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| Turnbull seeks on whether Stuart Robert breached ministerial standards – politics live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 4.12am GMT | |
| 04:12 | |
| The prime minister has wrapped question time. I’ll be back shortly to walk you through the Robert developments just in case anything was a bit garbled in the real time reportage. | |
| 4.09am GMT | |
| 04:09 | |
| Bill Shorten persists with this issue. Will the prime minister make inquiries about the minister’s entry on his visa form and report back to the House as soon as possible? | |
| If this line of inquiry seems a bit off piste it isn’t: obviously one cannot lie on a visa form. Not without getting yourself into serious trouble. | |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| I deal with these matters very thoroughly and very seriously and in accordance with the code. | |
| That’s what will be done. | |
| 4.06am GMT | |
| 04:06 | |
| Speaker Smith has binned the question. Here’s his reasoning: | |
| I’ve obviously given this careful consideration and examined the practice carefully and for anyone who examines the practice carefully on page 555, and I just happen to have it with me, they will see that it says: “A minister may not be asked about his or her questions in a former ministerial role. However, in a case when a minister has issued a statement referring to early responsibilities a question relating to the statement was permitted”. | |
| There has been one case of that in 2006. Beyond that, questions have not been allowed. | |
| That’s certainly the practice and the history, I can assure the House from the best of my research. Whilst I want to see questions asked and answered if this question had been asked some time ago when the minister had different responsibilities, it would clearly be in order. But the person, the minister responsible for the code of conduct is the prime minister and it’s the PM that makes the determination on whether people have complied with it. | |
| So having heard that patiently, and I apologise for detaining the House for so long, I’m not going to allow that question and we will move to the next question. | |
| (House practice versus the ministerial code, essentially.) | |
| 4.01am GMT | |
| 04:01 | |
| Just so readers know, the current statement of ministerial standards reads: | |
| 4.00am GMT | |
| 04:00 | |
| Labor persists with Stuart Robert. | |
| Q: My question is to the minister for veterans’ affairs and goes to whether he has complied with the prime minister’s statement of ministerial standards. On the official Chinese visa application form for his secret trip to China, what reason did the minister declare was the purpose for his visit? Official visit, tourism, non-business visit, business and trade or work? | |
| Speaker Smith is intervening now. These questions are problematic, he says. | |
| Standing orders make it very clear that the ministers can only be asked questions about matters for which they are responsible. The practice also makes it very clear that ministers can’t be asked questions about former ministerial responsibilities they have had. It makes that very clear indeed. | |
| Manager of opposition business, Tony Burke. | |
| It’s rare, it happens a few times each year, but it’s rare we have a situation where there is a question as to whether or not a Minister has been in breach of the code. Parliament must be able to examine that and there is no way of examining that without asking questions of the minister themselves. Otherwise we would be in the absurd situation of only being allowed to ask the prime minister information that could only be known by the minister themselves. | |
| Manager of government business, Christopher Pyne. | |
| Mr Speaker, given the minister was travelling privately to China at the time, this question is quite inappropriate. If the opposition want to ask the media to ask the member the question and he chooses to answer it, that’s another matter. | |
| Burke is standing his ground, as is Pyne. | |
| 3.52am GMT | |
| 03:52 | |
| I have confidence in Stuart Robert, except ... perhaps not ... oops | |
| Labor is moving on to Stuart Robert. Does the prime minister have confidence in the minister for human services? This concerns the trip to China. | |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| I can confirm that I have confidence in all of my ministers, including the minister for human services. | |
| But. | |
| In relation to those media reports, I can confirm that I have asked the secretary of my department for advice in relation to the statement of ministerial standards. | |
| Updated | |
| at 4.13am GMT | |
| 3.47am GMT | |
| 03:47 | |
| What is point? What is life? What is love? | |
| 3.45am GMT | |
| 03:45 | |
| The agriculture minister speaks fondly of wine and cows. | |
| Then Plibersek is back. | |
| Q: Mr Speaker. I have a question for the prime minister. On the weekend Peter Hartcher asked in the Sydney Morning Herald: “Is the Turnbull government shaping up as the Abbott government with a more personable salesman? What is the point of Malcolm Turnbull PM?” | |
| The prime minister chortles. | |
| I’m glad that the... Honourable Member for Sydney is able to find a question .. | |
| 3.41am GMT | |
| 03:41 | |
| Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek. | |
| Q: My question is to the prime minister. When the PM rolled the Member for Warringah ... | |
| Speaker Smith: | |
| The member for Sydney will resume her seat. I’m going to give the member for Sydney an opportunity to rephrase the start of that question. | |
| The member for Sydney. | |
| Tanya Plibersek: | |
| Q: Thank you Mr Speaker. My question is to the prime minister. When the PM deposed the Member for Warringah he said it was because the former prime minister failed to provide economic leadership. But Jennifer Hewitt writes in today’s Australian Financial Review: “Turnbull himself now risks looking like a political leader without the courage of his convictions or worse no convictions at all.” Is this the kind of leadership the PM was speaking about? | |
| Plibersek is gonged off. | |
| 3.36am GMT | 3.36am GMT |
| 03:36 | 03:36 |
| Bill Shorten, who earlier today tried an unfortunate bush metaphor, is now trying a waffle. | Bill Shorten, who earlier today tried an unfortunate bush metaphor, is now trying a waffle. |
| Q: Reports suggest that government ministers are backing away from plans to increase the price of everything with a 15% GST. PM, today is the day to stop the waffle and come clean with the Australian people. Will the prime minister introduce a 15% GST? | Q: Reports suggest that government ministers are backing away from plans to increase the price of everything with a 15% GST. PM, today is the day to stop the waffle and come clean with the Australian people. Will the prime minister introduce a 15% GST? |
| First, derision. | First, derision. |
| The leader of the opposition invites me to rule out any changes to the GST. And, to be fair, there is something to be said for doing so because it would mean the green grocery aisles of Australia would be safe from the leader of the opposition. Thousands of lettuces would no longer have the leader of the opposition flinging himself in front of any would-be charges on them. | The leader of the opposition invites me to rule out any changes to the GST. And, to be fair, there is something to be said for doing so because it would mean the green grocery aisles of Australia would be safe from the leader of the opposition. Thousands of lettuces would no longer have the leader of the opposition flinging himself in front of any would-be charges on them. |
| Then, the MalSplain®. | Then, the MalSplain®. |
| Let me say something about the GST. | Let me say something about the GST. |
| The prime minister proceeds to explain the relative merits of switches in the tax mix while those opposite laugh at him at theatrical volume. | The prime minister proceeds to explain the relative merits of switches in the tax mix while those opposite laugh at him at theatrical volume. |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | Malcolm Turnbull: |
| As I have said, we are not, the government is not yet persuaded that in the context of Australia today, such a tax mix switch would give an adequate growth, adequate improvement in economic activity. But those are the trade-offs. | As I have said, we are not, the government is not yet persuaded that in the context of Australia today, such a tax mix switch would give an adequate growth, adequate improvement in economic activity. But those are the trade-offs. |
| Honourable Members opposite can scoff as much as they like. | Honourable Members opposite can scoff as much as they like. |
| Those are the trade-offs. It’s a question of balancing the increase on GST on the one hand and an offsetting reduction in income tax on the other. And the extent to which that is fair, that gives additional impetus to economic growth, depends on the design. There is a considerable amount of complexity there. I believe that all Australians expect this government to approach this issue not with slogans or with scare campaigns, but with careful analysis. | Those are the trade-offs. It’s a question of balancing the increase on GST on the one hand and an offsetting reduction in income tax on the other. And the extent to which that is fair, that gives additional impetus to economic growth, depends on the design. There is a considerable amount of complexity there. I believe that all Australians expect this government to approach this issue not with slogans or with scare campaigns, but with careful analysis. |
| 3.29am GMT | 3.29am GMT |
| 03:29 | 03:29 |
| Scott Morrison, winding up on a dixer on Labor’s general intellectual deficiencies. | Scott Morrison, winding up on a dixer on Labor’s general intellectual deficiencies. |
| Now the contrast is clear. Those opposite, their plan is to tax and spend and borrow, Mr Speaker. Our plan is to ensure that we back Australians in who are working, saving and investing. | Now the contrast is clear. Those opposite, their plan is to tax and spend and borrow, Mr Speaker. Our plan is to ensure that we back Australians in who are working, saving and investing. |
| Bowen, back. | Bowen, back. |
| Q: My question is to the treasurer. What is the impact of the rate of GST on economic growth, what would be the impact on economic growth of increasing the GST? | Q: My question is to the treasurer. What is the impact of the rate of GST on economic growth, what would be the impact on economic growth of increasing the GST? |
| Morrison isn’t impressed with the question. | Morrison isn’t impressed with the question. |
| His riposte? Welfare, it’s wicked. | His riposte? Welfare, it’s wicked. |
| Scott Morrison: | Scott Morrison: |
| We have a deep empathy for people in this country who are working every day to pay for our expanding welfare system. We think we need to be thinking about their interests and trying to relieve their burden and we will leave no stone unturned to relieve that burden for them. Those opposite have no empathy for those who are working every day to pay for our burgeoning welfare system which they ramped up. | We have a deep empathy for people in this country who are working every day to pay for our expanding welfare system. We think we need to be thinking about their interests and trying to relieve their burden and we will leave no stone unturned to relieve that burden for them. Those opposite have no empathy for those who are working every day to pay for our burgeoning welfare system which they ramped up. |
| (It’s just ever so slightly inconsistent to argue we absolutely must give those strivers money unlike those non-strivers who get money. I know what he means, but just think about the logic sitting behind the Morrison proposition and ask yourself, does the confected actually contrast work?) | (It’s just ever so slightly inconsistent to argue we absolutely must give those strivers money unlike those non-strivers who get money. I know what he means, but just think about the logic sitting behind the Morrison proposition and ask yourself, does the confected actually contrast work?) |
| 3.20am GMT | 3.20am GMT |
| 03:20 | 03:20 |
| Speaker welcomes the former member for New England @TonyHWindsor in the gallery.Labor’s @GrahamPerrettMP yells: “THE NEXT MEMBER!" | Speaker welcomes the former member for New England @TonyHWindsor in the gallery.Labor’s @GrahamPerrettMP yells: “THE NEXT MEMBER!" |
| 3.19am GMT | 3.19am GMT |
| 03:19 | 03:19 |
| From Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie. | From Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie. |
| Q: Treasurer, the government claims the recent change to the income test for defined pension recipients will principally affect superannuants on large incomes but most are not wealthy. Take one Tasmanian couple whose only assets are a caravan and car but have lost $164 a fortnight from their age pension. Treasurer, will you immediately reconsider this policy? | Q: Treasurer, the government claims the recent change to the income test for defined pension recipients will principally affect superannuants on large incomes but most are not wealthy. Take one Tasmanian couple whose only assets are a caravan and car but have lost $164 a fortnight from their age pension. Treasurer, will you immediately reconsider this policy? |
| Social services minister Christian Porter (who takes the question) doesn’t appear at all interested in changing the policy, which has been constructed as a matter of equity, he notes. | Social services minister Christian Porter (who takes the question) doesn’t appear at all interested in changing the policy, which has been constructed as a matter of equity, he notes. |
| 3.15am GMT | 3.15am GMT |
| 03:15 | 03:15 |
| Bowen is back. | Bowen is back. |
| Q: My question is to the treasurer. Last week the treasurer said: “We’ve got to do what’s right”. Does the treasurer still think that increasing the GST is the right thing to do? | Q: My question is to the treasurer. Last week the treasurer said: “We’ve got to do what’s right”. Does the treasurer still think that increasing the GST is the right thing to do? |
| Morrison is back too. | Morrison is back too. |
| I can tell you what isn’t right, and that’s the tax and spend approach of those opposite. That’s what’s not right for jobs and growth in this country, Mr Speaker. | I can tell you what isn’t right, and that’s the tax and spend approach of those opposite. That’s what’s not right for jobs and growth in this country, Mr Speaker. |
| 3.13am GMT | 3.13am GMT |
| 03:13 | 03:13 |
| TPP. Still great. | TPP. Still great. |
| 3.12am GMT | 3.12am GMT |
| 03:12 | 03:12 |
| Shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen. | Shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen. |
| Q: My question is to the treasurer. The government has previously said everything was on the table in relation to changing the tax system. Treasurer, is that still the case? | Q: My question is to the treasurer. The government has previously said everything was on the table in relation to changing the tax system. Treasurer, is that still the case? |
| Treasurer, Scott Morrison. | Treasurer, Scott Morrison. |
| The government continues to consider all the matters that are before it on tax, as the Australian people would expect us to do. | The government continues to consider all the matters that are before it on tax, as the Australian people would expect us to do. |
| Wherever this government is able to properly and ably deliver support for those Australians who are working and investing, for those Australians who are earning every day Mr Speaker, not just receiving every day, but earning every day, we will always seek to ensure we leave no stone unturned to ensure we can provide them with support. | Wherever this government is able to properly and ably deliver support for those Australians who are working and investing, for those Australians who are earning every day Mr Speaker, not just receiving every day, but earning every day, we will always seek to ensure we leave no stone unturned to ensure we can provide them with support. |
| These proposals always have to stack up and actually have to work. This is a government that is not only good on policy but it is good on the implementation of policy – something the PM was referring to earlier and when he was referring to a different matter when it came to border protection, Mr Speaker, and the Member for McMahon will know all about failures when it comes to failures on border protection. | These proposals always have to stack up and actually have to work. This is a government that is not only good on policy but it is good on the implementation of policy – something the PM was referring to earlier and when he was referring to a different matter when it came to border protection, Mr Speaker, and the Member for McMahon will know all about failures when it comes to failures on border protection. |
| (Bowen is a former immigration minister.) | (Bowen is a former immigration minister.) |
| 3.08am GMT | 3.08am GMT |
| 03:08 | 03:08 |
| First Dorothy Dixer today is how great is that trans Pacific partnership? Answer, very great. The prime minister has spied something less great. | First Dorothy Dixer today is how great is that trans Pacific partnership? Answer, very great. The prime minister has spied something less great. |
| Now the Labor party at this stage appears to be reluctant to approve the TPP. I notice they are referring it to a separate Senate inquiry over and above that of the work of the joint standing committee on treaties. So it may be we’ll see their opposition to the TPP as we did to the China-Australia free trade agreement. | Now the Labor party at this stage appears to be reluctant to approve the TPP. I notice they are referring it to a separate Senate inquiry over and above that of the work of the joint standing committee on treaties. So it may be we’ll see their opposition to the TPP as we did to the China-Australia free trade agreement. |
| 3.06am GMT | 3.06am GMT |
| 03:06 | 03:06 |
| Question time | Question time |
| It being 2pm. Bill Shorten opens on asylum. | It being 2pm. Bill Shorten opens on asylum. |
| Q: My question is to the prime minister. We all agree that Australia cannot let people languish on Nauru and Manus indefinitely. Can the prime minister update the House on efforts to secure a credible settlement arrangement in other countries for asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru and Manus Island? | Q: My question is to the prime minister. We all agree that Australia cannot let people languish on Nauru and Manus indefinitely. Can the prime minister update the House on efforts to secure a credible settlement arrangement in other countries for asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru and Manus Island? |
| The prime minister responds by saying the current arrivals are all Labor’s fault. | The prime minister responds by saying the current arrivals are all Labor’s fault. |
| He then addresses the substance of the question in general terms. | He then addresses the substance of the question in general terms. |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | Malcolm Turnbull: |
| We inherited a number of people on Manus Island and Nauru from the period when Kevin Rudd, in his brief return to office before the 2013 election, overturned his own government’s policies. We are working to ensure they return to their countries of origin or are settled in other countries and third countries as quickly as we can. Not easy. But we are endeavouring to do that. We are working hard to do that. | We inherited a number of people on Manus Island and Nauru from the period when Kevin Rudd, in his brief return to office before the 2013 election, overturned his own government’s policies. We are working to ensure they return to their countries of origin or are settled in other countries and third countries as quickly as we can. Not easy. But we are endeavouring to do that. We are working hard to do that. |
| But I can say one thing, Mr Speaker, we will not abandon our commitment to keeping the high seas safe, to keeping our borders secure, to ensuring that our policies have integrity and security. | But I can say one thing, Mr Speaker, we will not abandon our commitment to keeping the high seas safe, to keeping our borders secure, to ensuring that our policies have integrity and security. |
| 2.47am GMT | 2.47am GMT |
| 02:47 | 02:47 |
| Q: Given wages growth is slow, give inflation is sluggish, why is bracket creep a priority for the government now? | Q: Given wages growth is slow, give inflation is sluggish, why is bracket creep a priority for the government now? |
| The finance minister gives very little indication that bracket creep is, in fact, a priority for the government. He’s still waiting for the landing point. Out with the binoculars. Plane spotting. | The finance minister gives very little indication that bracket creep is, in fact, a priority for the government. He’s still waiting for the landing point. Out with the binoculars. Plane spotting. |
| Don’t worry, question time will save him (and us) shortly. | Don’t worry, question time will save him (and us) shortly. |
| 2.36am GMT | 2.36am GMT |
| 02:36 | 02:36 |
| The business I am involved in is a team game, the finance minister Mathias Cormann notes at the opening of an interview he is now doing on Sky News. Cormann approaches this task as he approaches every other task – as a challenge to remain ruthlessly on the talking points. His hosts are trying to disrupt this by time shifting, back to the Abbott period, forward to the present time. | The business I am involved in is a team game, the finance minister Mathias Cormann notes at the opening of an interview he is now doing on Sky News. Cormann approaches this task as he approaches every other task – as a challenge to remain ruthlessly on the talking points. His hosts are trying to disrupt this by time shifting, back to the Abbott period, forward to the present time. |
| Q: What’s changed? | Q: What’s changed? |
| Mathias Cormann: | Mathias Cormann: |
| The future. | The future. |
| 2.24am GMT | 2.24am GMT |
| 02:24 | 02:24 |
| I will try and get below the line today at some point. Some more analysis now. First my colleague Lenore Taylor on today’s tax developments. | I will try and get below the line today at some point. Some more analysis now. First my colleague Lenore Taylor on today’s tax developments. |
| Shoving the GST off the table has laid bare the ideological rifts that have muddled the tax “debate” for months. It confirmed what has been pretty clear – the Turnbull government is washing its hands of the looming funding crisis in health and education in the interests of an ideological commitment to small(ish) federal government. And it clarified the extent to which the prime minister and his treasurer are talking at cross purposes, again because of ideology. | Shoving the GST off the table has laid bare the ideological rifts that have muddled the tax “debate” for months. It confirmed what has been pretty clear – the Turnbull government is washing its hands of the looming funding crisis in health and education in the interests of an ideological commitment to small(ish) federal government. And it clarified the extent to which the prime minister and his treasurer are talking at cross purposes, again because of ideology. |
| Also, political blogger Paula Matthewson, who looks at tax as well, including some interesting thoughts on where Labor will go in this new phase of proceedings. | Also, political blogger Paula Matthewson, who looks at tax as well, including some interesting thoughts on where Labor will go in this new phase of proceedings. |
| Labor will certainly claim Turnbull’s abandonment of the GST increase as a win, and have already laid the groundwork for it to be depicted as an embarrassing backdown for the PM. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen was quick off the blocks yesterday, saying the PM was in a “muddle” on GST, didn’t have the political backbone to back the policy, and if he didn’t “proceed with increasing the GST, which we all know he wants to do, it will be humiliating for Malcolm Turnbull”. It’s also likely the Opposition will try to confect a schism between the PM and his treasurer, who appeared to be gung-ho on the GST increase until as recently as a week ago. However, the most damaging criticism that Labor will level at the PM is that his GST backdown is yet another example of Turnbull abandoning his principles to mollify detractors within the Coalition parties. | Labor will certainly claim Turnbull’s abandonment of the GST increase as a win, and have already laid the groundwork for it to be depicted as an embarrassing backdown for the PM. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen was quick off the blocks yesterday, saying the PM was in a “muddle” on GST, didn’t have the political backbone to back the policy, and if he didn’t “proceed with increasing the GST, which we all know he wants to do, it will be humiliating for Malcolm Turnbull”. It’s also likely the Opposition will try to confect a schism between the PM and his treasurer, who appeared to be gung-ho on the GST increase until as recently as a week ago. However, the most damaging criticism that Labor will level at the PM is that his GST backdown is yet another example of Turnbull abandoning his principles to mollify detractors within the Coalition parties. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 2.30am GMT | at 2.30am GMT |