PoliticsNow: Political system not broken, says outgoing Liberal senator Mitch Fifield
Outgoing Liberal senator Mitch Fifield calls on parliament to reject assertions politics is broken.
- US navy in $300m Darwin spend
- ALP: Give public service pay rise
- Law Council slams ALP over terror
- Setka ‘shouldn’t tar unions’
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live blog on the happenings at Parliament House in Canberra.
National security takes centre stage in parliament today as Labor moves to delay powers to secretly detain terror suspects, while the battle over Scott Morrison’s union-busting bill continues.
•Top story: Labor’s wage plan ‘reckless’
Olivia Caisley 7.54pm: Political system not broken
Outgoing Liberal senator Mitch Fifield, who played a key role in the implementation of the NBN, has called on parliament to reject assertions the political system in Australia is broken as he bid adieu to 15 years in federal politics.
The former Communications Minister said he couldn’t disagree more with those that said significant reform was no longer possible and argued that, at its core, the essence of politics remained the same.
“There are some commentators whose thesis is that the system of politics is broken in Australia,” Senator Fifield said this afternoon. “That it’s not possible to achieve significant reform anymore. That the press, the 24/7 media cycle, hung chambers and new quasi-political groups make it all too hard. I couldn’t disagree more.”
He called on politicians to return to a “core business” of advocacy and persuasion.
“The extent to which political practitioners fail to achieve their objectives is a failure of persuasion and advocacy,” he said. “So I encourage all my colleagues to reject the thesis that the system is broken and embrace core business.”
He also thanked Bill Shorten and Tony Abbott for embracing the NDIS “beyond bipartisanship.”
The senator’s valedictory speech even hit a musical note after he divulged a conversation with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann earlier this year.
“To give an example of how seriously I took my support for Australian music, let me breach cabinet confidentiality for a moment,” he said.
“When I was taking Ita Buttrose forward to cabinet as ABC chair, I concluded by saying: ‘colleagues, you should know that Ita also enjoys the strong support of Jimmy Barnes and Cold Chisel’.
“Mathias said, ‘I don’t understand. What do you mean?’. I responded, ‘Okay, for the recent arrivals …’ And I proceeded to sing to cabinet the Cold Chisel tribute song Ita.”
After some encouragement from the crowd, Senator Fifield indulged his colleagues by breaking into song with the line: “Ita’s tongue never touches her lips.”
Greg Brown 3.35pm: Bandt brushes coal pitch
Greens MP Adam Bandt says he has “today rejected the invitation” to join the parliamentary friends of coal exports group.
Mr Bandt said the group’s co-chairs, Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon and Liberal MP Craig Kelly, should “stop peddling lies to the coal export industry”.
“Labor and Liberal are on a unity ticket on coal.” said Mr Bandt.
“We are in a climate emergency and governments around the world are recognising it. Thermal coal exports need to be phased out by 2030 and we need to urgently support coal workers and communities during the transition.
“Parliament should be supporting a transition plan for coal workers as we phase out thermal coal exports.
“If Anthony Albanese is serious about fighting climate change and supporting coal communities, he should instruct his party room to boycott this group.”
Greg Brown 3.30pm: PM’s ‘bread and butter’ plea
Scott Morrison has urged Coalition MPs to spend the winter break engaging with their local communities and demonstrate “people are on the side of the electorates”.
In his last partyroom address before a five-week break from parliament, the Prime Minister said the “granular” delivery of local programs was the “bread and butter of politics”.
He urged MPs to think about how they can demonstrate what they have achieved in their electorate at the next poll.
“We encourage members to engage across their electorates, using a range of programs that the government funds and supports, to demonstrate that people are on the side of their electorates,” Mr Morrison said, according to a Coalition spokesman.
Mr Morrison said the Coalition won the election because it had the same values as Australians.
“We believe what Australians believe and that is why we have won seven out of the last nine elections,” he said.
“We haven’t won because we have got more money, or union volunteers, or GetUp on our side, but because we share the aspirations and dreams of the Australian people.”
Richard Ferguson 3.25pm: Cormann attacks ‘reckless’ Labor
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has labelled Labor calls for a bigger boost to public sector wages to stimulate the economy are reckless and irresponsible.
Opposition financial services spokesman Stephen Jones has called on Scott Morrison should increase public sector pay to stimulate the economy and overall wages growth in Australia.
Senator Cormann says Commonwealth employees are getting “reasonable and affordable” pay increases through workplace bargaining and that the public sector unions’ calls for more were stopping public servants from getting wage rises at all.
“It is actually the unions that have pressured public servants into foregoing thousands of dollars in pay rises which were on the table for them, by urging them to vote ‘no’ to above-inflation pay rises,” the Finance Minister told The Australian.
“The anti-pay rise campaigns by the public sector unions – recklessly and irresponsibly supported by the Labor Party for partisan political reasons – have held back some public servants from getting pay rises which the Government made available for several years.
“More and more public servants are now sensibly ignoring such bad and counter-productive union advice.
“It should also be noted that at around 167,000 people, the average staffing level of Commonwealth public servants (excluding military and reserves) represent just 1.3 per cent of total employed persons in Australia.”
Mr Jones said Australians need a pay rise and that the government should “lead by example” by boosting the wages of Commonwealth workers.
“The government has got a role to play in this. The government is a big employer in and on its own right,” he told Sky News.
“It can be leading by example.
“They can be sending very clear messages through all the levers that they can pull down on to say Australia needs a pay rise, this is what it should look like, we’re going to lead by providing it to our own workers and the rest should be following suit.”
Federal Labor promised above-inflation pay rises for federal public servants and the reversal of “efficiency” cuts planned by the Coalition next year during the last election.
The federal Coalition government has cut public-service numbers from a peak of 251,200 under the Gillard government in 2010-11 to 239,800 in the last financial year, the lowest level since 2006-7.
The federal government has also managed to cap its wage bill, which has risen only 2.7 per cent in the past four years.
Richard Ferguson 3.11pm: Crown and out
Greens MP Adam Bandt asks Scott Morrison if he will investigate ministers and former ministers over connections to Crown Casino.
Attorney General Christian Porter has referred allegations Commonwealth officials fast-tracked visas for high-rollers attending Crown properties to the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity. He was backed by Labor.
Mr Bandt says the ACLEI does not power to investigate ministers and former ministers.
“With respect to the idea that there is some kind of favouritism or fast-tracking, there’s systems in place, where a variety of passport holders, particularly referenced in
the White Paper on developing Northern Australia, are able to access and facilitate quick visa processing,” Mr Porter says.
“There’s nothing new in that. That occurred on both sides of the house, but if there’s any specific allegations the member wants to make, then perhaps he needs to make them.”
Greg Brown 3.07pm: Dodson’s warning on recognition
Labor senator Pat Dodson told party MPs Scott Morrison had “decoupled” constitutional recognition from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, declaring the government’s co-design process had “no structure for formal consultation with First Nations”.
The Labor senator said it was a “very serious matter” the recognition process was “effectively back to pre-Uluru”, with the Prime Minister ruling out supporting a constitutionally enshrined voice.
Senator Dodson, known as the father of reconciliation, said Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt had not consulted Aboriginal leaders but “has a plan for consultation with the Coalition backbench and apparently Pauline Hanson”.
“The challenge for us now is to assist the minister without walking away with all the fleas and the ticks that would undermine a principled position,” Senator Dodson said.
Opposition indigenous affairs spokeswoman Linda Burney said there were no plans for formal protests against the government’s position “at this point”.
She said Labor’s position was to work collaboratively with the government to bring it towards supporting a constitutionally enshrined voice.
One Labor MP declared it reminded him of John Howard’s refusal to apologise to indigenous people because of the stolen generation.
Richard Ferguson 3pm: Albo: ‘The system has failed’
Bill Shorten asks Government Services Minister Stuart Robert what advice he can give a woman who received a debt for her dead son.
Mr Robert said the Department for Human Services should have waived the debt and apologises.
“In many cases when the department raises a debt against someone who is deceased, and the knowingly know about it, if the debt is big enough, they will seek to recover it from the estate,” Mr Robert says.
“In the vast majority of times, the debt will be wiped. Because of the size of the debt being uneconomical to recover and the length of time, the department should have simply waived the debt.
“They didn’t, my department was wrong, I apologise for it.”
Anthony Albanese calls on Mr Robert to admit the robodebt system has failed. Mr Robert says the government has a legal duty to recoup debts.
“Those debts equal $4.99 million. To give the house an idea, with family tax benefit debts, there’s 373,000 outstanding at $1.2 billion,” Mr Robert says.
“When it comes to Newstart, it equals $1.21 billion. Does the Leader of the Opposition seriously want be the government the wipe $1.121 billion from 400,000 debts because the member doesn’t believe in income compliance?”
Labor MPs shout that there was no robodebt system when they were last in government.
Richard Ferguson 2.55pm: ‘My department was wrong’
Labor backbencher Mike Kelly asks why a widowed pensioner in his electorate was given a robodebt notice for a 21-year-old debt.
Mr Robert said the debt notice was wrong and the Department of Human Services had apologised.
“In relation to the specific case he mentioned, my understanding is the gentleman is a
former public servant, incorrectly sent a letter dealing with a income stream issue, not a compliance,” he says.
“The department has recognised the error and apologised profusely in the media.”
Richard Ferguson 2.50pm: Robo recall
Bill Shorten asks Government Services Minister Stuart Robert if he stands by his statement to ABC News last night that robodebt will not go back seven years looking for debtors.
Mr Robert says he stands by the statement.
“Letters will be going to people and will be starting at the 2013-14 financial year,” he says.
“There may well be some outstanding notices from previous financial years, but forward letters going out to ask about a discrepancy will be from the 2013-14 financial year, and onwards.”
Richard Ferguson 2.45pm: Shorten finally joins in
Bill Shorten is asking his first question in question time since he lost the election and resigned as Labor leader.
He asks Government Services Minister Stuart Robert how many debt notices from the robodebt program have been found to be wrong.
“Governments of all persuasions over the last 20-plus years have sought to recover debts that have arisen because citizens have put forward an assessment of their income and when their tax return came through, that was different,” Mr Robert says.
“And that difference has to be accounted for. That’s the mutual obligation that citizens have with their government.
“We seek to do it compassionately and sensibly, but there’s a lawful requirement to ensure the right people get the right funds at the right time.”
Mr Robert does not say if any debt notices under robodebt have been found to be wrong.
Richard Ferguson 2.40pm: Robodebt query
Anthony Albanese asks Government Services Minister Stuart Robert if any victims of the Townsville floods have been handed robodebt notices.
Mr Robert says they have not.
“Under the income compliance program, no victims in the four post codes around Townsville have received a debt notice,” Mr Robert says.
Greg Brown 2.37pm: More on Labor’s policy switch
Anthony Albanese has warned Labor MPs the government is in a similar position of power than after the 2004 election - when it won a majority in both houses - and declared the opposition will be forced to support legislation it doesn’t fully agree with.
The Opposition Leader told his colleagues in this morning’s caucus briefing there was a “conservative majority” in the Senate and most of the government’s agenda will pass the parliament.
“We will often be confronted with circumstances where we will votre on an issue which includes measures we agree with and measures we disagree with,” Mr Albanese told caucus, according to a Labor spokesman.
“That is exactly what happened with tax and it will keep on happening. The Green party has not noticed the government has won. All their focus is on us.”
Mr Albanese also bragged about the discomfort Labor had brought to Energy Minister Angus Taylor over allegations he did not properly declare his investments.
“We targeted one of the slowest members of the herd and he has been exposed,” Mr Albanese said. “Tactically, it is a risk to focus on a single member this way, the way we did last Tuesday, but it has paid off.”
Mr Albanese said the issue showed Scott Morrison had a “glass jaw”, claiming the Prime Minister was upset the attention was not on him.
Richard Ferguson 2.34pm: Treasurer hammers ‘Sir Tax-A-Lot’
Opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers asks Josh Frydenberg why he is “always banging on about Labor’ instead of coming up with a plan for wages growth.
The Treasurer says he will not be lectured by Dr Chalmers, whom he dubs “Sir Tax-A-Lot.”
“We won’t be lectured by Sir Tax a lot over there, Sir Taxa-lot,” he says.
“He’s quite pleased and proud of Labor’s housing tax and retirees tax. The co-architect with the member for McMahon (Chris Bowen) over there, and the member for Maribyrnong (Bill Shorten) will never for give them, Mr Speaker.
“We on this side of the house are in favour of lower taxes, Mr Speaker. We’re in favour of $100 billion of new infrastructure spending, and we on this side of house are in favour of record spending there schools, hospitals, and aged care.
“But we’re not in favour of Labor’s $387 billion of higher taxes.”
Richard Ferguson 2.27pm: Australians ‘better off’
Anthony Albanese asks Josh Frydenberg if Australians better off or worse off since 2013 according to the HILDA survey released today.
The Treasurer says Australians are better off.
“When he refers to the HILDA survey, that was conducted to December 2017. Since then, the unemployment rate has come down from 5.6 to 5.2 per cent, the wage price index
has increased from 2.1 to 2.3 per cent,” Mr Frydenberg says. “Real wages have increased. The participation rate has increased.
“And the ABS household income and wealth survey released earlier this month, that takes into account the full 2017-18 year shows real median household disposable incomes has increased by over $2,000 per year compared to 2007-08.
“The bottom line is this government, this side of the house, have been responsible for helping to create the conditions where more than 1.4 million new jobs have been created.
“And lower taxes, lower taxes have ensured that Australians can earn more, and keep more of what they earn”.
Greg Brown 2.22pm: Labor’s new policy backflip
Labor will go against its policy platform and back minimum mandatory sentencing in a bill that aims to combat child sex exploitation, promoting protests in caucus.
Six frontbenchers rose to defend shadow cabinet’s recommendation to support the Combating Child Exploitation Bill, that implements recommendations from the royal commission into child sex abuse.
One backbencher questioned why Labor would back the legislation when it included minimum mandatory sentencing for perpetrators, something that is against the party’s policy platform.
The consensus was reached that, while Labor did oppose minimum jail sentences, it could not oppose recommendations from the royal commission, one of the Gillard government’s key legacies.
Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally recommended caucus back the legislation, and was supported by frontbenchers Bill Shorten, Jason Clare, Clare O’Neil, Joel Fitzgibbon, Mark Dreyfus and Tony Burke. Five backbenchers also spoke on the legislation.
In this morning’s caucus meeting, Anthony Albanese warned Labor could not amend policy as much as the last parliament because the Senate was more favourable to the government.
Richard Ferguson 2.17pm: A Liberal connection?
Labor health spokesman Chris Bowen asks Health Minister Greg Hunt if the chief executive of Sound Radiology - which recently got an MRI scan machine licence - was vice president of the South Australian Liberal Party.
Mr Hunt said he cannot confirm if he is connected to the Liberals, and confirms his office signs off on MRI licenses.
“I would note in relation to fully eligible MRI units per 1000 population, in the electorate of Adelaide, an opposition electorate, the rate of 100,000 people is 0.7,” he says.
“These things are determined on a basis of need. What that does is it sets out the fact that area is significantly lower in MRI concentration than all those other regions of Australia.”
Richard Ferguson 2.10pm: Bowen’s close examination
Labor health spokesman Chris Bowen asks Health Minister Greg Hunt if a MRI scan machine in Adelaide recently given a licence is 5km away from nine other such machines.
Mr Hunt says he does not have the detail on that particular machine, and goes through the application process for an MRI machine at length.
Labor campaigned hard on eliminating private cancer costs during the election and promised extra funding for MRI machines in regional and rural areas.
Richard Ferguson 2.05pm: Hunt quizzed on MRIs
Labor’s health spokesman Chris Bowen opens up question time and asks Health Minister Greg Hunt about licenses for MRI scan machines.
Mr Hunt says the government has granted 53 licenses for such machines and 43 such machines had already commenced work.
“Two of them have not commenced. In Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, where we’re waiting on the West Australian government to purchase the machines.
And in Queensland, in relation to one of their own hospitals to deliver and do that.
“That is the situation. 53 announced, 43 already under way, and we’re awaiting on the governments of Queensland and Western Australia as exemplars to deliver the final part.”
The governments in Queensland and WA are Labor governments.
This is the first time Mr Bowen has asked a question in question time since the election, his aborted Labor leadership campaign and his loss of the treasury portfolio.
Richard Ferguson 1.05pm: Porter refers Crown probe to ACLEI
Attorney General Christian Porter will refer allegations that Commonwealth officials fast-tracked visas for Chinese high-rollers visiting Crown properties to the Australian Commissioner for Law Enforcement Integrity.
Crossbench MPs Andrew Wilkie and Rebekha Sharkie had today called for a joint parliamentary committee to investigate Nine Entertainment Co reports about links between Crown and Chinese organised crime.
But Mr Porter said the commissioner would be the best avenue for an investigation as they had the power to take out search warrants.
“ACLEI is a very appropriate. in fact the most appropriate, body to consider the allegations. They have very significant investigative powers,” he told the House of Representatives.
“Including the ability to apply for search warrants, issue notices that contract a criminal penalty if not complied with. ACLI also has the power to hold hearings.”
Labor’s legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said the Opposition did not back a joint parliamentary committee, as the matter had been referred to ACLI.
Greens MP Adam Bandt accused both sides of providing a “protection racket” for Crown, a claim both Mr Porter and Mr Dreyfus earlier rejected.
Richard Ferguson 11.50am: US navy in $300m Darwin spend
Foreign Minister Marise Payne has confirmed the United States military is set to spend more than $300 million in Darwin on naval construction, as she prepares to sit down with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo for high-level talks.
Senator Payne will meet Secretary Pompeo twice this week. Firstly at the ASEAN summit in Bangkok, then at the AUSMIN talks in Sydney along with Defence Minister Linda Reynolds and new US Defence Secretary Mark Esper.
.@MarisePayne on US military investment in Darwin: The Force Posture Initiatives are very public and well known. It enables us to work more closely in the region, to engage on those key issues of security and stability.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) July 30, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/ykweMevBOK #amagenda pic.twitter.com/xJkNI1T01w
The meetings come a recent draft US Congressional bill revealed a total of $US211.5 million has been allocated for new “Navy Military Construction” in Darwin.
“There are significant plans under the US force posture initiative ... I signed an agreement on some of those plans with former Defence Secretary Jim Mattis myself,” Senator Payne told Sky News.
“Most importantly, this is a matter that the US are proceeding with through their budget processes and we would expect that to be the case.
“The force posture initiatives are a very public and well-known engagement between Australia and the United States.
“What it’s enable us to do is to work more closely in the region. To engage on those key issues of security and stability, to work with our neighbours in Indonesia, in Malaysia, in the Philippines.”
Senator Payne said this weekend’s AUSMIN talks were a sign of the US and Australia’s “100 years of mateship” and were key to maintaining the nation’s most important strategic relationship.
“These face-to-face meetings give us a unique chance to get into the nitty gritty of the issues that we work on together constantly,” she told Sky News.
“And it’s a great reminder, as Ambassador (Joe) Hockey tells anyone who listens, of 100 years of mateship that really reinforces and underpins the relationship”.
Richard Ferguson 9.50am: Public service numbers cut
The federal Coalition government has cut public-service numbers from a peak of 251,200 under the Gillard government in 2010-11 to 239,800 in the last financial year, the lowest level since 2006-7.
The federal government has also managed to cap its wage bill, which has risen only 2.7 per cent in the past four years.
The Labor governments in Queensland and Victoria have ramped up recruitments, adding about 40,000 new positions over the past two years, while the federal government has cut its public-service numbers back to levels not seen since the Howard government.
Federal Labor promised above-inflation pay rises for federal public servants and the reversal of “efficiency” cuts planned by the Coalition next year - before moving to a sector wide bargaining framework - during the last election.
Greg Brown 9.40am: Law Council slams ALP over terror
The Law Council of Australia has slammed Labor for proposing changes to the Morrison government’s laws that will extend the powers of security agencies allowing them to secretly question and detain terror suspects.
Law Council president Arthur Moses SC told The Australian last ight it was “not clear what the ALP hopes would be achieved” by proposing to extend the laws by three months, compared to the government’s aim of 12 months.
Labor will support the legislation - roll over the power of the nation’s spy agency to obtain warrants to question, or detain and question, people in relation to a terrorism offence - if its amendments fail to gain support in the Senate.
Mr Moses said the law, implemented in 2003 after September 11, was too onerous and should be allowed to expire on September 7.
“If it is correct that it is proposed these powers would be reviewed in three months rather than an extension of twelve months, this seems to be a difference without distinction,” Mr Moses said.
“In the event that Labor seeks to extend the powers by three months, it is not clear what the ALP hopes would be achieved by this short extension, rather than taking a principled stance on this issue now.
“Extending these powers for any period is contrary to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) and the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM).
“There is no point in having independent reviewers of the legislation unless you abide by their recommendations – they are the subject matter experts and they exist for an important reason to be a check on unwarranted powers.”
Richard Ferguson 9.35am: ‘Give public servants pay rise’
Labor’s financial services spokesman Stephen Jones has called on Scott Morrison to increase public sector pay to stimulate the economy and overall wages growth in Australia.
The HILDA survey today reveals the typical household’s income, after tax, dropped $500 to just more than $80,000 in 2017 compared with a year earlier.
Mr Jones said Australians need a pay rise and that the government should “lead by example” by boosting the wages of Commonwealth workers.
“The government has got a role to play in this. The government is a big employer in and on its own right,” he told Sky News.
“It can be leading by example.
“They can be sending very clear messages through all the levers that they can pull down on to say Australia needs a pay rise, this is what it should look like, we’re going to lead by providing it to our own workers and the rest should be following suit.”
Richard Ferguson 8.05am: Marles defends ALP terror stand
Deputy opposition leader Richard Marles has defended Labor’s push to stop a twelve month extension of powers to secretly detain and question terror suspects.
“What we’ve got here is another example of the government being surprised to find itself on the treasury benches,” he told ABC radio.
“It is important that ASIO has a modern question and detainment set-up.
“The parliamentary joint committee (on intelligence and security) and the National Security Monitor have all raised questions over whether these powers are fit for purpose anymore, if they’re out of date.
“We need the Minister to come forward with a more modern regime. The three months is an extension.”
Mr Marles would not say whether the Opposition would ultimately vote for the 12-month extension if its amendments failed, as it has with other national security legislation.
Richard Ferguson 7.45am: Setka ‘shouldn’t tar all unions’
ACTU president Michele O’Neil says all unions should not be tarred by controversial construction union boss John Setka as Scott Morrison sets to pass his union-busting bills through the House of Representatives.
“This bill is not about one person and not about one union as much as the government wants to hammer that issue,” Ms O’Neil told ABC radio.
“What the crossbenchers understand, and what I hope the Australian public understand, is that this bill will ultimately hurt ordinary workers.
“It’s like say, anything when we find anything that’s wrong with the behaviour of one company or one individual, that every company or individual should be treated the same.”
The Senate may not vote on laws to allow courts to deregister unions and union officials until September.
But key crossbencher Jacqui Lambie told Ms O’Neil last week that Mr Setka’s continued role as Victorian secretary of the CFMEU is harming the union movement and their campaign against the government’s bill.
“I understand that that’s Jacqui’s view ... 90 per cent of the union officials that would be touched this (law) are volunteers,” Ms O’Neil said this morning.
“It conflates civil and criminal matters.”
What’s making news:
Labor is set to launch its second stoush in as many weeks over national security legislation and push for changes to the Morrison government’s plans to extend the powers of security agencies allowing them to secretly question and detain terror suspects.
Scott Morrison says he will stand up to big tech companies such as Google and Facebook in his quest to stop global online child exploitation.
Barnaby Joyce, who yesterday declared he was struggling to get by on his parliamentary wage, is on a $280,000 package with taxpayer funded car and telephone.
Three former speakers of the House of Representatives — Anna Burke, Harry Jenkins and Peter Slipper — have backed an inquiry into question time and say the daily parliamentary event should be reformed.
Energy Minister Angus Taylor has narrowly avoided a Senate inquiry into his dealings with environment officials and links to a company investigated over alleged illegal land clearing.
Scott Morrison has taken aim at the “unfunded empathy of the Labor Party” as he blasted the opposition for backing an increase to Newstart without saying by how much the payment should be lifted or the cost of the overhaul.
Attorney-General Christian Porter has denied Labor and union claims its proposed workplace laws would open the way for the nurses’ union to be deregistered if members took unprotected industrial action in support of better staff ratios.
Alice Workman’s Sketch: ‘On the side of Australians’ was uttered 17 times during Question Time yesterday.
Kerr’s trashy outburst should’ve been the end of the story. Sadly, it’s not
Two women. Two court cases. Each much ado about nothing. But there is a bigger tale here about a plodding prime minister who took too long to intervene.
Trump’s Gaza gambit is brazen and naive
Donald Trump has shown the gulf between his position and Anthony Albanese’s, wedging Labor on Palestine. But his plan to ‘own’ Gaza won’t work.