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| Coalition discord erupts after sobering Queensland result – politics live | Coalition discord erupts after sobering Queensland result – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| George Brandis also aired some views about the Queensland state election. He said it would be “foolish to deny” that all state elections have an element of national significance. But he says none of the headline issues in the campaign were federal. | |
| There is no doubt in my mind, having been a very active participant in the Queensland state election, that this was an election fought on state issues. It was fought from the LNPs view, on the very poor record of the Palaszczuk government. | |
| He’s asked about George Christensen’s comments. Brandis says he can understand Christensen’s position, but: | |
| What I would remind him is that at the end of the day what the Australian people want is for government’s to get on and deliver for them. | |
| They don’t want to see an endless symposium on Queensland electoral politics, we’ll leave that to commentators like you. What they want is for us to get on and do our job, and that’s what we’re going to do. | |
| My colleague Paul Karp earlier told us about some further agitation from conservative MPs on same-sex marriage. Angus Taylor, Zed Seselja and Michael Sukkar say the moderates are betraying the party by backing the private member’s bill proposed by the moderate Dean Smith. That’s the bill that has cross-party support and is now before the Senate. | |
| The attorney general, George Brandis, said some within his party are making the same-sex marriage debate broader than it needed to be. | |
| There is absolutely no inconsistency between giving effect to marriage equality and protecting religious freedom. The two are entirely consistent with one another. | |
| He’s asked whether his colleagues have anything to fear about the bill’s consequences for freedom of religion. | |
| I think they have nothing to fear, but nevertheless there are some who take the view that this ought to be a broader debate, that it ought to extend into broader areas of anti-discrimination law. That’s not what the Australian people voted on in the marriage survey. | |
| Bill Shorten is in Canberra, where his shadow cabinet will meet this morning, despite the lower house break. | |
| Rather unsurprisingly, he thinks the Queensland state election is a reflection on the Turnbull government. | |
| Shorten praises Annastascia Palaszczuk for the strength of her campaign and agrees much of the election was fought on state issues. | |
| But Shorten says Malcolm Turnbull is living in “la la land” if he doesn’t think the vote was a reflection on his government. He’s spoken with the ABC this morning: | |
| He just doesn’t get it. There are issues not just in Queensland, but across Australia, which I think Australians are increasingly frustrated about the federal government, not the least of which is the failure to hold a banking royal commission. | |
| I think there are implications for federal politics and parties generally, but first of all for the government, you don’t have to take my word for it, you can take the word of George Christensen. | |
| Shorten is, of course, referring there to Christensen’s intervention at the weekend. Christensen blamed the state election result on a lack of leadership from the federal government. | |
| On banking, Shorten says Labor will work “seriously and constructively with anyone, and that includes senator O’Sullivan”. You’ll remember that O’Sullivan, an LNP senator, has circulated a private member’s bill to establish a commission of inquiry. | |
| Shorten says Labor would look at the Coalition’s plan for a compensation scheme for banking victims. But he said it would not get to the heart of the problem. Only a royal commission could achieve that, he said. | |
| How many breakfast shows have we done in the course of the past year and a half where the government has got a new plan to try and reform the banks. They seem to want to do everything except a royal commission. | |
| A compensation process is one that we will look at constructively. But that’s no guarantee of stopping the problems in the future. | |
| The Liberal MP Warren Entsch has taken aim at the Liberal National party MP George Christensen for his decision to apologise to One Nation voters and sheet home blame to Malcolm Turnbull after the LNP’s poor Queensland election result. | |
| Speaking to ABC AM, Entsch said: | Speaking to ABC AM, Entsch said: |
| Unfortunately with George – and he’s entitled to his opinion – he’s always sort of firing shots ... To go out there and apologise to One Nation or one other group, I don’t think is the way to go ... To suggest one way or another that it’s all to do with federal government – the first thing he has to realise is ... George, you are actually a part of federal government. | |
| Entsch rules out supporting Senator Barry O’Sullivan’s bill for a bank commission of inquiry. He said the basis for it was “wrong”, citing O’Sullivan’s comments that he felt entitled to agitate on the issue because Dean Smith had introduced a private member’s bill for marriage equality. | |
| Entsch: | Entsch: |
| It worries me that there is no real terms of reference here. It’s just, ‘Oh let’s go and do it.’ And worse still, in this particular case, he doesn’t just want an inquiry on banks, he wants it on insurance companies, on superannuation. It is so broad we could be inquiring into it for the next 20 or 30 years. If the inquiry is to tell us the banks have been ripping us off and doing the wrong thing, we don’t need an inquiry we know that already. | |
| What we need to do is focus on the victims ... the treasurer I understand will be announcing something this week, a tribunal for victims under $5m damages, I’m continuing to push for victims over that and dealing with historical cases. | What we need to do is focus on the victims ... the treasurer I understand will be announcing something this week, a tribunal for victims under $5m damages, I’m continuing to push for victims over that and dealing with historical cases. |
| Speaking of marriage, the conservative ministers Angus Taylor, Zed Seselja, and Michael Sukkar have complained to the Australian that moderates betrayed them by backing a cross-party marriage bill. As the Senate prepares to debate marriage it appears the conservatives are on a hiding to nothing. | |
| Entsch: | Entsch: |
| They are ministers, they have the responsibility to talk within their portfolios publicly ... What I’m saying to these guys – these ministers – by all means, if you want to go chasing religious exemptions, please do so, but do a favour and step down from your portfolios, you can do so then without breaching ministerial codes. | |
| Welcome to another week of mayhem in the house on the hill. It’s Christopher Knaus again filling in for my long-lost colleague Amy Remeikis, who has spent the past few weeks up north, covering the Queensland state election. She’s still in the sunshine state for a little longer, but I’ll be here early this week to guide you through the events of federal politics. | |
| It’s a big week for the Coalition. You’ll no doubt remember that we’ve only got the Senate sitting this week. The lower house has been given a lovely one-week pre-Christmas holiday. | It’s a big week for the Coalition. You’ll no doubt remember that we’ve only got the Senate sitting this week. The lower house has been given a lovely one-week pre-Christmas holiday. |
| But there’s likely to be little respite for Malcolm Turnbull. There are internal battles erupting on several fronts this morning. Here’s what we’re expecting to dominate today: | But there’s likely to be little respite for Malcolm Turnbull. There are internal battles erupting on several fronts this morning. Here’s what we’re expecting to dominate today: |
| Nationals MPs, including LNP senator Barry O’Sullivan, are continuing to agitate for an inquiry into the banks, in defiance of the government’s position. O’Sullivan circulated a private member’s bill last week to force such a commission. The Liberal MP Warren Entsch has already been out this morning, criticising O’Sullivan’s approach. The government is attempting to head off the push for a banking royal commission by proposing a compensation scheme for victims. | |
| The result of the Queensland election is already creating problems for Turnbull. The LNP backbencher George Christensen has laid blame for the result directly at the feet of the Turnbull government (of which he is a part). Coalition MPs have been out this morning criticising Christensen for his comments, and downplaying links between federal issues and the state election. | |
| Debate over the same-sex marriage bill will continue in the Senate this week. The bill is continuing to fuel tensions within the Coalition. Conservatives including Zed Seselja, Michael Sukkar, and others are continuing their push for stronger powers to discriminate against same-sex couples. That is frustrating moderate MPs, including Entsch and the Liberal MP Dean Smith. | |
| Labor are attacking the government for delaying the sitting of the lower house by a week. The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has slammed the decision again this morning. We’ll bring you more of his comments shortly. | |
| Stick with us. It’s sure to be another frantic day in federal politics. | Stick with us. It’s sure to be another frantic day in federal politics. |