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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/nov/28/turnbulls-agenda-hangs-in-balance-as-minor-party-support-skyrockets-politics-live
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| Malcolm Turnbull accuses Labor of 'post-truth politics' – question time live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 4.09am GMT | |
| 04:09 | |
| Paul Karp reports that Senator David Leyonhjelm wants to tear down the goat’s cheese curtin. This day may get worse. | |
| The ABC and SBS will be forced to remove themselves from the “goat’s cheese curtain” by holding community forums under a deal struck between the government and Senator David Leyonhjelm. | |
| Leyonhjelm announced the deal for his vote on the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill on Monday, in addition to a promise that the federal government lead a reform process to loosen suppression orders on court reporting. | |
| But the deal could still be torn up if the government agrees to further water buybacks in its horse trading with the Nick Xenophon Team, Leyonhjelm warned. | |
| 4.05am GMT | |
| 04:05 | |
| Shorten to Turnbull: Yesterday, the former prime minister and member for Warringah said “It is good that we are no longer talking about innovation and agility because, frankly, it loses people”. Almost at the same time the minister for finance said “I think innovation and agility is an important part of our economic plan”. Whose lead will the prime minister follow today and is agility still central to your government’s policies? | |
| Innovation is essential to our government, Turnbull says. | |
| Innovation is the driver of productivity and without continued growth and productivity, Australians cannot be competitive, our living standards cannot be maintained. | |
| 4.02am GMT | |
| 04:02 | |
| 4.01am GMT | |
| 04:01 | |
| Most of the government questions have been on unions, union corruption and the need for the government’s Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). | |
| 3.58am GMT | |
| 03:58 | |
| Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison: Given the Treasurer has been contradicted by the NSW Liberal Government on negative gearing, first argued there were excesses in negative gearing and then attacked Labor’s reforms to negative gearing and was rolled in cabinet when he himself argued for changes to negative gearing and now doesn’t know what negative gearing is. Isn’t it plain this Treasurer’s just incompetent? | |
| Morrison does not go to negative gearing policy. | |
| This is the shadow treasurer who, at the last election, thought the right plan for Australia was to increase the deficit by $16.5b. | |
| 3.53am GMT | |
| 03:53 | |
| Thanks to Paul Karp for this. | |
| 3.52am GMT | |
| 03:52 | |
| Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison: On Friday the treasurer said: “What negative gearing is is the ability for you to deduct what is a business expense against a business income.” Does the treasurer realise that is actually not negative gearing? Is the reason the treasurer refuses to reform negative gearing is because he doesn’t know what it is? | |
| Morrison: | |
| It is a very simple tax principle. When you incur costs in earning that income, you can recoup the costs in claiming deductions for those. I was drawing a comparison with businesses in the way that a rental of a property is like running a business. | |
| Updated | |
| at 3.55am GMT | |
| 3.50am GMT | |
| 03:50 | |
| This is extraordinary, from the Australian National Audit Office. | |
| This is what the ANAO just said about $5 BILLION in tax deductions the oil and gas companies have made. pic.twitter.com/amviqtmXR3 | |
| 3.47am GMT | |
| 03:47 | |
| Tony Burke to Barnaby Joyce: I refer to the Murray-Darling Basin plan. Will the government guarantee to acquire the additional 450 gigalitres of water through infrastructure investment? | |
| Joyce says the government will deliver the plan and it would be better if Labor came up with some ideas. | |
| It sounds like Labor thinks the government is doing a deal to deliver the 450GL to South Australia to get Nick Xenophon across the line on the ABCC bill. | |
| Updated | |
| at 3.53am GMT | |
| 3.44am GMT | |
| 03:44 | |
| A quick view from the red place: Brandis in the Senate | |
| Katharine Murphy | |
| The attorney general, George Brandis, is, unsurprisingly, taking much of the heat in question time today. | |
| Both Labor and the Greens are trying to get to the bottom of whether or not Brandis told the then solicitor general, Justin Gleeson, to run dead in the high court matter about the Bell Group – which is a central allegation in the West Australian’s news report last Friday. | |
| Brandis has invoked his statement before question time as all the information anyone could possibly want. The Brandis statement didn’t actually address this point, hence all the questions. | |
| Brandis doesn’t want to get into his conversation with Gleeson on the basis that would breach privilege. | |
| He eventually tells the Senate Gleeson sought instructions from Brandis to argue certain points during the litigation on the matter of the corporations law, and “I gave him the instructions he sought”. | |
| (Which is more or less the formulation he used during his parliamentary statement.) | |
| Updated | |
| at 3.52am GMT | |
| 3.43am GMT | |
| 03:43 | |
| Shorten to Turnbull: I refer to the statement of the attorney general in the Senate today and the answer just given by the minister for revenue. Is it seriously the position of the government that the only person to blame for the WA kick back scandal is Joe Hockey? | |
| Turnbull says he has dealt with this issue. | |
| Updated | |
| at 3.51am GMT | |
| 3.41am GMT | |
| 03:41 | |
| Tanya Plibersek to financial services minister, Kelly O’Dwyer, as minister responsible for the Australian Tax Office. In state parliament, the West Australian treasurer has said the ATO acted in the Bell Group litigation “contrary to the direction or advice of the assistant treasurer, Kelly O’Dwyer”. What direction or advice did the minister give to the ATO on this matter? | |
| O’Dwyer says she fully supported the ATO in the matter: | |
| When I was made aware of assertions being made by WA ministers regarding dealings with the former treasurer, the honourable Joe Hockey, regarding the Bell litigation, I sought a briefing from the ATO. | |
| The ATO advised me it had a legal obligation and a sound case to intervene in the proceedings in the high court of Australia to protect the interests of the commonwealth. | |
| I fully supported the ATO position and so advised the attorney general of the joint position of myself and the ATO to which the attorney general actually refers to in his detailed statement in the Senate. | |
| This position was subsequently vindicated by the high court in a unanimous decision. | |
| Updated | |
| at 3.50am GMT | |
| 3.32am GMT | 3.32am GMT |
| 03:32 | 03:32 |
| Tony Burke asks Malcolm Turnbull again about more correspondence between the WA and commonwealth governments involving Christian Porter. Labor wants to know where the correspondence is and Turnbull says Brandis tabled the documents. He said the documents Labor requested may be confidential. | Tony Burke asks Malcolm Turnbull again about more correspondence between the WA and commonwealth governments involving Christian Porter. Labor wants to know where the correspondence is and Turnbull says Brandis tabled the documents. He said the documents Labor requested may be confidential. |
| (Apologies, bear with me, the transcript is broken and this is a very technical matter.) | (Apologies, bear with me, the transcript is broken and this is a very technical matter.) |
| The Bell Group litigation as everyone knows has been going on for over 20 years. It is a modern version of the Jarndyce litigation ... in the book Bleak House. What the Australian government sought to do was to deal with it. The legislation that they passed had a fatal flaw in it which was, well, perhaps, it may have had others, but the fatal flaw was that it was inconsistent with the federal Taxation Act, which was raised by a number of parties in litigation, including the Australian Taxation Office, and was the basis for it being struck down. | |
| Updated | |
| at 3.39am GMT | |
| 3.26am GMT | 3.26am GMT |
| 03:26 | 03:26 |
| Malcolm Turnbull is again asked by Bill Shorten about what exchanges between attorney general George Brandis and former solicitor general Justin Gleeson. | Malcolm Turnbull is again asked by Bill Shorten about what exchanges between attorney general George Brandis and former solicitor general Justin Gleeson. |
| Turnbull again says he was not a party to the conversations so he does not know. | Turnbull again says he was not a party to the conversations so he does not know. |
| 3.20am GMT | 3.20am GMT |
| 03:20 | 03:20 |
| Cathy McGowan to Turnbull: This morning in this place, I introduced a bill, a private members bill, the Charter of Budget Honesty regional Australia impact statements bill. This bill calls on the government to release with each Budget or MYEFO regional Australia statements that outline the impact of fiscal policy on those of us who live outside the city. My question Mr Prime Minister is can you give the assurance to the house that this bill will be brought onto consideration and to demonstrate to those of us who live in rural and regional Australia that our issues are taken account of by the government in preparation of its fiscal policy? | Cathy McGowan to Turnbull: This morning in this place, I introduced a bill, a private members bill, the Charter of Budget Honesty regional Australia impact statements bill. This bill calls on the government to release with each Budget or MYEFO regional Australia statements that outline the impact of fiscal policy on those of us who live outside the city. My question Mr Prime Minister is can you give the assurance to the house that this bill will be brought onto consideration and to demonstrate to those of us who live in rural and regional Australia that our issues are taken account of by the government in preparation of its fiscal policy? |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | Malcolm Turnbull: |
| No doubt, we will have differences at election time but we are absolutely united in our commitment to regional Australia and our determination to ensure that the Budget and every element of our policy delivers for regional Australians. We will have a close look at her bill and I thank her for raising it. | No doubt, we will have differences at election time but we are absolutely united in our commitment to regional Australia and our determination to ensure that the Budget and every element of our policy delivers for regional Australians. We will have a close look at her bill and I thank her for raising it. |
| 3.17am GMT | 3.17am GMT |
| 03:17 | 03:17 |
| Prime minister does not know what happened between attorney general and solicitor general | Prime minister does not know what happened between attorney general and solicitor general |
| Dreyfus to Turnbull: Did the attorney general verbally instruct the solicitor general not to run a particular argument in the Bell case in the high court? This is not covered by the attorney general’s statement in the Senate today and the attorney general has said on Sky News today: “I am not going into that matter.” | Dreyfus to Turnbull: Did the attorney general verbally instruct the solicitor general not to run a particular argument in the Bell case in the high court? This is not covered by the attorney general’s statement in the Senate today and the attorney general has said on Sky News today: “I am not going into that matter.” |
| Malcolm Turnbull states: | Malcolm Turnbull states: |
| The shadow attorney general is asking me what transpired in a conversation between two distinguished members of the bar at which I was not present. Obviously I don’t know what transpired between them but the attorney general has set out his account of the events. | The shadow attorney general is asking me what transpired in a conversation between two distinguished members of the bar at which I was not present. Obviously I don’t know what transpired between them but the attorney general has set out his account of the events. |
| If Turnbull does not know the answer to this question and has not been briefed, that’s a failure of government process – at best. | If Turnbull does not know the answer to this question and has not been briefed, that’s a failure of government process – at best. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.24am GMT | at 3.24am GMT |
| 3.12am GMT | 3.12am GMT |
| 03:12 | 03:12 |
| Scott Morrison is asked a government question about budget repair. | Scott Morrison is asked a government question about budget repair. |
| 3.11am GMT | 3.11am GMT |
| 03:11 | 03:11 |
| Shorten to Turnbull: In the Senate today the attorney general said about the WA kick back scandal: “There was never any agreement or understanding.” So why, on Friday, did the West Australian newspaper report “Senator Brandis told Mr Gleeson an understanding had been reached between the federal and WA governments”, and why is the treasurer of WA insisting that there was an understanding and agreement between WA and the federal government? Who is telling the truth? | Shorten to Turnbull: In the Senate today the attorney general said about the WA kick back scandal: “There was never any agreement or understanding.” So why, on Friday, did the West Australian newspaper report “Senator Brandis told Mr Gleeson an understanding had been reached between the federal and WA governments”, and why is the treasurer of WA insisting that there was an understanding and agreement between WA and the federal government? Who is telling the truth? |
| Turnbull says Shorten is misleading the house and George Brandis’s statement was comprehensive and lengthy. | Turnbull says Shorten is misleading the house and George Brandis’s statement was comprehensive and lengthy. |
| Nothing to see here. | Nothing to see here. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.22am GMT | at 3.22am GMT |
| 3.05am GMT | 3.05am GMT |
| 03:05 | 03:05 |
| The first government question is about the Coalition’s economic record and the need for the ABCC bill. | The first government question is about the Coalition’s economic record and the need for the ABCC bill. |