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Labor grills Scott Morrison over call to NSW police commissioner – question time live
Labor grills Scott Morrison over call to NSW police commissioner – question time live
(32 minutes later)
PM says he was ‘upfront’ about decision as Labor continues its attack. All the day’s events, live
PM says he was ‘upfront’ about decision as Labor continues its attack. All the day’s events, live
The motion:
The matter of public importance begins – it is on robodebt and is being led by Bill Shorten – and Tim Wilson starts non-stop heckling about the number of Labor MPs who have left the chamber (there are still more Labor MPs in the chamber than Coalition MPs though).
“Will you shut up,” someone from Labor yells.
Andrew Giles appeals to the deputy speaker, pointing at Wilson, but Wilson seems to get bored of his own steam and wanders off.
Anthony Albanese associates the opposition with the comments of Darren Chester about the need to do more on veteran suicide.
Tony Pasin is muttering loudly about the “disrespect” Labor showed earlier.
Scott Morrison adds his words and thoughts to the question.
He calls an end to question time, but moves to correct the record first and says that Labor voted against the “third reading” of the defence force homes legislation.
He walks out of the chamber as Labor goes nuts, calling Morrison a liar.
They can’t bring Morrison back in, because question time is over, so Albanese makes a personal explanation.
It is pretty extraordinary – the votes are a matter of public record.
Labor loses its bid, and the house returns to its seats.
We have at least one more dixer. The folders are stacked and the phone has been placed on top, so hopefully Scott Morrison just has one more question in mind.
The dixer is from Phil Thompson on veteran suicides. The Labor benches are s i l e n t as Darren Chester speaks.
In the most shocking news this week, Tony Pasin has avoided the front bench in this division.
Luke Howarth is there though.
Karen Andrews and Clint Eastwood’s imaginary Obama sit next to Angus Taylor.
We get to the final division, where they swap sides.
Or as Tony Pasin thinks of it “frontbench time”.
The screen which shows what the procedure is on the floor of the house just said:
“That the member be no longer hard” following Mark Butler’s contribution, which caused a lot of mirth on the floor of the chamber.
Marise Payne, representing the attorney general, has just made a statement about the mysterious imprisonment of Witness J.
Payne said that court orders prevent publication of information about the case and the orders were made with the consent of the parties.
“In any legal proceedings the commonwealth attorney general or other parties can seek orders to protect sensitive information. It is always at the discretion of the court whether to make such orders.”
Nick McKim took note of the answer:
“In the 21st century there is a person who has been secretly charged, secretly sentenced and secretly imprisoned in Australia ...
“When asked to provide further information, the attorney general’s representative has refused or been unable to provide further information.
This is a shocking example of secrecy and abuse of state power, and our descent into a police state.
“Open justice is critical to the rule of law, which in turn is critical to our democracy.”
McKim concludes by suggesting Australia is now an “authoritarian state” and calling for a bill of rights.
Mood
The motion
I seek leave to move the following motion —
I seek leave to move the following motion —
That the House:
That the House notes that this week:
notes that this week:detectives from the NSW Police Force’s State Crime Command Financial Crimes Squad launched Strike Force Garrad to investigate whether the Minister for Emissions Reduction committed a crime;
detectives from the NSW Police Force’s State Crime Command Financial Crimes Squad launched Strike Force Garrad to investigate whether the Minister for Emissions Reduction committed a crime;
the Prime Minister refused to stand down the Minister while the subject of a criminal investigation notwithstanding the Ministerial Standards;
the prime minister refused to stand down the minister while the subject of a criminal investigation notwithstanding the Ministerial Standards;
the Prime Minister called the NSW Police Commissioner and discussed the nature, substance and instigation of the criminal investigation;
the prime minister called the NSW Police Commissioner and discussed the nature, substance and instigation of the criminal investigation;
former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, former NSW ICAC Commissioner David Ipp QC, and former NSW ICAC Counsel Assisting Geoffrey Watson SC have criticised the Prime Minister’s call;
former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, former NSW ICAC Commissioner David Ipp QC, and former NSW ICAC Counsel Assisting Geoffrey Watson SC have criticised the prime minister’s call;
the Prime Minister misled the House while defending the deliberate misleading of the House by the Minister and refused to apologise and correct the record;
the prime minister misled the House while defending the deliberate misleading of the House by the minister and refused to apologise and correct the record;
the Prime Minister failed to answer questions about his conduct, or the conduct of the Minister, and prevented Parliament debating this scandal 20 times; and
the prime minister failed to answer questions about his conduct, or the conduct of the Minister, and prevented Parliament debating this scandal 20 times; and
therefore, the House calls on the Prime Minister to:acknowledge the Minister for Emissions Reduction deliberately misled the House;
therefore, the House calls on the prime minister to:acknowledge the Minister for Emissions Reduction deliberately misled the House;
acknowledge the Prime Minister’s decision to call the NSW Police Commissioner was inappropriate;
acknowledge the prime minister’s decision to call the NSW police commissioner was inappropriate;
correct the record in person and apologise for misleading the House on Wednesday;
correct the record in person and apologise for misleading the House on Wednesday;
correct the record in person and apologise for misleading the House today by claiming the Opposition voted against the second reading of the Defence Service Homes Amendment Bill 2019 when it supported it;
correct the record in person and apologise for misleading the House today by claiming the opposition voted against the second reading of the Defence Service Homes Amendment Bill 2019 when it supported it;
undertake to fully cooperate with the NSW Police Force criminal investigation; and
undertake to fully cooperate with the NSW Police Force criminal investigation; and
stand down the Minister for Emissions Reduction.
stand down the minister for emissions reduction.
Would really like someone to unchain my heart from my love of politics at this stage
Labor is now moving to suspend standing orders in question time for what is the third day in a row.
Former foreign minister Julie Bishop spoke at lunchtime in Sydney at the Centre for Independent Studies, on “Waking up to the China Challenge”.
She said she was asked “almost daily” about the choice Australia was allegedly confronted with, a choice between China (the trade relationship) and the US (the security alliance). Bishop argued it was a false dichotomy.
“We back ourselves, our interests, our values, our principles. We always choose Australia.”
“I do believe Australia can continue to maintain its relationship with China while remaining an ally of the US.”
Asked about self-declared Chinese “spy” Wang Liqiang, who this week outed himself in the Australian media as he seeks asylum, Bishop said she would not rush to judgement.
“I understand that Asio and security agencies are working hard to establish the veracity of the allegations. The fact that he has sought to out himself raises fascinating questions. In my experience, if there were truly a spy, from any nation, that person would be enveloped within our intelligence community and would be nowhere near the media.”
Barely half a kilometre away at the Lowy Institute, at the same time, Bishop’s erstwhile colleague, former prime minister Tony Abbott was speaking about ... China.
He told the audience there Australia’s China choice was becoming more difficult as the country grew more and more assertive.
“It was much easier to avoid hard choices when China appeared to be liberalising,” he said, citing its militarisation of the South China Sea, its repression and imprisonment of members of the Uyghur minority, and President Xi’s consolidation of power.
Abbott said when a country’s biggest trading partner was also its greatest strategic challenge “living with trouble has to be taken for granted ... we will need to become less starry-eyed about the Chinese government”.
If only there was a way MPs could enter information into some sort of internet search engine thing and find the answer to questions they yell out in QT
Scott Morrison:
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
I refer to the Strike Force Garrad investigation and to a report that just before 2pm it has taken copies of correspondence and the metadata showing details of any alterations from the City of Sydney website relating to travel and the suggestions from the minister for emissions reduction. Has the government also provided all relevant emails, documents, text messages, phone records, data, metadata and encrypted messages to the New South Wales police and will it ...
“How do you know that,” comes from the government backbench, including Tim Wilson.
Oh I don’t know? Perhaps because it is in the public domain?
Mark Butler to Angus Taylor:
My question again is to the minister for emissions reduction. On 24 October the minister told the House, and I quote, ‘The document was drawn directly from the City of Sydney’s website. It was publicly available.’ A claim he repeated in a written statement tabled in the parliament on Monday and stood by in his previous answer today. Does the minister stand by his statement on 24 October?
There is a lot of back and forth over whether or not Taylor should answer this question. We eventually get to him returning to the despatch box. Tony Smith looks like he is going to be chewing panadol like peanuts after this session.
Taylor:
Albanese points out that Taylor himself has apologised over the wrong figures. But we move on.
Ed Husic has just been told to “just end the conversation with yourself”.
Husic takes it with good grace. I mean, at least it was a conversation with someone he liked.
Here is the the bit the prime minister is talking about, in terms of shutting down Phil Thompson’s contribution:
Phil Thompson: I’d like to start by addressing some of the falsehoods that the shadow minister decided to throw around just previously, and then I’ll talk on this bill as well as suicide prevention, and that all comes into the cost pressures, especially in north Queensland.
We’re talking about the NAIF, and I found it quite ironic that someone from the south-east corner would be sitting across from me, pointing and saying that we’re not doing anything in the north.
Shayne Neumann: What would you know?
PT: Maybe you should stay in your patch, mate. Because the NAIF has rolled out some projects within north Queensland which include at JCU and at the airport – and the JCU did take quite a while to get over the line because the Labor state government decided to put up roadblocks because that’s how it works. It’s OK, I’m happy to educate the shadow minister on how the NAIF works a little bit later, because that’s not why we’re here.
We are here to talk about the prime minister’s and Minister Chester’s announcement that we would extend the eligibility –
Deputy speaker: The member for Herbert will resume his seat.
