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Malcolm Turnbull addresses Coalition MPs as Cory Bernardi defects – politics live Tony Abbott says Liberals should have made 'more effort' to keep Bernardi on side – politics live
(35 minutes later)
1.32am GMT
01:32
Bernardi will give a statement and then Penny Wong is expected to seek leave to speak to it.
1.31am GMT
01:31
Senate is sitting now as the president reads the Lord’s prayer and pays respect to Indigenous elders past and present.
1.30am GMT
01:30
Human services minister Alan Tudge spoke to the motion, saying the system is designed to ensure that taxpayers only support those in need.
1.29am GMT
01:29
In the lower house, independent Andrew Wilkie is trying to suspend standing orders on the Centrelink debt recovery system. The motion:
(1) acknowledges that Centrelink has, since late 2016, been sending out numerous incorrect notices relating to debt recovery – by its estimation, at least 4,000 of the 20,000 debt notices sent each week are incorrect;
(2) notes the severe financial and emotional toll that the debt recovery system has had on thousands of people, including some of the most vulnerable, with some going so far as to talk of suicide;
(3) notes the many well-documented problems with the system, including:
(a) incorrect debts being raised by a crude data-matching of a person’s annual income as reported by the Australian Taxation Office with their fortnightly income reported to Centrelink;
(b) alleged debts having been referred to debt collection agencies in a short amount of time, often when the person has not even been made aware of the alleged debt because they have not received adequate notice from Centrelink;
(c) people being asked for payslips and other proof of income from periods or in circumstances where they could not reasonably be expected to provide such documentation; and
(d) the Department of Human Services often refusing to explain how an alleged debt has been calculated, and in some cases recalculating the alleged debt seemingly at random;
(4) notes that while the Minister for Human Services has indicated that some minor changes will be made, the program remains deeply flawed and must be shut down immediately;
(5) condemns the Minister for not only refusing to admit that there is a problem with the system, but also for insisting that the system will continue to operate despite it incorrectly targeting thousands of innocent Australians and its failure to treat people fairly and humanely; and
(6) calls on the Minister to:
(a) ensure that all Centrelink debt recovery activities are timely and accurate, and are conducted in a fair and humane manner; and
(b) convene, as a matter of urgency, an expert stakeholder roundtable to design a fair and humane system of debt detection and recovery.
1.23am GMT
01:23
Coming up:
I will be seeking leave to make a statement to the Senate when it commences at 12.30pm today.
Following my statement to Senate will hold press conference in Mural Hall @ 1pm
1.15am GMT
01:15
#BREAKING: @TurnbullMalcolm has axed the lifetime gold travel pass for former MPS.
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1.12am GMT
01:12
Tony Abbott: we should have done more to keep Cory
Tony Abbott has taken to Facebook to decry the lack of effort being made to keep Cory in the tent.
Cory Bernardi has made an important contribution to our public life and I deeply regret his decision to leave the Liberal Party.
While Cory and I have sometimes disagreed I’m disappointed that more effort has not been made to keep our party united.
The Liberal Party needs more people, like Cory, who believe that freer citizens will make a fairer society and a stronger country and who are prepared to speak out and make a difference.
No government entirely satisfies all of its supporters. This is not an argument to leave; it’s a reason to stay in and fight more effectively for the things we believe in.
I appeal to everyone who wants smaller, stronger government and who wants a freer, fairer country to continue to support the Liberals because that is the only way to improve our party, our government and our country.
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1.09am GMT
01:09
Given new rightwing political parties are the topic of the day, I thought it was worth casting our minds back to the pulped book of John Hyde Page, called The Education of a Young Liberal. While the book was pulped in relation to another matter, the author gives an interesting account of a conversation with Malcolm Turnbull regarding the possibility of forming a centre-right party. Hyde Page was working for the former Liberal Wentworth MP Peter King at the time. (Turnbull knocked off King in a torrid preselection.) Hyde Page recalls the conversation was about the hollowing out of the Liberal party into what the PM had then called a “doughnut” – that is, Young Liberals at one end, pensioners at the other and nothing in between.
Hyde Page went on to interpret Turnbull’s words.
Indeed if something was not done, Turnbull predicted, the Liberal party would very soon be supplanted by some new centre-right party. It wouldn’t be hard at all, thanks to the internet – he took a moment or two to praise the marvel that is the internet – a couple of wealthy financiers, a few emails, an online recruitment campaign and voila, a new conservative force in Australian politics and no more Liberal party.
Voila indeed.
I have contacted the PM’s office to check whether it is an accurate account of the conversation and have yet to hear back.
A young social services minister Christian Porter – who back then was a senior state prosecutor in Western Australia before he entered state or federal parliament – wrote a review for the Centre for Independent Studies.
John Hyde Page’s book The Education of a Young Liberal is a very hard book to hate. And as a proud member of the Liberal party’s WA division I tried very hard. Indeed, it is probably a mistake to have a member of any political party review such a book because, of the several reviews published to date, each goes immediately to its accuracy and political meaning ...
Whether accurate or not, the several pages devoted to Peter King and Malcolm Turnbull leave the reader with a sense that he has been privy to some deep insight into complex and textured human beings.
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12.24am GMT12.24am GMT
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Night of the living dead: zombie budget measures make budget hard to balanceNight of the living dead: zombie budget measures make budget hard to balance
Gareth HutchensGareth Hutchens
The Parliamentary Budget Office has published an update on the budgetary impact of legislation still stuck in the Senate.The Parliamentary Budget Office has published an update on the budgetary impact of legislation still stuck in the Senate.
Labor will try to capitalise on it today, which the government won’t appreciate.Labor will try to capitalise on it today, which the government won’t appreciate.
It’s a quiet reminder of the problems the Coalition has faced in the Senate since the Abbott government’s infamous 2014 budget.It’s a quiet reminder of the problems the Coalition has faced in the Senate since the Abbott government’s infamous 2014 budget.
According to the PBO:According to the PBO:
The impact of the unlegislated measures on the budget deficit will be $8.5bn in 2019-20 and $42.8bn in 2026-27.The impact of the unlegislated measures on the budget deficit will be $8.5bn in 2019-20 and $42.8bn in 2026-27.
That means the government’s attempt to return the budget to balance by 2020-21 will be impossible, keeping other things equal, if the measures remain unlegislated.That means the government’s attempt to return the budget to balance by 2020-21 will be impossible, keeping other things equal, if the measures remain unlegislated.
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12.20am GMT12.20am GMT
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Katharine Murphy has done a little bit of decoding of the various barrows being pushed around the Bernardi defection.Katharine Murphy has done a little bit of decoding of the various barrows being pushed around the Bernardi defection.
But folks intent on running a line of defence that says how dare Bernardi offend the custom and practice of the political establishment in Canberra, and think that is somehow a resonant argument, must have missed the past two years in politics.But folks intent on running a line of defence that says how dare Bernardi offend the custom and practice of the political establishment in Canberra, and think that is somehow a resonant argument, must have missed the past two years in politics.
If somehow you missed the past two years in politics, the bit where Brexit happened and Trump got elected and One Nation returned to the political scene, then you have only to read Monday’s Newspoll to know that Australian voters are parting ways with the major parties and are actively looking for alternatives.If somehow you missed the past two years in politics, the bit where Brexit happened and Trump got elected and One Nation returned to the political scene, then you have only to read Monday’s Newspoll to know that Australian voters are parting ways with the major parties and are actively looking for alternatives.
If you want to put some wind under the sails of a red meat conservative, who is looking to build a new political movement on a bedrock of disaffection, and is looking (somewhat against his own history) to position himself as a political outsider – I’d start throwing around words like “rat”.If you want to put some wind under the sails of a red meat conservative, who is looking to build a new political movement on a bedrock of disaffection, and is looking (somewhat against his own history) to position himself as a political outsider – I’d start throwing around words like “rat”.
2. Murpharoo suggests the conservative commentary that the defection is another test for Turnbull is bollocks.2. Murpharoo suggests the conservative commentary that the defection is another test for Turnbull is bollocks.
Let’s get real. Looking at Turnbull, it really is hard to see how he could get more conservative than he currently is without also triggering a full-scale rebellion by party moderates.Let’s get real. Looking at Turnbull, it really is hard to see how he could get more conservative than he currently is without also triggering a full-scale rebellion by party moderates.
So let’s call this one out. The hard right of the Liberal party just don’t like Turnbull, so it doesn’t matter what he does, it won’t be enough.So let’s call this one out. The hard right of the Liberal party just don’t like Turnbull, so it doesn’t matter what he does, it won’t be enough.
Have a read here.Have a read here.
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11.58pm GMT11.58pm GMT
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The minister for investment opportunities. The former minister of health.The minister for investment opportunities. The former minister of health.
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11.53pm GMT11.53pm GMT
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Then and Now- fellow SA sen. David Fawcett takes Cory's seat in the party room this morn @gabriellechan @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/AjojsbPGKIThen and Now- fellow SA sen. David Fawcett takes Cory's seat in the party room this morn @gabriellechan @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/AjojsbPGKI
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11.48pm GMT
23:48
We will hear from the party rooms shortly but in between times, it is worth remembering great Cory quotes relating to the prospect of a separate party.
In 2014, when the former SA MP Martin Hamilton-Smith defected, Bernardi was scathing.
We’ve supported him over successive elections, he was a former leader of the Liberal party, of course we’re disappointed and the people of Waite should be disappointed too because you can’t just jump ship and join the other team and claim it’s the national or public interest because it’s not.
In 2015 he told Annabel Crabb on Kitchen Cabinet:
I don’t think there’s an appetite for an alternative party. I think people want to make the Liberals work.
When he set up Australian Conservatives last year, he told Katharine Murphy:
My intention is to make the Liberal party stronger.
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at 11.56pm GMT
11.35pm GMT
23:35
Oh dear.
I guess this is the time to mention that Cory and Tony have had a bit of a falling out, as reported by Katharine Murphy last night.
The two men fell out publicly at Christmas time as Bernardi was planning his exit from the Liberal party – and Bernardi told confidantes during December he was profoundly irritated that Abbott was using the prospect of his defection as a trigger for a renewed bout of aggression against the current prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull.
Abbott positioned himself in December to make the Bernardi defection a test of leadership for Turnbull, writing at the time Australia did not need a new conservative party, it needed “a credible agenda for the mainstream conservative political movement that already exists”.
Bernardi hit back just before Christmas, rebuking Abbott on social media. “While most on break, [the] only person talking up division in [the] Lib party this past week is Tony Abbott. Always back the horse named self-interest.”
With Bernardi expected to confirm his decision to set up a breakaway conservative movement on Tuesday, when federal parliament gets under way for the new year, Fairfax Media revived the December row late on Monday, which prompted Abbott to take to social media to deny leaking sensitive information against Bernardi just before Christmas.
Falsehoods in SMH. I don't leak against colleagues. Never have, never will.
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11.28pm GMT
23:28
Laura Tingle of the Australian Financial Review has written a good column on the Bernardi threat.
Some people may find it vaguely reassuring that, while the western world – well, the whole world really – experiences an existential crisis as it watches the festival of bizarre in the White House, Australian politics can still trundle on, paralysed by a level of puerility that would be almost as hard to make up as Donald Trump.
So Cory Bernardi is about to leave the Liberal party. Yes, he really is apparently going to do it this time.
Well off you go, Cory. Turn off the lights as you go will you? And perhaps apologise to the preselectors and voters who guaranteed you a six-year Senate spot just eight months ago.
Perhaps you could take with you all the senior colleagues and washed-up figures in your party who are all furiously trying to position themselves to shape and control the conservative wing of your party.
Few people in Canberra, when it comes down to it, really take the threat posed by a Bernardi party all that seriously. The splintered conservative party vote is, after all, quite contested space.
Totally agree. Christensen has done the smarter thing to pursue his causes – much as you may hate them. Stay inside and apply pressure. And he can still cross the floor. But Bernardi can do nix once he has gone.
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11.22pm GMT
23:22
Former WA Senator Rod Culleton is planning on attending the opening of Parliament today + wants to meet fmr Senate colleagues #auspol
11.21pm GMT
23:21
The education minister and Cory Bernardi’s fellow South Australian Liberal, Simon Birmingham, has been interviewed on his home state radio 5AA. He is asked about the 250,000 Liberal voters who voted for Cory at the last election.
Birmingham, in his mild-mannered way, points out that it was actually more like 345,000 and they had plenty of choices. The minister is a key moderate.
I’ll let others undertake the colourful caricatures or descriptions, but you were right – although you slightly shortchanged it – that at the last election the Liberal Senate voted, South Australia grew by more than 5% and more than 345,000 South Australians chose to vote for the Liberal party. They chose the Liberal party ahead of the Labor party, or the Greens, Nick Xenophon or One Nation. They had plenty of choices the left and the right of the Liberal party and those more than 345,000 South Australians chose the Liberal party, electing four Liberal senators and I’m sure that they expected to have four Liberal senators serve out their terms and they will rightly be disappointed.
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11.06pm GMT
23:06
Paul Karp has gone to the high court to cover the Bob Day case. AAP has previewed the case for us:
The question of how to fill the Senate seat left vacant by former Family First senator Bob Day is set to be argued in the high court.
Lawyers for attorney general George Brandis will argue the South Australian seat should be filled by a special count when the matter comes before the high court, sitting as the court of disputed returns, in Canberra on Tuesday.
The court will need to determine whether Day had a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a lease agreement between the owner of his electorate office premises, Fullarton Investments, and the federal government.
Under the constitution, such an arrangement would disqualify him from sitting in parliament.
If he is found to have been disqualified a recount would be needed, but if he wins, Family First would fill the casual vacancy caused by his resignation last year.
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11.03pm GMT
23:03
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10.54pm GMT
22:54
We are entering the Matt Hatter zone. Herewith, a visual representation of the Cory Bernardi defection.
@gabriellechan Hi🎭. Following the official returning of the LNP stapler, Mr Bernardi then performed a traditional SA Liberal exit ceremony. pic.twitter.com/xpzTNgbc9f
How I missed that Matt Hatter.
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at 11.30pm GMT
10.52pm GMT
22:52
Malcolm Turnbull reportedly tells the party room that Bernardi did not try to justify staying in his Senate seat after being elected as a Liberal.
PM Turnbull just now in partyroom "I asked him how he could justify remaining in the Senate having been elected ...1/2
...as a Liberal only seven months ago. He could not answer that question" 2/2
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10.50pm GMT
22:50
Turnbull: Australians must know their government determines who comes to Australia
Malcolm Turnbull:
Look around the world at the grief and the turmoil that you’ve seen through lax border protection.
We have now gone over 900 days without a successful people-smuggling venture coming toAustralia. That is a remarkable achievement and one on which we can never be complacent.
Australians know that the Coalition, the Liberal and the National pParty Coalition will keep their borders secure. That is the foundation of our … immigration policies. It is the foundation of our multicultural society. Australians must know that their government and their government alone determines who comes to Australia. That is their sovereign right. That is our sovereign right as a nation.
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at 11.32pm GMT