PoliticsNow: Senate estimates hears of ‘Hockey owes me’ meeting
PoliticsNow | Details emerge of a meeting between Joe Hockey and a Helloworld exec because he “owed” the company’s CEO.
- ‘Hockey owes me’ meeting
- Julie Bishop quits politics
- ‘Moving goalposts’ on Adani: O’Toole
- Glencore’s coal cap ‘self-interest’
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live blog on the happenings at Parliament House in Canberra.
Greg Brown 8.56pm: Confusion over China port’s Aussie coal ban
Trade officials are urgently trying to clarify if Australian coal has been banned from a key Chinese port but believe the move from Beijing would be to manage local demand rather than a snub of the Morrison government.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade head of North Asia, Graham Fletcher, said there was “confusion” about what was happening after a Chinese official told Reuters Australian coal had been banned from the northern Dalian port.
Read more here.
Greg Brown 7.57pm: Labor slams partisan appointments
Labor has slammed the Morrison government for making a string of partisan appointments to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said 14 of the 86 new appointed to the AAT were former Coalition MPs or staffers.
“If Australians needed any more evidence after the events of today that this government is only in it for themselves – Attorney-General Christian Porter has announced a staggering 86 appointments to the AAT after parliament rose, full of Liberal mates,” Mr Dreyfus said.
“The government has a shameful record on stacking the AAT with Liberal donors, former MPs, former staffers and mates – but it has outdone itself today.”
Mr Dreyfus said full time AAT members were paid more than $380,000 per year.
“A handsome reward for having the right friends in the right places,” he said.
Under the revamp announced by Mr Porter, former Family Court chief justice will be deputy president.
Thirty four of the appointments were new, while there were 52 reappointments for existing members of the AAT.
“Thirty four of the appointments were new, while there were 52 reappointments for existing members of the AAT,” he said.
AAT appointments with Coalition links:
• Former Liberal Senator Stephen Parry, appointed for a seven year term
• Former Nationals MP De-Anne Kelly
• Former Liberal MP Robert Baldwin
• Former South Australian state Liberal MP Steven Griffiths
• Former West Australian Liberal MP Joseph Francis
• Former Malcolm Turnbull adviser Tony Barry
• Former Alexander Downer adviser Phoebe Dunn
• Former Jeff Kennett Chief of Staff John Griffin
• Stephen Barton, former adviser to a West Australian Liberal Minister
• Dawn Fitzgerald, former Chief of Staff to West Australian Liberal Minister
• Former West Australian Liberal Senate candidate Michael Sutherland.
• Queensland LNP adviser Dominic Katter
• Ian Fletcher, former Chief of Staff to a West Australian Liberal Premier
4.30pm: ‘Our finest Foreign Minister’
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is one of many to pay tribute to outgoing MP Julie Bishop, who today announced her plans to exit politics.
Thank you @JulieBishopMP for your service to our nation and our Party and, above all, your friendship over so many years. You have been our finest Foreign Minister - eloquent, elegant and always courageous advancing our national interest in these challenging times.
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) February 21, 2019
Whoever replaces @JulieBishopMP will have big shoes to fill and we all know Julie has the best shoes in Parliament.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) February 21, 2019
Very impressive farewell speech by Julie Bishop without any notes - a huge loss to the parliament and to the Liberal Party #auspol
— Troy Bramston (@TroyBramston) February 21, 2019
Dennis Shanahan 3.52pm: Julie Bishop quits
Julie Bishop has announced that she will not contest the next federal election. Read more here
Rosie Lewis 3.30pm: ‘Hockey owes me’
Russell Carstensen, a former senior Helloworld employee, claims DFAT staff were “uncomfortable” he met with Joe Hockey amid claims the meeting was set up because Australia’s US ambassador “owed” his friend and the company’s CEO Andrew Burnes.
Mr Carstensen, Qantas Business Travel’s former group general manager, has written a letter to the Senate’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade legislation detailing his recollection of why the meeting was arranged and what occurred before and after he visited Mr Hockey in Washington.
QBT is a subsidiary of Helloworld, which Mr Hockey has a more than $1 million shareholding in.
Labor labelled the email a “bombshell” but Scott Morrison said the opposition was simply trying to appeal to the “Canberra bubble”.
Mr Carstensen claimed Mr Burnes wanted the meeting because the ambassador was frustrated that services available to him to arrange his travel were unprofessional and with limited.
“Early 2017 Andrew Burnes advised me that his long-term friend Mr Hockey was frustrated that his travel arranges (sic) were unprofessional and with limited hours of operations … Mr Burnes told me that he was going to arrange a meeting with Mr Hockey and me at some point in the first half of 2017,” Mr Carstensen wrote.
“Around the date of the 23rd of April 2017 I was in Europe on personal leave and some business and was planning to fly directly home to Melbourne when I was contacted by Mr Burnes via email/SMS and voice call to tell me he had arranged a meeting with Mr Hockey and I had to fly home via Washington to meet with him. I asked Mr Burnes how could this be done so quickly (and) he verbally advised me, ‘Hockey owes me’. I found that ‘owes me’ comment strange in the cirucmstances but it’s not an unusual term from Mr Burnes when talking about his business relationships. I knew Mr Burnes and Mrs Burnes has had a long term friendship with Mr Hockey and his family.
“We spoke for about an hour and was provided with Mr Hockey’s travel frustrations, which I totally understood. After the meeting I left without any further communication until I returned to Australia and debriefed Mr Burnes on the meeting. I advised him that the embassy business would have to go to tender but there was a (sic) excellent opportunity to get that business, especially that wanted (sic) and to hub the America’s travel out of Washington as discussed.
“On my return I emailed Mr Hockey directly to his embassy email address and gave him the corporate travel options in detail. I assume these details could have been used at a basis (sic) of the tender requirements if a tender came up.
“I sent a copy of that email to Mr Burnes. I also advised Whole-of-Australian-Government Travel Services I met with Mr Hockey. The feedback from WoAG Travel team was that they were uncomfortable with the meeting. I decided then that I would not follow up with Mr Hockey.
“I was advised later in a conversation that ‘people’ in DFAT were uncomfortable that Mr Hockey met me and that he was a shareholder of Helloworld. If I remember correctly I did not know at the time of the meetin gin Washington that he was a shareholder.”
Richard Ferguson 3.15pm: Shorten’s ‘breathless’ tirade
Scott Morrison opposes the motion and says Bill Shorten “sounds breathless”. “The leader of the Labor Party has never seen a private jet that he wasn’t keen to climb aboard on,” the Prime Minister says.
“This is a leader of the Labor Party who’s been sucking up around the Melbourne elite all of his life! As he sought to climb up the greasy pole. Over one body after another, as he’s sought to destroy them and all those members who sit opposite know it only too well.
“This is a leader of the Labor Party who wants to run the country like a union. And he runs the Labor Party like a union. And we know - and they know - the character of the leader of the Labor Party.
“They (Australian voters) know the leader of the Labor Party is a very weak man, Mr Speaker, because they can see it in his character, and they know he is not the sort of person that they would want to have lead this country.”
Richard Ferguson 3.10pm: Labor attack continues
Bill Shorten moves a motion to suspend standing orders, so he can move a motion condemning Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and ambassador to the US Joe Hockey.
“I start this speech with the following words - ‘Hockey owes me’,” he says.
“That tells you everything you need to know about this government. Somebody owes a Liberal donor, so they get a meeting.”
A former Helloworld employee has claimed in a letter to senate estimates that Liberal Party treasurer and Helloworld chief executive Andrew Burnes told him: “Hockey owes me” after a meeting between a Helloworld subsidiary and embassy staff.
Richard Ferguson 3pm: Ambassador doing ‘a darn fine job’
Bill Shorten asks Scott Morrison if Finance Minister Mathias Cormann made it “compulsory” for all government travel be booked through Helloworld. He asks why he has not sacked Senator Cormann and Ambassador to the US Joe Hockey.
Leader of the House Christopher Pyne responds.
“The Minister for Finance spent five hours in Senate estimates answering questions about that issue and covered every aspect of the assertions being made by the Leader of the Opposition and I would refer him to the Hansard record of the Senate estimates,” he says.
“I will tell you why Ambassador Hockey hasn’t been recalled. Because he is doing a darn good job.
“There will be members on the other side of the House who visited in Washington, DC in the last three years that Joe Hockey has been the ambassador.
“I have never heard one of them criticise the job that Joe Hockey is doing. They have all been happy to go to the resident, I’m sure, for lunch or dinner or for receptions that the ambassador has put on.”
Richard Ferguson 2.55pm: Burnes attack
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers asks if any minister has declared any conflict of interest with Helloworld or its chief executive Andrew Burnes.
The Prime Minister responds: “I’m not aware of any. If there are, they would be updated on the register, Mr Speaker, and that matter disclosed and I would be happy to update the House if there is anything further to add.”
Richard Ferguson 2.48pm: Unfinished business
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers asks why Attorney General Christian Porter said earlier today that Helloworld was unsuccessful in a tender process, when the said process was not finished.
Mr Porter says: “It was just an error. I have no knowledge about the contract.”
Richard Ferguson 2.42pm: A hollow pursuit
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers asks Scott Morrison about DFAT secretary Frances Adamson’s statements on Joe Hockey to senate estimates.
“Is the PM aware that when asked if she believes Mr Hockey’s behaviour reflects the high standards expected of someone in that position, the secretary of DFAT replied, “There are whole range of things you have raised today I think we need to think about and we need to provide answers to you. I’m not in a position now to say that in all respects those actions have met the standards.’”he asks.
“If the secretary of DFAT can’t say that Mr Hockey has acted appropriately, how can the Prime Minister?”
Leader of the House Christopher Pyne responds: “The secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs has said that the actions that Mr Hockey has undertaken in declaring his conflict of interest are appropriate. It’s been confirmed that shareholding of Mr Hockey in Hollow-world (sic) was declared.”
Labor MPs laugh at Mr Pyne saying “Hollow-world” instead of “Hello-world.”
Richard Ferguson 2.35pm: Pyne steps in again
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers asks Scott Morrison if it was appropriate for Ambassador to the US Joe Hockey to attend a meeting with Helloworld.
Leader of the House Christopher Pyne says the question is out of order because it assumes what the Prime Minister was thinking. Speaker Tony Smith disagrees.
Mr Pyne responds: “The Australian Embassy staff meeting with QBT on 26 April 2017, which is the meeting in question, was not in relation to the tender process.”
Richard Ferguson 2.30pm: Hockey probe continues
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers asks Scott Morrison to confirm DFAT staff were not aware of ambassador to the US Joe Hockey’s $1m stake in Helloworld before a meeting with the travel company.
Leader of the House Christopher Pyne responds: “Mr Speaker, I can confirm that the secretary of DFAT said the actions of Mr Hockey undertook in declaring his conflict of interest were entirely appropriate.”
Richard Ferguson 2.21pm: Hockey ‘a great Australian’
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers asks Scott Morrison to confirm ambassador to the US Joe Hockey directed embassy staff to meet Helloworld executives.
Dr Chalmers accuses the former treasurer of “using taxpayer money and his position to line his own pockets and pay off political debts to Liberal Party donors.”
Leader of the House Christopher Pyne defends Mr Hockey and calls him a “great Australian”.
“Joe Hockey is a great Australian. He had been a great ambassador in Washington, he has done a fantastic job,” he says.
“There have been some crucial times in the last three years, particularly in the last two years, when Australia’s interest have needed to be represented in Washington, steel tariffs was a very good example, aluminium tariffs, Mr Speaker.
“When Joe Hockey’s relationships in the Pentagon or on Capitol Hill, in the White House, made a tangible difference to the outcome for Australia.
“Now, the fact that the Labor Party dismisses that only indicates how unfit they are to be in government. Because ambassadors in major national capital is like London, Beijing, Tokyo, Washington, they are very important to represent this nation’s interest and to get good outcomes.
“Getting the kids off Nauru, for an example, setting up a deal with the Americans to help them do the necessary checks and take as many people off Nauru as possible. Joe Hockey was engaged in that.”
Richard Ferguson 2.15pm: ‘Trying to smear Hockey’
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers asks Scott Morrison about an email submitted to estimates by a former Helloworld employee, where he claims chief executive Andrew Burnes said “Hockey owes me.”
Leader of the House Christopher Pyne rises to his feet and says the question is out of order as Mr Hockey has nothing to do with the tender process Helloworld was pursuing.
“The Labor Party are trying to smear Joe Hockey,” Mr Pyne says. “And the central tenant of their argument is that somehow, a conflict of interest has influenced a tender outcome and the point I was making Mr Hockey has absolutely nothing to do with the outcome of the decision-making process in the tender.
“They haven’t been able to produce any evidence whatsoever that the ambassador has made any attempt at any point to influence the tender and therefore he has no conflict of interest.”
Richard Ferguson 2.05pm: Labor opens QT with Hockey query
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers opens Question Time and asks about Ambassador to the US Joe Hockey’s ties to travel company Helloworld.
“Is the Prime Minister aware of evidence at senate estimates today from the former group general manager of Helloworld company who met with Joe Hockey in Washington?” Dr Chalmers asks.
“What is the Prime Minister’s response to the fact the evidence included, and I quote ‘I asked Mr Burnes how this could be done so quickly, he verbally advised me, ‘Hockey owes me’.”
Scott Morrison replies with a Helloworld statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
“Now, companies do not make statements to the stock exchange lightly, others may make statements, Mr Speaker, and their veracity can be tested in those forums,” he says.
“But when you make a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, that is a very serious matter.
“And what the statement to the Australian Stock Exchange that from Helloworld travel
Ltd, is that no time has Ambassador Hockey or Helloworld CEO Andrew Burnes discussed the DFAT tender and never did Mr Hockey nor Mr Burnes have had any involvement in the tender.”
Richard Ferguson 1.04pm: O’Toole’s coal history
Labor MP Cathy O’Toole has told off the Queensland government for shifting the goalposts on Adani today. But the Member for Herbert has not always spoke glowingly about coal or Adani.
Ms O’Toole, House of Representatives, October 12, 2016:
That is why we have a policy ... to plan for the orderly closure of the dirtiest and oldest coal power stations ...
Ms O’Toole, House of Representatives, March 23, 2017:
Electricity prices in Queensland were more expensive than South Australia in 2015 and 2016, despite the fact that Queensland has coal-fired generation.
Ms O’Toole, Federation Chamber, October 19 last year:
Coal fired power stations are so uninvestable that none of the major banks or the finance or energy industry will provide any funding or loans to any new coal-fired power station — yet there are LNP members who still spruik the merit of coal-fired power stations.
Ms O’Toole, House of Representatives, February 26 last year:
My position on the Adani coalmine has always been clear; if it stacks up environmentally and financially then it will go ahead ... But I will never support one red cent of money to the tune of $1 billion of taxpayers money going to a foreign billion-dollar company.
Will Glasgow 12.30pm: Westpac visits Bowen
Westpac’s CEO Brian Hartzer and chair Lindsay Maxsted have made a rare combined appearance in Canberra to plead their case as the major parties prepare their legislative responses to Kenneth Hayne’s royal commission report
One of their destinations: almost Treasurer Chris Bowen’s office.
The Westpac double act — perhaps the most formidable right now in Big Four banking — are also visiting the office of the actual Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
Richard Ferguson 12.10pm: ‘Moving goalposts’ on Adani: O’Toole
Labor MP Cathy O’Toole has lashed Queensland’s state government for shifting “the goalposts” on the Adani Carmichael mine and tells them “to keep out of North Queensland’s business”, as a last-minute environmental report threatens to kill the project.
The Queensland government has been accused of standing in the way of the long-delayed mine after it released an external review claiming the project could kill off the black-throated finch.
The federal MP for Herbert’s intervention comes as Labor tries to patch up divisions over the future of coal, after frontbencher Richard Marles said the death of thermal coal would be “good.”
“The state government needs to keep out of North Queensland’s business,” Ms O’Toole told the Townsville Bulletin today.
“It is unfair on business in our community for the goalposts (on the Adani project) to be constantly changing.
“It just seems that across the board in the southeast corner of Queensland they are telling us what jobs we can and can’t have — and that’s unfair and it simply has to stop.”
Ms O’Toole’s seat is on a margin of just 0.02 per cent and is widely considered the best prospect for a Coalition pick-up at the next federal election.
The Labor MP said she welcomed the jobs created by Adani “if the project stacked up” and voiced her support for the coal industry in her seat.
“I have always welcomed jobs for Townsville and if this project stacks up, I say it goes ahead,” she told the Townsville Bulletin.
“I think it’s very clear, Australia makes the best steel in the world, if we want a steel industry we need coal, if we want a mobile phone we need coal.”
Resources Minister Matt Canavan said Ms O’Toole could not be trusted to support coal jobs in north Queensland and accused her of saying “one thing in Canberra and another in Townsville.”
“Don’t trust Cathy O’Toole with your coal job — she has not said one nice thing about coal in her almost 1,000 days as an MP,” he said.
“In fact, Cathy O’Toole has only mentioned coal in 7 speeches and in all of them she talked down the prospects of coal or investments in coal mining.
“Cathy O’Toole says one thing in Canberra and another in Townsville.”
Richard Ferguson 11.49am: Emissions target a ‘great big tax’: Taylor
Energy Minister Angus Taylor has labelled Labor’s 45 per cent emissions reduction target a “great big tax” after independent modelling revealed the ALP’s policy could led to a $9000 a year hit to wages.
“The other thing to say is that this is just a tax. What Labor is doing is putting in another great big new tax on your power bills, on your job, to make it harder for businesses to operate in this country,” the Energy Minister said in Canberra today.
“What happens when you put up taxes? You get a lower wages, you get fewer jobs.
“A 45 per cent target, which is a great big electricity tax, a great big energy tax ... they need to answer some hard questions about their policy and the impact it is going to have on every Australian.”
James Glynn 11.44am: Job growth better than expected
Australia added significantly more jobs than expected in January, led by a sharp jump in full-time employment, to ease fears about the economic outlook.
Australia’s unemployment rate was unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 5.0 per cent in January, in line with economists’ expectations.
The number of people employed rose by 39,100, compared with an expected 15,000 rise, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.
Rosie Lewis 11.34am: Hockey evidence summary
Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong sums up the Joe Hockey/Helloworld evidence from estimates this morning.
“Mr Hockey did attend a meeting on I think 26th April (2017) between embassy staff and a company that provides travel services. That company was a group in which he has a financial interest. The meeting was organised at his request after the company emailed him, the meeting was with embassy staff who have overarching responsibility for those who procure travel — so one step removed. And the value of the travel services that the Washington embassy purchases ... between $US8-8.5 million per annum.”
She’s told by DFAT secretary Frances Adamson her summary is correct.
Richard Ferguson 11.26am: Glencore’s coal cap ‘self-interest’
Resources Minister Matt Canavan says mining company Glencore’s announcement they will cap global coal output is about “self-interest” rather than tackling climate change.
“I think the announcement overnight appears to be much more to do with the self-interest of Glencore then the planetary interest of trying to save the climate,” he said in Canberra.
“They obviously want to maintain their dominant position, particularly in the seaborne thermal coal market. Good luck to them.
Garvey: Glencore’s coal reversal a clever tactic
“What I would like to see is that Australian mining companies and Australian jobs capture as much of the world coal market as possible.
“We produce around 200 million tonnes of thermal coal today. The future is very bright for Australian coal.”
Richard Ferguson 11.12am: No action on Wilson
House Speaker Tony Smith will not take action against Liberal MP Tim Wilson after accusations he shared the personal information of voters to a private company fighting Labor’s franking credits policy.
But Mr Smith did criticise the chair of the parliamentary economics committee for his way he has handled his inquiry into Labor’s retiree tax, including his use of a taxpayer-funded website to attack ALP policy.
“His actions have not always conformed with what I see as the conventions usually observed by the chairs of committees,” the Speaker said.
Mr Wilson has denied the allegations and said he merely intends to use his inquiry to “let the Australian people” have their say on franking credits.
Richard Ferguson 10.57am: Morrison’s Helloworld appearance
What was Scott Morrison doing on this day one year ago?
He was giving a doorstop interview at a franchisee of Helloworld, a travel company Labor is pursuing over its links to Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and Ambassador to the US Joe Hockey.
Video from Sky News a year ago shows Mr Morrison and cabinet minister Kelly O’Dwyer behind a blue Helloworld banner.
“It’s great to be here at — and I’ll do my best John Laws impersonation — ‘Hello, world!’ It’s great to be seeing another business that is benefiting from the tax cuts that have already been delivered and legislated,” the then-treasurer said at the Helloworld Ashburton travel agency on February 21 last year.
“As a government, we are just getting on with the job. There’s a lot to do. We are getting about it and particularly supporting small businesses like Helloworld.”
The press conference was to highlight a local franchisee benefiting from small business tax cuts, and appears to have nothing to do with the wider organisation run by Liberal Party treasurer Andrew Burnes.
Richard Ferguson 10.32am: Medivac bill ‘very specific’: Labor
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus says Labor’s medivac bill is “very specific” on labelling medical transfers of refugees are “temporary”, despite government advice the bill has a loophole which could send asylum seekers on a “one way ticket” to Australia.
“We don’t think there is a problem ... this is just desperation from a government that’s given up on governing,” Mr Dreyfus told ABC radio.
“The bill that passed is very specific about temporary transfers. And it’s very hard on a legal basis to see how we have a problem here.”
“The thing he (Mr Porter) is screaming about is already happening. Of the 900 people they’ve brought here, only one has been sent back to Manus and Nauru.”
Mr Drefyus conceded refugees could stay in Australia under Labor’s medivac bill depending “on their circumstances.”
“It depends on their circumstances and let’s look what happened on the government’s watch. Some 900 medical transferees from Manus and Nauru have been brought here and only one has been sent back,” he told ABC radio.
“This is already happening.”
Richard Ferguson 10.16am: Hockey on ‘his last legs’: Labor
Labor sources have confirmed to The Australian that the party, if elected, would consider sacking Ambassador to the US Joe Hockey for his dealings with a travel company he has a $1m stake in.
Mr Hockey helped to arrange a meeting between a subsidiary of Helloworld, run by Liberal Party treasurer Andrew Burnes, and embassy staff in 2017 while they were seeking a contract.
The former treasurer later recused himself from the meeting and declared his interest in Helloworld to DFAT.
Labor sources said Mr Hockey is on “his last legs” and that they will consider removing him from his Washington DC post if they win the next election.
Scott Morrison told parliament yesterday Labor were “throwing mud” at the Ambassador to deflect from issues like border protection and the Adani mine.
Primrose Riordan 9.57am: Labor goes after Hockey
Labor is pursuing US Ambassador Joe Hockey in Department of Foreign Affairs Senate estimates today. Labor Senator Penny Wong has asked DFAT to table Mr Hockey’s annual declarations of interest.
Mr Hockey is under fire for having a shareholding in a company which has a major travel contract with the government and for which he helped secure a meeting with officials at the Australian Embassy in Washington.
DFAT Secretary Frances Adamson appeared to defend Mr Hockey in the hearing today, saying he “took steps to declare” his potential conflict of interest.
DFAT has said Mr Hockey first formally declared his shareholding in Helloworld ahead of a meeting in April 2017 between officials and a company which is part of Helloworld, QBT. He also declared the shareholding in 2017 during an annual declaration all officials take part in.
QBT approached the embassy for a meeting, in response Mr Hockey asked for a meeting to occur.
DFAT said officials in Washington did not raise concerns about the meeting.
Richard Ferguson 9.30am: Modelling fits Labor-commissioned study: Taylor
Energy Minister Angus Taylor says independent research showing Labor’s emissions reductions target would cost the economy $70bn is line with recent modelling.
“It fits with modelling in the past. The Climate Change Authority did modelling, commissioned by Labor actually, back in 2012-13. Very consistent. A $6000 hit to wages ... 78 per cent increase in electricity prices. That was commissioned by Labor,” he told Sky News.
“This modelling is very much in sync with that we’ve seen in the past.
“Labor hasn’t come clean on the impact on their 45 per cent emissions reduction target.
“Australians deserve to know what that will do. Not just to the overall economy — 336,000 jobs, $9000 hit to wages according to this independent modelling — but also what will mean on the sector level. What will it mean for farmers? What will it mean for tradies?”
Richard Ferguson 9.12am: Labor dismisses energy modelling
Labor frontbencher Jim Chalmers has dismissed independent research showing Labor’s 45 per cent emissions reduction target could cost the Australian economy $70bn by 2030, and leave workers $9000 a year worse off in lower wages.
“I don’t think that modelling represents the mainstream scientific or economic view about the impact of our policy,” he told Sky News.
“Our 45 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030 has been modelled. And the conclusion of the modelling showed wholesale power prices would go down by something like 25 per cent.
“Australians understand, economists understand, scientists understand, the best way to get cheaper, cleaner energy is to invest more in renewables. And that’s what we intend to do.”
Richard Ferguson 9.03am: Marles ‘nowhere near the point’
Labor frontbencher Richard Marles was “nowhere near the point he was intending to make” when he said the collapse of the thermal coal market would be “good”, opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers says.
Mr Marles’s comments yesterday signified a split in Labor over the future of coal under a Shorten Labor government. Dr Chalmers today said coal had “an important part to play” and he “wouldn’t use the same language” as his shadow cabinet colleague.
“I wouldn’t use the same language, I wouldn’t say they’ve collapsed,” Dr Chalmers told Sky News.
“Coal is a big part of exports out of my home state of Queensland. Has an important role to play.
“Richard has clarified what he said yesterday. He said, I think, as only Richard would, he was nowhere near the point he was intending to make.
“Coal is important even with the transition to renewable energy … That’s our view.”
Richard Ferguson 8.50am: Hockey has ‘serious questions to answer’: Labor
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers says Ambassador to the US Joe Hockey has “serious questions to answer” about arranging a meeting between embassy staff and a travel company he has a $1m stake in.
Shadow Finance Minister @JEChalmers says @JoeHockey has 'very serious questions to answer' on the Helloworld scandal, arguing the incident will be a 'test of leadership for @ScottMorrisonMP'.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 20, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/tHpJ2seega #amagenda pic.twitter.com/hSN2mU5TWe
Sky News reports Labor — if elected — are considering firing him from his Washington post for his dealings with Helloworld, run by Liberal Party treasurer Andrew Burnes.
Dr Chalmers would not confirm Labor intended to sack Mr Hockey, but called on Scott Morrison to launch an investigation.
“Ambassadorial appointments are a matter for the government of the day, but Joe Hockey does have some very serious questions to answer here,” he told Sky News.
“If these some of these allegations are true and if Joe Hockey is unable to explain in an investigation launched by the Prime Minister his role on all of this, then that’s a very serious cloud over him.”
In response, Attorney-General Christian Porter said: “I think this is an issue that has been trumped and overblown by a Labor Party who has destroyed our border security in the short space of two weeks.”
When asked if Mr Hockey’s conduct should be looked at, Mr Porter said: “I am sure that this matter will be the subject of inquiry from the prime minister or to members of parliament but I am not exactly sure what it is that you’re saying has occurred or needs to be investigated.”
With AAP
Robyn Ironside 7.40am: Bill to shift aircraft safety impact
New laws designed to reduce the impact of aviation safety regulations on aircraft operators will be introduced to federal parliament today.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport Michael McCormack said the Civil Aviation Safety Amendment Bill was developed in response to direct feedback from the general aviation community concerned about the rising cost of compliance.
He said it was imperative regulators struck the right balance between risk and regulation.
“We are introducing this Bill to allow the government to continue to ensure CASA considers the economic impact on aircraft operators and communities when developing legislative aviation safety standards,” Mr McCormack said.
“It is designed to support a regulatory environment which continues to maintain confidence in the safety of aviation in Australia without unnecessarily restricting innovation and growth.”
Richard Ferguson 7.25am: Plane-boat comparison ‘utterly false’
Attorney-General Christian Porter says it is “utterly false” to compare the number of people who try to reach Australia by illegal boats with the thousands of people who have unlawfully arrive here via plane.
“The comparison between unlawful arrivals by boat and by plane is an utterly false comparison,” he told ABC News.
“People who arrive by plane and then apply for asylum overwhelmingly found not to warrant refugee or asylum status and 95 per cent are sent home straight away.
“They, of course, arrive lawfully, with full documentation, so we can research them and their claims, 95 per cent of which are unsuccessful.
“And it wouldn’t have escaped your notice that people arriving by plane, don’t risk their lives shall the lives of their children or our personnel by taking a very perilous journey by sea.”
Richard Ferguson 7.17am: Medivac law a ‘one-way ticket’
Attorney-General Christian Porter says a legal loophole in Labor’s medivac law will see asylum seekers permanently detained on Christmas Island.
“In effect the bad drafting of these laws means it is a one-way ticket,” he told ABC News this morning.
“We are looking for any other power that might underpin a majority for government to return people, once they had received their medical assessment at Christmas Island.
“But the only way it may be fixed eventually is through legislation and it is quite likely that would have to apply retrospectively because we are facing hundreds of people’s arrival in the very near future.”
Richard Ferguson 7.00am: One last time
The Labor Party tries to hit the Coalition one last time in parliament before the budget, as the Opposition cracks on refugees and coal continue to show.
What’s making news:
• Labor’s 45 per cent emissions reduction target would push electricity prices 50 per cent higher, cost workers up to $9000 a year in lower wages and wipe $472 billion from the economy over the next decade, according to the first independent modelling of the energy policies of both the government and opposition.
• A senior Labor MP has declared it would be “a good thing” if the thermal coal sector collapsed, despite it being the nation’s No 1 export industry, pumping more than $25 billion into the Australian economy last year.
• Resources groups have reprimanded opposition frontbencher Richard Marles for saying the collapse of the thermal coal market would be a “good thing”, warning it will bring into question Labor’s commitment to the sector for tens of thousands of coalmining workers.
• Senior Labor frontbenchers, including deputy leader Tanya Plibersek, have contradicted Bill Shorten over his acceptance of Christmas Island as an appropriate location for the treatment of sick refugees, exposing fresh divisions within the party over the ALP-backed medivac bill.
• Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to declare support for Adani’s controversial coalmine after her one-time political patron, Bill Ludwig, criticised “lefties” in her government for politicising the stalled project.
• Bob Katter and Pauline Hanson, the leaders of two influential Queensland minor parties, have demanded Bill Shorten show his hand and tell voters if he backs coal — and the controversial Adani Carmichael mine project — as they prepare to campaign hard on the issue at the federal election.
• Scott Morrison has defended Joe Hockey against claims the Ambassador to the US helped win a multimillion-dollar government contract for a travel company in which he owns $1 million in shares.
• The Maritime Union of Australia is pushing the federal government to approve exploration for a proposed $8 billion wind farm development off the coast of Victoria.
• After a decade in parliament, Kelly O’Dwyer, the first federal minister to have a child while serving in cabinet, bowed out saying there should be no limits on what girls and women should aspire to and delivering a parting shot at the scuttling of her plan for a default super fund run by the Future Fund.
• Outgoing Labor MP Jenny Macklin, who played a key role in Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations, has called on the parliament to “get on” with backing a constitutionally enshrined indigenous “voice to parliament” as she bids farewell to a 23-year career in federal politics.
• The families of former prime ministers Robert Menzies and Joe Lyons have rebuked Clive Palmer for falsely claiming they were past leaders of his United Australia Party.
• A trade deal with Peru has been delayed after Labor called for it to be renegotiated to remove clauses allowing foreign companies to sue the Australian government.
• James Jeffrey’s Sketch: Question Time may have a rowdy reputation but some MPs achieved a powerful effect yesterday while saying nothing.
• Dennis Shanahan writes after five years of unity on leadership, Labor is dividing on policy three months from the election.
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