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Version 8 Version 9
Senate voting legislation will go to parliament today, Turnbull says – politics live Senate voting legislation will go to parliament today, Turnbull says – politics live
(35 minutes later)
2.15am GMT
02:15
Back to Stan Grant, who is asked how he’ll manage expectations if he chooses to leave the media and run for politics.
Stan Grant:
Would you disappoint people? Inevitably. I might disappoint people with what I write now.
Some people, our own people, Brooke, who might not like the fact that I can stand here and acknowledge the greatness of Australia because they are still dealing with the depth of the wound that Australia has inflicted – but that’s how I feel, that is what I have seen.
To say otherwise would repudiate the experiences of my life.
2.07am GMT
02:07
Poor Ray, thwarted
Now I mentioned a bit earlier (through a sledge Chris Bowen hurled at Scott Morrison across the dispatch box a little while ago) that the treasurer did not enjoy his usual chat this morning with the Sydney talkback host, Ray Hadley.
It should be noted for the record that Ray was not amused. Here he is.
Ray Hadley:
Now to another matter – every Monday since coming to power, firstly as immigration minister then social services minister more recently as treasurer, Scott Morrison’s appeared on my program.
Even when he travelled overseas he’d make arrangements to be available to talk to me at about 20 past 9, 20 past 8 in Queensland. But today we’ve been told the treasurer is too busy with a meeting to appear. We offered a change in time, we said what about the second or third hour trying to maintain the continuity. No, not available today. What about tomorrow? Don’t know, don’t know.
Now I’m not one for conspiracy theories, however there are government MPs talking to The Australian newspaper who say they’ve been astonished by the performance of the treasurer, including a poorly received speech at the NPC last week and a series of talkback radio interviews in which he was blasted for lacking vision, including his regular chat with me, as was the case last Tuesday, last Monday, I’m sorry.
Labor will be buoyed by support to its negative gearing plan announced by Shorten and Bowen last week to restrict from July next year all future tax breaks for new housing but not change existing arrangements. And so it goes on.
So I don’t know whether this is just a coincidence and I was going to put it to Scott Morrison that I thought his performance last week after he appeared on my program before the NPC was inglorious. That it was a whole lot of gobbly-di-gook, and I mean it appears to me that just perhaps these two blokes wished for the job they’ve now got, prime minister and treasurer, and wishing for it and getting it are two different things.
It’s a lot harder, a lot harder when you get it, than it appears when you’re looking from the outside.
1.58am GMT
01:58
Notwithstanding the feeling that I really need eyes in the back of my head today, here’s one excerpt from Stan Grant’s speech.
Stan Grant:
As a reporter I was drawn to those stories that mirrored my own. Always I sought to answer this question: how do we live lives of dignity and meaning when all certainty has been removed? What makes a man who has lost a son to war and natural disaster get up in the morning and find a job to put food on the table for his remaining children? How does a mother mourn and yet love and nurture at the same time?
What does the future mean when the now is so bleak? And when I reported these stories, I met myself in the eyes of Afghan refugees, I saw my family in the eyes of a peasant Chinese farmer looking for a foothold in the China dream, I saw my sawmiller father. Here were lives shaped by the great forces of our time, as surely as my own, and that of my people.
I spent half my adult life away from Australia. I felt liberated from the chains of this history, no longer did I meet people across this chasm of race.
I was free to be seen as a human being in my own right and delight in meeting people with my guard down, freed from the suspicion and mistrust that can still tear at us here.
But always I felt the pull of home, the smell of wattle and wheat that would burn my nose on a hot summer day, the feel of molten tar under my feet and the crack of frost on a winter’s morning, the cool waters of the Murrimbidgee.
Eventually I came back to a country fighting old battles.
1.43am GMT1.43am GMT
01:4301:43
My Guardian Australia colleague Stan Grant is currently giving an address to the National Press Club. I’ll try and look in on that once I get a small break from Senate reform.My Guardian Australia colleague Stan Grant is currently giving an address to the National Press Club. I’ll try and look in on that once I get a small break from Senate reform.
Updated
at 2.17am GMT
1.37am GMT1.37am GMT
01:3701:37
Two crossbench senators, David Leyonhjelm and Bob Day (Family First) have been spotted in the corridor adjacent to the prime minister’s office. Not clear whether they have popped in to have a cup of spicy chai and a chat about Senate reform, or whether this is a lunchtime constitutional.Two crossbench senators, David Leyonhjelm and Bob Day (Family First) have been spotted in the corridor adjacent to the prime minister’s office. Not clear whether they have popped in to have a cup of spicy chai and a chat about Senate reform, or whether this is a lunchtime constitutional.
1.33am GMT1.33am GMT
01:3301:33
Is there a seconder for this motion (having a gratuitous crack at the treasurer)?Is there a seconder for this motion (having a gratuitous crack at the treasurer)?
Labor’s Chris Bowen:Labor’s Chris Bowen:
The government has a problem when Scott Morrison can’t even go on Ray Hadley!The government has a problem when Scott Morrison can’t even go on Ray Hadley!
(It’s true. The treasurer did miss his regular chat with Hadley this morning. We assume he was detained by the special party room meeting on Senate voting reform.)(It’s true. The treasurer did miss his regular chat with Hadley this morning. We assume he was detained by the special party room meeting on Senate voting reform.)
Pyne is moving that Bowen be no longer heard.Pyne is moving that Bowen be no longer heard.
1.24am GMT1.24am GMT
01:2401:24
For all the good folks sweating on the Senate reform bill, here’s a link. It’s just lobbed online.For all the good folks sweating on the Senate reform bill, here’s a link. It’s just lobbed online.
1.22am GMT1.22am GMT
01:2201:22
The procedural skirmishes continue. Morrison has succeeded in tabling that legislation. Now Labor is attempting to suspend the standing orders to require the treasurer to make a speech outlining policies to improve the economy.The procedural skirmishes continue. Morrison has succeeded in tabling that legislation. Now Labor is attempting to suspend the standing orders to require the treasurer to make a speech outlining policies to improve the economy.
Tony Burke:Tony Burke:
Maybe he’ll want to talk about unicorns for 46 minutes.Maybe he’ll want to talk about unicorns for 46 minutes.
That’s enough for Pyne. He’s moving that Tony Burke be no longer heard.That’s enough for Pyne. He’s moving that Tony Burke be no longer heard.
1.15am GMT1.15am GMT
01:1501:15
Sorry, we really can’t help ourselves.Sorry, we really can’t help ourselves.
Come. We ride.Come. We ride.
1.13am GMT1.13am GMT
01:1301:13
Scott Morrison wanders to the dispatch box. I’m representing the special minister of state, he notes. The former special minister of state, Mal Brough, is sitting directly behind him.Scott Morrison wanders to the dispatch box. I’m representing the special minister of state, he notes. The former special minister of state, Mal Brough, is sitting directly behind him.
1.09am GMT
01:09
(That rather tart Burke reference about Morrison is a reference to the recent leadership challenge.)
1.07am GMT
01:07
Manager of opposition business Tony Burke says it is ironic the treasurer is the one introducing this legislation. Scott Morrison goes to the National Press Club last week and has zero to say on jobs, Burke contends. Waffle is all he has. But chasing votes? Well, Morrison is an expert at that. A vote harvester from way back.
1.04am GMT
01:04
Manager of government business Christopher Pyne is in the house now suspending the standing orders in order to allow the Senate reform legislation to be brought on now.
Pyne says the government cannot possibly be accused of lobbing this proposal without warning. There has been a wealth of debate and a parliamentary inquiry by the joint committee on electoral matters. He is clearly filibustering here.
Ah yes I get it, he’s waiting for the treasurer to arrive. Scott Morrison will be introducing the legislation (presumably representing Cormann).
12.51am GMT
00:51
Quick Mathias, bung the Senate on.
12.47am GMT
00:47
Meanwhile, what was I saying about the barricade in the red room?
Thanks for singling me out in your power grab speech @malcolmturnbull, I will return the favour in the chamber #auspol
12.45am GMT
00:45
Q: Does this change advantage the Coalition?
Richard Di Natale:
Look, there are claims and counter-claims about what it will do.
If you’re a small party, the advice I give you is: do what the Greens have done. Become a grass roots movement, get people elected at local government, at state government, into the national parliament, and you will find that you have success in this place.
That’s how you build a political movement.
12.43am GMT
00:43
Di Natale, continuing, in response to ‘what’s in this for you’?
Ultimately, we think what we are doing is good for democracy.
I don’t think it will make a big difference to the Greens’ prospects.
12.42am GMT
00:42
Greens leader Richard Di Natale is speaking to reporters outside. This is all about strengthening the democracy, he says.
I understand that the Labor party – people like Gary Gray, Alan Griffin and many others I’ve spoken to privately want to see reform. They believe that we need to ensure that we have a functioning democracy.
But there are people inside the Labor party who wield their power and influence through these back-room deals. The factional power - the factional operators inside the Labor party who wield their influence as a result of these backroom deals don’t want to see reform. Well, again, we say to them: we live in a democracy. Let’s make sure that people’s vote’s reflected in the ballot box.
Di Natale cites the ABC election analyst Antony Green (who I quoted in the last post).
Antony Green’s made it very clear he doesn’t believe there’s a high likelihood of the Coalition getting control of the Senate.
(What Di Natale doesn’t say is Green has said quite clearly this proposed change will benefit the Coalition’s position, for the reasons he outlined at the tail end of my last post.)
12.34am GMT
00:34
Quick translation of all that
Hmm, the voters, yes. Hmm. Moving forward. Here’s the broad outline.
Here are the main points of the Senate voting reform package the government is proposing, in detail.
Here’s what the Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, is saying about this.
It is vital that Senate voting reform is in place before the next election. The Greens had proposed a series of changes to how the Senate is elected including allowing voters to determine their own preferences when they vote above the line. We understand that the proposed new voting system would instruct voters to number at least six boxes. We are pleased that the bill will end the era of back room party preference deals with the removal of group voting tickets.
Here’s one very quick translation from the ABC’s election analyst, Antony Green, on this issue that Labor is concerned about: that the proposed change will boost the prospect of the Coalition winning control of the Senate. Readers with me since the opening of today’s play will know already that Bill Shorten is reserving his position on this package.
Antony Green:
As long as the Greens are there, Labor will poll fewer votes than the Coalition. At a half Senate election, the Coalition will find it easier to win three seats than Labor because Labor’s vote is lower, and Labor will often find itself competing with the Greens for the same seat, the same final seat. So that’s what the Labor party’s concerned about, the way the voting works they’re more reliant, they will be forced to be more reliant on the Greens in the Senate, where the coalition may end up being able to govern with someone like Nick Xenophon or other crossbenchers.
12.19am GMT
00:19
The prime minister has wrapped up now. Given that all got a bit choppy with the protest, I’ll come back shortly with a stocktake on Senate reform.