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Parliament reacts to Liberal turmoil – question time live
Labor grill government on Centrelink and Bernardi – politics live
(35 minutes later)
5.03am GMT
05:03
The weight of office.
Updated
at 5.04am GMT
5.01am GMT
05:01
New friends.
Updated
at 5.03am GMT
4.55am GMT
04:55
Liberal MP Warren Entsch says it is unfair to take the gold pass for people in the past who have served seven terms (which was the requirement).
By all means constrain it, I have no problem ... I have no issue with cutting it off from 2014.
Entsch’s thinking is that the government foreshadowed the policy change in 2014. He also says if the gold pass is removed for everyone else, former PMs should have it removed as well.
Updated
at 5.03am GMT
4.51am GMT
04:51
The new paradigm.
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at 5.03am GMT
4.36am GMT
04:36
Gareth Hutchens
The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, says she spoke on the phone this morning to the new US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.
She told the Coalition party room that her conversation with Tillerson “could not have been warmer” and there was “no doubt” the Turnbull government and the Trump administration would work together.
It is clear that the United States will remain deeply engaged in our region.
She also told them she would be meeting China’s foreign affairs minister, Wang Yi, on Tuesday afternoon, and this showed Australia could be friendly with both nations.
It shows that we can manage relationships between both of those countries in a calm, considered and mature way. Every nation puts it’s interests first, and it’s in Australia’s interest to provide peace, stability and security.
Updated
at 4.39am GMT
4.33am GMT
04:33
Question time is over.
Speaker Tony Smith announces criminal charges will be laid as a result of the demonstration from last year which saw question time disrupted after protestors superglued their hands to the benches.
Updated
at 4.58am GMT
4.31am GMT
04:31
Government question to Peter Dutton: Will the minister update the house on steps the government is taking to ensure foreign workers are a supplementary to and not a substitute for Australian workers? How does this compare with other approaches?
Dutton goes to the number of visas for 457 issued under Bill Shorten as minister.
Updated
at 4.32am GMT
4.26am GMT
4.26am GMT
04:26
04:26
Shorten to Turnbull: Today’s print media includes comments from a large number of members of the prime minister’s own government airing grievances about the workings of the Liberal government including in the Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Courier Mail and the Australian all have examples of this. When thousands of people are losing their jobs at Toyota and Holden, why are members of the government only talking about themselves?
Shorten to Turnbull: Today’s print media includes comments from a large number of members of the prime minister’s own government airing grievances about the workings of the Liberal government including in the Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Courier Mail and the Australian all have examples of this. When thousands of people are losing their jobs at Toyota and Holden, why are members of the government only talking about themselves?
Turnbull:
Turnbull:
It is not so long ago that ... the leader of the opposition spoke at the Press Club, the day before I did, and he said he would be focused on people rather than politics. What we see is one cheap shot after another.
It is not so long ago that ... the leader of the opposition spoke at the Press Club, the day before I did, and he said he would be focused on people rather than politics. What we see is one cheap shot after another.
Updated
Updated
at 4.29am GMT
at 4.29am GMT
4.23am GMT
4.23am GMT
04:23
04:23
The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, gets a government question: Will the minister update the House on how the government is promoting Australia’s national interests in strengthening our bilateral relationships? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches that would threaten our national interest?
The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, gets a government question: Will the minister update the House on how the government is promoting Australia’s national interests in strengthening our bilateral relationships? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches that would threaten our national interest?
She goes to Chinese free-trade agreement and the increase in exports from the citrus industry.
She goes to Chinese free-trade agreement and the increase in exports from the citrus industry.
Updated
Updated
at 4.26am GMT
at 4.26am GMT
4.20am GMT
4.20am GMT
04:20
04:20
Labor’s Tanya Plibersek asks Turnbull: Does the prime minister agree with the member for Warringah that “the first duty of the leader is to keep the party together”. How is that going?
Labor’s Tanya Plibersek asks Turnbull: Does the prime minister agree with the member for Warringah that “the first duty of the leader is to keep the party together”. How is that going?
Speaker Tony Smith rules the question out of order.
Speaker Tony Smith rules the question out of order.
Updated
Updated
at 4.27am GMT
at 4.27am GMT
4.19am GMT
4.19am GMT
04:19
04:19
There is a Dixer CFMEU question to the defence industry minister, Christopher Pyne.
There is a Dixer CFMEU question to the defence industry minister, Christopher Pyne.
The revelations of the year of funding up to the 2016 federal election, the union movement spent an incredible $26.5m of other people’s money campaigning against the Turnbull government.
The revelations of the year of funding up to the 2016 federal election, the union movement spent an incredible $26.5m of other people’s money campaigning against the Turnbull government.
Updated
Updated
at 4.20am GMT
at 4.20am GMT
4.12am GMT
04:12
Labor’s Linda Burney to Turnbull: Anne Foley is a 67-year-old pensioner who received a Centrelink debt recovery notice for around $36,000. As a result Centrelink cut off Mrs Foley’s pension, causing her considerable stress and anxiety. Two weeks later, Centrelink admitted they got it completely wrong and reinstated her pension. Are pensioners like Anne suffering because the only thing the prime minister is focused on is trying to fix his broken government?
Before flicking the question to Alan Tudge, Turnbull suggests her details should be passed on to the government to resolve. Then he says:
The focus has been to ensure that where anomalies are detected consistent with practices put in place long ago under the Labor government, people are entitled to or are able to correct the record. If they do owe money to Centrelink, it should be recovered.
Updated
at 4.18am GMT
4.10am GMT
04:10
The energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, gets a government question on affordable energy and Labor renewables policy.
Updated
at 4.12am GMT
4.07am GMT
04:07
Labor to Turnbull: Tasmania’s Liberal premier, Will Hodgman, has said the flawed Centrelink data-matching system needs to be fixed and Liberal senator Eric Abetz has said Centrelink’s robo-debt mess has “let down the Australian people”. Is the mess inside the Liberal government the reason the prime minister has ignored the mess his government has made of Centrelink?
The human services minister, Alan Tudge, outlines the system:
We want to be fair to the taxpayer. That is exactly why we have this system in the first place. What we do is that we look at the self-report income provided to Centrelink and we compare that to the data provided to the Australian Taxation Office.
If there is a discrepancy between the two, then a person is asked if they can explain that discrepancy. Sometimes they can but, if they are unable to do so, then a debt may be issued. This practice has been in place by the way since the Labor party introduced it in 1990 in a data matching act. Then automation came into place in 2011 under none other than the leader of the opposition, the deputy leader of the opposition.
He gave an example of someone in the years of Labor Gillard government who said he earned $5000 when tax data showed he had earned $100,000.
Updated
at 4.27am GMT
4.02am GMT
04:02
A Dixer to Barnaby Joyce on live export but strangely segues into renewable energy policy.
3.59am GMT
03:59
NXT MP Rebekha Sharkie to Turnbull: Over Christmas, thousands of my constituents enjoyed several days without power, phones or internet after storms damaged electricity infrastructure. In the middle of the fire season, in one of the highest bushfire risk areas in Australia, we had few to no means of communication as mobile base station batteries lasted only four hours and, in some areas, landlines failed. I understand the downgraded NBN roll-out will mean landlines won’t work in power outages at all. It is outrageous in 2017 telecommunications infrastructure would leave us so vulnerable. Please advise how your government will address this and safeguard telecommunications access, particularly in isolated fire risk areas such as my electorate of Mayo.
He says it is Labor’s fault. He goes to renewable energy policies in the Labor governed South Australia.
He says resilience in telecommunications systems is important.
The government has rolled out its black spot program but the SA Labor government would not make co-contributions.
In the socialist paradise, where the honourable member lives, is the consequence of the failure to invest. Resilience in telecommunications systems is vitally important. If the honourable member is concerned about the lights going out in Mayo, that is the consequence of Labor’s reckless approach to energy.
Nothing about land lines or the NBN.
Updated
at 4.17am GMT
3.53am GMT
03:53
Labor to Turnbull: The prime minister’s former energy adviser Danny Price said that the prime minister’s refusal to even consider an emissions intensity scheme “shows a lack of spine”. By doing this it means they are the party of increasing electricity prices and reduced energy security. Will the prime minister confirm that his lack of spine and his failure to stand up to Senator Bernardi has made the Liberal government the party of increasing electricity prices and reduced energy security?
After an introduction involving squirrels, Turnbull reasserts that the Coalition stands for jobs and reliable affordable energy.
Who doesn’t?
Updated
at 3.55am GMT
3.49am GMT
03:49
There is a government question to the treasurer, Scott Morrison, about the need to cut company tax cuts.
I should also say his shadow, Chris Bowen, was chucked out in the previous answer for taking a frivolous point of order.
Updated
at 3.55am GMT
3.47am GMT
03:47
Labor’s Mark Butler to Turnbull: Energy markets commission modelling shows emissions intensity scheme would save consumers $15bn on their power bills. Within hours of Senator Bernardi objecting to the government even considering such a scheme, the prime minister caved in and ruled it out in December. Given that Senator Bernardi has now quit the Liberal party, will the prime minister reconsider an emissions intensity scheme or are there still too many government MPs who hold the same views as Senator Bernardi to prevent the prime minister from taking the right action?
Turnbull doesn’t answer on the savings to be had on an emissions intensity scheme.
The reality is very simply this – that the Labor party has pursued renewable energy as an end in itself, without having regard for the need for base load power, without having regard to the fact that all of their assumptions about gas prices have been overtaken by both a massive rise in the cost of gas and its constrained availability and without making any plans for the storage that is needed to make renewables viable.
Updated
at 3.56am GMT
3.43am GMT
03:43
Malcolm Turnbull takes a government question on energy so that he can talk about Labor governments and their renewable energy policies.
3.37am GMT
03:37
Shorten to Turnbull: It is a matter of record that 34,000 full-time jobs have been lost in the last year. Underemployment is close to a record high. Wages are growing at the slowest rate on record. When 34,000 full-time jobs have been lost in the last year alone, why are you only worried about your own job and not theirs?
Turnbull:
It gives me the opportunity to remind the honourable member that there were 100,000 new jobs in manufacturing. It has been a long time since we have seen growth in manufacturing. The reason we are seeing it is because of the big export markets we have opened up and he would like to close in his new protectionist guise.
