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| Jimmy Barnes slams government for using his name and songs – politics live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| One of the senior Nationals opposed to a banking inquiry is resources minister Matt Canavan. Regardless of his position, the inquiry appears to have the numbers to pass. He’s asked why the government, given it no longer has the numbers, doesn’t just change its position, push ahead with an inquiry, and take control of the issue. Canavan responds: | |
| You’ve got to stick to your ground on these sort of debates, you don’t just change your position because of a couple of members. Now ultimately if that’s the way a votes goes in the parliament, or is going to go, that’s something we’ll have to deal with at the time. | |
| Canavan said he doesn’t support a royal commission because it will not achieve anything, will cost a lot, and will take a long time. | |
| He also thinks there’s a risk to the banking sector’s reputation. | |
| Canavan is asked about a story in the Courier Mail this morning, which describes a “pineapple rebellion” of Queensland LNP Nationals. | |
| They want to run a separate campaign and differentiate themselves from the Liberal party at the next federal election. Canvan says: | |
| Well the pineapple rebellion is not the brand name we’re running under, I can clarify that. | |
| I do think we need to do a better job in Queensland of marketing and selling what we do here in Canberra. | |
| We need to tell the Queensland people in a crowded marketplace, a crowded political marketplace, tell them what we do and what we achieve for them. Clearly in regional Queensland there’s a demand for a party that sticks up for them, that is in their corner, fighting for them. Some of that has gone to One Nation and Katter as well, in north Queensland. | |
| Mitch Fifield has launched another broadside at the ABC. He says the ABC shouldn’t change the date just because “a few people” don’t think Australia Day should be on 26 January. He was speaking to Sky News’ Kieran Gilbert. | |
| The ABC should just leave the Hottest 100 alone. The ABC and Triple J should not seek to politicise Australia Day by removing the Hottest 100 from Australia Day because there are a few people who don’t think Australia Day should be celebrated on the 26th of January. | |
| You’ll no doubt have seen that the ABC surveyed almost 65,000 of people and found 60% support for changing the date of the Hottest 100. So it’s a bit of a stretch for Fifield to describe that as a “few people”. | |
| Kieran Gilbert challenges him on the statement: | |
| But they did a voluntary non-binding survey. You guys know a little bit about that? | |
| Fifield responds: | |
| Well the ABC has a broader responsibility to the whole community, not just to one particular entire market segment. Kieran there are some days in this gig as minister when I slap my forehead and say what were these guys thinking. | |
| You might remember Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg appeared in Port Kembla yesterday to spruik their national energy guarantee. In doing so, Frydenberg channelled Australian rock icon Jimmy Barnes. | |
| More than 30 years ago Jimmy Barnes came to Port Kembla to make the film clip for Working Class Man. Today the Prime Minister has come to Port Kembla to create jobs for Australia’s working class men and women. | |
| Well, that’s not impressed Jimmy. Far from it. | |
| He’s just tweeted his anger at being used to sell the government’s “shitty policies”. | |
| Hey @JoshFrydenberg don’t use my name or my songs to sell your shitty policies. You don’t represent me #portkembla #workingclassman #auspol | |
| The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, has insisted to a senate inquiry that he was not the cabinet minister who told former Senate president Stephen Parry to keep his concerns quiet about his dual citizenship. | |
| Appearing before the senate legal and constitutional affairs references committee on Monday evening, Fifield said he encouraged Parry to check his family records when Parry had raised the issue with him, but it was not his responsibility to ensure that Parry followed through. | |
| He said he told no one about their conversation, including the prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, because that would have been breaching Parry’s confidence. | |
| “Claims that I directed, told, advised, or suggested that he not take any steps he deemed appropriate until after the high court decision are false,” Fifield said. | |
| “It is the responsibility of each senator to assess their own eligibility to stand for, and to sit in, the parliament.” | |
| Fifield had been asked to appear before the committee on Monday after admitting earlier this month that he knew Parry was concerned about his possible dual citizenship weeks before he resigned from parliament. | |
| Parry made a shock announcement on 1 November that he would be resigning from parliament after being told by UK authorities that he held British citizenship. | |
| When he made his announcement, he admitted he had awaited last month’s high court judgment on the eligibility of seven parliamentary colleagues before seeking advice from British authorities on his own citizenship. | |
| The revelation angered his senior Coalition colleagues, including Turnbull, because it came at a time when the government believed the citizenship saga was behind it. | |
| Days afterwards, the ABC reported that Parry had actually told some senior colleagues, including a cabinet colleague, about his citizenship concerns in mid-August and had been advised not to raise the alarm until after the high court ruling. He was reportedly told to sit tight because the solicitor general’s advice was that the government would win the citizenship case. | |
| Fifield told the committee on Monday that he objected to the political motivations behind his being summoned to appear before the committee. He said it did not set a “sensible precedent”. | |
| Staying with banking for a moment. | Staying with banking for a moment. |
| The foreign minister Julie Bishop has just been asked whether the government would reconsider its opposition to an inquiry. She responds: | The foreign minister Julie Bishop has just been asked whether the government would reconsider its opposition to an inquiry. She responds: |
| This is a matter for cabinet and the party room to discuss. | This is a matter for cabinet and the party room to discuss. |
| Bishop said an inquiry would achieve little. She said it may hold out “false hope” of compensation and dispute resolution for victims of banking misconduct. | Bishop said an inquiry would achieve little. She said it may hold out “false hope” of compensation and dispute resolution for victims of banking misconduct. |
| The point that I’m making is that a royal commission or an inquiry, depending on its powers, won’t recover compensation, won’t resolve disputes. All it can do is make recommendations to regulators. The regulators are already taking action on the government’s direction to resolve these disputes and ensure that any failures in the system are addressed. These commissions of inquiry can take months, even years, so I don’t want the Australian government to be holding out false hope for people. | The point that I’m making is that a royal commission or an inquiry, depending on its powers, won’t recover compensation, won’t resolve disputes. All it can do is make recommendations to regulators. The regulators are already taking action on the government’s direction to resolve these disputes and ensure that any failures in the system are addressed. These commissions of inquiry can take months, even years, so I don’t want the Australian government to be holding out false hope for people. |
| She described the Coalition between the Liberals and the Nationals as a positive relationship. The two parties have their differences from time to time, but: | She described the Coalition between the Liberals and the Nationals as a positive relationship. The two parties have their differences from time to time, but: |
| We’re a very successful political movement as a Coalition. | We’re a very successful political movement as a Coalition. |
| The Nationals MP Llew O’Brien has all but confirmed he will cross the floor to support a banking commission of inquiry, meaning the Nationals senator Barry O’Sullivan’s bill has the numbers to pass the Senate and the lower house if it were voted on. | |
| I just can’t see how I wouldn’t vote for it. | I just can’t see how I wouldn’t vote for it. |
| O’Brien has agreed to support the inquiry on the condition that it is expanded to look at the discrimination against people with mental health issues by insurance companies. | O’Brien has agreed to support the inquiry on the condition that it is expanded to look at the discrimination against people with mental health issues by insurance companies. |
| O’Brien: | O’Brien: |
| When you have 45% of Australians anticipated to have some kind of mental ill health throughout their life and then you’ve got insurance companies discriminating in the way that they do, that must have an effect on our country. | When you have 45% of Australians anticipated to have some kind of mental ill health throughout their life and then you’ve got insurance companies discriminating in the way that they do, that must have an effect on our country. |
| O’Brien, a former police officer, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and told ABC AM this “valuable experience” was one he would “not waste” now he was in a position to legislate. | |
| Asked when the inquiry would get up and if it was disloyal to support it, he said: | Asked when the inquiry would get up and if it was disloyal to support it, he said: |
| It could be next week – who knows. It could have been this week, but it vanished … I’m in parliament to serve both my constituents and the people of Australia, they’re the people I answer to. | |
| Hello and welcome to the second day of the sitting week. | Hello and welcome to the second day of the sitting week. |
| It’s Christopher Knaus with you again, here for the last day before Amy Remeikis returns and resumes your normal blogging service. | It’s Christopher Knaus with you again, here for the last day before Amy Remeikis returns and resumes your normal blogging service. |
| Between the bank inquiry, same-sex marriage, Manus Island and the Hottest 100, the government looks to have a fairly full dance card again today. | Between the bank inquiry, same-sex marriage, Manus Island and the Hottest 100, the government looks to have a fairly full dance card again today. |
| Here’s what we’re expecting this morning: | Here’s what we’re expecting this morning: |
| An inquiry into the banks is now looking more and more certain. A second Nationals MP, Llew O’Brien, has said he’d be prepared to cross the floor. That gives proponents of an inquiry the numbers in the lower house. We’ll wait to see how Malcolm Turnbull will respond this morning. The PM and other senior ministers have consistently resisted calls for such an inquiry. But he could face an embarrassing vote on the floor of parliament unless the Coalition changes its position. | |
| The debate on same-sex marriage will continue in the Senate today. The attention continues to be on the amendments proposed by conservatives. Those amendments, they argue, are needed to ensure those opposed to same-sex marriage do not have their freedom of religion, speech or conscience restricted. The conservatives say parents also need protections to take their children out of classes they don’t agree with. Labor largely wants the Dean Smith bill passed as it is. The Greens have proposed their own amendments but say they’re happy with Dean Smith’s bill as a minimum. The debate will continue in the Senate this morning from 10.30am. | |
| The debate over the change of the Hottest 100 date is likely to continue this morning. The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, has again expressed his anger over the decision this morning. I sense another day of culture warring and ABC bashing. Strap yourselves in. | The debate over the change of the Hottest 100 date is likely to continue this morning. The communications minister, Mitch Fifield, has again expressed his anger over the decision this morning. I sense another day of culture warring and ABC bashing. Strap yourselves in. |
| The Greens are also planning to introduce legislation on assisted dying. Their bill hopes to give the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory the right to make their own laws on euthanasia. | The Greens are also planning to introduce legislation on assisted dying. Their bill hopes to give the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory the right to make their own laws on euthanasia. |
| There have you have it. It’s shaping up as another fascinating day in parliament. | There have you have it. It’s shaping up as another fascinating day in parliament. |
| We’ll take you through the news as it develops throughout the day. | We’ll take you through the news as it develops throughout the day. |