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Version 14 Version 15
Not into ‘bunch of meetings’: Scott Morrison defends cancelling Coag Peter Dutton misled parliament over au pairs, inquiry finds – politics live
(35 minutes later)
This is why Ian Macdonald and Eric Abetz don’t believe the report’s findings:
This inquiry has been a farcical and shambolic witch-hunt that, despite the hyperbolic majority report, has come up with nothing except findings that mirror the Labor Party’s initial talking points which actually fall outside the Terms of Reference of this inquiry.
Despite Labor Senators constant changing of the goal posts in order to try and locate a smoking gun, the extensive hearings show that not only is there no smoking gun, there is in fact no gun.The undisputed evidence provided to the Committee was very clear:
The evidence has disclosed no instances of inappropriate conduct by the Minister for Home Affairs as has been so recklessly alleged by Labor and Green Senators. The findings listed in the Committee Report are unsustainable
That of the 24 subclass 600 interventions signed by Minister Dutton, only two (the already publicised Brisbane and Adelaide cases) related to au pairs;[1]
In both of these cases, the Minister accepted the Department’s recommendation to grant a short-term visitor visa to the two individuals involved;[2]
That neither the Minister nor his office had any contact with the Department on either the Brisbane or Adelaide cases, other than through the usual channel of the Departmental Liaison Officer;[3]
That no additional costs were incurred by the Department on the two cases;[4] and
The Minister acted within Ministerial Intervention powers as prescribed under the Migration Act 1958 and the Department’s Guidelines for Ministerial Intervention.
Adam Bandt is one of the first lower house MPs out of the blocks to respond to the Senate report:
Peter Dutton has misled Parliament over the au pair scandal and the Senate inquiry report confirms this. If he won’t resign, the Parliament should take matters into its own hands.”
Eric Abetz and Ian Macdonald do not agree with the majority report. They have issued a dissenting report, where they conclude the Senate should:
The Minister for Home Affairs be commended for his prudent and diligent work as a minister
Mr Quaedvlieg’s correspondence be referred to the privileges committee and be considered as to whether privilege should apply to these documents; and
The Minister for Home Affairs ignore the majority report’s findings.
And what do they recommend?
That the government strengthen the minister’s tabling statements to parliament on ministerial interventions, by requiring the minister’s statements to declare whether or not each ministerial intervention was made in accordance with the ministerial guidelines.
The committee recommends that the Senate consider censuring the Minister for Home Affairs (the hon Peter Dutton MP) for the actions examined in this report, when he was the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, for failing to observe fairness in making official decisions as required by the Statement of Ministerial Standards
That the minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs provide, within three sitting days, an explanation to the Senate responding to the matters raised in this report.
The committee (except for the Coalition senators) has found:
It is the view of the committee that Minister Dutton had a clear personal connection and existing relationship with the intended employer of the au pair in the Brisbane case. Given his definitive answer in the House of Representatives, it is the view of the committee the minister misled Parliament in relation to this matter.
It is the view of the committee that Minister Dutton acted expeditiously in using his ministerial intervention powers to grant a tourist visa to the au pair in the Adelaide case. Whilst the use of these powers is within his rights as the relevant minister, the committee recognises this request for intervention may not have come to the attention of Minister Dutton prior to the individual’s removal from Australia if it was not for the fact it was raised through personal connections. Minister Dutton appears to have failed to give consideration to the damage to public confidence in the integrity of the immigration system that his actions could cause and, at best, reflects very poor judgement on the part of the minister.
In the Adelaide case, Minister Dutton signed the intervention documents despite acting ministerial arrangements being in place. No evidence presented assured the committee that there were any reasons why Minister Dutton signed the ministerial intervention in the Adelaide case rather than acting Minister Keenan, heightening perceptions that Minister Dutton acted due to a personal interest.
It is the view of the committee that substantial inconsistencies in evidence provided by the department during the course of the inquiry leaves significant doubt as to whether all relevant ministerial interventions have been captured by the inquiry.
Given the broad powers of the immigration minister, any perception of conflict of interest or corruption in relation to the use of ministerial intervention powers is detrimental to the integrity of Australia’s immigration system. While these powers are intended to ensure legitimate cases of humanitarian need or public interest can be addressed, Minister Dutton’s interventions in these au pair cases do not reflect community expectations of how such powers should be used.
At best, Minister Dutton’s actions have resulted in a perception, if not an actual, conflict of interest. To ensure transparent and accountable decisions, the government should give serious consideration to strengthening the minister’s statement to parliament, requiring the minister’s statement to declare that the ministerial intervention was made in accordance with the ministerial guidelines, thereby maintaining community confidence in the integrity of Australia’s immigration system.
You can find the whole report – including the Coalition senator’s dissenting report – here.
Louise Pratt: “I can’t think of all the extraordinary humanitarian cases which require intervention, but this is an extraordinary level of service provided by the minister’s office which underscores the minister’s [personal involvement]”.
“There is no basis for the minister to say he had no personal connection, when the very genesis of the request came through his office because of a personal connection,” Louise Pratt says.
She said the committee has found (I would imagine there is a dissenting report) that it has undermined the integrity of the immigration department.
Given how strong Pratt’s language is here, I think we will be seeing a no confidence motion coming the parliament’s way.
“It is the view of the committee that the minister misled the parliament in this matter,” Louise Pratt says, in handing down the report.
The Senate is receiving the Peter Dutton report as I type this.
The Greens have released this statement:The Greens have released this statement:
The Senate has today ordered the government to table the Ruddock review by 9.30am Thursday, after a passing a motion from the Australian Greens.The Senate has today ordered the government to table the Ruddock review by 9.30am Thursday, after a passing a motion from the Australian Greens.
Greens LGBTIQ+ spokesperson Janet Rice said: “LGBTIQ+ communities have been left in the lurch for months awaiting the release of this report. Our rights are at stake and we’re being kept in the dark.Greens LGBTIQ+ spokesperson Janet Rice said: “LGBTIQ+ communities have been left in the lurch for months awaiting the release of this report. Our rights are at stake and we’re being kept in the dark.
“Scott Morrison’s recent anti-LQBTIQ+ comments have ignited fear in our communities that the government is planning to wind back the laws which protect LGBTIQ+ people from discrimination.“Scott Morrison’s recent anti-LQBTIQ+ comments have ignited fear in our communities that the government is planning to wind back the laws which protect LGBTIQ+ people from discrimination.
“We need to know to what extent he is planning to further discriminate against everyday LGBTIQ+ Australians in order to shore up the support of powerful religious institutions.”“We need to know to what extent he is planning to further discriminate against everyday LGBTIQ+ Australians in order to shore up the support of powerful religious institutions.”
Greens justice spokesperson Nick McKim said:Greens justice spokesperson Nick McKim said:
“The prime minister has already has made it clear that he has plans to dismantle anti-discrimination laws.“The prime minister has already has made it clear that he has plans to dismantle anti-discrimination laws.
“The far right lost the marriage equality debate and now they want revenge and are going to try to entrench discrimination in other parts of society.“The far right lost the marriage equality debate and now they want revenge and are going to try to entrench discrimination in other parts of society.
“We will fight them every step of the way.”“We will fight them every step of the way.”
Feel free to pass this on to anyone you know who it could interest. It is very easy to be cynical about politics, but it’s the most important thing in the world and we keep trying to make it better – and generation Z have a pretty good chance of making that happen:Feel free to pass this on to anyone you know who it could interest. It is very easy to be cynical about politics, but it’s the most important thing in the world and we keep trying to make it better – and generation Z have a pretty good chance of making that happen:
Speaker of the House Tony Smith has officially launched the 2018 My First Speech competition. This year's judging panel will be @ChrisCrewtherMP, @KateEllisMP, @AdamBandt and, in a first for the competition, Mr Speaker himself! Enter at https://t.co/2yDd2dYU8k pic.twitter.com/wM0d3cnwt2Speaker of the House Tony Smith has officially launched the 2018 My First Speech competition. This year's judging panel will be @ChrisCrewtherMP, @KateEllisMP, @AdamBandt and, in a first for the competition, Mr Speaker himself! Enter at https://t.co/2yDd2dYU8k pic.twitter.com/wM0d3cnwt2
The senate inquiry report into Peter Dutton’s au pair decision is due to be handed down very soon - we are keeping an eye on the committee website for you.The senate inquiry report into Peter Dutton’s au pair decision is due to be handed down very soon - we are keeping an eye on the committee website for you.
"Reports of my political death are greatly exaggerated. I am very much politically alive and kicking" - @TonyAbbottMHR on protest votes at his pre-selection #auspol
“I’ve got leftwing branches in my conference, I’ve got conservative branches in my conference ... and some of them [the left] were attached to the former prime minister,” he says.
He says that the votes for the empty chair were in response to that and “that is understandable”.
From the prime minister’s office:
Over the past few days, we have seen a very distressing series of events unfold relating to tampering with strawberries, particularly out of Queensland. This is a shocking and cowardly thing to do.
The Liberal-National government is acting to increase the penalties on the cowards who commit these crimes.
Our priorities are to keep Australians safe and support the farmers whose livelihoods have been put at risk.
We are announcing:
$1m to make more food safety officials urgently available to increase detection, fast-track recalls and assist the strawberry industry to rebuild confidence.
An increase to the penalty for existing offences relating to the contamination of goods. These offences currently carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Given the seriousness of the offences, this penalty is not high enough. The changes we are making elevate the offence, in terms of penalties, from one similar to forgery or theft of commonwealth property (which carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison), to one akin to possession of child pornography or funding a terrorist organisation (which attract penalties of up to 15 years imprisonment).
New offences of being reckless as to whether this type of conduct will cause harm, which will carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
For the most serious cases that have national security implications, we will amend the commonwealth sabotage offences to ensure that sabotage of Australia’s food supply is captured by the sabotage offences. The penalties range between 7 and 25 years imprisonment.
The government will introduce its new criminal legislation tomorrow.
These actions reflect the seriousness with which the government views the current threats against Australian industry and, in particular, the livelihoods of growers, communities, towns and whole regions.
This government remains committed to working closely with industry, and state and territory law enforcement agencies to ensure that we protect Australian consumers and protect our farmers.
Families need to have the assurance that the Australian produce they are buying is safe for their kids.
The prime minister is having a chat to Miranda Devine as part of her Miranda Devine Live show this afternoon.
I missed this yesterday – but the Manly Daily, Tony Abbott’s local paper, had an interview with the former prime minister regarding the empty chair challenge, and when it comes to the insurgency against him, he blames, well, I’ll let him tell you:
Tony Abbott has taken aim at members of his own electoral conference who voted against his endorsement for the 2019 election labelling them a ‘small minority of ultra-leftists’.
Ultra. Leftists. In the Liberal party’s northern beaches.
2018 just keeps bringing all of the gifts.
The first instalment of a $30m handout to Foxtel by the Coalition was spent on 12 sports that were previously shown on the pay TV carrier and that include men’s rugby league, a freedom of information request from Fairfax Media has revealed.
The $30m windfall for Foxtel was meant to “support the broadcast of underrepresented sports on subscription television, including women’s sports, niche sports, and sports with a high level of community involvement and participation” when it was announced in the 2016 budget.
But the $7.5m allocated for the 2017-18 financial year was used to screen the AFL, soccer, rugby union, rugby league, cycling, lawn bowls, surfing, Ironman, surf lifesaving, cricket, basketball and hockey, some of which are already seen on free-to-air.
There has been very little explanation from either Foxtel or the government about how the subscription broadcaster will use the funds or why they were allocated.
An earlier freedom of information request by the ABC revealed there was no paperwork to explain why the government had given the funds to Foxtel.
Laura Jayes from Sky just raised the point that the deputy prime minister and leader of the Nationals – you know, the party which mostly represents farmers in this place – was not beside Scott Morrison when he made the strawberry contamination crackdown announcement.
He’s not in the videos either.
The Australian Berry Force is on the case:
Sabotaging our strawberries is sabotaging our farmers. It’s not right. It’s not on. It's a crime. pic.twitter.com/2B9TTg9JOf
So I guess the takeaway from that is meetings are dumb, but summits are cool.
Scott Morrison, continuing his new tradition of telling us exactly how many questions we have suffered through, tells us today, 23 is enough, and calls an end to today’s torture.
Tony Burke to Scott Morrison:
Why won’t the prime minister fulfil the commitment he made to the house last week and say whether or not the minister for home affairs excuse himself from discussions on childcare?
Morrison:
Once again, I refer to the statement by the minister on 13 September, where he said he complied with the requirements under the cabinet handbook and I take advice in relation to this position which puts the question beyond doubt.
The cabinet handbook is a public document. Here it is, quite straightforward; the wording is quite clear. It does not say whatever the opposition wants it to say to suit the political purposes they try to pursue in this parliament.
I have nothing further to report on that matter, Mr Speaker. It has been absolutely cleared up and I am happy for the matter to rest.
EXTREME Jonathan Van Ness voice (from Queer Eye) “But has it? Because...I don’t think it has, hunny.”