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| Malcolm Turnbull says Liberals' spill rule changes are 'better late than never' – politics live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| New laws extending the waiting time for migrants to receive welfare payments have passed Parliament, after the Morrison government cut a deal with Labor. The Australian Council of Social Service and the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (Fecca) had urged Labor to vote down the bill on Monday, once it had become clear there were enough crossbenchers opposed to block the legislation. But Labor, which said it had won concessions from the government to soften the bill, held sided with the Coalition on Monday night. The opposition argued it cut a deal to avoid the government later negotiating even tougher measures with parties such as One Nation. “Let’s make one thing clear, we had the numbers to block this – if Labor had bothered to even ask the Greens and the crossbench,” the Greens senator Rachel Siewert said in a statement. “But that’s not what they wanted. They thought they could get stakeholders to back them in, do a deal with the Government so that they will have $1.3billion in “savings” if they win government next year, and then pretend that’s what the sector wanted.” | |
| Fecca had initially backed the bill but pulled its support when enough crossbench senators said they were willing to block the legislation. | |
| The changes mean migrants will have to wait four years, rather than three, to receive payments such as Newstart, Youth Allowance and Austudy, as well as one year for parental leave and one year for Family Tax Benefit A. | |
| The government had wanted a blanket four-year wait time, but agreed to shorter periods after negotiating with Labor. | |
| Wait times will not apply to single parent migrant families or those with one income earner. | |
| Malcolm Turnbull finished his speech by talking about the Neg and how its downfall was linked to his own: | |
| “There was a minority of Coalition MPs who effectively torpedoed what was fundamentally a very good technology agnostic policy, which united climate and energy policy, and would enable us to bring down prices and keep the lights on. | |
| “I just want to note, I did not abandon the Neg as our policy. But in fact, it remained, but in the frantic last week of my prime ministership and the insurgency which of course, undermined it and ultimately brought it to an end, the Cabinet resolved not to introduce the legislate until we were confident we could secure its passage. | |
| “Anxious to keep the government together, I didn’t want to see an important piece of economic legislation being defeated on the floor of the House. | |
| “Anyway, that was very disappointing and I want to give great credit to Josh Frydenberg, he did a huge amount of work with his state colleagues to put it in place, the Neg, there has never been a national energy policy, I think, which has had more universal support. And like Julie Bishop and many others, I would encourage at the risk of being criticised for speaking about politics, which apparently former prime ministers aren’t allowed to do, according to some in the media, I strongly encourage my colleagues to work together to revive the National Energy Guarantee. | |
| It was a vital piece of economic policy, it had strong support, and none stronger, I might say, then that of the current prime minister and the current treasurer. | |
| “Let me simply conclude by saying that while the abandonment of the National Energy Guarantee obviously creates a vacuum of energy policy at the federal level, of course that provides the opportunity for the states to get on and lead, and that is what NSW is doing. | |
| “It is important to recognise the other very considerable achievements in energy that have been made, by the Coalition government, including during the time I was prime minister. | |
| “We ensured that we set up an ACCC inquiry into the electricity and the retail sector, retail electricity prices and out of that came some very valuable recommendations...underwriting firm generation on a technology agnostic basis for commercial and industrial users. We have advanced almost all of the recommendations of the Finkel review. | |
| “We secured agreement from energy retailers to get a better deal for 2 million households and we were able to abolish the limited merits review process, which had allowed network companies to game the system at the expense of Australian and consumers. Had it been done earlier, consumers would have been over $6bn better off...it was a very important reform and I have talked about Snowy 2 and I have talked about the battery of the nation and of course, the rather, what would I say, it was rather blunt intervention I had to make in the gas market, which I felt a bit uncomfortable as a Liberal prime minister, threatening to limit exports, but it worked and we were able to secure more gas on the east coast and that obviously has been very significant both for industry and households.” | |
| Malcolm Turnbull has begun his speech a the NSW Smart Energy Summit. | Malcolm Turnbull has begun his speech a the NSW Smart Energy Summit. |
| He mentions how he spent his summer reading up on hydro electricity, and again, how you need something for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. | He mentions how he spent his summer reading up on hydro electricity, and again, how you need something for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. |
| Like batteries? | Like batteries? |
| John Howard is in the house – Old Parliament House, that is. | |
| He is getting a library named after him. | He is getting a library named after him. |
| Mike Bowers is there. Well, he’s almost there. He’s packing up his gear. | Mike Bowers is there. Well, he’s almost there. He’s packing up his gear. |
| The party room meetings are beginning – the last scheduled ones for the year. | The party room meetings are beginning – the last scheduled ones for the year. |
| I am sure the Liberal party is joining hands to sing “We are one, but we are many”, play pin the blue tie on the true Liberal and just take an Oprah moment to acknowledge they made it through the year. | |
| Oh look. | Oh look. |
| Roman Quaedvlieg wrote a book. And it is coming out just before the election. I wonder what could be in it? | Roman Quaedvlieg wrote a book. And it is coming out just before the election. I wonder what could be in it? |
| Former Australian Border Force Commissioner @quaedvliegs to publish explosive memoir ‘Tour de Force’. Out 5 March 2019. https://t.co/jSlfSv9A6J#NewRelease pic.twitter.com/aS94OcNbvC | Former Australian Border Force Commissioner @quaedvliegs to publish explosive memoir ‘Tour de Force’. Out 5 March 2019. https://t.co/jSlfSv9A6J#NewRelease pic.twitter.com/aS94OcNbvC |
| Told by (I think it was a Sky reporter) that the new leadership rules would have saved his prime ministership, Malcolm Turnbull replies: | Told by (I think it was a Sky reporter) that the new leadership rules would have saved his prime ministership, Malcolm Turnbull replies: |
| That’s true. That’s a good point. A very good point. Perhaps you could say better late than never. | That’s true. That’s a good point. A very good point. Perhaps you could say better late than never. |
| Malcolm Turnbull, whose leadership of the Liberal party would have been saved by the new rule changed announced by Scott Morrison overnight, has embraced the change. | Malcolm Turnbull, whose leadership of the Liberal party would have been saved by the new rule changed announced by Scott Morrison overnight, has embraced the change. |
| People will welcome the prospect of there being, you know, fewer – well, less of the, sort of, revolving-door prime ministership, which I think was the way Scott Morrison referred to it last night. So, I think it’s a welcome reform. Of course, how effective it will be, time will tell. | People will welcome the prospect of there being, you know, fewer – well, less of the, sort of, revolving-door prime ministership, which I think was the way Scott Morrison referred to it last night. So, I think it’s a welcome reform. Of course, how effective it will be, time will tell. |
| That time-will-tell bit is because changing the rule only requires a party room vote of 50% plus one. And, on top of that, we don’t actually know the mechanics of this rule change – is it a constitutional change, or is it just someone stood at a podium and declared it so? Does each state branch have to ratify it? How does that happen? What happens if one of the states doesn’t pass it? | That time-will-tell bit is because changing the rule only requires a party room vote of 50% plus one. And, on top of that, we don’t actually know the mechanics of this rule change – is it a constitutional change, or is it just someone stood at a podium and declared it so? Does each state branch have to ratify it? How does that happen? What happens if one of the states doesn’t pass it? |
| Labor makes nods towards the party room rules in its constitution, but it is not spelled out, making it easy, if necessary, for the party room to change those rules without changing the constitution. | Labor makes nods towards the party room rules in its constitution, but it is not spelled out, making it easy, if necessary, for the party room to change those rules without changing the constitution. |
| But we are yet to learn how the Liberal party plans to make these new rules concrete. | But we are yet to learn how the Liberal party plans to make these new rules concrete. |
| Steve Ciobo was on Sky this morning with the latest incarnation of Don’t Dream It’s Over: | Steve Ciobo was on Sky this morning with the latest incarnation of Don’t Dream It’s Over: |
| My focus is upon those issues that matter to Australians, how the economy is going, what we doing to create jobs, what we are doing to get tax rates down, how we are balancing the budget, the first surplus budget that Australia’s have had now, since the Coalition was last in power … | My focus is upon those issues that matter to Australians, how the economy is going, what we doing to create jobs, what we are doing to get tax rates down, how we are balancing the budget, the first surplus budget that Australia’s have had now, since the Coalition was last in power … |
| The government’s moved, we have moved swiftly, we have heard what Australians have said. We have implemented this change and this brings assurance to Australians that who they vote for will be the one [to lead the party] … | The government’s moved, we have moved swiftly, we have heard what Australians have said. We have implemented this change and this brings assurance to Australians that who they vote for will be the one [to lead the party] … |
| What we’ve got to do is get on with the job. We’ve got a lot to deal with. | What we’ve got to do is get on with the job. We’ve got a lot to deal with. |
| Andrew Leigh’s office has just passed along the lyrics to the Christmas carol the politicians sang in the sort-of-annual-but-always-interrupted Pollies v Press Christmas carol sing-off. I am told it was performed to the tune of Angels We Have Heard on High. | Andrew Leigh’s office has just passed along the lyrics to the Christmas carol the politicians sang in the sort-of-annual-but-always-interrupted Pollies v Press Christmas carol sing-off. I am told it was performed to the tune of Angels We Have Heard on High. |
| Ding dong, election day is nigh | Ding dong, election day is nigh |
| Your local MP’s calling | Your local MP’s calling |
| Ding dong, how ya doing, hi | Ding dong, how ya doing, hi |
| It’s promises we’re bringing | It’s promises we’re bringing |
| To Victoria, or whatever your state is. | To Victoria, or whatever your state is. |
| Victoria, or whatever your state is. | Victoria, or whatever your state is. |
| Shorten and Morrison will vie | Shorten and Morrison will vie |
| That pendulum is swinging | That pendulum is swinging |
| Hoping soon to be the guy | Hoping soon to be the guy |
| With flagpins and with zingers | With flagpins and with zingers |
| In Victoria, or whatever your state is. | In Victoria, or whatever your state is. |
| Victoria, or whatever your state is. | Victoria, or whatever your state is. |
| Journos roll a cynic’s eye | Journos roll a cynic’s eye |
| Their hands are always wringing | Their hands are always wringing |
| Would be nice to see them try | Would be nice to see them try |
| To dodge all that mudslinging | To dodge all that mudslinging |
| In Victoria, or whatever your state is. | In Victoria, or whatever your state is. |
| Victoria, or whatever your state is. | Victoria, or whatever your state is. |