Night-time politics
- Today, question time was ugly. Labor likened the settlement of a legal dispute involving Malcolm Turnbull regarding the collapse of HIH Insurance to the secret payments targeted by the Coalition between unions and employers. Turnbull hit back, targeting Mark Dreyfus, who asked the questions, for not living in his electorate of Isaacs. The government also went through Bill Shorten’s history with the AWU and payments between employers and the union.
- Some of Australia’s biggest corporate bosses came to town to lobby for the government to hang on to its 10-year corporate tax package, dropping company tax rates to 25% for small business and then big business. Everything will be fine once that happens, they said.
- The company tax cut package remains in limbo, with Nick Xenophon leaving parliament for a family bereavement. Negotiations are ongoing but there is no support on current indications for higher-end tax cuts and no appetite within the government to split the bill. As yet.
- The new ACTU boss, Sally McManus, also came to town to argue for an increase in the minimum wage of $45 a week while the Australian Industry Group has argued for between $10 and $11 a week or 1.5%, the same level as inflation. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Acci) has argued it should be 1.2%.
- The Business Council has also urged a comprehensive approach to combating modern slavery, saying “businesses must not tolerate modern slavery anywhere in their supply chains, in Australia or overseas”.
- Sally McManus addressed the National Press Club, declaring neoliberalism a failed experiment that had led to higher consumer prices and lower wages. She did not back away from her belief that breaking unjust laws was OK. Especially when lives were at stake on work sites.
- Peter Slipper unveiled his speaker’s portrait, giving a very raw speech on his experiences as Liberal turned independent speaker under the Gillard government, his mental health challenges and his experience in the #Ashbygate saga.
That’s your lot for today. Thanks to the brains trust, Paul Karp, Gareth Hutchens, Katharine Murphy and Mike Bowers.
Good night.
Updated
Updated
Word has travelled around this building that the government is preparing to bunker down and keep parliament sitting until the Senate passes 18C, company tax cuts and native title.
I will let you know when I have confirmation.
Updated
Updated
The Big End of Town.
Updated
@gabriellechan can you get a comment from Dutts on the business leaders speaking out?
— Zac Spitzer (@zackster) March 29, 2017
I think Zac might be thinking of the immigration minister Peter Dutton’s recent criticism of business leaders speaking out on marriage equality, warning them to stick to their knitting.
Australia's biggest CEOs visit parliament to call on corporate tax cuts
The Business Council is speaking at a quite amazing doorstop.
There are CEOs of some of the largest companies in Australia laying down the law to parliamentarians, specifically the government and the crossbenchers.
The current Senate state of play sees support for the 25% tax cut for small business and not so much for big business. Nick Xenophon supports cuts for business up to $10m turnover, Pauline Hanson supports cuts for up to $50m turnover. None of these amendments would make a difference to BCA members, whose companies turnover figures are way above $50m.
They want the full 10-year corporate tax cut package, including for the cuts to 25% for the big end of town, passed in its entirety. Bosses include:
-
Andrew Mackenzie, BHP
-
Richard Goyder, Wesfarmers
-
Ian Narev, Commonwealth Bank
-
Jennifer Westacott, Business Council
- Alan Joyce, Qantas
- Grant King, the former managing director of Origin Energy, now with the Business Council
- Catherine Tanna, Energy Australia
Mackenzie says that, if the tax package goes through in full, the benefits will be seen in a couples of months. He says you will see more capital projects being approved.
There should be no differential between the tax rates of small and large business, says Goyder.
Asked if they were disappointed with the Labor party, King says:
The current leadership gave some of the most eloquent arguments for cutting tax rates in government.
King says, something has changed Labor’s mind.
There has been some crankiness in government that big business has not been helping to sell the tax cuts. Earlier this week, the Liberal pollster Mark Textor lamented the lack of business leaders arguing policy.
Updated
Updated
Updated
Peter Slipper unplugged
As noted earlier, Peter Slipper was in the public gallery in question time.
He has delivered an emotional speech at the unveiling of his portrait, detailing the psychological cost of his 10-month stint as speaker (Nov 2011-Oct 2012) and the subsequent fallout from the Ashbygate affair.
The conflict led to him suffering depression and attempting suicide twice, he said.
It was not a pleasant experience to have the streets around one’s home lit up like Suncorp Stadium on State of Origin night, to see low-flying helicopters hovering over the house, to have to crawl around on the floor to avoid being observed, to use only torchlight in the evenings and to not be able to open the fridge at night because of the light it might emit.
Not to mention all of those stares I attracted wherever I went for years and years and even now.
Family members were harassed, and abused and vilified, in ways too numerous to mention ... I do, however, in some ways, have to thank those who so publicly attempted to destroy my family and me.
I have been able to spend more quality time with my wife, parents, children and now grandchildren in the last few years alone than I was able to in all the time I was in parliament, serving others.
I learnt what it was like to be admitted to a mental health facility and the perceived stigma of mental illness and depression, having been driven to attempt to take my own life twice by the overwhelming stresses I faced. I also learnt how strong and resilient I can be.
I‘ve come to understand the difficulty people have in accessing justice, and hope to be able to assist others in this area.
The cost of justice is now so high that it is simply denied to many.
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.
Updated
Liberal MP echoes Labor on need for certainty in school funding
Labor’s shadow education minister and deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, has seized on comments by the Liberal MP Ian Goodenough to claim a “revolt” against the government on education funding.
On Tuesday night, Goodenough told the House of Representatives:
The Independent Schools Council of Australia is calling on the government to provide clarity on school funding arrangements for 2018 so that independent schools have the capacity to plan their operations going forward with confidence.
He noted that some schools will have their commonwealth funding reduced as a result of needs-based education funding, changes in the way need is assessed and the introduction of the schooling resource standard from 2014.
Currently, considerable uncertainty attaches to arrangements for non-government school funding beyond 2017.
This is a minor heresy for a Coalition MP because Labor has argued the failure to fix a new formula from 2018 has caused uncertainty but the education minister, Simon Birmingham, has said that funding is still growing so there is nothing that harms schools’ long term planning.
On Wednesday, Plibersek said:
Malcolm Turnbull’s plan to cut $30bn from schools is so bad, and has caused such chaos, that MPs from his own party are in open revolt against him. The uncertainty for schools has gone on too long.
I welcome they fact that, finally, at least some in the Liberal party, are listening to what parents, teachers, and principals from across the nation are saying: that Malcolm Turnbull’s cuts to schools will mean fewer teachers, less one-on-one attention for kids and less help with the basics like reading, writing and maths.
Updated
Character, conviction and commitment: question time gets ugly
Shorten to Turnbull: Yesterday and today, the prime minister has failed four times to rule out pay cuts for AFP officers, including his own protection detail. By claiming that negotiations were occurring at arm’s length from government. But the previous prime minister, the member for Warringah, was willing to step in to resolve the pay increase problems for the Australian defence forces, why is this prime minister unwilling to step up and take the same action as the former prime minister to look after AFP officers who also keep Australians safe?
Turnbull mentions the $75,000 payment to the AWU under Bill Shorten.
I represented people with lots of money and people with no money. I represented the battlers and represented the big end of town. But the one thing I have always done is I have always done the best, I have always done the best for them and now I’m representing every Australian and I’m doing the best for them now ...
When you take the lives and destinies of other people in your hands, when you represent them, you owe it to them to do your best. You owe it to them to tell them the truth ...
(Shorten) has hidden one payment after another. One cash payment from an employer after another. He wouldn’t even tell his members the truth about a political donation. Mr Speaker, that’s what we’re talking about here – we’re talking about character, conviction and commitment. And the leader of the opposition lacks them all.
Updated
Tony Burke to Turnbull: Yesterday the prime minister was asked three times to rule out pay cuts for AFP officers including his own protection detail. Given the prime minister has failed to categorically to rule out these pay cuts three times yesterday. I ask again: will the prime minister rule out pay cuts for AFP officers for working late nights and weekends?
Turnbull says the pay agreement for the AFP is between the commissioner and the union. So it is up to their parties.
Secondly, he accuses Labor of cutting funding to security agencies.
Updated
Tony Burke to Turnbull: Will the prime minister the cut off the trail of secret donations by introducing legislation to require transparency for payments made to the following (Liberal associated) organisations. Burke lists a number of entities.
Turnbull says he did not know all of those organisations but, if Labor provides the list, he will refer it to the special minister of state, Scott Ryan. For example, associated entitles would have to disclose and he supports full transparency.
The government is fully supportive of complete transparency in relation to these matters and I think the honourable member will find that those entities he mentioned, certainly the Free Enterprise Foundation are associated entities and the donations are disclosed in accordance with the law.
Updated
Christopher Pyne follows up, talking about the deal from Shorten’s former union, the AWU, over the Cleanevent enterprise bargaining agreements.
We call them the Cleanevent workers but let’s look at what these people do. These are amongst the lowest-paid workers in the country doing one of the toughest jobs in the country. These are the people that turn up after an event at the bachelor and spinsters’ ball in South Australia or the race days and clean up the vomit from the portaloos and empty the toilets and take away the empty beer cans and the plastic mugs and try to put the place back into shape again.
They’re the lowest-paid workers in the community, doing one of the toughest jobs in the community and this bloke [Shorten] sold them down the river.
These were the people, Mr Speaker, who got paid 176% less under the EBA that this man (Shorten) signed than they would have if they had the award.
He comes in and has the hide to come into this chamber and lecture us about integrity and honesty and looking after the workers.
Updated
Dreyfus to Turnbull: I refer to the prime minister’s previous answer – should the government’s policy on secret payments be extended to situations where there are secret payments to settle litigation which allege breaches of the corporations law such as what occurred in the collapse of HIH? Is this another example just like penalty rates where the prime minister believes it’s one rule for him and his big business friends and another for workers?
Turnbull:
Is he saying litigation should not be settled or no litigation can be settled unless the terms are disclosed? If that’s his proposal, then he should raise it, he can move a private member’s bill, it’s not one that would be welcomed by his profession or indeed by anybody else.
Updated
Immigration minister Peter Dutton uses his Dixer to come to Turnbull’s defence. He says Turnbull started with nothing and is self made.
(Labor) had sought today to besmirch the Prime Minister. He has created businesses and they want to contrast him to this Leader of the Opposition who has run around for years, conjuring up dodgy deals, not in the interest of union workers, but solely in the interest of union bosses.
Mark Dreyfus doubles down on Turnbull: I refer to the prime minister’s previous answer – should government policy on secret payments be extended to him? Peter and his wife for forced to live in a shed for over two years after their builder went broke and their HIH building insurance became worthless. The prime minister continued to live in his mansion while they had to live in a shed. Peter and thousands of other victims deserve to know what role the prime minister played in ruining their lives. Their stories are still continuing ...
Speaker Smith says the first part of the question is allowed but the rest is dumped.
Turnbull lets loose.
I wonder if the member for Isaacs could remind us whether he actually lives in his own electorate.
Has he moved? Has he moved in? Oh, yes, another champion of the people we get from the member of Isaacs ... this queen’s counsel often has the opportunity to explore his own electorate but he certainly doesn’t live there. He doesn’t live there. He observes it objectively from a great distance, Mr Speaker, with an imperial equanimity.
The honourable member’s pathetic attempt to amplify the politics of envy campaigned by the leader of the opposition is as disingenuous as anything we have seen from the opposition benches. We’re defending workers, you’re selling them out.
We’ll all have to have a shower after QT today.
Updated
Mark Dreyfus to Turnbull: Does the prime minister stand by his statement on secret payments? And should government policy be extended to him? Can the prime minister confirm that he was party to a secret payment to settle litigation, which alleged he personally breached corporations law in the collapse of HIH – a devastating collapse which saw thousands of Australians left with worthless insurance policies. Is this another example just like penalty rates where the prime minister believes it’s one rule for him and his big business friends, and another for workers?
Dreyfus has to repeat the question three times, which would have irked Turnbull.
Speaker Smith rules only the first bit is in order because the rest relates to a time before he was prime minister. (Which seems to be the same as Shorten’s time at the AWU).
Labor is holding up props. Speaker Smith throws out Labor MP Emma Husar.
Turnbull rises.
We say, and the law will say, that they cannot take payments from the people with whom they’re negotiating on behalf of their members. And that’s the point – it’s about accountability, it’s about honesty, it’s about integrity.
And the fact that the member for Dreyfus stooped so low shows what a raw nerve we have hit because the one thing the leader of the opposition will not do ... is say what the $500,000 was really for. What the $300,000 was really for. What the $32,000 was really for. He can set everybody’s minds at rest if he’s so proud of his record. Let him tell the truth.
Updated
There is a government question to Barnaby Joyce on power prices.
Shorten to Turnbull: Today Labor is making a submission calling for a fair and responsible increase to the minimum wage. Can the prime minister advise whether the government has made a submission calling for a fair and responsible increase to the minimum wage? And, by the way, prime minister, do you even know what the minimum wage is?
Mr Speaker, it’s $672.70 a week, as the honourable member would be well aware.
Updated
Greens MP Adam Bandt to Malcolm Turnbull: You recently said keeping Australians safe is our highest priority and the first duty of my government and indeed every government. We know burning more coal will make global warming worse. Scientists tell us it may mean fewer cyclones but they will be more intense when they hit. But, on the very day Queenslanders were preparing for Cyclone Debbie, your resources minister dropped a front-page story spruiking a new coal-fired power station in that very state and you backed him in. Given the destruction that cyclones wreak up on our country, why do you push policies like burning more coal that will make cyclones more intense? Doesn’t your duty to keep Australians safe include doing everything you can to stop cyclones becoming more violent?
Turnbull arcs up, saying Bandt is making a political point while people were still suffering.
Right now, 1,200 men and women of the Australian defence force and thousands of other emergency workers are in there, cleaning up the wreckage left by the cyclone, ensuring that the energy, the electricity, that is out to 63,000 homes is restored, ensuring that Australians are safe and that they recover from this cyclone and every other member of this House is committed to supporting those people of north Queensland and the honourable member wants to take this occasion to make his own political point. Mr Speaker, that question was contemptible.
Bandt is looking a bit flummoxed by Turnbull’s ferocity.
Updated
Former speaker Peter Slipper is welcomed to the parliament by Speaker Smith, as is the former Keating minister Brian Howe.
Updated
Brendan O’Connor to Turnbull: Does big business deserve a $50bn handout? Do millionaires deserve a $16,000 tax cut and how on earth, when wages growth is at record lows, does the prime minister believe nearly 700,000 Australians deserve a pay cut?
Turnbull asks:
Do Australian workers deserve to be told the truth by their unions? Do they deserve to be told that there was a $300,000 payment made by made to the AWU ...
Did they deserved to be told that? We think they did, Mr Speaker, but they didn’t and we’re going to have to change the law to make sure they are.
Did big business deserve to be given a special deal on an EBA in return for a large cash payment not disclosed? We don’t think so.
Let’s look at what the AWU said the money was for, Mr Speaker. The AWU claimed it was for back strain research. Well, Mr Speaker, picking up that much money can put your back out.
Updated
Labor’s shadow employment minister, Brendan O’Connor, rises for the second Labor question and quips across the table:
Are you hung over?
The speaker, Tony Smith, sits him down. O’Connor’s jaw drops.
On to the Dixer to Scott Morrison.
Updated
First government question to Turnbull is on government policies that grow the economy, jobs and wage increases. Again, Turnbull uses it as an attack on Shorten’s AWU history. He segues into the enterprise bargaining agreements negotiated by unions with lower hourly rates than the award wages.
I’m thinking this question time will be all unions and expect the Sally McManus question.
Updated
Shorten to Turnbull: Yesterday in question time the prime minister said he was delivering the economic growth that Australians deserve. Prime minister, does big business deserve a $50bn handout? Do millionaires deserve a $16,000 tax cut? And, prime minister, do nearly 700,000 Australians deserve a pay cut?
Turnbull goes to union payments and Shorten’s AWU history. As Shorten turned his chair, as leaders often do on both sides when their opposite is speaking, Turnbull told him not to.
Don’t turn away. Don’t you turn away from your members, you wouldn’t face up to your members. What a coward.
Updated
In other news, I just dropped an earphone in my tea. Yar boo sucks.
Question time is coming up. Grab a cuppa.
Updated
The former speaker.
Gareth Hutchens was at the unveiling and will have a blog post to you shortly.
Updated
Katharine Murphy asked: What you describe as neoliberalism was ushered in, in Australia in its first tranche, basically by the Hawke and Keating governments in cooperation with the ACTU in terms of a number of reforms that were executed in that period. Was that a mistake?
McManus essentially said yes.
We are not saying that the people who introduced some of the policies that you could name as being neoliberal were bad people.
We are saying the experiment has run its course – for example, privatisation. I remember when we were being told that privatisation would lead to lower prices, better products for all of us and the world would be much better once we privatise everything and we handed over to big corporations.
Well, how long have we had of this now? Twenty years? Twenty-five years? We’ve actually seen the answer and the answer is that prices have actually gone up, workers’ conditions have been lost, jobs have been lost and, really, in the end, the consumer hasn’t benefited too much either.
Updated
Sally McManus has presented the case for a $45-a-week rise in the minimum wage and she is asked why, given annual wage increases for the past few years had averaged $16 a week.
It will bring it close to what the OECD says is necessary to avoid low-paid work and, as I said in my speech, it is about avoiding the situation we have in the US where there is a whole underclass of working poor.
Updated
McManus is asked by the Oz about their story this morning which suggested a discrepancy in her CV which says she headed a Macquarie University students council.
McManus suggests “more research” should be have been done as there used to be two bodies, the university students union and the students council.
I was reminded that I was actually on both of them for a brief period of time, but I was the president of the university union.
I was there for two years and what our job was was running all the services for workers, so for the students, and we obviously employed all the workers as well.
So that’s why we banned smoking in the student bar because that’s what we ran. Yeah, the reports in the Australian just aren’t correct.
Updated
McManus is asked about her statements on boycotts of Israel.
She does not support boycotts of Israel or the companies that make things in Israel.
But also I would not support companies that operate out of the settlements, and I would not knowingly buy anything that is made there.
She makes the point that the settlement is in contravention of international law. Her position is the same as Bob Carr, the UN, and the European Union. But she says it won’t be a priority.
First question to Sally McManus is on unjust laws. She says she was talking about industrial laws, given she is secretary of the ACTU.
There are limited circumstances where breaking unjust laws are justified, and that’s when a law is unjust in the first place,but this also needs to be considered in light of the circumstances at the time and the consequences, and it should never be undertaken lightly.It should be undertaken with careful consideration.
And there are consequences in our country. People may not know, for taking unprotected or so-called illegal industrial action. Individuals can be fined up to $10,200 each for doing so, and possibly lose their jobs. The fines are much, much more for unions, so I would just like to say that these aren’t decisions that are made lightly.
What unjust laws?
When union officials are prevented from going onto a work site because they need to give 24 hours’ notice and they know, they know that someone’s life is at risk, that is an unjust law, and where unions are fined for breaking that law, I think that’s wrong and I think it needs to change.
Updated
Sally McManus: 'How dare the federal government denounce me'
Having carpeted big companies, Sally McManus goes straight to the wealthy individuals.
She says according to the ATO, one in five privately owned Australian companies with more than $100m in revenue paid no tax in 2005 and 40 millionaires paid more than a million dollars to minimise their tax bills.
These corporations and the extremely rich are actually deciding that we shouldn’t have as much money for schools, for hospitals, for community services, for pensions.
This finds the loopholes, use the lawyers, squeeze the system or change the laws approach has proven so successful, it has now been used by some in big business to shirk what most people have long considered their obligations to their workers.
Like tax avoidance, underpayment of wages and the avoidance of the Fair Work Act are now longer rare scandals. It is now part of the business model for some Australian companies to underpay workers, or to force them to pretend to be contractors. The consequences are absolutely no disincentive, especially when the ex-floated workforce is afraid to speak out.
Workers in convenience stores are exploited. Workers on farms are exploited. Workers in restaurants, in cafes, in hotels, are exploited. Workers in our airports, our construction sites, and even our charities are exploited.
How dare the federal government denounce me and do nothing to support Australians who are the victims of rampant law-breaking by some employers!
Updated
Sally McManus: Union officials break laws to stop people being killed
The secretary of the ACTU repeats her controversial claim that sometimes its OK to break “unjust” laws.
This is why union officials don’t prioritise paperwork and wait 24 hours when they hear something is so dangerous a worker could be killed. They go (directly) to that work site and they do what they can to stop someone being killed. They put saving lives first. The fact they have to break the law in our country to do so is a national disgrace.
Sally McManus calls for federal independent commission against corruption.
There is no place anywhere for exploitation, corruption or the strong abusing the weak. Not in any workplace, not in any institution, not in any organisation, not in any family, including the union family. Anyone who engages in that type of behaviour is not a unionist.
They offend the very core of our values. We have been demanding the Turnbull government establish a federal independent commission against corruption that applies to every section of society. This is something Bill Shorten has been pushing and we support him. We can never accept one rule for the rich and another for the rest of us.
Updated
Sally McManus, secretary of the ACTU, has talked about her family background. Then she moves on to penalty rates and the government’s bill to outlaw secret payments between employers and unions, known in the bill as “corrupting benefits”.
He talks about corrupting benefits but these proposed laws corrupt in our society. Payments to politicians, payments between corporations, payments designed to influence law-makers, tenders and contractors of the union movement will happily support laws with strong powers to investigate and punish corruption, so long as they apply to everyone. Such laws should apply equally to all members of the Liberal Party, their backers in corporate Australia and the big banks.
Former speaker Peter Slipper: 'History will be my judge, as it is of all of us'
Former speaker Peter Slipper speaking at the unveiling of his official portrait - "history will be my judge, as it is of all of us" pic.twitter.com/XGnBbZxLYp
— Brihony Speed (@brihonyspeed) March 29, 2017
Updated
Peter Slipper says he tried commit suicide twice and was admitted to a mental institution and says cost of justice too high for many
— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) March 29, 2017
Pauline Hanson tells the Senate about a claim against her by “the Aboriginals” after her first speech in the 1996. She said the speech was misrepresented for 18 months.
She tells the Senate, the woman claiming against her wanted $250,000 but the case was thrown out.
Hanson says Gillian Triggs visited her office and told her section 18C needs to go.
I don’t want to see division in this country. I want to see everyone treated equally.
Laws brought in are causing division and segregation, she says.
This all comes down to the pub test. How does the average Aussie feel about this.
Hanson says people talk about issues around their BBQs and in their kitchens.
If I was saying things that are offensive, we wouldn’t be here.
Updated
Sally McManus signals she will be taking no prisoners today.
I am here because of you and there are some things I need to say. Australia’s workplace laws are broken. Our minimum wage has fallen to a dangerously low level.
That is why today the ACTU will be making a claim to increase the minimum wage significantly. Wage theft is a new business model for far too many employers.
Inequality in our country is now at a 70-year high. And 679 of our biggest corporations pay not one cent in tax. Our strike laws are out of step with international law.
Our bargaining laws are inadequate and unable to deal with the new and ever-changing business models that have been adopted by the big end of town.
Now the Fair Work Commission makes decisions to cut wages and conditions of our lowest-paid workers. And the mechanisms we have used to improve our living standards, as we have for the last 70 years, are no longer working.
In short, the very wealthy have too much power in our country, and ordinary Australians, working people, do not have enough.
Updated
Pauline Hanson is speaking on the government’s amendments to 18C.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus is starting her speech at the National Press Club and I am spinning plates. And all without a hyphen on my keyboard so apologies for its absence.
Updated
"You'll be here haunting the place," Michael Danby tells Peter Slipper. pic.twitter.com/DG1FQrF2Jl
— David Crowe (@CroweDM) March 29, 2017
Peter Slipper, you will remember, is the former Liberal-turned-independent who was appointed by Julia Gillard as Speaker in the hung parliament.
Our oft-missed former reporter Daniel Hurst did a full rundown of the case here but suffice to say, Slipper is not seen around these parts very often so it is a big thing.
His protagonist and former employee, James Ashby, is now running One Nation.
How the worm turns.
Updated
Mike Bowers is downstairs waiting for the unveiling of the portrait of the former speaker Peter Slipper.
James Jeffrey, of the Oz, has sharpened his pencil.
Waiting for the unveiling of the official Speaker Peter Slipper portrait #mostexcitingtimetobeanAustralian pic.twitter.com/OswKFI4W86
— James Jeffrey (@James_Jeffrey) March 29, 2017
Northern exposure: the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility
Just a heads up about an interesting motion this afternoon in the Senate. Labor intends to pursue the vexed issue of a lack of transparency in the way the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (Naif) operates.
It looks likely that the Senate will pass a motion ordering the resources minister, Matt Canavan, to produce documentation on the Naif’s operations. I wrote about the problems a little while ago. This is the organisation that is potentially funding a bunch of projects, including a new rail line for the Adani coalmine, and possibly a new coal-fired power station in Queensland.
The Australia Institute has been pushing this issue strongly around the parliamentary precinct, and Labor and the Greens are on board with moves to achieve more transparency. Executive director of the Australia Institute, Ben Oquist told Politics Live:
The Naif is set to allocated billions of dollars of taxpayers money, but its operations remain opaque. Its governance and operations are nowhere near commensurate with its multibillion dollar task.
Given the growing controversy around its operations, it would be wise for Naif to put on hold any potential loans or financing so a proper audit into how it is working takes place.
Oquist says despite the absence of a transparent and clear process, there has been wide speculation that the fund will give $1bn to help the Indian mining giant, Adani, to build the worlds’ biggest export coalmine in the Galilee Basin.
The minister in charge of the Naif, Matt Canavan has previously said: “There is not really a formal submission or application process” but “discussions that occur”.
As they say in the classics, watch this space.
Updated
The Senate has moved on through a couple of appropriations bills that do money things and now we are on to 18C again.
I am having trouble keeping up here. There are not enough people in the chamber so the bells are ringing.
Updated
Company tax bill debate adjourned
The government has just extended the Speakers list on the company tax bill in the Senate but then adjourned the debate.
Net result: company tax bill is pushed out so NO VOTE FOR YOU!
On to the next bill.
Updated
There is some question over the fate of the company tax cut bill in the Senate given Nick Xenophon is away on bereavement leave as of this morning and so paired. Given he is crucial to negotiations, it is hard to see how the government could resolve this issue even though the government has been fairly adamant they want the tax bill through the Senate before the end of the week.
Remember this is the last sitting week before the budget so the government need to know what tax rates they are dealing with then drawing up said budget.
Updated
Labor won't support Coalition's 18C procedural changes: 'It's bizarre'
As the company tax speeches continue, Mark Dreyfus has been reading over the 18C amendments.
Senator Brandis has delivered these amendments at five minutes to midnight, after debate on the bill had already begun.
The procedural changes proposed in these amendments are not currently in a form that Labor could support. The government has made no attempt to consult or work with Labor to find a compromise, which is highly disappointing.
The government clearly is making no attempt to make the procedural changes workable, and appears to now be hoping that the entire bill is voted down. It’s bizarre.
Labor wants to work constructively with the government to achieve sensible procedural reform. It is extraordinary that the government seems set on a different path.
Updated
What is happening in this picture?
The Labor disallowance motion, to excise parts of the building code, has been voted down.
Updated
Bill Shorten has reminded insurance companies, assessing the effects of Cyclone Debbie, that people are watching.
He is doing a doorstop, dissing the company tax cut package. I will bring you more of that in a minute, after the lower house resolves its disallowance on the building code.
There is a vote now.
Updated
While we are talking work conditions, Gareth Hutchens reports:
The Productivity Commission is proposing a major superannuation shakeup for young Australians entering the workforce.
It has criticised the current system, where workers are placed in a new “default” super fund whenever they change jobs, for being responsible for Australians accumulating multiple superannuation accounts, which is a very inefficient way to manage super savings.
It has proposed giving workers a default super fund only once – when they first enter the workforce – which workers could then take with them wherever they find work, meaning lower fees and the prospect of better returns.
If the commission’s proposals are adopted, super funds would eventually be uncoupled from awards and union-backed funds would lose their special status.
You can see the divide here.
FYI, ACTU secretary Sally McManus will appear at the National Press Club at lunchtime.
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has spoken against Labor’s disallowance motion, accusing Labor of being union lackeys and in cahoots with CFMEU bullies.
Labor’s Brendan O’Connor is speaking to his disallowance.
You can’t argue you have concerns over the number of temporary workers on the one hand and vote against this proposition ... an employer is not even allowed to enshrine their position to say they want a ratio of apprentices ... in their attempt to destroy the capacity of unions they have thrown under the bus, apprentices ...
Updated
In the lower house, Christopher Pyne is moving a suspension of standing orders.
This is confusing, so stick with me.
The reason Pyne is doing this is to skewer a Labor move to disallow some parts of the building code, which was part of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) law. (Which was one of the bills that the government took to the double dissolution.)
The employment shadow Brendan O’Connor has a disallowance motion on the books that would get rid of a law that changes what is allowed in enterprise bargaining agreements. Previously EBAs could have clauses that, for example, that stipulate the number of apprentices or prioritise Australian workers over temporary overseas workers. The building code outlaws these sorts of provisions, according to Labor.
Now that O’Connor has this disallowance motion sitting there, if nothing is done to change it within 15 days, the motion will come into effect. That is just the way parliament works. As a result, that bit of the government’s own building code would be disallowed.
So, the government has to suspend its own program to vote down the disallowance.
Updated
The Senate president Stephen Parry is starting the day with a lecture on unparliamentary language after the Labor Senate leader Penny Wong asked for a ruling, pointing to language by attorney general George Brandis. There is some argy bargy about whether the definition changes or the bar is higher if the language is directed at a group (party) as opposed to an individual. But the bottom line is, keep it nice.
I ask you to be all very conscious of the language you use.
Updated
Health minister elevates mental health as he speaks about his mother's condition
The health minister, Greg Hunt, has spoken on ABC’s AM about his desire to elevate mental health to one of the four pillars of his portfolio (along with Medicare, hospitals and medical research).
Hunt speaks about his personal experience, including that the last time he saw his mother she was institutionalised with “bipolar and some very challenging mental health conditions”.
As widespread as I knew the issue was, on the first day in office I was briefed about the fact it’s 4m Australians a year ... that have some form of chronic or episodic mental health [issue], to a clinical level, in any one year. That said to me this is a major national issue.
Asked about the government’s proposed 12 suicide prevention trial sites, Hunt said that the Townsville site will be announced this week and also mentions Grafton in northern NSW as a site to combat youth suicides.
Updated
As the bells ring for the Senate, the company tax cut legislation will come first. The Speakers’ list is shortish.
- K. GALLAGHER
- WHISH-WILSON
- HUME
- WATT
- LEYONHJELM
- BACK
- MCALLISTER
- PATERSON
- KETTER
- CORMANN
Updated
Xenophon to support Labor bill to prevent penalty rate cuts
The Nick Xenophon Team has done a political backflip and will now support a bill to prevent penalty rate cuts, ensuring it will pass the Senate, but it will likely still fail in the lower house due the government’s slim majority.
On Tuesday Labor passed an urgency motion in the Senate condemning Malcolm Turnbull’s “lack of empathy for Australian workers who rely on penalty rates to make ends meet”.
The motion passed with the Greens, One Nation, NXT, Derryn Hinch and Jacqui Lambie’s support
Nick Xenophon has confirmed to Guardian Australia he will now support the Labor, Greens and Lambie bill to block the current round of penalty rate cuts and prevent future cuts by the Fair Work Commission that reduce take-home pay.
In comments explaining the backflip in the Adelaide Advertiser, Xenophon said:
The bottom line is none of us want to see workers have their pay cut in an environment when there’s low wage growth and an increasing number of people are under wage stress. I’ll own up to this being a backflip or even somersault because you can’t have individual workers being worse off.
The bill will be debated on Thursday and will pass, after Pauline Hanson’s One Nation backflipped to support the bill on Monday and NXT changed its position on Tuesday night.
I should be a little more specific. The prime minister was getting a briefing from the director general of emergency management, Mark Crosweller on Cyclone Debbie.
Updated
At the crisis coordination centre ... the prime ministerial silhouette.
Updated
Good morning blogans,
All hail hump day, when we get to the nitty gritty in the Senate, which remains the chamber to watch. I’m thinking company tax cuts, I’m thinking 18C, I’m thinking native title, if the government has time.
Amendments to the government’s 18C bill landed last night, including some of the process changes for the Human Rights Commission.
It makes clear that the new wording covers speech:
(Whether orally, in a document or in any other way), then the making of the statement, comment or remark may be reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to harass another person, even if the statement, comment or remark is not made in the presence of the other person.
The Oz has reported the changes will cover social media. This is Joe Kelly’s interpretation:
The government will push to amend its shakeup to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act to ensure the new definition of “harass” can incorporate bullying behaviour waged over social media or email.
The changes – tabled in the Senate last night – are aimed at ensuring the word “harass” does not only capture conduct committed within the vicinity of an individual, but could also cover behaviour over the internet.
But it is not enough for one of the key crossbenchers who is opposed to changing 18C.
I just spoke to Nick Xenophon, who remains committed to passing only the process changes to way the Human Rights Commission deals with complaints. He will not entertain substantive changes to the Racial Discrimination Act. There are still 15 speakers to go on section 18C.
But it is the company tax cuts that are at the top of the legislation list. They will be first up so there is a chance the Senate will not even get to 18C today.
Elsewhere, the government is still licking its wounds on the China extradition treaty, which Malcolm Turnbull withdrew yesterday after Labor said it would not vote to ratify the 2007 agreement.
The justice minister, Michael Keenan, is sounding both hopeful and conciliatory to get Labor on board to support a future resolution. He told AM this morning Labor wanted a review of the extradition act, even though Labor did just that in government in 2012.
But if there is something we can do in conjunction with the opposition to look at that then we are very happy to do so. But if the opposition isn’t going to support it, then we don’t want to put it before the senate and see it voted down.
Keenan is still talking up the benefits of the treaty, saying Australia does not want to be a “safe haven” for criminals. And he says the agreement has mega checks and balances, with ministerial discretion and the capacity to appeal ministerial decisions in court.
Simon Benson at the Oz is reporting that the Chinese ambassador Cheng Jingye has told the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, that China is disappointed but grateful it did not go before the Senate to be voted down. That would have been truly embarrassing.
Of interest may be the state-owned China Daily, which reported a little of the spat here.
China said on Tuesday that it hoped Australia would ratify a bilateral extradition treaty after the antipodean nation rescinded a plan to push for the ratification of the deal.
The early entry into force of the treaty will offer an institutional guarantee for China-Australia collaboration on counter cross-border crimes, and boost bilateral law enforcement and judicial cooperation,” foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a routine press briefing.
Hailing the sound momentum of China-Australia ties, Hua said China hoped Australia could accelerate its domestic ratification proceedings, so that the treaty can enter into force as early as possible.
Let’s take off now. Speak to me in the thread, on the Twits @gabriellechan and on Facebook. Mike Bowers has been trailing the PM at various emergency meetings for the storms (we are thinking of you Queensland) so those pictures will arrive shortly. Meanwhile, I will struggle on without a hyphen key.
Updated
