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Energy battle turns to the states, as the sell heats up – politics live Energy battle turns to the states, as the sell heats up – politics live
(35 minutes later)
1.21am BST
01:21
Wilkie has released a statement ahead of his press conference:
“Today very serious allegations have been levelled at the poker machine industry,” Mr Wilkie said.
“Although the allegations focus on Crown in Melbourne, they could also suggest a broader pattern of behaviour in the poker machine industry which would obviously have grave implications for people right around Australia, including in my electorate of Denison.”
“These allegations are obviously very serious. If Members and Senators, law enforcement and regulatory agencies, and the media, scrutinise the video record of the whistleblowers’ testimony, I’m sure they’ll agree that the claims warrant an immediate and strong response.”
“I call on the Federal and Victorian governments to ensure the allegations are investigated thoroughly. The truth will not be uncovered without a parliamentary inquiry, as well as investigations by law enforcement and regulatory agencies.”
1.18am BST
01:18
Crown Casino in the spotlight after explosive allegations
Andrew Wilkie has set off a small explosion in the House, tabling allegations from whistleblowers and using parliamentary privilege to allege “illegal machine tampering” at Victoria’s Crown Casino, and worse.
We’ll bring you more on that as soon as we can. But here is a little of what he said in parliament this morning”
Although the allegations focus on Crown in Melbourne, they also suggest a broader pattern of misbehaviour in the poker machine industry and that obviously has grave implications for people right around Australia, including in my electorate in Denison. For example the whistleblowers allege illegal machine tampering, including the disabling of the lower debt options and the modifying of buttons to allow prohibited autoplay. Both of which increase...losses. There’s software manipulating to increase gambler losses even further, in particular on weekends when the number of naive first time and casual users is obviously greater. I am horrified to recount that the Victorian commission for gaming and liquor regulation has allegedly done nothing to stop this shocking criminal misconduct. Indeed, according to the whistle blowers, in some cases the commission is clearly complicit in covering it up. Regrettably, the alleged misconduct at Crown is not limited to poker machines. Indeed, the whistleblowers also allege the casino avoids Austrack scrutiny of individuals involved in transactions over $10,000 by sometimes tolerating and even encouraging the misuse of identity documents. If these allegations are true, than Crown would be facilitating money laundering for any number of nefarious reasons for tax fraud, drug running and even terrorism.”
Wilkie is due to speak on this more in a press conference very soon.
Updated
at 1.18am BST
1.09am BST
01:09
My, my, my Malcolm Turnbull has been a busy man today.
He has just “gatecrashed” the Polished Man event Josh Frydenberg and Fisher MP Andrew Wallace have held.
Wallace could give Taylor Swift lessons in “surprise face”.
The Polished Man campaign aims to raise awareness about ending violence against children. Men are encouraged to paint a fingernail to help start the conversation and show their support.
We all have all of us, have a vested interest and a duty to look after all of our children and ensure there is no violence against children, no violence against women, and I think the Polished Man initiative is [great].
For those wondering, Turnbull went with a liberal blue for his nail.
Updated
at 1.24am BST
12.58am BST
00:58
Back to the NBN, which is emerging as one of the bigger sleeper issues, which is only going to get bigger as more and more people are connected, the communications minister, Mitch Fifield, has responded to the latest complaint figures:
“The TIO report shows that overall complaints about the NBN represent just 1% of the 2.4 million users connected to the NBN. (27,000 complaints out of 2.4 million connected NBN users at June 30, 2017)
The rise in complaints remains broadly in line with the rate of the NBN rollout. (121% increase in premises connected to the NBN, compared to a 159% increase in complaints).
The #1 source of industry complaints overall was customer services issues, which has nothing to do with the rollout of the NBN.
The #2 source of industry complaints was billing and payment issues, which has nothing to do with the rollout of the NBN. The #1 NBN-related complaint was in relation to connection delays, which demonstrates Australians want to connect to the NBN as quickly as possible.
The government is working closely with NBN Co and retailers to ensure the processes for switching to the network are meeting consumers’ needs.
Updated
at 1.05am BST
12.37am BST12.37am BST
00:3700:37
Australia’s Invictus Games team has been honoured at a reception at parliament house, which allowed for a bit of human interaction between Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten. Australia’s Invictus Games team has been honoured at a reception at Parliament House, which allowed for a bit of human interaction between Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten.
Updated
at 12.51am BST
12.07am BST12.07am BST
00:0700:07
Meanwhile, Chris Bowen said Labor would be “the adults in the room” (although the room at this stage is looking like an adult daycare) when it came to energy policy.Meanwhile, Chris Bowen said Labor would be “the adults in the room” (although the room at this stage is looking like an adult daycare) when it came to energy policy.
Well what’s very clear is that the government is scrambling. We have policy on the run, we have an energy policy being put together with strings and Band-Aids. What is very clear and has been publicly confirmed by the Energy Security Board is that this policy that is being put together by the government has no modelling, we have no guarantees as has been made clear, and that this is being cobbled together in a desperate attempt to stop the Liberal party room going into meltdown and so that we can have an attempt, the latest attempt, at energy policy in Australia.Well what’s very clear is that the government is scrambling. We have policy on the run, we have an energy policy being put together with strings and Band-Aids. What is very clear and has been publicly confirmed by the Energy Security Board is that this policy that is being put together by the government has no modelling, we have no guarantees as has been made clear, and that this is being cobbled together in a desperate attempt to stop the Liberal party room going into meltdown and so that we can have an attempt, the latest attempt, at energy policy in Australia.
Now this is a government which has believed in an emissions intensity scheme and then didn’t, within days. It is a government which told us the clean energy target would “undoubtedly work” and that it would put downward pressure on prices and reduce energy prices, and yesterday scrapped it. Now, all of a sudden, everybody is meant to automatically and suddenly agree that the government has got it right this time, on their 72nd approach – their 72nd attempt at energy policy in Australia.Now this is a government which has believed in an emissions intensity scheme and then didn’t, within days. It is a government which told us the clean energy target would “undoubtedly work” and that it would put downward pressure on prices and reduce energy prices, and yesterday scrapped it. Now, all of a sudden, everybody is meant to automatically and suddenly agree that the government has got it right this time, on their 72nd approach – their 72nd attempt at energy policy in Australia.
We have no modelling. The energy board has confirmed that all they have is analysis of similar policies and that now they will proceed to do modelling, after the announcement.We have no modelling. The energy board has confirmed that all they have is analysis of similar policies and that now they will proceed to do modelling, after the announcement.
UpdatedUpdated
at 12.26am BSTat 12.26am BST
12.00am BST12.00am BST
00:0000:00
Bill Shorten and Mark Butler have plans for a press conference at a solar farm today, so you can see where Labor is taking this debate.Bill Shorten and Mark Butler have plans for a press conference at a solar farm today, so you can see where Labor is taking this debate.
Meanwhile, the prime minister is maintaining his (slightly annoyed) line anyone would question the national energy guarantee. From his doorstop press conference this morning:Meanwhile, the prime minister is maintaining his (slightly annoyed) line anyone would question the national energy guarantee. From his doorstop press conference this morning:
Turnbull: Look the Coag set up the Energy Security Board. You know, this is its creation. There were more Labor governments involved with appointing these experts that there were Liberal ones, or Liberal-National ones. Coag has asked them for their advice on this very issue and they will obviously get the same advice. And so my message to the Labor premiers is: put the politics aside for a moment, put it aside for quite a while in fact, let’s focus on Australian families, let’s focus on delivering a genuinely bipartisan energy policy. It will be enduing, it’s based on engineering and economics and that will deliver affordable power, reliable power and meet our international commitments.Turnbull: Look the Coag set up the Energy Security Board. You know, this is its creation. There were more Labor governments involved with appointing these experts that there were Liberal ones, or Liberal-National ones. Coag has asked them for their advice on this very issue and they will obviously get the same advice. And so my message to the Labor premiers is: put the politics aside for a moment, put it aside for quite a while in fact, let’s focus on Australian families, let’s focus on delivering a genuinely bipartisan energy policy. It will be enduing, it’s based on engineering and economics and that will deliver affordable power, reliable power and meet our international commitments.
Journalist: Prime minister, the ESB has talked about the modelling and the prices. Will you release it?Journalist: Prime minister, the ESB has talked about the modelling and the prices. Will you release it?
Turnbull: Of course, well, the ESB – I can answer that very simply. We’ve asked them to do more modelling on this and when it’s done it will be released and it will be part of the Coag considerations, for sure.Turnbull: Of course, well, the ESB – I can answer that very simply. We’ve asked them to do more modelling on this and when it’s done it will be released and it will be part of the Coag considerations, for sure.
Journalist: Will the commonwealth go it alone if the states don’t agree?Journalist: Will the commonwealth go it alone if the states don’t agree?
Turnbull: Look, I’m not going to speculate on that type of scenario. I am confident that common sense will prevail. I mean, Australians are fed up with all of the political partisanship. That’s why we went to Energy Security Board and we asked them to consider how we ensure we achieve this affordable, reliable and responsible outcome. I mean it’s a triple bottom line. You want to have a market that is as flexible and competitive as possible but you’ve got to ensure that it’s the lowest possible cost, that energy is reliable.Turnbull: Look, I’m not going to speculate on that type of scenario. I am confident that common sense will prevail. I mean, Australians are fed up with all of the political partisanship. That’s why we went to Energy Security Board and we asked them to consider how we ensure we achieve this affordable, reliable and responsible outcome. I mean it’s a triple bottom line. You want to have a market that is as flexible and competitive as possible but you’ve got to ensure that it’s the lowest possible cost, that energy is reliable.
UpdatedUpdated
at 12.29am BSTat 12.29am BST
11.50pm BST11.50pm BST
23:5023:50
Labor’s regional communications spokesman, Stephen Jones, has also had a swipe at the NBN rollout, in the wake of the latest telecommunications ombudsman complaint report.Labor’s regional communications spokesman, Stephen Jones, has also had a swipe at the NBN rollout, in the wake of the latest telecommunications ombudsman complaint report.
Well it’s not OK. The people of Australia, the small businesses of Australia, are fed up with the government. The brags about its NBN project seems deaf to the complaints about what’s really going on. Missed appointments, connections that don’t work, services that don’t work. People are paying for a service that they simply aren’t getting and, when they try and raise a complaint, then they get the NBN ping-pong. They get bounced between the phone companies and the NBN – nobody taking responsibility.Well it’s not OK. The people of Australia, the small businesses of Australia, are fed up with the government. The brags about its NBN project seems deaf to the complaints about what’s really going on. Missed appointments, connections that don’t work, services that don’t work. People are paying for a service that they simply aren’t getting and, when they try and raise a complaint, then they get the NBN ping-pong. They get bounced between the phone companies and the NBN – nobody taking responsibility.
UpdatedUpdated
at 12.00am BSTat 12.00am BST
11.47pm BST11.47pm BST
23:4723:47
Paul Karp has a bit more on the Newspoll results on the marriage equality postal survey and what it all means:Paul Karp has a bit more on the Newspoll results on the marriage equality postal survey and what it all means:
On Tuesday the Labor caucus resolved to push for Liberal senator Dean Smith’s private member’s bill to be used to legislate marriage equality as soon as possible if the yes vote wins.On Tuesday the Labor caucus resolved to push for Liberal senator Dean Smith’s private member’s bill to be used to legislate marriage equality as soon as possible if the yes vote wins.
The move clears the way for Labor to push a bill through the Senate as early as the week of 15 November, when the Australian Bureau of Statistics announces the result, although the opposition claims it is not pre-empting the result.The move clears the way for Labor to push a bill through the Senate as early as the week of 15 November, when the Australian Bureau of Statistics announces the result, although the opposition claims it is not pre-empting the result.
John Howard has seized on Labor’s decision, telling the Australian it is an “added reason” to vote no because further exemptions to discrimination law to protect what he called religious freedom are unlikely.John Howard has seized on Labor’s decision, telling the Australian it is an “added reason” to vote no because further exemptions to discrimination law to protect what he called religious freedom are unlikely.
Turnbull this morning — would be pleased with Yes vote but "above all" sees turnout as vindication of postal survey policy pic.twitter.com/tJl498hdUjTurnbull this morning — would be pleased with Yes vote but "above all" sees turnout as vindication of postal survey policy pic.twitter.com/tJl498hdUj
11.41pm BST11.41pm BST
23:4123:41
Just on Senate business, for those playing along at home, you may notice Peter Dutton’s citizenship reforms are well down the list. That’s a pretty big indication the Senate won’t be getting to them today, before the scheduled close of business just after 7pm. Which usually wouldn’t be a problem, except the pesky Greens, along with Labor, have passed a motion that gave the bill a deadline of close of business today, to be debated or struck from the paper. With the Nick Xenophon Team holding firm against the changes, telling the government to go back to the drawing board, it doesn’t look like Dutton’s changes will become reality anytime soon.Just on Senate business, for those playing along at home, you may notice Peter Dutton’s citizenship reforms are well down the list. That’s a pretty big indication the Senate won’t be getting to them today, before the scheduled close of business just after 7pm. Which usually wouldn’t be a problem, except the pesky Greens, along with Labor, have passed a motion that gave the bill a deadline of close of business today, to be debated or struck from the paper. With the Nick Xenophon Team holding firm against the changes, telling the government to go back to the drawing board, it doesn’t look like Dutton’s changes will become reality anytime soon.
UpdatedUpdated
at 11.50pm BSTat 11.50pm BST
11.31pm BST11.31pm BST
23:3123:31
The bells are ringing, signalling parliament is about to officially begin for the day.The bells are ringing, signalling parliament is about to officially begin for the day.
The House schedule can be found here.The House schedule can be found here.
While the Senate one can be found here.While the Senate one can be found here.
UpdatedUpdated
at 11.37pm BSTat 11.37pm BST
11.28pm BST
23:28
Looking outside of energy for a moment, the Senate has the government’s welfare reforms listed for debate today – they would be the ones that introduce the drug-testing trials.
It is safe to say that the current UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Prof Philip Alston, is not a fan of the policy.
The Australian government is conflating social protection and drug enforcement policies in a way that is counter-productive, unless the main goal is to stigmatise social security recipients. If the real goal is to reduce the use of illegal drugs, why start with the poorest members of society? Will there also be a policy designed to drug test and crack down on the well-to-do who spend far more on drugs, and receive all sorts of tax deductions, social security payments and other government benefits? Or is it only the poorest whose drug use the government feels it should punish through social security-based measures?
Paul Karp will have a full report on that for you, soon.
Updated
at 11.38pm BST
11.12pm BST
23:12
As predicted, Labor has honed in on the “affordability” aspect of the national energy guarantee.
Tanya Plibersek told Sky Labor would take a look at the policy but added:
What kind of government proposes something as big and serious as this without doing any modelling and without doing a regulatory impact statement? I think it is a shambles and it is driven by their internal problems. I think they wanted to announce this much later this year but Tony Abbott has put pressure on them with his outbursts in public and so they’ve gone too soon without any modelling or regulatory impact statement.
Same Dastyari meanwhile took the opportunity to launch his latest Senate doors (where the media waits to question arriving politicians) stunt, showing up with some melted soft serve and cheeseburgers.
“These are soft-serve savings,” he said. “You think it is a good idea at the start. It goes flaccid quickly and afterwards you wonder what all the fuss is about.”
Updated
at 11.15pm BST
10.56pm BST
22:56
Has anyone looked up defensive in the dictionary lately?
Here is a snippet of the AM interview between Sabra Lane and Malcolm Turnbull this morning.
Lane: You are guaranteeing that they are the best informed but you are still not guaranteeing those figures.
Turnbull: Sabra, what I am guaranteeing is that we are taking advice from the best people in the field and that is unquestionably the Energy Security Board. Coag, the Labor premiers ...
Lane: We will get to a board in just a tick.
Turnbull: No, no,
Lane: I’m sorry ... prime minister ...
Turnbull: What are you apologising for?
Lane: I am sorry to interrupt you. The Coalition has made affordability an issue.
Turnbull: Yes.
Lane: There is no modelling to back the figures up.
Turnbull: They come from the Energy Security Board.
Lane: The board is made up of the regulator and the commission bodies that oversaw the last 10 years of disastrous policy in this country.
Turnbull: There is nobody better qualified to talk about the way the market operates and how we can best ensure reliability. The energy market operator is headed by Audrey Zibelman, who did a similar job in New York before she came out to Australia. She is, as she said yesterday, regularly intervening in the South Australian market to keep the lights on because of the failure of politics in South Australia and the introduction of a massive amount of wind energy in that state without the back-up or the security to ensure system reliability. So, Sabra, you can, if you wish, disrespect these distinguished and expert Australians. I don’t. I’m taking their advice and I just want to remind you that that Energy Security Board was established by Coag. There were more Labor party governments supporting the establishment of the Energy Security Board and they will give the same advice to the Coag governments as they have given to us. All I’m saying, my only request, is that their advice is considered very carefully and respectfully and, I mean, I was surprised to hear your attack on those distinguished Australians. I think you should – I think we owe them the respect that their credibility and expertise deserves. You know what we really owe is a duty to your listeners to get their power bills down and that’s why we’re taking the right advice. We are going to establish a level playing field so that technologies can compete because we owe it to Australians to take the politics and the name calling and the disrespect out of this debate, focus on the engineering and the economics. That’s what the Energy Security Board has done and that is the duty I owe to your listeners and all Australians.
Updated
at 11.20pm BST
10.35pm BST
22:35
Side note – so far, well, at least as far as I can tell, government ministers have avoided calling it the Neg. It’s “the policy” or “what we are doing”. Take from that what you will.
Updated
at 11.21pm BST
10.34pm BST
22:34
The treasurer, Scott Morrison, has also been sent out on the front lines and he’s been just as defensive as you would expect. Asked about the saving figures, which work out, best-case scenario, to about $2 a week (sometime between 2020-2030) he told the ABC the Neg needed to be considered with all the other changes the government has made.
“This is not the only thing the government is doing. This increases certainty. In addition to that, we’ve got the initiatives on gas, to secure gas for Australian domestic demand, the work we’ve done with the retailers, the work we’ve done on reforming the regulation. All of this means people are getting discounts now that they wouldn’t have got a year ago, two years ago because of the work the government is doing. On top of that, always a relative choice. People will always pick what the Labor party is saying which has a 45% emissions reduction target and which would require $66bn worth of subsidies that you don’t need to pay to meet our environmental obligations that we’ve set out at 26% ... There is a great light that has been shone on this. Australians have a clear choice: they can pay more for electricity under Bill Shorten or they can have lower prices under Malcolm Turnbull and the investment certainty that goes with it, that meets the environmental obligations. It’s a clear choice.
Updated
at 10.53pm BST
10.28pm BST
22:28
To a sleeper issue now, but one which is annoying a lot *buffering* of, of, of *buffering* people.
The telecommunications industry ombudsman has released the latest complaint figures for 2016-17, which Labor’s communications spokeswoman, Michelle Rowland, described as a “damming indictment” of the government’s roll out of the NBN.
“The TIO reports that NBN complaints in 2016-17 surged by 159% when compared to the previous period,” she said in a statement. “Of significant concern, NBN complaints are growing 37% faster than the number of new NBN services being activated – a pattern not observed in any of the previous years.
“And, for the first time, internet services are the highest source of complaints to the TIO.”
Malcolm Turnbull is one of the staunchest defenders of the program, having overseen it while communications minister. He has repeatedly said that, given the scale of the roll out (it reached 6 million premises in August), there are going to be some bumps but he is watching it.
Here is what he told Today:
Just a fact of life, it is a bit like television. If you’ve got hardly any viewers, you won’t get a lot of complaints. With NBN, what we have now got, it is true. What we have now got is about 3 million people are actively connected on to the network. We are connecting more people every 10 days than Labor did in six years. So you get a lot more customers, they are rolling on and around 30,000, 40,000 a week. Clearly you are going to get more complaints but you know what? We aim to have 100% satisfaction. Can’t be achieved, I know that, but the goal is to ensure that the installation experience is a good one and obviously that people are satisfied with the service when they get it.
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10.21pm BST
22:21
The prime minister is also facing residual questions over Tony Abbott’s reluctance to accept the policy.
Here was his response to that on Sunrise:
We didn’t adopt the clean energy target. If we wanted to, we would have. We had reservations about it and what we have now is a recommendation from the energy security board which consists of the leaders of our energy market regulators and operators, the smartest people in the room, these other experts that everyone is telling us to listen to, this is where you find the engineering and the economics that is the guide to my government’s energy policy. The day of slogans, ideology and politics, we should put it behind us ... Industry has recognised on a truly rational and objective approach, a level playing field backed by engineering and economics.
Updated
at 10.42pm BST
10.18pm BST
22:18
Malcolm Turnbull is talking to Sabra Lane on ABC and is getting very defensive over the average saving figure and whether the government can guarantee it. The short version is, it can’t. But he has turned any questioning of that figure into an attack on the experts on the energy security board. That started yesterday, when Turnbull attacked Bill Shorten for “disrespecting” those on the board, when the figure was queried.
All we have here is a calculation from the ESB. It has promised to do more modelling before Coag but, at the moment, the government can only point to a few lines. It says that should be enough. But given the amount of attention the government has focused on the affordability aspect during the power wars, it is not something that is going to go away anytime soon.
Updated
at 10.41pm BST
10.10pm BST
22:10
Paul Karp
The energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, has attacked the states for expressing criticism of the national energy guarantee.
“It’s bizarre for them to be openly critical when they don’t have the detail,” he told Radio National.
Frydenberg cited endorsements of the Neg from the Grattan Institute, AGL, Energy Australia, the Australian Industry Group and BlueScope.
Asked if the Neg essentially sets an emissions intensity baseline that in effect mandates renewable energy, Frydenberg said renewables “will be absolutely critical” and electricity generators will need “a mix of assets”, including thermal generation and renewables.
“The question is: what is the lowest cost to the consumer? With technology costs coming down quite dramatically the ability to back-end [emissions reduction] is there. [The Paris agreement target] is very important to meet.”
Frydenberg noted that electricity suppliers can use “the existing contract market to source the right amount of generation” to meet the twin objectives of emissions reduction and reliability.
Updated
at 10.40pm BST
10.09pm BST
22:09
Good morning and welcome to the hard energy sell
The Neg is alive and the government has embarked on a sell that could teach Hollywood studio bosses a thing or two.
The energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, was up before the sun hitting the airwaves with his brief of “affordability, reliability and responsibility”, the message having been slightly tweaked overnight to acknowledge the environment.
Malcolm Turnbull has also been beaming across commercial TV screens on the big sell but, having convinced the party room (with a few notable exceptions, Tony Abbott included), it is on to the states.
The government wants Coag to agree to this but the Labor-led states may be a problem. Speaking to Sunrise, Turnbull said this is what the states wanted, so they should get with the program.
What I am saying to everyone and to the premiers who sit around the table at our meetings; you appointed the energy security board. You appointed them as they are smart and you wanted that advice. They have given us the advice, why don’t we listen to it and follow it? Why don’t we listen to the experts we asked for advice knowing that this will mean energy is more affordable, more reliable and we will still be able to meet emission reduction commitments under the Paris treaty?
Meanwhile, Frydenberg told Sky that he reached out to Abbott, who he called a “conscientious objector” on this issue, before the party room to explain the policy to him:
I did ring him before party room and was upfront about [what the policy can do] and asked him to keep an open mind.
Labor also looks like having had a Bex and a lie down after being hit with the Coalition policy yesterday and is crafting its response. Expect it to look at the saving aspects – the $110-$115 figure is only an average, which won’t start until 2020, and there is no guarantee to those figures. Just advice the government has been given by the energy security board but, so far, the government can’t show the modelling that points to it. Or guarantee when those savings will kick in.
Turnbull is being very cagey on that point and this morning has taken any questioning or scepticism over the figures as “disrespecting” the experts. So that’s going well.
In other news, the latest Newspoll shows the yes vote has a commanding lead among people who have already voted in the marriage law postal survey, leading 59% to 38%.
So strap in and get ready for round #3478 in the energy battles. Mike Bowers is prowling the hallways, so follow him at @mpbowers or me at @amyremeikis and have a chat in the comments. I’ll look through them as the day goes on.
Let’s get started!
Updated
at 10.39pm BST