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Scott Morrison says he won't 'horse-trade' with Labor on asylum seekers – question time live Scott Morrison questioned over 'disastrous performance' in Wentworth byelection – question time live
(35 minutes later)
Mark Dreyfus to Scott Morrison:
In Question Time, the Prime Minister told the House “I came to this position of leadership not seeking it in support of the previous Prime Minister.” Does he stand by that answer, given the member for Warringah has told journalist David Speers that the now-prime minister “part his half a dozen votes into the prime ministership, manoeuvring to bring on the spill and then harvest Turnbull votes to get the top job”?
Is the reason why the Prime Minister won’t explain why Malcolm Turnbull deposed was because he was up to his neck in it?”
Christopher Pyne pipes up that Morrison is not responsible for the comments of Tony Abbott.
Tony Burke tries again, but Tony Smith is having none of it, and the question is ruled out of order.
All that does is inflict an Angus Taylor dixer on us earlier than it usually would be infliected on us, so really, there are no winners here.
Michael McCormack gets the next dixer, and apparently, being told you are almost about to lose your job has actually IMPROVED how he reads these answers.
I mean, it is still not great, and there are backbenchers behind him still asking for water, texting and passing papers to each other, but no one is turning to watch the paint peel off the wall.
It’s like how you would treat the substitute teacher you know, rather than just the one who rocks up out of the blue.
Susan Lamb gets a question.
It’s to Scott Morrison:
Can the Prime Minister confirm reports that he’s asked Malcolm Turnbull to come out of retirement to represent the Australian government at an international summit on oceans this week?”
Morrison:
Mr Turnbull will lead the Australian delegation at the next Our Ocean Conference in Bali on October 29 to 30 of 2018. He was personally invited to attend that originally by the Indonesian President.
It was the subject of our discussions when I met with the Indonesian President, President Widodo.
I was unable to follow through on that invitation and so, to ensure that we had very senior-level representation - which was well-received by the President of Indonesia - I did request the former prime minister to represent us at that conference, and he’ll be there representing the policies of our government.
Mr Speaker, in that capacity, I think he presents a very serious, a very senior, and a very duly recognised status of our relationship with Indonesia, and I know that his attendance at that summit will be well-recognised and appreciated by President Widodo, and I thank him for representing Australia on that occasion.”
A friend in America, interested in what it is we do down here, has begun listening to question time, and just sent me a video of what it sounds like to her, and honestly, I don’t think I have seen anything more accurate:
Lynx are experts at arguing 😳
A post shared by The Dodo (@thedodo) on Oct 22, 2018 at 12:48pm PDT
Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison:
Wait, it is interrupted for Christopher Pyne to get in trouble by the Speaker, for what sounds like being Christopher Pyne.
We return to Bowen’s question:
A week before the Wentworth by-election, the Prime Minister warned that a hung parliament would cause “uncertainty” in our economy. Does the Prime Minister stand by this statement? If not, why does the Prime Minister always say one thing before an election, and something completely different after the election?
Morrison:
“The Shadow Treasurer may not be aware that, following the weekend’s results, the ANZ consumer confidence index actually fell over the course of the weekend, and the ANZ economists attributed that result to the uncertainty that resulted from the election result on the weekend.”
The House goes a bit mental, because Morrison has seemingly, just admitted that losing Wentworth has created an uncertain economy.
He continues:
“..the outcome and uncertainty of the election on the weekend did produce a - Mr Speaker, it did produce the result that I indicated that it would.
... Now, that said, the government that we have been part of - and particularly over the last eight weeks, we have been effectively in the position of a minority government ever since that time. (Because Kevin Hogan became the Clayton’s crossbencher)
And in that time, we have worked constructively with those on the crossbench to deal with legislation, to get measures through.
We’ve passed small business tax cuts, Mr Speaker. We’ve passed important legislation to protect our strawberry farmers.
We’ve passed legislation every single day we have been in here, and we have been getting on with the job of government. Now, we will continue to do that.
The business as usual of our government of getting things done will continue. And that business as usual means more jobs, it means lower taxes, it means lower electricity prices.
It means ensuring that we pay for affordable medicines. It means that retaining our AAA credit rating. It means a stronger economy that guarantees the essential services that Australians rely on.
That’s what we’re getting on with. The leader of the Labor Party is stuck in the Canberra bubble.”
We are back to more dixers that should just be a press release.
So while Scott Morrison helps drain what is left of my will to keep typing, a big thank-you to reader Cressida for the small plaque she sent us – for surviving dixers that should have been a press release.
We appreciate it.
#deathtodixers
Tanya Plibersek to Scott Morrison:
Just before my question, can I add my words of support to acknowledge what an important day yesterday was.
My question is to the prime minister: On Sky News this morning, when asked why Malcolm Turnbull was no longer prime minister, the minister for defence industry said it was “because Malcolm Turnbull couldn’t sell the government’s message.”
Is this why the government … deposed Malcolm Turnbull and installed “the advertising guy” as prime minister? And given the government’s disastrous performance on the weekend, how does he think The Muppet Show’s going?
Scott Morrison gives a rundown of the government’s achievements and then returns to his latest favourite catch-phrase (sigh).
There is no surprise that the Labor party only wants to talk about politics. Because they have no plans for the future. They want Australians to pay more for everything. Higher taxes, higher electricity bills, more for their private health insurance, Mr Speaker. These are the issues that Australians are focused on. These are the issues our government is focused on. The leader of the Labor party is just another politician trapped in the Canberra bubble.
Ok – you can’t have no plans for the future and then list how the party wants people to pay more. Because that makes no sense. Because if Labor wants people to pay more things, then obviously it has plans for the future.
Someone outside the Canberra bubble would probably pick that up.
The first dixer is on yesterday’s apology.
It’s worth a read:
Scott Morrison:
I want to thank all those survivors who attended here yesterday – not just in this building but outside of this place and on the lawns, where we had the opportunity to meet and listen to their stories.
And as they came back into this parliament and in the offices of members and they recounted their stories, I want to thank all members of this chamber for the welcome that they provided to all of those survivors, and all Australians for their solidarity in standing by those survivors and their families.
It was a very, very moving day. But an apology without action, as we said yesterday, is just a piece of paper, and the concrete actions that are necessary are about implementing the recommendations of the royal commission – 108 of those 122 recommendations are being implemented.
There were ones directed towards the commonwealth, and 18 further recommendations have been worked through with the states and territories. The National Redress Scheme has commenced. The national office of child safety was stood up in July, and now, as I said yesterday, it will report directly to me – not just to the Department of Social Services – and I’ll be assisted in that role not only by the minister for social services, but by the assistant minister to the prime minister, who has done an outstanding job in working with the advisory group and working towards the national apology yesterday.
I want to add my thanks to my assistant minister. The national database to ensure higher standards for child protection is under way with states and territories.
The work with survivors who are anxious about going into institutional aged care as a result of their most horrific experiences when they were last in institutions is an important issue that has been raised, and is one that we’ll be working closely with the minister for aged care and minister for senior Australians, but also be looking to the royal commission into aged care that we have announced to be sensitive to that issue and the solutions that need to be made available.
We are establishing the national centre for excellence to raise awareness and understanding of the impacts of child sexual abuse and removing the stigma so the stories can be told, and so the understanding can be generated. The national museum, which we announced support for, [and on] which we’ll be working with survivors, in particular, so the stories can be told, and we will never turn our back again on the shame that is rightfully sitting across our country – a stain on our country – and that national museum will be a place for reflection, for learning, for understanding.
And I would add to that that it will draw on excellent proposals from the care leavers who have got a particular proposal relating to an old orphanage building, and whether it’s that proposal – that’s what inspired this idea for this museum – and I want to thank the representatives for bringing that forward.
There were many people yesterday who I know felt they weren’t recognised, and I particularly also want to recognise, if I can have indulgence on this one point, to recognise those in our defence forces who also suffered sexual abuse. I want to acknowledge them here today, and I particularly want to thank the member for Dunkley for bringing that to my attention.
And I want to particularly, in this place, acknowledge their suffering as well.
Bill Shorten:
It was a very emotional day, as the prime minister and I discussed in the Great Hall, the level of emotion and hurt, and all of the conflicting emotions – it was almost physical, you could almost feel it against your skin.
We appreciate the attendance of survivors and victims and all those who came to hear it.
It was a very big compliment these people paid to the parliament, having been let down by institutions and people in power their whole lives – to come here and trust us to apologise, at the very least, was remarkable.
We acknowledge, too, that too many people didn’t survive or weren’t able to be there yesterday. I also acknowledge that action, not words, is what people want. And we promise not to second-guess the royal commission – it’s a global standard, it’s the best set of recommendations, the best set of proposals, and I understand – especially for those who are dying and very ill at the moment – we need to do everything to speed up redress.
Kevin Rudd has blamed Rupert Murdoch for prosecuting a “direct agenda” through his newspapers that toppled both himself and Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister.
Speaking at the launch of the second volume of his autobiography in Canberra, Rudd nominated Australia’s media concentration in Murdoch’s hands as one of the factors in its culture of deposing leaders, which he said had become “nationally embarrassing”.
Rudd used the launch to publicly plead with the Liberal party to follow his lead and adopt a rule raising the threshold to depose a leader.
Rudd:
[Rupert] Murdoch – who I’ve met many times – is ideologically deeply conservative, deeply protective of his corporation’s commercial interests and, therefore, prosecutes a direct agenda through his newspapers which I’ve been on the receiving end [of]. So, most recently, has Malcolm [Turnbull]. Let’s not pretend it’s been anything other than that.
The launch was well attended by colleagues on both side of the aisle, with a few notable absences from the Labor leadership team.
The Coalition’s former foreign minister Julie Bishop and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce were in attendance.
From Labor I spied: Chris Bowen, Kim Carr, Anthony Albanese, Richard Marles, Mike Kelly, Terri Butler, Andrew Giles, Justine Elliott, Gavin Marshall, Patrick Gorman, Joel Fitzgibbon, Steve Georganas, Mike Freelander, Julian Hill and Stephen Jones.
The book was launched by the Labor senator Claire Moore and the University of Melbourne vice-chancellor, Glyn Davis. Moore revealed that Rudd used to do a killer Alexander Downer impression back in the day but, sadly, he did not oblige with a reprise on Tuesday.
Bill Shorten opens the questioning with ...
Wentworth.
“[The government saw] … a primary swing in Braddon of 2%, and in Longman it was 9%. Then it deposed Malcolm Turnbull. But on the weekend, the government suffered a 19% swing in Wentworth … so, given the government’s disastrous performance in Wentworth, why is Malcolm Turnbull gone but you’re still here?”
Scott Morrison:
People have suggested that Labor were running dead in the Wentworth byelection. But the real proof of that would have been whether the leader of the opposition turned up in Wentworth, Mr Speaker.
Then they would have really known that they were running dead in Wentworth …because that would have suppressed the vote even more, Mr Speaker.
It is true – it is true – that a third – around a third of the Liberal party vote in Wentworth, Mr Speaker, was lost to the Liberal party in that Wentworth byelection. It is also true that a third of the Labor party vote was lost in the Wentworth byelection.
A third of the Greens vote was lost in that byelection, Mr Speaker. Now, as I said on the weekend, I am very, very happy to stand up as leader of the Liberal party and cop it on the chin, Mr Speaker, for the anger that was expressed by Liberal voters, in particular, about the events of two months ago.
And we said that, and we were honest with our supporters and followers about that on the weekend. And we have committed to them to ensure that, as we have continued to come together, unified as a party, to go forward and fight this Labor leader who wants to put more than $200 billion worth of taxes on Australians, who wants to see a resurgence in militant unionism in this country, who wants to put their electricity prices up with reckless policies, and we will fight this leader of the Labor party all the way until the bell rings, and we will be successful.
Question time is about to begin.Question time is about to begin.
While you get your bingo cards in order, Labor has launched its latest attack ad.While you get your bingo cards in order, Labor has launched its latest attack ad.
The book, volume two, is launched.The book, volume two, is launched.
Don’t count on ABC estimates starting on time:Don’t count on ABC estimates starting on time:
It's a total mystery how #estimates hearings get behind schedule pic.twitter.com/GVj9VtpN9eIt's a total mystery how #estimates hearings get behind schedule pic.twitter.com/GVj9VtpN9e
Oh look – the government fixed Father Chris Riley’s funding issue, for his Youth Off the Streets schools.Oh look – the government fixed Father Chris Riley’s funding issue, for his Youth Off the Streets schools.
For next year.For next year.
Dan Tehan says the government will “look at the issue going forward” because it is a “unique” issue.Dan Tehan says the government will “look at the issue going forward” because it is a “unique” issue.
Another dispatch from New Zealand on the asylum seeker issue:
The New Zealand foreign minister and deputy prime minister, Winston Peters, said there had been no approaches by the Australian government to his office since the latest comments made by the Australian PM.
“At this point in time we don’t know where this is going,” Peters said.
“It may not even make it past parliament in Australia. When we know what we are dealing with we will deal with it.”
The New Zealand Greens MP, human rights lawyer and former refugee, Golriz Ghahraman, said the proposed conditions would only affect Australian law and the welfare of the Nauru refugees must be the New Zealand government’s highest priority.
“It is something akin to the Trump muslim ban, it will be a dark day for Australia but were it to happen, because it doesn’t affect New Zealand, we would be supportive of it in terms of getting this desperate situation to a point of resolution so people aren’t at risk of really serious physical and mental harm,” Ghahraman said.
“We have no control over what Australia does over its immigration laws and they may be really unfair and in fact racist... but we just have to make those people safe in a humanitarian emergency so that is the thing to keep front of mind.”
Ghahraman said refugee agencies were “really stretched” in New Zealand and offers by Australian NGOs to travel to New Zealand and assist in the resettlement would likely be taken up.
Doctors Without Borders may also able to continue their care for the Nauru refugees when and if they arrive in New Zealand, Ghahraman said.
Dan Tehan and Father Chris Riley have a scheduled doorstop for 1.35pm.
I think we can expect to hear that Youth Off the Streets no longer owes the government $600,000.
At a guess.
And just for some context – here is what Kelly O’Dwyer* was referring to when she said John Setka had likened the Coalition to the Hitler government.
It’s actually a Martin Luther King quote, and quite a famous one at that.
*I had originally written Michaelia Cash, as my brain has not yet retained all the new portfolios
Thomas JeffersonIf a Law is unjust a man is not only right to disobey it he is obliged to do soMartin Luther KingNever forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legalMahatma GandiAn unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so#auspol pic.twitter.com/9XM2VDNjKz
And finally from the party room:
Issues that weren’t discussed:
No one discussed changes to the Sex Discrimination Act (to prevent gay students from being expelled from schools). Christian Porter, the attorney general, told his colleagues that he was still in discussions with his Labor counterpart Mark Dreyfus.
No one raised Nauru for discussion.
No one raised the issue that voters in Wentworth were concerned about the Liberal party’s climate change policies (or lack thereof).
No one raised coal-fired power stations.
No one raised Morrison’s idea to move Australia’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
No one raised the idea of having a large policy to unveil in the last weeks of the election campaign.
More from the party room meeting:
Michael McCormack, the deputy prime minister, then spoke. He said no one should get spooked by the loss in Wentworth.
“What they think in Double Bay is not what they think in Dubbo,” he said.
He spoke about the importance of this Friday’s drought summit.
Josh Frydenberg, the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, reminded his colleagues that the Wills byelection in 1992 saw a 23% swing about the sitting Labor government but Labor still went on to win the 1993 federal election.
[The Wills by-election was triggered by the resignation of Bob Hawke, who had been rolled as prime minister by Paul Keating. An independent candidate (Phil Cleary) won that by-election, too].
Morrison then reminded his colleagues that once you’re sworn in as the government, you’re the government. Labor has been trying to create a sense of chaos but it’s nonsense.
A number of backbenchers then stood up to gee their colleagues up.
One “very experienced” backbencher said no election is unwinnable or unlosable, and the next election, in his assessment, was “line-ball”.
He said only two things could change that: if there was a major change in the economic indicators or if there was disunity in the government.
A regional backbencher highlighted issue of energy and concerns about foreign workers.
He also spoke about casual and permanent employees, and for the need to campaign vigorously on the retiree tax.
Kelly O’Dwyer, the minister for jobs, talked about the union rally in Melbourne today.
She warned it was a small insight into what people could expect under a Shorten government.
She said union official John Setka had today likened the Liberal-National government to the Hitler government.
She said Steka had scores of convictions and Labor wanted to “turn the lawbreakers into the lawmakers”.
A backbencher then warned the room that both Brendan O’Connor, the shadow minister for employment, and Sally McManus, the ACTU secretary, wanted industry-wide bargaining, which is something not seen in Australia since the early 1980s.
The minister for energy gave a preview of the energy announcement that was later made in the prime minister’s courtyard.
Scott Morrison addressed the joint party room this morning.
The prime minster spent a large part of his time talking about the Coalition’s chances of winning the federal election despite its drubbing in Wentworth on the weekend.
He said the Coalition was still the government, and the government sets the agenda. It was important to show unity and purpose.
He said over the last two months the Coalition had effectively been in minority government anyway and it had managed well and would continue to do so.
The Wentworth result was not unexpected, he said. A week ago the polls had the Coalition 41-59 to Labor but over the last week that difference narrowed substantially, with help from many people including John Howard, he said.
He then stressed that the government’s policy direction was the right one.
“We’re not shifting to the left or to the right, this is not hokey-pokey politics,” he said.
“We’ll continue to be a strong centre-right government and strong centre-right parties focusing on the needs of mainstream Australians, focusing on things that matter.”
He said all Coalition MPs needed to keep emphasising the differences between the Coalition and Labor, because under a Labor government Australians would pay higher taxes, higher electricity prices, higher health insurance premiums, and they’d earn less.
“Under the Liberal-National government you’ll have a stronger economy, better pay, and a budget under control.”
He spoke about yesterday’s national apology to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, saying it was a very emotional day. He said he’d never sat in a room full of so much hurt.
Former PM Kevin Rudd at his book launch in Parliament House, Canberra this afternoon. @AmyRemeikis @GuardianAus @murpharoo #PoliticsLive pic.twitter.com/uR8CKWPX7X
Our politicians have largely ignored the Jamal Khashoggi case, at least publicly.
But Richard Di Natale is calling for Australia to follow Germany and suspend arms trade with Saudi Arabia, following the journalist’s death:
The disappearance and apparent murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has shocked the international community into rethinking its relationship with Saudi Arabia,” Di Natale said.
The announcement by the German government overnight that it will not approve further arms exports to Saudi Arabia is a welcome development. The Australian government should follow Germany’s lead and suspend our arms trade with the Saudis.
It is clear that any country with an ounce of sense and humanity has seen through the Saudis’ ludicrous and offensive explanation for Khashoggi’s death, and is demanding the truth.
Saudi Arabia is consistently ranked as one of the worst human rights abusers in the world. The war it is waging on Yemen has brought Yemenis to the brink of the world’s worst famine in over 100 years. Thirteen million people are being deliberately starved as a weapon of war.
Yet, in the last two years, the Australian government has granted 18 licences for the export of defence equipment to Saudi Arabia. Australia should not be selling weapons to this murderous regime.
Our economic future cannot and should not be dependent on arming regimes like Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
This government’s priorities are completely out of whack. We should be increasing our international development assistance and exporting sustainable technologies, not weapons of death.
If you have been paying attention, you may have noticed that Scott Morrison likes to speak in dot points.
His speeches, even as treasurer, usually start off with a scene-setting sentence or five, before moving into ‘this is what we are going to do’ in dot points.
His brain seems to be one which likes things compartmentalised. He gets thrown if topics bounce around and prefers to deal with one group of questions on one topic, before moving to the next.
Well, now the PMO press releases are going the same way.
Case in point – this one, on the energy policy, which includes actual dot points.
The AER has been tasked with introducing default prices by 30 April 2019 with savings being passed through to families and small businesses by 1 July 2019.
Other measures announced today by the Morrison Government that will bring prices down and increase reliability are:
· Stopping price gouging by the big energy companies. This includes banning sneaky late payment penalties and making energy retailers pass on savings in wholesale prices to customers. It will increase regulator’s power to crack down on dodgy, anti-competitive practices – through fines, penalties, enforceable undertakings, structural separation and divestiture. We have already seen prices come down in Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales on 1 July 2018, and we have directed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to monitor electricity prices until 2025 to ensure prices are fairer for consumers.
· Backing investment in new power generators to improve competition. Underwriting new electricity generation will attract investment in the electricity market, increasing supply and reducing wholesale electricity prices. The Government will consult on the Underwriting New Generation Investments program, with submissions open until 9 November 2018. Based on feedback from the consultation, the Government will release initial program guidelines and invite proponents to nominate projects through an expression of interest process open from December 2018 to January 2019.
· Supporting reliable power by requiring energy companies to sign contracts guaranteeing enough energy to meet demand. We will work with state and territory governments through the COAG Energy Council to ensure these contracts are signed.
Australia’s doctors have spoken up, as have the lawyers.
And now the Wiggles have gone political, in the name of getting children and their families off Nauru.
the yellow Wiggle AND the blue Wiggle have joined the #kidsoffnauru campaign“We sing and dance with millions of children all over the world who have those opportunities - but there are more than 100 children trapped in detention on Nauru who don’t have this freedom" pic.twitter.com/gGnx4J8Fxb