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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/oct/12/bill-shorten-says-tony-abbott-is-winning-marriage-debate-as-bill-goes-back-to-parliament-politics-live
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| Bill Shorten says Tony Abbott is winning marriage debate as bill goes back to parliament – politics live | Bill Shorten says Tony Abbott is winning marriage debate as bill goes back to parliament – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 10.45pm BST | |
| 22:45 | |
| Barnaby Joyce: ring your Labor member to support backpacker tax and plebiscite | |
| As I said the backpacker bills will come into parliament, which sits at 9.30am. | |
| There are four related bills: | |
| Barnaby Joyce has accused Labor of playing politics *drink* and failing to support the government when they had fixed the backpacker problem of attracting labour. (Which was a problem entirely of their own making when they whacked a 32.5% tax on backpackers without consulting with their own backbench, tourism or ag industries. They have since revised the tax to 19%.) | |
| After we went through the process and deliberations and making sure we have a backpacker tax rate to attract labour into the country. Before we did it the Labor party were deriding us and now we have fixed it, they won’t support us. I ask people to ring up their Labor party member, their Labor party senator and ask them to do two things for us – support the backpacker tax to get this issue off the agenda and please support the plebiscite so we can get this issue off the agenda as well. | |
| Updated | |
| at 10.47pm BST | |
| 10.31pm BST | |
| 22:31 | |
| Paul Karp reports that Labor and the Greens will combine to push for a Senate committee to examine how best to close coal power stations to meet Australia’s climate change targets. | |
| The Greens and Labor will move a motion to ask the Senate environment and communications references committee to report on mass closures of electricity generators, and expect sufficient crossbench support to set up the inquiry. | |
| It will consider how the retirement of coal power plants can help meet the Paris climate target of limiting global warming to 2C and how to achieve it with “minimal community and individual impact from closures”. That will include ways to attract new investment and jobs to affected communities. | |
| The committee will also consider the increasing amount of electricity generated by renewables, future demand and the “maintenance of electricity supply, affordability and security”. | |
| 10.24pm BST | |
| 22:24 | |
| Foreign powers most serious threat to cyber security, says report | |
| The 2016 Threat Report will be released today by the Australian Cyber Security Centre. This is the government body that deals with all of this stuff. | |
| The most interesting point is that it identifies foreign powers as “the most serious and rising threat to the security of government networks”, according to the Oz. | |
| In the 18 months to June 30 this year, government networks were hit by 1,095 serious cyber assaults from all sources, including foreign espionage. | |
| The report says the danger of a single major cyber attack on the government has increased. | |
| Behaviour by a number of countries is demonstrating a willingness to use disruptive and destructive cyber operations to seriously impede or embarrass organisations and governments – equating to foreign interference or coercion. The employment of the tactic in such a brazen manner against high-profile entities has almost certainly lowered the threshold of adversaries seeking to conduct such acts. | |
| Dan Tehan, the minister assisting the prime minister on cybersecurity, says at the moment the capability is limited but it will increase over time. | |
| Updated | |
| at 10.31pm BST | |
| 10.13pm BST | 10.13pm BST |
| 22:13 | 22:13 |
| Before I go anywhere else, you might be wondering what the Singaporean PM is doing in town. Katharine Murphy has enlightened us here: | Before I go anywhere else, you might be wondering what the Singaporean PM is doing in town. Katharine Murphy has enlightened us here: |
| The practice is that the senators will head down to the House and they will squash in on the benches to listen to the address. | |
| Updated | |
| at 10.30pm BST | |
| 9.58pm BST | 9.58pm BST |
| 21:58 | 21:58 |
| Good morning fellow tragics, | Good morning fellow tragics, |
| It is a very full program today, this hump day in the parliament. | It is a very full program today, this hump day in the parliament. |
| The debate over the marriage plebiscite bill will continue. We heard a number of speeches last night. Long-time Liberal National party advocate Warren Entsch made a heartfelt contribution – in the end arguing for the plebiscite as the “the best possible chance” in a decade. You can argue the point on the plebiscite but you cannot argue with Entsch’s intentions. His frustration with both parties is palpable. | |
| It has been a long road to get to this point, and I accept that there are those who are not happy with where we have ended up. The plebiscite certainly is not my preferred position either. I put up a cross-party bill back in 2015 in good faith, but it joined the other 17 unsuccessful bills that have gone before it ... This is a battle that has been going on for decades now. And, while I am not challenging the intention of some individuals across politics in championing this cause or those within the marriage equality movement, I am concerned that people are losing sight of the endgame. For them, it is more about the battle than the outcome. | |
| But opposition leader Bill Shorten also spoke: | But opposition leader Bill Shorten also spoke: |
| This plebiscite is not about marriage equality. It is about two things and two things only: Tony Abbott’s ideology and Malcolm Turnbull’s job security. Equality for minorities should not be conditional on the approval of majorities. You do not have an opinion poll on rights. That is why they are called rights. Imposing this plebiscite would not just be a waste of money or a failure of leadership; I think it would be a failure of basic decency. It is a glaring contradiction of our national ideal of a fair go for all. | This plebiscite is not about marriage equality. It is about two things and two things only: Tony Abbott’s ideology and Malcolm Turnbull’s job security. Equality for minorities should not be conditional on the approval of majorities. You do not have an opinion poll on rights. That is why they are called rights. Imposing this plebiscite would not just be a waste of money or a failure of leadership; I think it would be a failure of basic decency. It is a glaring contradiction of our national ideal of a fair go for all. |
| We will have more of those speeches throughout the day. | We will have more of those speeches throughout the day. |
| On top of that, the revised legislation for the backpackers tax will also come to the house, with the attached increases in the passenger movement charge and the backpacker superannuation changes. Barnaby Joyce has already been out this morning. | On top of that, the revised legislation for the backpackers tax will also come to the house, with the attached increases in the passenger movement charge and the backpacker superannuation changes. Barnaby Joyce has already been out this morning. |
| The Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong will address the house mid morning. | The Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong will address the house mid morning. |
| There is a big cybersecurity report out. Cameron Stewart of the Oz reports: | |
| Terrorists could be able to break into secure Australian government networks to wreak significant disruption or destruction within three years, according to a major government report on cyber security. | Terrorists could be able to break into secure Australian government networks to wreak significant disruption or destruction within three years, according to a major government report on cyber security. |
| I will flesh that out in a minute. | I will flesh that out in a minute. |
| Let’s get this baby up and running. Join us in the thread or on the Twits @gabriellechan and @mpbowers. Mike is lurking in the building, I am sure he will paint a thousand words shortly. | Let’s get this baby up and running. Join us in the thread or on the Twits @gabriellechan and @mpbowers. Mike is lurking in the building, I am sure he will paint a thousand words shortly. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 10.32pm BST |