PoliticsNow: Labor rekindles attacks after summer of woe
The Opposision has used the first question time of 2020 as an attempt to heap pressure on the government.
- Bandt: coal companies killing people
- ‘I won’t be bullied on climate’
- Rolling commission on vets’ suicides
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live blog on the happenings at Parliament House in Canberra. The sports rorts affair and bushfires have dominated Question Time.
The PM says he won’t “be bullied” into adopting tougher pro-climate action policies, while new Greens leader Adam Bandt stands by his accusation Scott Morrison and big business are responsible for “killing people.”
Elias Visontay 4.00pm: Labor rekindles attacks after summer of woe
Labor has used the first question time of 2020 to heap more pressure on the government over the controversial $100 million sports grants program, as it brought up its list of coalition issues that had built up over summer.
The opposition spent several questions pushing the government on whether the projects that were awarded grants were based on “merit”, with Scott Morrison saying there is scope to hand out further sports grants for projects recommended by Sports Australia.
Anthony Albanese moved a point of order condemning the Prime Minister’s handling of the sports grants scandal, accusing him of a “corrupt” cover up. The point of order failed.
“The Prime Minister has repeatedly refused to admit his failings in handling the ongoing bushfire crisis,” the Opposition Leader said.
“He has tried to cover up his failings with a series of false claims, is ignoring the damning report of the independent Auditor-General concerning his corrupt sports rorts scheme, and is instead relying on a secret report by his former chief of staff (Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Philip Gaetjens).”
Mr Morrison batted off Mr Albanese’s multiple attacks and pointedly accused him of trying to politicise the bushfire crisis.
“I can tell the House ... that the government’s response to the national bushfire emergency over this Black summer has been, Mr Speaker, unprecedented,” Mr Morrison said.
“Unprecedented with the compulsory call-out of the Defence Force reserves, which is the first time, Mr Speaker - the first time that has occurred in response to a national disaster of this kind.
“We moved quickly to establish the National Bushfire Recovery Agency and to appoint Andrew Colvin, the former head of the Australian Federal Police, which I thought those opposite supported these measures.
“But they come in here on the first question of the day, and seek to politicise the bushfire response.”
Rosie Lewis 3.59pm: Cabinet reshuffle postponed
A mini reshuffle to fill the vacancies left by former Nationals cabinet ministers Bridget McKenzie and Matt Canavan won’t be announced until Thursday at the earliest.
Nationals leader Michael McCormack’s office confirmed it would not occur on Wednesday.
That means the announcement is likely to take place 48 hours or more after Mr McCormack defeated Barnaby Joyce in a rare Nationals partyroom leadership spill.
New Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud is expected to take over as agriculture minister, which was Senator McKenzie’s role until she was forced to resign over the sports rorts scandal.
He would also keep the drought portfolio and may add water to his responsibilities.
Veterans and Defence Personnel Minister Darren Chester - a staunch McCormack ally - is set to be promoted to cabinet, amid suggestions he could keep the veterans portfolio and pick up Mr Littleproud’s former portfolios of natural disaster and emergency management.
Defence personnel could be siphoned off to a more junior minister.
Outspoken Queensland Nationals MP Keith Pitt may be catapulted into cabinet, possibly taking over Senator Canavan’s former portfolios of resources and northern Australia.
Backbenchers named as possible candidates for the outer ministry include Kevin Hogan and Susan McDonald, while Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister Andrew Gee is also a contender for a promotion.
Senator Canavan offered his resignation from cabinet on Monday when he revealed he would back Mr Joyce in the leadership spill.
Richard Ferguson 3.08pm: Sports rorts corrupt, says Albanese
Anthony Albanese is moving a point of order condemning Scott Morrison’s handling of the alleged sports rorts scandal and accusing him of a “corrupt” cover up.
“That this House notes the Prime Minister A, has repeatedly refused to admit his failings in handling the ongoing bushfire crisis,” the Opposition Leader says.
“B, has tried to cover up his failings with a series of false claims. C, is ignoring the damning report of the independent Auditor-General concerning his corrupt sports rorts scheme, and is instead relying on a secret report by his former chief of staff.
“D, refuses to give straight answers to simple questions. E, has no plan for this country, only a marketing plan for himself. And two, therefore calls on the Prime Minister to stop acting in his own interest and start acting in the national interest.”
Leader of the House Christian Porter moves to silence Mr Albanese. Since the government has the numbers in the House, they will likely be successful.
Elias Visontay 3.04pm: Protesters glued to QT
Security have had to deal with several protesters during question time this afternoon.
A group of protesters with a banner stating “I’ve seen smarter cabinets at Ikea” were removed, with security requiring several minutes to remove one of its members who had attached himself to the seating in the public gallery.
The man had glued his hand to a chair in the gallery, and his other arm to the glass.
Shortly after his removal, a man sitting in a separate section of the public gallery began shouting while Scott Morrison was speaking.
“When will you declare a climate emergency?” the man shouted.
“When will this government declare a climate emergency? … What will it take?” he said.
It comes after two climate activists were arrested on Wednesday morning for gluing themselves onto a road into Parliament House.
Protester Violet Coco said: “the inaction of our government is criminal. Protesting is an important part of democracy, I draw strength from the suffragettes. Our country is on fire, ecosystems destroyed and yet logging continues. This is an emergency and I am determined to treat it like one.”
According to the two protesters, they were charged with obstructing traffic and immediately released.
Richard Ferguson 3.00pm: Minister made sports grant decisions: PM
Manager of opposition business Tony Burke asks Scott Morrison if sports grants were handed out to programs with the “most merit” as former minister Bridget McKenzie snubbed projects awarded “90 out of 100” recommendations by Sports Australia.
The Prime Minister says he will be accepting the recommendations of the independent Auditor-General’s report - which found the grants were biased to marginal seats.
“That report articulated that the it authority to make those decisions was by the minister,” he says.
“And the Auditor-General’s report made a very important recommendation, which the government accepts, and that recommendation was recommendation 4, which deals with the issue of the application of the Commonwealth grant rules and guidelines.
“The minister made the decisions about where the projects should be supported, based on her assessment that what would be the projects of greatest support and merit in the community.”
Richard Ferguson 2.54pm: Sports grants ‘have merit’
Labor MP Pat Conroy asks Scott Morrison if all the programs funded under the controversial sports grants scheme had “merit.”
An independent Auditor-General’s report found the scheme had a “distribution bias” towards seats targeted by the Coalition in last year’s federal election.
“I believe funding community sports infrastructure always have merit,” the Prime Minister says.
Richard Ferguson 2.50pm: ‘Scope for more sports grants’
Anthony Albanese asks Scott Morrison whether he will fund all the sports programs recommended by Sports Australia for grants, not just the ones rubber-stamped by former minister Bridget McKenzie.
The Prime Minister says there is scope to hand out more sports grant.
“Funding these important infrastructure projects is and had been a priority of this government,” the Prime Minister says.
“I did say at the Press Club last week that I will be working with the Treasurer as we prepare for this year’s budget to see how we can provide further
support for, Mr Speaker, this important infrastructure that brings communities together.”
Senator McKenzie was forced to resign over the scheme, and her failure to declare her membership of a club she gave a $36,000 grant.
Richard Ferguson 2.46pm: Nationals leadership question ruled out
Labor agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon asks deputy prime minister Michael McCormack why the Nationals held a leadership spill while the parliament was supposed to focus on the bushfires.
Speaker Tony Smith rules the question out of order as it is not pertaining to Mr McCormack’s ministerial responsibilities.
Richard Ferguson 2.42pm: Two Aussies on Japan cruise have coronavirus
Health Minister Greg Hunt confirms two Australians have been diagnosed with coronavirus on a cruise ship off the coast of Japan, and says they have been promised medical assistance.
“The latest update, I have had, shortly before coming into Question Time is that the global figures are 24,531 people confirmed with coronavirus and, sadly, 492 have been confirmed as having lost their life to the illness or complications arising thereof,” he says.
“I have also just been informed that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had been able to confirm that there are two Australians with the coronavirus on a cruise ship in Japan.
“They will be prided medical assistance and I’m advised will be given passage to an appropriate medical facility in Japan and we thank the Japanese government for that.”
Richard Ferguson 2.36pm: Opposition ‘seeking to politicise fires’
Labor deputy leader Richard Marles asks Scott Morrison why his staff met with marketing guru Russel Howcroft during the bushfire crisis, and we he didn’t meet with former fire chiefs who requested a meeting over the upcoming bushfire season.
The Prime Minister says he was not at the meeting with Howcroft and says he did not meet with former fire chiefs “because I meet with current fire chiefs.”
“The current fire chiefs provided the advice, going into this fire season, which was the same fire advice that was provided by Emergency Management Australia when I asked Emergency Management Australia tot come and brief cabinet, well before the fire season,” he says.
“(That meeting) to ensure that we were compliant and that we were taking action to ensure the Commonwealth’s position was in the best position it could be to support state authorities as they moved through the fire season.
“Those opposite in their questions today are betraying a willingness to seek to politicise this disaster and it is very disappointing.”
Richard Ferguson 2.32pm: Bushfire funding addressed: Morrison
Labor MP Fiona Phillips asks Scott Morrison why Scott Morrison “ignored” fire chiefs’ requests for a permanent boost to their aerial firefighting capability.
The Prime Minister says he did boost funding and more funding will be addressed in the May budget.
“What the government has done is respond to that, with two separate tranches of funding, which matched what they originally asked for,” he says.
“I dealt with this matter during the course of the bushfire season, but in addition to those two funding allocations of $11 million, on top of that we announced a further $20 million.
“That was over and above the $15 million that was being provided each and every year as part of the arrangement that we had.
“I also noted that the ongoing funding, which was being sought, would be addressed in this year’s budget.”
Richard Ferguson 2.29pm: Steggall questions PM on carbon emissions
Independent MP for Zali Steggall asks Scott Morrison if he will sign up to a bipartisan plan to ramp up Australia’s policy on reducing carbon emissions.
The Prime Minister says his government is tackling climate change.
“We have a reduction target we took to the Australian people out to 2030 that will see emissions per capita fall by half. We are ahead of countries like New Zealand, ahead of countries like Canada in meeting and beating our targets,” he says.
“We have to broaden the conversation about climate. It must deal with resilience. It must deal with adaptation, and it must deal with emissions reduction.
“But this government will not tax people more to get emissions reductions down. We won’t put their electricity prices up to get emissions reduction down. And we will not wipe out industries to get emissions down.”
Richard Ferguson 2.20pm: Liberal Party ad in focus
Anthony Albanese again asks if it was correct to put out the Liberal Party ad on the bushfires, instead of by the government.
The Prime Minister says the Opposition Leader’s characterisation of the ad is “simply false” and a “misrepresentation”.
“I have followed the practice in communicating with the Australian people,” he says.
“To the Labor Party, who characterise it in the way they have is simply false and a misrepresentation by a Labor Party leader who wants to politicise the bushfires.”
We’re putting more Defence Force boots on the ground, more planes in the sky, more ships to sea, and more trucks to roll in to support the bushfire fighting effort and recovery as part of our co-ordinated response to these terrible #bushfires pic.twitter.com/UiOeYB2jnv
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) January 4, 2020
Richard Fergusonn 2.06pm: Albanese opens QT on bushfire crisis
Anthony Albanese opens the first Question Time of the 2020s by asking why Scott Morrison “rejected” his calls for COAG to meet early over the 2019-20 bushfire crisis.
The Prime Minister says he does not agree with the Opposition Leader’s characterisation of his approach and accuses Labor of trying to politicise the bushfires.
“I can tell the House ... that the government’s response to the national bushfire emergency over this Black summer has been, Mr Speaker, unprecedented,” Mr Morrison says.
“Unprecedented with the compulsory call-out of the Defence Force reserves, which is the first time, Mr Speaker - the first time that has occurred in response to a national disaster of this kind.
“We moved quickly to establish the National Bushfire Recovery Agency and to appoint
Andrew Colvin, the former head of the Australian Federal Police, which I thought those opposite supported these measures.
“But they come in here on the first question of the day, and seek to politicise the bushfire response.”
OLIVIA CAISLEY 12.25pm: PM’s ‘towards-zero’ policy on suicide
Scott Morrison has established a veteran suicide commission to investigate all suspected suicides among Defence personnel and veterans, claiming the new inquiry will be “bigger and better” than a royal commission. The national commissioner, who is yet to be appointed, will investigate the deaths of more than 400 Defence personnel since 2001, with an interim report expected to be handed down within 12 months.
The permanent role requires new legislation, but an interim chief will work out of the prime minister’s department immediately. The Prime Minister said on Wednesday the inquiry would be able to keep evidence private, unlike a royal commission.
“I think we’ve come up with a much better way that brings everybody together,” he said.
The decision comes after Labor leader Anthony Albanese backed calls for a commission.
“Too many Australians take their own lives and one Australian who takes their own life is too many,” Mr Morrison said. “This is one of our government’s most important focuses. A towards-zero policy on suicide.” Also announced at a press conference in Canberra was a families advocate within the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to help the family members of those affected by suicide.
“Our veterans’ policies focus, rightly, on our veterans, but we’ve got to remember the families too and we’ve got to hold their hands too, when they’re dealing with these issues,” Mr Morrison said. “I’ve heard much about their frustrations and I think the advocate position will be very important in supporting them as they deal in so many ways, with the impacts of these issues and how it falls to them.”
Elias Visontay 12.10pm: Albanese on sports grants inquiry
Labor will establish a new senate inquiry into the controversial $100 million sports grants program, and will ask the auditor general and even staff of Bridget Mackenzie to appear.
Opposition sports spokesman Don Farrell said he had crossbench support in the senate for the inquiry, with Queensland Senator Anthony Chisholm to chair the committee and Victorian Greens Senator Janet Rice to be its deputy chair, to deliver a report on the program by March 24. A senate motion to be moved by Labor states the inquiry will examine “the role of the offices of the Minister, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, and any external parties, in determining which grants would be awarded and who would announce the successful grants”.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Farrell said he “spoke to all the crossbenchers on Sunday night after the decision of Bridget McKenzie to resign. And all of them have reiterated their support for this inquiry.”
“The inquiry simply doesn’t end because Birdget McKenzie resigns. There’s a whole lot of unanswered questions here.”
Anthony Albanese insisted the resignation of Senator McKenzie from Cabinet wasn’t enough to allow the government to “draw a line under the issue” plaguing it. The Opposition Leader called the grants saga “a complete rort” and a “scandal of national proportions”, and said Labor would also seek to secure funding for applicants who were unsuccessful during the grant program.
The announcement comes after reports Mr Albanese vowed to pursue the government over the scandal during Labor’s first caucus meeting of 2020 on Tuesday.
“You don’t get to say that you’re drawing a line under an issue just because you say it’s over.” Mr Albanese said.
“This was a match that was fixed from the beginning. Match fixing that went to not just Bridget McKenzie, who has been thrown under the bus. They had the Prime Minister’s Office staff sitting in Bridget McKenzie’s office. They had emails that clearly link the Prime Minister’s Office to the decisions asking that grants be given to clubs that didn’t get as high a score as those clubs which received (funding).” he said.
12pm: Big day in the US
With his anticipated acquittal in his impeachment trial a day away, Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver his annual State of the Union address on Wednesday at 1pm (AEDT), striking an optimistic tone and touting the strong US economy nine months before election day. You can watch and follow the speech live here.
After a 24-hour delay because of a catastrophic failure in the Democrat’s vote counting system in Iowa, 62 per-cent of the vote has been released. Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is the surprise leader of the critical Iowa Democratic president caucus with 26.9 per cent, just ahead of Bernie Sanders on 25.1 per cent. Elizabeth Warren sits in third with 18.3 per cent of the vote with former Vice President Joe Biden on 15.6 per cent. If the trends hold, the result is a major boost for the campaign of the 38-year-old Buttigieg and a blow for the hopes of the one-time frontrunner Mr Biden. Read more about the Iowa caucus here.
Richard Ferguson 11.40am: PM on Chinese students
Scott Morrison says it has been “regrettable” that international students have been stranded or put in detention following the coronavirus-sparked ban on people leaving from or travelling through Mainland China entering Australia. The Prime Minister defended the ban and the treatment of students, saying it was an “inconvenience” that was necessary to protect Australians’ health. “There’s a global virus and we’re seeking to contain the virus and, unfortunately, there will be instances where there will be inconveniences for those who would have been in transit and travelling,” he said in Canberra.
“That’s regrettable but you have to put Australia’s national interests first. One of the things that the Education Minister (Dan Tehan) has been doing — and he had a major round table with the universities the day before yesterday and they’re working again on it today — was what measures could be put in place to support students who would be coming this year.” Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak is available here.
11.30am: Today’s Johannes Leak cartoon
Richard Ferguson 11.15am: PM on 2050 climate target
Scott Morrison has refused to endorse British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s calls for countries to commit to carbon neutrality by 2050. “The 2050 request that we undertook to look at in our commitment through the PIF (Pacific Islands Forum) process and that’s what I intend to do,” the Prime Minister said in Canberra. “What I (have) said was that I would never make a commitment like that if I couldn’t tell the Australian people what it would cost them.”
Mr Morrison is under pressure from Liberal MPs in more affluent areas to ramp up his policies on climate change. Mr Johnson, who made climate action a key plank of his election campaign last year, has promised to personally lead upcoming UN climate talks and help support China tackle environmental issues, as he seeks to re-establish the UK as a global force post-Brexit.
10.30am: Widodo to address Parliament
Indonesian president Joko Widodo is set to address federal parliament next week. The Indonesian leader will make a speech in the House of Representatives next Monday.
Trade is the main game of Mr Widodo’s visit, as the Indonesian parliament is yet to finalise the trade agreement with Australia. The underpinning legislation passed the Australian parliament at the end of last year, not long after Scott Morrison visited Indonesia. Mr Morrison said at the time he and his ministers were working through how to encourage greater Australian investment in Indonesia. The Indonesian deal was inked by Trade Minister Simon Birmingham in March last year after years of negotiation. Mr Widodo last visited Australia in 2017 when Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister. — AAP
Peter Van Onselen 10am: Why sports rorts pressure can’t let up
The most galling part about the sports rorts saga is the fact the government hopes it will just fade from view, without any action to fix the pork barrelling, writes The Australian’s contributing editor, Peter Van Onselen. Such thumbing of one’s nose at our checks and balances in the political system represents the worst the Canberra bubble can throw up. Read PVO’s opinion article here.
Elias Visontay 9am: Khalil welcomes suicide inquiry
Labor MP Peter Khalil has welcomed the announcement of a commissioner to look into the suicide crisis among Australian Defence Force veterans, but called for it to include intelligence and non-combat defence personnel returning from conflict zones. Mr Khalil, who worked as a defence official in Iraq, said the commissioner should have the powers of a royal commission, and that “the devil is going to be in the detail” of the legislation.
“It’s a horrible scourge on the veterans community and the families for those who put their lives on the line serving our country,” Mr Khalil told Sky News. “Obviously if they’re going to establish a commissioner there will need to be legislation so we want to have a look at that detail to make sure they have those powers (of a royal commission). We need to make sure that we get this right and this is the chance to do it.
“I was in Iraq for a year and I saw firsthand...I came out and I got an army psych evaluation at the end of that even though I was a defence official. I think once this is established it would be good to see if the services and the work could be expanded to include intelligence officials, defence officials, DFAT officials who are also working on the front line and experiencing some of the more extreme experiences that you get in conflict zones and warzones. It’s an additional thing that might come down the line.” Mr Khalil said.
Richard Ferguson 8.45am: Albanese backs suicide inquiry
Anthony Albanese will back Scott Morrison’s moves to set up a commissioner tackling the suicide crisis among Australian Defence Force veterans.
“There have been too many suicides of veterans, a loss of life, of people who have served their country,” the Labor leader said in Canberra.
“Quite clearly - we need a thorough investigation and the announcement that this will
occur with the powers of a royal commission is one that, on face-value, Labor supports.”
Elias Visontay 8.05am: Littleproud reaffirms coal belief
New Nationals Deputy Leader David Littleproud has reaffirmed his view that Australia must rely on coal power as part of its energy mix.
A day after he became deputy leader and ahead of the new government ministry being unveiled where he is expected to become Agriculture Minister, Mr Littleproud said Australia is “taking real action” on emissions reductions and that “it’s not just Australia that has to act”.
“Instead of beating ourselves up… we’re one of the few nations that actually met Kyoto, we’re the ones with some credibility in this.” Mr Littleproud told ABC Radio National.
“We’re taking the action that we will make a real impact from our perspective as a global citizen.
“We have to act as a globe and we need other nations to come with us and we can only do that by leading by example.”
Asked how he reconciled that with his support for coal fired power stations, Mr Littleproud said it was important to “create an environment in the marketplace that lets the mix of renewables and coal fired power stations.”
“We’ve still got to have baseload, this is the thing. We don’t have battery storage to the capacity that we need to be able to keep the lights on.”
“This is why we have to be calm, methodical and practical.” he said.
Richard Ferguson 7.55am: Bandt stands by ‘big business killing people’
New Greens leader Adam Bandt has stood by his accusations that Scott Morrison and big business are responsible for “killing people.”
After replacing Richard Di Natale on Tuesday, Mr Bandt said the Prime Minister’s climate change approach would lead to “three times as many deaths” as the 2019-20 bushfires.
On Wednesday, the Greens leader said he was “just stating the science.”
“My point is that Scott Morrison, when he says that we are on track to meet our emissions targets, we are on track for more than three times as much warming as we’ve witnessed so far,” he told ABC News.
“And that means more than three times as much devastation. And I will be holding him to account for those climate failures.”
New Greens Leader @AdamBandt yesterday said the Government's approach to climate change will lead to more deaths, and he accused coal companies of "killing people".
— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) February 4, 2020
Today he stood by those comments: "It's just stating the science."#auspol pic.twitter.com/xWEw276Mec
Business groups have blasted Mr Bandt’s further claims that “big business is killing people” but on Wednesday, he said he was only talking about a “small minority” of coal companies.
“What we’ve seen with the coal companies is a replaying of what we saw with tobacco and asbestos,” he said.
“We’re seeing that a lot of the companies knew for decades and had internal research that said if they kept on going with business as usual we were going to end up heating the planet and potentially seeing the kind of fire seasons we are at the moment.”
Richard Ferguson 7.45am: ‘I won’t be bullied on climate’
Scott Morrison says he will not “be bullied” into adopting tougher pro-climate action policies, as his own Liberal MPs raise fears they could lose affluent, inner-city seats without a new approach.
The “climate wars” broke out in the first Coalition party room meeting of the year yesterday, with Liberals Katie Allen, Fiona Martin, Tim Wilson and Trent Zimmerman saying the Coalition would lose city seats if they did not take climate change seriously.
“Hazard reduction is as important, if not more than, emissions reduction.†@ScottMorrisonMP on the sports grant saga and Nationals leadership spill taking focus from the bushfire crisis on the first day back for parliament. #9Today pic.twitter.com/ZyP3waJ5Fk
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) February 4, 2020
The Prime Minister on Wednesday said he would not just listen to “the inner-city” and would not adopt any climate policies that involved new taxes or punishing industry.
“We listen to Australians right across the country. Not just in the inner-city but the far flung parts of remote Australia, of our bush and regional communities,” he told the Nine Network.
“And it’s important to listen to everybody to take people forward on practical balanced actions that doesn’t write people’s industries off and put taxes on people,” he told the Nine Network.
“Action on climate change does not mean taxing people. It is about technology, not taxation. We won’t be bullied into higher taxes and electricity prices.
“What we do is take practical action that deals with those challenges. That challenge is living in a hotter and drier summer. I will focus on the stuff that works and stuff that reduces risk.”
Nationals members meanwhile argued against overly ambitious action because of the bushfires in Tuesday’s joint party room meeting.
Barnaby Joyce said people were using the bushfires and drought to push their “hobby horse issues”, including action on climate change. Nationals senator Matt Canavan, who quit as resources minister on Monday night, said the Coalition should retain its electoral advantage by standing up for jobs in traditional industries.
Elias Visontay 7.40am: McCormack: spill was necessary
Michael McCormack has hit out at speculation his leadership of the National Party could still be in question following Barnaby Joyce’s challenge, saying Tuesday’s spill was “necessary” for the party, and that it now needs “to draw a line under it and move on”.
The Deputy Prime Minister also criticised his Nationals colleagues who spoke to media outlets with anonymity in the lead up to the spill, calling on them to put their name to quotes they give in the future.
“I’ve never concentrated on the leadership speculation that has so fascinated some sections of the media and indeed I appreciate that yesterday was probably necessary to take place.” Mr McCormack told Sky News.
“It’s taken place, Barnaby has pledged his loyalty, he’s said he won’t rechallenge, we now need to draw a line under it and move on.”
Asked if he believed Mr Joyce, Mr McCormack said “Yep. Absolutely. I take people, particularly country people, I take them on their word. You have to.”
On his leadership of the Nationals Party, Mr McCormack said “none of us are perfect”.
“Of course as a politician and as a leader I’m not perfect, we’re all flawed...We can all take learnings from these sorts of experiences and I will.”
Mr McCormack also refused to rule out appointing Mr Joyce to a senior position following the resignation of Matt Canavan, saying “I haven’t decided who is going to be in the ministry...I’m considering all of those,”, referring to Mr Joyce and Bridget McKenzie, who resigned as agriculture minister on Sunday.
Richard Ferguson 7.30am: Inquiry into veteran suicides
Scott Morrison has announced a permanent, rolling commission into the scourge of suicide among Australia’s defence force veterans.
A new National Commissioner for Defence and Suicide Prevention will have all the powers of a royal commission and will become a part of the infrastructure that is building up to support veterans.
More than 400 defence personnel have died of suicide since 2001.
The Prime Minister on Monday said the commission would be set up in such a way as to ensure it does not trigger veterans with PTSD and other mental health issues.
“The first task of this Commissioner will be to look at a whole series of cases in the past to ensure that we are getting the lessons from those,” he told the Nine Network.
“It is bigger and better than a Royal Commission. We can’t look back, we have to look forward.
“The other thing that I learnt talking to these families they need help and support going
through this. We must think of the families as well.”
"It'll be very swift, this will be done by the end of August"
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) February 4, 2020
Prime Minister @ScottMorrisonMP on the just-announced Royal Commission into the deadly "black summer" of bushfires.
Full interview: https://t.co/r89OqEVN5O pic.twitter.com/IR5uhRQO9p
Adeshola Ore 7.20am: ‘Let’s move on’
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has vowed the Nationals Party will unite after yesterday’s leadership challenge.
“Barnaby has said that he will not rechallenge. Let’s move on, we will unite as a party and do what we’re sent to do,” he told Sunrise on Wednesday.
Mr McCormack said he was committed to building more dams and would increase the dam wall for Forbes in NSW.
What’s making news:
Nationals leader Michael McCormack is being warned he could face another challenge before the election if he doesn’t improve his performance, as new deputy David Littleproud opens the way for Bridget McKenzie, Matt Canavan and Barnaby Joyce to return to the frontbench one day.
New Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud has acknowledged that he has ambitions for the party’s top job and called on all his colleagues to be clearer in delivering the key messages in regional Australia.
Anthony Albanese has lashed Adam Bandt for “engaging in abuse” after the new Greens leader claimed Scott Morrison’s climate change agenda would lead to “three times as many deaths” as the 2019-20 bushfire crisis.
The “climate wars” have broken out in the first Coalition party room meeting of the year, with Liberal National MP Andrew Laming taking aim at colleagues who publicly question the science behind global warming.
Scott Morrison has praised the resilience, courage and sacrifice of those caught up in the bushfire crisis, which he labelled the “black summer”.
Kristina Keneally’s attacks on the use of temporary visa holders have sparked accusations of her being a “foghorn for the unions” who have “long detested the working holiday-maker program”.
Alice Workman’s Sketch: The question on everyone’s lips: was the final Nats leadership vote ‘a hit, a very palpable 11 to 10 hit’ or ‘just a 15 to 6 flesh wound’?
Dennis Shanahan writes: Michael McCormack has been warned: he must look sharp or rural Australia will be asking why he’s there.
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