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George Brandis may face snap Senate inquiry over Bell Group – politics live
George Brandis may face snap Senate inquiry – politics live
(35 minutes later)
12.34am GMT
9.47pm GMT
00:34
21:47
On the menu in the lower house today
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.
This is what we are expecting when parliament sits at midday.
Wong said 457 workers have been a part of the Australian labour market for a long time.
In the lower house:
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
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12.29am GMT
9.11pm GMT
00:29
21:11
This is a snippet from a Senate committee in which a Australian Tax Office official confirmed that he was asked about the Bell litigation case by ministerial staff from either the assistant treasurer or the treasurer’s office.
Good morning after the night before,
It goes to the contact between the commonwealth and the WA government. But the question as to whether the attorney general or someone else in government tried to rein in the commonwealth in favour of the WA government remains unanswered.
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.
O'Dwyer won't say if she interfered in Bell litigation, but here's what happened at Estimates when I asked ATO if Ministers contacted them. pic.twitter.com/6SOY9MWjoj
Those chambers don’t sit until midday to allow party-room meetings to occur.
They had representations by the West Australian government as I recall, says the ATO officer.
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?
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.
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12.18am GMT
00:18
Common sense lives here.
Cory Bernardi, Conservative and author of Common Sense Lives Here blog, is still at the United Nations.
Don’t worry. He will be back shortly as his time is drawing to a close, as he wrote last week.
It’s three degrees and the first tiny flakes of snow are falling in Manhattan. Somehow I find it symbolic, given that my secondment to the United Nations and my stay here is drawing to a close. The end of one season and the beginning of another.
While he is away, assistant minister for industry, Craig Laundy is trolling him from the party room, sitting in his favourite chair which is placed under the prime minister.
12.09am GMT
00:09
Party room meditation.
11.43pm GMT
23:43
11.40pm GMT
23:40
Immigration minister Peter Dutton is really polishing up his lines of late. He always does a bit of a comic act in question time – usually involving Bill Shorten and the CFMEU.
This morning, Dutton turned his attention to Labor shadow attorney Mark Dreyfus, who Dutton believes is obsessed with George Brandis. After an interview with the ABC, he said Dreyfus was like the Robin Williams character in One Hour Photo – a creepy film in which Williams plays a stalker.
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11.15pm GMT
23:15
A statement from the first female chief justice of the high court
The chief justice designate of the high court of Australia, the Hon Justice Susan Kiefel AC, today said she was deeply honoured to have been appointed and would work to uphold the importance of the High Court as an institution in our society and to maintain its independence.
“The high court remains as relevant today to Australians as it did at federation. The issues that come before the high court affect many aspects of the life of the nation.
“It will be a privilege to walk in the footsteps of the eminent jurists who have been appointed chief justices since the court was established in 1903.”
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11.10pm GMT
23:10
NSW premier Mike Baird will be speaking at the National Press Club at lunchtime. Katharine Murphy has previewed the speech and provided the context. For federal Liberals, this is important.
Baird’s appearance in Canberra on Tuesday follows a public intervention last week by Rob Stokes, the NSW planning minister, who urged Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison to rethink their opposition to negative gearing reform.
Stokes argued that boosting supply alone would not solve Sydney’s problem with housing affordability. The tax system needed to be geared towards productive investments.
“Earlier this year the NSW government was ready, willing and able to have a discussion about tax,” the planning minister said. “Disappointingly our leadership on this issue fell victim to the Canberra culture that promotes opposition over consensus.”
This will be a major focus of questions today.
10.56pm GMT
22:56
Malcolm Turnbull addressed his party room.
And we said we would make the 45th Parliament work, and we said that we would deliver. And we are delivering. Thanks to you. Thanks to your hard work, thanks to working with the crossbenchers in the house and above all, in the Senate.
Turnbull names:
When we wrap up the parliament this week for the summer vacation, for the Christmas vacation, all of us will be able to go back to our electorates and say ‘we came to you in the election with an economic plan’. We laid it out. We sought your support and you returned us to government and we are delivering. We are getting the runs on the board. We are defying the critics. We are delivering the 45th Parliament is working, the government is governing, the government is leading, the government is delivering on its promises.
10.45pm GMT
22:45
Bill Shorten says the Coalition is about the “survival of the fittest” and “the law of the economic jungle”.
If you fall behind, you get left behind. We are different. We’ve always been different and we remain strong and proud in our difference to the Liberals. We know that it is our job in this parliament to make economic change work for everybody, to make the economy work in the interests of working class and middle class people.
