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| Andrew Wilkie says fourth Crown whistleblower 'is in fears of his life' – question time live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 4.32am BST | |
| 04:32 | |
| Paul Karp | |
| Dipping out of question time for a moment... | |
| ABC chief executive, Michelle Guthrie, has given a powerful opening speech in Senate estimates.Guthrie asks people who “seek to restrict the activities of the ABC”: What problem are wetrying to solve here? She points to the fact that 80% of Australians are happy with the job it is doing.Guthrie: | |
| “ABC independence is highly valued by the community, and I submit that you cannot have it by degrees. The ABC Board, which is appointed government, is ultimately responsible for the performance of the national broadcaster and must do so by carefully balancing its obligations and audience expectations. It should not be burdened with quotas, sectional claims, red tape and political vendettas in achieving what the community expects of it.” | |
| Guthrie rejects the view that the ABC is “just a market failure broadcaster, doing only whatthe commercial sector does not want to do or cannot”, noting the ABC charter does not limit its activities in that way. “That has never been our defining role, nor should it be in the future.””Our corporate accounts, which are publicly available on our website, provide a detailed breakdown of our remuneration for all employees earning over $200,000 – all without sacrificing individual privacy, as the current law demands.”In follow up questions - Guthrie says the ABC has advice that publishing individual names next to these salaries would breach the Privacy Act, which suggests the government would need legislation to force it to do so. | |
| 4.31am BST | |
| 04:31 | |
| Julie Bishop is sent out to answer a dixer on energy. | |
| Then we are back to opposition questions, with Tony Burke asking about George Brandis’s comments about Bruce Billson from estimates yesterday. | |
| “It is very appropriate for backbench members of parliament to receive remuneration from third party sources not inconsistent with their responsibility as members of parliament. It’s both consistent and commonplace.” Is the behaviour of Bruce Billson commonplace for this government? Just how many members of the government are we talking about? | |
| “Really,” the Labor back bench queries as Burke reads Brandis’s comments (you’ll find that transcript a bit back in the blog) | |
| Malcolm Turnbull takes this one as well, but it is not an answer. | |
| The members’ interest disclosure system,which all honourable members here are very familiar with, does provide for the disclosure of income over and above a member’s parliamentary salary and it’s open to the honourable member or anyone else with an interest in the matter to go through all those disclosures and determine how many backbenchers are in receipt of income from third party sources, as the honourable member described it.” | |
| TL:DR - You want to know how many are getting paid from third party sources, go through the register and find out. (Which doesn’t help with those who ‘forget’ to update their register though, does it) | |
| 4.27am BST | |
| 04:27 | |
| Andrew Wilkie has the independent question today. He uses it to make further allegations against Crown Casino and says a fourth whistleblower who has come forward “fears for his safety”. | |
| Prime minister, a fourth Crown Casino whistleblower has now come forward and levelled further serious allegations of poker machines being illegally tampered with. Significantly, he names the Crown staff he alleges told him to modify machines and asked me to give these names to the police, which I’m doing. However, this worker fears for his safety and doesn’t entirely trust the police or the regulators and, for that reason, he asks you personally, and the opposition leader, to support a transparent inquiry. So, prime minister, will you establish a parliamentary inquiry so that the Australian people can learn the truth about the casino industry and, Speaker, I seek leave to table these latest allegations? | |
| Smith doesn’t have a chance to ask if leave is granted before Christopher Pyne is on his feet: | |
| As to the last part of the question, Mr Speaker, the purpose of tabling documents is not to allow slanderous or defamatory material to be covered by parliamentary privilege and, as I haven’t seen the documents, I will not be granting leave on this occasion. | |
| That just leaves Malcolm Turnbull to answer, which he does, by saying the right authorities will investigate the allegations. | |
| The police, the gambling regulators in Victoria and Austrac are the appropriate people to investigate and examine these allegations. Those agencies have the necessary powers, extensive powers and, indeed, powers far greater than a parliamentary committee. Now, the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, I’m advised, is investigating the allegations and Austrac is also examining the specific nature of allegations of money laundering. If any members or senators are aware of allegations of unlawfulness, I strongly encourage them to report those directly to our law enforcement and regulatory agencies. Our law enforcement agencies do an outstanding job in keeping us safe and enforcing and upholding the rule of law upon which our democracy depends. | |
| Wilkie jumps up to say that the man in question “is in fear of his life and lost faith in the regulator”. | |
| Turnbull says the “idea that those investigations would be assisted by a simultaneous parliamentary inquiry almost beggars belief. I say to the honourable member that if he is really concerned with ensuring that these allegations are investigated, that due process is applied and justice is done, then he would confine his revelations and his communications, his information on this matter, to the police and the regulators. That is his duty as a member of this parliament, as someone committed to upholding the law.” | |
| Updated | |
| at 4.30am BST | |
| 4.21am BST | |
| 04:21 | |
| Back to Bill Shorten who repeats his question from earlier, with an additional detail: | |
| “I repeat: is the prime minister aware of any policies or decisions taken by him or his government that have diminished the operational capacity of the Australian federal police and specifically to investigate major drug importations including the importation of cocaine?” | |
| But a short question does not bring about a short answer from the prime minister. | |
| “The chutzpah of the leader of the opposition. He stands up here and asks us about national security. This is the leader of a party that outsourced our border’s sovereignty to people smugglers. This is the leader of a party that, despite all of the warnings and all of the knowledge, chose to abandon the integrity of our own borders, abandoned all of that, outsourced ...” | |
| The manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, interrupts with a point of order on relevance – it’s a direct question, he says, and deserves a direct answer. | |
| Tony Smith allows the prime minister to continue. | |
| “50,000 illegal arrivals and over 1,000 deaths at sea was not enough on border protection, that was Labor’s track record, that is your glorious record, that’s your record of failing Australians and security. What about the ADF? How many naval ships did the Labor party commission in six years? None. Nothing. Nothing at all. | |
| “... As far as the Australian federal police is concerned, I can say this to honourable members: every decision we’ve taken, every policy we have set out, every measure relating to the AFP is focused on ensuring they have the capacity to keep us safe and the skills and the technology to do so in these dangerous times.” | |
| Updated | |
| at 4.25am BST | |
| 4.16am BST | |
| 04:16 | |
| Dixer to Scott Morrison, who manages to combine the productivity commission report with energy policy. | |
| I’ll leave you with his big finish: | |
| The shadow treasurer is like Grandpa Simpson shouting at the clouds, shaking his fist at the clouds. There he is, angry and empty, Mr Speaker, is the shadow treasurer and the members of the Labor frontbench because their policy is to put prices up by $192, not to put prices down by $115. What a bunch of muppets. | |
| Updated | |
| at 4.19am BST | |
| 4.14am BST | |
| 04:14 | |
| Bill Shorten takes the next question as well, which is again on the AFP: | |
| “Is prime minister aware of any policies or decisions, taken by him or his government, that are diminishing the operational capacity of the Australian federal police? | |
| The prime minister takes this one: | |
| As the minister for justice very eloquently and comprehensively replied, the support that we have given to the Australian federal police is at an unprecedented level. $321m in the last budget. The largest single funding boost for the AFP’s domestic policing capabilities in a decade. Mr Speaker, what we have provided the AFP ... to fill new specialist positions so vital to keep Australians safe in the threat of terrorism, 100 intelligence experts, over 100 tactical response and covert surveillance operators and just under 100 new forensic specialists. | |
| I don’t know whether honourable members opposite have had the opportunity to visit the federal police headquarters there ... to see the extraordinary work that’s undertaken by the tactical response team, by the forensic specialists ... We are dealing with ... The police there are at the absolute cutting edge of science and technology. That’s what we need to keep Australians safe and we are providing them with the financial resources to enable them to do that. But in addition, Mr Speaker, what we’re also doing is providing them with the legislation, with the laws, that they need to keep us safe. Again one tranche of national security legislation after another has been passed through this parliament at the instigation of my government and, indeed, the government headed by the member for Warringah. We have done that. We have done everything to make Australians safe and give our agencies, our national security agencies, our intelligence services and, indeed, the ADF all of the tools they need to keep Australians safe in dangerous times. | |
| Updated | |
| at 4.20am BST | |
| 4.11am BST | |
| 04:11 | |
| First dixer is on energy. | |
| There is nothing new in Malcolm Turnbull’s answer. | |
| Mark that off your cards. | |
| We have had our first removal under 94a–who had Brian Mitchell? Might have had something to do with the member for Lyons bringing in two cans tied with a piece of string, Mike Bowers tells me. We’ll bring you that image very soon. | |
| 4.09am BST | |
| 04:09 | |
| The Guardian Essential poll was pretty damn close on this | |
| #breaking ABS estimates 74.5% of Australians (11.9m) have voted in #SSM postal survey #auspol pic.twitter.com/GR7QX5VXG6 | |
| 4.07am BST | |
| 04:07 | |
| Question time begins | |
| The MPs are taking their seats and Bill Shorten is taking a moment of indulgence to announce the changes to the shadow cabinet. | |
| This has the government side of the chamber VERY excited. Speaker Tony Smith calls for calm and we begin with a question on... | |
| The $184m cut to the AFP, with “117 officers cut this year”. | |
| “Is the commissioner correct when he says these cuts will ‘mostly apply to our discretionary funding. That is areas that fund a large portion of our anti-narcotics, our organised crime work, our general operation work, our fraud and anti-corruption’?” | |
| Malcolm Turnbull sends the question to Michael Keenan, who Turnbull says is “very knowledgable” as he takes his spot at the despatch box (or at least that is what it sounded like). | |
| Keenan has a lot of information, but doesn’t really answer the question, other than to say that “budgets work over a four-year-cycle”. | |
| “If we make an announcement about extra funding to the national anti-gang squad, that exists in the budget for four years and terminates at the end of those four years. The logic that the ALP that, the opposition, are bringing to this argument is if I were to stand up tomorrow and say, ‘We are adding an extra $100m worth of funding to the AFP’, the opposition will say, ‘We are cutting the funding to the AFP in four years’ time.’ The facts are very clear. We have made record investments in the capacity of the Australian federal police.” | |
| The very knowledgable Keenan says the Australian federal police have “never been better supported”. | |
| Updated | |
| at 4.13am BST | |
| 3.49am BST | 3.49am BST |
| 03:49 | 03:49 |
| But Sarah Henderson has managed her own uncomfortable situation by trying to argue the national energy guarantee will mean lower prices, which, as Kristina Keneally points out, can’t be guaranteed, given there is no modelling and nothing to really back it up. | But Sarah Henderson has managed her own uncomfortable situation by trying to argue the national energy guarantee will mean lower prices, which, as Kristina Keneally points out, can’t be guaranteed, given there is no modelling and nothing to really back it up. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.59am BST | at 3.59am BST |
| 3.47am BST | 3.47am BST |
| 03:47 | 03:47 |
| Tim Watts, debating Sarah Henderson, live on Sky, just told Henderson to “shut up”. It didn’t go over well, and judging by the look on Watts’ face as he continued, he knew it. | Tim Watts, debating Sarah Henderson, live on Sky, just told Henderson to “shut up”. It didn’t go over well, and judging by the look on Watts’ face as he continued, he knew it. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.49am BST | at 3.49am BST |
| 3.44am BST | 3.44am BST |
| 03:44 | 03:44 |
| While we wait on question time (and from what I can see, the estimates hearings are in a bit of a lull) here is portrait from Mike Bowers on the “man in the mirror” Wal Merriman. | While we wait on question time (and from what I can see, the estimates hearings are in a bit of a lull) here is portrait from Mike Bowers on the “man in the mirror” Wal Merriman. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 4.03am BST | |
| 3.39am BST | 3.39am BST |
| 03:39 | 03:39 |
| Coming up to question time, so let me know what is on your QT bingo card today. I’ve got NBN, energy, with some productivity commission-related issues and maybe a nice high court reminder. | Coming up to question time, so let me know what is on your QT bingo card today. I’ve got NBN, energy, with some productivity commission-related issues and maybe a nice high court reminder. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.47am BST | at 3.47am BST |
| 3.23am BST | 3.23am BST |
| 03:23 | 03:23 |
| Peter Garrett is using his NPC speech as a rallying call against Adani’s plans to open up the Carmichael mine in Queensland | Peter Garrett is using his NPC speech as a rallying call against Adani’s plans to open up the Carmichael mine in Queensland |
| Stopping Adani is emerging as the battle of our times, just as the Franklin dam and Jabiluka were to earlier people. The Stop Adani campaign is a defining moment that must be won if we are to have any hope of preserving a safe climate and the reef itself … The medical journal Lancet recently published research that claimed 9 million premature deaths already occurring over 2015-16 [were due] to pollution. Fifteen times the losses from war and violence. The burning of Adani’s low-grade Carmichael coal will only lead to more deaths, making a mockery of Josh Frydenberg’s so-called moral case for coal. Added to this, if Adani’s mine and rail link ever get off the line, the entire Galilee basin coal reserve could be opened up as well. The Galilee is the largest untapped coal basin in the world, containing 29bn tonnes of low-grade coal. That would be a nightmare scenario for the world’s coral reefs and oceans, which absorb 93% of global carbon pollution. A quarter of all marine life use coral reefs for their life cycle, so losing coral reefs would have a devastating knock-on effect. Such a gargantuan expansion of coalmining would completely undermined the world trying desperately to reduce greenhouse emissions with action is large and small. Yet the federal and Queensland governments still remain in thrall to Adani, and despite significant reservations concerning the corporation’s business practices, and both the economics and operations of the proposed mine and existing port, that situation remains. | Stopping Adani is emerging as the battle of our times, just as the Franklin dam and Jabiluka were to earlier people. The Stop Adani campaign is a defining moment that must be won if we are to have any hope of preserving a safe climate and the reef itself … The medical journal Lancet recently published research that claimed 9 million premature deaths already occurring over 2015-16 [were due] to pollution. Fifteen times the losses from war and violence. The burning of Adani’s low-grade Carmichael coal will only lead to more deaths, making a mockery of Josh Frydenberg’s so-called moral case for coal. Added to this, if Adani’s mine and rail link ever get off the line, the entire Galilee basin coal reserve could be opened up as well. The Galilee is the largest untapped coal basin in the world, containing 29bn tonnes of low-grade coal. That would be a nightmare scenario for the world’s coral reefs and oceans, which absorb 93% of global carbon pollution. A quarter of all marine life use coral reefs for their life cycle, so losing coral reefs would have a devastating knock-on effect. Such a gargantuan expansion of coalmining would completely undermined the world trying desperately to reduce greenhouse emissions with action is large and small. Yet the federal and Queensland governments still remain in thrall to Adani, and despite significant reservations concerning the corporation’s business practices, and both the economics and operations of the proposed mine and existing port, that situation remains. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.48am BST | at 3.48am BST |
| 3.14am BST | 3.14am BST |
| 03:14 | 03:14 |
| Paul Karp | Paul Karp |
| Malcolm Turnbull discussed the national energy guarantee in the Coalition party room, noting that even the government’s “usual critics” have said it is a “very elegant” solution to the need to achieve affordable, reliable energy that meets greenhouse gas reduction commitments. | Malcolm Turnbull discussed the national energy guarantee in the Coalition party room, noting that even the government’s “usual critics” have said it is a “very elegant” solution to the need to achieve affordable, reliable energy that meets greenhouse gas reduction commitments. |
| He predicted Labor would argue for a higher mix of renewable energy but would do so within the same framework, and households and manufacturers would be on the Coalition’s side. | He predicted Labor would argue for a higher mix of renewable energy but would do so within the same framework, and households and manufacturers would be on the Coalition’s side. |
| Barnaby Joyce claimed Labor was divided between those backing blue collar workers and those backing “basket-weavers”. | Barnaby Joyce claimed Labor was divided between those backing blue collar workers and those backing “basket-weavers”. |
| There was a bit of a kerfuffle about codeine, which is due to change classification so that people need a doctor’s script to buy it at the pharmacy. Guardian Australia understands that six or seven people raised codeine in the party room, citing the inconvenience and cost of needing a script to access it. | There was a bit of a kerfuffle about codeine, which is due to change classification so that people need a doctor’s script to buy it at the pharmacy. Guardian Australia understands that six or seven people raised codeine in the party room, citing the inconvenience and cost of needing a script to access it. |
| The health minister, Greg Hunt, said the reclassification had occurred on the basis of advice from the chief medical and pharmaceutical officers of the states and territories, and since it was a state and territory responsibility they had the power not to follow the recommendation and continue to allow codeine without a script. | The health minister, Greg Hunt, said the reclassification had occurred on the basis of advice from the chief medical and pharmaceutical officers of the states and territories, and since it was a state and territory responsibility they had the power not to follow the recommendation and continue to allow codeine without a script. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.17am BST | at 3.17am BST |
| 3.01am BST | 3.01am BST |
| 03:01 | 03:01 |
| High court to hand down its decision on Friday | High court to hand down its decision on Friday |
| Sound the klaxon: the high court decision on the citizenship issue will be handed down at 2.15pm Friday. | Sound the klaxon: the high court decision on the citizenship issue will be handed down at 2.15pm Friday. |
| Which means – no stranger in the house. | Which means – no stranger in the house. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.03am BST | at 3.03am BST |
| 2.58am BST | 2.58am BST |
| 02:58 | 02:58 |
| Paul Karp | Paul Karp |
| The Australia Post chief executive, Christine Corbett, has told Senate estimates that it refused to distribute one piece of unaddressed mail during the marriage law survey period because it was offensive. | The Australia Post chief executive, Christine Corbett, has told Senate estimates that it refused to distribute one piece of unaddressed mail during the marriage law survey period because it was offensive. |
| Guardian Australia has established the mail was not about same-sex marriage, though, it was a promotion which the Courier Mail has ably reported on: Burger Urge’s flyers for its Kim Jong Yum burger featuring “ballistic” pork belly and “oppressive” sweet potato crisps. | Guardian Australia has established the mail was not about same-sex marriage, though, it was a promotion which the Courier Mail has ably reported on: Burger Urge’s flyers for its Kim Jong Yum burger featuring “ballistic” pork belly and “oppressive” sweet potato crisps. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.00am BST | at 3.00am BST |