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| Barnaby Joyce says if the Nationals leadership was offered he 'would take it' – politics live | Barnaby Joyce says if the Nationals leadership was offered he 'would take it' – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The result of the division to suspend standing orders is tied | |
| 71 to 71 | |
| Tony Smith uses his casting vote: usually it would be that the motion doesn’t have a majority and he wouldn’t create one, but he declares the motion to suspend standing orders lost without casting his vote, because it doesn’t have an absolute majority. | |
| A division is called. | |
| Unless someone from the government doesn’t turn up (hey, it’s happened before) the motion will fail. | |
| Which just means we will have more of the Melissa Price hour in question time tomorrow! | |
| Although don’t rule out a late ‘correction’ of the record | |
| And if you haven’t seen Anne Davies story on the Wentworth polling as yet: | |
| The Liberal party is in serious danger of losing the seat of Wentworth this weekend according to a new ReachTel poll that shows Liberal candidate Dave Sharma’s primary vote has slumped to 32.7%. The vote of high profile independent and local GP Kerryn Phelps has surged to 25.8%. | |
| Labor’s Tim Murray has also increased his share of the primary vote to 21.6%, compared with 19.5% in a ReachTel poll two weeks ago. The Greens’ Dominic Wy Kanak has 9.1% while independent Licia Heath has 5.6%. | |
| The poll commissioned by Greenpeace did not attempt to calculate the two-party preferred result but did ask about preferences. Ominously for the Liberals, the result is in line with their own internal polling reported in the Australian this morning. | |
| It had Sharma’s vote “in the mid 30s” and Phelps “well into the 20s”. | |
| Alex Turnbull has switched his support in the Wentworth race from Labor’s Tim Murray to independent Kerryn Phelps, saying it makes more sense: | |
| Ok so lets talk about strategic voting #auspol #wentworthvotes. Firstly there's a great book that summarizes the literature on this called Gaming the Vote by William Poundstone. You can find it here https://t.co/0A31Zo7xZ8 | |
| One of the key challenges of instant runoff or preferential voting is that you can get the "winner turns loser" and "center squeeze" phenomenons. Here's a section of the book below. pic.twitter.com/hKClFv6N3P | |
| So realistically if its tight, and the preference flows are as they are its better to vote for @drkerrynphelps if you want greater certainty of the Liberals not retaining the seat. However, if you want to virtue signal and not win, do your thing @Greens | |
| And if you vote for @Timpmurray be very sharp about your preferencing. | |
| Shockingly, the government is against the motion. | |
| Greg Hunt is speaking up for the government. He says he won’t be lecutured by the Labor party given its mistakes, including pink batts. | |
| “That’s not important” former President of Kiribati Anote Tong tells @jmodoh when he is asked about the alleged comments from Environment Minister @Melissa4Durack #auspol @SBSNews | |
| “I 100 % disagree with what he has said was the conversation,” Melissa Price told parliament about what she had said to the former president of Kiribati. | |
| Tony Burke said she has left herself “no wriggle room” now that the conversation has been confirmed, on the record, by others who were there. | |
| The motion: | |
| That the House: | |
| 1. notes: | |
| a) in the House today, the environment minister categorically denied reports that last night she said to the former president of Kiribati: “I know why you’re here. It is for the cash. For the Pacific it’s always about the cash. I have my chequebook here. How much do you want?”; | |
| b) however, multiple sources have confirmed to journalists that the minister did in fact say those words; | |
| c) the minister also told the House today during question time that only “a small amount of money” could be spent on administration under the government’s almost half a billion dollar Great Barrier Reef grant and that administration costs were capped at 5%; | |
| d) however, under the government’s grant agreement up to 10% of the entire grant can be spent on administration by the foundation itself and a further 10% of any grant money provided to subcontractors can be spent on administration as well. This means that more than $80m can be spent on administration; and | |
| e) immediately before providing this incorrect information, the minister was handed a note by the prime minister which she appeared to rely on during her answer when she falsely claimed that administration costs were capped at 5% – an amount $60m lower than what is the case; and | |
| 2. therefore, calls on the environment minister to: | |
| a) attend the House to correct her answers as she is required to do under the prime minister’s ministerial standards; and | |
| b) advise the House whether any of the incorrect information she provided was as a result of the note handed to her by the prime minister. | |
| Tony Burke has walked into the House of Reps in an effort to suspend standing orders over what Labor says is Melissa Price had “misleading” information. | |
| He is focusing on the wrong answer to the Great Barrier Reef fund. And wants to know if it had “anything to do” with the note Scott Morrison handed her, before she answered 5% to the question of – how much can the Great Barrier Reef Foundation spend on admin. | |
| Simon Birmingham told David Speers on Sky that the decision to have a discussion about moving our Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem had been agreed upon by cabinet. | Simon Birmingham told David Speers on Sky that the decision to have a discussion about moving our Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem had been agreed upon by cabinet. |
| “Yes,” he said in answer to Speers’s question on that. | “Yes,” he said in answer to Speers’s question on that. |
| On Tuesday, Scott Morrison seemed to suggest he would be talking to cabinet about it – because it was only a discussion, and not a change in policy: | On Tuesday, Scott Morrison seemed to suggest he would be talking to cabinet about it – because it was only a discussion, and not a change in policy: |
| So Australia, and I as prime minister, am open to that suggestion. What I’ll do in the months ahead is obviously confer with cabinet colleagues. I will obviously take the opportunity during the upcoming summit season to confer with other leaders around the world and gauge their perception about this and to make the case that Dave [Sharma] himself has made about whether this can actually provide an alternative way forward and aid the cause that I believe all of us are interested in pursuing. So, no decision has been made in regarding the recognition of a capital or the movement of an embassy, and I should be clear – those two things, they are the two issues. | |
| The Senate debate on removing discrimination law exemptions for religious schools is underway. | |
| The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, said Australians were “horrified” to learn religious schools can fire teachers and expel students on grounds of sexuality and gender, and this should be fixed. The government leader in the Senate, Mathias Cormann, confirmed the government will not support the bill, because it does not agree on removing the exemption for teachers. | |
| Labor senator Jacinta Collins also made some very interesting remarks about the need to respect the right of religious schools to be run in accordance with their beliefs, and parents to have their children educated “in accordance with their religious convictions”. | Labor senator Jacinta Collins also made some very interesting remarks about the need to respect the right of religious schools to be run in accordance with their beliefs, and parents to have their children educated “in accordance with their religious convictions”. |
| Collins said that schools expect teachers and staff to “respect the ethos, values and principles of the particular faith and not to act in ways that undermine schools’ mission”. | Collins said that schools expect teachers and staff to “respect the ethos, values and principles of the particular faith and not to act in ways that undermine schools’ mission”. |
| Collins said that while religious exemptions to discrimination law are “out of step with community expectations” legislators need to ensure that schools are “positively entitled to operate in accordance with their belief and mission”. While the Greens bill cures the former problem, it only “addresses one side of the equation” by doing nothing on the latter. | Collins said that while religious exemptions to discrimination law are “out of step with community expectations” legislators need to ensure that schools are “positively entitled to operate in accordance with their belief and mission”. While the Greens bill cures the former problem, it only “addresses one side of the equation” by doing nothing on the latter. |
| Here’s the kicker: | Here’s the kicker: |
| “We would also like to see in legislation a recognition that religious schools are entitled to require employees to act in their roles in a way that upholds the ethos and values of that faith; and this requirement can be taken into account when a person is first employed and in the course of their employment.” | “We would also like to see in legislation a recognition that religious schools are entitled to require employees to act in their roles in a way that upholds the ethos and values of that faith; and this requirement can be taken into account when a person is first employed and in the course of their employment.” |
| This sounds like Labor is giving a red light to discrimination on the grounds of sexuality but a green light to positively selecting people that uphold a school’s ethos. I’m seeking clarification on that, and how it might be achieved. | This sounds like Labor is giving a red light to discrimination on the grounds of sexuality but a green light to positively selecting people that uphold a school’s ethos. I’m seeking clarification on that, and how it might be achieved. |
| Labor, the Greens and enough of the crossbench are already against the government’s “life time ban” on Nauru and Manus Island asylum seekers to keep the bill in purgatory, but New Zealand is also against it. | |
| The New Zealand Herald reports foreign minister and sometimes acting prime minister Winston Peters says it would create two tiers of NZ citizenship, which, obviously, NZ is against. | |
| From the NZ Herald story: | From the NZ Herald story: |
| Peters said that would, in effect, create one group of New Zealand citizens that could travel and work in Australia, and another group that could not. | Peters said that would, in effect, create one group of New Zealand citizens that could travel and work in Australia, and another group that could not. |
| “We’re going to have to consider whether or not, as a result of our 2013 commitment (to offer to take 150 refugees from Nauru), we end up with people who are second-class citizens in New Zealand. | “We’re going to have to consider whether or not, as a result of our 2013 commitment (to offer to take 150 refugees from Nauru), we end up with people who are second-class citizens in New Zealand. |
| “Do we, in our endeavour to be humanitarian about it, end up with a substandard level of citizenship, which is not what this country is about?” | “Do we, in our endeavour to be humanitarian about it, end up with a substandard level of citizenship, which is not what this country is about?” |
| The Greens have attempted to strip the former governor general Peter Hollingworth of his pension, after survivors of institutional childhood abuse called for it because of how he handled abuse claims in the Anglican church. | |
| That part of the motion was defeated and Rachel Siewert said the Senate was “ignoring the wishes of survivors”. | That part of the motion was defeated and Rachel Siewert said the Senate was “ignoring the wishes of survivors”. |
| “While the Senate supported clauses a to c of my motion, including the clause expressing concern about the current situation, the key clause (d) calling for amendments to the Act were not supported by either of the major parties,” she said. | “While the Senate supported clauses a to c of my motion, including the clause expressing concern about the current situation, the key clause (d) calling for amendments to the Act were not supported by either of the major parties,” she said. |
| “Survivors have approached all parties and requested this change and we need to listen to them. | “Survivors have approached all parties and requested this change and we need to listen to them. |
| “It is deeply concerning that governors general who have lost the confidence of the public and may have acted illegally or brought the office into disrepute, should continue to receive government-funded payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. | “It is deeply concerning that governors general who have lost the confidence of the public and may have acted illegally or brought the office into disrepute, should continue to receive government-funded payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. |
| “The Greens will introduce a private members bill to amend the governors general act. | |
| “I will continue to work with the community on this issue.” | |