Nighty night
Well it’s time to saddle up and ride out of here. Thanks very much for your company tonight and through the week.
Let’s wrap today, Thursday:
-
Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash are the new nationals leadership team, after Warren Truss finally confirmed his intention to bow out of politics at the next election.
-
Stuart Robert – the besieged human services minister – remains on his feet despite days of parliamentary pounding, for now at least. We expected to learn his fate today with the release of the Parkinson review. That didn’t happen.
- Now the Nationals ducks are in a row – we will get a frontbench reshuffle, either tomorrow or over the weekend.
There was more, but right now, that’s enough. Bless Magic Mike Bowers. Bless the readers. Have a good evening.
Better than Warren Truss in any case. Here is the circle of political life in one frame.
Updated
The internet is a very rude place.
Remember where you were when Barnaby Joyce became Australia's Deputy Prime Minister #auspol pic.twitter.com/NER6EwILm9
— Shorten_Suite (@Shorten_Suite) February 11, 2016
Pump, pump the jam, pump it up.
Pumped, says the prime minister.
Pumped.
Joyce is asked whether he’ll take up land rights, the rights of farmers. He says it has to be a balance. The mining industry should not be shut down. But there is the challenge of keeping prime agricultural land. Joyce says this isn’t a binary issue, it’s a complex one.
And that’s a wrap. I’ll share some more pictures shortly.
Joyce is asked how he wants to make a difference in politics. He proceeds to list the various interests of colleagues, fairer banks, cooperatives, effective irrigation. He says the challenge is to influence this at the cabinet level. For backbenchers, it is influencing the public debate. Joyce won’t be drawn beyond that on specifics.
Fiona Nash is asked what portfolio she’d like. She says she’ll do anything the leader requires of her.
Joyce is asked how he will divvy up the frontbench positions. He says he’s a collegiate fellow, despite some publicity to the contrary. Joyce says he will take soundings from the new team and from Warren Truss.
Q: How will you be different from Warren Truss?
Fiona Nash:
That is one of the most obvious differences. I am a girl.
Q: Will there be ongoing division?
Joyce thanks Michael McCormack for not running tonight and putting the best interests of the Nationals first.
We are all in politics and we understand to have the greatest effect, you have to have the greatest purpose of your numbers and to have 21 people working as one gives you better bang for your buck than five different groups of four.
First question is whether Joyce intends to strike a new coalition agreement with the prime minister. The new deputy prime minister isn’t saying one way or another. He says the coalition agreement might need to be revisited, but nothing dramatic. The election is close, he says.
Q: What portfolio will you take?
He doesn’t answer that directly either. Joyce says he needs to consult his colleagues.
Q: Do you want the additional cabinet position?
(Yes.)
Joyce says this is the people’s excitement, tonight, the people that Nationals represent. On the farms, people in the weatherboard and iron and the brick and tile.
Fiona Nash:
I am humbled that my party has chosen to give me the honour of being their deputy leader. It is an exciting time to be a regional Australian.
We have in this party such a cross-section of people from right across rural and regional areas. We are real people who represent all of those out in rural and regional communities that need us to fight for them. We represent some of the most disadvantaged people across the country and we will never stop fighting for them, making sure that we look after them and that they get their fair share.
Joyce opens his press conference by noting this is an awesome responsibility.
I must say, it is spectacular when you turn on the television and the nation is talking about the leadership of the National party.
The latest advice is no Parkinson review tonight. I stress I’m speculating when I say there must be a boil over about Stuart Robert’s future, (because when you are reporting live, there’s not much time to make multiple calls), but I can’t see any other obvious conclusion to reach.
This report was supposed to be out hours ago.
The new Nationals leadership team is now calling on the prime minister with twenty of their closest camera wielding friends.
Barnaby Joyce, to Turnbull:
It is momentous and I am looking forward to showing Australians that they are in safe hands. We will be a great team and looking forward to working with you.
Turnbull to Joyce and Nash:
I am very pumped up. It is a great result and I think this will be a very formidable team. We haven’t got long to go to the election. Well done to the Nats. All the best. Well done.
The glass eyed muppet donkey never gets old.
That feeling when you become Deputy Prime Minister pic.twitter.com/xdb2YEc4Ke
— Charles Croucher (@ccroucher9) February 11, 2016
From the fellow who thought he might be leader, then thought he might be deputy, and tonight is neither.
Congratulations to the new @The_Nationals Leader @Barnaby_Joyce and his deputy @SenatorNash who will both do a great job for regional Aust.
— Michael McCormack MP (@M_McCormackMP) February 11, 2016
Politics is challenging.
I love this picture. It’s a timeshift. This was Bridget McKenzie, jogging to tonight’s meeting.
Press conference coming up soon.
If it isn’t obvious, Fiona Nash taking the deputy’s spot means the prime minister will have another woman in the cabinet.
Returning officer, George Christensen.
The vote was by secret ballot. And in the National party that means we don’t release the tally of votes. The ballot papers have been destroyed. Barnaby and Fiona will formally take office when Warren Truss officially resigns.
Barnaby will be the new Deputy PM and we look forward to having Fiona in the Cabinet and I can assure you that both of them will be fierce advocates and fighters for rural and regional Australia.
Barnaby and Fiona will be holding a press conference in the National’s party room in about 15 to 20 minutes time. And can I finish by saying if there is one great legacy that Warren Truss has left the National party it is a sense of unity and loyalty and that will continue under this new leadership.
We are all very good mates and we will continue to be even though some people missed out tonight. Thank you and I will see you in 15 to 20 minutes time.
Australia has a new deputy prime minister and Fiona Nash is the new Nationals deputy
The white smoke has emerged from the Nationals party room.
It’s Barnaby and Fiona Nash.
That James Jeffrey is a very funny man.
Hey girl #FeelTheBarn pic.twitter.com/kUEdYZsifB
— James Jeffrey (@James_Jeffrey) February 11, 2016
Phil Coorey from The Australian Financial Review is tipping Queensland Liberal Steve Ciobo for Australia’s next trade minister when the prime minister proceeds to the reshuffle. He’s saying that will be Sunday. I really hope he’s right. The mail I got earlier this evening was tomorrow, not Sunday.
Andrew Robb told Sky News earlier tonight he would play the role of trade envoy in the government until his retirement.
We can only hope so. I’m still thinking about Warren Truss suggesting we’ll still be going in two hours.
Time to stop tweeting, time to start voting #nationals #ballot #auspol #lovegippsland
— Darren Chester MP (@DarrenChesterMP) February 11, 2016
Still no sign yet of the Parkinson review into Stuart Robert’s future.
Mike Bowers tells me that Joyce is being followed tonight by a film crew. I hear around the traps a 60Minutes special is in the offing.
Check Barnaby Joyce’s face.
The face of anticipation.
Yes, conventional wisdom this evening is Fiona Nash or Luke Hartsuyker or possibly Darren Chester for deputy National’s leader, but in our office, we are keeping close watch on Keith Pitt, the member for Hinkler.
Because we love an underdog/outsider at Guardian Australia. And because he’s from Queensland.
Updated
Truss ends somewhat ominously.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for being here. And we’ll have some news for you, I guess, in an hour or two.
Warren Truss has invited the cameras briefly into the partyroom to record some brief remarks. He points out that it is impossible for everyone to emerge as a winner tonight. That is true. It is completely impossible for that to happen.
Warren Truss:
This is an important ballot for us. And I’m delighted that we have such a pool of talent that has expressed interest in taking leadership roles in the party. Not everyone will be able to be successful tonight, but the good news about a ballot of this nature is we have so many people who will get their opportunity also into the future. So we’ll proceed now, I think, to the ballot.
Hellooo, Australia’s almost new deputy prime minister.
Just while we wait and chat amongst ourselves, the trade minister Andrew Robb is being interviewed on Sky News tonight.
This is interesting.
Andrew Robb expects someone else to take Trade portfolio in reshuffle while he becomes "trade envoy" for rest of this term #SpeersTonight
— David Speers (@David_Speers) February 11, 2016
I’ve neglected to say until now there are smoke signals this evening that the reshuffle could be as soon as tomorrow.
More from the Nationals party room. The sorting hat.
This is the hat that the Nats voting order will be drawn from...Nats new leader. pic.twitter.com/5iqavm2dMm
— Andrew Broad MP (@broad4mallee) February 11, 2016
Meta. Nationals MP takes picture of photographers taking pictures of National MPs walking into their party room meeting.
Nothing beats turning lens back on the media #auspol #nationals pic.twitter.com/NuLlxoHwwF
— Darren Chester MP (@DarrenChesterMP) February 11, 2016
Let the record show the Nationals are now entering their party room to elect their new leadership.
If you need a laugh, there is also the famous Last Week Tonight episode that was sparked by Joyce’s declaration that Johnny Depp’s dogs, Pistol and Boo, should bugger off.
As well as featuring Guardian Australia’s own countdown clock, it also has the bonus benefit of a description of an alpaca as a glassy eyed muppet donkey.
Barnaby Joyce is such a well known character it seems unlikely that Politics Live readers will need background reading, but in the event you do, Tony Walker from the Australian Financial Review has produced a good pen portrait which you can find here.
Walker quotes Joyce telling him that what excites me about Malcolm Turnbull “is that he is a bit of a maddie, but he’s also got some big ideas.”
Tony Walker:
Joyce’s use of the word “maddie” is not random. He draws the description from Paul Keating’s observation that there are three types of political leader: straight men, fixers, and maddies.
In the history of the National party, and before that the Country party, it has been “straight” men who have tended to lead the party, like the outgoing Truss and before him Mark Vaile, John Anderson, and Doug Anthony.
The one notable exception is Arthur Fadden. Fadden was a maverick and served briefly as Australia’s 13th prime minister on Robert Menzies’s resignation in 1941 after the latter lost the confidence of colleagues. Like Joyce, Fadden, from rural Queensland, was an accountant, albeit a flamboyant one.
As the Nationals start to get ready for tonight’s party room, I can remind readers that the party leadership is already a foregone conclusion – Barnaby Joyce doesn’t have a challenger. The contest is for the deputy’s spot.
Rob Harris from the Herald Sun says his mail is it’s coming down to these two.
Not great insight, but some say Luke Hartsukyer has the numbers for deputy, others say Fiona Nash. Obviously tight. Will go for a while.
— Rob Harris (@rharris334) February 11, 2016
Hartsuyker has my vote for his pitch from earlier today: I have skills that complement Barnaby Joyce’s “flair.”
Skillz.
Updated
The ABC’s Chris Uhlmann has just reported on the ABC news that this exchange ..
Tonight on @abcnews @CUhlmann has new details on this heated exchange between Stuart Robert and Peta Credlin https://t.co/CM7o7BnLZC #auspol
— Dan Conifer (@DanConifer) February 11, 2016
.. between Tony Abbott’s chief of staff Peta Credlin and Stuart Robert – a finger pointing session that attracted a deal of attention at the time as a symptom of Credlin’s controlling tendencies – was actually sparked by a desire on the part of Robert that Abbott sign a tie for Paul Marks, the businessman and donor with Robert during the controversial trip to Beijing that is now the subject of the Parkinson inquiry.
Credlin as you can see in the footage objected to that request somewhat strenuously. I can’t remember whether or not that detail came out at the time.
Various Nationals have been asked over the course of the afternoon how Barnaby Joyce will differ from Warren Truss as party leader.
Apart from their obvious differences in personality, Joyce will be more inclined to carve out political territory for the Nationals. He’s no longer the parliamentarian who thought coalitionism meant the slow death of the National party – but he’s no shrinking violet either. Any person who threatens to kill Johnny Depp’s dogs isn’t naturally risk averse.
Asked to nominate any specific policy differences, National MP John Wacka Williams said this afternoon that Joyce would be more inclined than Warren Truss to take up the internal fights on things like competition policy, specifically the implementation of an effects test which would help protect small business against the misuse of market power by large companies.
Updated
Labor’s senate leader and shadow trade minister Penny Wong has issued a statement marking the retirement of Andrew Robb.
Over recent years we have shadowed each other in government and opposition in the finance and trade portfolios, and acted as campaign spokespeople for our respective parties. Andrew is a person of integrity. While we haven’t always agreed, our personal engagement has been respectful and constructive, and I acknowledge his diligent and committed parliamentary and ministerial service. At a personal level Andrew has shown a great deal of courage and acted as a model for many others.
A couple of pictures while we have the chance. Tony Abbott, articulating the dream I really don’t want to mention again.
This one is all kinds of fabulous. Mike captured the reaction of Warren Truss, Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack when the Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek said during her tribute to Truss that she enjoyed plenty of fun times with the Nats.
Current guidance suggests we will still see the results of the Parkinson review at some point this evening – but all things liable to change without notice.
Fun times.
Politely asked @M_McCormackMP to vote for me as Deputy Leader. Fair to say he declined. Pix credit Newscorp #auspol pic.twitter.com/paxZoudqVW
— Darren Chester MP (@DarrenChesterMP) February 11, 2016
With other skills that complement that flair
I’ll be going right through this evening until stumps. And by stumps I mean until we know who the new Nationals leadership team is.
Obviously we know the leader will be Barnaby Joyce, but the deputy field remains open and hotly contested.
Luke Hartsuyker, the minister for vocational education and skills, made it known this afternoon he is pitching for the deputy position. Explaining his reasoning to ABC TV, he said the success of the Warren Truss-Barnaby Joyce partnership was that they had “very complementary skills”.
Luke Hartsuyker:
I think for the Nationals going forward it is important that we have a team with a balance of skills that brings, perhaps if Barnaby Joyce is so elected, the Barnaby Joyce flair with other skills that complement that flair.
I’m just now getting a moment to sort through Mike Bowers question time pictures. How marvellous is this one? Prime minister and putative deputy prime minister.
Just catching up with some evidence given in estimates earlier today, testimony from DFAT officials indicates that Philip Ruddock may have been the only person considered for the new role of Australia’s special envoy on human rights to the UN. Earlier this week, the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, announced that the Liberal party stalwart would leave Parliament to take up the role. DFAT secretary, Peter Varghese, told estimates that he was asked to provide information on the role during a meeting with Bishop. During this meeting, Ruddock – and only Ruddock – was mentioned for the job. “No other names were canvassed by the foreign minister so I don’t know if there were other names in the mix,” Varghese said.
Updated
I’ve been having a conversation on Twitter with a reader about the merits of Labor spending so much time on Stuart Robert in question time. Rather than try and have that conversation on Twitter, I thought it was more productive to have it here.
Seriously what are Labor trying to achieve? Surely there are more issues to discuss than Stuart Robert. @murpharoo can you help me out here?
— UriahHeep (@notthebandfool) February 11, 2016
Now I get the point. It’s pretty obvious the opposition is just spinning its wheels by asking questions repeatedly that have no prospect of being answered. So from the point of view of the voter, going about ordinary business, what is all the fuss about? Why not move on to the million other issues that need prosecuting rather than keep going on Stuart Robert?
This is a perfectly valid perspective. I have a different perspective, possibly because I’m very close to the action but more likely because I think the whole set of issues surrounding the case study of Stuart Robert in Beijing are precisely the issues politics needs to confront and talk about.
I said this yesterday, I’ll say it again today. This whole episode (however the story ultimately ends) is the story of a politician who, evidently, does not know where to draw the line. And we really need our elected representatives to know where to draw the lines. Our MPs should not be (as Shorten put it in the censure debate this afternoon) valets for special interests, or door openers for their financial backers. Not ever. They need to be servants of the public and of the public interest. That’s what I mean by drawing the line. And this imperative applies equally to Labor as to the Liberal party.
I think this whole Stuart Robert debate has shone a light on a systemic issue which is existentially important to the health of our politics. That’s why I’m delighted to see several successive question times devoted to this issue. Because I think we need to have this debate and have it seriously, because if we do make time for this debate, politics will get a whole lot better at serving the public rather than seeing “reform” as a process of appeasement with various sectional interests.
That’s my view. Fell free to call me crazy.
Back to the sex discrimination commissioner, for a minute. Terrific picture from Mike Bowers.
Outside, the Nationals leader Warren Truss is holding a press conference. He says there will be four Nationals in cabinet once the prime minister concludes the reshuffle, but one less outer ministry member.
He concedes Barnaby Joyce – his successor – has a different style to me. Truss says Joyce will have to draw up a new coalition agreement with the prime minister, but suggests the contents of the current agreement will transfer to the new leadership team.
Truss is asked whether or not he flagged privately that the government intended to go to the election in early July using one of its double dissolution triggers. He says certainly there is interest in a double dissolution election. A double dissolution election is one of the options open to the government, for that reason it is obviously on the government’s agenda.
Kate Jenkins, Australia's new sex discrimination commissioner
Onwards and upwards through the political afternoon. A quick update on some breaking news: Australia has a new sex discrimination commissioner. It’s Kate Jenkins, who has been the the human rights commissioner in Victoria. From her bio:
Kate is the convener of the Victorian Male Champions of Change, the Chair of the Independent Review into sex discrimination and sexual harassment, including predatory behaviour in Victoria Police and the Co-Chair of Play by the Rules. She is also the Co-Chair of the Commission’s Disability Reference Group and a member of the Aboriginal Justice Forum.
The prime minister has placed further questions on the notice paper.
A brief time travel while we wait for the vote. Some pictures of the suspension debate.
The House is dividing now.
Manager of government business Christopher Pyne is up to rebut Shorten. It’s quite interesting the government has let the debate run today, no gag motion today.
Pyne says the government is not going to be lectured on accountability by the party of Eddie Obeid, of Craig Thomson, of Cleanevent.
The idea of being lectured by the Labor Party on standards is like Dean Martin lecturing people on alcohol abuse, Mr Speaker.
Shorten is taking the big bash cricket approach.
Prime minister Turnbull just wants this issue to go away. He’d like to save one of his cash cows and donors, he’d like to save minister Roberts (sic) because he did vote for him in the leadership ballot.
What he’s doing is letting his loyalty to some people overwhelm his obligation to the nation. What we won’t have on this side is – you got Tony Abbott once, we are not going to let you get him again by blaming him ... he should not be hung out to dry because you won’t act because you need that hopeless treasurer to keep backing up your machine.
We know exactly what is going on!
The government of Australia and the ministers of Australia are not valets for donors in the Liberal party, opening doors, closing doors.
Does (Stuart Robert) have an interest in watching big deals being signed and he just likes to turn up?
Is it an affectation? And we do want to know who paid his air fare. We do want to know that.
We do want to know how he travelled around, what equipment from the Australian government he took. I cannot believe that this issue has gone on for the last number of days!
Shorten, enjoying himself.
Then we have got this hapless traveller, Stuart Robert... The hapless minister for human services wandering around in China ... and not only did he fortuitously meet the donor, Paul Marks, fantastic, what a surprise meeting you here! Then he happens to stumble across a signing ceremony in his personal capacity. Then, glory be, he’s got a meeting with the vice minister for land and resources.
He should buy a Tatts Lotto ticket, he’s so lucky in his travels.
Did that Chinese minister think he was just having a chat to citizen Roberts of Australia or was he under the misapprehension that this man was a minister in the government? We have asked the prime minister to act.
But what he’s done is he has contracted out his leadership to Martin Parkinson. He must be so happy to be back working for the Liberal government. He got run out of town by one bunch of this government, now he’s been brought back in to carry out the night soil for this current prime minister!
Shorten is back with a question to Turnbull. Is he attempting to construct an outcome here post Parkinson review where he blames his predecessor Tony Abbott in order to protect Stuart Robert?
There’s some procedural argument about the validity of this question. Then Shorten moves to suspend the standing orders. There’s a double censure today: one for Stuart Robert for failing to resign and another for Turnbull for failing to sack him.
Question seven to Robert.
Q: I refer to the minister’s previous answers on the Parkinson inquiry. Did the minister inform the Parkinson inquiry of how he travelled to China, including whether he took a private jet? Who paid for his travel and whether it was properly declared on his register of members interest? Will the minister now provide that information to the parliament and is the minister aware that his previous answer does not answer this question?
You can guess the response.
Question six (I think) on Robert.
Q: Has the minister informed the Parkinson inquiry that when he wrote to the former prime minister applying for personal leave for his trip to China, he did not inform him that he would attend a signing ceremony between Nimrod Resources and a Chinese state-owned corporation or that he would meet with the Chinese vice minister for land and resources accompanied by Nimrod Resources executives? Is the minister aware that his previous answer does no the answer this question?
You guessed it. Robert refers Mark Dreyfus to his statement.
Dreyfus, to Robert:
Q: Has the minister provided to the secretary all emails, letters and invitations which caused him to be attending the meeting with the Chinese vice minister for land and resources and Nimrod Resources? Will he also provide those documents to the parliament, and is the minister aware that his previous statement does not answer this question?
Stuart Robert refers Dreyfus to his statement.
Question four on Stuart Robert. Shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus this time. Did Stuart Robert use proper security protocols with his government devices while in Beijing?
Robert won’t say either way. Like yesterday, he refers Dreyfus to the statement he made to parliament a few days ago, which confirms nothing of a substantive nature.
Shorten is back on Stuart Robert. He’s referencing today’s senate estimates evidence that I covered earlier: that there is a Chinese government record of the controversial meeting in Beijing, but no Australian record, because there were no Australian officials in the room. Has Dr Parkinson sought the record of the meeting?
The prime minister is disposed to be genial. Accountability and due process is important, in accordance with the code, the prime minister says.
Then geniality ceases. He’s back onto Shorten’s record with the workers at Cleanevent.
Labor says hang on a second, Shorten gave a personal explanation a couple of days ago, taking issue with the prime minister’s misrepresentations on this issue. That should be the end of the matter, says the manager of opposition business, Tony Burke.
Christopher Pyne, across the table.
Toughen up Bill.
Turnbull is powering on with Cleanevent.
The next Dixer invites the foreign minister to update the House on how her forthcoming visit to China will strengthen our economic relationship and help boost our domestic economy leading to jobs and growth.
Labor’s Anthony Albanese notes that standing order 100(d)(6) clearly rules out irony and given today ...
Speaker Smith gongs him off. Albanese is ejected from the House under standing order 94A.
Shorten is back to Stuart Robert and he’d like the prime minister to table letters confirming that the minister sought and was granted leave for his trip to Beijing. Shorten has reference numbers for the correspondence.
The prime minister is inclined to see this as another polite request for information. Which he’ll decline for now. Just be patient, Bill, is the Turnbull counsel.
I will consider (Shorten’s) request and consider what material should be tabled in the context of reporting (after the Parkinson inquiry). So I thank him for his suggestion.
Sorry to break into question time, and I know we already know this, but it’s worth recording properly, now he’s put his position on the record.
Nationals MP Michael McCormack has confirmed he is not eyeing the leadership. There’s a brief statement:
I am not challenging for the leadership and have told the party as much.
And now, back to question time.
Updated
First Dorothy Dixer is on the resilience of the Australian economy.
Then Shorten is back, on Stuart Robert.
Q: Isn’t it the case the prime minister has one choice: sack the minister, or sack your ministerial standards?
(I think that’s two choices, but let’s not quibble).
Turnbull says in the Robert investigation, he’s following the process set out in the code. This is called due process, the prime minister says.
Question time
Thank heavens question time has arrived and we can now walk right by the dreams of men in Australian political leadership.
Here’s Bill Shorten, to the prime minister.
Q: When does good government start?
Malcolm Turnbull says today we’ve had warm words about the National party, lovely words, and he intends to treat this question from Shorten as a polite request for information. We are back into excitement territory. Why is Bill so gloomy? Why does he get his questions from sarcastic newspaper columns?
Just in case you think I might have been joking about the boulevard of dry dreams.
Former PM Tony Abbott jokes about "wet dreams" in Parliament, while farewelling Warren Truss #auspol pic.twitter.com/HaqTFMTOAs
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) February 11, 2016
Tony Abbott congratulates Warren Truss #reps #politicslive @murpharoo @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/oCgMCm81Xj
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) February 11, 2016
Tony Abbott, continuing:
You know, in this parliament, we are very good at saying the right thing. We are not always nearly so good at doing the right thing, but both the member for Wide Bay and the Member for Goldstein have done the right thing, in every way.
In everyway.
Our country is better for their public life and I join with my other senior colleagues in saying to both of them: “Well done, good and faithful servants.”
Tony Abbott and the boulevard of dry dreams
Tony Abbott is his making his contribution now. He notes very few people leave politics at a time of their choosing. But both of these men have managed it.
He’s running through their respective legacies and their remarkable achievements. Warren Truss he says, has transformed the country. He says he used to talk about adult government, then look to Warren Truss to see that it was delivered.
Tony Abbott:
The foreign minister talked about the deputy prime minister’s dry and droll wit. I can remember after listening to one of his colleagues in leadership group, Warren said: “That sounds a bit like a Treasury wet dream,” and then he said, “No, Treasury only has dry dreams.”
The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, is paying tribute to Warren Truss’s wonderful sense of humour.
He’s a very droll fellow, she notes.
Barnaby Joyce:
When they think of Truss they will think of decency: a decent man, a gentle man, a good man.
Barnaby Joyce is taking his turn now. His description of the departing leader’s personal qualities is very precise.
Warren has personified decency, self-control, attention to detail, leadership, strength.
Warren, Joyce says, does not wing it.
If he gets the file, he reads the file. He will read yours as well. He does not rise to the bait of the personal barb.
Warren’s capacity to hold a confidence is legendary. As we have said, there are probably three people who know what Warren is thinking on sensitive issues. Warren, his wife and his God.
Shorten pays tribute to Andrew Robb’s pragmatism, an inclination he suspects will be missed around the corridors after he departs political life. He also pays tribute to the courage Robb has shown in managing his depression.
What you did, your example, your honesty, has helped break down some of the counter-productive and ill-informed stigma that inflicts many who suffer in silence. Because of you and your honesty, other people will have better lives. There is not much more than a member of this parliament can claim to do.
Bill Shorten, in his tribute to Warren Truss, reminds the chamber that Truss has the distinct honour of having a cameo in the US TV show, Lost.
Bill Shorten:
There was a character named Sawyer, he is dragged before a detective who had extremely unconvincing Australian accent. He is told he is being charged with involvement in a bar fight to which he protests that this is a badge of honour in Australia, at which point the detective leans in to tell him the bad news and I quote exactly: “You head-butted the honourable Warren Truss, minister for agriculture, forestries and fishery, one of the most important people.” Sawyer interrupts: “He head-butted me.”
For some reason I’m just not sold on the image of Warren Truss, bar-room brawler.
Malcolm Turnbull:
Mr Speaker, the most important thing for all of us to say to these men is thank you. They have made Australia different. They’ve made Australia better. They’ve shaped Australia. They’ve shaped our future, whether it is in trade or it is in infrastructure – or in their example of clear, warm, humane patriotism, a love of country.
Turnbull is pressing on with the salutations. Robb is the best trade minister in Australian history. Truss is a coalitionist – knowing the Liberal and National parties are stronger together than at loggerheads.
The prime minister:
He understands the importance of the National party distinct identity, but also the reality that we are so much stronger when we are working closely together.
(Are you listening, Barnaby, hint hint.)
The National senators in the House, watching on. And the senate leader George Brandis of course.
Malcolm Turnbull stands up now to salute both colleagues. Both were sons of farmers. Each have long, strong, marriages.
Now we are into the jokes.
Robb winds up in this way.
It’s been a great privilege, a pleasure and not too many people get the sort of opportunities I’ve been given and I thank all of you for your part – and to all of you who have had some part in that contribution.
Thank you.
Robb talks about his depression. He pays tribute to Malcolm Turnbull for dealing with him sensitively when he was ill during their period in opposition, and for Tony Abbott’s treatment of him subsequently.
The support helped me achieve good health, to manage the problem, and to be able to demonstrate to others in the community that in fact you cannot only manage the problem ... you can go back and actually assume even greater responsibility.
It was the trust, not only of Malcolm and Tony Abbott, but so many of my colleagues here, and many on the Opposition benches, and I thank all of you.
Updated
The trade minister Andrew Robb has followed Truss in bidding a quick farewell.
Politics, he says, tests strength of character.
To advance the country is a test of our mettle.
I arrived a bit late, probably, at 53, and I feel in some ways I have been in a hurry ever since, because I was conscious, even though I have had experience as a person in the back room, the parliamentary machine, but I do feel that I arrived a bit late and I knew I had to go through the steps.
Even though I had experience in politics, you still have to learn a lot.
There is a lot to learn in this place to be effective and to learn how to influence decisions and to get them through.
Truss ends thus, with an interesting observation and in characteristically low key fashion.
Warren Truss:
I came from a small farming district and went to avery small state school, and I had the privilege now to become deputy prime minister of our country.
I wonder whether I’ll be the last person with a limited education who comes from one of the poorest electorates in the country to become deputy prime minister.
I hope not, because I think we do need amongst the leadership of our country, a breadth of experience and skills.
I want to thank the people of Australia for the opportunity that they have given me to serve in this regard. I’ll take away many happy memories and I hope that people may be kind enough to recognise that I have made something of a contribution towards public life in this country. It’s been an honour for me and a privilege to work with everyone in this room.
Thank you.
A shout out for the staff, a remarkably stable office, with only two chiefs of staff during his entire parliamentary career.
And Mrs Truss:
I want to acknowledge my family,particularly my wife, Lyn. We were married only a few months before I was elected to parliament and she worked for my predecessor. So, in reality, she knew more about the job than I did when we came here, but we have been very much a team and I could not have done it without her and she’s just been absolutely marvellous for me and I love her dearly.
There’s salutations for the colleagues, the various Liberal leaders, the Nationals colleagues, the opposite numbers. Not a bad word about anyone.
Truss says he’d like to be here for the opening of the second airport in Sydney. He knows this is impossible. He quips his actual objective is still to be alive at that time.
Truss is winding through his time in various ministries. Some true confessions.
I was trade minister for a while, my least fulfilling portfolio, I have to say, particularly with the great comparison of the great successes of the current trade minister, my achievements were very small.
We were certainly – they were still trying to breathe oxygen into the Doha round at that stage and it was really a wasted period and I just stand in awe of what Andrew Robb has achieved in his time as trade minister, it is truly a remarkable time in our history.
I took the leadership to rebuild the party, and I’ve done that.
What I guess my objective was, when I became leader, somewhat reluctantly, was to rebuild a party that was at that stage at a pretty low ebb. We lost the 2007 election, everybody was pretty dispirited, our numbers had declined and, indeed, the media was saying yet again that the Nationals were finished.
Of course, we are used to that, they have been saying that for over 80 years now and we seem to have managed to survive most of our critics.
I am sure that the party will be in good and strong hands in the years ahead.
A zinger.
Warren Truss:
It’s been particularly an honour to be leader of the Nationals over the last eight years. When I became leader in 2007, nobody wanted the job, including me.
I am pleased to say that now things are different, and everyone wants the job.
Gather round, it's Warren Time
Warren Truss is at the dispatch box, telling the chamber he will retire at the next election, and the Nationals will choose a new leadership tonight.
I was always talked about as the youngest national president of rural youth, the youngest counsellor, youngest mayor – but now that I’m numbered amongst the oldest, I think it’s time to go.
Barnaby Joyce taking the Nationals leadership unopposed makes the evening less cluttered. There’ll still be an arm wrestle for deputy leader, however, unless the field suddenly contracts over the course of the afternoon.
From Sky News reporter Laura Jayes.
.@Barnaby_Joyce will get Nats leadership unopposed. @M_McCormackMP will not be in the running. @SkyNewsAust
— Laura Jayes (@ljayes) February 11, 2016
Politics this lunchtime
Just a very quick lunchtime summary before Warren Truss performs his swan song in the chamber at 12.30pm.
- The Nationals leader will say goodbye to politics today and be replaced as party leader sometime after 8pm this evening.
- The prime minister will today get advice from his departmental head, Martin Parkinson, about whether or not Stuart Robert breached the ministerial code of conduct when he appeared with Paul Marks, a generous party donor, at a commercial contract signing in Beijing in 2014.
It is all happening. Stay with us.
DFAT secretary, Peter Varghese, is also having a long day in the estimates committee.
It's going to be a long day
Back to the main business of the day. A quick update.
- We now expect that Warren Truss will tell parliament at lunchtime that he has brought forward his departure – that he will depart the frontbench effective from the time the prime minister executes the anticipated reshuffle.
- The Nationals are expecting the reshuffle over the course of this weekend.
- Given that expectation, the Nationals party room will meet at 8pm to decide who will succeed Truss as leader.
- Joyce is considered the frontrunner.
I said super Thursday this morning, You got that, right?
“Imagine the reaction if I said you were womansplaining”
A companion piece to the Vine Murph shared before from estimates of Bill Heffernan spouting the f-word. Here’s great moments in estimates, part two.
There has been a blow-up in the community affairs committee over the use of the term “mansplaining”. Incidentally, Malcolm Turnbull has previously been accused of MalSplaining.®
The Labor senator Katy Gallagher, who is a former ACT chief minister, was questioning the communications minister Mitch Fifield. Fifield was referring to legislative and party room processes and the need to pursue certain questions during the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet estimates.
Here is the full exchange:
Fifield: Let me just stop you, so you don’t waste a line of questioning. I’m just giving you…
Gallagher: I love the mansplaining. I’m enjoying it.
Fifield: You’re loving what?
Gallagher: The mansplaining that’s going on.
Fifield: What’s, what…?
Gallagher: Just talking me through how; well, by not answering the question
Fifield: What are you suggesting?
Gallagher: …by repeating processes which are not related to the question that I’ve asked.
Fifield: What’s mansplaining, Senator?
Gallagher: It’s the slightly patronising and condescending way that you’re responding to my questions.
Fifield: I would suggest, Senator, that if you’re putting the word man in front of some description of what I’m doing, you are doing that which I’m sure you’re very much against, [which] is making a sexist implication about how I’m conducting my role as a man. Is that what you’re saying senator?
Gallagher: What I’m saying is the way you’ve been responding to me has been patronising and condescending and I have responded to that, so the easiest way to deal with this is not to have that way in responding to questions I’ve asked…
Fifield: Imagine the reaction, Senator, if I said you were womansplaining. You’re saying that I’m mansplaining.
Gallagher: It is a term that’s used.
Fifield: By whom? By rude senators. By senators who are seeking to make gender an issue.
Gallagher: No, I’m not. I’m just saying your answers to me have been condescending, and patronising and so I have responded to that and the way not to have that is not to have that approach in the way you’ve answered the questions.
Fifield: I’m not being patronising, Senator. I thought we were having a good-hearted exchange until you said I was mansplaining. Do you want to reconsider what you said?
Gallagher: No, I don’t.
Fifield: I just find it extraordinary, Senator, that you or any senator at this table would seek to invoke gender in impugning how a senator is responding. Mansplaining. Let the record show, chair, that Senator Gallagher thinks it’s appropriate to refer to a senator as mansplaining.
Gallagher: It’s already there on the record.
Fifield: Senator, I’m quite frankly appalled... Take a good look at yourself. I mean, sitting here and saying to a male senator you’re mansplaining. If I said to a female senator that you are womansplaining there would be uproar.Stop being a hypocrite. Conduct yourself appropriately for this place.
Gallagher: I’m sorry you’re so offended by the use of the word. It is a word that’s used. I’m surprised that you’re so shocked by the use of the word.
Fifield: No, I’m just calling hypocrisy. Hypocrisy, thy name is Labor. Thy name is Senator Gallagher.
Gallagher: I think you need to settle down actually; I don’t think it was that big a deal. Your answers to me were patronising and condescending.
Fifield: They weren’t.
Gallagher: They were.
Fifield: Senator, welcome to federal parliament. Welcome to federal parliament.
Gallagher: Where the big people play is it? I’m not the one having a breakdown over this.
Chair: ORDER!
Updated
It’s worth pausing just now to take stock of a couple of things.
In the DFAT estimates this morning, Labor has extracted a couple of significant statements from the head of the department of foreign affairs and trade regarding the Stuart Robert imbroglio. It’s worth spelling them out.
- There has been a concurrence from departmental head Peter Varghese that government ministers don’t really have a private capacity if they are appearing in public. He did not contest the proposition that ministers are ministers, whether they are on holiday or not.
- And picking up the last post, Varghese has agreed that it is inconsistent to be described in an official Chinese document as an Australian minister (because a press release from MinMetals in the Chinese system is an official document, this is a state owned enterprise) and then assert (as Robert has) that you are not really there as an Australian minister.
These are important points of logic. It’s interesting too that the government didn’t really run any interference during the Labor questioning on this front.
To foreign affairs estimates again. Labor’s Penny Wong is pointing now to a press release from Chinese state owned enterprise MinMetals which recorded Stuart Robert’s visit with the donor and mining boss Paul Marks. This document surfaced earlier in the week in The Australian Financial Review. She confirms with one of the Chinese speaking DFAT officials that the document records Stuart Robert appearing at the contract signing as a minister in the Australian government. How is this consistent with the minister’s account, that he was at the signing ceremony in a private capacity, Wong asks Varghese?
Peter Varghese:
On the face of it it’s not.
Updated
Independent MP, Andrew Wilkie, has written to the International Criminal Court over the plight of the 267 asylum seekers currently in limbo following a failed bid to challenge offshore detention in the high court.
Wilkie wrote to the ICC in October 2014 asking the organisation to investigate Australia for crimes against humanity over its treatment of asylum seekers. Thursday’s letter aims to supplement the original case.
Andrew Wilkie:
The government is in contravention of the Rome Statute because it continues to incarcerate people indefinitely without trial, forcibly transfer people to third countries and places them in conditions causing great suffering and serious injury to mental and physical health. If the government won’t listen to the outrage of the Australian people, then let’s hope they listen to the ICC.
Great moments in estimates, part one.
Here's the vine of Aussie Senator Bill Heffernan hilariously telling #estimates: "F*ck that's risky shit" https://t.co/1VX8T8kQ0b
— Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) February 10, 2016
Back to Peter Dutton, who got trampled by leave letters, an official Truss timetable and a Rolex. In his radio interview earlier this morning, Dutton was asked about the fate of five children said to be stranded in an Isis stronghold in Syria. This follows reports that Tara Nettleton- the widow of Australian Isis fighter Khaled Sharrouf - has died, leaving her children in Raqqa.
Dutton told 2GB he was unable to confirm the reports but “if there’s an Australian citizen of any age, and most definitely children, regardless of circumstance, we will provide consular assistance”. He avoided making any specific commitment about the children’s return to Australia, saying the government would prioritise public safety.
Dutton raised concern about any parent being “crazy enough or dangerous enough” to take children into such a dangerous environment and suggested the experience would “obviously scar those children for life”. When host Ray Hadley asked about the previously published photo of one of the children holding up a severed head, Dutton said: “It’s a barbaric act and I can only imagine what else these children have been exposed to. It shows how evil and pervasive this death cult is and we need to stare it down.”
I imagine most Politics Live readers will be aware that Liberal backbencher Ian Goodenough last night released the best press release that I have seen in twenty years in this building. I’ve titled this statement: “Ian buys a Rolex.”
If you missed this last night Daniel Hurst can bring you up to speed. If you just want the short version, suffice to say that Goodenough has burst onto the scene as a minor player in RolexGate over the past 48 hours – he’s exhibited a hitherto unknown talent for spotting authentic luxury goods courtesy of the fact he’s a proud owner of a Rolex.
We suspect this is the first sighting of Ian’s Rolex in the Wild.
Thank you Magic Mikearoo. Thank you.
Deputy PM Warren Truss will address Nationals party room on retirement schedule shortly before statement to the House of Reps @AAPNewswire
— Rashida Yosufzai (@Rashidajourno) February 10, 2016
Look out, Andrew.
Sky News political editor David Speers has just reported that letters approving Stuart Robert’s personal leave have been handed to Malcolm Turnbull by Tony Abbott as part of the current Parkinson inquiry.
Noting this fact gives me an opportunity to make something clear.
Right now, it is pretty obvious that Tony Abbott is attempting to position against an eventuality where he is ultimately blamed for allowing this extremely ill-judged visit to proceed – regardless of whether Robert is ultimately pinged or exonerated.
So much interesting, subterranean, hand to hand combat in this transaction between key government figures.
Also lots of speculation around about where the Robert story emerged from, where this morning’s photograph emerged from – all the standard parlour games. I’m going to leave off the conspiracy theories and try and keep today factual.
(Is this woman mad?)
Speaking of seeking ..
Warren Truss will be addressing the House of Reps at 1230. PM Turnbull will follow. @AAPNewswire
— Rashida Yosufzai (@Rashidajourno) February 10, 2016
They seek him here, they seek him there, they seek him everywhere ..
The conversation has moved on to Rolex watches. Wong wants to know whether or not a minister has ever been presented with a Rolex during Varghese’s tenure in DFAT, which stretches back to 1979. Varghese says he imagines ministers have been given many gifts without his direct knowledge. Has he ever been given a Rolex, Wong inquires? No, Varghese says.
Back to estimates, Labor’s Penny Wong is asking Peter Varghese whether the appropriate security protocols were in place during Robert’s Beijing visit. She means whether or not he carried communications technology supplied by defence to minimise the potential for devices to be hacked or bugged.
Peter Varghese:
I think the short answer to that question is no, because I don’t think the system as a whole was aware of the visit.
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has meanwhile bobbed up on 2GB radio and is signalling he wants to keep his portfolio in the forthcoming reshuffle. Dutton says he has been “working very closely with the prime minister” and they are “determined to make sure those boats don’t start” coming again and they also want to get children out of detention.
Here’s the pitch:
I think continuity in this portfolio is important – and that’s been the prime minister’s advice to me as well.
Bill Shorten is out at a health facility, and he’s taking questions now.
Q: On Stuart Robert, some in the government are suggesting that if the then prime minister approved this trip, that absolves Stuart Robert of any breach of the ministerial code because it is up to the prime minister of the day to enforce it. What are your thoughts?
Bill Shorten:
A crocodile wouldn’t swallow that. I think Malcolm Turnbull is keen to throw Tony Abbott under the bus for a second time and blame him for the Stuart Robert scandal. But what is going on? What is it that Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t understand about a minister acting in his private capacity, not his official capacity?
It’s not standard business for Australians when they are having a holiday in China to turn up at the signing ceremony after mega financial deal between a resources company and the Chinese government. This is Stuart Robert acting like Forrest Gump, he is in the photo but has nothing to do with him.
The Chinese government just don’t have meetings with people who turn up in China. Mr Robert was accompanied by executives of Nimrod Resources. It is a big coincidence? There is a beer ad where the bloke and his wife are on holiday, sitting around the pool, then another one of his mates turns up, then another mate comes along. Stuart Robert, wanders into a room in China, sees them and says: “What are you doing here?” Then the [Chinese] vice minister of resources, fancy running into you!
This doesn’t pass the credibility test.
Wong asks Varghese whether or not DFAT have subsequently sought access to the Chinese record of the meeting between Stuart Robert and the Chinese vice minister. The DFAT secretary says that would be a highly unusual development. Wong says of course it would, because normally the Australian government would have officials in the room during a bilateral meeting. We would have our own record of what was said. In this case there is no record. This is why this contact is extraordinary, she notes. Varghese says nothing in response.
Back in estimates, DFAT officials say there were advised of the Robert visit in Beijing on August 28 by defence officials by email. In the email, Robert was reported to have met with the Chinese vice minister and engaged in activities including golf and visiting tourist sites.
Live action succession. Warren Truss and Barnaby Joyce in the House.
Labor Senator Penny Wong is asking Varghese to agree with the proposition that it is highly unusual for Australian government ministers to meet with Chinese ministers without DFAT being aware of the contact. Varghese notes that this line of questioning is straying into Rumsfeldian territory: known knowns and known unknowns.
Wong bats that away and persist with the question. Is it unusual for Australian ministers to freelance in this way?
Peter Varghese:
What ministers do with their own private visit ..
Penny Wong:
They don’t stop being ministers.
Peter Varghese:
I can’t give you an answer to the question about whether it is highly unusual.
Wong asks whether there was any facilitation for the China visit? Land transport? (No.)
Peter Varghese:
We didn’t know he was there.
Wong says it is inconceivable to her that a minister would appear in China in a private capacity. It’s technically impossible she thinks, given you don’t stop being a minister, even when you are on holidays. You are still a minister.
Updated
In estimates, the head of the foreign affairs department, Peter Varghese is being quizzed about his knowledge of Stuart Robert’s trip to China. Varghese has told Senators the department as well as the post had no prior knowledge of the visit. He says DFAT would have found out “very soon after the visit.” Varghese has also been asked whether DFAT has contributed to the Parkinson review. “I’m not aware of Dr Parkinson seeking any information from DFAT. I’m not aware of us providing any information to Dr Parkinson.”
Updated
Lots of business going on in the chamber. Now Barnaby Joyce has wandered in for a brief chat with Warren Truss.
Robert is introducing some veteran’s affairs legislation.
Two of the main protagonists of the day, Warren Truss and Stuart Robert, are currently in the House of Representatives chamber. Truss is introducing some legislation. Robert is shuffling some papers on the frontbench.
Competing at the doors with Nationals running into the future is the Labor Senator Sam Dastyari, who is probably best described as indefatigable. He’s contributing to Labor’s “government in chaos” narrative with a picture demonstrating ministerial turnover since the Abbott government was first elected.
(Was that only two years ago? Seems longer, doesn’t it?)
Before Andrew Robb spoke to reporters, he was interviewed by Radio National. Robb has been open about his struggle with depression, and told Fran Kelly this morning he would like to be more involved in the mental health space.
He admitted that the timing of his depressive episode “wasn’t flash”, but said he has “absolutely no regrets” about getting treatment. False assumptions about mental illness were still present, he said. “The stigma has improved, but it’s still there.”
Robb is telling reporters it would be good if the Liberal party considered a woman to replace him in his seat of Goldstein. (I gather Georgina Downer, daughter of the former foreign minister Alexander Downer, is in the field.) He notes Tim Wilson and others would also be excellent candidates.
Wilson – currently the freedom commissioner at the Human Rights Commission – was in front of an estimates committee this week and was asked by Labor Senator Jacinta Collins about whether he had any plans to seek preselection, given there is near constant speculation about Wilson seeking preselection.
The attorney-general George Brandis headed off the question. Perhaps he knew something that we didn’t know.
With the regeneration that took place in September ..
This is the trade minister Andrew Robb, in the corridor, executing the victory lap I flagged in the first post. He’s talking about esprit de corps in the government, post the leadership change – a cabinet that doesn’t leak anymore.
I’m thinking about Malcolm Turnbull as Peter Capaldi.
Good morning to Mike Bowers, who has captured a couple of Nationals Senators running towards the future.
Yes, you saw what I did there.
Truss outlining his plans will of course kick off a succession process in the National party. His natural successor is Barnaby Joyce, who is the National party’s most well known figure. Joyce has been positioning himself as the next leader of the party over the Christmas break.
It’s not clear right now whether Joyce will get the leadership unopposed. Michael McCormack is not ruling out a tilt for the top job – a development that would prompt the first ballot for the Nationals leadership in twenty six years. McCormack has been on radio this morning signalling he might give it a crack.
The real fight though is expected at the deputy leader level. McCormack would be a starter if he chooses not to challenge Joyce. Darren Chester has also confirmed that he will put his hand up for deputy.
Darren Chester:
If the vacancy is available I will put my name forward to my colleagues and they will evaluate at the time. There will be many candidates for deputy because there’s so many people with the experience and the ability to step up into a more senior role. I expect several colleagues will put their names forward.
McCormack has predicted there would be a Melbourne Cup field for the deputy’s position.
Updated
Hello from the other side
Good morning good people and welcome to super Thursday in Canberra. I hope you’ve been hoarding food and liquids because it’s one of those days where leaving your desk will be difficult, unless of course you are reading Politics Live on your smart phone, on a treadmill, or in a nice cafe. Then you can move quite easily. Anyway, enough of moving or sitting. More of Super Thursday.
Today, in no particular order, we expect the trade minister Andrew Robb to perform the odd victory lap (he confirmed last night his intention to retire at the next election); we expect some rampant speculation about who might replace Robb in his Victorian seat (people are telling me Tim Wilson, currently at the Human Rights Commission, is likely to make a strong play for Goldstein); we expect the Parkinson review – a process that will determine the immediate future of the human services minister Stuart Robert (current guidance is we’ll get that before question time); and we expect Warren Truss – an enigma wrapped up in a riddle – to lay out a timetable for his exit from politics. Bless him.
And parliament is sitting and Senate estimates is doing its thing and a bunch of reporters are hot on the trail of ministers and donor mates and Rolex watches as a subset of the Robert controversy.
On that front, here is the front page of the Herald Sun this morning. This picture is what’s known in our business as a bad look.
Tomorrows @theheraldsun front page tonight #auspol #springst full story at https://t.co/59TlROAn8X pic.twitter.com/4r4WRkwaLz
— damon johnston (@damonheraldsun) February 10, 2016
Ellen Whinnett and Fiona Hudson report that Robert organised a dinner in his parliament house office with Tony Abbott and a Chinese business mogul, Li Ruipeng, at the request of his donor mate, Paul Marks. This dinner took place three months before the election in 2013.
The Chinese businessman presented the group with Rolex watches – a development we learned about yesterday – and the Herald Sun reports this morning the MPs returned the generous gifts to Mr Marks, not to Mr Li, “because by the time they realised that the watches were not fake, Mr Li had disappeared.”
It’s interesting to note in the story a spokesman for Tony Abbott volunteers the fact that the now treasurer Scott Morrison was also present during the evening. Morrison for some reason missed being in the photo. Generous of the Abbott office to provide the fact check.
Anyway this is a chunky opening post, and I know you’ll be keen to kick off your own conversation. So the comments thread is now open for your thoughts, and you can find Magic Mike and I on the twits @mpbowers and @murpharoo
Perform some light stretches, jog lightly on the spot, and keep the ibuprofren handy. Here comes Thursday.
