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| Coalition party room split over national energy guarantee – question time live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Andrew Wilkie has the crossbench question: | |
| The NDIS is obviously a great reform. With too many people trying to access the scheme hitting a bureaucratic brick wall. Problems staying in touch with the planner once you get it. And difficulties understanding the finished plan. Reasonable requests are too often denied and it is telling that the NDIS is spending millions of dollars a year to try and stop people getting funding through legal battles. Fights it is often losing. What will you do, Prime Minister? | |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| (After a few minutes of information we already know, about people who are not having trouble with the NDIS, which is basically the parliamentary equivalent of ‘whuddaboutery’) | |
| “As a nation, funding will increase to about $8 billion a year to $22 billion when it is rolled out. | |
| “... In response to that [I missed the name] review, the agency’s been developing and trialling a new model that requires more face-to-face time to ensure people are listened to and receive better quality plans and a more consistent point. | |
| Clare O’Neil to Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| Is the prime minister aware of ABC reports that Jessie, a barman, was left with just $98 in super after working for more than 12 years, as he was ripped off by dodgy businesses. Why is the prime minister rewarding dodgy businesses who have stolen their retirement savings from workers like Jesse [and giving them a tax deduction as well]? | |
| Turnbull: | |
| “In respect of the last part of her question, I refer her to the answer given a moment ago by the minister for revenue. The arrangements that the minister described are designed to ensure that employees get all of their money and the interest back. It is designed to ensure, it is a 12-month amnesty. | |
| Not to employees but providing the incentive to encouragement to bring forth their money and pay them to employees. It is designed to ensure that people like Jessie actually get what they deserve. | |
| That’s the goal of the change. That’s the first point. With respect to the honorable member’s reference to dodgy businesses, it is difficult to comment on that detail but I just would, other than to say, we are doing everything to ensure that Australian super is protected. The Productivity Commission report is being released today and be aware that the government, in anticipation of many of those concerns, already introduced legislation to support this, as I described earlier – banning exit fees, increasing the ability to reunite lost accounts. And making insurance through superannuation opt-in for members under the age of 25. | |
| Mr Speaker, in making this observation, I can add: in 2013, as ... part of the MySuper reforms, the Labor government repealed the standards, and those standards protect it ... The honourable member can shake her head that this may very well apply to Jessie. They protected accounts below $1,000 or accounts held in eligible rollover funds … requiring fees that do not exceed investment earnings. | |
| “Bloody” has been ruled unparliamentary language. | |
| I’m very glad the Speaker does not have my desk within earshot. | |
| Scott Morrison, giving his best impression of the pointed finger emoji, takes the next dixer. | |
| Kelly O’Dwyer takes the prime minister’s question: | |
| It is very clear that the government is not letting anybody off the hook from paying the superannuation guarantee entitlements that they ought to pay. Far from it. This government has put in place a mechanism to allow small and medium-sized businesses who otherwise have not paid superannuation guarantee entitlements to come forward, under an amnesty, and make good every single dollar, every single dollar, that they owe their workers. | |
| And why? Why are we doing this? We are doing this because we actually care about these superannuation entitlements of every single worker ... | |
| It is because on this side of the chamber we actually care about these superannuation savings of millions of Australians. | |
| Unlike those opposite, when the leader of the opposition, when the leader of the opposition was minister for financial services, he himself, with his changes, uncapped fees. He put, he put young Australians, those Australians under the age of 25, and low-income workers, into insurance arrangements that would cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement. | |
| He did this. Why? Maybe, maybe it was to support some of his mates in the superannuation sector. Maybe it was to do that. We have announced reforms, in our most recent, in our most recent budget, where we are reuniting people with their own money. $6 million to more more than 3 million Australians. We recognise the superannuation is not the government’s money, it is not the employer’s money, it is not the union’s money, and it is not Labor’s money, it is the member’s money. | |
| For anyone wondering about what Labor is talking about, it is this statement from Kelly O’Dwyer I popped into the blog last week: | |
| The Turnbull government is continuing to take action to ensure Australian workers are paid the superannuation entitlements that they are owed. | |
| Today the Turnbull government introduced legislation to complement the sweeping superannuation guarantee (SG) integrity package already before parliament by introducing a one-off, 12-month amnesty for historical underpayment of SG. | |
| The bill incentivises employers to come forward and do the right thing by their employees by paying any unpaid superannuation in full. | |
| Employers will not be off the hook – to use the amnesty they must pay all that is owing to their employees, including the high rate of nominal interest. However, the amnesty will make it easier to secure outstanding employee entitlements, by setting aside the penalties for late payment that are normally paid to the government by employers. | |
| Employers that do not take advantage of the one-off amnesty will face higher penalties when they are subsequently caught – in general, a minimum 50% on top of the SG charge they owe. In addition, throughout the amnesty period the ATO will still continue its usual enforcement activity against employers for those historical obligations they don’t own up to voluntarily. | |
| “The ATO estimates that, in 2014‑15, around $2.85 billion in SG payments went unpaid,” Minister O’Dwyer said. | |
| “While this represents a 95% compliance rate, any level of non-compliance is unacceptable, which is why the Turnbull government is giving the ATO the tools it needs to enforce compliance going forward.” | |
| “We are introducing this one-off amnesty to allow employers to wipe the slate clean and pay their workers what they’re owed. All Australians workers should be paid the entitlements they are owed.” | |
| The amnesty will run for 12 months from today. | |
| Today’s announcement builds on the government’s package of reforms to protect workers’ superannuation entitlements by: | |
| · Giving the ATO the ability to seek court-ordered penalties in cases where employers defy directions to pay their superannuation guarantee liabilities, including up to 12 months’ jail in the most egregious cases of non-payment; | |
| · Requiring superannuation funds to report contributions received more frequently, at least monthly, to the ATO. This will enable the ATO to identify non-compliance and take prompt action; | |
| · Bringing payroll reporting into the 21st century through the rollout of Single Touch Payroll (STP). Employers with 20 or more employees will transition to STP from 1 July 2018, with smaller employers coming on board from 1 July 2019. This will reduce the regulatory burden on business and transform compliance by aligning payroll functions with regular reporting of taxation and superannuation obligations; and | |
| · Improving the effectiveness of the ATO’s recovery powers, including strengthening director penalty notices and use of security bonds for high-risk employers, to ensure that unpaid superannuation is better collected by the ATO and paid to employees’ super accounts. | |
| The Treasury Laws Amendment (Superannuation 2018 Measures) bill 2018 also includes measures to streamline the SG system and support the integrity of superannuation tax system. | |
| The bill will allow employees with more than one employer to avoid inadvertent breaches of their concessional contribution cap from compulsory contributions by applying to the ATO for an exemption certificate for some of their employers. | |
| The bill will also ensure that the cap on tax-free retirement phase assets cannot be circumvented through the use of non-arm’s-length expenditure or certain strategies using limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBAs). | |
| Together, these measures reflect the Turnbull government’s ongoing commitment to a fair and sustainable superannuation system that delivers for all Australians. | |
| After all, your super is your money. | |
| Chris Bowen to Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| I refer the prime minister to his government’s own legislation, currently before the parliament. Is the prime minister even aware that it is now government policy to reward dodgy businesses who have robbed workers by failing to pay their superannuation for more than 25 years, by not only waving all penalties for the businesses but also giving them a tax deduction as well? | |
| Then into the first #deathtodixer | |
| (If you want the answer to this, what the government is planning to do about tax, go read a government press release.) | |
| Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| Can the prime minister please explain to the Australian people why it is government policy to forgive businesses who have illegally failed to pay the employee superannuation for over 25 years by waiving all penalties and rewarding them with tax deductions? | |
| Turnbull (after spending a few minutes talking about how Labor voted against the government’s multinational tax avoidance legislation): | |
| “We should not forget this ... that it was the leader of the opposition, when he was in government, they removed protections for people with low, ah, ah, ah, superannuation accounts. | |
| “He did. His legislation failed to protect people with low-balance superannuation accounts. A matter that is being addressed by the government’s superannuation reforms.” | |
| Stephen Jones is speaking just before question time – he’s talking about the decentralisation program, which he says is a failure – and has given what, to my ears, is the first utterance of “the $150,000 Man”. | |
| Everyone needs a legacy, I guess. | Everyone needs a legacy, I guess. |
| The Coalition party room has met, minus senators who are tied up in Estimates. Malcolm Turnbull spoke about the need to counter “Labor lies” and played down expectations for the upcoming byelections, by arguing that they are hard to win for governments. | |
| The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, made some interesting observations about China: | |
| The relationship with China is a very important relationship and we must manage it for our mutual benefit but we need to uphold our principles. That can lead to differences from time to time but those differences can be overstated.” | The relationship with China is a very important relationship and we must manage it for our mutual benefit but we need to uphold our principles. That can lead to differences from time to time but those differences can be overstated.” |
| It’s interesting in the context of Andrew Hastie’s intervention into the debate last week and shades of difference between ministers Marise Payne and Steven Ciobo over China’s activities in the South China Sea. | |
| In addition to the discussions about the national energy guarantee detailed below, Tony Abbott also raised Catholic school funding. Malcolm Turnbull responded that the review of the socio-economic status formula would help address that and the schools funding package introduced in 2017 increased funding. | |
| On the Neg, the energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, said that what will go to the Council of Australian Governments was consistent with what was discussed in the Coalition party room and after Coag legislation would come back to the party room. | |
| Although six MPs spoke up about energy, Frydenberg’s answer amounts to: no, there will be no relitigation of the Neg before it goes to the states. | Although six MPs spoke up about energy, Frydenberg’s answer amounts to: no, there will be no relitigation of the Neg before it goes to the states. |
| It is that time of day again! | It is that time of day again! |
| Question time is almost upon us. | Question time is almost upon us. |
| You know the drill – hit me up with your predictions. | You know the drill – hit me up with your predictions. |
| Australian politicians going global ... | Australian politicians going global ... |
| Uproar as Australia's former deputy PM plans to sell his story about having a love child with a former aide https://t.co/VRczuribaU pic.twitter.com/nddhU0qZCQ | Uproar as Australia's former deputy PM plans to sell his story about having a love child with a former aide https://t.co/VRczuribaU pic.twitter.com/nddhU0qZCQ |
| Before lunch the community affairs committee interrogated the government’s My Health Record scheme. Earlier this month the government revealed that from 16 July people will have a three-month window to opt-out of the scheme. After that period, a health record will automatically be created for all Australians.If people do not opt out, two years’ worth of pharmaceutical benefits scheme and Medicare data will be uploaded to the system. The chief executive of the Australian Digital Health Agency, Tim Kelsey, told the committee that an advertising campaign would run in newspapers, on television and on radio alerting people to the opt-out period. If people forget to opt-out they will automatically have two years of data uploaded at their next medical appointment, Kelsey says. | Before lunch the community affairs committee interrogated the government’s My Health Record scheme. Earlier this month the government revealed that from 16 July people will have a three-month window to opt-out of the scheme. After that period, a health record will automatically be created for all Australians.If people do not opt out, two years’ worth of pharmaceutical benefits scheme and Medicare data will be uploaded to the system. The chief executive of the Australian Digital Health Agency, Tim Kelsey, told the committee that an advertising campaign would run in newspapers, on television and on radio alerting people to the opt-out period. If people forget to opt-out they will automatically have two years of data uploaded at their next medical appointment, Kelsey says. |
| The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, asks about what would happen if someone is taken to an emergency department and is unable to consent to this occurring. Kelsey said that at the point of the patient being discharged a discharge sheet would be uploaded to the patient’s My Health Record and this would trigger an automatic upload of two years’ worth of data.But he tells Di Natale the patient can also retrospectively request to remove this data. The committee heard that patients will need to opt-out of having their data passed on to third parties, such as pharmaceutical companies for medical research. | The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, asks about what would happen if someone is taken to an emergency department and is unable to consent to this occurring. Kelsey said that at the point of the patient being discharged a discharge sheet would be uploaded to the patient’s My Health Record and this would trigger an automatic upload of two years’ worth of data.But he tells Di Natale the patient can also retrospectively request to remove this data. The committee heard that patients will need to opt-out of having their data passed on to third parties, such as pharmaceutical companies for medical research. |
| Barnaby Joyce has had a little bit of a longer chat to Greg Brown at the Australian earlier today, where he explains why he has accepted the money for the interview: | Barnaby Joyce has had a little bit of a longer chat to Greg Brown at the Australian earlier today, where he explains why he has accepted the money for the interview: |
| Remember there are other people in this interview, being Vikki and Seb, so if it was just an interview with me as a politician, sure, I am not going to charge for that. | Remember there are other people in this interview, being Vikki and Seb, so if it was just an interview with me as a politician, sure, I am not going to charge for that. |
| But that is not what they wanted, they wanted an interview obviously to get Vikki’s side of the story and, like most mothers, she said: ‘Seeing as I am being screwed over and there are drones and everything over my house in the last fortnight, paparazzi waiting for me, if everybody else is making money then [I am] going to make money out of it’. | But that is not what they wanted, they wanted an interview obviously to get Vikki’s side of the story and, like most mothers, she said: ‘Seeing as I am being screwed over and there are drones and everything over my house in the last fortnight, paparazzi waiting for me, if everybody else is making money then [I am] going to make money out of it’. |