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| Julie Bishop to meet Russian ambassador – politics live | Julie Bishop to meet Russian ambassador – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Chatting to Sky, Alex Hawke said “Australia will not shrink from our position of standing with the international community” against Russia’s actions. | |
| This nerve agent was used in a public cafe, Russia has not explained its position. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the United Kingdom on this, it is an attack on their sovereignty – it is an outrageous attack on their sovereignty when you think innocent civilians were affected by this attack. And of course, there is a pattern of behaviour which is emerging with Russia over many years now. We haven’t forgotten MH17 … so there is a pattern and I think we are right to stand with the United Kingdom and the government is taking a very strong stance. | |
| As to the identification of two Russian spies in the diplomatic ranks – and so quickly – Hawke said: | |
| The government takes advice from agencies … the advice has been received, we have great faith in our agencies, we have great faith in our security partners, and the advice of the activities of these individuals in Australia was clear to the government. | |
| Katharine Murphy reported on the marine park disallowance motion which the government forced onto the agenda late yesterday. Labor and the Greens failed to get the numbers, but can just put the motion forward again (with slightly different wording). | Katharine Murphy reported on the marine park disallowance motion which the government forced onto the agenda late yesterday. Labor and the Greens failed to get the numbers, but can just put the motion forward again (with slightly different wording). |
| From her report: | From her report: |
| The government moved to bring on debate about the disallowance motion on Tuesday night knowing that Labor and the Greens did not yet have the numbers to scuttle the management plans. | The government moved to bring on debate about the disallowance motion on Tuesday night knowing that Labor and the Greens did not yet have the numbers to scuttle the management plans. |
| Labor and the Greens in the Senate are a bloc of 35, so another four votes are required for the majority required for a successful disallowance. | Labor and the Greens in the Senate are a bloc of 35, so another four votes are required for the majority required for a successful disallowance. |
| Given Labor and the Greens lacked the numbers to land the disallowance, and had planned to build momentum between now and the budget session to help gather the requisite number of votes in the Senate, the government pulled a procedural tactic to bring on the vote. | Given Labor and the Greens lacked the numbers to land the disallowance, and had planned to build momentum between now and the budget session to help gather the requisite number of votes in the Senate, the government pulled a procedural tactic to bring on the vote. |
| It was a highly unusual move by the Coalition, effectively triggering a parliamentary process to disallow its own regulations. | It was a highly unusual move by the Coalition, effectively triggering a parliamentary process to disallow its own regulations. |
| Despite the motion being defeated in the Senate on Tuesday night, Labor and the Greens have the option of redrafting the disallowance and resubmitting it for consideration, which is likely to happen as soon as Wednesday. | |
| Meanwhile, the government is working to keep the conversation in the tax space – but focused on Labor. Malcolm Turnbull spent part of the morning chatting to retirees the government says will be impacted by what the government has branded Labor’s “retiree tax”. | |
| Bill Shorten and Labor are hoping to get the the conversation turned to health funding – the opposition leader will visit a hospital before parliament this morning. | |
| Andrew Leigh had a little to say this morning about the government’s pulling of the company tax legislation (for now) and what that means for the government’s momentum heading into the budget: | |
| I’m not sure if you mean the momentum of the Australian economy or the momentum of the Turnbull government, but frankly, both have stalled. We have Malcolm Turnbull now hitting 29 lost Newspolls, not Labor’s metric but the metric that he himself said that leaders should be judged by. We’ve also got the Australian economy struggling for momentum right now. We’ve had a year in which growth has been too sluggish, we’ve got consumer demand still in the doldrums. Part of the reason for that is that wage growth over the past two years under Malcolm Turnbull’s prime ministership has been just 4% while corporate profit growth has been 32%. If Malcolm Turnbull wasn’t so hellbent on cutting penalty rates, then we might see more of that consumer confidence flowing through. | |
| Because this is Canberra in autumn, there are hot-air balloons. Mike Bowers caught what was the view coming into work for a lot of us this morning. | |
| Overnight, it was the annual Rock the House event at parliament. Mike Bowers was there. John Paul Young’s Yesterday’s Hero went down quite the treat with Anne Aly, Stephen Jones and Claire O’Neil. | |
| But because this is still Australia, and there is nothing more sacred than sport, before getting to the Russian ambassador, Julie Bishop has weighed in on the cricket scandal. | But because this is still Australia, and there is nothing more sacred than sport, before getting to the Russian ambassador, Julie Bishop has weighed in on the cricket scandal. |
| (I am not a fan of adding -gate to things, because Watergate was the name of the hotel, not a new suffix, but I acknowledge it is a losing battle). | (I am not a fan of adding -gate to things, because Watergate was the name of the hotel, not a new suffix, but I acknowledge it is a losing battle). |
| Here is what she had to say to Sunrise this morning: | Here is what she had to say to Sunrise this morning: |
| While we have you, you’re expelling two Russians, are you going to let three cricketers back into the country? | While we have you, you’re expelling two Russians, are you going to let three cricketers back into the country? |
| Well, it is the right thing to send them home, and I’m glad that the culprits have admitted they were guilty of this act. | Well, it is the right thing to send them home, and I’m glad that the culprits have admitted they were guilty of this act. |
| It has brought Australian cricket into disrepute. | It has brought Australian cricket into disrepute. |
| It’s been raised with me on numerous occasions by foreign diplomats and ambassadors and other nations who were astounded that Australian cricketers would act in this way, after all it is Test cricket, and there is a high expectation that our players would act responsibly and respect each other and respect the game. | |
| Theresa May has made comment. Have you received any comment, say, from the South African embassy, its ambassador? | |
| During this week I attended an event with the ambassadors and high commissioners from almost all of the African countries, coincidentally, and you can imagine that it was raised by each and every one of them. | |
| So you’re being sledged in diplomatic circles? | So you’re being sledged in diplomatic circles? |
| Not personally, but on behalf of the country the disdain for the act has been brought home to me. As so many of them have said to me, it’s just not cricket. | Not personally, but on behalf of the country the disdain for the act has been brought home to me. As so many of them have said to me, it’s just not cricket. |
| Julie Bishop has been doing the rounds this morning, with the two Russian undeclared intelligence officers now having six days to leave the country. | Julie Bishop has been doing the rounds this morning, with the two Russian undeclared intelligence officers now having six days to leave the country. |
| The foreign affairs minister has also made it clear, after some confusion yesterday in response to a question, that Australia will not boycott the World Cup. She will meet Grigory Logvinov, the Russian ambassador, later today. Logvinov caused quite the stir walking through the press gallery late yesterday. He didn’t say a lot, but he did let us know he thought it was “a joke” that Australia believed two diplomats to be spies. | |
| Meanwhile, the government has had to eat a small slice of humble pie after failing to convince Tim Storer and Derryn Hinch to back its company tax cuts. Mathias Cormann had to head into the Senate late yesterday to announce the Coalition was two votes short and wouldn’t have the legislation passed before the Easter break. | |
| He has promised it will be back. But it will face the same problem – Storer and Hinch will have to be convinced. We know why Hinch was sceptical but we are yet to hear from South Australia’s newest senator. Given the pressure he has been under I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt the need to publicly explain why he couldn’t support the cuts today, now that the heat, at least for now, has been turned down. | |
| Mike Bowers has been out and about for hours, so I will bring you some of his best hits so far. You can find him hanging out with me on Instagram at @pyjamapolitics, or at @mpbowers. You’ll catch me lurking in the comments, and on Twitter at @amyremeikis. | |
| It’s the last question time for five weeks – and the last one before the budget on 8 May – so I hope you have had your coffee. I’m about to hunt down number three. | |
| Ready? Let’s go. | Ready? Let’s go. |