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| Chaos in parliament over Coalition's union-busting bill – politics live | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Scott Morrison announces cut in number of government departments as part of public service overhaul. All the day’s political news, live | |
| Labor is moving a motion saying the government’s attempts to push the union-busting bill through without debate was “anti-democratic”. | |
| Better still is this bit of the motion: | |
| Yeah, dunno, but not sure the government will go for this one. | |
| We’re now moving through the votes for the government’s union-busting bill. | |
| The Community and Public Sector Union, the main union representing public servants, said the changes announced by the prime minister today will do nothing to enhance service delivery. | |
| The union says the major review of the public service, conducted by David Thodey, did not suggest creating new super departments, and instead suggested the opposite. The CPSU national secretary, Melissa Donnelly, said: | |
| Rightio. Well, now the speaker has done a bit of digging. And it turns out there were in fact copies of the bills in the House, despite all of that. Speaker Tony Smith says: | |
| Prior to the ringing of the bells there were 25 copies, Smith says. Another 40 copies were being brought in. More were being printed. | |
| Enough for everyone! | |
| Mike Bowers captured the government benches as they attempted to gag debate and pass union-busting legislation on the last sitting day of the year. | Mike Bowers captured the government benches as they attempted to gag debate and pass union-busting legislation on the last sitting day of the year. |
| He’s still in the chamber and tells me the clerks and attendants are running around, pointing at to a pile on the desk, and saying they were there all along. | He’s still in the chamber and tells me the clerks and attendants are running around, pointing at to a pile on the desk, and saying they were there all along. |
| Anthony Albanese is responding to that mess in the House as we speak. | Anthony Albanese is responding to that mess in the House as we speak. |
| Albanese likens the government’s actions to a “totalitarian state”. | Albanese likens the government’s actions to a “totalitarian state”. |
| Right, well, that was a bit of a circus. My head is still spinning. | Right, well, that was a bit of a circus. My head is still spinning. |
| Just to recap: | Just to recap: |
| the government sought to move quickly on its union-busing legislation this morning, suspending usual business to get straight to it. | the government sought to move quickly on its union-busing legislation this morning, suspending usual business to get straight to it. |
| then it tried to gag debate in a way Tony Burke described as “unprecedented”. | then it tried to gag debate in a way Tony Burke described as “unprecedented”. |
| then the vote was called. But the opposition said it had not seen a copy of the bill it was supposed to be voting on. The government said there were copies in the chamber, but Labor insisted it hasn’t seen them. | then the vote was called. But the opposition said it had not seen a copy of the bill it was supposed to be voting on. The government said there were copies in the chamber, but Labor insisted it hasn’t seen them. |
| it prompted uproar. Labor are and were outraged. | it prompted uproar. Labor are and were outraged. |
| All the while, MPs are unable to stand to speak during the division, so they’re sitting down with pieces of paper or books on their head as a signal they have the call. | All the while, MPs are unable to stand to speak during the division, so they’re sitting down with pieces of paper or books on their head as a signal they have the call. |
| Speaker Tony Smith considers the issue momentarily. He decides that, yes, people probably should have access to copies of the legislation they are voting on. Fair, I would have thought. | Speaker Tony Smith considers the issue momentarily. He decides that, yes, people probably should have access to copies of the legislation they are voting on. Fair, I would have thought. |
| He suspends the vote for 15 minutes to get copies. | He suspends the vote for 15 minutes to get copies. |
| Anthony Albanese has called a press conference. | Anthony Albanese has called a press conference. |
| The vote is being called off momentarily so we can all cool our heads. We’ve suspended sitting for about 15 minutes to sort it all out. | The vote is being called off momentarily so we can all cool our heads. We’ve suspended sitting for about 15 minutes to sort it all out. |
| We’re now stuck in the lower house in a very bizarre situation. Labor are saying they do not have copies of the union-busting legislation they are voting on. The government says it brought 60 copies in yesterday. | We’re now stuck in the lower house in a very bizarre situation. Labor are saying they do not have copies of the union-busting legislation they are voting on. The government says it brought 60 copies in yesterday. |
| The speaker, Tony Smith, initially demands legislation be brought in. Then there’s confusion because he receives updated advice saying the copies of the legislation were previously in the chamber. | The speaker, Tony Smith, initially demands legislation be brought in. Then there’s confusion because he receives updated advice saying the copies of the legislation were previously in the chamber. |
| Stay tuned. | Stay tuned. |
| There’s an interesting development in the Senate. Labor has moved (with government support I gather) to establish a new select committee into foreign interference in democracy through social media. | There’s an interesting development in the Senate. Labor has moved (with government support I gather) to establish a new select committee into foreign interference in democracy through social media. |
| Chris and I (and other colleagues at Guardian Australia) have been very attentive to this fake news/misinformation phenomenon having looked deeply into the death tax campaign on Facebook during the May election. Here’s the meat of the motion that’s about to be moved by the Labor senator Jenny McAllister. | Chris and I (and other colleagues at Guardian Australia) have been very attentive to this fake news/misinformation phenomenon having looked deeply into the death tax campaign on Facebook during the May election. Here’s the meat of the motion that’s about to be moved by the Labor senator Jenny McAllister. |
| This inquiry will be one to watch in the new year. Incidentally, Labor has also asked the JSCEM (the joint parliamentary committee on electoral matters) to look at the role of misinformation on the platforms as part of the inquiry it does every election cycle into the conduct of the last federal election. | This inquiry will be one to watch in the new year. Incidentally, Labor has also asked the JSCEM (the joint parliamentary committee on electoral matters) to look at the role of misinformation on the platforms as part of the inquiry it does every election cycle into the conduct of the last federal election. |