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Government shuts down parliament amid leadership crisis – politics live | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Scott Morrison, Christopher Pyne and Nola Marino have just left the prime minister’s office, our reporter Gareth Hutchens tells us. | |
Important movements ahead of the party room showdown. Morrison is being positioned as a challenger. Pyne is key in the Turnbull camp. Marino is the chief government whip, and is responsible for planning the meeting. | |
The dollar has wobbled a bit thanks to the shenanigans in Canberra. It has been holding fairly steady at US73c but dipped below that mark today to sit at US72.9c. | |
This tweeted chart from CommSec makes it look quite dramatic but it is worth noting that it is higher today than it was last Friday (US72.6c), despite four days of Canberra carnage. | |
Leadership uncertainty in Canberra is driving Aussie dollar weakness, #AUDUSD falling to 72.9 US cents Image #Bloomberg #ausbiz #fx pic.twitter.com/MFKy5tpgtW | |
It’s a similar story on the local stock market where it’s probably fair to say that investors are more concerned about what happens to the government in the White House. | |
The benchmark ASX200 is down slightly – 0.2%. | |
I have no evidence that Malcolm Turnbull has vacated the contest yet. | |
We can only know these things minute by minute, but I just want to put this out there: I have no evidence as of this moment that the prime minister has given way for either of the challengers – Dutton obviously and, putatively, Morrison. | |
The impression I get from moderates is Turnbull is still on the grid. I have not confirmed that Morrison is a definite starter. I know others have, but I haven’t. The treasurer clearly wants to run but as of this moment (and I stress that is all that can be known) – things are still fluid. | |
It’s been a whirlwind couple of days. Just to recap, these are the ministers we know have resigned so far. | |
finance minister, Mathias Cormann | |
trade minister, Steve Ciobo | |
health minister, Greg Hunt | |
jobs minister, Michaelia Cash | |
law enforcement minister, Angus Taylor | |
communications minister, Mitch Fifield | |
multicultural affairs minister, Alan Tudge | |
human services minister, Michael Keenan | |
assistant science minister, Zed Seselja | |
assistant treasurer, Michael Sukkar | |
assistant minister to the prime minister, James McGrath | |
international development minister, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells | |
The telling blow for Turnbull was, of course, the loss of Cormann, Cash, and Fifield, all at once. Cormann in particular takes significant numbers with him. Once those three abandoned Turnbull, they set off a chain reaction. We watched more junior ministers (Ciobo, Taylor, Tudge, Keenan) resign quite quickly afterwards. | |
Greens staffer Tim Beshara has pointed out that adjourning parliament is not unprecedented: | |
For the record, during the Simon Crean leadership attempt, Labor adjourned the House to have a leadership ballot at 4.19PM and the Libs supported the adjournment. https://t.co/uOtANas3fy | |
In March 2013 parliament was also adjourned when Simon Crean forced Julia Gillard to call a spill, where she was unanimously re-elected. However, the house was adjourned at 4:19pm, after Question Time so it looks like there was considerably less fuss about it because proceedings had basically finished anyway before an adjournment debate scheduled for 4:30pm. | |
Christopher Pyne, the manager of opposition business at the time, was quite magnanimous about it: | |
Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, due to the unusual circumstances of today the opposition has offered to not proceed with the adjournment debate at half past four to allow the House to adjourn so the Labor party can either choose a new leader or reaffirm their support of Prime Minister Gillard. It is a generous act by the opposition but we understand the terrible circumstances the government faces and we wish to facilitate an opportunity for them to vote on a new leader. | |
There you have it. The house has voted to adjourn. Parliament is done for another two weeks, at least. | |
They’ve won 70-68. | |
We only just crept past midday. | |
The house will now be adjourned until 10 September. Labor are yelling abuse at the government. | |
One Nationals MP has confirmed they’ll vote with the Liberals to adjourn parliament. | |
“Give the Libs time to go and sort their shit out,” the MP said. | |
Leader of the house Christopher Pyne talks to the manager of opposition business Tony Burke before the government moved to adjourn the house @knausc @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/75jPvHwjDT | |
While we wait for this vote, let’s think about the likely candidates in the ballot. Sky News is continuing to report that Scott Morrison will put his hand up. So Morrison versus Dutton. | |
There was suggestion that Kelly O’Dwyer, a moderate, would run as Morrison’s deputy. | |
Our political editor Katharine Murphy has confirmed that O’Dwyer will not run as deputy. | |
Just for the record, Kelly O'Dwyer is NOT running for deputy on a Morrison ticket. If there's a ticket, Julie Bishop will run as deputy #auspol @knausc | |
Our reporter Gareth Hutchens has just watched Julie Bishop, Scott Morrison, and Malcolm Turnbull walk to the house for the vote. | |
Plibersek challenges the government to call an election. | Plibersek challenges the government to call an election. |
We are witnessing history being made today, because this house divided cannot stand, and given that we know that this house divided cannot stand, the only solution, the only solution, is for whoever the prime minister is right now to drive out to the governor-general and to let the people of Australia decide. Let the people of Australia decide whether they want a government focused only on itself | |
Christopher Pyne gets to his feet, looking resigned, and moves the motion to adjourn parliament regardless. A division is required. | Christopher Pyne gets to his feet, looking resigned, and moves the motion to adjourn parliament regardless. A division is required. |