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| Labor calls for police investigation into Angus Taylor – politics live | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| A bit more from pastor Brian Houston on 2GB Radio. | |
| Houston said he was contacted by the Wall Street Journal three weeks before the state dinner, he was “confused” by the suggestion he may have been invited and said “no, it’s incorrect”. | |
| But now Houston says he “genuinely [doesn’t] know” if Scott Morrison tried to get him invited. He agreed that - as far as he knows - Morrison has never ruled out that the story is true.Houston:”I just didn’t believe it. But then I guess the fact I didn’t know anything about it doesn’t say anything. It’s a question for Scott Morrison. I haven’t talked to him about it - before or since the state dinner.” | |
| Asked why he hadn’t asked Morrison since the story broke - even if just out of curiosity - Houston responded that he figured Morrison had “a whole lot more important things” to deal with, such as the drought. | |
| So by his own version of events: Houston has gone on a journey from being sure the story wasn’t true, to not so sure, but he hasn’t spoken to the PM about it. | |
| Question: You said that in the absence of the prime minister or Taylor referring this to the NSW police that Labor would be writing, so does this mean you are writing or you’re going to give the government more time to refer themselves? | |
| Mark Butler: | |
| We thought, particularly since the principle was set out at the beginning of the week that no one is above the law, that when the evidence was laid out in the way we try to do in question time and a number of media organisations have done in the last 24 hours, that he promised he would put that principle into action to practise and show and demonstrate that even one of his cabinet ministers would be subject to the law under his doctrine, he is all talk and no action. | |
| The ABC cuts away – but Labor will be writing to the NSW police in the next 24 hours. | |
| Question: Do you think or are you suggesting he [Angus Taylor] forged it himself? | |
| Mark Burler: | |
| We are making no suggestion at the moment, we gave him many opportunities to clarify and all he would do was deny the clearly obvious thing which is the document is a forgery. | |
| It is a very serious forgery because it is a document made with the intent to exercise the operation of a public duty, the exercise of a public duty by a publicly elected official. | |
| Angus Taylor will not say whether or not it was made by him or his office or provided by someone else to him. | |
| Instead, he tries to pretend this is not a forged document when all the evidence is to the contrary. | |
| Mark Butler is now holding a press conference on Angus Taylor: | |
| Today, the city of Sydney has released metadata log information that confirms the actual report which was uploaded almost 12 months ago, has not been altered once on the City of Sydney Council’s website since that time. It is quite clear that Angus Taylor was working with a different document. | |
| The document he provided the Daily Telegraph has different formatting, different spacing and different font as well as obviously very different numbers. The New South Wales crimes act provides that the making of a forged document that is intended to influence the exercise of a public duty by a publicly elected official, like the lord mayor of Sydney, is a serious indictable offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison. | |
| It is also clear that the NSW crimes act provides that a failure to make a report about such a document to the NSW police is also a criminal offence, punishable by up to two years in prison after a person becomes aware of the forgery. | |
| Now, the circumstances surrounding Minister Angus Taylor could not be clearer, could not be clearer. | |
| He refused today during question time to do what the City of Sydney has done and release metadata logs that back up his claim that he downloaded that document from the city of Sydney website. | |
| It is a claim that just does not stand up to scrutiny and for which he will not provide any evidence. | |
| At the beginning of this week, the prime minister made it clear that no one was above the law. | |
| A very important statement, given there are a number of journalists in this building that are currently subject to prosecution for doing this job. | |
| But the prime minister is sitting on his hands while this tailor-made scandal about Angus Taylor continues to unfold and get deeper and deeper. | |
| Today it is quite clear that Angus Taylor has refused or declined to make a report himself to the NSW police, the prime minister is clearly not intending to make a referral himself to the NSW police and in the absence of any action by this government to clear this up and ensure that the public has the right to know what has happened here, the Labor party, through the shadow attorney general will be writing to the NSW police, seeking an investigation about all the circumstances surrounding this matter. | |
| Brian Houston tells Ben Fordham he has not spoken to the prime minister about whether or not his name was put forward for the White House dinner, as he thinks he has “more important things” to worry about. | |
| Brian Houston says it is “possible” that Scott Morrison’s office put his name forward, but he didn’t have any conversation with the prime minister about it and was “confused” when the Wall Street Journal reported the news, because he had not heard anything about it. | |
| On the White House dinner invite, Brian Houston says he has known Scott Morrison “well before he was in politics”. | |
| Houston says he has only received a short message from Morrison saying “pray for Jen” after he became prime minister, that Morrison only appeared at his conference and they had a coffee and that was about it. | |
| “It was news to me,” Houston says of the White House dinner – he says it was the “first” he had heard of it. | |
| "He was 36 years old when I got the complaint, he told me he didn't want the police involved." @BrianCHouston on child sex victim of his dad, Frank. If had time again would do same: "I would. I thought I was doing the right thing by that victim." @2GB873 | |
| Brian Houston acknowledges he would still be under investigation by NSW police over failing to report his father Frank Houston’s sexual abuse of children, as the case remains open. | |
| That was first reported by Samantha Maiden at The New Daily | |
| The most recent questioning on Brian Houston’s invitation (and if it existed or not) was during estimates: | |
| Morrison has refused for weeks to answer repeated questions from journalists and in parliament about whether he tried to get one of his religious mentors on the guest list for the invitation-only Rose Garden soireebut was ultimately thwarted by the White House. That development – never denied by the prime minister – was revealed first by the Wall Street Journal while the prime minister was on his American visit. | |
| A riled Wong told the hearing: “I think the public has a right to know whether our prime minister asked for Mr Brian Houston to go to the White House.” She declared Morrison should be “frankly man enough and brave enough to answer the question”. | |
| Departmental officials told the hearing they had not supplied any suggestions to the White House for guests for the state dinner, but declined to answer whether or not Morrison’s office had made suggestions, offering a formulation about answers being potentially prejudicial. | |
| Brian Houston is about to appear on Sydney radio 2GB. | Brian Houston is about to appear on Sydney radio 2GB. |
| That’s over whether he was invited to attend the state dinner at the White House. | |
| Scott Morrison won’t answer, so let’s see what Houston has to say. | Scott Morrison won’t answer, so let’s see what Houston has to say. |
| That’s it though – question time ends. | That’s it though – question time ends. |
| The House won’t sit again until November 25. | The House won’t sit again until November 25. |
| #watergate #grassgate now #clovergate. Another day another reason for a well funded wide ranging National Integrity Commission. #NIC #auspol | #watergate #grassgate now #clovergate. Another day another reason for a well funded wide ranging National Integrity Commission. #NIC #auspol |
| One more dixer. | One more dixer. |
| Phil Thompson gets it. | Phil Thompson gets it. |
| It’s all on the secure and stable plan. | It’s all on the secure and stable plan. |
| This is so the government gets to finish off the week (and month) with the last say. | This is so the government gets to finish off the week (and month) with the last say. |
| Warren Entsch, Phil Thompson and Angie Bell make a bee line for the front bench in the final division. | Warren Entsch, Phil Thompson and Angie Bell make a bee line for the front bench in the final division. |
| It’s a Queensland incursion. | It’s a Queensland incursion. |
| “The most accident prone minister of his generation,” Richard Marles gets in, before he is cut off. | “The most accident prone minister of his generation,” Richard Marles gets in, before he is cut off. |
| The last division is happening, but the folders are stacked, so I don’t even think there will be another dixer after this. | The last division is happening, but the folders are stacked, so I don’t even think there will be another dixer after this. |