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| Mal Brough to face fresh parliamentary attack on the final sitting day – politics live | Mal Brough to face fresh parliamentary attack on the final sitting day – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 10.07pm GMT22:07 | |
| The prime minister doesn’t have the character to put this to an end. | |
| He doesn’t have the judgment ... | |
| This is Mark Dreyfus, at the dispatch box. | |
| Resources minister Josh Frydenberg, in the Pyne chair this morning, is moving Dreyfus be no longer heard. | |
| 10.03pm GMT22:03 | |
| Labor kicks of today's parliamentary assault on Brough | |
| Meanwhile in the House, the shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus is kicking off the Brough batting. A censure motion is now underway. | |
| Ho, ho, ho. | |
| 10.00pm GMT22:00 | |
| Breaking: Peace in our time on tax, courtesy of the Greens | |
| I flagged earlier talk around the building that the government and the Greens looked to be coming to terms on the multinational tax/transparency legislation – a development that would allow the government to save its budget measure. | |
| The whole saga of Mal Brough has largely obscured it, but truth is it’s been a really bad week for the government on the business front: they’ve pulled the medicare safety net bill, a superannuation governance bill, totally amended a VET Fee Help bill – and up until last night looked like losing their key multinational tax budget measure. | |
| But the Greens will, this morning, give the treasurer some good news. | |
| The Greens have secured two amendments: | |
| The Greens will sell this as a victory for tax transparency. I predict Labor and others will not characterise today’s agreement in quite those terms. | |
| 9.22pm GMT21:22 | 9.22pm GMT21:22 |
| Yes I know there are many serious issues today, and they will all be given due care and attention, but in the spirit of muck-up day, and the spirit of seasonal giving, let me share BuzzFeed’s 51 WTF things that happened in Australian politics in 2015. | Yes I know there are many serious issues today, and they will all be given due care and attention, but in the spirit of muck-up day, and the spirit of seasonal giving, let me share BuzzFeed’s 51 WTF things that happened in Australian politics in 2015. |
| I laughed out loud more than once. | I laughed out loud more than once. |
| 9.09pm GMT21:09 | 9.09pm GMT21:09 |
| Hello good citizens of Politics Live | Hello good citizens of Politics Live |
| Good morning and welcome to the final sitting day for 2015. Yes, we’ve actually arrived there. Hard to believe that, but it’s true. | Good morning and welcome to the final sitting day for 2015. Yes, we’ve actually arrived there. Hard to believe that, but it’s true. |
| Labor is polishing the rhetorical ammunition for a final go at the special minister of state, Mal Brough, before MPs make haste for the airport. Readers with me yesterday will know that I now characterise Brough as being in a post-plausible state. There’s really no question in my mind that he should step aside while police are investigating his conduct during the James Ashby/Peter Slipper affair both as a point of principle (my interest) and for the good of the government (the political calculation, which is the government’s interest). | Labor is polishing the rhetorical ammunition for a final go at the special minister of state, Mal Brough, before MPs make haste for the airport. Readers with me yesterday will know that I now characterise Brough as being in a post-plausible state. There’s really no question in my mind that he should step aside while police are investigating his conduct during the James Ashby/Peter Slipper affair both as a point of principle (my interest) and for the good of the government (the political calculation, which is the government’s interest). |
| Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese has told the ABC this morning Brough must go because he misled the parliament. The special minister of state has lynched himself on the procedural boo boo, is Albanese’s argument, but not only that. Albanese says the current police investigation is a very serious matter. Getting a staffer to procure a diary is a crime, Albanese says. (Bear in mind Brough denied that actually happened in parliament yesterday – a denial which contradicts an unambiguous statement he appears to have made to 60 Minutes in 2014 that he wanted to purse the diary because he believed Peter Slipper had committed a crime.) | Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese has told the ABC this morning Brough must go because he misled the parliament. The special minister of state has lynched himself on the procedural boo boo, is Albanese’s argument, but not only that. Albanese says the current police investigation is a very serious matter. Getting a staffer to procure a diary is a crime, Albanese says. (Bear in mind Brough denied that actually happened in parliament yesterday – a denial which contradicts an unambiguous statement he appears to have made to 60 Minutes in 2014 that he wanted to purse the diary because he believed Peter Slipper had committed a crime.) |
| If you are late to the in’s and out’s of this whole saga, and can’t make sense of the various increments of this week, my colleague Daniel Hurst has put together an excellent backgrounder which you can read here. | If you are late to the in’s and out’s of this whole saga, and can’t make sense of the various increments of this week, my colleague Daniel Hurst has put together an excellent backgrounder which you can read here. |
| So Brough remains the focus. But today the chambers will also be running full tilt to deal with the business of the parliament. I haven’t actually checked (perhaps there’s been a change of policy so apologies if I’m misleading you) but today we conventionally see the valedictories to the 2015 political year given – these are Christmas speeches in the chamber that are often quite fun. | So Brough remains the focus. But today the chambers will also be running full tilt to deal with the business of the parliament. I haven’t actually checked (perhaps there’s been a change of policy so apologies if I’m misleading you) but today we conventionally see the valedictories to the 2015 political year given – these are Christmas speeches in the chamber that are often quite fun. |
| On the legislative front there was a draft document circulating last night that seeks to change the senate order of business for today in order to get the last measures through. The priority is the citizenship laws, which should pass today. | On the legislative front there was a draft document circulating last night that seeks to change the senate order of business for today in order to get the last measures through. The priority is the citizenship laws, which should pass today. |
| Early evening yesterday I was under the impression the government had resolved to pull its multinational tax/transparency bill. Thus far, a standoff between the two houses of parliament has threatened to scuttle a government-backed crackdown on multinational tax avoidance and a Labor-backed plan to increase tax transparency. But then late last night I heard the government was in negotiations with the Greens to secure passage. The Greens party room is meeting this morning as we go live. I don’t have specifics yet. My colleague Daniel Hurst is also chasing details. We’ll see how that goes, and I’ll keep you in touch with developments. | Early evening yesterday I was under the impression the government had resolved to pull its multinational tax/transparency bill. Thus far, a standoff between the two houses of parliament has threatened to scuttle a government-backed crackdown on multinational tax avoidance and a Labor-backed plan to increase tax transparency. But then late last night I heard the government was in negotiations with the Greens to secure passage. The Greens party room is meeting this morning as we go live. I don’t have specifics yet. My colleague Daniel Hurst is also chasing details. We’ll see how that goes, and I’ll keep you in touch with developments. |
| You don’t have to wait for me, however. You can go immediately to the comment thread, which is wide open for your business – or if so inclined, you can give us a shout on the Twits. I’m @murpharoo and Mikearoo’s @mpbowers | You don’t have to wait for me, however. You can go immediately to the comment thread, which is wide open for your business – or if so inclined, you can give us a shout on the Twits. I’m @murpharoo and Mikearoo’s @mpbowers |
| Break out the fruit cake. Here comes Thursday. | Break out the fruit cake. Here comes Thursday. |