Labor fails in bid to suspend standing orders over Gladys Liu – politics live
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Version 5 of 14. And just on that, Labor’s Tanya Plibersek pointed to the party holding firm on its climate change policy, if nothing else, in a doorstop interview a little earlier: The Leader has made it very clear - Anthony has made it very clear - that all of our policies are up for re-examination at this time. But I would say Labor Party members are proud of our ambitious climate change agenda and it’s really the Government that should be answering questions about what is happening with climate change policy in Australia. We have got a Government - I mean I have literally lost count of how many energy policies they’ve had, I don’t know if we are up to 15 or 16 - and what we know about those policies is power prices are still going up, pollution is still going up, we are spending billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money and achieving none of the objectives that the Government has set itself. Energy prices are up, and pollution is up. We need in this country certainty for people to invest in new electricity generation capacity. We know that renewables are getting cheaper all the time. We need to act strongly in Australia to reduce our pollution, and that has the added benefit of reducing power prices for households. There is a reason that people are putting solar panels and batteries on their homes - renewables are becoming cheaper all the time. Q: So saying all of that, you would be opposed to changing the reductions target that Labor took to the last election? TP: We are years out from the next election. Our Leader has made it very clear that we are looking at all of our policies and we are not in any rush to make these sorts of announcements. What I would say is that Australians understand that we need to act decisively on climate change or we are leaving our grandchildren a diminished planet. I’d also say it is up to the Government, that the Government actually needs to have an energy policy and a climate change policy. We have people in this Government today who are still saying that they’re not really sure whether man-made climate change is actually a thing. I mean, truly, in 2019 we’ve got Government ministers who aren’t really sure whether the overwhelming evidence, scientific evidence, the overwhleming scientific opinion around the world - they aren’t really sure whether that’s right or not. Come on. Just for a change of pace, the Greens are calling for David Littleproud to step down from his ministries, after he said he didn’t know whether manmade climate change was real or not. David Littleproud has admitted that he does not believe the accepted science that human action is driving climate change, so how can he possibly be responsible for oversight of the water resources, drought, natural disaster and emergency management portfolios?” Richard Di Natale said in a statement. “That’s why the Greens are calling on minister Littleproud to do the right thing and immediately resign from the front bench so that he can be replaced with someone who understands the science of climate change. If he refuses to do so, then Scott Morrison must stand him down. “If Scott Morrison won’t remove minister Littleproud from the front bench now that it’s clear he doesn’t believe the overwhelming scientific evidence that manmade climate change is real, then the public would have no choice but to assume that the prime minister agrees with his position.” I mean, obviously they are just discussing the Caroline Calloway article in the Cut. What is anyone else talking about? Sarah Henderson will be officially welcomed back by the prime minister in that press conference. She has just walked into the PMO for her briefing now. Seems like the ideal time to look at memes. I’ve just heard from people within the chamber over what Tim Watts said that had him kicked out from the chamber under 94a during the debate to suspend standing orders: You’ll regret this, Porter. It’s going to come back and bite you on the arse.” That’ll do it. Scott Morrison has just called a press conference for 11am. It is in the Blue Room (the second most serious press conference location). It’s the first one he has held all week. Gee, I wonder what it could be about? Mark Dreyfus moves to suspend standing orders over Gladys Liu, saying the member for Chisholm needs to explain her "absolutely extraordinary" interview with Andrew Bolt pic.twitter.com/9KuaQrVwfO For those interested, all of the crossbench voted with Labor on that motion.* *I never really count Bob Katter as the crossbench. He very rarely gets involved. Totally normal sitting arrangement. PM Scott Morrison and the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg Sir next to Gladys Liu during a division @AmyRemeikis @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/64BmClIZg6 Scott Morrison sat next to Gladys Liu during that vote. Optics, optics, optics. Motion to suspend standing orders ends. Ayes 68 Noes 72 Time on the debate concludes – the divisions begin. Even without Tim Watts, Labor was going to lose this one. Rebekha Sharkie is now speaking on the motion. She says the motion goes to “confidence” of MPs in the parliament and urges the government not to use its numbers to “run a protection racket”. Sharkie says the motion is “simply calling on the member to make a statement” to the parliament, to clear up her comments to Andrew Bolt. “The trust, the confidence, the integrity of this place rides on this matter – don’t think it doesn’t,” Sharkie says. Christian Porter says the motion is an “outrageous slur” on the first Chinese-born MP in the parliament. “At the end of the day, you would have someone excluded from the parliament because of their heritage, and associations with that heritage,” Porter says. Tony Smith has already issued the 94a warning and reminded MPs that they might want to be around for the vote. But they keep going, so Smith then uses it. Tim Watts is kicked out. |