Australia politics live: Parliament erupts as Scott Morrison calls Labor deputy leader a ‘Manchurian candidate’
The House of Representatives exploded with anger during Question Time today after Scott Morrison hurled an insult across the chamber.
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Welcome to our live coverage of Australian politics.
Today the government will continue to push for legislation which would make it easier to deport convicted criminals. Labor has yet to settle its position on the matter.
In Senate estimates, we’re going to be hearing about aged care and foreign affairs.
Speaking of which, the fraught situation in Ukraine is being closely watched, with fears an invasion could come within hours.
And we’re also watching the NSW state seat Willoughby, where the Liberal candidate trying to succeed Gladys Berejiklian is in a surprisingly close fight.
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Read on for the latest updates.
Signing off
That is where we’ll leave the blog today. But as always, our team will continue to cover the news throughout the evening.
Come back tomorrow for more shenanigans.
Two words make parliament erupt
One last, particularly bad-tempered exchange to tell you about from Question Time.
Mr Albanese quoted from an article in The Australian today, in which editor-at-large Paul Kelly said Labor’s “bipartisanship” had been “pivotal” to the success of Australia’s pushback against China.
The Labor leader asked whether Mr Morrison agreed with Kelly.
“I find it hard to agree when we have a leader of the Labor Party who claims to bipartisanship, but says when it comes to coercion of Australia on trade issues, he only wants to see some of that coercion, some of that coercion-”
He was cut off by a point of order.
“I’ve been going for 20 seconds. I don’t think preciousness is a point of order, Mr Speaker,” Mr Morrison said.
Mr Albanese said Mr Morrison was perpetuating a “mistruth”.
“Part of the issue is I didn’t hear what the statement was,” Speaker Andrew Wallace said, blaming the “level of interjections”.
“I don't think I can rule on it, because I didn’t hear what the Prime Minister said.”
I’ll spare you a few minutes of procedural nonsense. Eventually, Mr Morrison got around to mentioning a speech deputy Labor leader Richard Marles gave in China in 2019.
Mr Morrison quoted from the speech: “Our starting point has to be that we respect China and deeply value our relationship with China. We must seek to build it. And not just economic terms, but also through exploring political co-operation and even defence co-operation.”
“He said that as a shadow defence minister. So I tell you where I do agree, Mr Speaker-” said Mr Morrison, as Mr Marles rose to protest.
“They’ve got another Manchurian candidate,” Mr Morrison said as he sat down. The term refers to a politician who is being used as a puppet by a hostile power. Naturally, the Labor side of the House erupted.
“Everybody just calm down,” said the Speaker, who again told the chamber he hadn’t heard the allegedly “unparliamentary” remark.
“How could I possibly have heard what the Prime Minister has said?” he asked.
To remind you, the other day the word “liar” was ruled to be unparliamentary. Calling someone a Manchurian candidate seems a more serious charge.
Mr Marles accused Mr Morrison of undermining the “dignity” of the House (an accusation that never fails to tickle me, given ... you know, what parliament is like).
“The defence co-operation was started by your government. By your government,” Mr Marles told the Prime Minister before being cut off.
After much crankiness, Mr Morrison withdrew the remark (apparently he’d already withdrawn it, but the microphone didn’t pick it up).
“There is only one side of the House that has demonstrated resolve on this question,” he continued.
“And I can tell you the arbiter of that is the Chinese government themselves, who have picked their horse, and he’s sitting right there.”
Mr Albanese sought leave for both leaders to make a 10 minute speech on the subject of national security. The government shut him down.
Tudge questions go unanswered
Labor asked multiple questions about Education Minister Alan Tudge during Question Time, amid reports the Prime Minister is preparing to sack him.
“Does the Prime Minister have confidence in his Education Minister?” Anthony Albanese asked at one point.
“The matters relating to the Minister for Education I have been taking extremely seriously, and members will be aware of the independent process established,” said Scott Morrison.
“The matter is in process and has not concluded, and in fairness to all involved, it would not be appropriate to make further comment at this time.”
Another questioner asked about reports Mr Tudge’s name has been taken off his door (that one was ruled out of order).
Then Terri Butler asked: “Can the Prime Minister confirm his government is falling down around him with Cabinet leaks, and even the sacking of ministers being leaked to undermine him?”
Mr Morrison did not answer yes to that question. He criticised Labor for “trivialising” the Tudge matter.
Covid outbreak hits parliament
Earlier we reported Labor MP Anika Wells had tested positive for Covid. The number of infected MPs has now grown to three.
Political editor Samantha Maiden has confirmed that Coalition MPs Kevin Hogan and Scott Bucholz have also tested positive.
As a result of Ms Wells’ diagnosis, all Labor MPs who attended caucus have been ordered to get themselves tested.
You can read more here.
PM doubles down on China attack
Question Time has been as delightful as always (which is to say, not at all delightful).
The government has continued its week-long focus on trying to paint Labor as soft on China.
“Will the Prime Minister please outline to the House why it is important not to appease, or be intimidated from calling out, those countries that seek to coerce and bully others? And how has the Morrison government led the way in not being intimidated by standing up to bullying and coercion, including in our region?” asked government MP Ted O’Brien, offering up the afternoon’s first Dorothy Dixer.
Scott Morrison began by stressing the government’s concern about the “ongoing threats of terrible violence” against Ukraine, before bringing up China.
“There is one significant global power that pretends to offer international leadership and remains silent, even complicit, when it comes to condemning (Russia’s) actions and threats of violence,” he said.
“That is the Chinese government. And it is deeply concerning to those who live here in the Indo-Pacfic region.
“We have warned about these issues for some time as a government. We have taken strong action to stand up to any coercion and any threats that have been levelled at Australia. And we have been criticised for doing that, including by those opposite.
“My government will never be the preferred partner of a foreign government that has chosen to intimidate this country and has sought to threaten this country. They will not find a fellow traveller when it comes to threats and coercion against Australia in my government.”
This might be a good time to mention that tensions boiled over in Senate estimates earlier, as Labor accused Mr Morrison of conducting a “sleazy and desperate assault” on this issue and undermining bipartisan unity on national security.
“You’ve had a series of opportunities minister over the course of the morning to reassert the value of what is a many decades-long tradition of bipartisanship on national security in the face of what is a sleazy and desperate assault of the national interest by the Defence Minister and Prime Minister,” Labor senator Tim Ayres told Foreign Minister Marise Payne.
A frustrated Senator Payne rejected the accusation.
“I reject your editorial characterisation,” she said.
“But it is the case that members and senators, no matter who they are or where they sit, ultimately have to own their own remarks and language. And I mean every single one.”
You can read more on that exchange courtesy of my colleagues at NCA NewsWire.
‘Show up’: Colleague slams Hanson
One of Pauline Hanson’s colleagues in the Senate, Liberal Amanda Stoker, has slammed the One Nation leader's attendance record.
“She went down to the Convoy to Canberra protests on the weekend. I spoke to her on Monday, she described what she thought was an under-representing of the numbers there. But she then didn’t sit in the Senate. Is that acceptable?” Australia Today host Steve Price asked Ms Stoker today.
“Well, she didn’t sit in the Senate all last week, and she’s not here for estimates this week,” Ms Stoker said.
“We had all been operating on the basis that there was some medical reason she couldn’t be here, connected to her not being vaccinated. Now, you accept these things at face value. But to then see her at the protest at the weekend exposes those excuses for the mirage they are.
“She’s spending her time, instead of serving in this parliament, campaigning back home. Now we all campaign, no crime against campaigning. But you campaign to serve in the parliament. So if you want to serve in the parliament, show up and serve in the parliament. Do the job you campaigned for last time before you start campaigning for the next one.
“We are doing really important things down here.”
She said Senate estimates, for example, represented “the most important opportunity that exists to carefully scrutinise” the government’s policies and use of taxpayer dollars.
“If she’s not prepared to rock up and deliver on the last election’s commitment, you’ve got to wonder why she’s even bothering this time around.”
Labor MP tests positive for Covid
Anika Wells has announced she tested positive for Covid on a rapid antigen test this morning.
She has been in parliament for this sitting fortnight, so there’ll be plenty of people potentially exposed to this infection.
This morning, in Canberra for Parliament, I took a rapid antigen test and tested positive for COVID.
— Anika Wells MP (@AnikaWells) February 16, 2022
I am double vaxxed with booster and will follow the ACT Health directions.
Stay safe out there everybody.
Minister shrugs off call to resign
Over in Senate estimates, Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck has rejected Labor’s suggestion that he should resign.
Labor Senator Murray Watt brought up the reports that Scott Morrison is on the cusp of sacking Education Minister Alan Tudge. Given the hundreds of Covid deaths in aged care facilities, Mr Watt reasoned, why should Mr Colbeck keep his job?
“Shouldn’t (the minister being sacked) be you?” he asked.
“No, I don’t believe so,” said Mr Colbeck.
“You think you’ve done a good enough job in this portfolio, despite the deaths that we’ve seen over a couple of different outbreaks in aged care?” Mr Watt pressed.
“How can anyone have confidence in you, if they’re a resident in aged care, or if they’re a family member of someone in aged care, if they’re a worker in aged care, that you are man to fix the system, which is in absolute crisis?”
Mr Colbeck argued aged care deaths were not unique to Australia.
“We are going through a global pandemic, and the suggestion implied by you, that if you were in government no one would have died in aged care from Covid, doesn’t stand up,” he told Mr Watt.
“It is very clear that the measures that we’ve put in place during the pandemic have improved the circumstances in residential aged care.”
He declined to call the situation in aged care a “crisis”.
Higgins hails ‘devastating’ valedictory speech
Brittany Higgins has described Liberal MP Nicolle Flint’s valedictory speech, in which she spoke about the “sickening” level of sexist and misogynist abuse she’d copped while in parliament, as “devastating”.
Note: this commentary is not intended to be taken as a defence of the conduct or voting record of the individual involved.
— Brittany Higgins (@BrittHiggins_) February 16, 2022
‘We need those powers’: Minister defends bill
Still on the character test legislation: the Immigration Minister just held a press conference to announce it would be introduced to the House today.
“Today we are setting a test for Anthony Albanese,” Alex Hawke said.
“If he has truly broken up his coalition with the Greens, then today he needs to come into parliament and show the Australian community that he has the same commitment to public safety, and support this bill.”
My my, it really is election season isn’t it.
“What this bill does is it gives me more discretionary power. Not automatic power. That is, over offences that are capable of having a two-year sentence, and that could have been committed offshore,” he explained.
“This is crucial. If you committed a crime of a two-year potential sentence offshore against a woman, or have done an armed robbery or a burglary or a violent offence, it gives me the power to say, on character grounds, you cannot come to this country.
“We need those powers.”
“On the naked politics of this: if it is so important, where have you been for the last two years?” a reporter asked (the bill has been talked about for a long, long time without being passed).
“People are saying this is about politics. In a sense it is, because this has been a two-year commitment. We have been blocked by Labor and the Greens on every occasion,” Mr Hawke said.
Something worth noting here: the Senate isn’t sitting. It won’t sit until Budget week on March 29, and even then for only two days. That is the earliest this bill can be fully passed.
With that in mind, I present this from Sky News’ Trudy McIntosh.
Hawke declares the test for Labor today is to pass the character test bill.
— Trudy McIntosh (@TrudyMcIntosh) February 16, 2022
So by that logic given Senate not sitting - if Labor passes the bill in House today have they passed the test?
Hawke: Absolutely Not
Labor won’t oppose bill in the House
While I was transcribing that speech from Nicolle Flint, Labor’s Home Affairs spokeswoman, Kristina Keneally, went on Sky News and revealed the opposition would not be opposing the government’s character test legislation in the House.
This is the bill that would make it easier for the government to deport convicted criminals, and expand the scope of the character test.
“Labor will not oppose this bill in the House of Representatives,” Ms Keneally confirmed.
But what will happen in the Senate? That remains unclear. Ms Keneally raised concerns about “unintended consequences” from the bill, and indicated she was expecting the government to amend its legislation. Host Laura Jayes said she’d heard the opposite.
A short time later, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke publicly said the government was not going to amend its own legislation, and that Labor was the party seeking amendments.
Bit of a mess, this.
MP accuses Albanese of ignoring ‘sickening’ abuse
Liberal MP Nicolle Flint, who is quitting politics at the election, delivered her valedictory speech in the House of Representatives this morning.
She spoke at length about the sexist, misogynist abuse she had copped during her time in politics, particularly in the wake of a speech she delivered last year.
“Today I give my valedictory speech not as a person, but as a woman, having been forced time and time again over the past seven years in this place to confront, and defend, the fact that I am female,” said Ms Flint.
“This has been exceptionally challenging for me.”
She said over the course of her long career before entering parliament, she had never been “attacked as a woman” or “reduced to a woman”.
“I never had to put up with the repetitive, sickening, sexist, misogynistic abuse and dangerous behaviour that started in the lead-up to the 2019 election, and hasn’t stopped,” Ms Flint said.
“At my lowest point last year, after a series of events in and around this place that you could not dream up if you tried, it occurred to me that all of these things were happening to me during my time in this place, in politics, because it’s up to me, as a woman, to try to fix them for all women.”
Ms Flint criticised the political left, and specifically Labor leader Anthony Albanese, for failing to “show leadership” on the issue.
“The left of politics needs to act, and that action needs to start, in this place, with the Leader of the Opposition,” she said.
“Last March, in response to an emotional speech, given by me, in this place, the Leader of the Opposition told the press gallery and the Australian people that he would act when sexist and misogynist, dangerous behaviour was drawn to his attention.
“Well he hasn’t. Despite the further speeches I have given in this place, the letters I have written to him, and the numerous newspaper reports, especially since last December, when online attacks on me reached a disgusting new low of sexism and misogyny.
“It’s tempting to describe the Leader of the Opposition with a single word. A four-letter word. It begins with L and it ends with R. But that would be unparliamentary, Mr Speaker, and so I won’t.”
Ms Flint was alluding to a ruling by the Speaker earlier in this sitting fortnight, when he said the word “liar” was unparliamentary language.
“Instead I call on (Albanese) again to finally show some leadership on the issue of women’s safety in public life. Because it’s not just me who is copping this behaviour. It’s not just me who is being abused by men, and some women, on the left. It’s senior ABC journalists like Leigh Sales, Jane Norman, Lisa Millar. It’s businesswomen.
“I want to be very clear about the sort of behaviour that I’m talking about. Men on the left, some of whom are public figures of influence, have done the following: they’ve stalked me, suggested I should be strangled, criticised the clothes I wear and the way I look, called me a ‘whiny little bitch’ repeatedly, repeatedly called me ‘weak’, ‘a slut’, ‘a dickhole’ – I apologise for the language – and much, much worse over email, online, on YouTube, on Facebook and on Twitter. They’ve commented that I should be raped, ‘grudgef***ed’, that I’m doing sexual favours for all my male colleagues, that I should be killed, that I should kill myself, and many, many more things that I will not repeat.
“These men have also consistently reminded me that I deserve everything that’s happened to me. So, to the left, Labor, the unions, the left-leaning media (you know exactly who you are), you need to finally show some leadership and put a stop to this sort of behaviour.
“They have the power to do so. They have the power to lead. They have the power to stop implying I’m the wrong kind of woman, or Senator Hollie Hughes is the wrong kind of woman, and we deserve everything we get because we’re Liberals and we stand up for women. If they don’t, well, they’re not really leaders then, are they?”
Ms Flint called for the Sex Discrimination Act to be amended to include “all encompassing protection” from sexism and misogyny”.
I’ve approached Mr Albanese’s office for comment.
Berejiklian’s old seat suddenly in doubt
The NSW seat Willoughby, recently vacated by former premier Gladys Berejiklian, is suddenly in doubt for the state government, with a significant number of votes still to be formally counted.
Ms Berejiklian held Willoughby with an extremely safe 21 per cent margin. But an initial swing of 18 per cent against the Liberal running to replace her in Saturday’s by-election has now swelled to 19 per cent, according to the ABC’s tally.
Preference flows have been counted for about a third of the seat’s votes, and Liberal Tim James is leading independent candidate Larissa Penn by just 600 votes (51.9-48.1).
At present, about 43 per cent of preferences are flowing to Ms Penn, with just 10 per cent going to Mr James, though his higher primary vote means he will need fewer preferences to win a majority.
Just to put this in proper context: no one other than the Liberals has held Willoughby since Labor MP Eddie Britt all the way back in 1981.
The government is already expected to lose another previously safe seat, Bega, after holding it for more than three decades. Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs is significantly behind Labor’s Michael Holland there with about half the votes counted.
Bega was currently held by a margin of 6.9 per cent.
Speaking to 2GB this morning, NSW Treasurer Matt Kean told Ben Fordham he was confident the Liberals would eventually “get over the line” in Willoughby.
Mr Kean stressed that postal votes, which form a large portion of the remaining ballots, usually favour his party.
“We’re not going to count our chickens yet. We’ll go through the process,” he said.
Labor insists there’s ‘no difference’ in China stance
Labor’s deputy leader Richard Marles has insisted there’s “no difference” between the government and opposition’s respective positions on China.
Scott Morrison, and particularly Defence Minister Peter Dutton, have been calling Labor soft on China (and national security more generally) throughout this sitting fortnight.
ABC radio host Patricia Karvelas brought that up while interviewing Mr Marles this morning.
“The Prime Minister says that when it comes to Australia’s national interest, Labor is weak and soft. Voters will soon have a choice to make. How will they know that an Albanese government will stand up to China?” she asked.
“You can look at what we’ve made clear,” said Mr Marles.
“China is seeking to shape the world around us in a way it never has before, and that does present challenges for Australia that in turn, we haven’t had before.
“It’s really important that Australia has the courage to articulate our national interests, and particularly when it differs from Chinese action. And you can see that in relation to the South China Sea, and in respect of that, Labor has been very strong.
“It’s really important that we add our voice to those of the global community in relation to human rights, and that means speaking out about human rights issues in China, and we have done that.”
“So are you saying there’s no difference in your position on China to the position that the Morrison government has on China?” asked Karvelas.
“There is not,” said Mr Marles.
Karvelas also brought up the Global Times piece I mentioned earlier, which compared Anthony Albanese favourably to Scott Morrison.
“Were you concerned when you heard the Global Times had backed Albanese?”
“I think the honest answer is I’m indifferent to it, because it’s not something that we can control,” Mr Marles said.
DFAT: 150,000 Russian troops still near border
Back in Canberra, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has echoed US President Joe Biden, saying Russia’s claim that it’s pulled some troops away from the Ukrainian border has yet to be verified.
“I think it is very important that verification is obtained of those reports. That is an observation that the NATO Secretary General has made, and the President of the United States,” Foreign Minister Marise Payne said.
She noted the US had called for “credible, verifiable, meaningful” de-escalation.
“We have seen those reports this morning. We’ve had a report out of our embassy in Moscow, our ambassador has sent an assessment – I shouldn’t say assessment, it’s too early to do an assessment. But it is an encouraging sign,” said DFAT official Katrina Cooper.
“Of course (those reports) are coming out of Russia, so we do need to drill down a little bit into that and make an assessment.
“The latest assessment of the number of troops on the border is 150,000. That’s a lot of troops. So the capability is clearly there for a full scale invasion.
“We’re also hearing, though, suggestions that a diplomatic offering is still possible. And you will have observed multiple efforts to engage with President Putin in the hope of finding a way to avoid kinetic activity and find a diplomatic pathway.
“So we remain hopeful. I guess there’s ground for cautious optimism, given what we’ve seen overnight. But we remain deeply concerned.”
US hasn’t verified Russian troop pullback
Looking overseas for a moment, US President Joe Biden delivered an address on the situation in Ukraine a short time ago.
He said the US had not been able to verify Russia’s claims that it was pulling some forces back from the Ukrainian border.
“The Russian defence minister reported today that some military units are leaving their positions near Ukraine,” said Mr Biden.
“That would be good. But we would not verify that.
“That is why I have asked several times that all Americans in Ukraine leave now before it’s too late to leave safety.”
The Australian government has given Australians in Ukraine the same advice. In Senate estimates on Monday, we learned 147 people still hadn’t left the country.
“Let me be clear about what we’re not doing. The United States and NATO are not a threat to Russia. Ukraine is not threatening Russia,” the President continued.
“World War II was a war of necessity. If Russia attacks Ukraine, it would be a war of choice, a war without cause or reason.
“If Russia does invade in the days and weeks ahead, the human costs for Ukraine will be immense. The world will not forget that Russia chose needless death and destruction.”
He warned Russia an invasion would be a “self-inflicted wound”.
Chinese state media: Albanese ‘shines’ next to Morrison
China is being cheeky.
The Global Times, a state-affiliated tabloid published by the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece, The People’s Daily, has posted an op-ed by former Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh comparing Anthony Albanese, favourably, to Scott Morrison.
This comes just as the government has been trying to paint Mr Albanese as soft on China, and as the CCP’s preferred choice in the election (this claim has naturally angered Labor).
The op-ed is not exactly glowing in its assessment of the Opposition Leader.
“Albanese is a cautious person and politician. He is not an intellectual. He has demonstrated a propensity to believe the US view of the world without analysis. He appears to have accepted AUKUS and a dangerously increased US defence presence in Australia,” writes Haigh.
“Albanese could never be compared to Whitlam. He is not a lateral thinker, he is not creative, he will not be a charismatic leader. He will be a safe leader, if not an ordinary one. If he were an officer in the army, he might lead a brigade but would not be placed in a position to plan.
“Nonetheless, in comparison to Morrison, he positively shines, such is the abysmal state of Australian politics.
“Morrison is a clown. Fewer and fewer people in Australia are taking him seriously, which is a hopeful sign for the future.”
The broader thrust of the piece is that “weak” Australian leadership is preventing a “potential relationship reset” with China. One might suggest China’s behaviour is a factor as well.
Minister ‘on cusp of being sacked’
Last night Channel 10 reported the Prime Minister was preparing to sack Education Minister Alan Tudge, who is currently stood down from that role, over bullying allegations from a former staffer (which Mr Tudge strenuously denies).
The Prime Minister’s office insists Scott Morrison has yet to make a decision on the matter.
In Senate estimates on Monday, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet confirmed the report into former staffer Rachelle Miller’s allegations against Mr Tudge had been handed to Mr Morrison’s office on January 28.
Mr Morrison ordered an inquiry into those allegations back in December, though Ms Miller declined to participate, citing issues with the terms of reference.
We have yet to learn anything about the content of the report. On Monday, officials from Mr Morrison’s department said they were going through the process of consulting its participants to determine whether they would be comfortable with the report being handed to Ms Miller and Mr Tudge.
“We advised that, should the Prime Minister wish to provide the report to the two parties, to Ms Miller and Mr Tudge, then we should go through a process of consultation with those participants of the inquiry who provided information,” said a department official.
The department sent the relevant people extracts of the report on Friday of last week. Those people have until close of business today to respond.
If anyone objects to their part of the report being given to Ms Miller and Mr Tudge, the department will need to consider their stance and decide what is in the public interest.
According to Channel 10, the report does not uphold Ms Miller’s allegations of emotionally abusive, and in one instance physically abusive behaviour from Mr Tudge.
However it reportedly includes an “adverse comment” against the Minister for seeking to promote Ms Miller from the role of media adviser to senior adviser while they were in a consensual but undisclosed relationship.
“It’s expected to be used to justify his dismissal on the grounds of breaching the ministerial code of conduct,” Peter van Onselen reported.
This morning, The Australian’s national political editor Dennis Shanahan told 2GB radio Mr Tudge was likely a “goner”.
“Is Alan Tudge a goner?” host Ben Fordham asked.
“I suspect that he is,” said Shanahan.
“The issue is that, while they were in a relationship which was undisclosed, they had sought to promote her.
“Scott Morrison really has little choice, if this is the case, but to say he’s breached the ministerial standards.
“I think he doesn’t have much choice but to do it, and basically he doesn’t want to do it while parliament is sitting, so he will go in the gap between now and the Budget at the end of March.”
You read that correctly, by the way: parliament is not sitting again until March 29. Tough gig, being a politician, isn’t it? Makes me feel less guilty about the chunky fortnight of leave I have coming up.
Originally published as Australia politics live: Parliament erupts as Scott Morrison calls Labor deputy leader a ‘Manchurian candidate’
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