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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/feb/23/the-coalition-floats-halving-the-capital-gains-discount-for-super-funds-politics-live
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| Labor accuses Malcolm Turnbull of misleading parliament – politics live | Labor accuses Malcolm Turnbull of misleading parliament – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 1.42am GMT | |
| 01:42 | |
| Here’s a pithy summary of that safe schools program investigation by BuzzFeed’s Lane Sainty. | |
| Safe Schools investigation winners: - Aus Christian Lobby- The Australian- Cory Bernardi - Others in far rightLosers:- LGBTI kids | |
| Probably a bit early to chalk up a loss for kids, an investigation of the program could of course lead to an affirmation of the program, but I get her general point. | |
| 1.39am GMT | |
| 01:39 | |
| While we’ve been knee deep in procedural antics and caucus, the ABC reports the prime minister has agreed to an investigation into a taxpayer funded program aimed at helping lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and/or intersex (LGBTI) school students. | |
| Parliamentarians like Cory Bernardi have been hot to trot against this particular program on the basis, (as the South Australian senator told the ABC today): “It makes everyone fall into line with a political agenda. Our schools should be places of learning, not indoctrination.” | |
| I’ll update you when there’s more to know. | |
| 1.32am GMT | |
| 01:32 | |
| Daniel Hurst | |
| Backtracking briefly now to deliver something more comprehensive on today’s caucus meeting. After Bill Shorten’s “dig a little deeper” pep talk to his caucus colleagues, the Labor party discussed its stance on a range of bills - mostly uncontentious. | |
| Senate voting reform, however, drew a range of questions from people, including how the Coalition’s proposal would work and the party’s reasons for opposing it. The shadow special minister of state, Gary Gray – who has been on the record vigorously supporting reform – had to do the duty of recommending the shadow cabinet’s collective decision. That decision was to oppose the bill, while moving amendments to increase the transparency of the political donation system. | |
| Labor’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, said the government’s legislation was different from what the joint standing committee on electoral matters - which included Gray - unanimously recommended in 2014. | |
| We understand Wong explained Labor’s stance in the following terms: | |
| 1. At the last election 3.3 million people voted for minor parties. This would exhaust their votes. | |
| 2. It’s likely to mean that there will be an entrenched 38 senators for the Coalition. That means the 2014 budget would have made it through. | |
| 3. This is the biggest change in 30 years and it’s been rushed through in a deal to advance the interests of the Coalition and the Greens political party. | |
| On the substantive issue, one caucus member - believed to be the retiring WA MP Alannah MacTiernan - spoke against the shadow cabinet’s position, arguing the party should not be leaving the issue for a future parliament to resolve. | |
| Senate voting reforms aside, Labor backbenchers were also asking questions of their frontbench team about the plight of Baby Asha and the campaign to let 267 people stay in Australia rather than be transferred to Nauru. | |
| There was a question about the New Zealand offer to resettle some of the refugees held offshore, and a suggestion to highlight the differences between the government’s and opposition’s approach. | |
| Shorten told his team a Labor government would get children out of detention, pursue regional resettlement, engage with the UNHCR and ensure mandatory reporting of child abuse. Labor’s immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, accused the government of dropping the ball on regional resettlement. | |
| 1.25am GMT | |
| 01:25 | |
| Stoush in the House, in pictures. | |
| 1.19am GMT | 1.19am GMT |
| 01:19 | 01:19 |
| Here’s the Burke motion. | Here’s the Burke motion. |
| I seek leave to move the following motion. | I seek leave to move the following motion. |
| The House: | The House: |
| 1. Notes: | 1. Notes: |
| a. That yesterday in question time, the prime minister said, and I quote, “increasing capital gains tax is no part of our thinking whatsoever”; | a. That yesterday in question time, the prime minister said, and I quote, “increasing capital gains tax is no part of our thinking whatsoever”; |
| b. That just hours later, the prime minister’s own office confirmed to media that not only had the government not ruled out changes to capital gains tax, it was still actively considering changes; | b. That just hours later, the prime minister’s own office confirmed to media that not only had the government not ruled out changes to capital gains tax, it was still actively considering changes; |
| c. That leaked Coalition talking points from the prime minister’s own office contradict the prime minister’s statement in question time yesterday; and | c. That leaked Coalition talking points from the prime minister’s own office contradict the prime minister’s statement in question time yesterday; and |
| d. Therefore, by the admission of his own office the prime minister has misled the parliament and through it the Australian people; and | d. Therefore, by the admission of his own office the prime minister has misled the parliament and through it the Australian people; and |
| 2. Calls on the prime minister to immediately attend the House to correct the record in accordance with Clause 5.1 of the prime minister’s own Statement of Ministerial Standards. | 2. Calls on the prime minister to immediately attend the House to correct the record in accordance with Clause 5.1 of the prime minister’s own Statement of Ministerial Standards. |
| That’s just been defeated. | That’s just been defeated. |
| 1.15am GMT | 1.15am GMT |
| 01:15 | 01:15 |
| Speaker Smith requires Tony Burke to withdraw his unparliamentary language. Lie is unparliamentary language. He withdraws. | Speaker Smith requires Tony Burke to withdraw his unparliamentary language. Lie is unparliamentary language. He withdraws. |
| Chris Bowen rises to second the motion. | Chris Bowen rises to second the motion. |
| We’ve got a treasurer on the witness protection program! | We’ve got a treasurer on the witness protection program! |
| The government moves the gag motion. | The government moves the gag motion. |
| 1.13am GMT | 1.13am GMT |
| 01:13 | 01:13 |
| In case you are just tuning in, I really should explain *the CGT cock-up*. Yesterday, the prime minister told parliament: | In case you are just tuning in, I really should explain *the CGT cock-up*. Yesterday, the prime minister told parliament: |
| Increasing capital gains tax is no part of our thinking whatsoever. | Increasing capital gains tax is no part of our thinking whatsoever. |
| But the prime minister’s office has had to sweep up that unequivocal statement. Now the official line is the government will not adopt Labor’s proposal on capital gains tax, but will consider other options, including halving the current CGT discount for superannuation funds. | But the prime minister’s office has had to sweep up that unequivocal statement. Now the official line is the government will not adopt Labor’s proposal on capital gains tax, but will consider other options, including halving the current CGT discount for superannuation funds. |
| 1.05am GMT | 1.05am GMT |
| 01:05 | 01:05 |
| Burke says the prime minister has lied to the parliament. He needs to come into the chamber to correct the record. | Burke says the prime minister has lied to the parliament. He needs to come into the chamber to correct the record. |
| The government is responding with the predictable gag motion. | The government is responding with the predictable gag motion. |
| 1.02am GMT | 1.02am GMT |
| 01:02 | 01:02 |
| The manager of opposition business Tony Burke is in the House now moving a motion on yesterday’s CGT cock-up. | The manager of opposition business Tony Burke is in the House now moving a motion on yesterday’s CGT cock-up. |
| Tony Burke: | Tony Burke: |
| The prime minister has misled parliament, and through it, the Australian people. | The prime minister has misled parliament, and through it, the Australian people. |
| 1.01am GMT | 1.01am GMT |
| 01:01 | 01:01 |
| In the meantime, here comes the procedural stoush I’ve been foreshadowing this morning. | In the meantime, here comes the procedural stoush I’ve been foreshadowing this morning. |
| 12.45am GMT | 12.45am GMT |
| 00:45 | 00:45 |
| Only early soundings but it sounds like a number of Labor MPs in today’s caucus had questions about Labor’s position on Senate voting reform (including one MP suggesting Labor should do something rather than nothing) – also I gather there was a fair discussion about the circumstances of baby Asha. I’ll bring you particulars or specifics as they come to hand. | Only early soundings but it sounds like a number of Labor MPs in today’s caucus had questions about Labor’s position on Senate voting reform (including one MP suggesting Labor should do something rather than nothing) – also I gather there was a fair discussion about the circumstances of baby Asha. I’ll bring you particulars or specifics as they come to hand. |
| 12.26am GMT | 12.26am GMT |
| 00:26 | 00:26 |
| There’s a slightly strange characterisation in this news story from Fairfax Media’s James Massola which says the prime minister has been “contradicted by his own office” about the government’s position on capital gains tax. | There’s a slightly strange characterisation in this news story from Fairfax Media’s James Massola which says the prime minister has been “contradicted by his own office” about the government’s position on capital gains tax. |
| It’s not really a contradiction. It’s a cleaning up exercise that began last night when the prime minister’s unequivocal statement in the house was being walked back to something like we’ll look at some CGT changes, including the current discount for super funds. I referenced this development in today’s opening post. | It’s not really a contradiction. It’s a cleaning up exercise that began last night when the prime minister’s unequivocal statement in the house was being walked back to something like we’ll look at some CGT changes, including the current discount for super funds. I referenced this development in today’s opening post. |
| But the Massola story is useful in that it contains a form of words about what the government’s position on CGT (currently) is. I was trying to find that form of words this morning, but was unsuccessful in my efforts. | But the Massola story is useful in that it contains a form of words about what the government’s position on CGT (currently) is. I was trying to find that form of words this morning, but was unsuccessful in my efforts. |
| So here is today’s CGT word, according to the talking points. | So here is today’s CGT word, according to the talking points. |
| The government will not implement anything as rushed, distorting and potentially destructive as Labor’s anti-investment CGT plans. There will be no change to the 50% CGT discount for individuals. The government is still carefully considering some other changes. | The government will not implement anything as rushed, distorting and potentially destructive as Labor’s anti-investment CGT plans. There will be no change to the 50% CGT discount for individuals. The government is still carefully considering some other changes. |
| 12.00am GMT | 12.00am GMT |
| 00:00 | 00:00 |
| Last night, after his appearance on the ABC’s 7.30 Report, I wondered on Twitter whether the finance minister Mathias Cormann sometimes walked into the privacy of his ministerial ensuite bathroom and screamed uncontrollably. This was my way of saying does this guy ever just do his block. | Last night, after his appearance on the ABC’s 7.30 Report, I wondered on Twitter whether the finance minister Mathias Cormann sometimes walked into the privacy of his ministerial ensuite bathroom and screamed uncontrollably. This was my way of saying does this guy ever just do his block. |
| Looping back to the post earlier about Morrison on the hunt of pixie ponies, and Joe Hockey enjoying his nice life in Washington, I’ll bring in the finance minister for a moment. Last week, I watched the finance minister sit calmly and quietly at a table at the National Press Club while, at the podium, the now treasurer Scott Morrison argued the government was kind of stuck on major tax reform options now because not much had been done during the government’s first two years in office. | Looping back to the post earlier about Morrison on the hunt of pixie ponies, and Joe Hockey enjoying his nice life in Washington, I’ll bring in the finance minister for a moment. Last week, I watched the finance minister sit calmly and quietly at a table at the National Press Club while, at the podium, the now treasurer Scott Morrison argued the government was kind of stuck on major tax reform options now because not much had been done during the government’s first two years in office. |
| That would be during Cormann’s tenure as finance minister. Now Cormann of course is the second economic minister in finance, not the first. Morrison’s remarks were a backhander to Abbott and Hockey, not Cormann – but if I was a person prone to muffled screaming incidents in ministerial ensuite bathrooms I would have felt a bit put out by the characterisation of my two years in a key economic portfolio from the NPC podium by the guy who’d just lobbed into the job. | That would be during Cormann’s tenure as finance minister. Now Cormann of course is the second economic minister in finance, not the first. Morrison’s remarks were a backhander to Abbott and Hockey, not Cormann – but if I was a person prone to muffled screaming incidents in ministerial ensuite bathrooms I would have felt a bit put out by the characterisation of my two years in a key economic portfolio from the NPC podium by the guy who’d just lobbed into the job. |
| I also note that Cormann went out the next day to state the bleeding obvious on the subject of bracket creep: that with wages growth slow and inflation contained, there was no particular urgency in addressing bracket creep right now. Obvious as buggery that intervention, but entirely different from what Morrison has been saying on this question. | I also note that Cormann went out the next day to state the bleeding obvious on the subject of bracket creep: that with wages growth slow and inflation contained, there was no particular urgency in addressing bracket creep right now. Obvious as buggery that intervention, but entirely different from what Morrison has been saying on this question. |
| Then yesterday, in Senate question time, Cormann had to soak up this gratuitous crack from Labor. | Then yesterday, in Senate question time, Cormann had to soak up this gratuitous crack from Labor. |
| Q: Mr president, I ask a supplementary question. Does the minister agree with former treasurer Joe Hockey that ‘negative gearing should be skewed towards new housing so that there is an incentive to add to the housing stock rather than an incentive to speculate on existing property’? | Q: Mr president, I ask a supplementary question. Does the minister agree with former treasurer Joe Hockey that ‘negative gearing should be skewed towards new housing so that there is an incentive to add to the housing stock rather than an incentive to speculate on existing property’? |
| Mathias Cormann: | Mathias Cormann: |
| No. | No. |
| A longish post which says nothing more or less than I’m still wondering about that bathroom. | A longish post which says nothing more or less than I’m still wondering about that bathroom. |
| 11.20pm GMT | 11.20pm GMT |
| 23:20 | 23:20 |
| Daniel Hurst | Daniel Hurst |
| On the subject of digging a little deeper, a passing thought about team work. | On the subject of digging a little deeper, a passing thought about team work. |
| 1 Corinthians 12:26 | 1 Corinthians 12:26 |
| And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it. | And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 11.22pm GMT | at 11.22pm GMT |
| 11.18pm GMT | 11.18pm GMT |
| 23:18 | 23:18 |
| Readers with us yesterday know that Mike and I have been working up a #BrickParliament series of the treasurer, Scott Morrison’s relentless hunt for mythical creatures, be they pixie horses or unicorns or .. | Readers with us yesterday know that Mike and I have been working up a #BrickParliament series of the treasurer, Scott Morrison’s relentless hunt for mythical creatures, be they pixie horses or unicorns or .. |
| While Morrison labours away to find something to say, the chap he replaced, Joe Hockey, looks to be settling into American life quite nicely. | While Morrison labours away to find something to say, the chap he replaced, Joe Hockey, looks to be settling into American life quite nicely. |
| At the famous Fenway Pk home of Boston Red Sox for Aus US Business Week pic.twitter.com/qw8HyUTPhr | At the famous Fenway Pk home of Boston Red Sox for Aus US Business Week pic.twitter.com/qw8HyUTPhr |
| 11.08pm GMT | 11.08pm GMT |
| 23:08 | 23:08 |
| Dig a little deeper. | Dig a little deeper. |
| Brilliant portrait from Magic Mikearoo. | Brilliant portrait from Magic Mikearoo. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 11.13pm GMT | at 11.13pm GMT |