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Alleged victims of Malka Leifer lobby parliament for extradition help – politics live Coalition's ‘big stick’ energy legislation passes House – politics live
(32 minutes later)
Joel Fitzgibbon is in the house talking about the need for a future drought strategy.
“Generals don’t wait for the war to begin to make a battle plan,” he says.
The Nationals are also pushing this.
Labor’s Katy Gallagher has asked Treasury officials about the RBA governor’s call for governments to lift public sector wages caps.
The finance minister Mathias Cormannis very prickly, noting that public sector wage growth has “been running above the private sector and above inflation too” before Gallagher even gets the question out.
Treasury officials said that the public sector wage cap is a “matter for governments”, refusing to be drawn. Cormann notes that public sector wage growth is running at 2.6%, ahead of private sector wage growth of 2.3%, Gallagher suggests that states are leading the way while the federal government imposed a 2% pay cap.
Cormann then runs a series of government lines that lifting the cap would mean it would have to increase taxes. He warned wage growth won’t happen “through government fiat” which would “force business to pay more” and result in fewer people being hired and higher unemployment.
Labor’s Jenny McAllister asked incredulously if the government was arguing for lower wages, which prompted Cormann to start attacking Labor’s election policies and noting the result that the Coalition had “biggest swings in lower income areas” because they had rejected the tax and spend policies.
Gallagher objects that Cormann is using estimates to run “political lines against other parties’ agendas”, but he responds that “comparing and contrasting” is relevant.
Big stick, with Labor amendments, which the government has agreed to, is about to be read a third time.
And then boom – it is off to the Senate. (Where it will sit, just vibing, until the Senate comes back in November.)
There are 150,000 fewer apprentices today than when the Coalition took office. The Dept of Employment and Skills puts this down to those changes in employer incentives that came in in 2012/13. #estimates
The division interrupted the awarding of the prime minister’s literary awards, so we have a slight delay in giving you the winners.
Another division, means the prime minister will have to take off again.
The chamber is dividing on the Bandt amendments - they will fail.
But big stick is almost through the house.
Labor won’t be supporting the amendments Adam Bandt has put forward, Mark Butler says, because the new legislation the government has put forward doesn’t carry the same forced divesture order the first incarnation of the legislation had.Labor won’t be supporting the amendments Adam Bandt has put forward, Mark Butler says, because the new legislation the government has put forward doesn’t carry the same forced divesture order the first incarnation of the legislation had.
A federal court now has carriage of any divesture orders, not the minister.A federal court now has carriage of any divesture orders, not the minister.
What does your #RightToKnow mean in a welfare context? It’s the right to understand how government policies impact the most vulnerable in our society. Today, at Senate estimates, the Department of Employment explained why it’s “truncated” the data it provides in its official welfare compliance reports.Why, for example, had it not provided figures showing how homeless and people with disabilities on Newstart were faring under the system?What does your #RightToKnow mean in a welfare context? It’s the right to understand how government policies impact the most vulnerable in our society. Today, at Senate estimates, the Department of Employment explained why it’s “truncated” the data it provides in its official welfare compliance reports.Why, for example, had it not provided figures showing how homeless and people with disabilities on Newstart were faring under the system?
Excluded from the official report, the department has also denied a freedom of information request for the figures. Today, officials said the figures were complicated to understand and providing them took up resources.Excluded from the official report, the department has also denied a freedom of information request for the figures. Today, officials said the figures were complicated to understand and providing them took up resources.
Remarkably, an official also said: “The number of times that people were actually accessing this data was very, very small ... I think we had 100 hits in total on our website.”Remarkably, an official also said: “The number of times that people were actually accessing this data was very, very small ... I think we had 100 hits in total on our website.”
That may be true. But social policy experts and media rely on this data to tell stories like this one, which shows huge proportions of homeless Australians face welfare suspensions.That may be true. But social policy experts and media rely on this data to tell stories like this one, which shows huge proportions of homeless Australians face welfare suspensions.
The data will finally be tabled in Senate estimates today.The data will finally be tabled in Senate estimates today.
Adam Bandt is attempting to amend the big stick legislation which would stop the government from using the new powers (if passed) to stop AGL from closing down the Liddell power station, as scheduled.Adam Bandt is attempting to amend the big stick legislation which would stop the government from using the new powers (if passed) to stop AGL from closing down the Liddell power station, as scheduled.
He also wants to be able to stop the government from potentially underwriting or funding the extension of a coal-fired power station, including Vales Point.He also wants to be able to stop the government from potentially underwriting or funding the extension of a coal-fired power station, including Vales Point.
Malcolm Roberts seems very upset the RBA doesn’t appear at estimates.Malcolm Roberts seems very upset the RBA doesn’t appear at estimates.
Zali Steggall is against the big stick legislation.
But with Labor indicating it will support it, it is most likely a done deal.
The “big stick” energy legislation is back on for debate in the chamber.
It should head to the Senate soon (which can’t vote on it until it sits again in November).
I usually hold what I call a “thinking pen”. The new Treasury Secretary Dr Steven Kennedy has a “thinking clip” while the Finance Minister @MathiasCormann has a pen. #estimates @AmyRemeikis @murpharoo @mpbowers pic.twitter.com/GUcoKHDDgO
Andrew Leigh spoke on Australia’s falling productivity during a matter of public importance debate yesterday:
Productivity is the engine of the economy and it has basically stalled under this government, according to its own Productivity Commission.
After a generation in which labour productivity had run at about 2%, it’s fallen most recently to 0.2%, just one-tenth of its previous level. The Productivity Commission calls the results ‘troubling’ and ‘mediocre’.
In fact, productivity is going backwards in farming, in mining, in construction, in transport and in retail.
In those sectors, workers are producing less per hour than they were the year before. The Productivity Commission often talks about capital deepening but now it has had to come up with a new term to describe what’s going on under this government – capital shallowing.
On Dave Sharma’s assertion this case could have an impact on the broader relationship between Australia and Israel, he added this:
I’d just think we have a good and productive relationship with Israel but this is increasingly becoming an irritant and a focal point in the relationship.
To state the obvious, when this is in the news all the time it starts to affect Israel’s reputation in Australia and it affects the way we interact. They have said this publicly before, it threatens to have an impact on our relationship. I notice the Israeli ambassador to Australia has said the same thing.
Dassi and Nicole have asked Scott Morrison to raise the issue directly with the Israeli government. Nicole said:
It feels like we started again. There has still not been any extradition trial. We are here to ask the Australian government to do more. Enough is enough. We don’t want platitudes, we want action.
Dave Sharma:
Thank you, Josh, and thank you, Dassi and Nicole, for the courage you have shown throughout the process. I also want to to extend my thanks to Josh McNamara.
Malka Leifer fled Australia in 2008. She was charged with 74 separate counts of sexual abuse relating to her time as principal in 2013.
We first made an extradition request in 2014. I was ambassador to Israel at the time. Since that time five years have elapsed.
There have been over 60 hearings in court in Israel and yet we seem to be no closer to having Malka Leifer extradited.
Why don’t doubt the independence and integrity of the Israeli legal system, but as my friend Josh Burns said, enough is enough.
And we are here today to send a very fair message to Israel that this case is a high priority for Australia and it is one we will be ceaseless in pursuing and it is one that, unless resolved soon, will have an impact on the broader relationship.
Josh Burns on Dassi Erlich and Nicole Myer:
They have spoken out because they have had the most awful, awful injustice committed to them, but they have spoken out so others don’t have to do and they have spoken out because what was accepted yesterday will no longer be accepted in Australia today.
And so today I’d say Australia stands with them, that they have done a service to their country and community and we are all very proud of them and we thank them for all of the advocacy.
They also want to thank Dave Sharma and the government for working with us today and for helping put on this program. This is a really important thing. This is about making sure that justice is done and that Malka Leifer is returned to Australia.
It has been almost a decade since Malka Leifer has fled Australia and this has to end.
Enough is enough. And today we send a clear message to our friends and counterparts in Israel that we … on both sides of the house, will not rest until Malka Leifer is returned to Australia.
Dassi Erlich and Nicole Meyer, who have accused the former principal of Melbourne’s ultra-Orthodox Adass Isreal School, Malka Leifer, of abuse are in parliament, lobbying for help in ensuring her extradition to Australia to face charges.
Leifer left Australia for Israel in 2008, after allegations she abused female students were made.
The Liberal MP Dave Sharma and the Labor MP Josh Burns have come together in a show of bipartisan support, to try to help the women.
Penny Wong is in defence estimates, where the committee has heard that five defence buildings have flammable cladding – which in “most cases” will have to be replaced.