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Labor targets Barnaby Joyce over citizenship – politics live
Labor targets Barnaby Joyce over citizenship – politics live
(35 minutes later)
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The PM said in question time that the high court would clear Barnaby Joyce. His statement was unequivocal.
George Brandis was asked if he agreed.
That is my judgement.
What about Matt Canavan?
That is also my expectation.
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Attorney general George Brandis talked to David Speers on Sky.
He said the government was confident in its advice on both Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan. He was asked, why did Canavan stand down from cabinet and Joyce did not?
Brandis essentially said at the time of the Canavan announcement, it was a rapidly evolving situation and that was the course of action decided on by Canavan.
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Brandis says there has to be "conscious adherence" to the foreign state... why did Canavan step down, Waters & Ludlam resign then? #auspol
Brandis also says he doesn’t want to say what the government’s position will be.
Brandis "doesn't want to constrain" what SG argues in High Court. PM just said what the court would find!!! Talk about constraint! #auspol
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Question time is over. During QT, Barnaby Joyce accused a number of Labor MPs of having trusts, the implication being they were hypocritical given Labor’s crackdown on trusts.
The deputy Labor leader, Tanya Plibersek, corrected the record, saying she did not have a trust nor was she a beneficiary.
The WA MP Matt Keogh said he did not have a trust either.
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Suspension of standing orders lost 68-73.
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The chamber is voting on the suspension now. Senate question time has finished.
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Christopher Pyne names Labor MPs with potential citizenship issues
Christopher Pyne starts naming Labor MPs with “much worse cases”.
He names:
Braddon MP Justin Keay
Longman MP Susan Lamb
Makin MP Tony Zappia
Calwell MP Maria Vamvakinou
If the government decided to refer those members to the high court to seek clarity about their status, would we insist they not be allowed to vote in the House of Representatives until justice had been able to take its course? Of course we wouldn’t. Of course we wouldn’t. We’d expect their status to be resolved by the high court and, once resolved, they would be able to continue to do exactly what they’d done before unless, they were found to be disqualified. And there are many more, Mr Speaker. There are many more. If Labor wants to open this Pandora’s box, that is a matter for them.
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Christopher Pyne: We are behaving ethically in every respect
Christopher Pyne, leader of government business, answers the suspension motion. He goes through a history of Labor minority government – including the move to install the former Liberal MP Peter Slipper into the Speaker’s chair.
So for the Labor party to lecture us when we are behaving ethically in every respect on every part of this journey, we have done the right thing ... The Labor party thinks they can come in here, lecture the government about the right course of action to ensure that ... people have absolute confidence in how the constitution works. Because this government is the adult in the room.
Pyne says on Burke’s logic, the government could use its numbers to refer a Labor MP to the high court and that person would have to stand aside, losing the vote.
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Barnaby’s shadow, Joel Fitzgibbon, speaks second.
Not without cause I have often said the deputy prime minister is all hat and no cowboy. Now we question whether he is fit to wear the hat.
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Labor’s Tony Burke continues:
There are Australians all around the country, in the automotive industry, in shopping complexes, saying if only he fought [for] their jobs as tough as he is fighting for his own. If only he would care and put as much commitment into fighting for Australians as he does for his own job.
We have a situation where we have a prime minister who said with respect to the Green party, “those two senators knew exactly what the rules are”.
Apparently the deputy prime minister of Australia hadn’t heard of this constitution document. Then he said, “Why they wouldn’t have turned their minds to it and dealt with it is beyond me.”
Burke says it is the first time the lower house has referred an MP because it did not know whether the MP was eligible.
This is not business as usual.
He says we don’t know if Joyce is eligible.
He says we don’t know if the government has a majority.
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Tony Burke says Labor is confident that its MPs have been well checked, in a party process that goes back to grandparents.
He says it was extraordinary that Malcolm Turnbull used his prime minister’s office to say the high court would not find Barnaby Joyce was ineligible.
According to what the deputy prime minister has said today, every single fact is based on something he has known for his life. All these decisions are based on facts the deputy prime minister has known all his life. And yet, the protection racket continues.
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This is the Labor motion by Tony Burke:
Notes:
a) Today, this House unanimously asked the High Court to determine whether the Deputy Prime Minister is constitutionally qualified to be a Member of Parliament;
b) The New Zealand Government has since confirmed that the Deputy Prime Minister is a New Zealand citizen despite the Prime Minister’s assurances on this matter;
c) The Government has relied on the vote of the Deputy Prime Minister to block a Royal Commission into the banks and to block amendments to legislation which would have stopped nearly 700,000 Australians from having their penalty rates cut; and
d) The former Minister for Resources and Northern Australia resigned from Cabinet because there were doubts over his constitutional qualifications; and
2. Therefore, calls on the Prime Minister to:
a) Release any legal advice it has received about the constitutional qualifications of the Deputy Prime Minister;
b) Rule out accepting the vote of the Deputy Prime Minister while his constitutional qualifications are in doubt; and
c) Direct the Deputy Prime Minister to immediately resign from Cabinet.
