Lambie and Centre Alliance in ‘team-up’ talks

Powerful voting bloc capable of knocking back government legislation in the Senate emerges.

Stirling Griff, Jacqui Lambie and Rex Patrick. Picture: Helen Kempton

A powerful new voting bloc capable of knocking back government legislation in the Senate has emerged, after Centre Alliance senators made a special visit to Tasmania to woo Jacqui Lambie.

Rex Patrick and Stirling Griff, from South Australia, have been locked in negotiations with the government’s Senate leader, ­Mathias Cormann, over the Coalition’s $158 billion personal income tax cuts package but flew to Devonport yesterday to “catch up” with senator-elect Lambie.

Senators Patrick and Griff were the first politicians Ms Lambie spoke to after the Australian Electoral Commission confirmed she had won the final Senate spot in Tasmania, giving her a second chance of being a parliamentarian.

“It was the beginning of three years of working with a like-minded soul in the name of common sense, (to achieve) sensible solutions,” Senator Griff said of the meeting.

“In the past we’d more than likely agree on 80 per cent or 90 per cent of the legislation that goes through. There are some things we don’t see eye-to-eye on but in the first instance we’ll sit down and talk about our ­respective thoughts on upcoming legislation and, if we can reach agreement, then it ­becomes an ­effective bloc to pass or reject legislation.”

The Coalition is set to hold 35 Senate seats in the new parliament and will need the support of four out of six crossbenchers to pass legislation if the Greens and Labor are opposed. In that circumstance, the two Centre Alliance senators combined with Ms ­Lambie could block or help push through government bills.

Senator Griff said: “None of us are there to be wreckers, we all want a good outcome.”

Centre Alliance is demanding action to reduce gas prices and long-term assistance for pensioners in exchange for its support on the income tax cuts, which ­deliver short-term relief for average workers and crack down on bracket-creep over the medium term.

Amid fears the financial benefits of the tax cuts will be chewed up by rising energy prices, Senator Patrick has proposed triggering the Australian domestic gas ­security mechanism if after six to 12 months average domestic prices exceed those in Asian markets.

Once triggered, export licences could be granted to companies only if there was sufficient gas supply in the domestic market and the price was “reasonable”.

Government sources pointed to several potential flaws with the plan and questioned what gas prices would trigger the mechanism and how reliable those prices would be. Policies to lower domestic gas prices could also be in breach of international trade law.

The gas mechanism, as designed by the Coalition, will be triggered only if there is a supply shortfall in the domestic market. The trigger is not based on gas prices.

Senator Cormann, who is also Finance Minister, said non-government senators were of course able to publicly promote their views and alternative proposals but the Coalition was focused on delivering the agenda it successfully took to the election: “We are committed to securing passage of our entire income tax relief plan for all working Australians through the parliament.”

Guy Dundas from the Grattan Institute, said Senator Patrick was right to be concerned if domestic gas prices were persistently above export prices but this assessment should not be based on spot prices.

“You’d want to look at what typical contract, long-term prices are. They tend to be linked to the oil price,” he said. “The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s price monitoring indicates domestic prices are not generally higher than export contract prices.”

Australian gas prices have averaged 17.7 per cent lower than Asian prices over the past two years, according to government data.

A spokesman for the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association said removing unnecessary government restrictions on exploration and ­development was the most effective way to boost supply and put downward pressure on prices.