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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2018/aug/20/turnbull-dutton-leadership-energy-nationals-politics-live
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| Malcolm Turnbull to face media as leadership rumours swirl – politics live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Peter Dutton is still the home affairs minister, so Shayne Neumann has responded to this story, with this statement: (just a reminder as you read this, that last week Labor voted with the government on Dutton’s bill to reverse the Ashmore reef decision through legislation: | |
| Labor is seriously concerned by reports regarding the health and welfare of children in the Australian-funded regional processing centre on Nauru. | |
| Peter Dutton has been the minister responsible for Australian-funded regional processing centres for over three-and-a-half years and must immediately address his ongoing failures. | |
| Today, Labor has written to Peter Dutton again, urging him to accept New Zealand’s offer to resettle eligible refugees from Manus and Nauru – so that they, including children, are resettled as quickly as possible. | |
| Nauru and Manus Island were set up as temporary regional processing centres but have become places of indefinite detention because of the out-of-touch Turnbull government’s failure to negotiate other third-country resettlement options. | |
| Labor strongly believes that medical transfers for refugees and children in Australian-funded offshore regional processing centres should be made available when a treatment is not available on island and where treatment is recommended by appropriate medical practitioners. | |
| If the Turnbull government was able to negotiate appropriate conditions for the US refugee resettlement agreement to prevent people smugglers exploiting vulnerable people, they should be able to negotiate similar appropriate conditions for any deal with New Zealand. | |
| It has been 16 months since the report of the Labor-initiated Senate inquiry following the leaked Nauru files and Peter Dutton has failed to act on these reasonable recommendations to address concerns held by the wider Australian community. | |
| Peter Dutton’s unwillingness to implement, or even respond to, the recommendations set out in the report is unreasonable and irresponsible – especially when it comes to the health and welfare of refugees and children. | |
| If Peter Dutton is too distracted by his leadership ambitions to address his failure to manage Australian-funded regional processing centres or negotiate other third-country resettlement options, it’s time for Malcolm Turnbull to step in and clean up his minister’s mess. | |
| The press conference Murph just mentioned is to be held in the Blue Room - which, as regular readers of Politics Live would know, is the second most fancy of the ‘serious’ press conference locations at Parliament House. | |
| Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg will be joining the Malcolm Turnbull at the press conference. We can expect at least two flags. | |
| The conventional wisdom currently circulating in the building | |
| Just a quick snapshot of where things are said to be at. I say said to be at because in this environment, things can and do change quickly. | |
| We expect the PM to speak to reporters at 10am. The Coalition party room meeting, due tomorrow, has not been brought forward as yet (so whatever the PM announces is in advance of that procedural sign off). | |
| People expect that the PM will unveil the package to lower power prices. Along with the price components, several of my contacts are telling me the package could include a power to force AGL to divest the Liddell coal plant. There is also some talk that the emissions component of the national energy guarantee will be junked altogether – but I stress this is what’s circulating in the building, rather than something I can, at this point, absolutely confirm. | |
| As they say in our business, more to come. | |
| Last week, it was Taylor Swift, this week, our politicians are taking Beyoncé’s name in vain. This from Murray Watt: | |
| This government has been in power for five years. They have been unable to come up with an energy policy that brings down emissions and brings down power prices – and Australians have paid the cost. | |
| We don’t know what this government stands for when it comes to energy policy. Malcolm Turnbull is changing his energy policy more often than Beyoncé changes her costumes. | |
| I have every confidence that all of the reports we are seeing this morning about what is going to be in this energy policy will have changed by morning tea, and they will have changed again by lunchtime. | |
| Australians are sick of the constant changes from this government about energy policy. Prices keep on going up, every day that this government remains locked in division. | |
| We should have known it would be Labor who invoked Beyoncé though. She literally sings “to the left, to the left”. | |
| “We’ve got a great story and we need to tell it better,” Darren Chester says, echoing every single MP in the history of bad government polls. | |
| We are now getting mentions of “the real world”. | |
| So things are going fabulous. | |
| “In the real world, people are focused on real outcomes,” he says. | |
| “I think Malcom Turnbull will definitely last the week and I think Malcolm Turnbull will last all the way to the next election and will win it,” says Nationals MP Darren Chester on Sky. | |
| It is probably also worth pointing out, given that the Liberal party doesn’t have a national structure and is run as separate entities under the one umbrella within each state, that Peter Dutton was quite visible during the Longman byelection and active within the campaign. And the LNP still saw its primary vote drop to 30%. | |
| Peter Dutton will not necessarily ‘save the furniture’ in Queensland. A lot of people there are just sick and tired of the government as a whole and want change. Many of the seats in danger are those held by the Nats, and a shift to Dutton won’t necessarily change those minds either. In WA, where quite a few Liberal MPs are also in trouble, including cabinet ministers, Dutton is not a magic pill either. | |
| And that is before we even consider the seat redistribution, which gives Labor a heads up before we even hear the starting gun go off. | |
| With the very strong caveat that there is not even official numbers being counted (it’s more the vibe of the whole thing), a few people have asked about the process in a Liberal party leadership spill. | |
| Luckily, we have plenty in recent history to look back at to remind us. | |
| Any member of the Liberal party (remember, Nationals don’t get a vote) can call the spill in the party room meeting. Someone has to second it. Then the motion is moved, with a majority of the room voting for the motion. If that is successful, the leadership is declared vacant and then people nominate for the top spot. If one person nominates without challenge, winner, winner chicken dinner. If there is more than one nominee, then the vote is called on and, at my rough count (correct me if I am wrong, numbers are not exactly my thing) there are 84 Liberal party members in the parliament, which means someone has to get at least 42 votes to win. | |
| In the Senate, Mehreen Faruqi will be sworn in as the first order of business. | In the Senate, Mehreen Faruqi will be sworn in as the first order of business. |
| Then there is a bunch of private senators’ business, with government business – the company tax cut bill – not up until after 12. | |
| Jim Molan’s latest position on the Neg comes after he received a shellacking from Peta Credlin on Sky over his support for the Neg last week. | Jim Molan’s latest position on the Neg comes after he received a shellacking from Peta Credlin on Sky over his support for the Neg last week. |
| Molan said then he supported the whole package, which was more than just the Neg, while still standing against the Paris agreement. | Molan said then he supported the whole package, which was more than just the Neg, while still standing against the Paris agreement. |
| Credlin repeatedly questioned him over how he could be against Paris but for the Neg. | Credlin repeatedly questioned him over how he could be against Paris but for the Neg. |
| And now, here we are. | And now, here we are. |
| Liberal senator Jim Molan has posted a Facebook video noting that the national energy guarantee has “changed significantly” since last week and setting what seems to be a very difficult test for his support.He said: | Liberal senator Jim Molan has posted a Facebook video noting that the national energy guarantee has “changed significantly” since last week and setting what seems to be a very difficult test for his support.He said: |
| Good morning, I’d like to talk to you for a minute about the government’s energy policy. I will spend today assessing my personal position on energy policy. I expressed support last week on Neg plus plus plus plus and plus in the party room but also expressed my concerns. It would appear from media reports that the policy has now changed significantly, that it’s a very fluid situation and I can only go by media reports. I owe it to the leadership of the Coalition to give them time to tell me exactly what the new policy is, then I will make my mind up in relation to it. If media reports are to be trusted, the changes that are being mooted don’t go to the concerns that I have. The concerns that I still have are: whether our energy policy is necessary; whether it will achieve any effect on climate; and whether the cost will be worth it. | Good morning, I’d like to talk to you for a minute about the government’s energy policy. I will spend today assessing my personal position on energy policy. I expressed support last week on Neg plus plus plus plus and plus in the party room but also expressed my concerns. It would appear from media reports that the policy has now changed significantly, that it’s a very fluid situation and I can only go by media reports. I owe it to the leadership of the Coalition to give them time to tell me exactly what the new policy is, then I will make my mind up in relation to it. If media reports are to be trusted, the changes that are being mooted don’t go to the concerns that I have. The concerns that I still have are: whether our energy policy is necessary; whether it will achieve any effect on climate; and whether the cost will be worth it. |
| I’d like to talk to you about the Government’s energy policy. #auspol #energy https://t.co/DuqSTuRpSI | I’d like to talk to you about the Government’s energy policy. #auspol #energy https://t.co/DuqSTuRpSI |
| Mehreen Faruqi will be sworn into the Senate a little later this morning. | Mehreen Faruqi will be sworn into the Senate a little later this morning. |
| Faruqi is replacing Lee Rhiannon for the Greens. | Faruqi is replacing Lee Rhiannon for the Greens. |
| Just a reminder: Tony Abbott signed Australia up to the Paris agreement. | Just a reminder: Tony Abbott signed Australia up to the Paris agreement. |
| Tony Abbott was the prime minister when the budget was handed down which offered the states a slice of a $5bn “asset recycling fund” to build infrastructure in exchange for selling off their power assets. | Tony Abbott was the prime minister when the budget was handed down which offered the states a slice of a $5bn “asset recycling fund” to build infrastructure in exchange for selling off their power assets. |
| It is now Abbott arguing for Australia to dump Paris. And Abbott who is saying “we must do something” to keep Liddell open. | It is now Abbott arguing for Australia to dump Paris. And Abbott who is saying “we must do something” to keep Liddell open. |
| Anyone spotting the common dominator here? | Anyone spotting the common dominator here? |