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| John Setka abandons challenge to his expulsion from Labor party – politics live | |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| So John Setka is blaming the free trade agreements for his resignation. | |
| Cool beans. | |
| It concludes: | |
| Mental health is a very serious issue for many families just like mine. Instead of supporting my wife and I who have sought professional help to address these issues, Mr Albanese has used our personal life for political gain to expel me from the Labor Party. | |
| And now he seems to have passed the baton to Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus, who has added criticism of former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to my alleged shame file. | |
| I have been determined to fight their moves to push me out, given that false accusations were used to justify them. | |
| But enough is enough. I can no longer ignore the personal toll, along with Anthony Albanese’s betrayal of working Australians and the values the Labor Party and Union Movement were founded on. | |
| My focus right now, and that of my union brothers and sisters, is resisting the Ensuring Integrity Bill being driven by the Morrison Government. This is the same bill that, for good reason, failed under Tony Abbot in 2017. | |
| If passed, it will leave Australia with the most extreme workplace laws in the world, restricting workers’ rights to seek fair pay and better working conditions by nobbling the unions that represent them. | |
| This bill undermines the fundamental democratic right of union members to elect their leaders, handing power to the government and its big business mates to have union officials removed and unions shut down for even the most minor or technical breaches of workplace laws. | |
| Despite this and the threat posed to the rights of millions of working Australians, the Labor Party appears to have gone missing in action in the fight to stop the Ensuring Integrity Bill. | |
| My decision to resign from the Labor Party is simple but regrettable. I cannot remain a member of the party while Anthony Albanese is leader. | |
| John Setka statement continues: | |
| Just when I thought the Labor Party couldn’t betray its principles and workers any further, it sided with the Morrison Government on new free trade deals with Indonesia, Hong Kong and Peru. | |
| These agreements are a disaster for Australian jobs and living standards. Talk about sending a signal to unions and workers on where the party stands. And, it no longer appears to be on their side. | |
| Mr Albanese claims I have brought the ALP into disrepute. I know I’m not always politically correct and yes, I do swear! Notwithstanding my flaws, nothing has hurt the Labor Parties’ reputation like Mr Albanese’s leadership over the past 5 months. | |
| It is no coincidence the smear campaign against me came just days after I announced that the CFMEU would no longer financially back the Labor Party. | |
| The smears that followed initially centred on claims I denigrated family violence campaigner Rosie Batty, someone I admire deeply. I have denied these accusations from the beginning and have been supported by those at the National Executive meeting at which they were purported to have been made. | |
| My personal life has also been dragged into this muckraking. I acknowledge that I have made mistakes in my marriage - which I have answered to in the courts - but using my personal life for political means is an incredibly low blow. | |
| These personal attacks have caused me and my family enormous mental anguish at a time when we are rebuilding our lives together and addressing our problems. | |
| John Setka statement: | |
| My decision to quit the Australian Labor Party after 15 years has - everything - to do with Anthony Albanese. | |
| This is a personal decision I have made; it will not affect The CFMEU VIC / TAS branch’s ability to advocate within the Labor party for better policies on behalf of CFMEU members and working Australians. | |
| The Opposition Leader has waged a very public campaign to have me expelled from the party, based on false allegations motived by old-fashioned political payback. | |
| While they have taken a personal toll on me and my family, the dirty tricks directed at me are not the reason I have decided to hand in my party membership card. | |
| The reason is simple: I cannot continue to be a member of the Labor Party while Anthony Albanese is its leader. | |
| Mr Albanese is selling out Australian workers and turning his back on the values that underpin both the party and the Union Movement. | |
| Under his leadership, the Labor Party has lost its spine. Worse still, it is in danger of losing its soul. | |
| It has, in record time, abandoned its own policy platforms that were geared at restoring employee bargaining power, standing up for a progressive tax system, properly funding education and abolishing the undemocratic, anti-union Australian Building and Construction Commission. | |
| Thumbs up (for something). #qt @AmyRemeikis @murpharoo @mpbowers pic.twitter.com/PPzA1ZWGba | |
| It’s Michael McCormack time. | |
| I’m pretty sure he could announce he was moving to Antarctica to live as king of the penguins and no one would pay any attention. That includes his own side of the house. | |
| Lisa Chesters to Scott Morrison: | |
| In the face of the drought crisis, what additional measures are being provided by the government to people like farm hands, stockhands, jackaroos and jillaroos - people who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods but are not farmers. | |
| Morrison: | |
| I’m happy for the Minister for to respond to the answer | |
| The second phase of our drought plan involves investing in local communities which keeps them turning over for their economy. | |
| What the Member may not be aware of is the additional tax incentives we provided to farmers in the building of silage done by the contractors you talk and farmhands, also $50 million in grants to farmers to support the work they are doing on on-farm watering infrastructure. | |
| She may be not aware but that is done by people who work on farms. Our comprehensive drought response, and those recommendations came from directly engaging with the farming communities. | |
| I will ask the Minister for drought to add further to the answer. | |
| David Littleproud: | |
| It is a good question because it underlies the complexity of the drought. That it reaches far beyond the farm gate, goes to the communities as the Prime Minister has articulated. Some of those programs are about making sure there is stimulation with the communities and at the farm gate. | |
| We have committed over eight years, we did not start this yesterday. Over $50 million have been put into it. Let me tell you what that has done. In western Queensland, they have built things called dog fences, they mean while they have been restocked, farmers have been able to build fences with aid workers to be able to put up fences that exclude wild dogs so that when it does rain we see lambing rates go from 5% to 85%. | |
| It brings shearers back to communities. They leave more money at cafe ‘s and service stations. That is why our three pillar approach to Australia’s about the here and now, making sure there is money in the pockets of farmers to keep them going with and respect. It is about the community and understanding it goes further than the farmer but the families that support those farmers. | |
| The Future Drought Fund will continue to deliver programs and will give the resilience we need in the future. That’s how you tackle this insidious disease that is drought. | |
| It’s not the same as other net draw disasters when you can measure it by fixing a house or a road, it depletes landscapes and bank balances, you have to -- escalate to approach through the community, from the farm gate to those who work in the communities so to make sure there is regional survival. | |
| *Not sure the drought is an insidious disease. It’s not a virus or bacteria that is spreading across the land - it’s climate change. | |
| We’re heading back to the Antarctic | |
| From Sussan Ley: | |
| The measurements of the world’s ice sheets will improve projections of future sea level change caused by a changing climate and allow more accurate forecasts of annual sea ice extent. | |
| The partnership with NASA is one of the many scientific endeavours that will be undertaken by the Australian Antarctic Program (AAP) in the months ahead. | |
| This year more than 550 expeditioners will travel south from Hobart with the AAP supporting and undertaking research on seabirds, glaciers, the ice cap and the Southern Ocean. | |
| Other projects this summer include biological and geotechnical surveys around the site of Australia’s proposed new runway near Davis research station, development of our traverse capability and a new station on Macquarie Island. | |
| The first of ten Airbus flights this season departs Hobart today for Australia’s ice runway, Wilkins Aerodrome, while the first voyage of the season on our icebreaker Aurora Australis departs Hobart on Friday. | |
| Six flights are planned using the Royal Australian Air Force’s C-17A to transport heavy equipment south. | |
| It is a clear demonstration of the Morrison Government’s ongoing commitment to scientific research, to climate science and to maintaining Australia’s leadership in Antarctic exploration. | |
| I wish our entire Antarctic team every success. | |
| We are on to the first dixer, and it is again about how great the government is at managing the economy. | |
| At least press releases are quieter | |
| Joel Fitzgibbon has a question for Scott Morrison, on when the government will set up a national drought strategy. | |
| Morrison: | |
| We are already implementing a national drought strategy. After the national drought summit, which the member who asked the question attended, we released a comprehensive set of measures we have added to since that time. | |
| As each stage of the drought ... progressed, we have stepped up our response to that drought. It began with the establishment of the national drought future fund, combined with measures to support farm household assistance directly to farmers and their families around this country. | |
| It began as the second phase of the plan by supporting areas and communities affected by drought, by putting money directly into the local councils and shires that kept the economy going, kept people at work to make sure local towns and communities denied the income that would come from the agricultural sector during a drought was getting that support. | |
| Going back to the direct assistance to farmers, we are rolling out greater mental health support, which I know the member would agree with and endorsed at the time. Making sure mental health support is getting to those communities, and outreaching through remote type access mechanisms using technology and directly by getting to the councils. | |
| The financial counselling assistance, sitting around the kitchen tables of farmers and graziers, helping them with the decisions they need to make. | |
| The increase to the farm household announcement, which means over a period of four years the families have access to the program, we have liberalised access... | |
| We have made sure there is a flexibility mechanism which will enable the government to move, considering how the drought progresses after June next year to do further assistance, should that be required. We are responding to the drought, we will continue to respond, and people in country areas know that. | |
| Yesterday we met with the farmers federation, and there was a lot of overlap between the measures we are putting in place and what they are calling. | |
| On rate relief, that is a matter for state and territory governments. One of the things they are responsible for are our freight and fodder subsidies... We will continue to work with the NFF. There are so many members from country communities affected by this drought, they will continue to provide an excellent conduit. | |
| The Victorian CFMEU boss, John Setka, has withdrawn his legal challenge against his expulsion from the Labor party. | |
| Anthony Albanese just made the announcement: | |
| Today, John Setka has withdrawn his appeal to that decision and John Setka has now been removed as a member of the Australian Labor party. | |
| Anthony Albanese has called a press conference for just before question time. | |
| I am going to try to find some go-go juice to hook into my veins as I head over to the chamber for question time because this entire place is very, very low-energy today. | |
| Joel Fitzgibbon is still pushing for a drought ‘war cabinet’. | Joel Fitzgibbon is still pushing for a drought ‘war cabinet’. |
| He says the prime minister’s dismissal of a ‘war cabinet’ as not having existed when Australia was actually at war, is just “semantics” and the main point is there needs to be a drought strategy put in place for the future. | He says the prime minister’s dismissal of a ‘war cabinet’ as not having existed when Australia was actually at war, is just “semantics” and the main point is there needs to be a drought strategy put in place for the future. |
| That is also what the NFF is calling for – the main point from its plan released today is that Australia needs a drought strategy for the future. Because droughts are now part of the future. | That is also what the NFF is calling for – the main point from its plan released today is that Australia needs a drought strategy for the future. Because droughts are now part of the future. |
| On the AAT stuff, Peter Dutton had this to say: | On the AAT stuff, Peter Dutton had this to say: |
| Well because... you’re talking about whether we should subvert the court process. So there are constitutional rights in relation to access to administrative decision review, as well as people having the capacity to run it all the way to the high court. | Well because... you’re talking about whether we should subvert the court process. So there are constitutional rights in relation to access to administrative decision review, as well as people having the capacity to run it all the way to the high court. |
| So we’ve looked at some ways in which we can streamline that. As you know the Labor party is seeking to strike out a pretty efficient way that we deal with those reviews at the moment through a version of the AAT. There are some laws that we can change, which if the Labor party would support it and we can tighten that review process up, I’d do it tomorrow, but they won’t support it and I issued a request to Senator Keneally last week or the week before; tell me what laws you think should be tightened in relation to border protection, I’ll support it. She has not come up with one suggestion. | So we’ve looked at some ways in which we can streamline that. As you know the Labor party is seeking to strike out a pretty efficient way that we deal with those reviews at the moment through a version of the AAT. There are some laws that we can change, which if the Labor party would support it and we can tighten that review process up, I’d do it tomorrow, but they won’t support it and I issued a request to Senator Keneally last week or the week before; tell me what laws you think should be tightened in relation to border protection, I’ll support it. She has not come up with one suggestion. |
| So we’ll have a look at ways in which we can tighten the law because there is a rorting through the AAT, I’ve been clear about that for years and Ian Callinan has done a review so the attorney is considering that at the moment, but there are constitutional restrictions about how far you can go to tighten up those processes. Some people will use the judicial process to delay their departure and remit money back to their country of origin because if they’re earning money here, it’s a king’s ransom by the time it goes back and if the Labor party is proposing ways in which we can tighten that, then I’m very happy to support it. | So we’ll have a look at ways in which we can tighten the law because there is a rorting through the AAT, I’ve been clear about that for years and Ian Callinan has done a review so the attorney is considering that at the moment, but there are constitutional restrictions about how far you can go to tighten up those processes. Some people will use the judicial process to delay their departure and remit money back to their country of origin because if they’re earning money here, it’s a king’s ransom by the time it goes back and if the Labor party is proposing ways in which we can tighten that, then I’m very happy to support it. |