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Andrew Wilkie and Cathy McGowan call for reform of MPs' perks – politics live Question time: Labor attacks Sussan Ley over Medicare rebate freeze – politics live
(35 minutes later)
4.40am BST
04:40
Paul Karp
From the senate:
Labor has again targeted attorney general George Brandis over his direction that the solicitor general must get his agreement before giving advice to other parts of the government.
Senator Jacinta Collins has asked about Gavan Griffith, a former solicitor general who, in an explosive submission to the inquiry into the matter, said the direction brought to mind the image of “a dog on a lead”.Brandis replied: “It is a very unfortunate choice of words. It is an attack on the independence of the solicitor general.”
Barristers, including the solicitor general, are free to put whatever they want in their advice so it is inappropriate to suggest they can be so controlled, he said.
Brandis has also dredged up a quote from shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus that “most legal questions are capable of a different outcome” to explain why he and solicitor general Justin Gleeson are having a difference of legal opinion and it is fine to get advice from elsewhere.
Penny Wong responds the controversy is about requiring Brandis’s consent for Gleeson to give advice, not the fact the attorney general may get advice elsewhere.
4.39am BST
04:39
A government question to transport minister Darren Chester: Will the minister update the house on the progress of the government’s $50bn infrastructure investment program? Specifically, the construction of the Toowoomba second range crossing in my electorate of Groom. What benefits will this investment deliver to my community?
4.38am BST
04:38
Like I say.
Labor’s Jim Chalmers to Kelly O’Dwyer: Given the minister for revenue can’t answer basic questions about her legislation, contradicts the prime minister on house prices and negative gearing and was the original architect of the Census disaster, can the minister [tell] the house what other spectacular policy achievements lie ahead or is this the high point of your brilliant career?
Speaker Smith rules the question out of order and Labor loses the question.
4.36am BST
04:36
A government question to Barnaby Joyce: Will the deputy prime minister update the house on the government’s investment in water infrastructure? Is the minister aware of any threats to the rollout of these nation-building investments?
I’m not really sure of what that answer was about but it involved a hose, The Castle and Daryl Kerrigan.
4.34am BST
04:34
Chris Bowen to Kelly O’Dwyer: Given the minister wasn’t in the house last night when detailed questions on the amendment bill could be asked, given the bill that was eventually passed last night affects the taxation of dividend payments, what will be the change to the tax treatment of affected dividends?
She talks about a new German tax treaty which must be one of the agreements that will be covered by the bill. However Labor’s question was very direct and not about that subject.
Labor is going after O’Dwyer by asking a very specific question (which would not be in the briefs). She cannot appear to answer the specifics.
Bowen is stonyfaced as O’Dwyer pads out.
Tony Burke asks her to be relevant and Speaker Smith notes that it is a more specific question than is normally asked. O’Dwyer cuts and runs, saying she has concluded her answer.
4.28am BST
04:28
National MP Kevin Hogan to Scott Morrison: Will the Treasurer update the House on how the government’s enterprise tax plan will drive jobs and wages growth? How will increasing the turnover threshold definition for small business to $10m help employers in my electorate of Page and indeed across the country to invest in their business, develop new markets and employ more Australians?
Scott Morrison says the $2m threshold was set in 2007 and Labor did nothing about lifting it in spite of the Henry tax review in 2010 which recommended lifting it to $5m.
4.24am BST
04:24
Wilkie to Turnbull: The University of Tasmania’s proposed STEM facility will transform Hobart and Tasmania. It’s a $400m project that ultimately would accommodate 5,200staff, researchers and students. Indeed, the UTAS project is nationally significant and anInfrastructure Australia priority because the percentage of Australian graduates with a STEM background is only 18% compared with Singapore and China which are 35 and 47% respectively. Prime Minister, further to our meeting earlier in the week, are you able to provide any sort of assurance of federal government support for the project should the University’s business case stack up?
Turnbull says the vice chancellor has raised it with him. The government is waiting for a detailed proposal and when it arrives, the proposal will go through the normal processes.
4.20am BST
04:20
The inevitable Kelly O’Dwyer question.
Labor’s Jim Chalmers asks Kelly O’Dwyer:
Last night for the first time in the history of federation, an opposition second reading amendment passed the house on a bill the minister was responsible for and while the minister was in the chamber. Was that because the minister agrees the government has failed to close tax loopholes or is it because the minister is so incompetent that she pays no attention when revenue decisions are being made?
O’Dwyer tries to deflect to Chalmers but does point out the international tax agreement bill – which caused the vote stuff-up last night – has passed the Senate. Indeed it did.
She goes on to talk about tax changes passed.
Updated
at 4.24am BST
4.17am BST
04:17
A government question to the human services minister, Alan Tudge: Will the minister explain the importance of protecting the key trademarks and brands of the Australian government in the minister’s portfolio from misuse by third parties? What action is taken to ensure this protection?
This is about Labor’s Medicare texts during the election.
Updated
at 4.22am BST
4.15am BST
04:15
Tanya Plibersek to the health minister, Sussan Ley:
During the election campaign, the minister said: ‘I’ve said to doctors I want that freeze lifted as soon as possible but I appreciate that finance and treasury aren’t allowing me to do it just yet.’ Then this morning she claimed: ‘That’s not what I said.’ Given the minister complained on public radio that finance and treasury weren’t letting her lift the freeze, why is the minister now denying she ever said it?
Ley rips in.
It’s delightful to take a question from the member for Sydney who introduced the pause on GP wages, who said at the time ‘Doctors can afford it, they earn enough already’, who had no sympathy for the circumstances of the doctors of Australia ... I’m proud, Mr Speaker, to be part of a government that spends record dollars on Medicare. Proud of a government that recognises, unlike the economic illiterates opposite, that what you can’t pay for, you can’t deliver.
Ley accuses Labor of having no policies since the 2013 election.
Updated
at 4.21am BST
4.08am BST4.08am BST
04:0804:08
Government question to Turnbull: Will the prime minister update the House on the delivery of the government’s national economic plan in particular how will our tax cuts benefit more than 500,000 middle income Australians and how will the expanded Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement provide more opportunities for Australian exporters? Government question to Turnbull:
Will the prime minister update the house on the delivery of the government’s national economic plan – in particular how will our tax cuts benefit more than 500,000 middle-income Australians and how will the expanded Singapore-Australia free trade agreement provide more opportunities for Australian exporters?
Turnbull says the government had introduced the (bracket creep) income tax cuts, improved the Singapore free trade agreement and protected volunteers from “militant” trade unions.Turnbull says the government had introduced the (bracket creep) income tax cuts, improved the Singapore free trade agreement and protected volunteers from “militant” trade unions.
Updated
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4.04am BST4.04am BST
04:0404:04
The first question from Shorten to Turnbull:The first question from Shorten to Turnbull:
After the election, the prime minister said that he’d learned a clear lesson about his attacks on Medicare, but last night, in a train wreck of an interview with Laura Jay about the government’s cuts to Medicare, the minister for health said “the policy settings are correct, where they need to be”. Who is correct, the prime minister or the minister, or has the government learned nothing about the election and its attacks on Medicare? After the election, the prime minister said that he’d learned a clear lesson about his attacks on Medicare, but last night, in a train wreck of an interview with Laura Jay about the government’s cuts to Medicare, the minister for health said ‘the policy settings are correct, where they need to be’. Who is correct, the prime minister or the minister, or has the government learned nothing about the election and its attacks on Medicare?
Turnbull says due to the government’s “strong economic management”, new drugs have been listed on the pharmaceutical benefit scheme. He quotes a single mother with breast cancer from Yass who now has access to a new drug that has changed her quality of life.Turnbull says due to the government’s “strong economic management”, new drugs have been listed on the pharmaceutical benefit scheme. He quotes a single mother with breast cancer from Yass who now has access to a new drug that has changed her quality of life.
UpdatedUpdated
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3.59am BST3.59am BST
03:5903:59
Just ahead of QT, in a 90-second statement George Christensen challenges Mark Dreyfus and other Labor members to go to Islamic, Jewish and Catholic schools in his seat and ask if they want to rent their halls for same-sex marriage.Just ahead of QT, in a 90-second statement George Christensen challenges Mark Dreyfus and other Labor members to go to Islamic, Jewish and Catholic schools in his seat and ask if they want to rent their halls for same-sex marriage.
UpdatedUpdated
at 4.03am BSTat 4.03am BST
3.55am BST3.55am BST
03:5503:55
We have question time coming up.We have question time coming up.
3.38am BST3.38am BST
03:3803:38
Paul KarpPaul Karp
The Community and Public Sector Union has had a win, with Labor, the Greens, Nick Xenophon Team and Jacqui Lambie set to combine in the Senate to set up an inquiry into the government’s bargaining policy.The Community and Public Sector Union has had a win, with Labor, the Greens, Nick Xenophon Team and Jacqui Lambie set to combine in the Senate to set up an inquiry into the government’s bargaining policy.
Thanks to @AustralianLabor @Greens @JacquiLambie @Nick_Xenophon for your support. 1000 days of damage and still not fixed. https://t.co/y07R7UasPkThanks to @AustralianLabor @Greens @JacquiLambie @Nick_Xenophon for your support. 1000 days of damage and still not fixed. https://t.co/y07R7UasPk
The policy restricts pay rises to 2% and mandates or encourages loss of other conditions as trade-offs for pay rises.The policy restricts pay rises to 2% and mandates or encourages loss of other conditions as trade-offs for pay rises.
The Senate standing committee on education and employment is likely to ask the employment minister, Michaelia Cash, to explain why she doesn’t change the policy to let departments offer more generous workplace deals to help resolve industrial disputes that have lasted three years in many cases.The Senate standing committee on education and employment is likely to ask the employment minister, Michaelia Cash, to explain why she doesn’t change the policy to let departments offer more generous workplace deals to help resolve industrial disputes that have lasted three years in many cases.
The inquiry will consider the impact of the protracted dispute on service provision, harms to tourism from strikes at airports, and the impact on staff conditions, productivity and morale.The inquiry will consider the impact of the protracted dispute on service provision, harms to tourism from strikes at airports, and the impact on staff conditions, productivity and morale.
UpdatedUpdated
at 3.40am BSTat 3.40am BST
3.29am BST
03:29
Lunchtime politics
Phew. Lunch is required. But first, a summary.
Updated
at 3.35am BST
3.09am BST
03:09
Paul Karp
Liberal MP Trevor Evans, one of four gay Liberal MPs or senators, has just finished speaking in the marriage equality plebiscite debate in the House of Representatives.
Evans accepts there are forms of speech that cause harm to LGBTI people, but has argued the plebiscite doesn’t create any new platform for them. Blocking the plebiscite will prolong the debate, he said.
Evans has warned that a parliamentary vote may not resolve the issue, and LGBTI people’s lives will continue to be subject to political argy-bargy. He said:
A plebiscite provides a comprehensive way to deal with the issue ... The Australian people would make the decision and own the decision.
On the key issue of what happens now:
What next? I don’t know the answer to that question ... There is the real risk that [blocking the plebiscite] will stall this reform for many years to come.
Evans also repeated a promise he made in a Guardian Australia feature about gay Liberal MPs to step in if debate in the plebiscite became vitriolic.
Updated
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3.06am BST
03:06
Senate photography rules enter 21st century: Mike Bowers refuses to drop his Lego
Mike Bowers
And so it has passed.After 25 years of lobbying, arguing, badgering, bluster, flirting, flattering, pleading and on two occasions getting banned from the Senate for breaching the rules, we will now be allowed to operate the same way we do in the House of Reps.With little fanfare and a push from the human headline Derryn Hinch, the restrictive, archaic rules governing the taking of photographs in the Senate have now been brought into line with the rules in the House of Representatives. The two houses had until now had very different rules.Most photographs are allowed in reps but in the Senate you could only photograph the senator with the call, that is the person on their feet talking. This meant that when the Senate chamber divided you could not photograph how various senators were voting.
The press gallery photographers have been pushing hard to change the rules for many years but a few dissenting voices in the chamber always seemed to scuttle any proposal. With one of the main dissenting voices recently retiring and with a lot of help from Hinch, gallery photographers will from 28 November be able to show Australians more of the upper house, including how they are voting and what they do when they do not have the call.I will, however, not be retiring my Lego #BrickParliament which I instituted as an alternative to illustrating the Senate. It’s too much fun.
But I may be too busy covering both houses.
Updated
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2.59am BST
02:59
Barnaby Joyce to Christensen and Broad on plebiscite: don't make threats
There was a more important point made by Joyce. He was asked about Broad and Christensen making threats against the Coalition if there is a free vote.
He said:
Don’t make threats. Have people clearly understand who you are.
2.50am BST
02:50
Shark nets? Whatevs, says Barnaby Joyce
I have to bring you this question to Barnaby.
Q: What do you make of the NSW government’s decision to install the shark nets along the north coast?
I think there should be shark net put around me. I don’t know. Whatever! It’s just so you can go for a swim and not get chopped up. That is it.
Updated
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2.47am BST
02:47
Cathy McGowan makes two points in supporting the motion.
First, politicians have to restore community trust in the system.
Second, this spending is not “entitlements”. It is about work related expenses.
[We] need to give our communities trust in our system, that we do an inquiry, we get the recommendations and then we implement them. That’s my call on the government. We have done the inquiry, we have had the recommendations. Let’s now implement these really important recommendations.
I agreed with Joe Hockey when he said the age of entitlement is over. These are actually work-related expenses.
Updated
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2.42am BST
02:42
Wilkie says there should be instant reporting so the public can scrutinise the spending on the same day.
It is simply outrageous that it is common in this place for parliamentarians to go anywhere in Australia, pretty much for personal reasons, and then to dress it up as a legitimate trip.
For example, there was a case of an MP who went to Cairns and it does appear to any reasonable person that it was to buy an investment property. We are in the outrageous situation where a number of MPs travelled through country Victoria for a wedding, one of which might have been your former sparring partner. This is outrageous.
If they think they can look the community in the eye and say it was a legitimate use of public money, then they are crazy and they are completely out of step with community expectations. They should be forced to write down the substantive business they were involved in.
Not the purpose of the trip, but the substantive business.
Updated
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2.39am BST
02:39
Wilkie and McGowan call for reform of parliamentary entitlements
Cathy McGowan and Andrew Wilkie, independents both, are announcing a motion call on the government to reform parliamentarians’ entitlements.
[Bronywn Bishop] was discovered to have used a light aircraft and helicopter as a runabout at enormous expense to the taxpayer. As that unfolded, it was revealed other parliamentarians ... would use their so-called entitlements in ways that may well be within the rules, but they were completely out of step with community expectations. They were completely improper ways of spending public money. The government, to its credit, appointed five eminent people to conduct an inquiry. The report came out [with] 36 recommendations. As far as I can tell, only a handful, if that, of those recommendations have been implemented. In other words, the report has been virtually ignored.
Updated
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2.33am BST
02:33
Barnaby Joyce is giving a press conference.
These are the points and I will bring quotes in a minute.
He has not spoken to George Christensen, who overnight said the plebiscite was part of the Coalition deal.
He says there is no possibility the Coalition will split over the issue.
We have a strong Coalition. It is quite clear that we made a promise at the election for a plebiscite.
Updated
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2.24am BST
02:24
Yesterday Katharine Murphy wrote about senator John Williams being forced to step down for Pauline Hanson to move on to the joint committee that deals with the NBN. This was an unusual move for the government to give up a number.
The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, told Patricia Karvelas on RN last night that there was nothing to see here.
Q: So let me read between the lines, or maybe you can just be honest, I mean you can do that. You’re just trying to be nice to Pauline Hanson, to make her feel comfortable with the government’s bills perhaps?
Fifield:
Look, to be perfectly upfront, before the ballot occurred I made the same offer to both Stirling Griff and Pauline Hanson that whichever of them was unsuccessful in the ballot, we’d be happy to try and accommodate them. And that’s what we did.
Q: OK, so is this something we’re going to see more often?
Fifield:
We’re in the business of trying to have the parliament work well. The House of Representatives is working well. I think the Senate, where we don’t have a majority, is also working well.
Updated
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