PoliticsNow: Scott Morrison says level of Aboriginal disadvantage is ‘not good enough’ in Closing the Gap speech
Scott Morrison says the Closing the Gap initiative needs to change because it hasn’t achieved the results that were hoped for.
- Budget blast for ABC
- Results not good enough: PM
- PM ‘passed buck’ on Closing the Gap
- Labor to gag Cormann over rorts
- Canavan – no apologies, no regrets
- McCormack faces expenses claims
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live blog on the happenings at Parliament House in Canberra.
National Party turmoil continues as an embattled Michael McCormack faces more damaging expenses claims over the party’s centenary celebration.
Labor will try to gag Finance Minister Mathias Cormann in the Senate until he hands over a government report into ousted minister Bridget McKenzie’s handling of the sports rorts saga.
Top story: PM says Closing the Gap results not good enough
Greg Brown 5.12pm: Budget blast for Ita, ABC
Liberal senator James McGrath has lashed out at the ABC and called it the “unAustralian broadcaster”.
Senator McGrath hit out at the culture of the national broadcaster as he argued against calls from ABC chair Ita Buttrose to increase its budget.
“The ABC exists to broadcast across the nation, including in rural and regional areas. That’s why it’s called the national broadcaster. But, instead of continuing that work, the ABC has already changed its focus from journalism to lobbying,” Senator McGrath said in the Senate.
“It is no longer seen as the National broadcaster but the unAustralian broadcaster. It’s a joke and no one is laughing.
“So I have some free advice for Ms Butrose and the ABC. I won’t even charge them for it. I won’t even charge them and then try to charge them more because I didn’t think I charged enough already.
“Ms Butrose, before you meet with the Prime Minister, before you put the cart before the horse, you should look at ways to reduce spending and increase revenue. You should look at ways the ABC could live within its means.
“The ABC needs to be better. It must be better. Because if it isn’t, it will no longer be taken seriously. It will become nothing more than a joke. And Australians won’t be amused.”
The Queensland senator called for a wide-ranging and independent review of the ABC, including of its charter.
“The last review was well before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Like President Reagan who stood at the Brandenburg Gate and called for the wall to come down you should call for a review of the charter,” Senator McGrath said.
“You should tell the Prime Minister that you would like to look at new ways of funding the ABC to lessen the burden on taxpayers. The ABC already has ads from the ABC on the ABC, why not commercial ads?”
Richard Ferguson 4.20pm: Chester recovers
Veteran Affairs Minister Darren Chester will return to work on Thursday after collapsing in parliament, which he has put down to “fatigue.”
“After being examined by a nurse at Parliament House, and on the advice of health professionals, I attended Canberra Hospital for some tests which cleared me of any serious medical issues,” he said in a statement.
“I’ve been advised that my temporary condition was likely to have been fatigue-related and I’m able to continue my duties as a local MP and Minister from tomorrow.
“I want to express my sincere gratitude to the colleagues from both sides of the chamber who came to my assistance, the Parliamentary staff and the outstanding team at Canberra Hospital who treated me.
“My apologies for causing such alarm during the Prime Minister’s important speech on ‘Closing the Gap’ on indigenous disadvantage”.
Richard Ferguson 3.07pm: They’re bulk-billing changes, not cuts: Coulton
Labor MP Mike Kelly asks Rural Health Minister Mark Coulton why bulk-billing has been cut in his bushfire-affected electorate of Eden-Monaro.
Mr Coulton says Labor did not oppose legislation making changes to rural and outer metropolitan areas — to the Opposition’s objections — and again says there are no cuts to bulk-billing.
“I welcome the opportunity on a day like today to speak about rural health. On the day where we announced another 100 training places for the Royal Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, generalist pathways putting doctors into areas such as the honourable members electorate,” Mr Coulton says.
“There has been no change to the regulation. The changes are an update from the Bureau of Statistics. They are agreed by both sides of this House.”
Richard Ferguson 3.07pm: Bulk-billing pressure stays on Coulton
Opposition health spokesman Chris Bowen asks Rural Health Minister Mark Coulton what the financial consequences are in dollar terms in terms of changes to bulk-billing in rural areas.
Mr Coulton again says there have been no cuts to bulk-billing.
“All doctors who bulk-bill, regardless of their location, will continue to be eligible for bulk-billing incentive,” Mr Coulton says.
“These changes relate to the higher rural bulk-billing incentive. And the government has delayed these implementations from the 1st of July 2019 until the 1st of January to allow these practices to come to terms with these changes.
“And I can assure the members, if they want their doctors to find out more about this, they can go to check their modified Monash classifications on the Doctor Connect website.”
The Australian understands that Labor sees Mr Coulton as an underperformer in the outer ministry and will target him more in question time.
Richard Ferguson 3pm: Medicare bulk-billing cuts denied
Opposition health spokesman Chris Bowen asks Rural Health Minister Mark Coulton why no Nationals electorates have been impacted by cuts to Medicare bulk-billing.
Mr Coulton denies there has been any cuts.
“There has been a change to geographic location using information from the Bureau of Statistics. And that is an update on information from 30 years ago,” he says.
“And so, outer metropolitan areas that may have been regional are now part of larger metropolitan areas. And so, they are the ones that are impacted.
“But GPs in those areas are still eligible for district-of-workforce priority. They still can bulk-bill, and those changes have not happened.”
Elias Visontay 2.57pm: ‘What happened to the National Integrity Commission?
Anthony Albanese asks Scott Morrison about the proposed National Integrity Commission.
“In 2018, the Prime Minister claimed that he had begun work on a National Integrity Commission at the beginning of that year. It’s now 2020. Where is the government’s National Integrity Commission legislation?” the Labor leader asks.
Attorney-General Christian Porter responds to the question, saying the legislation is “very well advanced” and “350 pages at the moment.”
“The government wants to take the time to properly design and consult on something as important and as complicated as a Commonwealth Integrity Commission,”
“When Labor announced a commitment to an Integrity Commission, they radically under-funded their proposal, allocating $58.7 million. In our previous budget, we allocated $106.7 million.
“The most interesting thing of all is the way in which the Labor Party have sought to link support for an Integrity Commission to party political fundraising.
“At the time that they announced their commitment to an Integrity Commission, an email comes out from the Labor Party. It begins with the sentence: ‘Politics is about trust.’
“Then it says: ‘Will you pledge your support for a National Integrity Commission?’ How do you do that? By clicking on the little red button that says ‘Donate $5 to the Labor Party’,” Mr Porter says.
Elias Visontay 2.50pm: PM draws line on bushfire business help
Labor MP Mike Kelly, whose seat of Eden-Monaro on the NSW south coast was ravaged by bushfires over summer, asks Scott Morrison about a Facebook post made by NSW Liberal MP Andrew Constance about businesses whose incomes were affected by bushfires but which did not burn down.
“The Liberal member for Bega, Andrew Constance, reflecting my own experience in the region, stated, ‘at the forums I’ve been at over the past two nights, the plea for help from business is about protecting casual employees and the need for a cash injection now. People are reluctant about loans.’ On Monday, the Prime Minister ridiculed Labor for standing up for businesses that don’t want to take on more debt. Does the Prime Minister have the same response to the Liberal member for Bega?” Mr Kelly asks.
The Prime Minister responds by saying “it is not the government’s policy to provide cashflow assistance for businesses for income loss that have not had direct impact on natural disasters.”
“That is the policy followed by the Labor government when they were in power. It is the policy that we applied to other natural disasters, in particular up in North Queensland, whether up in Townsville or across the areas affected by those floods.”
“In the areas you’re talking about, there is some 165,082 businesses alone that have employees. If we were to follow the approach that Labor seem to be suggesting, that alone would be some $8 billion and, if you applied it to all businesses, it would be $22 billion.”
“The opposition cannot be taken seriously when they’re suggesting those sorts of figures,” Mr Morrison says.
Mr Kelly also takes the next question, asking Mr Morrison “how many loans to businesses impacted by the fires nationwide have been approved”.
Mr Morrison says that one loan has been approved in Queensland, but applications are still being assessed by state governments in other states.
“It was opened, I understand, on 3 February 2020, and 232 applications have been received under are the review since that time. They are currently being assessed by the New South Wales government. They haven’t approved any at this point,” he says.
“In Queensland, concessional loans also opened on February 3. Two applications have been received and one approved. In South Australia, they have approved the scheme and 60 EOIs have been received and guidelines are currently being considered by the Victorian government, who have not put in place the assessment processes at this point to provide those loan arrangements,” Mr Morrison says.
Elias Visontay 2.34pm: Frydenberg defends wage growth
Labor’s treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers asks Josh Frydenberg if he can confirm that “annual wages growth in every single quarter has been lower than in any quarter under the last Labor government.”
The Treasurer says “the reality is, under Labor, the real minimum wage went down in three out of the six years they were in government.”
“Under us, real minimum wages have gone up every year under us. Mr Speaker, the way to boost wages is through cutting taxes,” Mr Frydenberg says.
Richard Ferguson 2.28pm: Union fined more than George Calombaris
Manager of opposition business Tony Burke asks Scott Morrison why the electricians’ union is paying a bigger fine for paperwork breaches than the one celebrity chef George Calombaris faced for underpaying workers.
The Prime Minister says it is a decision for the independent Federal Court, and says the government has worked to ensure justice for workers underpaid.
“We have increased funding to the Fair Work Ombudsman by more than $60 million in recent years,” Mr Morrison says.
“And members of the House may want to know why we had to increase $60 million in funding to the Fair Work Ombudsman so they could go and do their job and ensure that workers who had been dudded their payments would get their payments, Mr Speaker.
“And that is because, when Labor were in office, they cut the Fair Work Ombudsman funding by almost 20%, Mr Speaker.
“The hypocrisy of the Labor Party, who come in here and make these statements while, at the same time, are seeking to prevent the government from ensuring that workers’ entitlement funds don’t get ripped off by dodgy unions is amazing.”
Richard Ferguson 2.24pm: Tehan dodges Katter’s croc challenge
Crossbench MP Bob Katter asks Education Minister Dan Tehan if he will follow his lead and dangle himself from a harness above the jaws of a crocodile.
In order to boost tourism, of course.
“I know a lot of you were rooting for the crocodile, but anyway,” Mr Katter says.
Mr Tehan — representing Trade Minister Simon Birmingham — does not take up the crocodile offer but says the government is focused on reviving a hurting tourism sector post-bushfires and coronavirus.
“There are many ways — many ways — that we encourage tourists to Australia,” Mr Tehan says.
“And there are many ways that we encourage tourists to rural and regional Australia. The member for Kennedy has obviously participated on one of those, and he obviously had a lot of fun.”
Richard Ferguson 2.17pm: Clean water for remote Aboriginal communities ‘critical’
Opposition Indigenous Affairs spokeswoman Linda Burney asks Scott Morrison if he will ensure remote Aboriginal communities have clean water.
The Prime Minister says he considers water quality in these communities are “critical” and says it will be an important part of his discussions with state governments.
“This is one of the critical things that needs to be put in place to support the health and wellbeing of indigenous peoples right across the country,” he says.
“That is made more difficult because of recent events around bushfires and drought which has complicated the water potability for Indigenous Australians in so many
parts of the country.
“So I can agree with the member who’s put this matter to us. This is absolutely an issue that requires attention not just from Commonwealth governments, but from state governments as well, Mr Speaker.
“And it will be a matter that will be getting important attention through the process which I outlined.”
Richard Ferguson 2.12pm: No timetable for indigenous recognition referendum
Anthony Albanese asks Scott Morrison if a referendum on indigenous recognition in the Constitution will be held in this parliamentary term.
The Prime Minister says he will not set a timetable as there is a lack of consensus on the question, including on a Voice to Parliament.
“The Leader of the Opposition will be aware of my broad position on this, as I outlined in my Closing the Gap speech and the aspiration that we have there,” he says.
“This process of constitutional recognition has been a long journey. And it is yet
to arrive at a point, I think we can fairly say, where there is broad agreement as to what the proposition would be. I
“Indeed, there is a large gap between where the opposition stands on the form of this and where the government stands. And I would have thought there would need to be a real consensus to enable such a referendum to be successful.”
Elias Visontay 2.09pm: PM quizzed on Closing Gap targets
Labor’s human services spokeswoman Linda Burney begins question time by asking Scott Morrison why five of the seven Closing the Gap targets have not been met or are not on track to be met.
The Prime Minister says “we are making great progress.”
“I look forward to the shared targets with the right data that can inform us as to how we’re tracking against those targets, where the responsibilities for meeting those targets are very clearly articulated.”
“The suggestion that this Commonwealth Parliament alone can act to address all of these targets is a misplaced notion, because state governments … equally are part of this process,” he says.
Richard Ferguson 1.46pm: Payne defends travel ban delay
Foreign Minister Marise Payne has defended a delay on whether the travel ban on foreign nationals leaving from or transiting through Mainland China.
The government is due to make a decision on the travel ban’s extension on Thursday afternoon, as business suffers from the fallout of the global coronavirus crisis.
“Well, these are matters for the health advice that we will receive from the Chief Medical Officer and members of the committee,” Senator Payne said in Canberra.
“Minister Hunt and I will of course consider those with the National Committee in due course.
“The Australian Government has put in place a very clear process for the way in which we are considering these issues. They are entirely advice on the health advice that we receive, particularly for movements internationally, and we indicated that we would review that in due course and that will happen.”
Richard Ferguson 12.05pm: Shorten, Robert’s heated robodebt clash
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten and Government Services Minister Stuart Robert have had a rare, heated one-to-one match off in parliament over the robodebt saga.
Mr Shorten has made robodebt his number one line of attack on the government since losing the last election, as the robodebt system is accused of forcing hundreds of Australian to pay money they do not owe.
Mr Robert is a staunch defender of the system and today in the lower house lost his patience as Mr Shorten went on a 14-minute long attack of his handling of robodebt.
“Here’s the minister. I’m going to take the interjection. This bloke is the invisible minister for robodebt,” Mr Shorten responded.
“He never goes out in public. He never goes out in public.”
Mr Robert’s taunts are inaudible in the footage. The minister has been reached for comment on the parliamentary blue.
Richard Ferguson 12.05pm: I feel fine: collapsed MP Chester
Veteran Affairs Minister Darren Chester says he is “feeling fine” after collapsing in parliament.
Mr Chester was rescued by MPs and medics Katie Allen and Michael Freelander after he fell unwell during Scott Morrison’s Closing the Gap report.
He is now headed to the hospital for a number of tests.
“Rumours of my demise have been exaggerated,” Mr Chester tweeted.
“Thanks everyone for their kind messages of concern and the bipartisan medical team of MPs, Parliament staff and colleagues who’ve rallied to check on my welfare.
“I feel fine and just going to have a few tests done.”
Rumours of my demise have been exaggerated. Thanks everyone for their kind messages of concern and the bipartisan medical team of MPs, Parliament staff and colleagues who’ve rallied to check on my welfare. I feel fine and just going to have a few tests done. #lovegippsland
— Darren Chester MP (@DarrenChesterMP) February 12, 2020
Richard Ferguson 11.50am: MP collapses, helped from chamber
Veterans Affairs Minister Darren Chester has collapsed in parliament during Scott Morrison’s Closing the Gap report.
Mr Chester had to leave the lower house chamber with the aid of other MPs. It is not clear what happened to him.
The Minister’s office has told The Australian he is now okay.
Greg Brown 11.45am: Albanese: our target failure, not theirs
Anthony Albanese says the failure to achieve five of the seven Closing the Gap targets was “tragic”.
“It is an indictment that, of all of these targets, we are on track for only two. The problem was not that the targets were too ambitious. They were not. They were modest,” the Opposition Leader said.
“And in the spirit of Paul Keating’s 1992 Redfern speech, the failure to meet the target is our failure, not theirs.”
He urged Scott Morrison and Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt to reconsider their opposition to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which includes a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament.
“There is a danger that the Uluru Statement will end up being remembered as a noble moment, but not as a turning point, and we cannot allow that to happen,” Mr Albanese said.
“At its most basic level, the denial of a constitutionally enshrined voice is a denial of the Australian instinct for a fair go. Despite all the tests it is put through, the instinct for a fair go remains one of the great defining points of our national character.
“The voice is a modest request that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples be consulted about issues and policies that directly affect them. That’s what it is. It is not a third chamber.”
Greg Brown 11.15am: Morrison: gap not good enough
Scott Morrison says the level of Aboriginal disadvantage is “not good enough” as he hands down the 12th Closing the Gap report. The Prime Minister said the Closing the Gap initiative, kicked off by Kevin Rudd in 2008, needed to be changed because it did not achieve the results that were hoped for. Two of the seven Closing the Gap targets are on track to be met.
“For 12 years I have said in this chamber and listen to closing the gap speeches,” Mr Morrison said in a speech to parliament. “It is a tale of hope, frustration and disappointment. A tale of good intentions, indeed, good faith. But the results are not good enough. This is sadly still true.”
Mr Morrison said there had been a false belief since European settlement that indigenous people did not know how to best manage their affairs. “We perpetuated an ingrained way of thinking passed down over two centuries and more, and it was the belief that we knew better than our indigenous peoples. We don’t,” Mr Morrison said.
“We also thought we understood their problems better than they did. We don’t. They live them. We must see the gap we wish to close, not from our viewpoints, but from the viewpoint of indigenous Australians.”
He said it was a mistake to replace “independence with welfare” in trying to help Aboriginal Australians. “What I know is that to rob a person of their right to take responsibility for themselves, to strip them of responsibility and capability to direct their own futures, to make them dependent, this is to deny them their liberty, and slowly that person will weather before your eyes,” Mr Morrison said. “That’s what we did to our First Nations peoples. And mostly we didn’t even know we were doing it. We thought we were helping when we replaced independence with welfare. This must change.
“We must restore the right to take responsibility, the right to make decisions, the right to step up, the opportunity to own and create Australians’ own futures.”
Mr Morrison said the Closing the Gap “refresh”, to be finalised this year, would change the program so it had more input from indigenous Australians and local communities.
“It is what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been saying for a long time. They want a partnership where we listen, work together and decide together how future policies are developed, especially at a regional and local level,” Mr Morrison said. “A partnership that respects their expertise and acknowledges their place as the First Nations people of this continent. So we are bringing more people in the process.”
Mr Morrison said he supports the co-design of a voice to government as recommended by the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition.
“The government has always supported giving indigenous people more of a say at the local level,” he said.
“The committee did not make recommendations as to the legal form of the voice, constitutional or legislation. It recommended considering this matter after the process of co-design is complete, and that is what we’re doing. We support finalising co-design.
“We also support recommendations about truth telling. Australians are interested in having a fuller understanding of their history, both the history, traditions, and also the culture, course, of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and also contact between Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal people.”
Kevin Rudd’s wife, Therese Rein, watched the speech from the public gallery, as did One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.
Richard Ferguson 9.15am: Morrison ‘passed buck’ on Closing the Gap
Indigenous Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy has accused Scott Morrison of “passing the buck” on the failures documented in the latest Closing the Gap report on Aboriginal disadvantage.
Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Scott Morrison will lament successive governments’ failure to meet the Closing the Gap targets, despite extra investment and bipartisan support.
The Prime Minister will also criticise the reporting of disadvantage targets as not focused enough on the “ don’t celebrate the strengths, achievements and aspirations of indigenous people.”
It’s been 5 years since Tony Abbott cut $500 million from the Aboriginal Affairs budget, and we have seen year after year, a breaking down even further into poverty, into disadvantage for First Nations people. The Coalition Govt has to see this connection. #auspol #ClosingTheGap
— malarndirri mccarthy (@Malarndirri19) February 11, 2020
Senator McCarthy slammed Mr Morrison’s comments this morning and claimed divisions within the Coalition were contributing to systemic problems for Aboriginal Australians.
“Absolutely passing the buck. Scott Morrison when was the last time you went to a First Nations community and actually sat down with the people and listened to the concerns that they had, not just about health and education, but also housing,” she said in Canberra.
“You need to do more than say that it’s someone else’s problem, Prime Minister.
“There is no doubt, no doubt, there is sincerity in terms of Ken Wyatt’s push to see a better way of life for people. But it’s not happening, and the reason why it’s not happening is because of the chaos and the dysfunction in the Coalition party, the fact that the Nationals can go away and worry about themselves and not care about the people of the land and the country.”
Elias Visontay 9.10am: Canavan: I may have failed to declare properties
Former Resources Minister Matt Canavan has acknowledged he may have failed to declare two properties he owns with his wife as a financial asset.
Senator Canavan was responding to a Guardian Australia report that he breached rules by failing to declare a Canberra and Queensland property, worth more than $1 million combined, in the parliamentary register of interests.
He declared the properties in the last parliament, but did not add them into the register of interests after the 2019 election.
“Both those properties have been declared when I came to the Senate and purchased another one, my principal place of residence. I was acting under advice after the election that I didn’t need to re-declare those. That may have been mistaken,” Senator Canavan told ABC RN.
“I’m checking that and if it was a mistake it was an honest one and of course I’ll clear that up as soon as I can.”
Asked if he thought someone had leaked against him, Senator Canavan said:
“As they say, if you want a friend in Canberra get a dog. I haven’t got one yet. I might have to declare that too.”
Richard Ferguson 8.55am: Albanese slams Nats ‘Muppet Show’
Anthony Albanese has declared the Nationals drama “The Muppet Show: The Sequel” but denied that Labor is exploiting Coalition divisions in parliament at the expense of good governance.
The Opposition Leader claimed he was not trying to destabilise the government – despite humiliating the government in parliament over the election of deputy speaker and dissident National MP Llew O’Brien – and claimed he was still avoiding the title “opposition leader”.
“Well, I’ve been determined to be known as the Labor Leader rather than just the Opposition Leader and we have been putting forward constructive suggestions,” he told Adelaide’s 5AA radio.
“The fact is this is the Muppet Show, the sequel, is what we’re seeing here. After Scott Morrison himself, when he became Prime Minister, described their operation as the Muppet Show. And it just continues on and on … And it’s not up to us to unify them.”
Mr Albanese also rejected comparisons with the chaos of the Rudd-Gillard years.
“We were responsible for a lot of our own demise. That’s the truth. But the Gillard Government continued to govern. We were getting things done,” he said.
“We were introducing the NDIS, paid parental leave, we were doing a range of measures in education. We were advancing the NBN. We were governing the country.”
Richard Ferguson 8.50am: Labor to gag Cormann over rorts report
Labor will try to gag Finance Minister Mathias Cormann in the Senate until he hands over a government report into ousted minister Bridget McKenzie’s handling of the sports rorts saga.
Opposition finance spokeswoman Katy Gallacher on Wednesday said under her plan, Senator Cormann would not be allowed to represent Scott Morrison in the upper house until Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Phillip Gaetjens’ report is presented to the Senate.
The government is refusing to release the confidential report – which cleared a controversial sports grant scheme of political bias, contradicting the Auditor-General’s report – because it is a confidential cabinet document.
“This is a tougher sanction that the senate is seeking,” Senator Gallacher said on Sky News.
“It would mean that Senator Cormann couldn’t represent the Prime Minister during (senate) question time or in estimates until the report tabled.
“It is quite an important document we need to get to the bottom of … this report was commissioned outside of cabinet, we have no interest in the deliberations of cabinet.”
If the sanction gets up in the senate, there will be a time limit until March 6.
Elias Visontay 8.45am: Canavan – no apologies, no regrets
Matt Canavan has reacted to reports that moderate Liberal MPs have been warned to avoid public stoushes with Nationals over climate and coal arguments by saying he makes “no apologies” for policy issues with Liberals.
Senator Canavan was responding to a report in The Australian about the warning to his coalition colleagues, with one Liberal MP describing discussing climate issues with Nationals as “like appeasing a child who has a tantrum.”
Appearing on ABC RN, Senator Canavan said: “I make no apology for standing up for policy issues and ideas.
“I would have no problem if Liberal members of the joint party room, stood up and expressed different views on coal or coal fired power.”
He also defended Michael McCormack’s leadership of the party, and opened up about his frustration that Coalition colleagues voted against the government’s pick for Deputy Speaker, when ex-Nationals MP and Barnaby Joyce supporter Llew O’Brien won a surprise ballot against Damian Drum on Monday.
“I had a long conversation with Llew (O’Brien) on Sunday night trying to talk him out of it (quitting the party), unsuccessfully, obviously. I think there is a great tradition between the Liberal and National parties here, it’s been the longest serving type of government in our nation’s history.
Asked about his decision to quit the cabinet when announcing his support for Mr Joyce’s leadership push last week, Senator Canavan said: “I don’t have any regrets because I made the call that I thought was right for the party.”
“I think if I’d made any other decision I’d be regretting it right now.”
“I respect the decision of the Nationals party room, we cleared that up and Michael (McCormack) has my full support.”
Elias Visontay 8.00am: McCormack faces damaging claims
Nationals head Michael McCormack is facing fresh criticism of his leadership after it emerged the party attempted to plan a meeting in Melbourne so its politicians could charge taxpayers for travel expenses to the party’s 100th anniversary dinner.
Scott Morrison has reportedly directly intervened to warn the Deputy Prime Minister the scheduling of the March partyroom meeting could raise the ire of voters, with some Nationals members already making their own travel bookings to avoid getting drawn into a potential scandal.
According to the Courier Mail, the Prime Minister contacted Mr McCormack on Tuesday about the meeting, planned to coincide with the Nationals’ centenary gala dinner at the Park Hyatt hotel on March 13.
Mr Morrison reportedly urged Mr McCormack’s office to get advice from the independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) about the meeting.
According to the report, Mr McCormack’s chief of staff, Damian Callachor, acknowledged the partyroom meeting had been deliberately scheduled to coincide with the gala dinner.
“The party room is designed to ensure all members and senators have appropriate travel entitlements.” Mr Callachor is reported to have told Nationals politicians in December.
Nationals whip Damian Drum, who is responsible for organising the partyroom meetings, reportedly contacted his federal Nationals colleagues on Tuesday to inform them the IPEA advised claiming travel costs for the Melbourne party room meeting was acceptable.
However after revelations about the meeting made it to Mr McCormack’s office on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Deputy Prime Minister said the meeting may now be cancelled.
“At the time the Deputy Prime Minister’s chief-of-staff provided the advice to the MP’s office, the intention was to hold a partyroom meeting, but this was subject to IPEA advice and confirmation closer to the time,’’ she told the Courier Mail.
“The location of this meeting is a matter for the National Party, and a decision will be made at the regular partyroom meeting in Canberra on February 24.
“IPEA advises travel to this event would, in broad terms, meet the … definition.
“But as always, this is a matter for MPs and Senators to determine.”
Mr Drum was the Coalition’s pick to become Deputy Speaker on Monday, however he lost a parliamentary ballot to ex-Nationals MP Llew O’Brien who accepted a nomination from Labor.
Mr O’Brien’s resignation from the Nationals Party this week came after failed leadership push from Barnaby Joyce to retake the leadership from Mr McCormack.
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