PoliticsNow: Don’t let ‘idiocy’ guide energy policy, Malcolm Turnbull says
PoliticsNow: Malcolm Turnbull has fired back when asked about Tony Abbott’s NEG claims during Question Time.
- Leyonhjelm starts war of words
- ‘Don’t cross the floor’
- Joyce: Paris Agreement has no purpose
- Nationals want tax cuts scrapped
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s blog on the happenings at Parliament House in Canberra.
As expected, energy dominated the agenda, with Malcolm Turnbull firing back when asked about Tony Abbott’s NEG claims, saying “the honourable member knows very well what happens when you allow ideology and idiocy to take charge of energy policy”. Other topics of discussion were company tax cuts, the $444 million grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, euthanasia and Newspoll. Here’s how the day played out:
Rachel Baxendale 6.00pm: Gai Brodtmann to quit politics
Canberra Labor MP Gai Brodtmann has announced she will not be nominating for preselection for the next election.
Ms Brodtmann, who has been the Member for Canberra since 2010, said she had made the decision for “entirely personal reasons”.
She had been expected to nominate for the new ACT seat of Bean.
• Top story: ‘Don’t let idiocy guide energy policy’
Remy Varga 3.50pm: NEG not strong enough: Anderson
Former deputy prime minister John Anderson has cautioned against tripping over in the race for renewables as he warns the national energy guarantee isn’t “strong enough”.
Malcolm Turnbull’s signature energy policy will face the Coalition party room tomorrow after surviving a COAG meeting on Friday.
The former Nationals leader, who served in the Howard government for six years, said on Sky News program Kenny on Sunday that while he believed in renewables he was wary the NEG could potentially do more harm than good.
“I profoundly believe that Australia together, I’m not going to single out the National party, needs to say we can best serve ourselves and the world by keeping our economy strong and by using our energy wisely, that means it has to be affordable, it has to be practical.” he said.
3.40pm: Environment boss asks for reef grant audit
Australia’s top environment bureaucrat wants an official investigation into the decision to grant $444 million to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
Environment Department secretary Finn Pratt has written to the Auditor-General asking him to bring forward a proposed audit of the grant due to increased public and media attention.
Rosie Lewis 3.32pm: Cormann hints at tax cut commitment
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has declared the Turnbull government is “absolutely committed to taking business tax cuts to the next election, hopefully having been legislated by the Senate”.
His comments in Senate question time appear to confirm the Coalition will stay committed to the policy even if the Senate votes against the remaining big business tax cuts in this sitting fortnight.
A number of Senator Cormann’s colleagues like marginal Nationals MP Michelle Landry want the government to “move on” from the company tax cuts for businesses with an annual turnover of more than $50 million if they are rejected by the Senate.
Greg Brown 3.16pm: 100-page document between Coalition and Reef Foundation
Labor’s Tony Burke asks whether Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg assessed the proposal by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation “before or after they were offered half-a-billion dollars”.
Mr Frydenberg says he received the foundation’s final proposal on May 29 and the grant was approved on June 20.
“I want to make it clear, there is a 100-page document between the government and the foundation,” he says.
Greg Brown 3.04pm: ‘Don’t let idiocy guide energy policy’
Opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler asks if Malcolm Turnbull is aware Tony Abbott has ridiculed the prospects of the national energy guarantee reducing power bills by saying “pigs might fly”.
“Does the Prime Minister agree with the man he replaced?”
The Prime Minister says the “almost unanimous views” energy experts and industry leaders was the NEG would reduce prices.
“The honourable member knows very well what happens when you allow ideology and idiocy to take charge of energy policy,” Turnbull says.
“He knows very well what happened in South Australia, where you have the most expensive and least reliable electricity in Australia.”
Greg Brown 3.00pm: Labor’s heat on Reef Foundation
Labor’s Tony Burke goes again on the donation to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. He says the chief executive of the foundation was not aware of a due diligence process, in contradiction to claims made by Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg.
Frydenberg goes into detail of why the government gave the grant to the foundation, starting from consulting with his department in March and ending with approving the grant in June. Consultations with the foundation began in April.
“My department concluded this grant would meet the government’s policy commitment to protect the Great Barrier Reef, represented value for money, and was consistent with the governance and accountability act,” he says.
Greg Brown 2.53pm: Reef Foundation grant ‘value for money’
Bill Shorten moves away from big business tax cuts to the controversial $444 million donation to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
He references a report that says the deal to give the charity the money was decided in a “closed-door meeting” in just 24 hours.
“Why is this Prime Minister so careless with taxpayers’ money?”
Malcolm Turnbull says the Opposition Leader “demeans himself and his party with his smears” before handing the response over to Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg.
Frydenberg says the Department of Environment and Energy assessed the grant as being good value for money.
“My department has made it clear in a report to the Senate that the partnership that is established through a grant agreement is in accordance with the relevant requirements of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines,” he says.
Greg Brown 2.44pm: Super Saturday victory lap continues
Labor wheels out another victor of the Super Saturday by-elections, Freemantle MP Josh Wilson.
“Instead of giving $17 billion dollars to the big banks policy that no Liberal candidate was willing to argue why won’t the Prime Minister support the Labor plan to invest $5 million to build an urgent care clinic at Fremantle Hospital?”
Health Minister Greg Hunt says the government is investing an extra $3.4 billion in hospitals, compared to the previous Labor government.
“You can only do that when you have the economy which supports the ability to invest in new hospitals, new treatments and new medicines,” Hunt says.
Greg Brown 2.39pm: ‘Greens are all about ideology’
Greens MP Adam Bandt asks why the government will not release the full design of the national energy guarantee.
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg hits back sayings the Greens were the party of the carbon tax and higher electricity prices.
“The Greens are all about ideology. The Coalition, when it comes to energy policy, is focusing on engineering and economics,” Frydenberg says.
“The reality is, we have listened to the independent experts, the reality is, this policy has been backed by business, industry, and consumer groups.
“The reality is this policy will reduce power prices together with existing policies, by $550 a year.”
Greg Brown 2.35pm: Keay joins the QT fray
Braddon’s recently elected MP Justine Keay also gets a question. She asks why the government wants to give a tax break to the banks instead of investing in Tasmanian services.
Malcolm Turnbull says the Coalition’s policies are increasing jobs growth in Tasmania.
“I have to say to the honourable member that the greatest threat to the jobs in her electorate would be the election of the party she is a member of to the federal government,” the Prime Minister says.
Greg Brown 2.28pm: Lamb gets a question on return
Newly re-elected Labor MP Susan Lamb gets to ask an early question. She asks why the government is cutting funds to Caboolture Hospital in Longman but offering tax cuts to the “big banks”.
Health Minister Greg Hunt says Labor’s claims on funding cuts to Caboolture Hospital were “lies”.
“An absolute farrago of dishonesty,” Hunt says.
“We are increasing funding, Queensland Labor is degreasing funding, and when it really counts, federal Labor hid the fact that their own people in their own state are taking money away from their own hospitals.”
Greg Brown 2.21pm: Turnbull lashes Shorten’s ‘consistency’
Bill Shorten says Malcolm Turnbull made the recent by-elections a referendum on corporate tax cuts.
“Will he now admit that Australian voters around this country rejected his $80 billion handout to big business, including $17 billion for the big banks?”
The Prime Minister says the Opposition Leader only tells people what they want to hear.
“He has no consistency and that is why he cannot be trusted,” Turnbull says.
“He has failed Australians to give them straight answers on tax, he has failed, just as he failed his members in the Australian Workers Union, to protect them.”
Greg Brown 2.17pm: QT tribute for farmers
Malcolm Turnbull opens QT paying tribute to farmers who are doing it tough in the drought in NSW and Queensland.
“Unlike a fire or a flood which inflicts immediate physical damage to people, property, homes and infrastructure, a drought is insidious, longer and more widespread,” the Prime Minister says.
“To the farmers, who grow the food we eat and the fibre we wear, we thank you for your tenacity and courage. And now, in these difficult, dry times, more than ever, we have your back.”
Bill Shorten says climate change is contributing to the severity of the drought.
“Climate change is not some graph on a page in a report, it has devastating consequences for families and their livelihoods,” he says.
He suggests reinvesting the penalties paid by big banks for their bad behaviour to go towards farmers.
“Let’s work on a plan to reinvest those penalties in some of the people who’d suffered more than their fair share of rip-offs from the banks,” Shorten says.
Greg Brown 2.07pm: Super Saturday victors welcomed
Before QT starts, the House welcomes the five candidates who won the Super Saturday by-elections.
Labor’s Susan Lamb, Josh Wilson, Justine Keay and Patrick Gorman are sworn in as MPs, as well as Centre Alliance’s Rebekha Sharkie.
There was lots of hugs and clapping on the Labor benches, with the government MPs far more demure.
1.45pm: Stillbirths research boost
A study aimed at preventing stillbirths in Australia is among hundreds of medical research projects that will receive a share of $200 million in federal government funding, AAP reports.
The government has announced grants for 320 projects, some of which are focused on obesity, mental health and cardiovascular disease.
“These projects will save and protect lives,” Health Minister Greg Hunt said today.
Greg Brown 1.30pm: ‘I will cross the floor’
Nationals senator Steve Martin has told the Senate he will cross the floor and vote against the government on its higher education reforms.
Senator Martin said he could not support a bill that would lower the HECS income repayment income to $44,999.
“I have informed my colleagues in the Coalition government that I remain opposed to the …legislation,” Senator Martin said.
“Some would say I would be crossing the floor against my party, however I see it as staying true to my word.”
1pm: ‘No one called’ Reef charity
The head of a small Great Barrier Reef charity caught in the eye of a political storm wasn’t aware the federal government performed any checks before handing over $444 million in taxpayer funds, AAP reports.
Great Barrier Reef Foundation managing director Anna Marsden says no-one from the government contacted her — or anyone else in the charity — about the due diligence checks.
It was not until Ms Marsden was listening to a Senate inquiry into the grant that she learned of the process.
“I’m certainly told — and I heard department officials in the inquiry hearing say — that they undertook significant diligence on the foundation,” she told ABC radio today.
The government is under mounting pressure over its decision to grant the funds to the foundation without a competitive tender process.
Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg defended the process, saying there had been “extensive due diligence” to ensure the foundation was best placed to receive the funds.
Ms Marsden said the foundation learned on April 9 it would receive the money and “afterwards we had to do an application”.
That was the day she and foundation chair John Schubert attended a private meeting with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Mr Frydenberg and his Environment Department secretary Finn Pratt.
“We had to certainly demonstrate value for money and our track record,” she said of the retrospective application.
Labor continues to pile pressure on the government over the “dodgy” circumstances surrounding the grant.
Mr Frydenberg argues there’s nothing unusual about the grant. The grant was made to the foundation, a charity set up in 1999 following the first mass coral bleaching 20 years ago, as a single lump sum.
The foundation has just six full-time staff and there is no clear plan so far for how the money will be spent.
Labor has called for the grant to be handed back.
The foundation’s partners comprise businesses like Qantas and BHP and institutions such as ANU and the federal Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Rosie Lewis 12.30pm: ‘Abuse has no place in the Senate’
Senate president Scott Ryan is trying to tighten rules around language following a bitter feud between David Leyonhjelm and Sarah Hanson-Young. Read more here
12pm: Union boss’s political switch
Transport Workers Union boss Tony Sheldon has quit his role to take a shot at becoming a NSW Labor senator, AAP reports.
Mr Sheldon has been replaced by Michael Kaine as the TWU national secretary after almost 30 years with the union, including nearly 12 years in the top job. “As a senator I intend to bring the advocacy and activism from my time in the union movement to the policy level,” Mr Sheldon said in a statement today.
Greg Brown 11.45am: NT push for euthanasia bill
Northern Territory Country Liberal Party leader Gary Higgins has urged the Senate to back David Leyonhjelm’s bill to allow territories to legalise euthanasia.
Mr Higgins’ plea comes after NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner and ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr took out a full-page advertisement in The Australian this morning urging the upper house to vote in favour of the bill.
“It is fundamentally unfair and unjust that Territorians should be entitled to a less democratic form of government than other Australians,” Mr Higgins said.
“Regardless of personal views on euthanasia, I urge all senators to support the rights of Territorians to legislate just as states do.
“This issue is not about euthanasia, it is about democracy, it is about the integrity of our system of government, it is about a fair go for all, including Territorians.”
Greg Brown 11.15am: ACCC chief advises the Nationals
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims is addressing the Nationals party room and talking through recommendations in a recent report to underwrite dispatchable power projects.
The Nationals have been pushing Malcolm Turnbull for government support of new coal-fired power plants in return for the party’s support of the NEG.
Mr Sims’ recommendation on government underwriting new projects does not specify coal but could include any form of dispatchable power, such as gas or hydro.
Greg Brown 11am: Labor opposes coal push
Opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler says government funds should not be targeted at encouraging the construction of “univestable” new coal-fired power stations.
Mr Butler said he was concerned the government was going to use the ACCC report as an excuse to help fund coal, which would be misinterpretation of a recommendation to underwrite new power projects.
“I think everyone needs to get real in the Coalition party room, new coal-fired power stations are simply not getting built in this country,” Mr Butler said this morning.
“I think we all understand what’s happening here: Malcolm Turnbull is trying to tame the beast that is the hard right of the Coalition party room led by Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce.
“It reminds us that the biggest barrier to lower power prices for Australian households is the chaos and division for five years in the Coalition party room on energy policy.
“This beast will not be tamed and Malcolm Turnbull has to realise if he has any chance of landing an energy policy that has broad political and industry support, he simply has to stop taking dictation from Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce.”
Greg Brown 10.25am: Paris Agreement ‘has no purpose’
Barnaby Joyce says people in “Kmart” and the “local pub” do not care about the Paris Agreement as he piled pressure on Malcolm Turnbull to prove the national energy guarantee would lower prices.
“People in the Kmart, the people in the local pub, they don’t care about the Paris Agreement, it means nothing to them, it has no purpose,” Mr Joyce said this morning.
“What matters to them is this: that they can be able to afford their power bills and they currently cannot, it is not about power prices staying where they are they are too high, they have got to go down.”
Mr Joyce said a major electricity broker told him last night the wholesale price of power would likely rise from $89 per megawatt hour to $105.90 in the first quarter of next year.
“So they are factoring in a rise in electricity prices, and if that is the case that is a rise just before an election,” he said.
Mr Joyce is urging the government to threaten to break up major electricity companies if they do not reduce prices.
But he has not decided whether he is prepared to cross the floor over the policy.
Greg Brown 10am: Abbott: buy Liddell now
Tony Abbott says Malcolm Turnbull is wrong to claim the national energy guarantee has the overwhelming support of the Coalition party room as he calls for an immediate compulsory acquisition of the Liddell coal-fired power station in the NSW Hunter Valley.
The former prime minister said mandating emissions reductions targets in legislation “would be a dreadful mistake” as he doubted the Prime Minister’s claim the policy had strong party room support.
“I certainly don’t accept that there is overwhelming support, as the Prime Minister says, he might have interpreted it that way but I certainly didn’t interpret it that way,” Mr Abbott told 2GB radio.
“This is such an absolutely critical question for the future of the government, it is an absolutely critical question for the future of our economy and our country.
“It would just be appalling if this were to be waved through tomorrow given the consequence that would flow from any new policy that would hasten the deindustrialisation of our country.”
Mr Abbott said the government should keep Liddell open rather than give a “vague” promise of underwriting dispatchable power projects.
“If we are serious about coal, keep Liddell open and it has got to happen now,” Mr Abbott said.
“I mean a compulsory acquisition process needs to start now because I am very suspicious of governments which demand something today on the basis of vague promises tomorrow.”
Peter van Onselen 9.50am: Why the PM should be worried
Make no mistake, if a viable alternative was in the wings leadership speculation would be inevitable. Read more here
Greg Brown 9.15am: Coal on the agenda?
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has confirmed Malcolm Turnbull is set to fast track a proposal that would see the government underwrite new power projects.
Senator Cormann said Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg and Treasurer Scott Morrison had written to the Prime Minister with a proposal to develop options to underwrite new power projects, which could include coal stations.
“In an effort to further assist in lowering electricity prices and that is something that will be considered in the next little while,” Senator Cormann said.
Greg Brown 9am: Education Minister defends power plan
Education Minister Simon Birmingham says coal would not be favoured if the government adopts an ACCC recommendation to underwrite investments in new dispatchable power generation.
Senator Birmingham said the government’s energy policy was not about “picking winners”, which is what has driven up prices in the past.
He said the government had never thought the national energy guarantee was the only solution to the energy price crisis in the growing expectation Malcolm Turnbull will tick off a ACCC recommendation that would see taxpayers underwrite new power projects
“And indeed when it comes to the ACCC’s recommendation it is clear that it is not about picking winners, it is not about lump sum capital investments upfront,” Senator Birmingham told Sky News.
“It is about ensuring that, if need be, there is an underwriting mechanism as such where take off agreements are struck for investors in new energy to have certainty that there will be buyers at a minimum price for that energy.
“We will of course approach that with the same confidence and the same priorities as all of our other energy reforms and that is the priority of (delivering) lower prices for Australian households and businesses.”
Greg Brown 8.35am: Leyonhjelm clash over ‘free vote’
The Turnbull government and key crossbencher David Leyonhjelm have started the sitting fortnight in a war of words on whether the Liberal Democrat leader was promised a free vote in both houses of parliament on his bill to give the territories the right to legalise euthanasia.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said he never knew of a deal that would allow a free vote in the parliament in return for Senator Leyonhjelm’s support of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
He said the government was opposed to Senator Leyonhjelm’s bill being debated in the Senate this week and that Labor, the Greens and the crossbench had the numbers to bring on the upper house vote.
The Australian understands Malcolm Turnbull is considering blocking a vote in the House of Representatives if the bill passes the Senate.
“I was not part of any of the conversations in which such a commitment was made and the Prime Minister himself has also denied that such a commitment was made,” Senator Cormann told ABC radio.
Senator Leyonhjelm said he received a guarantee from Mr Turnbull a free vote would be allowed in the House if his bill passed the Senate.
“It is a pretty important issue for us in the Senate, on the crossbench, to think that the government will do a deal in order to get a vote and then deny there was a deal later,” Senator Leyonhjelm said this morning.
Greg Brown 8.20am: Cormann bullish on tax plan
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says the government will try and pass big business tax cuts “this sitting fortnight” as he poured cold water over a plan to carve out the major banks from the proposal.
Senator Cormann said a proposal by crossbench senator Derryn Hinch to cap business tax cuts for companies with a turnover of up to $500 million would act as a disincentive for businesses to become bigger.
“If you put such a cap in place you place a perverse incentive for businesses to downsize and in worst case scenarios to lay off people,” Senator Cormann told ABC radio.
“We want to provide incentives for smaller businesses to become bigger businesses so they hire more people rather than provide an incentive for bigger businesses to become smaller businesses.
“The truth is our largest corporations here out in Australia are on the front line of global competition, they hire many Australians directly, they buy many products and services from small and medium sized businesses.
“If we weaken our bigger businesses then that weakens the economy as a whole and costs jobs.”
Greg Brown 7.55am: ‘Drop company tax cuts’
Nationals MPs Michelle Landry and Ken O’Dowd have urged Malcolm Turnbull to drop his big business tax cuts.
Ms Landry said it did not look like the reform would make it through the Senate and the government should instead focus on reducing the cost of living for pensioners.
“The feedback that we have certainly received is that it is not going to get through so I think that we need to start looking at other areas that we can help people,” the Queensland marginal seat holder told the ABC.
“I would like, actually, to see more money go towards our aged pensioners. I think that we need to seriously look at what we can do to help them.”
Greg Brown 7.20am: ‘Don’t cross the floor’
Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge says he is “quite confident” the Coalition party room will back the final design of the national energy guarantee as he urges Tony Abbott against crossing the floor against the policy.
Mr Tudge said the NEG would be subject to a “robust discussion” in the joint party room meeting tomorrow morning but believed the policy would ultimately have the clear support of Coalition MPs.
“I think there’ll be a number of questions in relation to getting assurance that it will reduce prices, but then it will go through the party room, I’m quite confident about that,” he told the ABC last night.
Mr Tudge said he hoped Mr Abbott would not cross the floor and vote against the government on the policy if it won the support of the party room.
“It’s individuals’ prerogatives to do so within the Liberal Party, whereas you’re not allowed to within the Labor Party, but obviously it’s not a good look,” Mr Tudge said.
“And so I hope that Tony Abbott will be able to sit down with Josh Frydenberg, discuss his concerns and that we can actually have a united position.”
WHAT’S MAKING NEWS:
• Malcolm Turnbull’s popularity has plunged, and the Coalition’s primary vote has softened, as the Prime Minister and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg prepare for a high-stakes showdown with rebel MPs tomorrow over the national energy guarantee.
• A majority of Labor voters have called on states and territories to open up gas development to drive down energy prices, with more than one in two Australians demanding that moratoriums on gas exploration be lifted.
• Labor and Coalition MPs are milking a $22.5 million political slush fund to pork-barrel projects in electorates, with Bill Shorten’s former waste watch spokesman Pat Conroy spending $22,000 on an 18-hole mini-golf course and Queensland Nationals MP Michelle Landry forking out more than $3000 on a potato peeler.
• A population policy that would include visa conditions on a specific number of new skilled migrants settling in cities other than Sydney or Melbourne is scheduled to be signed by cabinet as early as today.
• Victoria and Western Australia have backed a push to give the ACT and Northern Territory the right to legalise voluntary euthanasia ahead of a vote in the Senate this week.
• The Great Barrier Reef Foundation advertised for a financial controller to help “scale up” the charity in the wake of the Turnbull government’s $444 million grant, sparking accusations from Labor that it lacked the capacity to manage such a significant investment.
• Former staffers of federal Labor MP Emma Husar want an apology from the NSW ALP’s head office, and for it to be acknowledged they were badly bullied by her, following an internal party report that said it “generally favoured” their “perception of events”.
• The peak body representing family lawyers has hit back at Attorney-General Christian Porter’s “unacceptably derisive” criticism of Family Court judges, and warned his plans to scrap the 42-year-old court would lead to a further blowout in waiting times.
• Simon Benson writes that the Turnbull government lacks policy coherence and remains crippled by a failure of political management.
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