Australian Politics Live: ‘Labor don’t like coal’
Labor’s Mark Butler questions about the seven coal power plants that have closed under the Coalition government.
Australian Politics Live: Same-sex marriage and energy dominated the agenda today as both the Coalition and Labor blamed each other for escalating power prices. See how the day in Canberra played out below.
Key developments:
• SSM backers are demanding a crackdown on ‘hate speech’
• Labor MP Nick Champion says the ‘match of renewables is inevitable’
• Derryn Hinch says media reform is desperately needed
Greg Brown 3.10pm: ‘Labor don’t like coal’
Labor’s Mark Butler questions about the seven coal power plants that have closed under the Coalition government.
“After seven coal-fired power station closures, why has the Prime Minister only discovered energy supply is a problem now?”
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg says it is Labor that don’t like coal.
“He has some hide because he comes from a party that supported the following motion in the parliament, in the Senate, on 22 March this year: ‘Coal is in structural decline and has no long-term future in Australia’. That is the words of the Labor opposition,” he says.
Rachel Baxendale 3.05pm: ‘Shiftier than George Costanza’
Social Services Minister Christian Porter gives US sitcom Seinfeld a guernsey, suggesting Labor applies the “Costanza method” in determining its policy positions.
“In the famous Seinfeld episode, the notoriously shifty George Costanza decides the best way to make decisions is to do the precise opposite of what you think to do first,” Porter says.
“When you apply that method to the Leader of the Opposition, it is uncannily accurate.
“Tax cuts to decrease welfare dependency: first the Leader of the Opposition says, ‘Friends, corporate tax cut reforms create jobs up and down the ladder, including people who might be on welfare’.
“He now says the same tax cuts are crazy plan.”
Porter suggests Shorten has similarly applied the “Costanza method” to NDIS funding, a plebiscite on same-sex marriage and the cashless welfare card.
“The Leader of the Opposition is shiftier than George Costanza,” he says.
Rachel Baxendale 3pm: PM’s past comes back to haunt him
Labor go crazy, yelling “those were the days” as Tanya Plibersek digs up an old Malcolm Turnbull quote.
“The Prime Minister used to say, ‘I will not lead a party that is not as committed to effective action on climate change as I am.’,” Plibersek says.
“Has the Prime Minister forgotten that when Labor was in government, not only did he support the policies he just ridiculed, he crossed the floor to vote for them?”
Labor Member for Wakefield Nick Champion and Member for Bruce Julian Hill both get kicked out under 94A.
Turnbull says the government recognises that energy policy has failed Australians over a very long time.
“The difference between our side of the House and Labor’s is that we recognise that failure and we’re getting on with sorting out the problems we inherited,” he says.
Greg Brown 2.55pm: ‘Torn on citizenship’
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton uses a question from a government backbencher to talk up the government’s move to tighten citizenhsip requirements.
“The Greens have moved a motion to wipe off this citizenship bill from the notice paper and it has only been supported, you wouldn’t believe it, not by Nick Xenophon, not by Cory Bernardi, not by Pauline Hanson, not by anybody else except for the Labor Party,” Dutton says.
“The Labor Party don’t want this debate because they are torn internally in relation to it. You know they are in a battle in seats in inner cities around the country where they’re desperate to stave off the attacks from the Greens.”
Greg Brown 2.50pm: Union attack
Leader of the House Chris Pyne uses a Dixer to attack Bill Shorten on his union past.
Labor members chose to remind him about Australian Building and Construction Commissioner Nigel Hadgkiss, who resigned today after admitting contravening the Fair Work Act.
“I hear the members of the Labor Party cat calling about the head of the ABCC but I didn’t hear them say John Setka should be sacked for the terrible things he did. So they stand up for John Setka while they criticise Nigel Hadgkiss,” Pyne says.
“It sums up the modern Labor Party. They want John Setka to have a place in the cabinet table, one of the worst people in the union movement, and they criticise former public servants.”
Greg Brown 2.45pm: A clean break?
Labor’s Mark Butler quotes Malcolm Turnbull saying the clean energy target was a good idea.
“The Prime Minister described the clean energy target this way, ‘it would certainly work. There is no question it would work and it has a number of virtues, very strong virtues and again it has a lot of merit. We will look at it very favourably’,” Butler says.
“Will there be a clean energy target? Yes or no?”
Malcolm Turnbull says the government was considering it.
“What we need to achieve in our policy is to ensure energy becomes more affordable, that it becomes more reliable and that we meet our emissions reduction obligations,” Turnbull says.
“We have seen that there is a major problem in ensuring reliability. We have seen a big loss in dispatchable power following the closure of Hazelwood and have foreshadowed another big loss from the closure of Liddell were it to go ahead in 2022.”
Rachel Baxendale 2.45pm: ‘Blackout Bill’ shock
Labor Leader in the House Tony Burke objects to Malcolm Turnbull calling Bill Shorten “Blackout Bill”.
“If we are going to descend the place into name calling, it is not going to reflect well on anyone in the chamber, including those who engage in it,” Burke tells Speaker Tony Smith.
Smith says he did indeed ask the Prime Minister to withdraw such language on Monday, as well as asking Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg to sit down for not referring to people by their correct titles.
However, Smith says he’s not in a position as Speaker to rule out language when there is not a breach of the standing order with respect to addressing members by their correct titles, so the PM goes without a reprimand this time.
Greg Brown 2.35pm: Paper trail
Opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler says there is proof Sydney power bills have increased by $1000 since 2013, despite the government saying there isn’t.
“That figure is based on data from the government’s own Australian Energy Regulator and the Australian Energy Market Commission reported in The Australian newspaper. Why is the Prime Minister refusing to admit that power prices have never been higher than they have been under this government?”
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg looks frantically through his notes before taking the question.
He attacks Butler, the Member for Port Adelaide, about Labor policy both federally and in South Australia.
“It takes some kind of genius that the Member for Port Adelaide must be to describe the energy policy in South Australia as a hiccup,” he says.
“He described it as a hiccup. This is a policy which has led to more than half a billion dollars in expenses in South Australia when they had a statewide blackout.”
Butler attempts to table the article in The Australian which he says shows Sydney power prices have increased by $1000.
This is denied because it is in the public domain.
Rachel Baxendale 2.30pm: Water torture
It’s Nick Xenophon Team MP Rebekha Sharkie’s turn to ask today’s crossbench question.
She asks Barnaby Joyce about a damning report on handed down on Monday by former National Water Commission chief Ken Matthews who was appointed by the NSW government to investigate claims of water theft and rorting by irrigation farmers and concluded the current system of water licencing and enforcement in NSW was inadequate, ineffective and lacked transparency.
“Do you now agree with we need an urgent inquiry into the implementation of the $13 million Murray-Darling Basin Plan?” Sharkie asks.
Mr Joyce notes that Matthews’ investigation was set up by the Coalition in NSW.
“On top of that, of course, we have had the independent inquiry by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, which is currently under way, and we also have an auditor’s inquiry as well as a Senate inquiry. ICAC is well and truly capable of sending people to jail, as we have seen with a couple of members who were formerly in the New South Wales Labor Party now residing at Her Majesty’s pleasure,” he says.
Joyce also notes that the allegations “remain allegations” and calls for care in differentiating between “allegations and proof”.
Greg Brown 2.25pm: ‘A made-up figure’
Labor MP Julie Owens asks the government to confirm Sydney power bills have increased by $1000 since the Coalition won office.
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg accuses her of making the figure up.
“There is absolutely no evidence for that,” Frydenberg says.
“Under the Labor Party, electricity and prices increased by more than 100 per cent.
“On the Prime Minister’s watch, what we have seen is an attempt to cross a whole range of areas to put downward pressure on prices. The spot price for gas has come down significantly from the beginning of this year.”
Greg Brown 2.20pm: Star attraction
The House is informed Olivia Newton-John is in the public gallery.
Speaker Tony Smith described her as a prominent Carlton supporter, leading one Labor MP to yell: “That’s AFL, Malcolm”.
Greg Brown 2.15pm: PM’s power admission
Bill Shorten asks the same question, hoping repetition will prove effective.
“How much of power bills for Australia has gone up since the Liberals formed government in 2013?”
Malcolm Turnbull admits power prices have gone up since the Coalition won power, much to the delight of opposition MPs.
“They came down significantly when the Coalition came into government and the carbon tax was abolished, Turnbull says.
“We have seen them going up again recently. The reason they’ve been going up is because of the impact of decisions taken by the Labor Party.
“They can wave their arms around and shout as much as they like but it was the Labor Party that allowed gas to be exported without any protection for the domestic market.”
2.15pm: Abbott’s fire mission
Tony Abbott has left Canberra for the day to fight a fire burning near his Sydney northern beaches electorate of Warringah. Read more here
Greg Brown 2.08pm: Opening shot on energy
Bill Shorten opens up question time with energy.
“On Monday, the Prime Minister was asked if power prices were higher or lower since this government came to office and refused to answer. On Tuesday, the Prime Minister was asked about the average Sydney household paying $1000 more since this government came to power and refused to answer. So, Prime Minister, just answer: How much have power bills increased since the Liberals came to office?”
Malcolm Turnbull lays the blame on Labor for any increases in power.
“The one thing we do know is that they doubled under the previous Labor government. The one thing we do know is that they have increased substantially in very recent times because of the increase in the price of gas,” Turnbull says.
“We know that that was because of a shortage in gas on the east coast. Because of a policy failure by the Labor Party to which the Member for Port Adelaide has, albeit belatedly, confessed.”
Greg Brown 1.45pm: ‘No’ lobby’s threat to Shorten
Advocates opposed to gay marriage have flagged an all-out campaign against Bill Shorten in the next federal election if the No vote prevails in the postal survey.
Australian Christian Lobby managing director Lyle Shelton said Labor candidates would be targeted due to their promise to legalise same-sex marriage in the first 100 days of a Shorten government.
Mr Shelton is a spokesman for the Coalition for Marriage, the peak lobby pushing the No campaign
He said the Labor Party, same-sex marriage and Safe Schools were a “package deal”.
“We’re under no illusions in the Coalition for Marriage that if we win and if we are successful come November 15 at 11:30am, that our fight is not over,” Mr Shelton told the National Press Club in Canberra.
“Bill Shorten and the Labor Party have made their view very clear, they will proceed regardless of the will of the people. Now, if they win an election, I accept that they will have a mandate, if the people then vote through a democratic process knowing that’s their policy.
“Knowing that’s the approach that Labor will take at the next election, we’re going to be campaigning very heavily against any candidate that doesn’t support upholding the definition of marriage and preserving our freedoms and the rights of parents to not have their children exposed to radical LGBTQI sex education.”
Mr Shelton said he supported legislation tabled in the parliament today which would regulate campaign material and ban vilification.
He said he had no concern that his conduct ever crossed this line.
“I’m not worried about needs so-called safeguard laws that are being introduced into the parliament today,” Mr Shelton said.
“But we’re not the ones who have sent white powder to peoples offices and shut down the Canberra mail centre. Some of my staff are here today who have had to endure death threats on a reasonably regular basis to the telephone, our office has been bombed.
“We have had all sorts of vitriol, we have been called homophobes and bigots, the vilification hasn’t stopped.”
Ewin Hannan 1.35pm: ABCC chief quits
Australian Building and Construction Commission chief Nigel Hadgkiss has quit after admitting contravening the Fair Work Act. Read more here
Rachel Baxendale 1.30pm: Counselling need amid SSM debate
Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek says Bill Shorten has written to Malcolm Turnbull asking for further funding and support for counselling services because organisations such as Beyond Blue have experienced significant increases in call volumes in the lead-up to the same-sex marriage postal survey.
“We have heard that counselling services like Beyond Blue have experienced a 40 per cent increase in call volumes,” Ms Plibersek told Sky News.
“Counselling services that do support gay and lesbian people in particular have also seen very large increases in call volume, they’ve had to put on extra counsellors and so on, so we think given the government has brought on this debate and that it is so distressing and hurtful for so many people, that they are making more use of these counselling services that those resources should be increased.”
Ms Plibersek defended the anti-vilification safeguards passed by both major parties in the Senate this morning, saying they did not only relate to sexuality and gender, but also to religion.
“So you can’t vilify someone for their religious beliefs, and it also means that some of the more offensive material we’ve seen should be authorised in the way that other material is during election campaigns and so on,” she said.
Ewin Hannan 1.25pm: CFMEU faces $2.25m penalties
The CFMEU is facing massive penalties for unlawful conduct and four officials, including NSW secretary, Brian Parker, have been referred to the DPP after a scathing Federal Court judgment. Read more here
Greg Brown 1.15pm: Warning for kids under SSM
Liberal Party vice president Karina Okotel says legalising same-sex marriage would sanction an institution that denies the rights of children.
Ms Okotel said the Yes campaign only talked about the equality of adults and left the rights of children out of the conversation.
“What the Yes Campaign is really about is asking the state to sanction the creation of an institution that by design will contain children who may never know or have relationships with their biological parents as their family,” Ms Okotel told the National Press Club in Canberra.
Ms Okotel, a Melbourne lawyer and a key figure in the No campaign, said she did not like being called a homophobe or a bigot but she would continue to fight against gay marriage.
“I stand here because I do fight for justice and equality and I do so for those whose voices have been left out of this debate, the most vulnerable children,” Ms Okotel said.
“In legalising same-sex marriage, we are telling children that they must not feel any yearning or incompleteness in not knowing having a relationship with or being parented by the person from whom they received half of their genes.”
She said she was often asked how she would feel if her child was gay, declaring she would love them unconditionally.
“The questions, though, I do not hear being asked are, ‘would you be happy for your grandchild to deliberately never know their biological parent? What type of society do we want we want them to grow up in? What do you want them to learn in school?’” Ms Okotel said.
“If same-sex marriage becomes lawful, children will be taught about this in schools. They will be taught about gender fluidity and sexual subjects.
“Surely children have the right not to be confused by adult agendas, and in legalising same-sex marriage we would inevitably lose the freedoms to call this out because it would be viewed as discriminatory to do so.”
John Lyons 1pm: Three months to decide PM’s future
We’ll know by Christmas whether Malcolm Turnbull’s Prime Ministership is salvageable or whether he’s a Dead Man Walking. Read here
Rachel Baxendale 12.30pm: Bernardi goes on the attack
Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi has dubbed the same-sex marriage safeguard bill which passed the Senate this morning “18C on steroids”.
Senator Bernardi warned that the law, which passed with the support of the government, Labor and the Greens, will be open to legal challenge.
“Basically they are a form of tribunal that is completely at the behest of the Attorney-General, and so he acts as the gatekeeper to the offence chamber and I can’t think of one other instance, and the minister wasn’t able to provide me with an instance, where someone’s access to justice or to the court system is first vetted by the Attorney-General outside of government agencies,” Senator Bernardi told Sky News.
“I think of course it’s open to legal challenge. What could happen and the scenario I would envisage is the Attorney-General, who will block a complaint being made under this act, then the pro bono legal firms who are all on the side of changing the marriage act will then lodge injunctions and that will prevent these things from being heard in the court or anywhere else until the duration of this campaign is gone.
“I think it’s ill-conceived, I think it’s unprecedented ... and it’s only the tip of the iceberg with some of the things that could go on over this.”
Greg Brown 12.25pm: Clean energy, plus coal
Barnaby Joyce says he would support a variation of the clean energy target as long as it allowed coal-fired power plants to stay open.
Mr Joyce would not say the minimum baseload power requirement would be needed to keep coal in the energy system. He said Australia would still met its international emissions targets set in the Paris Agreement.
“In light of the recent information we are getting from AEMO we will diligently go through that process,” Mr Joyce said this morning.
“We are not going to go out and announce a number here but I tell you what it will do, it will keep baseload coal-fired power going because the Labor Party has no intention of doing that, they are walking both sides of the fence.”
Mr Joyce said a decision would be made on the Coalition’s version of a clean energy target by the end of the year.
“What we are doing right now is making sure that we get all that information and as we head towards the end of the year we can make a diligent plan that makes sure we keep coal fired power going,” he said.
“We have more information, it’s recently arrived with the AEMO report, we are going to make sure we keep power affordable and reliable, look after the Australian people, look after those who are doing it tough.”
Scott Morrison said people were getting “ahead of themselves” with speculation the Coalition had decided to change the clean energy target recommended in the Finkel report.
“I think all of that speculation and commentary is just hyperventilating frankly,” Mr Morrison said.
“We are working very, very hard to deliver an investment program that will deliver the certainty that is necessary, that encompasses an all-of-the-above approach when it comes to the resources that are required to drive our energy sector.
“We don’t rule out coal, like the Labor Party does. We do embrace renewables. We are able to work right across the spectrum and we are not going to provide any of these, or place any of these, ideological bans on how you arrive at an investment framework that is durable.”
Many will vote Yes just to end this inane debate. Make. It. Stop.
— Chris Kenny (@chriskkenny) September 13, 2017
Rachel Baxendale 12.20pm: SSM survey safeguards
The same-sex marriage survey safeguards bill has passed the Senate on the voices with the support of Labor and the Greens.
The bill was introduced in the Senate, so it will now head to the House of Representatives to be passed there.
The Senate will now move on to debating the government’s media reforms after Communications Minister Mitch Fifield reached a deal with crossbench senator Nick Xenophon last night.
Rachel Baxendale 12.10pm: Hinch defends controversial move
Crossbench senator Derryn Hinch has defended his decision to name in the Senate last night a former policeman convicted of sexually abusing nine children.
Senator Hinch said he had checked with all the victims to make sure they were happy for their abuser to be named, despite his identity being suppressed by a judge.
“One of them approached me earlier this year,” Senator Hinch told Sky News.
“She’s about 45 and she was the stepdaughter who was five years of age when her stepfather put a gun to her head and raped her.
“Her grandfather finally took her to the police when she was 15. Nothing was done.”
Senator Hinch said the offender’s name was “rightly” suppressed by a county court judge to protect the victims.
“But (the victim who approached Hinch is) now 45 and she approached the court and they wouldn’t lift it.”
Senator Hinch said two of the victims had been in the public gallery when he named the paedophile in the Senate last night.
“They’d been trying for years because their motivation was there are other victims out there probably, and now they know his name and they know that he’s behind bars, they know they’re safe.”
12pm: Hanson’s SSM claim
Pauline Hanson has warned legalising same-sex marriage could result in a ban on children calling their parents “mum and dad”.
The One Nation leader has told parliament she will ignore a majority “yes” result of a postal survey on the issue.
“I feel it’s a sham, it’s farcical and it’s a waste of money,” she said of the $122 million ballot.
Senator Hanson also slammed gay couples for trying to “take the word ‘marriage’”.
“Why won’t you try and compromise?” she said.
Senator Hanson warned marriage equality meant schoolchildren would be banned from calling their parents “mum and dad” so as not to offend the children of same-sex couples.
Meanwhile, she said proposed anti-vilification laws being debated in the Senate today would shut down the “no” campaign and free speech.
Robert Gottliebsen 11.50am: ’Watch out for the whitewash’
‘Be careful Malcolm Turnbull. Be careful Josh Frydenberg. When AGL comes back to you in 90 days with a proposal it should have prepared before it started its “no coal” advertisements, make sure to check the fine print. More here
Greg Brown 11.35am: ‘We’re bringing gas onto the market’
Barnaby Joyce says the government does not need to pull the trigger on gas export restrictions because simply flagging the policy has brought more gas to the market and reduced its price.
The Deputy Prime Minister said flagging the gas export restrictions in June immediately brought 43 petajoules of gas to the market. Mr Joyce also upped the pressure on state governments to allow fracking.
“So we are bringing gas onto the market, it is doing precisely what it is designed to do,” Mr Joyce said this morning.
“Now if it is bringing gas to the market I am not going to stand in its way because once of course you have announced it that’s where the music stops.
“We are bringing gas onto the market, we are having meetings through the day to bring more gas on the market.”
He said the government would pass legislation allowing gas export limits once it reassesses the market since its June announcement in the issue.
“We are bringing the price down, the contracts that are out now are substantially less, we are doing the job that we are supposed to do and we will continue to go through and get reassessment as this gas comes onto the market,” he said.
“As it comes onto the market it gives us a reassessment of the gas, if we pull the trigger, on how much we need.”
Mr Joyce turned up the heat on state governments which had moratoriums on fracking, saying it should be allowed.
But he would not say if the Turnbull government had put pressure on the NSW Coalition government to lift its restrictions on fracking, despite the government demanding Bill Shorten do the same with Labor states.
He said fracking should be allowed as long as farmers were adequately compensated, it didn’t destroy aquifers and it wasn’t on prime agricultural land.
“But who stands in the way? You get a whole range of people saying this is evil and they don’t want it but then you can’t turn around and complain about the price of gas,” Mr Joyce said.
“We are making sure that everything we do, in discussing with people on how you can get regasification for LNG so you can deliver it down into Victoria, we are looking at these solutions noting the gas price is dear.”
11.30am: Pop legend pops in
Thanks to Olivia and the @ONJCRI team for the chance to meet & discuss healthcare and cancer research today. pic.twitter.com/NCxY6TPI1H
— Richard Di Natale (@RichardDiNatale) September 13, 2017
Rachel Baxendale 11.25am: Wong’s challenge to Turnbull
Labor Senate leader Penny Wong has spoken in the Senate on the same-sex marriage survey safeguards which look likely to pass with Labor’s support later today, saying the bill cannot cure a flawed process.
“It cannot stop all the hurt, all the prejudice that is being expressed, all the lack of acceptance that is being communicated to LGBTIQ persons and to same-sex-couple families,” said Senator Wong, who has two children with her female partner.
“But it provides limited protections, and on that basis the opposition will be supporting it.”
Senator Wong said she didn’t want to read about former PM John Howard’s case for voting No as part of the debate.
“I didn’t want to read John Howard on the front page of The Australian on the weekend, saying again what sorts of families were optimal, what sorts of families were good and why my family is not,” she said.
“If I feel like that, how do you think it feels for the children of same-sex couple families or of LGBTIQ Australians everywhere to be told politely and courteously, ‘Actually, you’re not quite normal. Your families aren’t as good’?”
“What I would say to the decent people on the other side — and there are some, and I count Senator Cormann as one of them — and what I’d say to the Prime Minister is: you actually need to stand up on this. You need to stop our children being the collateral damage of the war against equality.”
Rachel Baxendale 11.15am: Welfare drug tests ‘won’t work’
Labor human services spokeswoman Linda Burney has seized on criticism of the Turnbull government’s plan to drug test welfare recipients from former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer who has warned the policy will harm Australia’s most vulnerable and “won’t work”.
“Really what it will do is create more damage, and most damage and most harm to those people who are most vulnerable and most in need of support and protection, which was my experience when we first responded to the tough on drugs policies under former prime minister John Howard,” Mr Palmer told ABC radio this morning.
Ms Burney cited the opinions of other experts such as the Australian Medical Association and the Australian College of Physicians who have also been critical of the plan.
“The punitive nature of drug testing welfare recipients is not going to work,” she said.
“Mick Palmer, one of the leading people on the war on drugs in this country has confirmed that this morning. He’s saying that there needs to be a medical response and social response to people with addiction, not some sort of control over the money that they get as part of welfare payments.”
Ms Burney said Labor hoped to block the legislation in the Senate.
“I understand that the Xenophon team are looking at this very clearly. But when you have every medical expert and when you have law enforcement expertise saying that this is a bad idea, with no new investment, in drug rehabilitation, it is just a nonsense that the government is pursuing this.”
Rachel Baxendale 11am: PM’s Barnaby problem?
Labor resources spokesman Jason Clare has suggested that Barnaby Joyce’s citizenship status could be the reason the government is reluctant to “pull the trigger” on gas prices and require companies to put more gas back into the domestic market.
“You’ve got businesses at the moment that are saying they’re being offered contracts that are double the price of last year. $15, $16, $17, $18 a gigajoule, and you’ve got businesses, you’ve got the AiGroup saying that at these prices businesses are going to go offshore, shut down, sack workers, and the problem is Malcolm Turnbull has set up this trigger but he hasn’t pulled it. If he pulls it we’re going to have a big positive impact on electricity prices,” Mr Clare told Sky News.
“I really worry that there’s a delay here because he’s worried that Barnaby Joyce has to pull the trigger as the resources minister and he’s waiting for the High Court decision to see whether he’s legally able to pull the trigger, so we have to wait until late October for this to happen.”
Under the legislation, the resource minister needs to establish that there is a gap in the domestic market and consult with the Prime Minister and other ministers before pulling the gas reservation trigger.
Mr Clare denied that the trigger would have a negative impact on Australia’s gas export industry.
“There will still be a lot of gas exported, be in no doubt, and companies are making changes to their export arrangements, but our first priority’s got to be to Australian companies,” he said.
Mr Clare accused Malcolm Turnbull of “manufacturing” a fight with the Labor Party to “camouflage” the fight within the Liberal Party over energy policy.
“They were fighting about this in 2009. It led to Malcolm Turnbull being knocked off as (leader). It’s all happening again inside the Liberal Party,” he said.
10.30am: Milestone for the PM
Malcolm Turnbull has surpassed Tony Abbott's 1 year and 362 days as Prime Minister, and chalks up 2 years on Friday #auspol
— Troy Bramston (@TroyBramston) September 13, 2017
Rachel Baxendale 10.20am: ‘Hate-speech’ laws push
Same-sex marriage advocates have seized on anti-vilification laws set to pass the Senate today which are designed to provide protections during the government’s postal survey, arguing that such laws should be permanent rather than only applying for a couple of months during the campaign.
Spokesman for just.equal, Brian Greig said the need for hate speech laws during the same-sex marriage survey drew attention to the fact that there are no commonwealth hate speech laws for LGBTI people.
“Federally we have permanent, national anti-hate speech laws for race and religion only, yet clearly there is a need for permanent laws to include sexuality and gender identity” Mr Greig said.
Mr Greig said permanent hate speech laws to protect LGBTI people at a state level exist only in NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT.
“Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and the Northern Territory have no state-based laws to prevent or prosecute vilification on the grounds of sexuality or gender identity.
“This means LGBTI people in these states are especially vulnerable to hate speech and look to the Commonwealth for national laws to address this.”
Greg Brown 10.15am: Bishop on the N Korea threat
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has dismissed warnings from North Korea that the US would endure the “greatest pain” due to the latest sanctions imposed by the United Nations.
Ms Bishop said the sanctions would hit the regime hard and force it to change its behaviour.
“As to the warning from Kim Jong-un on the scale of threats and intimidation and insults it is probably just par for the course from North Korea over decades,” Ms Bishop told Sky News.
She said sanctions will work if all nations implement them fully.
“Sanctions must work if the entire international community implement them fully, and Australia will most certainly and is implementing fully all the UN sanctions as well as autonomous sanctions that we have imposed separately,” she said.
“But every nation, particularly those who have an economic relationship with North Korea, must fully implement these sanctions and they will have an impact, they will hit North Korea and they will hit it hard.”
Rachel Baxendale 10.10am: Labor welcomes Higher Ed move
Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek says she’s delighted crossbench senators including Nick Xenophonand Jaquie Lambie will be opposing the government’s higher education reforms, accusing the government of attempting to rip $4bn out of universities.
Ms Plibersek welcomed an OECD report published overnight which showed Australian students were already receiving lower levels of funding for their university education than students in every OECD country except the UK, Japan, Korea, the US and Chile.
“One of the most concerning elements of the report that was released overnight is that Australia particularly continues to slide in STEM areas - science, technology, engineering and maths,” Ms Plibersek said.
She described lowering the threshold at which graduates must begin paying their HECS debts back to $42,000 as a “nutty” idea.
“Here is a Government that actually supports charging students more so they will have higher debts, and then it points to debt as a problem,” Ms Plibersek said.
“If you don’t want students to have big debts, stop charging them a fortune to go to university.”
Ahead of the Senate likely passing anti-discrimination safeguards for the same-sex marriage postal survey this morning, Ms Plibersek said the legislation would not be enough to stop the debate from becoming “ugly”.
“The debate’s already ugly. I’ve already had the homes of my constituents graffitied, I’ve seen all sorts of appalling stuff distributed unauthorised and completely inaccurate and all sorts of foul stuff,” Ms Plibersek said.
“The very fact that we’re having this debate is bringing out some of the worst commentary and personally, I hold the Prime Minister responsible for that.
“This is a $122 million waste of money that we didn’t need to have, because this parliament will ultimately decide this question in any case.
“However, some protections are better than none, so we have worked with the government to offer some protections because it’s better than leaving people on their own.”
Greg Brown 10am: Union boss explains spending
ACTU secretary Sally McManus says the workers body has only spent a fraction of an $11 million government grant for training because it wanted the money to last for a long time.
Ms McManus said the union would not heed to the Turnbull government’s request to pay the money back, despite only spending $3.5m of the grant in five years.
The former Labor government gave more than $27m to unions to help them train their members.
“For us $11m is a lot of money and we have been very careful with it, that money is being spent on one simple thing: to train working people in their rights,” Ms McManus told ABC radio.
“The same amount of money was given to employers and that is a normal thing in so many countries where they see it is in the interests of everyone that workers actually know what their rights are.
“So what we are doing is making sure that we spend that carefully and overtime so that it doesn’t run down.”
Ms McManus also denied the union movement was cashed-up, despite having more than $1.5 billion in assets and a combined income stream estimated at $900m a year.
“This isn’t a war chest, if we had all that money and we could just spend all that money that would be a wonderful thing but that’s not the case, we own property and because we’ve around for over 100 years, so as you know property prices have gone up,” Ms McManus said.
“And secondly, those other bits of money, we can’t just spend those how we want, they’re in superannuation funds or they are in funds tied up to just look after workers, so for example there is a whole lot of funds that are there to help workers when they get made redundant to make sure they get paid their redundancy payments.
“That’s what the money goes to. It goes to benefit workers. We don’t make profits, we don’t pay our executives millions of dollars, we are just not-for-profit organisations delivering services for our members.”
Rachel Baxendale 9.55am: Minister discusses power plant
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg says he’s spoken to his NSW counterpart Don Harwin and Energy Australia head Catherine Tanna amid fears the company could be forced to shut the Mount Piper: one of the nation’s newest and most efficient black-coal-fired power stations following a Court of Appeal decision it claims has threatened its only supply of coal to the plant.
The potential closure would take up to 1400 megawatts out of the energy market, or the equivalent of 15 per cent of electricity supply to the NSW system.
The source of the threat is legal action launched by green group 4nature against planning consent for an extension of the nearby Springvale mine owned by Centennial Coal.
Mr Frydenberg said he, Mr Harwin and Energy Australia were all concerned about the situation and working through it methodically.
“Energy Australia is concerned about future coal supplies so therefore there is a degree of rationing going on. Now when that happens, you don’t get the amount of power generation that you would otherwise in normal circumstances get,” Mr Frydenberg told Sky News.
“(The NSW government) do have emergency powers and I know that the Energy Minister is absolutely focused on what levers he has available in order to ensure continued coal supplies.”
Quizzed on Tony Abbott’s warning in yesterday’s Coalition partyroom meeting that “if we graft a clean energy target on top of the existing renewable energy target that will be a difficult position to sustain,” Mr Frydenberg said he was not going to debate the clean energy target while the government worked through the implications of such a policy.
“There’s a lot at stake here in terms of billions of dollars of investment, household power bills and our competitive position globally,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“Obviously you have to work out a policy that meets that trilemma: affordability, reliability and emissions reduction. At the end of the day good policy is good politics.”
Rachel Baxendale 9.50am: Champion sticking by energy target
South Australian Labor MP Nick Champion has is sticking by Labor’s 50 per cent renewable energy target, saying the “march of renewables” is inevitable.
“No politician can stop it. You walk down any street in Australia and people are voting with their feet,” Mr Champion said on his way into parliament this morning.
“Even Cory Bernardi from the Australian Conservatives Party has got solar panels on his roof.
“Renewables will be part of the system. Solar, gas, wind, batteries, pumped hydro and coal will all be part of the system. But we’ve got to make that system work.
“It won’t work as long as there is uncertainty, and it’s Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott who are implementing that uncertainty and it has a cost.”
Rosie Lewis 9.40am: Xenophon locked in media reform talks
Senate powerbroker Nick Xenophon says he is “dotting i’s and crossing t’s” on a last-minute media reform package that could see the sweeping overhaul voted through parliament as early as today.
Senator Xenophon was locked in discussions with Communications Minister late last night and early this morning to thrash out the deal, building the numbers in the Senate to legislate the media laws.
“It’s fair to say that we are on the verge of reaching an agreement. I think the best thing to do is to give details of that once it’s been finalised. It will be a significant package for small and regional publishers,” Senator Xenophon told ABC radio.
“Media in this country faces an existential crisis for a range of reasons, particularly the impact of Google and Facebook on advertising revenue. This will be a very good package for those smaller and regional publishers.”
Asked if he was “across the line” on media reforms, which have been stuck in the Senate since June, the South Australian MP said: “Pretty much but subject to dotting i’s and crossing t’s.”
Industry and government sources have confirmed to The Australian that a deal with NXT was done.
Even with the support of the three NXT senators, four One Nation senators, Derryn Hinch and Lucy Gichuhi, the government will need one more crossbench vote.
That is likely to come from Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm and/or Australian Conservatives Cory Bernardi but both senators are waiting to see the outcome of the NXT deal before committing to the media reforms.
Greg Brown 9.30am: Plibersek attacks ‘weak’ PM
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek has labelled flagged changes to the clean energy target a “pathetic cop-out” from a “weak” Malcolm Turnbull.
Ms Plibersek said the government was contributing to soaring power prices as it was not encouraging investment in renewables.
Reports today indicated the Turnbull government was looking at refashioning the clean energy target rather than adopting it as proposed in the Finkel report.
“It is a pathetic cop-out by a weak Prime Minister who once said he didn’t want to lead a party that was not as committed to action on climate change as he is,” Ms Plibersek told the ABC.
“This government promised it would cut $550 a year from peoples’ energy bills when they got rid of Labor’s carbon pricing mechanism. Instead, energy bills have gone up by around $1000 a year in Sydney.
“That is because renewables are becoming cheaper than polluting sources of energy but this government has overseen a freeze in new investment.
“We need more gas, more renewables, more battery storage and more certainty and this government has failed on every front when it comes to providing cleaner energy, more reliable energy, cheaper energy.”
She batted off criticism from former NSW Labor treasurer Michael Costa who said Bill Shorten had turned his back on Labor’s working class base by not supporting coal.
“What nonsense. Seven plants have closed under this government, taking 4000 megawatts of power generation out of the system,” Ms Plibersek said.
“It is only when Liddell becomes an issue for political reasons that suddenly the Prime Minister discovers coal workers.”
Greg Brown 9.20am: Liddell move criticised
Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh has criticised the government’s moves to keep the Liddell Power Station open in the NSW Hunter Valley.
Mr Leigh said the key to lowering energy prices was implementing a clean energy target, which the government is unlikely to do.
“The Chief Scientist’s report, the Finkel Report, says you need a clean energy target. Labor’s been constructive in working with the government, but we know – as every serious expert knows – that you’ve got to get the prices right, “ Mr Leigh told the ABC last night.
“Emissions trading is operating in China now, a nominally Communist economy, and yet the nominally free market Liberal and National parties are still clinging onto this idea that the solution to Australia’s energy challenge is to keep a 50-year-old coal plant going for 60 years.”
Rachel Baxendale 8.40am: In the Senate today
Media laws are of course the big item on today’s Senate agenda, after crossbench powerbroker Nick Xenophon struck a last-minute deal with the government overnight.
Labor say they expect Acting Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann to bring on the same-sex marriage postal survey anti-vilification bills on when the Senate resumes sitting at 9:30, as these are expected to pass quickly with Labor’s support.
It’ll then be time to resume debate over the media laws, which are expected to pass today.
Next on the Senate agenda, but much less likely to be addressed today, are the government’s higher education reforms.
“I’m broadly supportive of media reform but ultimately I want to see how it’s going to end up,” Senator Bernardi said, speaking alongside Senator Xenophon. “We’ve got some amendments of our own to introduce and we’ll see how they come and what the final package looks like.”
The NXT has proposed a three-year funding package for smaller and regional publications that will allow eligible organisations to invest in more cadets and new equipment. It is understood the measure could cost taxpayers between $20 million and $30m and local arms of foreign companies, such as the Guardian Australia, would not be able to access the money.
Greg Brown 8.20am: Hinch fears for local media players
Crossbench MP Derryn Hinch says the CBS bid for Network Ten proves media reform is crucial as local players are being elbowed out of the market.
Senator Hinch, a former journalist, criticised Bill Shorten for saying the CBS bid showed media reform was unnecessary.
The Turnbull government last night struck a deal with the Nick Xenophon Team which would likely see the reach rule and the two-out of-three rule repealed.
“I was really surprised a couple of weeks ago when CBS (bid for) the embattled Network Ten and Bill Shorten says that shows now we don’t need any changes to the media law,” Senator Hinch told ABC radio.
“I think it gave more urgency to changes in the media law because it locked out other Australians from even competing.
“I’m not just talking about Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon (but) anybody else; so I’m thrilled no that Nick Xenophon and the government have made a deal.”
Senator Hinch rejected arguments from Labor and the Greens that the reform would give too much power to News Corporation.
“It is better than nobody owning them because they can’t survive this way,” he said.
“It is not just Murdoch, it gives anybody a chance; when these laws were brought in we didn’t the internet, we didn’t have smart phones, people no longer go home to watch the 6 o’clock news or the 7 o’clock news.
“News is 24/7, people are on their phones all the time watching the news and the diversification is amazing. So when they say it will hurt diversification, it won’t it will help it.”
7.15am: Making headlines today
• EnergyAustralia has warned it could be forced to shut one of the nation’s newest and most efficient black-coal-fired power stations supplying up to 1.2 million customers in NSW, following a Court of Appeal decision it claims has threatened its only supply of coal to the plant.
• Malcolm Turnbull is facing a backbench push to stop a clean energy target being embraced as government policy, after former prime minister Tony Abbott fired a warning shot on the political risk of adding the new scheme to existing subsidies for renewable power.
• A last-minute deal to help small and regional news outlets has cleared the way for the Turnbull government’s sweeping media reforms in a big advance agreed with key Senate powerbroker Nick Xenophon last night. The agreement includes measures to spur the creation of news outlets and offer new prospects for journalism cadets, including an innovation fund to support independent and regional news organisations.
• The Turnbull government’s child abuse redress scheme will provide a minimum compensation payment half the size recommended by the royal commission but it will broadly support a victim-friendly framework that institutions fear will spark a “tidal wave’’ of claims.
• Bill Shorten has urged Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews to consider overturning his government’s moratorium on conventional gas exploration, saying it would help put downward pressure on energy prices.
Miners change tune on climate change
Peak mining industry body The Minerals Council of Australia has joined the fight on climate.
Labor to turn up heat on Taylor
Labor will use the final two weeks of parliament to heap pressure on Energy Minister Angus Taylor.