PM talking tough on drought aid bill

Scott Morrison has demanded the Senate crossbench urgently passes the $5 billion drought relief package.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison: “Labor are out of excuses on ­opposing our drought future fund. They need to tell our farmers whose side they are on.” Picture: Jonathan Ng

Scott Morrison has demanded the Senate crossbench urgently pass the $5 billion drought relief package if Labor stands in the way, warning there would be no deals when it is put to parliament today for a second time.

In a repeat of the brinkmanship that secured passage of the government’s $158bn income tax cuts two weeks ago, the Prime Minister will lay the groundwork for a new political contest over farmers.

With shadow cabinet due to meet today as parliament returns for only its second sitting week since the May election, Anthony Albanese is set to face further internal calls to support the government’s drought fund to avoid a repeat of the political backlash over Labor’s handling of the government’s ­income tax cut package.

Mr Morrison told The Australian yesterday: “Once again Labor oppose and are attempting to block our agenda — as they tried with tax cuts. If they say no to stronger borders, no to helping and protecting farmers, the question­ Labor must answer is: whose side are you on?’’

The government will also seek to apply the blowtorch to Labor over national security, with the crossbench unlikely to support in its current form legislation to prevent the return of foreign fighters.

Labor faces another test on the government’s proposed open banking laws that will force banks, energy companies and telcos to hand over secret data they collect on consumers and allow customers to more easily switch service providers and save up to several thousand dollars a year.

Mr Morrison said the first order of business today would be the bill for the future drought fund to build “drought-proofing” infrastructure, the same bill that passed the lower house last year but was not put to a vote in the Senate.

He said it would not be amended to meet any demands from Labor or the crossbench.

The government will also seek Senate passage of other “bush bills”, including farm protection laws designed to apply serious criminal penalties for environmental or political activists who disrupt agricultural production.

“Labor need to answer a simple question — will you support our farmers or not?” Mr Morrison said.

“Labor are out of excuses on ­opposing our drought future fund. They need to tell our farmers whose side they are on. Drought funding is not something we should be having to make deals on. It should be a no-brainer, something that should just get done.

“So there’ll be no deals. Just a simple request to vote for the bill that will provide for long-term drought resilience works. It’s quite absurd that Labor have opposed it for this long already.”

Labor MPs have sought to apply internal pressure over the drought fund in a similar manner to when the opposition frontbench was eventually forced to fold and vote for the government’s income tax cuts.

The Opposition Leader has accused­ Mr Morrison of playing politics with farmers’ livelihoods and said Labor would support any amount of money the government put on the table if it came from ­appropriations.

“Farmers are doing it tough and the government should provide new funding to help support them through this devastating drought,” Mr Albanese said. “Instead, it is proposing legislation that would take money from the Building Australia Fund, which is for infrastructure, including in rural and regional areas, for its drought fund.

“Farmers deserve more — new funding to cope with this drought in addition to support for better rail and roads to boost the prod­uctivity of their communities.”

Josh Frydenberg will introduce reforms to consumer laws that would allow customers to ­access previously unattainable personal data held by banks and energy companies and use it to switch providers for better deals.

“The consumer data right is the right for consumers to authorise data-sharing and use,’’ the Treasurer said. “Consumers will determine what data is shared under the right, on what terms and with whom.

“This is a game-changer for consumers and small businesses. It will enable consumers to better harness their data for their own benefit, drive competition and improve the flow of information around the Australian economy.”