PoliticsNow: New Nationals leader Michael McCormack makes a raft of ministerial changes
PoliticsNow: Damian Drum is headed to the back bench where he will join former Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce.
- Dutton hits out at ‘morals lectures’
- Nazi exchange in Estimates
- ‘Next question... see ya!’
- ‘Faux outrage’ over Cash
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live coverage of the happenings in Parliament House.
The government is expected to use the final day of the House of Representatives sitting week to pile pressure on Bill Shorten over his position on the Adani coalmine. Labor, meanwhile, is keeping the pressure on Employment Minister Michaelia Cash for threatening to name young women in the Opposition Leader’s office who had been subject to rumours.
Shorten ‘shocked’ and angry at Cash comments
Cash was bullied and provoked: PM
Rick Morton 7.55pm: Centrelink’s phone dramas
There have been more than 33 million unanswered phone calls to Centrelink in the past year which accounts for almost 60 per cent of all calls the organisation received in the same period.
A Senate Estimates hearing tonight also heard 330,000 people who do manage to get through waited more than half an hour for an answer and 167,000 people waited for more than an hour.
Department of Human Services secretary Renee Leon told the Senate Community Affairs Legislation committee that busy signals have dropped 38 per cent since a “simplification” process began last October.
The department denied it had a staffing problem and said a trial to see whether an outsourced agency, services provider Serco, could answer calls more efficiently was simply that: a pilot.
“No I don’t believe we are (under-staffed)... we have got the same head count we have had for a number of years now,” Ms Leon said.
Labor Senator Murray Watt asked if that was part of the problem.
“You’ve got more people in Australia and more people receiving support,” he said.
Ms Leon said only 250 people would work on the pilot and they would be Serco staff.
“Like all large service delivery organisations, we are not just standing still,” she said.
Greg Brown 6.02pm: McCormack makes Nats changes
Nationals MPs Darren Chester and Keith Pitt will return to the ministry while Damian Drum and Luke Hartsuyker have been dumped to the backbench under changes decided by Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.
There are no changes to the portfolios controlled by cabinet ministers David Littleproud, Nigel Scullion and Matt Canavan despite strong speculation all three would be demoted.
Mr Chester will become Vetrans Affairs Minister, Defence Personnel Minister and Minister Assisting for the Centenary of ANZAC.
Mr Pitt will be Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister.
Parkes MP Mark Coulton will join the ministry as Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment.
The new ministers will be sworn in by Governor-General Peter Cosgrove in Canberra on Monday.
Malcolm Turnbull thanked Mr Drum and Mr Hartsuyker for their service to the government.
“I thank Damian Drum for his service as Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister and thank Luke Hartsuyker for his service in the ministry, most recently as Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment,” the Prime Minister said in a statement.
“The Deputy Prime Minister ..and I congratulate the new ministers and look forward to working with them as part our strong Coalition ministerial team.”
Ben Packham 4.04pm: Cash ‘unreservedly withdraws’ comments
Michaelia Cash has “unreservedly” withdrawn comments made in Estimates in which she threatened to name women in Bill Shorten’s office who were the subject of “rumours”.
But the embattled Employment Minister has defended her behaviour by branding Labor senator Doug Cameron “a bully”, echoing comments made by Malcolm Turnbull in question time.
Senator Cash yesterday withdrew comments made in an Estimates hearing in relation to Mr Shorten’s staff after the intervention of Labor’s Penny Wong. But she added the caveat, “if anyone has been offended”.
Today, however, she said she was “more than happy to withdraw, unreservedly”.
But she said she would not be lectured to by Senator Cameron, who had asked her about her chief of staff before she made the comments.
She said Senator Cameron was “nothing more and nothing less than a bully”.
“So whilst yes I am more than happy to withdraw the comments unreservedly may I suggest people have a very very good look at the Hansard recordings... Senator Doug Cameron is nothing more and nothing less than a bully and that was on display yesterday,” she said.
The move followed bizarre scenes before today’s hearing in which Senator Cash was shielded from TV cameras by security guards using a large whiteboard.
3.10pm: Brandis to be in London by next month
Talking about the London posting, former attorney-general George Brandis is expected to be the new UK high commissioner in time to welcome Malcolm Turnbull to London.
DFAT secretary Frances Adamson said Mr Brandis will replace Alexander Downer ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on April 19. Mr Downer’s three-year team was due to expire in May last year.
AAP
Greg Brown 3.05pm: Questions turn to Tassie
Bill Shorten follows up Chris Bowen’s question about tax.
“Can he confirm he is making over 150,000 Tasmanians pay more income tax each year while providing a $65 billion handout to big business?” Tasmania is going to an election this weekend.
Malcolm Turnbull criticises the Opposition Leader for taking 54 minutes to raise the economy in question time.
“And this is a Leader of the Opposition who has said we should be talking about the things that matter to all Australians,” the PM says.
Turnbull says a rise in the Medicare levy is needed to pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
“Regrettably the Labor Party did not fund it. They failed to do so. They let down people with disabilities and their families right across the country,” Turnbull says.
“Surely the time has come the Labor to own up to their failure and recognise that we owe it to those Australians with disabilities to pay for the support we have promised and it is our duty to honour that support and that commitment.”
Primrose Riordan 3pm: Downer meeting off-limits
Australian officials are concerned about commenting on High Commissioner to Britain Alexander Downer’s reportedly “boozy” meeting with Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulous as they say it could prejudice the Trump Russia investigation.
The Department of Foreign Affairs was asked about the matter at a Senate Estimates hearing in Canberra.
“The question you are asking relates to an ongoing and high-profile investigation in the United States. Discussing this matter entails the risk that we might prejudice or be perceived to prejudice so for those reasons we won’t do that,” DFAT First Assistant Secretary Philip Green said in response to questions from Nick Xenophon Team senator Rex Patrick.
DFAT also declined to comment on whether Australia and the US have exchanged information about the investigation into US President Donald Trump’s Russia ties as the investigation is ongoing.
The New York Times reported in December that Mr Papadopoulos allegedly told Mr Downer he had emails that would embarrass Hillary Clinton “during a night of heavy drinking” at the Kensington Wine Rooms in London in May 2016.
Greg Brown 2.55pm: Tax comes up
Michael Keenan gets a break from Labor’s questioning.
Opposition treasury spokesman Chris Bowen asks if the government is making 1.5 million Queenslanders pay more income tax while big business gets a tax cut.
Scott Morrison says Bowen has jettisoned his beliefs of low company tax.
“This is a shadow treasurer that has turned his back on everything he used to believe. He has wilted in the face in the pressure of the Labor left. Turning back on his previous positions,” Morrison says.
“If he cannot stand up to the Leader of the Opposition what good is he? The Labor Party have turned their back on Julia Gillard, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating. When you believe in nothing, nobody will believe in you.”
2.50pm: Cash behind board
Elsewhere, Michaelia Cash is back in estimates but has not made any statement thus far. Media outlets have tweeted footage of what they say is parliament security pulling out a whiteboard that blocks her from being filmed walking into the committee room. It’s unclear why this happened.
Farcical scenes at Parliament House, as security guards wheel out a whiteboard to stop media filming Michaelia Cash arriving at a #estimates committee hearing pic.twitter.com/YZXC7VxE6S
— ABC Politics (@politicsabc) March 1, 2018
.@SenatorCash takes cover following yesterday's rant in parliament. Security has pulled out a screen so media can't film her walking into Estimates. #auspol #7News pic.twitter.com/Xtf1GrVjy7
— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) March 1, 2018
this is a very good way to increase attention on what otherwise would have been a very normal method of room entry https://t.co/K4GS84w9TW
— Rick Morton (@SquigglyRick) March 1, 2018
Greg Brown 2.45pm: How much clearer can I be?
Opposition employment spokesman Brendan O’Connor goes again on accusations Michael Keenan’s office leaked the pending raid of the AWU’s headquarters.
“Does he deny his office being the original source of the week to the media about the AFP raid? Yes or no? “
Keenan says: “How much clearer can I be? Yes.”
Greg Brown 2.40pm: I won’t be cross-examined: Keenan
Labor sticks at questioning Human Services Minister Michael Keenan on whether his office tipped off the media before the AWU raids.
Opposition employment spokesman Brendan O’Connor asks if his office informed “anyone” about the raid before it was executed by the Australian Federal Police.
Keenan fobs it.
“I won’t be cross-examined by him, and I won’t be cross-examined by him, in fact I won’t be cross-examined by any of them because they’re not worthy,” he says, motioning to the opposition benches.
Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke stands up to say: “If the opposition can’t ask questions in the view of it being cross-examination, should we continue with question time ever? Surely that’s the point of it.”
Speaker Tony Smith says QT will indeed continue.
Greg Brown 2.36pm: Key in the House
Former New Zealand prime minister John Key is in the public gallery for QT and is welcomed by MPs.
Malcolm Turnbull welcomes him to the House with: “As he surveys the dignified debates here in the House of Representatives, I see a look of relief on his face.”
Greg Brown 2.36pm: Labor keeps pressure on Keenan
Labor’s Mark Dreyfus asks a third question to Human Services Minister Michael Keenan about reports his office tipped off a raid on the AWU headquarters.
“What steps did he take to substantiate the claim that no one in his office informed the media before the execution of search warrants?”
Keenan doesn’t take the repeat questions kindly.
“I am not being cross-examined by someone who is running a protection racket for a corrupt union movement that remains in control of this Labor Party,” he says.
Greg Brown 2.28pm: When will you leave the fantasy land of suits?
Queensland MP Bob Katter asks Malcolm Turnbull about his support for free market economics, listing the negative effects it has had on a range of industries.
“When will you leave the fantasy land of suits and realise what they have imposed on Struggle Street Australians?”
The PM says: “I thank the member for his broad ranging question”.
Katter yells from the bench: “Don’t be facetious”.
Turnbull says free market economics has been good for North Queensland despite Katter’s claims otherwise.
“In regional Queensland alone 49,000 new jobs were created last year, nearly as many as in greater Brisbane and our policies are creating jobs in the honourable members electorate,” he says.
Greg Brown 2.20pm: Keenan questioned over AWU raid tipoff
Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus asks Human Services Minister Michael Keenan if someone from his office tipped off reporters before the the raid of the AWU headquarters last year.
Keenan stands by a statement released by his office saying they were not part of a tipoff.
“We will not be distracted by this enormous nonsense that you see from the Labor Party,” Keenan says. “The actual issue here, of course, we are talking about search warrants that were executed in relation to a raid on the Australian Workers Union that was looking at lawbreaking when the Leader of the Opposition was secretary of that union.”
In his next question, Dreyfus goes again on a report on Buzzfeed that says Keenan’s office tipped off a journalist about the raid.
Keenan stands by his earlier answer.
“The issue is that one side of Australian politics accesses and incubates a culture where lawlessness in the union movement is completely acceptable. That is the reality and there is evidence,” Keenan says.
Greg Brown 2.10pm: Cash was bullied and provoked: PM
Bill Shorten opens question time on “disgraceful” claims from Michaelia Cash in Senate Estimates yesterday.
He asks Malcolm Turnbull if he will ask her to apologise for threatening to name his female staff who were the subject of rumours.
The Prime Minister says Senator Cash responded after being “bullied and provoked” by Labor senator Doug Cameron.
He says she was engaged in a “heated exchange” with Senator Cameron, accusing the Labor senator of making “insinuations” about staff.
“She has withdrawn those remarks and if members opposite want to mitigate any offence they would treat this matter as having being dealt with,” Turnbull says.
PRIMROSE RIORDAN 2.05pm: Hun Sen threat ‘unacceptable’
Diplomats have said it would be hard to describe Cambodia’s recent elections as “free and fair” and Australia has not ruled out targeted sanctions ahead of Hun Sen’s upcoming visit to Australia.
“We haven’t had those July elections so it is too early to comment, however we have just had some elections on February 25 given the dissolution of the main opposition party it really is hard to describe them as free and fair,” a DFAT official told a Senate Estimates hearing.
The official was asked if targeted sanctions to pressure Cambodia to halt its crackdown on free speech, political parties and democracy were being considered.
“We always have many options under review and that is the case with Cambodia,” the official said.
Australia has also said Cambodian leader Hun Sen’s threat to track down and beat up Australian citizens planning to protest his visit to Sydney next month was “unacceptable”. Hun Sen will visit Australia this month for the Australian ASEAN summit. He recently threatened to boycott the summit entirely suggesting this would undermine the whole event as it relies on consensus from all countries involved.
He has told those planning to protest his Sydney visit: “You can enjoy your right to burn my effigy. I can enjoy my right to assault you. There is nothing wrong about that. You use violence on the effigy of Hun Sen. I can use violence against you”.
DFAT has said the threat is unacceptable. “Australia, as a liberal democracy, supports freedom of expression, including the right to protest. It goes without saying that violence, or the threat of violence, is not acceptable in Australia,” a spokesman said.
2pm: Carr apologises for Hitler Youth reference
In Senate estimates, Kim Carr has apologised for his earlier comparison - which he then withdrew - of Liberal senator James Paterson to the Hitler Youth. “I apologise for those remarks and we can move on from there,” he told the committee.
Greg Brown 1.10pm: ‘I’m shocked she hasn’t said sorry’
Bill Shorten has spoken out on Michaelia Cash’s threats about his female staff members, saying he is “angry” and “shocked”.
The Opposition Leader said he has been waiting for a call to his office for her to apologise for threatening to name women in his office who had been subject to rumours about them.
“Of course I’m angry. I’m angry on behalf of the smart, dedicated, hard-working professionals in my office who have been smeared by Michaelia Cash,” Mr Shorten said.
“I’m honestly shocked she hasn’t said sorry. I’ve been waiting for her to ring up my office and organise it.
“It’s this sort of nonsense that turns people off politics. We should be focusing on the things that matter to Australians, not hurling insults and making up stories about people who can’t defend themselves.
“The Prime Minister said a few weeks ago that the parliament needed to be a more respectful workplace for women. I agree with him. Maybe he should try doing something about it. “
1.05pm: Shorten responds to Dutton
Bill Shorten’s office has issued this statement in response to Peter Dutton’s comments (below): “Mr Dutton’s comments reflect on him and no one else.”
Greg Brown 12.55pm: Dutton hits out at ‘morals lectures’
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said Bill Shorten had a “history of problems” in his personal life as he defended Employment Minister Michaelia Cash over her comments in Estimates yeterday.
Mr Dutton said Senator Cash did the right thing by withdrawing the comments but added they came because of the frustration of Coalition MPs into Labor’s “virtuous” lecturing on their personal lives.
“There is a frustration on the Coalition side at the moment. if I am being honest about it, we have sat there taking a morals lecture from Bill Shorten in relation to Barnaby Joyce over the last few weeks and people know there are a history of problems in Bill Shorten’s personal life, in Tony Burke’s personal life and to be lectured by the Labor Party really sticks in the craw,” Mr Dutton told Sydney radio station 2GB.
“If we are being honest there is a general frustration within the parliament that you’ve got people like Shorten and Burke and a couple of others on the other side who are being virtuous and I’m not sure they have got great grounds to be virtuous.”
Mr Dutton said he was not the “moral police” and had no interest in politicians’ personal lives.
“The only point I would make is that it is a bit rich for Bill Shorten to be up there on high ground lecturing others about their relationships,” he said.
Mr Dutton did not elaborate further. Mr Shorten and Mr Burke have both had marriage breakdowns in the past and both have since repartnered.
Greg Brown 12.35pm: Angry ‘Nazi’ exchange in Estimates
Labor senator Kim Carr has been forced to withdraw comments comparing Liberal James Paterson to the Hitler Youth.
Senator Carr became angry in Senate Estimates today when Senator Paterson made a joke aimed at the Labor left figure about the socialist Russian Revolution.
“You’d know that; those in the Hitler Youth would understand that only too well,” Senator Carr said.
Senator Paterson said that it was “seriously offensive” and asked Senator Carr to withdraw the comments.
An exchange ensued.
Senator Carr: I was being facetious.
Senator Paterson: That is not facetious, accusing someone of being a Nazi is a very serious (thing).
Senator Carr: Oh cut it out. OK, I withdraw it. You just threw a bucket of shit at me and you are going to suddenly say you’re offended.
Senator Paterson: I was joking about revolutions.
Senator Carr: You were joking, you were joking... very humorous. (To committee chair Lucy Gichuhi) I have already indicated I withdrew it, he has taken offence... poor petal.
TMW Labor's Kim Carr calls Liberal James Paterson a member of the "Hitler Youth" during discussion about research in the Education portfolio.
— ABC Politics (@politicsabc) March 1, 2018
Welcome to another edition #estimates. pic.twitter.com/YVpPrhbBgY
Greg Brown 11.20am: Broad defends McCormack on articles
Nationals MP Andrew Broad has defended Michael McCormack after more homophobic articles written by the Deputy Prime Minister have surfaced from the time he was a newspaper editor.
Mr Broad said the articles were written 20 years ago and his leader had grown as a person.
“A person who held a view 20 years ago but has grown and learnt and changed their view should be the sort of people that we want,” Mr Broad told Sky News.
“Even as a country we have done that, to keep bringing this up that someone said something 20 years ago and they should therefore be vilified for it doesn’t show any sense of maturity in a country.”
The Daily Telegraph this morning reported Mr McCormack had repeatedly vilified homosexuals in print and even described himself as a proud homophobe.
Mr Broad also said he did not expect to be promoted to the ministry in the Nationals’ reshuffle despite being the first MP to declare no faith in Barnaby Joyce as leader.
“When I said we needed to reset the button in the Nationals I said that I do it with no leadership aspirations, nothing in it for me because my motive was in the best interests in the party,” Mr Broad said.
“Michael McCormack has got a big job, he is spoiled for choice, this idea that there was only Barnaby and there wasn’t any other talent is actually wrong, there is a lot of really good people in the National Party, Michael has probably got more good people than he has positions.”
10.52am: Labor calls for Cash scalp
Opposition employment spokesman Brendan O’Connor says his government counterpart Michaelia Cash should apologise and resign.
“She needs to apologise for the slanderous slur she made yesterday towards young women working in parliament,” Mr O’Connor said in a statement
“In addition, she must resign as minister, not just because of her appalling behaviour yesterday, but because for the past 125 days she has refused to cooperate with the parliament of Australia about the extent of her and her office’s involvement in leaking to the media the raids on AWU offices in October last year.”
10.50am: McCormack won’t guarantee portfolios
New federal Nationals leader Michael McCormack won’t guarantee the jobs of his predecessor’s supporters in an upcoming ministerial reshuffle.
The new deputy prime minister declined to say whether Resources Minister Matt Canavan, a Barnaby Joyce supporter, would keep his portfolio. “I haven’t made up my mind yet - ministerial arrangements will be announced in due course,” Mr McCormack said in interview with The Courier-Mail today.
A reshuffle of the Nationals’ ministerial portfolios - which follows Mr Joyce’s resignation as leader to sit on the backbench - is expected to be finalised within days.
Mr McCormack also has to name his replacement as veterans affairs minister. Nationals backbencher Andrew Broad, who was the first MP to call for the leadership “reset”, said the new leader had a “big job”.
“He’s spoiled for choice,” Mr Broad told Sky News today. “Michael has more good people than he has positions, and so that will be the decision he will have to make.” Mr Broad said decades-old homophobic articles written by Mr McCormack, who is a former journalist, were old news. “To keep bringing this up ... doesn’t show any sense of maturity in this country,” Mr Broad said.
AAP
10.45am: “Well... well. Next question. See ya!’
When asked what she thought of @SenatorCash's comments about female staffers in Bill Shorten's office, @senatorlucy seemed lost for words... #auspol pic.twitter.com/VzBN4sC0Xg
— ABC Politics (@politicsabc) February 28, 2018
Greg Brown 10.30am: ‘People should check their situation first’
At a media conference at Parliament House, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says government MPs have been “lectured to and moralised on” by people who should “check their own situation first”.
Mr Dutton would not elaborate on his insinuation.
“I have said consistently in relation to these matters, I’m not part of the moral police, I believe very strongly as a Liberal, and you can look back at my record at parliament, that governments shouldn’t be involved in the personal lives of people,” Mr Dutton said.
“All I am saying is that over the course of the last couple of weeks I think we have been lectured to and moralised on by people who really should check their own situation first.”
Home Affairs Minister @PeterDutton_MP: I'm not part of the moral police but I do believe we've been lectured to by people who should check their own situation first.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 28, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/KUl77yVTpI #SkyLiveNow pic.twitter.com/dvTzfvg573
Greg Brown 10.05am: Cameron rejects ‘innuendo’ claim
Labor senator Doug Cameron has denied he was using questioning about staff movements in Senate Estimates yesterday in an attempt to expose further sexual relationships between ministers and their staff.
Senator Cameron has hit back at claims by government MPs who are saying there was “innuendo” in his questioning about staff movements, leading Employment Minister Michaelia Cash to threaten to expose rumours of Bill Shorten’s female staffers.
“Certainly not, I have been pursuing these issues for some time and I must say I was a bit shocked and stunned by the response because there had been a whole line of questioning before that that didn’t gain that type of reaction, I have never had that type of reaction before,” Senator Cameron told Sky News.
“What Labor is concerned about is a web of influence from Michaelia Cash’s office into agencies that are pursuing working people in the trade union movement.
Asked to rule out if he was trying to bait Michaelia Cash, Senator Cameron replied: “Anyone who knows me would know I don’t do that type of thing, it is not of any interest to me, I’m not prepared to comment on that stuff, that is not my interest, my business is to make sure the minister is held to account and that is what I was doing.”
Senator Doug Cameron: @AustralianLabor is not pursuing a line of questioning when it comes to Coalition staffer movements being linked to relationships with ministers. I don't bait on relationship matters.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 28, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/KUl77yVTpI #SkyLiveNow pic.twitter.com/GMLX8mnblB
Greg brown 9.45am: ‘Faux outrage’ over Cash comments: Laundy
Workplace Minister Craig Laundy has attacked Labor’s “faux outrage” over Michaelia Cash threatening to name “every young woman” working in Bill Shorten’s office who had been subject to rumours, arguing she was only responding to “implied innuendo” from Labor questioning during Senate Estimates yesterday.
Mr Laundy said the opposition was “selectively” focusing on Senator Cash’s comments during a long exchange with Labor senator Doug Cameron.
“The part that has been missed here - and faux outrage from Labor - the part that has been missed is you look at the whole transcript of what has gone on and you had Senator Cameron asking pretty probing and far-reaching questions about Michaelia’s staff,” Mr Laundy told Sky News.
“What Michaelia was saying in the end was: is this really where you want to go? She was throwing that out there and saying this is where it would go if you were.
“You can paraphrase and take selective snippets and become outraged by it but if you look at the whole exchange you will see it in a completely different light. It was a hypothetical at the end of Dough Cameron going there first.”
Mr Laundy said Senator Cameron was using innuendo in its grilling Senator Cash on staff moves in the Liberal Party.
“There were implied innuendo the whole way along about staff movements between Liberal staffers’ offices and the unspoken reality was they were attempting to sling mud looking back a couple of weeks linking it to the movement of staffers around the Nationals’ office,” Mr Laundy said. “That was what was going on here and that is the part that has been broadly missed as part of this discussion.”
.@LaundyCraigMP: There was implied innuendo about staff movements between Liberal party offices that provoked @SenatorCash.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 28, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/KUl77yVTpI #amagenda pic.twitter.com/r2jCUtShk5
9.30am: Greens Batman claim unfounded: Di Natale
Branch-stacking allegations against the Greens candidate for the marginal, federal inner-Melbourne seat of Batman are “unfounded”, says leader Richard Di Natale.
Senator Di Natale dismissed the claims of 18 party volunteers and elected council representatives who presented a 101-page internal complaint, cited by The Australian today.
“It’s an allegation that is unfounded,” Senator Di Natale said on ABC radio. “Alex is a very, very popular figure in Batman and within that community and she’s doing what good members do, we want all of our members to bring in people to ensure that they campaign, support the party and join the party.
“This is not what the Labor Party does. The Labor Party branch stack - they sign people up who don’t even know they’re members of political parties.” The party leader said everyone who joined the Batman branch was “absolutely committed to Greens values”.
It’s the first time Senator Di Natale has talked in any detail of the claims levelled against serial Batman candidate Ms Bhathal.
Earlier this week, he stepped in to shield Ms Bhathal from questions about the complaint at a press conference in Batman.
Today, he repeated that the complaint was considered “very, very carefully” and it was kept secret because of requests for confidentiality. Some of the complaints levelled at Ms Bhathal were of a more frivolous nature.
“The nature of some of those complaints was that Alex unfriended people on Facebook, she might have stood in front of someone at a press conference, they were the sorts of complaints that were put forward,” Senator Di Natale said. Ms Bhathal has run for the Greens repeatedly since 2001, and lost Batman in 2016 when Liberal preferences flowed to Labor’s David Feeney.
The upcoming March 17 by-election in the seat was sparked by Mr Feeney’s resignation from parliament.
Batman is a marginal seat that Labor hopes to retain and the Greens hope to win. A Greens victory would give the party its second lower house seat after Melbourne, which is held by Adam Bandt.
Labor’s Bendigo MP Lisa Chesters said the Greens needed to be transparent. “The Greens need to get down off their ivory tower and explain to the people of Batman what exactly has happened... [Voters] need to know that who they are voting for is someone who has the best interests of the people of Batman at heart,” she told reporters in Canberra.
AAP
Greg Brown 8.50am: ‘Regulatory regime’ to fight uni sex abuse
Opposition education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek says a future Labor government could create a “regulatory regime” aimed at reducing sexual harassment and “hazing rituals” in universities.
Ms Plibersek said a report into sexual assault and misbehaviour at universities released this week showed tertiary institutions had not enough to combat bad behaviour.
“There is a role for national leadership, I think we can talk to the states about a national regulatory regime if we have to and at this stage nothing is off the table, it just cannot continue for another 30 years,” Ms Plibersek told ABC radio.
“I cannot countenance the idea that generations more young people will be subjected to these hazing rituals and most particularly to a culture of sexual harassment and sexual assault.”
Ms Plibersek noted that of the 600 complaints of sexual misconduct at universities in the past five years only six students had been expelled.
“I know some colleges and some universities have made an effort to change a culture but it hasn’t gone far enough, it is not widespread enough,” she said.
“The idea that you can send your 18 or 19 year old son or daughter off to college, after being protected at school from this sort of behaviour, and suddenly they’re fair game for older students, in particular, and in some cases staff, is completely unacceptable.”
Greg Brown 8.20am: ‘Give us a straight apology’
Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke says female staffers were “of course” upset by Michaelia Cash’s comments in Senate Estimates yesterday as he demanded a formal apology.
“What she did yesterday was treat women who work in this building as political fodder, to just throw them under the bus because she was under tough questioning,” Mr Burke told Sky News. “We want a straight up apology, we want an acknowledgement from Michaelia Cash that what she said was wrong.”
Greg Brown 8.10am: ‘Apologise to staffers’
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek says federal parliament was “still a pretty male dominated environment” as she continued the attack on Jobs Minister Michaelia Cash threatening to expose rumours about Bill Shorten’s female staffers.
Ms Plibersek said Senator Cash should walk into the Opposition Leader’s office and make a personal apology to his female staffers.
“I think Michaelia Cash should walk down to Bill Shorten’s office and ask to see the female staff in a group and look them in the eye and say ‘I’m really sorry I didn’t mean to make life harder for you but I slipped up and I’m sorry’,” Ms Plibersek told the ABC.
Ms Plibersek said it was harder for women to get ahead in politics and Senator Cash was not helping.
“It is actually still a pretty male-dominated environment in Parliament House and I remember as a young staffer 25 years ago I was quite often the only young woman in the room, you’ve got to assert yourself, you expect to be treated as a colleague and a professional and having this outburst from the former minister for women really does make it that little bit harder,” Ms Plibersek said.
“Having someone intimate that these young women are somehow less than just the fine, hard working, dedicated professionals they are is really disappointing, very unfortunate.”
.@tanya_plibersek: 'You have to be thick-skinned to work in politics but women are disappointed with @SenatorCash comments. I don't care where she apologises but common decency would say you front up and say it to the person'
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 28, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/KUl77yVTpI #amagenda pic.twitter.com/8hwZ3dTjTk
Greg Brown 7.40am: ‘Just move on’
Education Minister Simon Birmingham says Michaelia Cash “crossed a line” in Senate Estimates yesterday when she threatened to name “every young woman” working in Bill Shorten’s office who had been subject to rumours.
Senator Birmingham said Senator Cash acknowledged she went too far by withdrawing her comments.
But he also told the ABC Labor should “just move on” rather than “seeking to be morally outraged”.
“I’ve seen some unattractive things over the years, but these comments were withdrawn and I think rather than the Labor Party, who I have seen playing some pretty dirty tactics in Senate Estimates, in seeking to be morally outraged by this should just move on,” he said.
Doug Cameron’s questioning of Michaelia Cash was clearly an attempt to promulgate exactly the sort of smear that she then threatened. But. Not. A. Peep. #seriously
— Chris Kenny (@chriskkenny) February 28, 2018
What’s making news:
China is putting Australia into a diplomatic deep freeze, stalling on ministerial visits, deferring a trip by our top diplomat and putting off a broad range of lower-level exchanges to pressure Malcolm Turnbull over the new foreign interference laws and naval challenges to disputed Chinese claims in the South China Sea.
Bill Shorten accepted a $17,000 private green-funded tour of the Great Barrier Reef and charter flight over the Adani coalmine, during which he pledged to environmentalists that a Labor government would seek to use federal laws to revoke the licence of the Indian mining giant.
Federal Jobs Minister Michaelia Cash has been forced to withdraw comments in which she threatened to name “every young woman” working in Bill Shorten’s office who had been subject to rumours.
The first female president of the ACTU has lashed Bill Shorten for doing little to help women and failing to represent their interests during his past life as head of the Australian Workers’ Union.
The Greens candidate attempting to win the seat of Batman and end a century of Labor representation in Melbourne’s north is accused by members of her party of intimidation, bullying, branch stacking, spreading “reckless false statements’’ and cultivating ALP-style factionalism within the party’s largest branch.
Treasury secretary John Fraser has strongly backed the government’s company tax cuts, saying Australia’s competitiveness would be damaged if they were not passed, while senior Treasury staff deny they would represent windfall gains to foreign investors.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop continues to claim taxpayer-funded family travel for her long-term property developer boyfriend David Panton, despite failing to disclose his financial interests on the parliamentary register because she has not classified him as her spouse or de facto partner.
Catherine Marriott, who lodged a sexual harassment complaint against former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, has thanked her supporters, saying she is trying not to focus on the fact that her confidential complaint became public this week.
The nine-month investigation into beleaguered Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg could be set for yet another delay, with the Australian Federal Police now investigating how sensitive information relating to the inquiry found its way into the media.
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