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| Crossbench pushes for a federal Icac – politics live | Crossbench pushes for a federal Icac – politics live |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Jason Clare was also talking about this on Sky this morning. But here is Labor’s official response to the Newstart figures which came out today, from Brendan O’Connor’s office: | |
| The Government’s attack on job seekers is a blatant attempt to distract from the division within the Government over raising the rate of Newstart. | |
| Everyone other than this Government knows the current labour market system must work better, connecting unemployed Australians with decent, stable jobs. | |
| Publicly shaming people struggling day by day is not helping them get in to work. | |
| Labour market programs should be geared to making people more work-ready, help them get the skills they need, and help them to get a secure, decent job. | |
| The Government is not getting people into work, failing to even respond to the Jobactive Senate inquiry, which reported in February this year. | |
| Labor believes in mutual obligation arrangements for jobseekers, but that means the Government has an obligation to ensure that the job active service is value for money. | |
| Rather than simply attacking people struggling to get work in order to distract from their own internal division, the Government should help people to get decent, secure work. | |
| Michaelia Cash’s office just put out the transcript of an interview she had with 2GB this morning, about Newstart and Jobactive and how the jobs are out there. After a few minutes of just how many jobs are out there, in places like Kalgoorlie and Townsville, there was this exchange with a caller: | |
| Barbara: I’m good. Michaelia, I’ve just turned 65. When you turn 65, you get no help whatsoever from any provider. I look for a job every single day, have done for the last three years. I get no response from any employer from my applications, and I try my hardest to get a job. You want us to work till we’re 70 but I cannot get a job. Even those over 50 I speak to cannot get a job. | |
| Cash: Barbara, absolutely we need to ‑ if you want to work, we, as a government, need to ensure that we can find a job for you. What I will do is, offline we’ll take your details and we’ll get someone to contact you and have a chat. | |
| I’m sure Barbara and those she know can just move though, right? | |
| Thank you to the readers for pointing out that Mitch Fifield is off to the UN, not the US (although he will be based in New York). Post amended. | |
| Mark Dreyfus is standing up in the House talking on the government’s ensuring integrity bill (short title: unions are terrible, probably) and using it as an opportunity to talk about Angus Taylor and the need for a federal Icac. | |
| Dreyfus’s main point is that the ‘government wants integrity for unions but not when it comes to themself’ | |
| “They are so allergic to ensuring integrity in their own ranks, they can’t even bring themselves to talk about an election commitment that they made, which was to bring a national integrity commission [to the parliament],” he said. | |
| Kevin Andrews, who is sitting in the Speaker’s chair, is not having a good time, insisting Dreyfus stick to what is relevant to the legislation. | |
| The crossbench have put forward their federal anti-corruption agency demands. Paul Karp was at the press conference and will bring you something on that very soon. In the mean time, here is what they, and the Australia Institute have to say: | |
| “Integrity and accountability are critical features of a healthy democracy. Without a Federal Integrity Commission with teeth, public trust and confidence in our Federal Parliament will continue eroding,”said The Hon David Harper AM, former Victorian Supreme Court Judge and member of the Australia Institute National Integrity Committee. | |
| Centre Alliance Crossbench MP Rebekha Sharkie said Independents and Minor Party Members wanted the 46th Parliament to establish a transparent, publicly accessible and properly resourced agency that could do the job the Australian people expected it to do. | |
| “This is a once in a generation opportunity so let’s do it once and let’s do it right,” said Rebekha Sharkie, Centre Alliance Member for Mayo. | |
| “This is such an important area of public policy but the Government is ignoring it,” said Senator Rex Patrick, Centre Alliance. | |
| “I will introduce legislation for an ICAC with teeth. The latest Crown saga reinforces the need for a real ICAC,” said Adam Bandt, Greens Member for Melbourne. | |
| “There’s an urgent need for a National Integrity Commission and not the woefully inadequate model the Government has put forward. The community is sick and tired of dodgy behaviour in Canberra. They want to see real action to tackle corruption – not just a pretence or half-baked measures,” said Andrew Wilkie, Independent Member for Clark. | |
| “Australians have an expectation that the Parliament and public service meet the highest standards of integrity. We urgently need an effective, national anti-corruption body that is independent, well-resourced and with broad jurisdiction. It’s time for transparency and accountability,” said Zali Steggall, Independent Member for Warringah. | |
| “Australians’ trust in Parliament is very low. I will work with my Crossbench colleagues in the House and Senate for the establishment of a fully-resourced commission that has independent authority to investigate, to hold public hearings, to deal effectively with political and public sector misconduct and corruption and to publish its findings. This is a clear way forward to restore trust in our Parliament,”said Helen Haines, Independent Member for Indi. | |
| “The Parliament is less than four weeks old and already we have seen four cases that would have been referred to a Federal ICAC and according to the Government there’s nothing to see here? It’s disgraceful – we need to get the dirty money out of politics and a Federal ICAC with teeth is the way to do it,” said Senator Jacqui Lambie, Independent Senator for Tasmania. | |
| The Australia Institute National Integrity Committee of retired Judges has put forward a design blueprint and implementation plan for any National Integrity Commission. | |
| Just checking the receipts. | Just checking the receipts. |
| One of the people mentioned in Kristina Keneally’s speech to the Senate last night has responded: | One of the people mentioned in Kristina Keneally’s speech to the Senate last night has responded: |
| Australian senator @KKeneally wants me to freak out publicly over her lies about me in her Senate.I got a massage and played ping pong instead.I'll see her in court if she repeats her defamation outside the chamber, where she currently hides behind parliamentary privilege. | Australian senator @KKeneally wants me to freak out publicly over her lies about me in her Senate.I got a massage and played ping pong instead.I'll see her in court if she repeats her defamation outside the chamber, where she currently hides behind parliamentary privilege. |
| Michaelia Cash says she is just delivering “factual information” to the Australian people. | Michaelia Cash says she is just delivering “factual information” to the Australian people. |
| Here is some other “factual information”. | |
| Michaelia Cash has defended the timing of her “I’m not saying they are dole bludgers, but here are the numbers of people bludging on the dole” when talking to Sunrise this morning: | Michaelia Cash has defended the timing of her “I’m not saying they are dole bludgers, but here are the numbers of people bludging on the dole” when talking to Sunrise this morning: |
| I am from the side of politics, people are allowed to have an opinion. The prime minister has made it very clear we make no excuses as a government for getting people off welfare and into work. | I am from the side of politics, people are allowed to have an opinion. The prime minister has made it very clear we make no excuses as a government for getting people off welfare and into work. |
| That is our commitment to the Australian people. We are a job-creating government; we are elected to create more jobs which we will do. And our focus is ensuring people are safe. | |
| No one has said it would be easy to live on Newstart. The focus of this government is getting you off welfare and into work so that you have a job. The best form ... David, you know this, all of the work you do with small businesses, you know the best form of welfare is a job. | |
| This government unashamedly, we will focus to get out of the welfare system and into sustainable employment.” | |
| Brett Mason from SBS was kind enough to play me the audio of that doorstop with David Gillespie. | Brett Mason from SBS was kind enough to play me the audio of that doorstop with David Gillespie. |
| Here is how the conversation went down: | Here is how the conversation went down: |
| Reporter: Do you have concerns about how the Liberal party handles allegations of harassment and sexual assault? | Reporter: Do you have concerns about how the Liberal party handles allegations of harassment and sexual assault? |
| Gillespie: I don’t know how they handle it. I am in the National party. | |
| Reporter: The Coalition in a sense … Is the Coalition a welcoming place for women? | |
| Gillespie: Of course it is, yeah. | Gillespie: Of course it is, yeah. |
| Reporter: How so? Why? | |
| Gillespie: It’s a bit confected. The Coalition is a very welcoming place for women in general. Women politicians in the National party – we just had three women elected – and similarly in the Liberal party, there’s plenty of incredibly talented women who are representing Senate position and House of Reps. It is all a bit of a beat-up, I think. | |
| Reporter: Well, what do you say to the women who have raised those allegations? | Reporter: Well, what do you say to the women who have raised those allegations? |
| Gillespie walked off. | Gillespie walked off. |
| “A bit of a beat-up,” says Coalition male MP about whether the Coalition is a welcoming place for women on the day two female Coalition staffers talk about their treatment within the party. | “A bit of a beat-up,” says Coalition male MP about whether the Coalition is a welcoming place for women on the day two female Coalition staffers talk about their treatment within the party. |
| Is the coalition a welcoming place for women? "Of course it is" replies @DaveGillespieMP How so, why? "It's a bit confected. The coalition is a very welcoming place for women in general. It's a bit of a beat up, I think." #auspol @SBSNews pic.twitter.com/xu3fA3lWQD | Is the coalition a welcoming place for women? "Of course it is" replies @DaveGillespieMP How so, why? "It's a bit confected. The coalition is a very welcoming place for women in general. It's a bit of a beat up, I think." #auspol @SBSNews pic.twitter.com/xu3fA3lWQD |
| The bells are ringing – which means parliament is about to start. | The bells are ringing – which means parliament is about to start. |
| I am already on my fourth coffee, so this is going to be *fun*. | I am already on my fourth coffee, so this is going to be *fun*. |
| *not at all fun | *not at all fun |
| We are also talking about abuses of metadata access today because, butter me up and call me milk arrowroot, it turns out that everything people said would happen has happened and the powers aren’t being used as they are meant to be. | We are also talking about abuses of metadata access today because, butter me up and call me milk arrowroot, it turns out that everything people said would happen has happened and the powers aren’t being used as they are meant to be. |
| Paul Karp has done quite a bit of reporting on this lately. The Oz has picked it up today as well. | Paul Karp has done quite a bit of reporting on this lately. The Oz has picked it up today as well. |
| Bill Shorten is also continuing to lead Labor’s attack on robodebt. | Bill Shorten is also continuing to lead Labor’s attack on robodebt. |
| Following a litany of high profile bungles, Stuart Robert was forced to apologise to a mourning mother whose deceased son was the subject of robodebt hounding even after his death. | Following a litany of high profile bungles, Stuart Robert was forced to apologise to a mourning mother whose deceased son was the subject of robodebt hounding even after his death. |
| When the minister was asked how many robodebt notices had turned out to be wrong, he responded: “Of the 800,000 income compliance reviews since 1 July 2016 that have been finalised, 80% have resulted in a debt being collected.” | |
| He would not say how many of that 80% had erroneous debt claims reduced. But that still leaves 20% – or 160,000 debts – that the minister has confirmed the government got wrong. | |
| Mr Robert does appear to have seen the error of his ways when grilled about his false claim on the 7.30 Report that robodebts were not being claimed that were older than seven years. | Mr Robert does appear to have seen the error of his ways when grilled about his false claim on the 7.30 Report that robodebts were not being claimed that were older than seven years. |
| He changed position, stating “as at today” robodebt hounding of historical debts before the 2013-14 financial year would not occur. | He changed position, stating “as at today” robodebt hounding of historical debts before the 2013-14 financial year would not occur. |
| The question remains: what happens to the people like 82-year-old Canberra woman Wilma Spence who have already been hit with notices for alleged debts big and small dating back to the 1990s? | |
| The robodebt farce needs to be addressed, not denied. We support legitimate debt recovery but not for inaccurate debts and not without human oversight. | |
| Time’s up for this harsh and inaccurate system. The government needs to go back to the drawing board.” | |
| Labor only explicitly said robodebt needed to be scrapped after the election. | Labor only explicitly said robodebt needed to be scrapped after the election. |
| The push for a proper federal integrity commission from the crossbench is getting serious. The group are speaking today, to discuss what they believe is necessary to bring trust back into the federal political system. | The push for a proper federal integrity commission from the crossbench is getting serious. The group are speaking today, to discuss what they believe is necessary to bring trust back into the federal political system. |
| From their alert: | From their alert: |
| Crossbench MPs have joined with eminent retired judges and corruption fighters to call for the government to legislate for a national integrity commission – but one that has real teeth. | |
| Who: | Who: |
| The Hon David Harper AM, former Victorian supreme court judge | |
| Rebekha Sharkie, member for Mayo | |
| Andrew Wilkie, member for Clark | |
| Adam Bandt, member for Melbourne | |
| Helen Haines, member for Indi | |
| Zali Steggall OAM, member for Warringah | |
| Jacqui Lambie, senator for Tasmania | |
| That’ll be held at 10.45 this morning. | That’ll be held at 10.45 this morning. |