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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/sep/14/malcolm-turnbull-same-sex-marriage-plebiscite-bill-labor-coalition-politics-live
The article has changed 21 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
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| Malcolm Turnbull to introduce plebiscite bill on his first anniversary – politics live | Malcolm Turnbull to introduce plebiscite bill on his first anniversary – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 11.17pm BST | |
| 23:17 | |
| Free Ruddesque advice from Peta Credlin. | |
| Peta Credlin says she has no doubt that Tony Abbott would have won the election with more than a one seat majority https://t.co/XB2wjhmIiT | |
| 11.08pm BST | |
| 23:08 | |
| Paul Karp | |
| Environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, has been on Radio National explaining the government’s compromise with Labor to retain $800m in the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. The decision decreases the planned cut from $1.3bn to $500m over four years. | |
| This is good news for the job of budget repair ... this is also good news for the renewable sector, because $800m of grants has been restored to Arena. The reality is we have to work with Labor, the Greens, and the crossbench to pass savings because 89% of government spending is tied to legislation. | |
| The Arena deal is part of a wider plan to save $6.3bn by dropping the cut to the clean energy supplement to new welfare recipients but also dropping a $1.4bn “baby bonus”. | |
| Frydenberg says the deal is a credit to treasurer Scott Morrison and finance minister Mathias Cormann, but only grudgingly gave credit to Labor, noting the total of $6.5bn of budget savings in the omnibus bill were measures the opposition had supported before the election.Asked about the first year of Malcolm Turnbull’s prime ministership, Frydenberg rated it as “outstanding”. He rattles off statistics including GDP growth of 3.3% and unemployment of 5.7%. | |
| In the poll published yesterday he [Turnbull] was way ahead of Bill Shorten in terms of preferred prime minister ... don’t subscribe to the Bill Shorten victory lap, he actually lost the election. | |
| 11.03pm BST | |
| 23:03 | |
| George Brandis: marriage equality is so close now you can touch it | |
| I noted attorney general George Brandis’ plea to Bill Shorten and Labor. Shorten has said it will be three weeks before they will give an answer, which is inexplicable to me. They say they are consulting with the LGBTI community which would make sense if there had not been extensive and intense consultations in this building and across the country. If Labor opposes the plebiscite, surely they should just put everyone out of their misery and block it. | |
| Here is Brandis: | |
| I would appeal to Mr Shorten and members of the Labor caucus to realise that if they support this plebiscite bill, then there will be a plebiscite on the 11th of February which all of the opinion poll evidence indicates would be passed overwhelmingly. And if those of us, and I’m one, who believe that we ought to reform our marriage law and there ought to be marriage equality, we can have marriage equality within a matter of months. This is so close now you can touch it. Instead, I’m sorry to say, so far Mr Shorten has been putting political game playing ahead of the merits of the issue. Mr Shorten only a year ago said he did support a plebiscite, he thought it was a good day of dealing with the issue. The fact is that Mr Shorten wants gay people to wait for years and years so that he can play politics and if that’s the way this lands, then that will be disgraceful. | |
| 10.52pm BST | |
| 22:52 | |
| Labor’s shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has been around the traps this morning. | |
| He was asked how he would rate Malcolm Turnbull’s first year. | |
| F. F for Fail. | |
| 10.48pm BST | |
| 22:48 | |
| US ambassador concerned over Chinese political donations | |
| The Australia’s Paul Kelly has an intervention by the outgoing US ambassador John Berry on the issue of donations by Chinese companies following the fall of Sam Dastyari. | |
| The US has expressed its alarm about the influence of China and the Beijing government in Australia’s domestic politics and wants reforms to eliminate China’s ability to use financial donations to influence Australian politicians. | |
| In an exclusive interview, the departing US ambassador to Australia, John Berry, said foreign donations were illegal in America, and the US had been “surprised” by Chinese money power in this country and wanted Australia to resolve the issue. | |
| “It is an entirely different matter when the government of China is able to directly funnel funds to political candidates to advance their national interests in your national campaign,” Mr Berry told The Australian. | |
| “That, to us, is of concern. We cannot conceive of a case where a foreign donation from any government, friend or foe, would be considered legitimate in terms of that democracy.” | |
| 10.35pm BST | 10.35pm BST |
| 22:35 | 22:35 |
| Good morning, | Good morning, |
| A year ago today, Malcolm Turnbull toppled Tony Abbott. The Coalition government became the second government to change a prime minister in the first term. | A year ago today, Malcolm Turnbull toppled Tony Abbott. The Coalition government became the second government to change a prime minister in the first term. |
| This was his pitch: | This was his pitch: |
| It is clear enough that the government is not successful in providing the economic leadership that we need. It is not the fault of individual ministers. Ultimately, the prime minister has not been capable of providing the economic leadership our nation needs.” | It is clear enough that the government is not successful in providing the economic leadership that we need. It is not the fault of individual ministers. Ultimately, the prime minister has not been capable of providing the economic leadership our nation needs.” |
| Our political editor Katharine Murphy looks back at the past year, charting the peaks and troughs of the Turnbull prime ministership. It is well worth your time. | Our political editor Katharine Murphy looks back at the past year, charting the peaks and troughs of the Turnbull prime ministership. It is well worth your time. |
| Tony Abbott has been speaking about his demise, suggesting he doesn’t want to go over the entrails. He has to accept the world as it is, rather than as it was or even “as it should be”. | Tony Abbott has been speaking about his demise, suggesting he doesn’t want to go over the entrails. He has to accept the world as it is, rather than as it was or even “as it should be”. |
| With that year in mind, the prime minister comes to parliament today to present two key bills. | With that year in mind, the prime minister comes to parliament today to present two key bills. |
| The first is the budget omnibus savings bill which is the compromise on budget cuts outlined by the Coalition and Labor yesterday. It is worth $6.3bn. | The first is the budget omnibus savings bill which is the compromise on budget cuts outlined by the Coalition and Labor yesterday. It is worth $6.3bn. |
| The second is the plebiscite (same sex marriage) bill, as it is known. The attorney general George Brandis has been on ABC already this morning, appealing to Bill Shorten and the Labor caucus to support the bill. Brandis is a supporter of marriage equality and did not support the plebiscite originally. But the moderates in the party have decided this is the only way thy will be done. Brandis tells the ABC there will be plebiscite on February 11 and marriage equality could be a reality “in a matter of months”. | The second is the plebiscite (same sex marriage) bill, as it is known. The attorney general George Brandis has been on ABC already this morning, appealing to Bill Shorten and the Labor caucus to support the bill. Brandis is a supporter of marriage equality and did not support the plebiscite originally. But the moderates in the party have decided this is the only way thy will be done. Brandis tells the ABC there will be plebiscite on February 11 and marriage equality could be a reality “in a matter of months”. |
| Let’s crack on because there is a bit to catch up with. I am on the Twits @gabriellechan and @mpbowers is lurking in the building somewhere. I will try to get to the thread, all things being equal. | Let’s crack on because there is a bit to catch up with. I am on the Twits @gabriellechan and @mpbowers is lurking in the building somewhere. I will try to get to the thread, all things being equal. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 10.37pm BST | at 10.37pm BST |