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Tim Wilson says Victorian election result shows Liberal voter base have ‘had enough’ – politics live
Tim Wilson says Victorian election result shows Liberal voter base has ‘had enough’ – politics live
(35 minutes later)
Given we are all about to start talking national integrity commission, this story from Christopher Knaus and Nick Evershed is very timely:
Australia’s three major political parties failed to declare sizeable donations from corporate interests seeking lucrative government work, mining approvals or favourable tax policies, the Guardian can reveal.
The Liberals failed to declare a $10,000 donation from Raytheon, an arms manufacturer that was at the time vying for defence contracts, including on Australia’s major shipbuilding and submarine projects. The party’s South Australian branch has blamed the failing on a “clerical error”.
The West Australian Nationals failed to declare a $20,000 cheque it was handed by Mineral Resources, an iron ore miner seeking government approval to access new deposits in environmentally sensitive and unique mountain ranges in the state’s Yilgarn region.
Federal Labor failed to properly disclose a $100,000 donation from the car salary packaging industry, received the same financial year the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, wrote a letter to the industry, pledging to maintain generous tax arrangements.”
And Fraser Anning has told the Senate he is no longer a Katter’s Australian party senator and is now officially, an independent again.
That’s just formalising the sacking Bob Katter announced a little bit ago.
Anning was elected as a One Nation senator, quit moments after he was sworn in, sat as an independent, went to KAP, wouldn’t stop saying things like non-European immigration should be banned, was sacked from the party, and is back as an independent.
There is as much chance of him returning to the Senate at the next election as there is of Idris Elba becoming aware of my existence.
The first thing on Kerryn Phelps’ agenda is about to be introduced by Cathy McGowan:
Introducing the National Integrity Commission Bill 2018 at 10.20am today. Tune in here: https://t.co/96usObx95F Read more here: https://t.co/bTXcAZTcqX #auspol #indiacts pic.twitter.com/HSGvlyaoYq
Labor will be meeting with the crossbench to discuss this bill
The Senate privileges committee have just tabled the report on to the AFP raid of the Home Affairs employee.
From what has been reported already, it sounds verrrrrrrrrry interesting. We’ll bring you those highlights soon.
Mr Speaker! A new member.
“Admit her,” Tony Smith says.
And with Rebehka Sharkie and Cathy McGowan at her side, Kerryn Phelps makes her first entrance to the House.
She is applauded and swears she will be faithful to Australia (and her majesty, for those who care about those things).
Julie Bishop, Julia Banks, Craig Laundy and Tim Wilson are the first from the government benches to welcome her, as is most of the Labor frontbench (but it is easier for them, because she is on that side of the House.)
Now the rest are lining up to say hello. Bishop holds on to Phelps in her welcome. She takes a few beats, while the cameras go nuts.
Because, Bishop knows, you gotta get the pic.
Oh - and Bronwyn Bishop will have her Speaker portrait unveiled later today.
I can hear the socialists screeching already.
The bells are ringing, which means parliament is about to start.
We’ll have Kerryn Phelps in the House and the Senate will deal with the tabling of it’s Senate-stuff
Boom tish
Rumour has it Labor will grant him an au pair for the week https://t.co/ySjZUnBRVI
Parliament will begin very shortly, where the first order of business in the House will be swearing in Kerryn Phelps.
I assume the Senate will also be doing some things.
Speaking to ABC radio this morning, Bill Shorten laid out Labor’s plans for this week, as well as offering his critique of what is going on in the Coalition:
I think this is a government, to be honest, who stopped governing. They do everything for the prism of beating Labor and winning the election. Now, that’s part of what governments do – I’m not naive. But there are big issues which the nation needs dealt with now. We should resolve a national anti-corruption commission this week. We should get that process going.
We should be in a position where we can resolve a national energy guarantee. All I did last week with Mark Butler and Chris Bowen in large part is say to the government, “We’ll work with what you’ve already voted to endorse.”
But this government – I don’t know. Like, they’re so sort of obsessed by climate change, it’s vaguely weird they can’t actually accept the science. We want to try and get things done in the parliament.”
He also raised the government MPs who have section 44 clouds surrounding them – which includes the absent Peter Dutton and Chris Crewther. But Labor won’t have the numbers to force any high court referral.
Oh, Ray Hadley just reminded me of some other news which came out over the weekend.
Oh, Ray Hadley just reminded me of some other news which came out over the weekend.
As predicted a few months ago on these very pages, it is bye bye Jim Molan.
As predicted a few months ago on these very pages, it is bye bye Jim Molan.
Andrew Bragg and Hollie Hughes have the winnable spots on the NSW Senate ticket.
Andrew Bragg and Hollie Hughes have the winnable spots on the NSW Senate ticket.
Molan has been relegated to an un-winnable spot.
Molan has been relegated to an un-winnable spot.
He responded by pulling out of his appearance on the Bad Show tonight.
He responded by pulling out of his appearance on the Bad Show tonight.
Tony Abbott finds it “absolutely nauseating”.
Tony Abbott finds it “absolutely nauseating”.
He thinks factional politics means you don’t chose candidates on their “quality”.
He thinks factional politics means you don’t chose candidates on their “quality”.
Because, as Abbott and co keep telling us, they are all absolutely there on merit.
Because, as Abbott and co keep telling us, they are all absolutely there on merit.
Ray Hadley is offering solutions to the government on how to win the next election, which could be best described as useful as a marzipan oven mitt.
Ray Hadley is offering solutions to the government on how to win the next election, which could be best described as useful as a marzipan oven mitt.
All you need is a coal-fired power station, apparently.
All you need is a coal-fired power station, apparently.
You may have heard they did surgery on a grape #niche
You may have heard they did surgery on a grape #niche
Well, it looks like they may also be doing surgery on Peter Dutton’s arm. So he won’t be in parliament.
Well, it looks like they may also be doing surgery on Peter Dutton’s arm. So he won’t be in parliament.
pic.twitter.com/EHRhJOsShY
pic.twitter.com/EHRhJOsShY
Samantha Maiden at the New Daily reports that Queensland MP Llew O’Brien is looking at crossing the floor to ensure the national integrity commission gets up.
Samantha Maiden at the New Daily reports that Queensland MP Llew O’Brien is looking at crossing the floor to ensure the national integrity commission gets up.
O’Brien says he thinks its a “no-brainer” and would help restore public trust in politics.
O’Brien says he thinks its a “no-brainer” and would help restore public trust in politics.
Which reminded me of a matter which occurred before O’Brien entered parliament.
Which reminded me of a matter which occurred before O’Brien entered parliament.
The new independent Member for Wentworth @drkerrynphelps arrives at Parliament House in Canberra #auspol @SBSNews pic.twitter.com/qKHM0QlURU
Actually, let’s just list everything the Coalition has lost in the last little bit.
Western Australia
Queensland
Longman
Braddon
Wentworth
Didn’t even run in Perth or Fremantle during the super Saturday byelections because of the fear of what the result would reveal.
Also worth mentioning that Labor had its biggest victory in the Western Australia election (which was held in March last year) since the 1900s.
But I suppose that had nothing to do with the Liberal party either.
(Thank you to my Western Australian expert for these figures)
The Liberal primary at the 2013 election was 47.1%.
At the 2017 poll it fell to 31.2%
The Nat primary vote at the 2013 election was 6.1%
At the 2017 poll it fell to 5.4%
The ALP primary vote at the 2013 election was 33.1%
At the 2017 poll it rose to 42.2%
Labor’s lower house representation went from 21 members to 41 members
The Liberal Party’s representation fell from 31 members to 13
The Nationals went from 7 to 5
It was the biggest gain in seats by Labor since the 1904 election when they picked up 16 seats…
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has been speaking to Jon Faine on ABC Melbourne this morning.
He says that Labor won because they “get things done” and refused to take the “low road” of racial dog-whistling.
That’s a stronger criticism of the Coalition’s framing of issues like crime and population than Andrews was prepared to give during the campaign.
Faine asked if the “sense of urgency” that characterised the Andrews government’s first four years will continue; Andrews says yes.
Getting things done, he says, is not just a slogan. “I was taught a long time ago, be yourself, do what comes naturally, and getting things done is not just a brand Jon, because people don’t support brands unless they’re real.”
Andrews is due at a press conference at Greensborough in the northern suburbs of Melbourne at 10.30am to announce that the first stage of the $15.8bn North East link will be put to tender today.
He says he “can’t accurately describe to you how satisfying [it] is” to sign off on projects that employ people.
“We are at our best when we lead, Jon, we are not at our best when we are out there race-bating or delivering ill-informed, low-grade, low-road policies.”
Victorian federal MP Tim Wilson has some very strong ideas of why the Liberals were destroyed in his home state and what is to blame, and he told Sky about it a few moments ago:
... I think you saw a heartland and voter base, who turned around, and said to us ‘we’ve had enough’.
You can go on saying this has got no federal implications, but sorry, not true.
I sat there on polling booths, and every second person either gave you deadly silence, which is a very cold, deadly silence, or there were people mentioning energy, climate or the deposing of the prime minister.
Now, I think we can get past that. I know the people who vote for me, I know them very well, and I can tell you they are not rusted on conservatives ... they are a forward-looking, modern liberal community, and they sent us a message, very clearly.
.@TimWilsonMP: We have a choice; we can heed the message and try to keep trying to stuff reality through people’s ideological objectives, or we can actually listen. But if we don't have a vision for the future … we cannot be successful.MORE: https://t.co/nCa56qqjCY #amagenda pic.twitter.com/O7TXS16Aaz
Herald Sun reporter Anthony Galloway published this story last night, on the Senate committee looking into the AFP raid of a Home Affairs employee, over the Peter Dutton au pair leaks.
It has been a slow burner, because of everything else going on in the last 24 hours, but it is important, because it makes the point that the Senate committee, which could hand down its findings on the matter as early as today, could lead to the AFP being found in contempt of parliament. It’s all about the remit of the warrant, as Galloway reports:
The secret police warrant also included the name of the Senate inquiry which was leaked internal correspondence revealing high-level lobbying by AFL boss Gillon McLachlan [of] Mr Dutton.
According to well-placed sources, the revelations suggest the AFP knew it was going after materials which could have been handed to senators in their role as members of the parliamentary committee.
The AFP has previously said it was investigating leaks directly to the media, not the parliamentary committee.
Under the laws of parliamentary privilege, warrants should not be executed which improperly interfere with the functioning of parliament.
But Josh Frydenberg is VERY sure that the federal party arm had nothing to do with the Victorian result.
.@Kieran_Gilbert: The PM didn’t appear in Victoria, but he was in nearly every ad Labor ran. You have to concede that was a big chunk of the vote against the Liberals.@JoshFrydenberg: It was a state election fought on state issues. MORE: https://t.co/hhZmGOr1Ae #FirstEdition pic.twitter.com/T07YJAjQuC
Which is EXACTLY what was said this time last year, when Annastacia Palaszczuk took Queensland Labor to a second term government, with an increased majority.
That was exactly one year ago. And that government did not make massive spending promises, because Queensland is almost as broke as me.
Earlier this morning Josh Frydenberg also told Sky News that it was the spending in Victoria which outdid the Liberal opposition.
He mentions that there were “issues” which arose in health, public transport and the like and Daniel Andrews “threw money at it”.
Which seems an interesting critique on a couple of points: a) it doesn’t seem that outrageous that if problems are identified in public services, that people would expect their governments to spend money to fix them and b) the federal government has taken to doing exactly the same thing.
I mean, you could argue that the federal government has “thrown” money at the Catholic school issues, north Queensland water projects after Bob Katter made some noise about using the minority numbers against them, the GST floor for the states, etc, etc.
And for the first time, it is doing it, by breaking the budget rule – it’s not cutting the budget to fund these changes, it is planning on using increased revenues.
So, I don’t actually understand the point the federal government is attempting to make here. Spending is bad, if it’s done by anyone else but it?
Here is Michael Kroger explaining how we just don’t understand that we’ve never had it so good before.
Michael Kroger: The public thirst for unparalleled public expenditure is at levels we’ve never seen before. The Liberal Party cannot compete with that. It’s not in the Liberal Party’s DNA to run up huge debts. MORE: https://t.co/nCa56qqjCY #FirstEdition pic.twitter.com/FKtTeScL2p
One of the other strong federal Liberal contributions on the Victorian result is that of senator Jane Hume, who has written in the Australian Financial Review [$] that:
“If we allow good policy to be infiltrated by even the perception of an ideological crusade, Labor will win the messaging war.”
Hume cites three areas of policy for this critique:
In education policy, Hume says “our good policies were drowned by our ideological opposition to an anti-bullying program” and “we underestimated our electorates – parents want their kids to grow up kind as well as clever”.
On energy policy, Hume says “our good policies were drowned by a (falsely) perceived ideological opposition to renewable energy”. “Again, we underestimated our electorates – Victorians place a high value on their environment.”
On crime, Hume says the Coalition policies were “strong and thorough and would have made a significant difference” but “the problem wasn’t uniform across electorates, and in some places our messaging appeared divisive”.
Another lesson, according to Hume, is the party needs more women to be more representative:
“It’s hard to understand an electorate if you don’t reflect it. Female representation in the Liberal party is no longer an issue of aesthetics but an electoral imperative. The rise of centre-right female independents in previously Liberal held safe seats cannot be ignored. The leaders that champion and facilitate the introduction of significantly more women to our parliamentary team – in safe seats that allow them time to rise through the ranks – will leave a legacy as important as the traditional Liberal heroes.”
