This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2018/dec/04/scott-morrison-pm-leadership-spill-coalition-labor-politics-live
The article has changed 18 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 4 | Version 5 |
|---|---|
| Malcolm Turnbull urges Coalition to revive national energy guarantee – politics live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Greens have elected Larissa Waters as the co-deputy of the party: | |
| Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale has congratulated Sen. Larissa Waters on her return to the position of Co-Deputy Leader of the Greens, a position she vacated as a result of her resignation from the Parliament over questions of eligibility under Section 44 of the constitution.“It’s wonderful to see Larissa resume her role as Co-Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens. Losing Larissa was a huge blow to the party and to the Parliament, so it’s wonderful to be able to welcome her back to this leadership position and put that chapter well and truly behind us.“Larissa brings a wealth of experience to the parliamentary leadership team, as well as a long a distinguished track record as an advocate for the environment, women and transparency in Government. I’m confident that she’ll bring her unique voice to the position and that our party room will be richer for it.“I’d like to thank Sen Rachel Siewert for all her hard work in the role, which she took up in addition to her duties as Party Whip. Rachel is a tireless advocate for Australia’s first peoples, as well as for the millions of Australians receiving Government support, and she has elevated their voices in our party room. “I’m so honoured to be returning to the Co-Deputy leadership of the Greens, a party with the vision and commitment for a fairer and more sustainable future for all of us. I’m pleased that the women’s portfolio is now back in party leadership at a most pivotal time for women, not just in politics in Australia but across a range of issues impacting women’s equality around the world,” Sen. Waters said.Adam Bandt MP will remain in his position as Co-Deputy Leader. Sen. Rachel Siewert continues as Party Whip. | |
| John Howard had a chat to Sky News before accepting his library. | |
| He’s a fan of the Liberal leadership rule changes which just a short while ago he did not think were necessary. | |
| “They preserve the authority of the parliamentary party completely when it comes to choosing a leader. They just deal with the process with which that occurs,” he says. | |
| “I’ve got nothing to say about that [Malcolm Turnbull not being consulted]. I am just reporting what happened in relation to me and I have no comment on that.” | |
| And on Craig Kelly: | |
| “I think Scott has handled himself correctly, appropriately and effectively in relation to this. There is nothing unusual about a prime minister getting involved in an appropriate way, in procedures surrounding preselection. It happened years ago with Bob Menzies. I was aware of it when I sat on the NSW state executive of the Liberal party. It happened when I was prime minister. What Scott has done is not in anyway out of the ordinary. It is entirely consummate with the Liberal party.” | |
| Also despairing Liberals – Pip, pip. Chin up and all that. | |
| “I am optimistic about our prospects. We have a very strong economy, it is a stellar economy by world standards. We are once again demonstrating we are on national security, this encryption issue, that we are the strong protagonist on national security and the Labor party is getting wobbly on that, which it has done in the past and on top of that, there is no it’s time factor. | |
| “This government has only been in power for five years and we don’t have the ‘it’s time’ factor that existed way back in 2007.” | |
| The attorney general Christian Porter and Labor’s Mark Dreyfusare still negotiating on the government’s telecommunications assistance and access bill, known as the encryption bill. | |
| Expectations of a bipartisan deal have been raised by the fact that the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security has cancelled today’s scheduled public hearing. | |
| On Monday there was a public disagreementbetween Labor - which wants an interim bill limiting new powers to break encryption to terrorist offences and child sex crimes - and Porter, who wants a whole bill passed this week. | |
| The government is looking to introduce a bill on Wednesday, suggesting the parties are getting closer but they’re still not there yet. | |
| And why is energy and climate policy so difficult to get through the Coalition party room? | |
| Well, Malcolm Turnbull said, it’s because there’s a “significant” group in their membership who just don’t believe climate change is real. And then he throws shade at Barnaby Joyce, because, well, now he can. | |
| “The challenge is, that in the Coalition, there is a huge gulf between members, people on their views on energy. There is a significant percentage of the Coalition members’, who do not believe climate change is real, who think we should get out of Paris for example, who would rather, even some, who would rather the government, instead of building Snowy 2, built a new coal-fired power station. | |
| “You may remember Barnaby Joyce made that helpful suggestion in the last week of the Wentworth byelection. | |
| So you’ve got a very entrenched difference of opinion and the people who hold those views, have been, as you’ve seen with the Neg, are prepared to cross the floor, blow up the government, in order to get their way. | |
| “So it is, at the moment, given the politics in the respective party rooms, it is very hard to reach a resolution on this.” | |
| Malcolm Turnbull said it was no longer the case that having more renewables meant higher power prices. | |
| But then he brought up those in the party room, and the cabinet, who were prepared to embrace coal – no matter what – and how difficult that makes getting energy policy through the party room: | |
| Part of the problem with the politics of energy, at least at the federal level, is it has been bedevilled by what I would call ideology and idiocy. I mean I would ... there are people who would look you in the eye and say, ‘Coal-fired power is cheaper,’ ‘New coal is cheaper,’ and I’d say, ‘OK, what price of coal are you assuming?’ | |
| Crickets. | |
| ‘How much coal do you have to burn to generate a megawatt of power?’ Crickets. ‘What’s the coal plant going to cost to build and operate?’ More crickets. | |
| This is not a religious issue. This is an issue that has to be grounded in engineering and economics. We know that we need to decarbonise. | |
| And, by the way, we have the opportunity to decarbonise and deliver cheaper power as well. So how good a deal is that? | |
| So that is what we need to do and that is why the technology-agnostic policies my government delivered, or proposed in the form of the Neg, were able to do that. | |
| During the Q&A session after his speech (with the questions being asked by the “smart energy” people in the room), Malcolm Turnbull spoke about how difficult it was to get energy policy done in the party room. | |
| “I have to say, I gave this my best shot. With the national energy guarantee, working with Josh and with Scott, and the cabinet, we got support from the states, we got support from the industry, we got support from obviously the cabinet, but support form the party room, on three occasions. Majority support. Never unanimous support. But in a House of Representatives where we had a majority of one, which is what we had at the time, obviously a small minority can effect enormous leverage. And that is a candid explanation of the challenge. | |
| “I have to say that business, and indeed state governments, whether they are Liberal or Labor, are taking a completely different approach. They are getting on with the job and recognising that this transition to a clean energy future is one that we have to embark on, and you need certainty of investment. | |
| “My regret about the Neg not going ahead is that, we came so close to having, for the first time in a long time, a consensus on a national energy policy. And that provides the certainty which allows investment to occur.” | |
| 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 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, sided with the Coalition on Monday night. The opposition argued it had 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. | |
| “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 $1.3bn in ‘savingss if they win government next year, and then pretend that’s what the sector wanted.” | |
| The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia initially backed the bill but pulled its support when enough crossbench senators said they were willing to block it. | |
| 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: | 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 legislation 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. | “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. | “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 2m 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. | 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. | 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. |