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Version 9 Version 10
Family First senator Bob Day to resign – politics live Labor and Greens ask if Ian Macfarlane's mining job breaches ministers' code – question time live
(35 minutes later)
4.34am BST
04:34
Elizabeth Kelly says while DPMC staff had seen the Coalition Agreement between Turnbull and former National party leader Warren Truss, she was not aware whether anyone had seen the Turnbull-Joyce Agreement.
4.32am BST
04:32
Paul Karp
Labor MPs have asked Malcolm Turnbull to repeat a promise he made on Channel Seven the day before the election that patients would not pay more to see a doctor because of the Medicare freeze.
Turnbull sticks to the government’s strengths on health, including that the number of bulk-billed services has increased and its record listing drugs on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme. He stops short of repeating the promise.
Malcolm Turnbull would rather call 000 here than repeat his election promise that Australians won't pay more to see the GP #qt
The next question is to health minister, Sussan Ley, on a similar point says that “one part of the health system connects to the others”. She suggests that cost savings from the GP freeze go towards other benefits like drugs being listed.
Coalition MPs have all asked Dorothy Dixers about union governance in general and the construction industry.
4.31am BST
04:31
The estimates committee is onto the Coalition Agreement under questioning from Penny Wong. This is a result of the return of those pesky supplementary questions this morning.
We learn that the Agreement is in the fiscal branch of economic division of the DPMC.
This is the Agreement between the Nationals and the Liberals for Coalition.
As I have written before, the Agreement is like a unicorn - often cited, rarely seen. The supplementary questions say that one officer had the document and it was delivered to the fiscal branch.
The government has refused to release the Agreement on the grounds its a private document between the two leaders rather than a government document. Wong says she has asked for it before as well as under Freedom of Information rules. It has not been forthcoming.
Wong says it is more than a private document if it governs things like the plebiscite. And why would the fiscal branch need a private document?
4.20am BST
04:20
Paul Karp will be providing some reports out of question time in a minute as we press on with the estimates on DPMC.
4.19am BST
04:19
Senator Wong asks Paterson about the return of questions on notice, given how late the last ones came back.
Wong to chair James Paterson:
Did you roll your eyes at me? Did you roll your eyes at me?
George Brandis:
Really Senator Wong, behave like an adult.
Updated
at 4.24am BST
4.12am BST
04:12
First question from Shorten to Turnbull: On the day before the election, the prime minister was asked by Sam Armytage on Sunrise “You have committed to a freeze on the GP rebate. Can you guarantee our viewers will not pay more to see the doctor due to this freeze?” The PM responded “Sam, absolutely”. Does the PM stand by his absolute guarantee that Australians will not pay more to see the doctor as a result of his freeze?
Updated
at 4.25am BST
4.11am BST
04:11
Penny Wong asks whether the PM’s department is considering or involved in a new VIP plane. This is taken on notice.
4.08am BST
04:08
Bill Shorten is speaking to the condolence motion.
4.08am BST
04:08
National senator Bridget McKenzie asks about Craig Emerson and whether prime minister Rudd asked for advice on whether Emerson had complied.
It was before Kelly’s time.
4.06am BST
04:06
Question time begins with a condolence motion on the King of Thailand.
I will stick with the estimates committee on lobbying for a while longer.
4.05am BST
04:05
Lobbying and former ministers
Under questioning, we learn:
Former assistant minister Bob Baldwin is a registered lobbyist even though he retired at the 2016 election.
The Coalition also asks about former Labor ministers:
Did the PM approve Macfarlane’s position? Kelly said she was unaware.
Does the department have an ability to initiate investigations if the prime minister does not ask?
Peter Rush of the DPMC says when a lobbyist registers, the department makes sure the relevant clauses in the ministerial standards are pointed out to the former minister.
In registering as a lobbyist, the former minister would have to make a statutory declaration regarding their actions.
Rush says the department rely on allegations coming forward rather than initiating actions.
3.54am BST3.54am BST
03:5403:54
The prime minister has not requested any advice about Ian Macfarlane’s position relating to the ministerial standards.The prime minister has not requested any advice about Ian Macfarlane’s position relating to the ministerial standards.
Labor senator Jenny McAllister wants to know whether there have been any meetings between Macfarlane and anyone in government.Labor senator Jenny McAllister wants to know whether there have been any meetings between Macfarlane and anyone in government.
UpdatedUpdated
at 3.58am BSTat 3.58am BST
3.51am BST3.51am BST
03:5103:51
There is an 18 month cooling off period for ministers. Allegedly. There is an 18-month cooling off period for ministers. Allegedly.
Elizabeth Kelly says the department of PMC only provides advice when asked on ministerial standards.Elizabeth Kelly says the department of PMC only provides advice when asked on ministerial standards.
Do you believe the ministerial standards are working?Do you believe the ministerial standards are working?
I do senator Rhiannon, Brandis says.I do senator Rhiannon, Brandis says.
Chair James Paterson has already pointed out peak bodies are not lobbyists.Chair James Paterson has already pointed out peak bodies are not lobbyists.
*blogger falls off chair**blogger falls off chair*
A distrinction is drawn between professional lobbyists and industry peak bodies for a start, says Brandis.A distrinction is drawn between professional lobbyists and industry peak bodies for a start, says Brandis.
3.43am BST
03:43
Lee Rhiannon wants to know if George Brandis would meet with Macfarlane about matters before cabinet.
Brandis says he does not discuss matters before cabinet with anyone.
Rhiannon asks, what is the point of the ministerial standards?
Kelly can’t answer many of the questions about the ministerial standards.
UpdatedUpdated
at 3.47am BST at 4.01am BST
3.41am BST
03:41
This is the issue Rhiannon is getting at – is he a lobbyist and what are the rules? I wrote about it at the time ...
Former resources minister Ian Macfarlane said he checked with the prime minister’s office prior to accepting a job as chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council, following accusations he had breached the ministerial code.
The Coalition government’s statement of ministerial standards says ministers should not “lobby, advocate or have business meetings with members of the government” for 18 months, on any matters for which they were responsible.
“It doesn’t [breach the code], the QRC is a registered representative body, not a lobbyist and I have also checked it off with the prime minister’s office and they approved it,” Macfarlane told Guardian Australia.
“I’m not a lobbyist, I know what a lobbyist is, I have met more lobbyists than I’ve had hot dinners. I am a CEO of a state representative organisation.”
Asked whether it would have been wise to wait the 18 months stated in the ministerial code to ensure there were no doubts, Macfarlane said “I didn’t have to, I am not a lobbyist”.
Updated
at 3.46am BST
3.38am BST
03:38
Finance committee is back.
Greens senator Lee Rhiannon is questioning Elizabeth Kelly of the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on former resource minister Ian Macfarlane taking up a job with the Queensland Resource Council (QRC).
3.19am BST
03:19
Penny Wong’s eyebrows deserve their own Twitter account. You can tell when she is dubious about a certain claim. The left eyebrow jumps at the slightest provocation.
Senator Wong has busted out her left "Oh really?" eyebrow @ estimates-@ rest & factor 5 Oh Really. @gabriellechan pic.twitter.com/AWAoQPvR7m
Updated
at 3.23am BST
3.12am BST
03:12
Reports that Bob Day's Home Australia company is in liquidation. A reminder that Day's private company made large payments to FF since 2011 pic.twitter.com/ojyXKmthrW
3.10am BST
03:10
The main contenders to replace Bob Day are also free-market. Expected to take the same stance on ABCC, Registered Organisation Commission.
3.10am BST
03:10
As Day leaves a casual vacancy, Family First gets to choose the next senator. Who may not have the IR bent.
3.08am BST
03:08
Ben Doherty
During an at-times heated, consistently partisan, and frequently juvenile legal and constitutional affairs committee estimates hearing, we learned little, though one astonishing fact did emerge: Senator Ian MacDonald does not read The Guardian. [Irony font]
(It should also be remembered he famously claimed not to have read an Australian Human Rights Committee report about which he was questioning the committee president - because he’d already decided it was biased).
Labor senators tried to skewer former Liberal MP Wyatt Roy over his ‘war tourism’ to Iraq but the intrepid Roy was stoutly defended by Coalition senators.
Those appearing before the committee appeared uncomfortable about discussing the travel of a ‘private citizen’, but several questions about Roy’s now-notorious sortie to the middle east were reluctantly taken on notice.
And lots of uniforms. Australian Border Force uniforms, Australian Defence Force uniforms. Lots of epaulettes, lots of badges, and gold stars for all. They’ve broken now for lunch and medals.
3.05am BST
03:05
Katharine Murphy has confirmed the resignation. We are awaiting a statement from Day regarding the resignation.
Needless to say, the Coalition has lost an advocate for their IR reforms, given Day is a former member of the Liberal party and a zealot on IR reforms that suited the Coalition.
3.03am BST
03:03
For those who have not been watching the travail’s of Bob Day - building tsar and Family First senator, you may be confused by Day’s decision.
This is an example of some of the reports regarding this matter. As of last week from the Oz:
Family First senator and businessman Bob Day is being sued for $2 million by the former owners of Huxley Homes, the troubled NSW arm of his embattled house building empire.
Graham and Bryan Huxley told the NSW Supreme Court that Senator Day’s Home Australia group was slow to pay the $14.7m price for Huxley and welshed on office rental deals.
Senator Day and his former business partner, John Smith, personally guaranteed the payments, the Huxleys allege in a statement filed with the court by their company Potoro.
In recent months, the senator has been battling to keep creditors from winding up Home Australia, even pledging his Adelaide Hills home as security to keep the business running.
Home Australia has also been under siege from angry customers in Victoria and NSW, who say the company’s problems paying contractors have stalled building work on home sites.
Day provided this statement:
Full statement that was sent to the Australian newspaper regarding their Home Australia stories. I stepped back in to help out. pic.twitter.com/cFhzNZ54wY