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| George Brandis may face snap Senate inquiry – politics live | George Brandis may face snap Senate inquiry – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 9.47pm GMT | |
| 21:47 | |
| Penny Wong was also asked on Lateline about Labor’s policy to crackdown on 457 visas which require stronger labour market testing before temporary foreign workers are employed. | |
| Wong said 457 workers have been a part of the Australian labour market for a long time. | |
| The key policy question that I think most Australians want to ensure is that those jobs are available first to Australians who are willing and able to do them. | |
| Emma Alberici: Labor gave 285 foreign workers jobs at McDonald’s in Australia, 74 at Hungry Jack’s and 88 at KFC. Were there no Australians that could do those jobs when Labor was in Government? | |
| I’m responding to the direct policy point which is we had an approach which required labour market testing, that is the safeguard. | |
| Alberici: These happened...when you were in government. | |
| I’m not able to tell you what happened in respect of every single one of those workers. | |
| Alberici: Bill Shorten was Employment Minister at the time. | |
| The reality is there was a safeguard which existed under the Labor government. The government sought to remove that under trade agreements. I and others raised concerns about that because we think it’s legitimate and a fair safeguard. At the time, I recall being criticised, as Labor was, by the government about that fact. | |
| 9.28pm GMT | |
| 21:28 | |
| Penny Wong appeared on Lateline last night – why not, with the Senate sitting until 1am? | |
| She enunciated the line of attack against George Brandis today. | |
| Let’s start with the primary problem. It is this … statements and undertakings given to the Senate today are inconsistent with statements made by the Western Australian treasurer, to the Western Australian parliament. So either George Brandis isn’t telling the truth in this parliament, or Dr Nahan is not telling the truth in the Western Australian parliament. Because both sets of statements in respect of three key facts cannot be true. | |
| And the three key differences are: was there any agreement? | |
| Second, the involvement of Christian Porter. | |
| And thirdly, the involvement of Kelly O’Dwyer. | |
| Completely inconsistent statements made to two parliaments. Who is telling the truth? | |
| I again remind you and all of the fact that Dr Nahan has said, the treasurer of Western Australia has said, very clearly to the Australian parliament they had a deal. “We had a deal.” | |
| That’s inconsistent with what Senator Brandis said today. | |
| Updated | |
| at 9.36pm GMT | |
| 9.11pm GMT | 9.11pm GMT |
| 21:11 | 21:11 |
| Good morning after the night before, | Good morning after the night before, |
| There is a whole lot of bluff and bluster around this morning and the only way to pick our way through it is to follow the chambers like a good kelpie. | There is a whole lot of bluff and bluster around this morning and the only way to pick our way through it is to follow the chambers like a good kelpie. |
| Those chambers don’t sit until midday to allow party-room meetings to occur. | |
| The Senate sat until nearly 1am debating the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill to bring back the Howard industry watchdog. The bill has passed its second reading stage which means it now goes to committee stage, when other senators get to act like journalists and fire off questions at the minister in charge. | |
| The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, told the ABC this morning the government had One Nation support and David Leyonhjelm but discussions were continuing in efforts to win Nick Xenophon’s three votes and Derryn Hinch. | |
| Fifield is asked about the hoary old chestnut, extending the parliamentary sitting past Thursday – being the last sitting day of the year. | |
| Everything is in the hands of the chamber itself … the crossbench has accepted management of Senate is the responsibility of all senators. | |
| The political attention will be heaped on George Brandis today as the Greens and Labor try to get up an inquiry into the Bell Group litigation matter. | |
| The Fin’s Laura Tingle, who broke the original story about the falling out between Justin Gleeson and Brandis, neatly encapsulates the key question left hanging after the attorney general’s statement yesterday. | |
| Did George Brandis prevent, discourage or inhibit attempts to challenge a West Australian bill that would have favoured WA over federal taxpayers to the tune of $300 million? | Did George Brandis prevent, discourage or inhibit attempts to challenge a West Australian bill that would have favoured WA over federal taxpayers to the tune of $300 million? |
| Paul Karp is beavering away to check the numbers for a Brandis Senate inquiry. We know Greens and Labor will support. Xenophon is a no. One Nation is a no as of yesterday. Hinch said Brandis had better have a good explanation. Leyonhjelm and Lambie are maybes. | |
| Onwards and upwards. Talk to us on the Twits @gabriellechan and @mpbowers or you can talk to me on Facebook or in the thread. | Onwards and upwards. Talk to us on the Twits @gabriellechan and @mpbowers or you can talk to me on Facebook or in the thread. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 9.35pm GMT |