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AWU lodges freedom of information request over leak of raid – politics live Turnbull says Michaelia Cash 'acted entirely properly' over leak of AWU raid – politics live
(35 minutes later)
4.08am BST 4.44am BST
04:08 04:44
Malcolm Turnbull: Christopher Pyne takes a dixer on behalf of Michaelia Cash’s portfolio and has a lot of fun talking about what the royal commission into trade unions found.
What I can confirm is that Senator Cash defends the interests of trade union members in a way the leader of the opposition never did. She defends them. She defends them. Mr Speaker, Mr Speaker. Let’s look at this bastion of advocacy for the members of the AWU ... He said, Mr Speaker – this is the leader of the opposition – it’s perfectly consistent with the tradition of the trade union movement to have services provided by unions, paid for by employers. Well, regrettably, it is, Mr Speaker, and one of the services provided by unions to employers is trading away their penalty rates. That’s what they get paid for, MrSpeaker. Example after example.Hundreds of thousands of dollars,over $1 million....Paid to the AWU by employers when the Leader of the Opposition was the secretary, and, Mr Speaker... That really worked out well for the members, didn’t it? One payment after another was found by the Royal Commission to have no benefit for members, and indeed to compromise the interests of the members, because it compromised the ability of the union to represent them. Now, what we have done is passed legislation to prevent those corrupt payments being made, to prevent secret payments being made,and the Labor Party...They said there was nothing worse than allowing members to know when the employer was actually paying money to their union. And, if the fact is... Mr Speaker, the fact is what Senator Cash has done is she has ensured that the standards of integrity, impartiality are applied to the union movement. That’s what she has done, and in a way that the Leader of the Opposition never did,trading away penalty rates, taking money from employers. Mr Speaker,that was the pattern, and that is coming to an end because of legislation we passed and they opposed. A lot of fun. It is the most alive anyone in the government has looked in days.
The gee up before question time must have worked– the back bench is doing its very best to look engaged and peppy. 4.41am BST
04:41
Tony Burke: My question as to the Prime Minister. During the recent scandal, the prime minister spoke of following, saying it was ‘an offence that it should result in dismissal and minister, it is clear’. Given it is patently clear that the employment minister misled the Senate five times, why won’t the Prime Minister, in his own standards, sack the employment minister?
Malcolm Turnbull: ...The minister for employment, senator Cash, gave evidence in the course of estimates in which he described the facts of the matter as known to her at the time. When a staffer admitted to doing the wrong thing, she corrected the record, in light of that admission. That is precisely what she should have done, and she did it with integrity that the Honourable member might reflect is has been all too readily shown by those who claim to represent and lead trade unions in this country.
4.38am BST
04:38
Bill Shorten: My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the prime minister’s answer: Is even now the position of the government that staff can mislead their ministers? How are your ministers meant to be running the country when they can’t even run their offices?
Malcolm Turnbull: The honourable member knows very well that the minister is accountable. A minister is accountable for what she says and her obligation is to speak the truth. She was misled, as she said. She was misled, as she said. And once her staff are told her the truth and made the admission that he had done the wrong thing, she corrected the record. She acted entirely properly.
That stands in stark contrast to the actions of the leader of the opposition, Mr Speaker. It is not a question of his staff. It is a question of the people that own him. He is a wholly owned subsidiary of the CFMEU. He is a wholly owned subsidiary of a trade union, a military trade union,cashed up and powerful, that defies the law.”
There is more, but he is yelling so much that not even Tveeder, the service which captions question time, can make sense of the words. It’s along the lines of Labor is the party of the workers’ representative, not the worker.
Greg Hunt gets his ride on the dixer-go-round, this time about hospitals in Queensland.
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4.03am BST 4.32am BST
04:03 04:32
Question time begins Barnaby Joyce, in what may be one of his last times in the chamber for a while, depending on how the high court rules tomorrow, gets his go on the dixer express. He gives his usual “Labor have given up on the blue collar worker: answer, which is becoming his standard answer, no matter the dixer.
Bill Shorten is straight into the Michaelia Cash issue. He finishes and Labor claps and waves, yelling things such as “valedictory” and “bye, bye Barnaby”.
“My question is to the prime minister. Can he confirm the following events? By midday yesterday, Senator Cash told the Senate five times her office was not aware of imminent police raids before they began, but at 6:10pm, Alice Workman of Buzzfeed reported journalists had received the leak from Senator Cash’s office and, at 7:30 pm, realising the truth had been exposed, Senator Cash finally admitted she had misled the Senate. So at least some people are having fun.
The Prime Minister has the call.
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03:59 04:29
I see there are a few questions about the number of AFP officers involved in the raids, with the AFP commissioner saying there were 13, in total, while yesterday we were told there were 32. Tony Burke to the prime minister: Does he expect Australians to believe that the media reported yesterday an allegation that the employment minister’s office had leaked the raids? The employment minister then came to the prime minister and said she herself had not personally leaked the raids, and the prime minister, with all his training as a cross examiner, didn’t think to ask if her office had leaked the raids, which was the only allegation that had been made? Did the prime minister in fact ask this question or had he already been advised it was safer not to ask?”
The best answer I can give you is there were a lot of people in the offices, from different agencies, potentially including other police, who were not attached to the AFP. Malcolm Turnbull: Mr Speaker, the member for Watson does his best at innuendo, but he’s not a particularly talented cross examiner. Mr Speaker, here are the facts: the minister gave me the assurance. I told the house about it yesterday, that she had not disclosed the matter to journalists before the raid. And that was the assurance that she gave me. Subsequently, as honourable members know, her media adviser admitted o this wrongful conduct and he has resigned. Mr Speaker, I understand why the Labor party want to focus on the wrongful conduct of our ... a ministerial staffer, focus on that, rather than why $100,000 of AWU money was given to an organisation that wants to put most of those workers out of a job. That is the question, that’s the question. And they want to know why, when the Registered Organisation Commission, asked for documentary information from the AWU, they weren’t provided it. They want to know about that, too. MrSpeaker, what I think Australians will find it very hard to understand is why the opposition, at this time of economic challenges, at this time of high electricity prices, why Labor has not...asking about the National energy guarantee.”
And he finishes with a rousing defence of Michaelia Cash.
No interest in talking about measures that will improve employment. No interest in economic issues. They are only interested in one thing, and that is to protect union officials from transparency and accountability. And, Mr Speaker, the law is catching up with those traditions of the trade union movement, thanks to the hard work and dedication of the employment minister, Senator Cash.”
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03:42 04:24
Prime minister gathers troops for pre-question time briefing Josh Frydenberg is next to ride the dixer-go-round. It’s on energy and attacking the Queensland state government for its energy policy.
Once again, the prime minister has taken the unusual step of calling a pre-question time briefing. 4.22am BST
For those MPs who are yet to check their email, here you go: 04:22
Members, including ministers, should attend the Members’ Annex at 1:55 today for a pre-Question Time briefing with the Prime Minister. Bob Katter has the crossbench question today and the whole chamber holds it breath to see if the member for Kennedy can get his question out before time runs out.
Thank you for your cooperation. “In May 2014, I raised the issue of skyrocketing North Queensland insurance premiums. ATCC figures show premiums raising 80% in five years with 400% increases. North Queensland is the lead contributor with pre cyclone Tracy old building code buildings all gone. This discrimination cannot now be justified. 2006 Cyclone Larry damage is $1.5m, only $800m. When will the minister establish an authority to underwrite exceptional circumstances, providing a platform for profiteering insurers?”
Regards He does it, he gets there! In a rare moment, both sides of the chamber cheer.
Nola (chief whip) Kelly O’Dwyer says the government is monitoring it. Katter does not look impressed with the answer, despite his feat.
Once again, you are welcome (For those not here last week, Katter stormed out of the chamber after he didn’t get his question out in time, despite having been given 45 seconds to ask it – longer than what is usual.)
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03:21 04:19
Craig Laundy is on Sky for his regular chat. The camera turned to Brendan O’Connor at quite the unfortunate time just then. I am not a lip reader, but it looked like he may have said something quite unparliamentary in response to some Coalition heckles as the prime minister was speaking.
And it has to be said that he is not looking as chipper as he usually does. He is asked if he honestly believes that Michaelia Cash did nothing wrong and answers with a simple: 4.17am BST
“Yes” 04:17
3.12am BST Looks like Tony Abbott was late to question time again ... and potentially also missed the pre-QT briefing, unless he was held up at the door.
03:12 Tony Abbott enters #QT just as Turnbull speaks of how Cash has "ensured the integrity" of registered organisations
AFP responds to claims of political interference
The Australian federal police commissioner, Andrew Colvin, has released a statement:
Thursday, 26 October 2017, Publish time:1:01pm
The AFP has this week been the subject of commentary and innuendo regarding its independence and the ability of AFP members to carry out their work objectively and without political interference. The AFP requires the ongoing assistance and support of the public to serve the community in which we all live, and undertakes its activities without fear or favour. The AFP rejects in the strongest terms any suggestion to the contrary. The AFP makes all its operational decisions independently, based on experience, operational priorities and the law.
The AFP’s primary obligations are to ensure the safety and security of the Australian community and enforce the rule of law. The AFP prides itself on its independence and integrity, and has a proven track record of these values while operating under the remit of eight individual prime ministers and their governments since it was founded in 1979.
Much of this week’s commentary has been prompted by search warrants executed in Sydney and Melbourne on Tuesday, 24 October 2017. The AFP has obligations to assist a wide range of other commonwealth agencies in their activities, including the Registered Organisations Commission. The AFP had no operational reason to decline to execute a search warrant that was authorised by a magistrate.
Some of the reporting concerning this activity has inflated the number of AFP members involved. In executing these search warrants on Tuesday, 24 October 2017, the AFP deployed a total of 13 members across both cities – eight members in Melbourne and five in Sydney. Suggestions that more AFP members were involved are incorrect.
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3.11am BST 4.16am BST
03:11 04:16
An hour or so out from question time and two of the people we have not heard from are Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten. Back to opposition questions:
It’s not unusual for leaders to allow their praetorian guards out to lead attacks for them in these sorts of situation. Labor has been largely content for the committee hearing to speak for itself. Brendan O’Connor: My question is to the prime minister. Does he expect Australians to believe the employment minister’s office watched the minister misleads the Senate five times yesterday but didn’t say a thing? The senior minister who has now resigned attended the briefing with the minister and said nothing, and the adviser then heard the prime minister asked twice about the matter during question time but still did nothing.
The government is attempting to limit fire until question time. Malcolm Turnbull: I thank the honourable member for his question. Mr Speaker, he has addressed a number of questions to the media adviser concern, who has properly resigned after a very, very wrong, improper act of indiscretion, and he was wrong to do what he has admitted to,but he was right to resign.
Core competence of the minister will be the basis of the question time offensive. Labor is pushing the Westminster conventions, where a minister should take responsibility for their staff. The Coalition will respond with all the times Labor ministers survived when their staffers acted out of their bounds (examples we have heard today, are when a Julia Gillard staffer alerted protesters to Tony Abbott’s location on Australia Day in 2012 and Penny Wong’s staffer who spoke to New Zealand Labour during the Barnaby Joyce citizenship investigation). Turnbull then begins to read from Andrew Colvin’s AFP statement. O’Connor objects, but Turnbull is allowed to continue.
3.01am BST South Australian Labour MP Nick Champion becomes the first member thrown out under 94A.
03:01
Note: the Queensland election is expected to be called very soon.
Hanson votes with Turnbull to sell out battlers & now runs a protection racket for dodgy Michaelia Cash. Watch, like and share. #Estimates pic.twitter.com/lBGkmkUSnb
2.42am BST
02:42
The veterans affairs minister Dan Tehan is talking to Sky and says Michaelia Cash “won’t be resigning and nor should she resign”.
She took the proper course of action, she went immediately into Senate estimates once she knew the true facts, she disclosed those, she has been back in Senate estimates this morning and she has been a highly competent minister, who has done outstanding work, in particular, in getting legislation through the parliament on the Registered Organisations bill and the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill; two bills which will make a significant difference to the industrial relations landscape in Australia. So, she’s been behaving appropriately and truthfully and therefore she’ll continue in her position.”
It might be worth pointing out that there have been issues with both of those commissions Tehan just mentioned – Nigel Hadgkiss was made to resign from the ABCC after being found to have contravened the Fair Work Act and it is the Registered Organisations Commission’s raid of the AWU offices which kicked all of this off.
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2.25am BST 4.13am BST
02:25 04:13
And let’s remember that tomorrow, the high court will hand down its decision on the seven MPs who have citizenship concerns. Scott Morrison then takes his turn on the dixer merry-go-round, and again talks about energy policy.
Of most concern to the government are the decisions on Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and Fiona Nash. Canavan was meant to go back into cabinet, if cleared. If those three are found to have been in breach of the rules, that’s two more ministers (Canvan has already resigned from the cabinet) the government loses. If Michaelia Cash is also made to resign, we are heading to a situation where the government could basically lose 20% of its cabinet in one week. No one seems to be listening. Labor can’t even be bothered to heckle that hard.
(For those who were asking, yes, I will be running a live blog on the high court decision tomorrow.) 4.12am BST
04:12
The first dixer combines how great the government is at protecting workers, at the same time as lowering energy prices.
Moving on.
Tanya Plibersek: My question is to the prime minister, and I refer to his answer of yesterday. Can the prime minister confirm the employment minister and her senior media adviser, who has now resigned for leaking details of imminent raids to the media, attended that question time meeting yesterday? At what time did it take place? Did it take place in his personal office? And who else was present, including two but not limited to, MPs and members of the prime minister’s office?
Malcolm Turnbull: Well, Mr Speaker, the deputy leader of the opposition is not going to do a very good impression of Perry Mason today. Mr Speaker, she may embark on a fishing expedition, but, Mr Speaker, I repeat what I said yesterday, that the minister for employment is sure she did not advise any journalists about the raid, and that is precisely what she has said in the Senate during estimates.
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