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Jacqui Lambie says Syria crisis could affect her medevac repeal decision – politics live Jacqui Lambie says Syria crisis could affect her medevac repeal decision – politics live
(about 2 hours later)
Jacqui Lambie was just on Sky News, where she said the same things about the medevac bill that she said on ABC radio. The bells are ringing for the beginning of the parliament session.
For a good overview of the phonics debate in Australia, Michael McGowan has this piece from last year. This is what doom sounds like.
Why the right and left can't stop sounding off about phonics Anthony Albanese:
Like it or not the government is bringing back phonics to Australian primary schools. We’ll continue to hold the government to account in question time. It’s important that the Prime Minister can’t just walk away from questions. We asked a simple question that’s about his evasion, nothing else, about his evasion of whether he sought to have Brian Houston invited to the White House.
From Dan Tehan: How is it that the Prime Minister thinks he can get away with saying, ‘Oh, that’s just a report in the newspaper?’ The question is, is it true or not?
“Our Government will fund the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership(AITSL) to provide expert advice on incorporating phonics into the national accreditation standards for initial teacher education. The question is why is this Prime Minister, when he’s asked questions, responding with, ‘Oh, that’s just in the bubble,’ or other prevarications, which are all designed to avoid scrutiny?
“I have tasked AITSL to create a small taskforce to advise on implementing theGovernment’s phonics in ITE election commitment. Well, our job, as the opposition, is to hold the government to account and we’ll continue to do just that.
“AITSL will draw on the taskforce’s expertise, focusing on ensuring graduate teachers can teach the fundamentals of literacy through learning how to teach the five essential elements of literacy: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency, comprehension. Anthony Albanese is holding his press conference on the climate emergency motion.
“Our Government believes in the primacy of developing strong literacy and numeracy skills as the bedrock of a quality education. He says Scott Morrison is “all rhethoric...when it comes to substance, he gets caught out that he is loose with the truth”.
“There is clear evidence that children benefit from phonics instruction in learning to read and spell so our Government wants teachers to have the skills to teach phonics well. [National debt] has doubled on this government’s watch. Household debt is the highest it’s ever been. When it comes to productivity, it’s gone backwards, fourth quarters in a row. When it comes to growth, the OECD has downgraded Australia’s growth predictions by more than it’s downgraded the UK, which is going through Brexit.
“AITSL will progress the proposed changes to the accreditation standards to all education ministers for endorsement in December 2019. Interest rates are at 0.75%. When they were at 3%, the Coalition was saying that was emergency levels. That’s a sign of no confidence in this government’s capacity to stimulate the economy.”
“Our Government will also introduce a free, voluntary phonics health check for Year 1students so parents and teachers can better understand a child’s reading level and whatsupport they may need.” The government’s climate policy is another example of that, Albanese says.
We know there is a left and a right Labor caucus (with both, as Katharine Murphy reported yesterday, having something to say about Joel Fitzgibbon’s intervention in the emissions conversation) but now Labor has established a multicultural policy caucus committee as well. Seems like Labor has settled on some sort of climate policy.
From Andrew Giles, Anne Aly and Raff Ciccone: #breaking Mark Butler told caucus he will lodge a motion for parliament to declare climate emergency. Says UK & Canada have done so, and Labor should be "leading this debate". Greens have their own motion - but Butler chipped them for voting against ETS. #auspol @AmyRemeikis
The committee will be chaired by Anne Aly MP, and senator Raff Ciccone will be its secretary. Butler was asked because the climate emergency e-petition is the largest ever. Labor MPs have received emails asking their position. No vote taken on Labor's motion at caucus.
It brings together the lived experience and representational understanding of caucus members, in examining legislation impacting on multicultural communities, consulting with stakeholders and providing specialist advice to the leader and the shadow minister for multicultural affairs. Pauline Hanson on her ‘legislation strike’ (speaking to Sky News)
Shadow minister for multicultural affairs Andrew Giles said that the caucus committee will have a focus on consultation with multicultural stakeholders, especially new and emerging communities. I said on critical, non critical legislation, which I haven’t. And I think it’s very important that we do have security at the airports, which I did support that last night about the amendment that was put up by Rex Patrick.
“The Morrison government has no plan to support multicultural communities, tackle racism and no plan to realise the strengths of Australia’s diversity. So I said, I will look at it.
“I look forward to working alongside my caucus colleagues to boost Labor’s engagement with established and emerging culturally diverse communities and ensure that we work alongside these communities every step of the way to better reflect their concerns in parliament.” But as far as I’m concerned, I’m not interested in looking legislation.
Caucus committee chair, Anne Aly MP said: “Approximately 1 in 4 Australians was born overseas, and many people born here will have migrant parents. This committee represents Labor’s commitment to ensuring that our policies are meaningful for all Australians. I look forward to my role as chair and working with my colleagues on this committee.” This is important. I’ve got people here that...suicide. They’re going under. This is an industry that we have to, I’ve got to take a stand on this, the government’s not doing anything about it, the National Party have done that to nothing about it. Labor will talk no action, the role, you know, full of BS, as far as I’m concerned, do something about it.
Secretary of the committee, senator Raff Ciccone said that after six years under the Liberal National government multicultural communities in Australia have been overlooked and not given the respect they deserve. I’m sick of hearing that we’re giving money there.
“Labor is committed to working with people from every background who call Australia home. Scott Morrison comes out and says we’ve put $318.5 million into the industry. He’s just giving $150 million dollars to NASA. So he’s quite prepared to send the, you know, the astronauts into into space and then meantime they come here and he is sending our cows to heaven.”
“My parents left their home country in search of a better life to give my brother and I the very best opportunities that Australia has to offer. They believed that with hard work and dedication Australia was the best place to raise a family. It doesn’t seem like it is taking action, when you will be voting on everything the government needs, but as always, you do you
“I am excited to be helping make sure multicultural communities have a voice in the decisions of our Caucus,” Ciccone said. Update from the Labor caucus meeting:
The MPCC will operate in a similar fashion to existing caucus committees such as the status of women caucus committee and the First Nations caucus committee, and membership will be open to all caucus members. Labor has resolved to amend the big stick bill to prohibit partial privatisation - if that succeeds they will vote for it, if not they will vote against. Also wants a review before 2026. #auspol ping @AmyRemeikis
The vote was one by one. According to the Senate Hansard, here is how that went down: Save the Children Australia acting CEO Mat Tinkler and Kamalle Dabboussy, spokesperson for the 60-plus Australian children and women trapped in al-Hawl camp in north-east Syria, just held a doorstop about what is happening in the region “and the closing window of opportunity for repatriation”.
AYES Dabboussy’s daughter is one of those.
Ayres, T, Bilyk, CL , Brown, CL Chisholm, A Ciccone, R Di Natale, R Dodson, P Farrell, D Faruqi, M Gallacher, AM Green, N Hanson-Young, SC Keneally, KK Kitching, K Lambie, J Lines, S McCarthy, M McKim, NJ Patrick, RL Polley, H Pratt, LC Siewert, R Smith, M Steele-John, J Sterle, G Urquhart, AE Walsh, J Waters, LJ Watt, M Whish-Wilson, PS I think there’s a great concern as to how the situation may change on the ground. As I said, it’s very difficult to predict what happens next in the Middle East and this region of the world. Part of the issue that we have a concern is not only who will take control, but the process between now and when they take control. There’ll be a period of lawlessness, areas where people are not being patrolled or supported, and in that environment you will have ISIS sleeper cells and radicalised women in the camp and they in turn may take action. Remember the Australian women have all been deemed as apostates or non-radicalised women who don’t believe in the ISIS ideology, and their ideology allows them to be killed as a result. So they are open and vulnerable at this point in time.
NOES Without sounding too brutal, obviously knowing your own personal family situation, but are these people at risk of being killed or dying if we don’t get them out?
Abetz, E Antic, A Bragg, A J Canavan, MJ Cash, MC Chandler, C Colbeck, R Davey, P Duniam, J Fierravanti-Wells, C Hanson, P Hughes, H Hume, J McDonald, S McGrath, J (teller) McKenzie, B McMahon, S O’Sullivan, MA Paterson, J Payne, MA Rennick, G Roberts, M Ruston, A Scarr, P Seselja, Z Sinodinos, A Smith, DA Stoker, AJ Van, D I’ve been saying that to the government for quite some time. Sooner or later, we’ll face an Australian death. At that point in time, I was explaining, that we would probably face an Australian death over their winter but they also face death from disease and they also face death from the lack of food and water, they face death from security threats from inside the camp, from attacks external to the camp. There is no other support to the Australian women in that environment at all and the only rescue the only avenue for their survival, really is through the Australian government, and sooner or later, there will be a death in the camp. And since the majority of the deaths in the camp have been children under five, they are the ones most exposed in this situation.
PAIRS Pauline Hanson is using this story from 2013 to justify her views on false allegations in the family court.
Carr, KJ Fawcett, DJ Gallagher, KR Askew, W Griff, S Henderson, SM McAllister, J Reynolds, L O’Neill, D Birmingham, SJ Rice, J Ryan, SM Sheldon, A Brockman, S Wong, P Cormann, M She says no one from the government has asked her to tone down her rhetoric on the issue, ahead of the inquiry she is about to deputy chair.
Kristina Keneally had a bit to say about it though: Mike Bowers is out the front of parliament at the moment.
“This is the latest chapter in the comedy of errors that is the Morrison government. The Liberals started the day by accidentally sharing their talking points with the entire press gallery and finished it by stuffing up a vote in the Senate.” ... I will look at it,” Pauline Hanson tells Sky News about legislation.
Speaking of the Senate, someone in the government side will be in trouble this morning after the government lost a vote in the chamber last night: “But as far as I am concerned, I am not interested at looking at legislation.”
BREAKING: The Govt just lost a vote in the Senate.We successfully amended the Police Powers at Airports Bill to include a PJCIS review of the legislation & sunset clauses as safeguards.As @ScottMorrisonMP says such matters "can’t be set & forget" -- now they won't be #auspol pic.twitter.com/bin2SBQMGj Hanson also says something along the lines of Scott Morrison is quite happy to send astronauts into space, but meanwhile “he is sending cows to heaven”.
It sounds like there are going to be A LOT of conversations this week. Anthony Albanese has announced a press conference for 11.45am.
“The legislation does serve its purpose and they do have the opportunity to get medical attention, I don’t think we need to be arguing about that,” Jacqui Lambie continued. That’s just after the caucus meeting and just before parliament sits (it starts at midday).
“But, I have got to look at the bigger picture as well, and, as I said, what has happened over the last four or five days in Syria, certainly that will come into the equation now.” He’ll be in the opposition leader’s courtyard, which is Labor’s fancy press conference zone.
Lambie says she is not sure if she would have voted for the medevac bill if she was in the Senate last year when it passed. But she comes back again to her point that “things have changed in the last four or five days, so I just need to get more clarification from that on home affairs and we’ll go from there”. The balloon is not flying though. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority put the nix on that, although there are quite a few examples of hot air balloons flying over parliament.
The report doesn’t come out until Friday, but the Senate won’t have to vote on the repeal until the Senate returns the week of 11 November. There is also estimates next week, where the legislation will no doubt play a big role. I have been informed by a few people who know that the parliamentary precinct doesn’t actually extend all the way down the front lawns.
Over on ABC radio, Jacqui Lambie says she still has not made up her mind on the medevac repeal legislation.
With One Nation siding with the government, and Centre Alliance firmly against the repeal, the Tasmanian senator is the swing vote. She says the government can’t give her anything for her vote, because her constituents would not “expect me to go in there and sell those people out, for a deal for Tasmania”.
“It is just not on the cards, it is not the way we operate down in Tasmania,” she told RN.
Instead, Lambie says she is approaching it as a conscience vote.
“This will be a conscience vote, from Tasmania,” she said.
Lambie says she will be going through the Senate report on the medevac bill, which is due to be handed down on 18 October, over the weekend, including the dissenting reports. This week is full of meetings, with the immigration lawyer who appeared with her on the SBS show Go Back To Where You Came From meeting with Lambie this morning.
“She has some concerns as well. She does not want the medevac repealed. She wants to put her concerns across the table. There will be a few other people with who I am meeting with this week as well,” Lambie said.
On the medical bodies who came together for a joint statement, asking for the legislation to remain in place, Lambie says she believes national security grounds need to be taken into account as well.
“Especially with the tempo that is happening in the Middle East in the last four or five days,” she said.
“We also always need to make sure and consider that boats making sure that those boats don’t start coming back in, and whether or not that signals, whether or not that is going to set off that domino effect.
“Word doesn’t always get back to people, where there are other war zones not to get on boats, because you won’t be allowed into Australia.
“So making sure that they get that information correctly. And I know those people right now, that are going to be under the medevac law, it is only contained to those people who are already there.
“... So there is a lot up in the air. “
Lambie says the decision by Donald Trump to pull out US troops from northern Syria has “put a whole new spanner in the works” and the “discussions have slightly changed”.
“I’ll be going to see home [affairs] this week as well, and catch up with them, and just see where they are at with that sort of stuff and what else is going on with the Middle East.”
There’s been no release of the government talking notes this morning, so I guess the big red button has been moved.
Instead, the prime minister started his morning talking to Alan Jones, because I don’t know. People get their morning gee up in different ways, I guess.
The Sydney radio 2GB host was very vexed about the drought, but Scott Morrison said he couldn’t make it rain.
“We want the farmers and the communities to get through this drought, but we can’t kid ourselves that there’s a magic wand and a magic cash splash that is going to make this thing totally solved” he said.
As we saw from the talking points yesterday, the government is feeling a little vulnerable on the drought. It keeps pointing to its $7bn spend, but as we know, $5bn of that hasn’t been spent. It’s in a future fund, locked away.
Regional and rural advocates say while the government has a strategy, it’s ad hoc, doesn’t involve the states and needs a more wholistic approach.
The government, of course, defends its response.
Expect more on that.
Jacqui Lambie has been up early, speaking to ABC radio, so I’ll bring you that soon. We’ll also have the outcome of the party room meetings and caucus being held a little later this morning.
It’s also International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. The Senate will acknowledge that during the sitting session. But thinking of all of those impacted by pregnancy and infant loss. I hope you get a moment today for yourself.
Mike Bowers is already roaming the hallways, and you’ll have the considerable brainpower of Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp and Sarah Martin at your disposal. I have two coffees in front of me, thanks to benevolent benefactors who have learned I am in a better mood when properly caffeinated.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.