Politics Live: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton silenced during fiery question time spray
In a raucous question time session, the Opposition Leader has been cut short after he interrupted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had his microphone cut off during a heated showdown with Anthony Albanese over a contentious immigration detention ruling.
So far, much of this year’s second-last question time has been dominated by Labor’s response to Tuesday’s High Court findings.
After kicking out two Liberal MPs, a clearly frustrated House Speaker Milton Dick gave Mr Dutton short shrift when he interrupted the Prime Minister on a question about concerns over the release of a convicted child sex offender.
“We applied strict visa conditions and monitoring requirements to the cohort, including daily reporting requirements,” Mr Albanese said, to which Mr Dutton rose to interrupt.
“The government refuses to provide detail about whether this person is a sex offender, pedophile, somebody who is involved in serious …” Mr Dutton said before his microphone was muted.
“Resume your seat,” Mr Dick said to audible gasps across the chamber.
Five MPs booted from chamber
A total of five MPs were hurled out of the chamber at separate times during Wednesday’s combative question time, which was dominated by debate over immigration detainees, renewables and cost of living.
Opposition Immigration spokesman Dan Tehan, coalition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien and Labor backbencher Mike Freelander were all ejected by Speaker Milton Dick after loudly interjecting.
This came after Mr Dick threw out two Liberal MPs for refusing to keep their noise down after issuing a general warning.
Mr Dick said there had been “far too much noise” in the chamber.
“It’s not a free-for-all all. People just can’t feel they can say what they want when they want constantly,” he said.
New laws after terrorist’s court win
The government will introduce new laws on Wednesday to fix “Peter Dutton’s broken citizenship loss scheme” after it was struck down by the High Court.
It comes after the High Court earlier this month struck down the Coalition-era laws, introduced under then-home affairs minister Peter Dutton, that gave broad power to ministers to strip citizenship off someone convicted of a terror offence.
The ruling triggered the release of convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika, after he successfully argued that Mr Dutton’s laws were unconstitutional.
Benbrika, who migrated to Australia from Algeria in 1989, had his citizenship cancelled by former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton in 2020 after completing a 15-year sentence on terrorism offences.
The High Court ruled in his favour in a 6-1 decision, finding Section 36D of the Australian Citizenship Act invalid and that Benbrika was an Australian citizen. Benbrika had argued Section 36D could not apply in his case because it gave the home affairs minister the power to punish criminal guilt.
The new laws will instead empower a court, not a minister, to strip Australian citizenship from dual nationals who have “committed the most serious crimes, including terrorism and espionage”, a government spokesman has confirmed.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil earlier this week flagged her intention to rush through new laws, saying Labor was committed to fix the “broken” laws which allowed ministerial discretion to cancel citizenship, and replace them with “tough and constitutionally sound” laws.
Next week, the government will introduce a “robust preventive detention and community safety order regime”.
“Modelled on high risk terrorist laws enacted under the former government and which have always enjoyed bipartisan support,” the spokesman said.
“The Coalition should support these laws too.”
Wong refuses to answer questions on former detainee
Penny Wong has declined to weigh in on whether a man was able to leave immigration detention without electronic monitoring because his visa conditions were not read out to him.
The Foreign Minister was asked about the issue, which the Home Affairs Minister earlier also did not answer questions on, by Liberal senator James Paterson.
“I’m not going to engage in discussion in this chamber about operational matters other than to say we support the ABF and AFP in their work to ensure Australians are safe, and we will continue to do that,” she said.
Pollies spar over Murray Darling
A noisy question time kicked off on Wednesday afternoon with a showdown between Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Nationals Leader David Littleproud.
When asked about taxpayer costs of water buybacks in Labor’s Murray-Darling Basin plan, an idea ferociously opposed by the Nationals, Ms Plibersek honed in on shouts from the opposition.
Firing back, Ms Plibersek took shots at the Nationals for “pretending” to care about farmers.
“Those opposite, the National Party, are perfectly happy for anyone to buy water other than the Australian government to protect the environment. They’re very happy for foreign companies to buy water,” Ms Plibersek said.
Standing on a point of order, Mr Littleproud took on audible laughs from the government before asking Ms Plibersek to answer the question.
Don’t laugh at what you don’t understand,” he said.
End-of-school vibes in the Senate
Spare a thought for senators who are probably at risk of a wrist injury after NCA NewsWire spied many of them signing Christmas cards in bulk.
It was last-day-of-school vibes in question time on Wednesday afternoon, with Senate President Sue Lines struggling to keep senators in check.
Senator Nick McKim kicked off his questions by asking about Labor’s migration amendment in the wake of the NZYQ.
But the answer from Senator Murray Watt, in which he said the government was committed to protecting Australians, puzzled the Greens senator, who responded: “Are you OK Murray?”
“Is that your question?” Senator Watt replied, suppressing his own laughter.
Senator McKim had just 17 seconds left to continue his question after everyone calmed down.
“You’ve been wasting your own time,” Senator Lines told him.
After asking his final follow-up, which had little connection to his first question outside of a mention of Mr Dutton, Senator McKim was quickly ruled to have strayed too far from relevancy.
After later receiving a “Dixer” from his own side, Senator Watt, in response to repeated interjections from the Coalition, beat his own chest as Labor laughed on.
No changes to stage 3 tax cuts: Labor
Speaking in Senate question time, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says the government hasn’t changed its tune on stage three tax cuts and the tax treatment on the family home.
The Coalition has been pushing the government in the lower house this week to rule out applying the capital gains tax on the family home.
On Wednesday, debate spilt over to the Senate, where Senator Gallagher was forced to answer questions on behalf of Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
Opposition senate leader Simon Birmingham started his questioning asking whether the government would commit to delivering the stage three tax cuts in full.
“It’s interesting how the opposition have a lot of questions for the Treasurer in this place, but have none put to him in the place that he actually sits,” she said.
On stage three tax cuts, the Finance Minister said the government’s position hasn’t changed.
But her answer didn’t cut it for Senator Birmingham or fellow frontbencher Michaelia Cash, who claimed the Finance Minister was being tricky in her answer.
“You can’t force me to speak in a way you find acceptable,” Senator Gallagher fired back.
Senator Birmingham later pressed Labor on an answer given earlier this week by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, which the Coalition claimed was coy on the tax treatment on the family home.
“Oh here we go,” Senate leader Penny Wong interjected as she rolled her eyes.
“We all know what you are like.”
Senator Gallagher said she had reviewed the transcript and thought the government had been pretty clear that wouldn’t be happening.
Stage three tax cuts are forecast to cost $313bn over a decade. In comparison, the Albanese government’s cost of living package costs the budget about $23bn.
Labor backbenchers are due to meet with Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher later this week, where they are expected to air concerns that the government’s cost of living relief package should be widened.
Thorpe fires up on Gaza inaction
Lidia Thorpe fired up as she called for Labor to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh, the independent senator questioned Foreign Minister Penny Wong would join calls for a permanent ceasefire in the besieged enclave.
“Reports now suggest that 20,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, and 8000 of them are children. When do you think is the right time to call for a permanent ceasefire?” she asked.
Senator Wong said the government mourned every life lost and has made it clear that in affirming Israel’s right to defend itself that the state should comply with international law. “We welcome the two-day extension to the pause in hostilities, and we support efforts to continue extending the pause,” she said. “I think we would all want to see not only the pause extended, but also the (Israeli) hostages being released.”
Following question time, Greens’ foreign affairs spokesperson Jordon Steele-John attempted to move a motion to urge Labor to call for a ceasefire. “Right now the Labor government is leaving a bloody stain on its legacy and on the broader Australian democracy,” he said.
“It must call for a ceasefire now.”
Predictably, the motion failed due to a lack of numbers.
Good news for government, borrowers in inflation numbers
Households are almost certain to be spared another rate rise when the Reserve Bank’s board convenes for its final meeting of 2023 next week after inflation eased.
The latest consumer price index figures, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, showed annual inflation eased to 4.9 per cent in October, after prices grew by 5.6 per cent in the year September.
The result undershot market expectations of a 5.2 per cent increase.
An easing of inflationary pressures will come as welcome news for the government who are facing an erosion in the polls over their handling of the continued cost of living crunch.
Parliament ‘will’ pass laws before summer break
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has warned the parliament they won’t be “going home” until tough preventive detention legislation is passed, as constitutional law experts warn against making the laws too broad.
The High Court handed down its reasons for the NZYQ ruling on Tuesday, which found that a stateless Rohingya man from Myanmar who raped a boy was being held unlawfully in continued detention.
The decision has meant 141 people being held in indefinite detention have been released into the community.
During the last sitting week, the parliament rushed through a suite of measures that required those detainees to wear electronic monitoring devices and abide by the curfew. At the time the government said it would look to strengthen measures once they received the reasons.
Ms O’Neil said now that the government had the reasons, it would now “move quickly to establish the toughest possible preventive detention regime”, pleading for the Coalition to “work with us”.
“We are not going home until a preventive detention regime has been adopted by this parliament,” she told ABC News.
“I say to Peter Dutton today, stop slowing us down and work with us to make sure that we can pass these laws and keep the community safe.”
PM apologises for ‘dark chapter’ of thalidomide
Australian thalidomide survivors and their families have received a formal apology for the government’s role in the tragedy.
The morning sickness drug, once branded a “wonder treatment” for pregnant women, caused birth defects in thousands of babies worldwide.
It was widely distributed in Australia in the 1960s but was not tested on pregnant women before approval, and the crisis led to the formation of the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
It was later found to cause malformation of limbs, facial features and internal organs in unborn children.
An estimated 10,000 babies were born around the world with such defects. There are 146 registered survivors in Australia, however the exact number of those affected is unknown.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed survivors and their families on Wednesday morning, delivering an unreserved apology on behalf of Australia, but acknowledged saying sorry “does not balance the years of inaction of inadequate support”.
“You have been survivors from the day you were born. More than that, you have been advocates, organisers, champions, and warriors,” he told the House of Representatives.
“Time and time again, you have summoned remarkable resolve. You have shown an extraordinary strength of character. Yet for so long, parliaments and governments have not proved equal to this or worthy of it.
“Too often, we have let you down.”
Mr Albanese confirmed the Australian Thalidomide Survivor Support Program would be reopened to ensure anyone who may have missed the previous opportunity to apply does not miss out.
Expand access to rooftop solar: Crossbench MP
Ambitious action must be taken to help reduce power bills for renters, energy experts have warned.
They say expanding access to rooftop solar and policy to ensure more energy-efficient rental homes are just some of the examples of action the government should take.
Renters are more than six times less likely to have solar than homeowners, and apartment dwellers are 10 times less likely, according to a recent Energy Consumers Australia survey.
Australian National University Crawford School of Public Policy deputy director Paul Burke said there was “a lot” that could be done.
“It’s clear that renters are being left behind in terms of energy efficiency and solar access,” he said.
“Our research shows that renters end up using more residential electricity than they would if they owned their own home, pushing up their power bill.”
The experts attended a roundtable hosted by Wentworth MP Allegra Spender, who represents one of the electorates with the highest proportion of renters.
She wants Labor to develop a plan to lower household energy bills with renters and apartment dwellers at the centre.
“The crossbench have put forward a set of sensible and ambitious reforms that the government must consider, including a fully costed tax break that would drive a 23 per cent increase in the switch from overpriced gas to efficient electrical appliances in rentals,” she said.
Originally published as Politics Live: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton silenced during fiery question time spray
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