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Federal police reported to be raiding AWU offices – politics live AFP responds to leaked internal memo on resourcing – politics live
(35 minutes later)
8.04am BST
08:04
“None of these allegations, even if they are true, warrant this conduct,” O’Connor says and ends the press conference.
8.04am BST
08:04
O’Connor says “this grubby prime minister is willing to use the police like his play thing” and calls the raids, by a civil regulator, over a matter from 10 years ago “remarkable”.
8.03am BST
08:03
O’Connor:
“This is a civil regulator and yet we have crime fighters raiding offices because of the role of civil regulator...the priority of this government is about deploying police for civil matters...against their political opponents.”
He says the government treats the federal police as its ‘play thing’.
8.01am BST
08:01
O’Connor:
“I saw the raids happening on television, the first I saw of it, was when it was public...I did not know of these raids until they were happening and i dare say the federal leader did not know.
“Of course the media knew, because all the cameras were waiting outside two premises....and indeed the government knew.
8.00am BST
08:00
O’Connor: “He beggars belief that this is not a political raid, it beggars belief,” he says of the commissions first public act.
He says the prime minister needs to explain what he knew of the raids, what his role was and what Michaelia Cash’s role was.
“It is clear now that there is never an end to the political abuse of Commonwealth agencies by this government.”
7.58am BST
07:58
He says the raids validate Labor’s decision not to support the Registered Organisations Commission, because it believed it would be used against the government’s opponents.
He said Labor did not support the ROC “because it will be used for political purposes, base political purposes.”
He accused the government of using “tax payer dollars to its attack its political opponents” and hits out at this “loser prime minister”.
7.55am BST
07:55
Labor responds to AWU raids
Brendan O’Connor has gone live in a press conference slamming the raids on the AWU offices.
He is not mincing his words:
“Malcolm Turnbull, when he is under pressure, calls the police ... Malcolm Turnbull clearly has misused the police.”
He says it is a “civil matter at best” and calls it “an abuse of ministerial power, an abuse of police resources”.
Updated
at 8.00am BST
7.46am BST
07:46
The AWU’s Victorian secretary, Ben Davis, has spoken to media outside the union’s Melbourne office.
“This is a shameful abuse of process” - Ben Davis - @AWUnion - Melbourne. @AusFedPolice conducting raids on Sydney and Melb AWU offices. pic.twitter.com/O59U6IYhhv
Updated
at 7.49am BST
7.41am BST
07:41
While we’re talking about the AFP and its protection of the prime minister’s Point Piper home, I’ve been reminded of this joke Malcolm Turnbull made on the Today show on 18 October.
I’ve got a big power bill but not least because I’ve got a small police station in my garden, as you know.
Updated
at 7.50am BST
7.39am BST
07:39
The AFP have just posted a statement in response to the ABC story on the leaked internal memo which dominated question time (and some of the ABC estimates hearing).
Tuesday, 24 October 2017, Publish time: 5:31pm
The AFP is disappointed an internal working document, which sought to provide confidential operational advice and revealed operational sensitivities, has been made public as this undermines the AFP’s ability to ensure its resources are used efficiently, effectively and appropriately. This is now subject to a Professional Standards investigation.
Over the past 12 months, the AFP and its partners have made record drug seizures, dismantled significant and multi-national organised crime syndicates, and disrupted a number of plots with people allegedly planning to carry out terrorist attacks in Australia.
The AFP makes decisions daily on operational priorities, resourcing and determining which matters pose the greatest risk to the safety and security to the Australian community, and directing its resources where they are most needed. The AFP has systems in place to manage its resources as flexibly as possible against the highest priorities.
The AFP has a broad range of Protection obligations in Sydney (including the AFP’s own people and premises). Protecting Prime Ministers and Australian high office holders has always been part of the AFP’s operational remit. The provisions in place for Prime Minister Turnbull are entirely consistent with both the current enhanced security environment and protection measures in place for previous Prime Ministers.
The challenges for law enforcement have evolved significantly over the past decade. This calls for the use of innovative operational practices and techniques, including offshore disruption when the AFP feels that this is the most appropriate way to manage a criminal investigation. Technological advances and increasingly complex criminal methodologies require the use of more specialist capabilities.
In this year’s Budget, the Government invested an additional $321.4 million to bolster the AFP’s capability, and ensure the agency is best-placed to combat its future challenges.
*end statement*
Updated
at 7.43am BST
7.38am BST
07:38
And some more:
Statement from @SenatorAbetz on AFP raids #auspol pic.twitter.com/hsTL635SVL
7.31am BST
07:31
Labor’s employment spokesman, Brendan O’Connor, has released a statement of his own on the AWU offices’ raids.
On the same day Parliament was told that Turnbull’s cuts to the AFP have meant serious crimes like drug smuggling could not be properly investigated, we see these extraordinary raids. Turnbull and his Government openly directed the Commission to start this witch hunt.
He is entirely responsible for this turn of events – it’s an alarming misuse of ministerial power.
The Liberals have already wasted millions of taxpayers’ dollars on their witch hunt into unions.
They will stop at nothing to attack workers and their representatives.
This is the NBN raids during the election campaign all over again.
Australians will see this for the desperate tactic that it is.
*end statement*
Updated
at 7.34am BST
7.29am BST7.29am BST
07:2907:29
Statement from AWU National Secretary re AFP raids pic.twitter.com/v59uPUiljSStatement from AWU National Secretary re AFP raids pic.twitter.com/v59uPUiljS
7.23am BST7.23am BST
07:2307:23
Sky News has been showing images of the AFP raid on the AWU offices. Looks like it is going to go on for a while.Sky News has been showing images of the AFP raid on the AWU offices. Looks like it is going to go on for a while.
We believe Bill Shorten’s lawyer just walked into the AWU offices currently being raided by AFPWe believe Bill Shorten’s lawyer just walked into the AWU offices currently being raided by AFP
(Just an update on this–Sky are not the only media outlet there, but they are showing live pictures. The raid has been going on for a while and as far as I can see the ABC broke it. Then media outlets headed to the AWU Sydney and Melbourne offices)
Updated
at 7.35am BST
7.18am BST7.18am BST
07:1807:18
Over in the legal affairs estimates hearing and George Brandis and Penny Wong have been discussing the appointments of former Coalition MPs to things like the administrative appeals tribunal.Over in the legal affairs estimates hearing and George Brandis and Penny Wong have been discussing the appointments of former Coalition MPs to things like the administrative appeals tribunal.
It has been jokingly referred to by some wags as the “no Liberal left behind” policy.It has been jokingly referred to by some wags as the “no Liberal left behind” policy.
Wong pointed out that six of the 23 full-time members of the AAT have strong links back to the Liberal party, or 26%.Wong pointed out that six of the 23 full-time members of the AAT have strong links back to the Liberal party, or 26%.
Brandis says that he does not “consider service in parliament as a disqualification”.Brandis says that he does not “consider service in parliament as a disqualification”.
A rough transcript of some of the afternoon’s hearing follows:A rough transcript of some of the afternoon’s hearing follows:
Wong: It is the case that the 76 appointments you made on the eve of the election last year, none were made through committee process?Wong: It is the case that the 76 appointments you made on the eve of the election last year, none were made through committee process?
Brandis: Most of those appointments were reappointments.Brandis: Most of those appointments were reappointments.
[Secretary of AG department] Chris Moraitis: I cannot recall any committee process being used in those appointments, or recently.[Secretary of AG department] Chris Moraitis: I cannot recall any committee process being used in those appointments, or recently.
Wong: How many of all the appointments you made were advertised, or recommended by selection committee?Wong: How many of all the appointments you made were advertised, or recommended by selection committee?
Brandis: [Takes on notice]Brandis: [Takes on notice]
Wong: Do you recall a selection committee being established at all by this government in any appointments?Wong: Do you recall a selection committee being established at all by this government in any appointments?
Moraitis: No.Moraitis: No.
Wong: How many of the appointments that the government has made to the AAT since protocol put in place have been recommended for appointment without any process whatsoever?Wong: How many of the appointments that the government has made to the AAT since protocol put in place have been recommended for appointment without any process whatsoever?
Brandis: There’s always been a process …Brandis: There’s always been a process …
Wong: What is it?Wong: What is it?
Brandis: [Neither] Justice Kerr nor [David] Thomas [president of the AAT] have ever raised a complaint with me that they were dissatisfied about how complaints were being handled.Brandis: [Neither] Justice Kerr nor [David] Thomas [president of the AAT] have ever raised a complaint with me that they were dissatisfied about how complaints were being handled.
Wong: You announced appointments at end of September. Did the president supply you with a list of positions that needed to be filled? If so when?Wong: You announced appointments at end of September. Did the president supply you with a list of positions that needed to be filled? If so when?
Brandis: I have had a very full process with the president about appointments.Brandis: I have had a very full process with the president about appointments.
Wong: How many were reappointments recommended? How many were publicly advertised ...Wong: How many were reappointments recommended? How many were publicly advertised ...
Brandis: [Takes on notice]Brandis: [Takes on notice]
Wong: Did you advertise any of them? You don’t remember?Wong: Did you advertise any of them? You don’t remember?
Brandis: I want to check. [Takes further questions about full-time v part-time appointments on notice]Brandis: I want to check. [Takes further questions about full-time v part-time appointments on notice]
Wong: You’re responsible for about 95% of appointments to the AAT?Wong: You’re responsible for about 95% of appointments to the AAT?
Brandis: Sounds about right.Brandis: Sounds about right.
UpdatedUpdated
at 7.24am BSTat 7.24am BST
6.56am BST6.56am BST
06:5606:56
I am going to take an educated guess that the AFP raid has something to do with the allegations in this story, published by the Australian yesterdayI am going to take an educated guess that the AFP raid has something to do with the allegations in this story, published by the Australian yesterday
Brad Norington reported:Brad Norington reported:
Bill Shorten faces investigation over a large sum of union funds he donated to his own election campaign in 2007 – possibly without proper approval – when he led the Australian Workers Union and first ran for parliament.Bill Shorten faces investigation over a large sum of union funds he donated to his own election campaign in 2007 – possibly without proper approval – when he led the Australian Workers Union and first ran for parliament.
The Registered Organisations Commission is understood to be inquiring into a $25,000 union payment that Mr Shorten arranged to help his campaign as Labor’s candidate in the federal Victorian seat of Maribyrnong.The Registered Organisations Commission is understood to be inquiring into a $25,000 union payment that Mr Shorten arranged to help his campaign as Labor’s candidate in the federal Victorian seat of Maribyrnong.
Also under scrutiny are two other AWU donations to Labor candidates in federal seats that were handled by Mr Shorten when he was in charge of the union — $25,000 for Petrie in Queensland and $20,000 for Stirling in Western Australia.Also under scrutiny are two other AWU donations to Labor candidates in federal seats that were handled by Mr Shorten when he was in charge of the union — $25,000 for Petrie in Queensland and $20,000 for Stirling in Western Australia.
The commission’s investigation of these AWU donations during the 2008 financial year is in addition to another it started on Friday into Mr Shorten’s union handout to GetUp! in 2006 when he sat on the activist group’s board as well as leading the AWU.The commission’s investigation of these AWU donations during the 2008 financial year is in addition to another it started on Friday into Mr Shorten’s union handout to GetUp! in 2006 when he sat on the activist group’s board as well as leading the AWU.
UpdatedUpdated
at 7.06am BSTat 7.06am BST
6.46am BST6.46am BST
06:4606:46
The AFP is currently raiding The Australian Workers’ Union offices in Melbourne and Sydney, via @StephieBorys @abcnewsThe AFP is currently raiding The Australian Workers’ Union offices in Melbourne and Sydney, via @StephieBorys @abcnews
6.29am BST
06:29
A bird (a currawong, I think) was trapped in the mural hall this afternoon. It’s bogong moth season in Canberra, which sends the birds inside.
Updated
at 6.37am BST
6.14am BST
06:14
Here is the announcement on the high court judgments.
Please be advised the following judgments will be handed down in Canberra this week:
Friday 27 October 2017 at 2.15pm
1. In the matter of questions referred to the Court of Disputed Returns pursuant to section 376 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) concerning Senator the Hon. Matthew Canavan (C11/2017)
2. In the matter of questions referred to the Court of Disputed Returns pursuant to section 376 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) concerning Mr Scott Ludlam (C12/2017)
3. In the matter of questions referred to the Court of Disputed Returns pursuant to section 376 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) concerning Ms Larissa Waters (C13/2017)
4. In the matter of questions referred to the Court of Disputed Returns pursuant to section 376 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) concerning Senator Malcolm Roberts (C14/2017)
5. In the matter of questions referred to the Court of Disputed Returns pursuant to section 376 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) concerning The Hon. Barnaby Joyce MP (C15/2017)
6. In the matter of questions referred to the Court of Disputed Returns pursuant to section 376 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) concerning Senator the Hon. Fiona Nash (C17/2017)
7. In the matter of questions referred to the Court of Disputed Returns pursuant to section 376 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) concerning Senator Nick Xenophon (C18/2017)
Copies of the judgment summaries will be accessible on the High Court website following the delivery of judgment.
Copies of the full judgment will be accessible on http://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/browse once uploaded.
Updated
at 6.36am BST
6.13am BST
06:13
In other One Nation news, one of the party’s policies has managed to pull off the impossible and has united both the Queensland Labor party and the LNP in condemnation.
Terri Butler also had a few things to say about it:
One Nation’s policy, announced today, to allow visitation rights to fathers regardless of an emergency protection order, puts women and children’s safety at risk.
This policy is abhorrent. Why is One Nation ignoring Australia’s family violence crisis? Australians look to elected representatives to keep women and children safe, not recklessly expose them to the risk of violence and harm.
This policy is life-threatening.
Pauline Hanson has a woeful record in relation to violence against women and children.
In June 2016, the Townsville Bulletin reported on her comments as follows:
“We need a full overview of the child support system and the family law courts to find the answers (because) you know some (women) are going out there and claiming domestic violence because they’re told ‘I don’t like the colour of your dress’,” Ms Hanson said.
“They (women) are making frivolous complaints and it’s time that our court system (is looked at) – especially for men who are the subject of domestic violence themselves.
“Men have nowhere to go – (domestic violence against males) is very widely spread.
“I want to sit down with these (male-focused) organisations, these groups, and give them a voice, because they feel like they’re not being heard.”
Townsville Bulletin – 10 June 2016
And in her recent first speech to Senate, when she returned to the Parliament, she said:
HANSON: Children are used as pawns in custody battles where women make frivolous claims and believe they have the sole right to the children.
Children have two parents and, until we treat mums and dads with the same courtesy and rights, we will continue to see murders due to sheer frustration and depression and mental illness caused by this unworkable system.
First Speech to Parliament – 14 September 2016
Violence against women is an epidemic. Victim-blaming, and making victims less safe, is destructive and wrong.
I congratulate the Queensland Minister, Shannon Fentiman, and the Shadow Minister, for jointly opposing One Nation’s latest policy today.
It stands in stark contrast to the actions of the Minister for Women, Liberal Senator Cash, who hugged Senator Hanson.
The policy that One Nation has today announced is not only ignorant; it is incredibly dangerous for women and their children.
One Nation have stooped to a new low with this policy, proving that they cannot be trusted to keep the community safe.
*end statement*
Updated
at 6.35am BST
6.09am BST
06:09
“One more question here. The ABC, I’ve read somewhere or maybe Ms Guthrie said, has more investigative journalists than anyone else. In Australia. Is that correct?,” Malcolm Roberts asks.
It is correct, he’s told.
“Yet, none of the ABC’s investigative journalists have recently confirmed or recently found in what we have done, just ourselves, in investigating the CSIRO through there own presentations. SO there is a whole other side to this climate debate that I never hear about it on the ABC. One of the characteristics of groupthink, people who participate in groupthink actually think they are doing the right thing? “
“I am sure we all think we are doing the right thing,” Alan Sunderland says.
You know what investigative journalists did manage to find out? That Malcolm Roberts was a dual citizen when he nominated to parliament. Despite the repeated denials. And the “hand-on-heart” protestations all the documents were in order. It was reporting, which, like climate reporting, is not based on what we feel, or choose to believe, but in what the facts say.
Let’s see what the high court has to say about those empirical facts on Friday.
Updated
at 6.32am BST
6.02am BST
06:02
Alan Sunderland responds to the groupthink discussion: “One of the things we pride ourselves on at the ABC, we certainly don’t pride ourselves on being perfect, but we pride ourselves on having the most, the greatest level of commitment of any Australian media organisation, to a set of editorial standards designed to challenge preconceptions, to deliver impartiality, to deliver accuracy, for a whole range of outcomes to make sure we can be trusted as a media organisation that doesn’t engage in bias, in inaccuracies, in group think or anything else you want to discuss.
Malcolm Roberts thanks Sunderland, but says: “I can assure you that a lot of people I listen to across Queensland and around Australia do not see the ABC as anything but groupthink. With the exception of regional reporters in Queensland.”
Updated
at 6.10am BST
5.57am BST
05:57
Malcolm Roberts moves on to groupthink. Without irony.
He has made a point of calling it “Your ABC” in his questioning.
“One definition is group pressures leading to groups making faulty decisions through deterioration through mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgment,” Roberts offers.
“That’s One Nation for ya,” quips Sarah Hanson-Young.
Google tells me that definition came from a site like this, which looks like it was built in the 1990s.
Updated
at 6.09am BST
5.47am BST
05:47
“Let’s consider commentators moonlighting as journalists,” Roberts says. He is talking about Insiders. He says only five of the 32 journalists who recently appeared (the past eight weeks) were “right of centre”.
Also worth noting, one of the biggest ideological warriors in parliament, who is part of the one of the most ideological parties seen in Australia, “does not like the term right and left but that is what our society has degenerated into”.
Alan Sunderland, the director of editorial policies, said Insiders is “a program which does not bring together leftwing and rightwing commentators to provide leftwing and rightwing prospectives on the news. Insiders is a program which by and large seeks to bring together senior journalists, the majority of them working in the press gallery and others who are senior commentators on the matter of politics.”
Roberts doesn’t say how he came to the conclusion of who is left and who is right.
That is an average of 0.625 conservatives per episode and that is not including Talking Pictures presenters. So over a total of eight weeks, 15.6 %, and, if you include the Talking Pictures commentators, it is only 12.5. So I am not advocating you must have rightwing and you must have leftwing, I am advocating you must have balance. Do you consider when we have only 12.5% of the commentators from the right wing, do you consider that to be fair and balanced representation of our society?
It might be worth noting that it was on Insiders that Pauline Hanson made her now infamous anti-vaccination comments.
Sunderland says given he doesn’t understand how Roberts has done his analysis on who is left and who is right, it is difficult for him to respond.
“I take it you are finding it difficult to understand about the concepts of fair and balanced,” Roberts concludes.
“I am just questioning your assumptions,” Sunderland says.
“Just because it is what you believe, Senator Roberts, doesn’t make it true,” Sarah Hanson-Young says.
Updated
at 5.54am BST
5.30am BST
05:30
Malcolm Roberts has just stepped up to the microphone for the ABC estimates. “This will be good,” Sarah Hanson-Young says.
His first question is on how the Australian public “can trust you without the facts, if they just simply go on opinions”.
Michelle Guthrie: “We don’t go on opinions”.
5.26am BST
05:26
Just extraordinary scenes in both question time and estimates.
Mike Bowers, as always, was catching it all.
Updated
at 5.31am BST
5.18am BST
05:18
Paul Karp
In estimates Michelle Guthrie is being asked about the possibility the competitive neutrality review could conclude that there should be a paywall on the ABC’s iView online TV playback service.
Guthrie said that the idea “would seem to be double-dipping” because the Australian public had paid for ABC programming and would have to pay again to access it on iView.
“They’ve already paid for the programming, in terms of taxpayer funding,” she said. “iView is simply taking those programs and making them available in a different window.”
Asked if she’d raised this concern with the minister, Guthrie responded:
I’ve certainly raised my view that ABC has operated within dual environment since the beginning. Just because technology and audience habit is changing doesn’t mean the ABC is the cause of any economic difficulties [of commercial broadcasters]. That trend is happening everywhere in the world. The idea we might have to retract from particular platforms is not the expectation of Australian people.
Updated
at 5.40am BST