PoliticsNow: Federal Liberal MP Tony Pasin says Christopher Pyne job fails pub test
Liberal MP attacks Christopher Pyne for taking a new job as a defence consultant.
- Lambie: Politics like changing undies
- Cormann: Tax cuts to deliver growth RBA wants
- Husic: Budget surplus a vanity exercise
- Pyne under friendly fire
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live blog on the happenings at Parliament House in Canberra. Parliament pauses to remember the late Bob Hawke as Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese prepare for the final battle over the Prime Minister’s tax cuts bill. Labor MP Ed Husic says Scott Morrison’s budget surplus is a “vanity exercise” and tax cuts should be brought forward to stimulate the economy whether the budget lands in deficit or not.
Richard Ferguson 3.20pm: Lambie’s tax spanner
Jacqui Lambie says she wants to see Tasmania’s debt from the federal government relieved if she is to pass Scott Morrison’s full tax cuts agenda.
Senator Lambie, in a statement to her supporters today, writes that she cannot “in good conscience” support tax cuts while the Tasmanian state government owes $157m to the Commonwealth in social housing debt.
The Tasmanian independent is the key vote the Prime Minister needs to pass through the cornerstone of his economic policy and election agenda.
Greg Brown 2.35pm: Australia’s ‘great reformer’
Opposition health spokesman Chris Bowen says Bob Hawke was Australia’s “great reformer”.
“He did not see his personal popularity as something that should be left in a cupboard. He used that popularity to lead the most reformist government in Australian history,” Mr Bowen says.
“Much of it looks easy in hindsight, inevitable. But of course it was not the case. It was hard.
“This was Hawke the great reformer for who our country owes a great debt.”
Mr Bowen, who would have been treasurer if Labor had won the election on May 18, says his mentor Paul Keating recognised the “innate power of their partnership”.
“That they could only do what they did together,” he says.
“Bob Hawke has been rightly noted and lauded by the Prime Minister and others on the other side as one of Australia’s greatest prime ministers.
“Bob Hawke was a great Australian in every sense if the world. He was a remarkable man, a remarkable politician.”
Liberal MP Kevin Andrews remembers entering parliament a few months before Hawke was rolled by Paul Keating.
“It was indeed the leadership of Mr Hawke and his treasurer Mr Keating that lead to remarkable changes in the economy,” Mr Andrews says.
“That cabinet was by modern standards a small cabinet but it was a talented cabinet and did some great things.”
Greg Brown 1.05pm: ‘He rose above low rent politics’
Bill Shorten says Bob Hawke rose above “low rent, low risk” politics and brought the nation together through his “unique connection with the Australian people”.
In his first public speech since leading Labor to a surprise election loss, Shorten says Hawke’s consensus approach is what attracted him to join politics.
“Consensus Is what attracted me to jon the Labor Party, consensus is what Hawke and Keating and Kelty and those marvellous Labor leaders of those generation delivered,” Mr Shorten says.
“Consensus was never the low rent low risk pursuit of the lowest common detonator.
“It wasn’t about compromise at any cost. Bringing our nation together did not mean presenting people with a set of soft options, or leading people down the lazy path of least resistance.
“It is true Bob had a genuine and unique connection with the Australian people.
“He deployed it in the service of something bigger, in the service of our country.”
Mr Shorten remembers the last time he met Mr Hawke at his home in Sydney, where the former prime minister sat on his balcony with a crossword, a strawberry milkshake and a cigar.
“The sun was on his face. He was at ease with himself,” Shorten says.
“He wanted to talk about everything else, not himself. He knew what he meant to Australia, he knew what he achieved for his country.
“It is amongst the great privileges in my life that not only did I get to meet my hero, I had the honour to have him as my friend.”
Greg Brown 12.45pm: ‘Bob made up with Keating’
Opposition climate change spokesman Mark Butler says he was overjoyed in his last meeting with Bob Hawke over summer, when he was told the former prime minister had “broken bread” with his successor Paul Keating.
“He put his hand on my forearm and said, Paul and I made up,” Mr Butler says. “It was such an important thing for our party that he and Paul had broken bread.”
He says Mr Hawke was the most generous mentor in the Labor movement.
“Bob always treated us as equals, He was always incredibly generous with his time,” Butler says. “He (encouraged) us to be more ambitious and progressive and brave.
“I’m very clear in my mind that Bob Hawke is Australia’s greatest prime minister.”
Mr Butler says Mr Hawke modernised the economy in a way that looked after workers.
“Hawke’s modernisation of the Australian economy was uniquely and quintessentially Labor,” he says.
Mr Butler adds Mr Hawke had the best record of any prime minister of environmental issues, and was passionate about action on climate change.
“Hawke was very clear in the potential of climate change to disrupt Australian life,” he says.
Greg Brown 12.25pm: Plibersek: Hawke healed wounds
Opposition eduction spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek holds back tears as she voices her appreciation for Bob Hawke treating her as a “comrade” when she was a young woman.
“I always felt like he treated me as a comrade and that meant so much to me, to be treated as a comrade,” the former deputy Labor leader says.
“I went to see him for the last time at his home just before the election campaign, and he was tired. He really was. Very tired. But he was still full of insight into the campaign, into political issues that we face today.”
She says Hawke became prime minister when Australia was in “slow decline”.
“(He) became PM when the country was bedevilled with stagflation, a moribund economy,” Plibersek says.
“He was the consummate conciliator …who healed the wounds of our party and our nation.”
Plibersek says that, while as a university student she campaigned against HECS, she now recognises the reform provided opportunity for more students to enrol in tertiary education.
“He knew the importance of eduction, he knew that it had and has the ability to transform peoples lives,” Plibersek says.
“If you are one of those people, particularly form a working class family, and you have your university degree on a wall, you have to remember that that too is the legacy of the Hawke government.”
She says Hawke showed no interest in “re-writing history” in talking about his legacy.
“I caught up with Bob quite a bit in the later years of his life,” she says.
“He didn’t feel the need to reel off his successes. He was very comfortable with his legacy, he was proud of his legacy and he didn’t feel the need to remind people of it.”
Richard Ferguson 12.15pm: Frydenberg slams ALP over surplus
Josh Frydenberg has slammed Labor MP Ed Husic for labelling the budget surplus a “vanity exercise” and says the comments are a further sign of the opposition’s division on tax cuts.
Mr Husic, a Labor backbencher, told Sky News today that the surplus was a “political stunt” and that tax cuts should be brought forward whether it leads to the budget falling back into deficit or not.
The Treasurer told The Australian today that Mr Husic’s comments disregard the need to pay down debt and noted the Labor MP was at odds with leading opposition figures who have lauded the importance of the surplus.
Richard Ferguson 12.00pm: Pyne under friendly fire
South Australian Liberal MP Tony Pasin has attacked former defence minister Christopher Pyne and said his new job as a defence consultant for big four consultancy firm EY “doesn’t pass the pub test.”
The government has been under pressure from Labor and the Centre Alliance over Mr Pyne’s post-politics role and CA senator Rex Patrick has said he will push for a senate inquiry into whether it breaks with ministerial standards.
Mr Pasin is the first Liberal MP to criticise Mr Pyne. He is on the SA Liberals’ right faction, while as Mr Pyne is a leader of the moderate faction in the state.
“It’s disappointing that [Mr Pyne’s EY role] doesn’t meet the pub test — and it doesn’t — but perhaps it’s something we need to reflect on,” Mr Pasin told Sky News.
“Ultimately this a question of personal judgment — ministers who leave this place, who have been given the great privilege of those offices within the executive, should think seriously about whether decisions they make once they leave are in the spirit of the code or not. It doesn’t reflect well on the political class.”
Richard Ferguson 11.45am: Marles — surplus no vanity exercise
Labor deputy leader Richard Marles says it is important to be “fiscally responsible” even if the government brings forward the tax cuts, contradicting a Labor MP who labelled the surplus a “vanity exercise.”
Opposition backbencher Ed Husic today said the surplus was a “political stunt” and immediate economic stimulus was more important.
When asked if he agreed with Mr Husic, the deputy Labor leader said he understood the importance of the surplus and that Labor’s own tax plans would not affect the surplus.
“I understand that the government is seeking to put in a surplus. It does matter to be fiscally responsible, we’ve certainly sought to be fiscally responsible as well,” Mr Marles told Sky News.
“Might I say, in terms of bringing forward stage two and provide that tax break right now in a way which maintains the surplus.”
Greg Brown 10.50am: ‘Architect of modern Australia’
Josh Frydenberg tells an anecdote about how he helped secure Bob Hawke’s portrait being hung at Oxford University, where the former prime minister completed a Rhodes Scholarship.
The Treasurer says, when he studied at the university, he noticed Hawke’s portrait was absent unlike other world leaders who were alumni. So when he returned to Australia, he contacted Hawke through former attorney-general Michael Duffy. “I said ‘Mr Hawke I would like to see your portrait hung at University College in Oxford’,” Frydenberg says.
So Hawke agrees to sit for a portrait but the Treasurer was left wondering who was going to pay for it. “The bill came and it was quite a significant amount of money,” he says.
Frydenberg saw an opportunity when a horse Hawke owned with John Singleton had a win.
“The next morning, I called Bob Hawke and said is there any chance your friends can tip some money into it? He said ‘I’ll see what I can do’,” Frydenberg says.
Without giving too much further detail on who foot the bill, Frydenberg says the portrait now hangs in the prestigious university.
Frydenberg goes on to call Hawke “one of Australia’s great prime ministers”. “His contribution to his country will not be forgotten,” he says.
He also pays tribute to Hawke’s “deep affection” of Israel.
Greg Brown 10.30am: ‘Architect of modern Australia’
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles labels Bob Hawke the “architect of modern Australia” who matched idealism with “pragmatism and smarts”. “He embraced his union roots but he reached out to the whole of Australia, reaching out to people who didn’t vote for them,” Marles says. He says Hawke — by embracing free trade and immigration — broke the compact of federation, which was based on high tariffs and the White Australia Policy.
“He tore down the moribund compact of federation and in its place put in a super structure for our nation today. Bob Hawke is the architect of modern Australia,” Marles says.
Marles says Hawke was Australia’s most significant peacetime leader and showed the importance of merging idealism with winning government. “That is the side that changes lives,” he says while pointing to the government benches. Marles says he was “starstruck” when he first met Hawke in 2000, when he was assistant secretary of the ACTU.
“Bob put us all at ease straight away. Before long we were hanging on his every word,” Marles says. “Australia without Bob feels a little less bright. Feels a little less colourful.”
Rosie Lewis 10.40am: Hawke’s eternal optimism
Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong reflected on a personal anecdote of Bob Hawke and his eternal optimism. “Every time I met Bob he was optimistic, ebullient and telling me what to do,” Senator Wong told the upper house.
“I do recall seeing him at one point post the 2013 loss going to see him in his office. He said ‘how are you love’ and I said ‘oh you know it’s pretty hard being in opposition’. He said ‘oh well I wouldn’t know’. Not much more to say really.”
Senator Wong said she was pleased Labor had committed to purchase the South Australian home in which he was born and preserve it as a memorial and museum. She called on the government to also commit to preserving his legacy. “Bob Hawke’s ability to lead, his vision, his values, saw him dominate the Australian political stage for two decades,” Senator Wong said. “Bob Hawke’s contribution to public life and his deep connection with the Australian people lasted a lifetime.”
Greg Brown 10.30am: When Hawke was at his best
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack remembers being at the SCG “not that long ago” when Bob Hawke skulled a beer. “The crowd just went off, they rose as one,” McCormack says. “Even when he was prime minister he received that sort of adulation.”
He says Hawke was “at his best” for Australia when arguing against US agricultural subsidies to former president Ronald Reagan.
Richard Ferguson 10.20am: Husic says surplus is ‘vanity exercise’
Labor MP Ed Husic says Scott Morrison’s budget surplus is a “vanity exercise” and tax cuts should be brought forward to stimulate the economy whether the budget lands in deficit or not.
“They voted against economic stimulus that would make a difference now,” Mr Husic told Sky News. “All they are doing effectively, I think, is engaging in a vanity exercise.
“They don’t want to bring the tax cuts forward because they want to be able to declare they want a surplus. We’re not interested in political stunts, we need action now.”
Opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers said today said his plan to bring forward part of stage two of the tax cuts would not affect the surplus. “It’s possible for the Government to bring forward part of Stage Two of their tax cuts and to bring forward some of their infrastructure spending without jeopardising the surplus that they’ve forecast for the current year,” he said.
“And I think the Government’s too busy patting themselves on the back for their election win to notice that the economy has deteriorated on their watch.”
.@JEChalmers: Labor’s amendments in the House was all about bringing forward part of stage two of the tax cuts, supporting stage one and not saddling the budget with a $95 billion tax cut that wouldn’t come in for another five years.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) July 2, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/DYBrLrJDwt pic.twitter.com/STYMLkq7In
Greg Brown 10.10am: ‘Leader and cheerleader’
Anthony Albanese opens his tribute by recalling how he met Bob Hawke when he was president of Young Labor and the former prime minister became one of his mentors.
“At the time Young Labor didn’t always agree with Bob Hawke. It must be said,” the Opposition Leader says.
Albanese says Hawke was Australia’s “leader and cheerleader”.
.@AlboMP on Bob Hawke: Even though he was Labor to the core, you didn’t have to vote for Bob to feel the love.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) July 3, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/67IRGxdbrb #amagenda pic.twitter.com/N2suDo1l74
“All this energy was channelled into making life better for his fellow Australians. He was at once our leader and our cheerleader,” Albanese says.
“He was ahead of us calling us on, and yet, somehow, he was also walking alongside us, and for good measure, giving us an encouraging push from behind.
“Bob was hardly a stranger to ambition, but his ambition embraced the rest of us. He knew we were capable of better, and he knew we could do it together.” Read more here.
.@AlboMP on Bob Hawke: When they were elected to office, three in every 10 people finished high school. When that period of government ended, the figure was eight out of 10: a revolution in opportunity for young Australians.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) July 3, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/67IRGxdbrb #amagenda pic.twitter.com/NnK0iluFJF
Greg Brown 9.50am: Hawke’s ‘great romance’ with Aussies
Scott Morrison has opened parliament paying tribute to former prime minister Bob Hawke, who died on May 16 aged 89.
The entire day will be taken up with condolences to Mr Hawke, with regular parliamentary business suspended.
The Prime Minister says Hawke had a “great romance” with the Australian people.
“They knew each other, he and the Australian people. They forgave each other. They understood each other’s virtues and they identified with each other’s weaknesses. In Bob Hawke’s own words, it was a love affair, and indeed, it was,” Morrison says.
He also pays tribute to Mr Hawke’s economic reforms and for establishing Medicare, which was strongly opposed by the Coalition at the time.
“The achievements under Bob Hawke were not just economic, they were social as well,” Mr Morrison says.
“Social reforms that became embedded in our national life. And now, in so many cases, enjoyed bipartisan support that was not present when they were initiated. The Medicare card we all carry in our pockets is a reminder of his great contribution.”
.@ScottMorrisonMP: From 1983 to 1991, Bob Hawke led a government that redefined our government for a modern age.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) July 2, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/ykweMevBOK #amagenda pic.twitter.com/c89NXqKEPP
Mr Morrison says he believes Mr Hawke was Labor’s greatest prime minister.
“Bob Hawke was the most electorally successful Federal Labor leader in our history. The winner of four successive elections and the third longest serving prime minister. But like John Howard, I agree that he was Labor’s greatest prime minister,” he says.
In a lighthearted moment, Mr Morrison notes Mr Hawke was only opposition leader for 36 days, after defeating Bill Hayden the day the 1983 election was called.
“In a coincidence, the current Leader of the Opposition equals that record tomorrow,” he says.
Mr Albanese asks: “Does this mean you are going to call it?”
Mr Morrison says Mr Hawke was visceral as well as intellectual.
“But he had a capacity to feel, to not disguise or hide his emotions. He shed tears at times. He rose to anger. He expressed joy,” he says.
He also announces the government will provide $5 million to the Sir John Monash Foundation to create an annual scholarship, called the Bob Hawke John Monash Scholar. Read more here.
.@ScottMorrisonMP: The achievements of the govt under Bob Hawke were not just economic, they were social as well. Economies are meant to serve people. The Medicare card we all carry in our pockets is a reminder of his great contribution.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) July 2, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/ykweMevBOK #amagenda pic.twitter.com/GpAS3H6jgR
Richard Ferguson 9.10am: Comyn silent on rate move
Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn has refused to answer questions on his bank’s reluctance to pass on the Reserve Bank’s latest full interest rate cut to its customers.
CBA became the first outlier yesterday as the nation’s largest home lender withheld six basis points of the official reduction, followed by NAB, which will reduce rates by the same amount. When approached by The Australian about the decision in Parliament House today, Mr Comyn refused to even speak and walked away. Mr Comyn was in Parliament House today to speak at a breakfast alongside Australian Bank Association boss Anna Bligh, attended by new assistant financial services minister Jane Hume, economics committee chairman Tim Wilson, and new MPs including Liberals Katie Allen and Gladys Liu.
Richard Ferguson 8.35am: ‘Politics is like changing your undies’
Independent senator Jacqui Lambie says she wants a “safety procedure” in stage three of the government’s tax cuts for higher income earners and she is concerned about the fact it will not be implemented for several election cycles.
“They’re big calls. I would like to put a safety procedure in that stage three so obviously speaking about that,” she said in Canberra this morning. “They are five or six years away ... we don’t know where the economy is going.”
Senator Lambie is the key vote in the senate on tax cuts with the government needing four crossbench senators to pass the full bill. Two Centre Alliance senators and conservative independent Cory Bernardi are set to back the package.
The Tasmanian independent has been largely silent on her position on key issues like tax and medivacs since she was returned to politics at the last election.
Yesterday, she said she was concerned about the wider state of the economy, but does not feel she is being rushed by either the government or Labor into making a decision.
“I’ve made it very clear to both sides, Liberal and Labor, that what you’re seeing on paper is not what’s going on on the ground down here.
“I’m watching it play out. You know what politics is like. Changes more than what you change your undies.”
Richard Ferguson 8am: Keneally on temporary exclusion orders
Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally wants Home Affairs Minister to outline whether any of the three men arrested yesterday in anti-terror raids would have qualified for one of his proposed temporary exclusion orders. Under the government’s legislation, authorities would have the ability to exclude Australian citizens from the country for two years if they were alleged to have been involved with banned organisations such as ISIS.
Isaak el Matari, 20, was held by Lebanese authorities in 2017 amid claims he planned to fight for Islamic State in Syria. He is now at the centre of an alleged plot uncovered yesterday to import weapons and explosives into Australia and attack police stations, churches and consulates in Sydney.
“Maybe Mr Dutton could outline, even under the legislation, this case would have qualified for a temporary exclusion order,” Senator Keneally told Sky News this morning. “We are talking about a cohort of people, a very controlled cohort of people. We know the numbers, they’re not huge.’’
Senator Keneally also called on Mr Dutton to accept the recommendations from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security before pushing his Temporary Exclusion Orders bill. “Labor has made clear through the PJCIS made clear that we support the intent of the legislation.
“We have as part of that committee, and in bipartisan support with the Liberals on that committee, made clear they are a number of things we expect the government to amend.
“We are simply waiting for the government to give that report response back to us .”
.@PeterDutton_MP says terror arrests show need for tough new exclusion laws.@KKeneally: Labor has made it clear it supports the intent of the legislation. There are a number of things we expect the govt to amend & we are waiting for them to respond. MORE: https://t.co/44tITAqa1i pic.twitter.com/OAeTgEEoOj
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) July 2, 2019
Richard Ferguson 7.10am: ‘Tax cuts to deliver growth’
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says the record low interest rate signals the need to swiftly pass Scott Morrison’s full tax cuts bill, and that it is delivering the growth push the Reserve Bank is calling for.
“We are pursuing a pro-growth agenda which is, of course, enshrined in our budget,” he told Sky News this morning. “Our budget was put together in the context of all the economic information that the Reserve Bank is acting on as well ... the income tax plan, the whole point of it, is that it does provide both short-term cost of living pressure relief and short-term stimulus focusing on low and middle income earners.
“But also provides structural reform by taking the bracket creep monkey off people’s backs.”
Labor has also argued its calls for part of the second stage of tax cuts to brought forward will also deliver the stimulus necessary to bolster the economy.
.@ljayes: Rates aren’t at 1% because the economy is healthy is it? @MathiasCormann: The RBA makes its decision independently, they assess all the relevant economic information. We will continue to build a strong economy & pursue a pro-growth agenda. MORE: https://t.co/DYBrLrJDwt pic.twitter.com/Ov28MUBVDF
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) July 2, 2019
7am: What’s making news
House prices are set to bounce back after the Reserve Bank slashed the official interest rate to 1 per cent yesterday, ushering in Australia’s lowest borrowing costs since Federation.
Cabinet has agreed to establish a new inquiry to examine the powers of police and intelligence agencies and their impact on a free press, following calls from media executives to overhaul laws affecting journalists.
Scott Morrison’s $158 billion income tax cuts legislation is on track to pass the Senate after Labor attempts to speed up infrastructure spending and fast-track stage two of the government’s package failed in the lower house last night.
Coalition MPs have been told to act humbly and professionally for the next three years as Scott Morrison outlines a “path to further success” after his resounding election win.
Independent MP Zali Steggall is not ruling out a switch to the Liberal Party before the next election but has expressed scepticism about the need for a religious discrimination act.
Scott Morrison has made the long road to reconciliation with indigenous Australians a key focus of his re-elected government as MPs returned to Canberra to usher in the 46th parliament.
Victorian Liberal MP Tim Wilson set a new benchmark for originality in the House of Representatives yesterday, holding a copy of Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom as he affirmed his allegiance to the Queen at the commencement of parliament.
Labor frontbencher Penny Wong says Julie Bishop’s new job with development contractor Palladium fails the pub test and “looks like another breach of the ministerial standards”.
Retired general and former senator Jim Molan has backed the key finding in a new book — that Australia can no longer rely on the US to defend it — saying the nation had “never been in a more uncertain strategic environment”.
Alice Workman’s Sketch: Like Moses holding out his staff to part the Red Sea, Scott Morrison made his way across the aisle and put out his hand to welcome the defeated Bill Shorten back to Canberra.
Simon Benson writes: Scott Morrison has answered his critics and defied the charge that he is a one-trick pony with little to offer beyond income tax cuts.
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