for five years. She insisted on that change in return for her support for a $5 increase.
Albo is simply pointing out – as Penny Wong did on Thursday – that writing a freeze into the PMC bill doesn’t change anything, given that a new bill could simply increase it anyway.
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Labor will not support the 15% backpacker tax
Chris Bowen, Anthony Albanese and Joel Fitzgibbon are doing a press conference to announced their position.
So the Labor party will maintain its position on the 10.5%. If the government had come to us to try to reach the settlement, we would have been happy to hear their arguments. The treasurer, in a performance which was petulant even for him, said the Labor party could go jump and he is clearly not interested in a proper and sensible discussion in this 45th parliament.
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A quick dirty history of the backpacker tax
Just for the hell of it, let’s quickly recap the bare bones of the backpacker tax debate.
- The Abbott-Hockey Coalition announced 32.5% in the 2015 budget.
- Nary a whimper was heard from the National party – led then by Warren Truss – at that time. Truss and Barnaby Joyce were on the expenditure review committee that signs off on the budget.
- Farmers said they had not been consulted and it was all a complete shock.
- The 32.5% rate also made it into the budget documents for 2016 in May, the week before the election was called. We can only deduce it was still the government’s intention.
- In the election campaign, as the Coalition started to get hammered by farmers groups, Joyce announced a review of the tax would take place.
- Joyce said he could not just announce the new rate would be scrapped because the government was in caretaker mode. (Not sure what all the other election promises were about.)
- The review was undertaken and the treasurer, Scott Morrison, came out in September to announce a 19% rate, with the cut paid for by a 95% tax on backpacker superannuation as they leave the country and a $5 increase in the passenger movement charge.
- All along, Labor refused to say what it would do. But Labor claimed the savings from the 32.5% rate in its budget. It looked as though Labor would support even though the agriculture shadow, Joel Fitzgibbon, attacked the tax. There was a split in Labor with many wanting to keep the tax.
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Jacqui Lambie, in response to her Tasmanian growers, proposed the 10.5% rate and Labor announced it would support her rate.
- There was a quickie Senate committee inquiry at which the National Farmers’ Federation fully supported the 19% rate.
- The government kept saying no compromise.
- On Thursday, the backpacker tax bill failed in the Senate, though the passenger movement charge and the backpacker superannuation tax rates passed.
- One Nation proposed a 15% rate at the weekend. The National MP Andrew Broad came out with his support for it – by way of resolution.
- Morrison announced the government would accept the compromise.
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Backpacker tax would never be 32%. We fought to take it to 19%. We said it would be resolved by Christmas. Welcome 15% break-through.
— Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) November 27, 2016
This statement is very confusing, given the government announced a backpacker tax rate of 32.5% in the 2015 budget.
Does Barnaby mean that the preferred government tax rate of 32.5 was never going to succeed?
Or does he mean that in his head, it was not 32.5%, even though it was 32.5% in the budget documents?
I am very confused.
The Senate is now on to ABCC.
There are 21 speakers – at 20 minutes each – listed on the ABCC bill so it should go all morning.
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The Greens senator Nick McKim says he still believes there should be a Senate inquiry.
The LNP senator Ian Macdonald says as deputy of the legal and constitutional affairs committee, he and the other Liberal senators would not have the time to attend.
To which, there is heckling from Labor:
Labor may not understand that Coalition senators work. It will be a Labor Greens committee and will have no credibility at all.
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Brandis will make a statement to the Senate re Bell Group litigation
Brandis will make the statement in the Senate at 12pm and Penny Wong is still going ahead with a motion which is quite specific. I will have that to you shortly.
The motion also allows other senators to “make note of the statement” afterwards.
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George Brandis is making a statement now. He says he will make a statement to the Senate regarding the Bell Group matter. Brandis says he was planning to make the statement anyway, before the Labor motion.
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Senate and house start now.
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Ah, the path of #backpackertax never did run smooth... despite new 15% compromise, bills are not actually listed for today. Yet. #auspol
— Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) November 27, 2016
Anna is correct. The backpackers bills are not yet listed.
Back to the backpackers tax.
If Labor does not support the 15% compromise, the government needs eight of 10 crossbenchers.
So far the Coalition has One Nation and Scott Morrison has said Nick Xenophon’s amendments will be honoured so we assume they have three Xenophones and Derryn Hinch.
Lambie is still looking at the proposal but it would not seem to matter much if those eight senators are across the line.
Hanson was quick out of the blocks claiming the win, saying politicians should listen to what they wanted because that’s how One Nation achieved such heady success.
Most importantly this is a win for farmers, small business and tourism but this is also a win for One Nation and a win for common sense. Instead of letting lobbyists and special interests groups dictate policy politicians should be visiting their voters and listening.
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Things are speeding up here. So I might need some caffeine to keep up.
Both chambers of parliament will sit at 10am. As per the last post, the first business of the senate is Penny Wong’s Brandis motion.
We await colour and movement.
After that, the ABCC bill is listed, followed by the VET (vocational education) bills.
HOWEVER, given the backpacker compromise, that may change things considerably.
All things subject to change at a moment’s notice.
Penny Wong calls on George Brandis to explain his actions on Bell Group litigation
The Labor leader of the Senate, Penny Wong, to George Brandis:
Explanation of actions in the Bell Group litigation
When the Senate meets at 10am this morning I will seek leave to move a motion requiring you to explain your actions with respect to the Bell Group litigation.
If leave is not forthcoming, I intend to make use of the relevant contingent notice of motion to move to suspend standing orders and bring on debate on the motion.
You may wish to consider seeking leave to make an explanation when the Senate meets. Were you to do so, the opposition would give leave and it would not be necessary to move such a motion.
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Both leaders are outside the parliament with Rirratjingu elders and No More campaign founder Charlie King and community leaders who are calling on the parliament to address the issue of family violence in Indigenous communities.
Rirratjingu dancers will perform the Djan’kawu ceremony for Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten.
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Paul Karp pushed the treasurer on the George Brandis/Justin Gleeson matter. At first he would not answer and then he said the Australian Tax Office proceeded with the case on behalf of the commonwealth so it’s all good.
The ATO proceeded with the case. I look at what happens and what the outcomes are and what I’m standing in front of you here today is explaining an outcome that we are going to achieve on the backpackers tax and you can jump into the sausage machine all you like, but what matters is what happens, and what has happened on these matters, I think is fairly crystal clear.
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How can you secure the Xenophon team if he is refusing to negotiate until the Murray Darling Basin plan is sorted? Scott Morrison says he is confident.
I’m very confident that the backpacker tax will be sorted out. I’ve spoken to Senator Xenophon this morning saying we are honouring an arrangement we had come to with Senator Xenophon at 19% and Senator Xenophon was prepared to accept the more responsible 19% rate, but in this parliament, the 45th parliament, it’s about what you get done.
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Scott Morrison has put the compromise to One Nation’s Pauline Hanson and he is awaiting a response.
The savings will have to be made up in the budget – which will be announced at the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook.
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Coalition backs down on backpacker tax, supports 15% rate
Scott Morrison will support a 15% backpacker tax.
The Labor party’s objective here has just been to play wrecker. On one hand they come into the parliament every day and say that we need to address revenue issues, and then on the same day they attack the government for a resolution of the backpacker issues which actually protects the revenue.
The hypocrisy and phony nature of the Labor party on the backpacker tax has been absolutely appalling. But it’s for the government to make sure that we provide certainty and we get outcomes, and today the government will be working to put in place a bill which will propose 15% on the backpackers’ arrangement. We will honour the arrangement that we’ve come to with Senator Xenophon and we appreciate his continued support on this, as well as Senator Hinch.
It will cost $120m, says Morrison.
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The Greens have said they will move to set up a Senate inquiry into whether the attorney general, George Brandis, engaged in “corrupt conduct” over an alleged sweetheart deal with the West Australian government.
Brandis allegedly told the then solicitor general, Justin Gleeson, not to dispute the constitutionality of a WA law to get the state top priority among Bell Group creditors, which would have cost the Australian Tax Office and the commonwealth $300m, but Gleeson refused and won the case anyway.
The Greens want to set up a Senate inquiry into the matter. Asked about an inquiry on ABC AM this morning, the Labor leader in the Senate, Penny Wong, said:
We’re happy to have an inquiry ... but I think there’s a first step, Senator Brandis should attend the chamber ... he should front up and give his version of events.
Brandis has so far refused to comment. Even when Labor questioned whether his behaviour was “at worst corrupt or at best morally bankrupt” a spokesman for the attorney general said on Friday only that “the government does not comment on litigation in which the commonwealth was a party”.
Wong said an inquiry should consider the conduct of other ministers including the former WA treasurer Christian Porter and the then assistant treasurer, Kelly O’Dwyer. But a committee was “no substitute” for Brandis explaining himself.
One Nation does not back the inquiry. It’s a curious position for the party, given that its leader Pauline Hanson agreed to the referral of its WA senator Rodney Culleton to the high court because politicians have to be accountable.
Senator Derryn Hinch told Guardian Australia:
[I’m] waiting to hear an explanation from Brandis. From the news reports it would been to be a good one. We will see what develops in the Senate today.
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Barnaby Joyce has stepped into the 457 visa debate. He spoke to Guardian Australia about the importance of the 457 program to fill workforce gaps in rural and regional areas such as for doctors and meat workers.
Seen in the context of George Christensen’s call for a ban of 457 and Labor’s newly energised crackdown post-Trump, it is a brave move to advocate for foreign workers. Speaking from experience, our town has relied on foreign doctors who transitioned to Australian residency for 40 years.
Here is a taste of Barnaby:
In abattoirs, too, there are certain jobs that others just won’t do.
Do you want to pack offal, or the smelly guts of a cow? Do you want to bone out skulls, do a bovine form of “alas poor Yorick”? No you don’t.
Most people would want to work as the accountant at the abattoir or one of the other higher level jobs. But someone has to do these unpopular jobs if the abattoir is to work properly. And when people come in from overseas to do it, the town is happy, the abattoir is working, and people have jobs.
In Rockhampton, the number of meat workers on 457 visas has actually gone down. What happened? Well, these 457 workers wanted to become Australians and constructive members of the community: buying houses, bringing up their kids. And that’s exactly what happened.
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Mike Bowers has a full gallery of pictures from the Sunday Christmas party Malcolm Turnbull hosted at the Lodge, but here is an assortment for your viewing pleasure:
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The art of the doorstop.
Labor says Christian Porter and Kelly O'Dwyer have questions to answer over Gleeson-Brandis stoush
You will know by now that the attorney general, George Brandis, has got a serious problem on his hands as more details of the Justin Gleeson stoush rolled out late last week. The West Australian’s Andrew Probyn and Shane Wright reported on it here.
At the heart of the fight was revenue due to creditors from the collapse of the Bell Resources group. The allegation is that Brandis worked to try to ensure revenue went to the West Australian government rather than the commonwealth under a deal initially agreed to by the former treasurer Joe Hockey.
Penny Wong says it is completely inappropriate for someone who is supposed to uphold the law to instruct (Gleeson) not to run a particular proposition because it is “politically inconvenient”.
It’s all very well to lay the blame at Joe Hockey’s feet. We know from what was said in the West Australian that there are a number of ministers with serious questions to answer about this. Christian Porter was identified as being part of this arrangement in the West Australian parliament, as was Kelly O’Dwyer. So those ministers really do need to front up and explain their actions as well.
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David Leyonhjelm told ABC AM he has secured a deal with the Coalition to increase the onus of proof standard in the ABCC. We will await details of that deal when we hear it from the government’s lips.
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Good morning, blogans, and welcome to the last parliamentary sitting week.
These last sitting weeks are always 50 shades of crazy but 2016 might just take the cake.
Malcolm Turnbull’s government needs legislation passed that is crucial to its agenda, namely:
- The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) bill which sets up a building watchdog that was around in the Howard years.
- The working holidaymakers tax aka the backpackers tax.
Turnbull needs eight of 10 crossbenchers, which is no mean feat.
Already, the South Australian senator Nick Xenophon – wielder of three Senate votes – is cranky because Barnaby Joyce suggested his state might not get the extra 450GL promised if it caused no detrimental effect upstream.
The Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm is cranky because he feels dudded on the Adler shotgun deal, done with the Abbott government.
One Nation has proposed a 15% backpacker tax compromise, in between the Jacqui Lambie 10.5% rate and the government’s proposed 19% rate. One of the government’s own backbenchers, Andrew Broad, has supported this at the weekend.
Which may explain why the crossbenchers were invited to a Christmas party at the prime minister’s Lodge last night. Mike Bowers, knowing the Lodge inside out, staked out the back entrance and Pauline Hanson was not happy to see him on her departure.
Go away.
So with that hot mess before him, Turnbull woke to a Fairfax-Ipsos poll which showed increased support to 18% for crossbenchers and independents. So the appearance of chaos no longer turns off the electorate. On a two-party-preferred basis, Labor holds a lead over the Coalition 51-49%.
Fairfax’s Mark Kenny reports the poll also showed:
A ray of hope for government MPs heading into the summer break is that Mr Turnbull has opened up his lead as the preferred prime minister to 51-30, with 19 per cent undecided. He also leads Mr Shorten on eight of 11 leadership attributes.
But in many of those, the trend is negative for Mr Turnbull, with a 9 per cent drop in his rating as a “strong leader”, a 7-point drop in his “ability to make things happen”, and a 6-point drop in the two areas of being “competent” and “open to ideas”.
Xenophon has been speaking to Michael Brissenden on ABC AM.
He told Brisso there remain some “stumbling blocks” to his support for the ABCC bill.
Xenophon wants security of payments for subcontractors and procurement rules to make sure Australian standard building materials are used on construction sites.
And he goes to the water issue, saying it is in the national interest not to trash the national agreement made in 2013.
The prime minister has made a number of assurances on water.
But he wants any agreements made in writing.
I have a power of crossbench party pics from Mike Bowers and I will get to Tony Abbott and his helpful interventions shortly. Not to mention George Brandis and the WA deal. Speak to me in the thread, or on the Twits @gabriellechan or on Facebook.
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