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PoliticsNow: Labor peppers Barnaby Joyce with infrastructure questions and then suggests he’s not up to his portfolio.
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live coverage of the happenings in Parliament House.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is set to come under further pressure this week over his affair with a former staffer as Labor promises to ask questions about the employment arrangements of his girlfriend, Vikki Campion, and whether any taxpayer funds were misused. Meanwhile, the banking royal commission has started today and Malcolm Turnbull hands down the 10th annual Closing the Gap report.
5.20pm: Latest wrap on Joyce
Barnaby Joyce’s partner received no favours and no rules were breached when she was appointed to two political jobs, Malcolm Turnbull says.
The deputy prime minister is facing questions over how his girlfriend and former staff member Vikki Campion left his office last year to take a job with Nationals senator Matthew Canavan and then with the party’s whip Damian Drum.
Senior Nationals senator Nigel Scullion said today the party tried to keep skilled staff employed when something happened to an MP. “We make sure we look after our staff,” Senator Scullion told Sky News.
“My understanding is that Barnaby or Vikki Campion have absolutely nothing to answer for, although they appear to be paying the penalty pretty heavily no matter whether they’ve done anything or not.”
Ms Campion left Mr Canavan’s office when he was caught up the citizenship saga to become a senior advisor for Mr Drum, reportedly on $190,000-a-year.
Mr Turnbull said the Nationals were given a specific number of personal staff positions as a share of the government’s overall staffing pool. “The distribution of those staff members between Nationals offices is a matter for the National Party,” Mr Turnbull told parliament. “At no time did the Nationals fill all vacant staffing positions.”
Ms Campion is now pregnant with Mr Joyce’s child - his fifth - after he split last year from his wife Natalie, the mother of his four children. Mr Turnbull said Mr Joyce made it clear Ms Campion’s employment was not discussed with him or the Prime Minister’s office.
However, the Prime Minister’s office “has an administrative role in informing the Department of Finance of changes”, Mr Turnbull said.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister told AAP Mr Joyce had not breached ministerial standards in regard to the employment of family and partners because Ms Campion was not the deputy prime minister’s “partner” at the time of her appointments.
The statement of ministerial standards says family and partners cannot be employed by any members of government “without the prime minister’s express approval.”
Labor former treasurer this afternoon labelled this “a farce” and said he couldn’t see Mr Joyce surviving the controversy.
“I was in question time today... they’re claiming that the woman that the deputy prime minister is having a relationship with is not his partner and therefore the code of conduct does not apply. Well, that’s breathtaking. Tell that to any Centrelink recipient who’s having this argument about cohabition.
Mr Swan said “everybody is uncomfortable about having a debate about someone’s private life... but this has now moved into the public sphere because of these employment relationships and it’s very clear that the code of conduct is no longer worth the paper it’s written on.”
.@SwannyQLD: The Coalition is claiming that the woman that @Barnaby_Joyce has a relationship with is not his partner. Tell that to any welfare recipient who is having this argument about cohabitation with Centrelink.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 12, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/F3jWAhh9uZ#Speers pic.twitter.com/cIh7bURP9t
Mr Turnbull confirmed Mr Joyce would be acting prime minister while he was in Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump. When asked if he had confidence in Mr Joyce, Mr Turnbull answered: “Yes”. Senator Scullion said the Nationals “absolutely” backed Mr Joyce. Nationals senator John Williams said he couldn’t judge if Mr Joyce had done anything against the rules.
“Let’s see how all of the travel things come out and so on. I just don’t know,” he told ABC TV.
Mr Joyce appeared to stumble on some infrastructure answers in Monday’s Question Time, as he included investment in a Sydney airport and inland rail as part of an answer about Tasmanian investment.
“Isn’t the infrastructure minister simply not up to the job that he has been given?” opposition infrastructure spokesman Anthony Albanese said.
AAP
Rachel Baxendale 4.05pm: Albanese a ‘first-class leader’: Rudd
Kevin Rudd has described Anthony Albanese as a “first-class political leader in his own right”, after being asked to comment on his former deputy’s public positioning as an alternative Labor leader.
Mr Albanese this afternoon attended Mr Rudd’s National Press Club address on closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, instead of joining most of the rest of the ALP team in parliament as they watched their leader Bill Shorten present his own Closing the Gap speech.
Mr Rudd offered some support to Mr Shorten, and said Labor was well positioned to win government at the next election.
“We’re fortunate to be led by Bill Shorten, a strong leader, and fortunate to have in the team Albo, who is a first-class political leader in his own right,” Mr Rudd said.
“I know that having worked with (Mr Albanese) intimately in my period in government, and I believe our combined challenge lies in causing the Australian people to conclude that it’s time to get rid of this mob, and having just come from Queensland, I reckon the mood is about to do just that.”
Greg Brown 4pm: Leyonhjelm: revenge porn bill ‘goes too far’
Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm will move amendments to the government’s revenge porn legislation, declaring it is too draconian and could lead to the prosecution of innocent people.
The legislation, which is backed by Labor, will probably be introduced to the Senate by tomorrow and proposes to give $105,000 fines to people who share naked images of their partners.
But Senator Leyonhjelm said the drafting of the legislation was flawed.
“It goes too far, it is a common complaint I have of this government, in attempting deal with issues it creates more problems by going too far,” Senator Leyonhjelm told The Australian.
“If they are not amended there will be innocent people who are prosecuted and fall foul of the law.”
He wants to exclude drawings from being included as an intimate image, warning posting a drawing of Donald Trump on the toilet would be illegal.
He also wants to limit the laws to Australian victims and remove the ban on children giving consent.
“Otherwise a 17-year-old who posts an image of their 17-year-old girlfriend or boyfriend in a state of undress, with that person’s consent, could face a $100,000 fine,” he said.
He will also try to undo the reversal of the onus of proof with regards to consent.
“Otherwise someone could face a $100,000 fine if, after posting a partner’s photo, the relationship breaks up, the person in the photo says they never consented to the posting and the person did the posting can’t prove consent,” he said.
Greg Brown 3.15pm: And that’s that
Question time wraps up with Scott Morrison taking two questions Labor wanted answered by the Revenue Minister Kelly O’Dwyer. He says the questions fall in his portfolio, leading to roars from Labor.
Greg Brown 3.10pm: ‘Is the Infrastructure Minister simply not up to the job?’
And Labor’s question time tactic all makes sense now as Anthony Albanese gets up to criticise Barnaby Joyce’s answers to their series of infrastructure queries and question his command of his brief.
“I refer to his answers today in which he has defended Victoria under 10 per cent of federal infrastructure funding by mentioning funds that have been reallocated, argued inland rail would benefit Tasmania, defended South Australia receiving 2 per cent of funds in his portfolio by talking about his colleague’s portfolio. And on the Northern Roads program money not being spent, he referred to the Nullarbor.
“Is it the Infrastructure Minister is simply not up to the job that he has been given?”
Leader of the House Christopher Pyne tries to claim the question is out of order but he is rebuffed by Speaker Tony Smith.
Joyce, however, turns it back on Albanese and the Labor leadership.
“I know he’s got someone well and truly in mind who he believes is not up to the job,” Joyce says.
“You know better than most we are spending more than you did in infrastructure, you know better than most you have no money for the inland rail and you know better than most you’re going to take money off the table for dams,” he says.
He ends up roaring: “I believe in you, the Member for Grayndler, all of Australia believes in you, the Member for Grayndler ... good luck old mate!”
Greg Brown 3pm: ...and the NT
Now Barnaby Joyce has to explain the infrastructure plan for the Northern Territory after a question from Labor
Joyce says there is plenty underway.
“I also note the money that we put on the table, in excess of $100 million for the outback roadway which goes through the Northern Territory. And we look forward to working with a Territory Labor government to make sure we get it built,” he says.
Greg brown 2.58pm: And now it’s South Australia
The Joyce grilling continues. Labor frontbencher Amanda Rishworth asks about infrastructure spend in South Australia.
“Why is federal infrastructure funding for South Australia just $95 million in 2020-21 or just 2 per cent of the federal infrastructure budget?”
Joyce goes on about ship manufacturing in the state, and commends the advocacy for South Australia given by cabinet minister Christopher Pyne.
“You can hardly shut him up about South Australia. He’s unstoppable about South Australia. And it’s that sort of advocacy that’s brought forward this investment,” Joyce says.
Labor MPs don’t look convinced.
Greg Brown 2.48pm: Albo has ‘great prospects’
Barnaby Joyce gets another infrastructure question from Labor, this time from Anthony Albanese, the opposition infrastructure spokesman.
Albanese asks why infrastructure spending is falling in Tasmania.
The under-siege Deputy Prime Minister manages to have a bit of fun with his answer, a sly dig over Albanese’s leadership prospects.
“He’s across his brief and I think he has great prospects in the near future within the Labor Party,” Joyce says.
Greg Brown 2.40pm: Joyce questioned... on infrastructure
Bill Shorten asks Barnaby Joyce a question - but it’s about infrastructure and not the scandal surrounding the Deputy Prime Minister. Joyce must have been relieved.
Shorten asks: “Why is Victoria only receiving 9.7 per cent of the federal infrastructure budget in the 2017-18 budget?
Joyce says the government’s inland rail will benefit Victoria.
“(Labor) don’t believe in the inland rail. They have put no money on the table for the inland rail,” Joyce says.
Greg Brown 2.35pm: Joyce has my confidence: PM tells House
Bill Shorten asks if Barnaby Joyce will be acting prime minister next week while Malcolm Turnbull is in the US.
The Opposition Leader also asks if the Prime Minister retains confidence in the Nationals leader.
Turnbull is laconic.
“Yes in response to both questions,” he says.
The government is being as brief as possible on Labor’s Joyce questions and are not looking for a political fight on the issue.
Greg Brown 2.30pm: Morrison flicks to Nationals
And a third time. Labor is being ruthless on the Barnaby Joyce issue.
Mr Dreyfus asks Scott Morrison which Nationals minister approved the staff changes surrounding Barnaby Joyce’s partner Vikki Campion.
The Treasurer, speaking on behalf if Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann, again fobs it off to the Nationals. “These are (matters) addressed by the National Party,” Morrison says.
Greg Brown 2.25pm: ‘Who approved the new position?’
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus goes for a second time on the Joyce issue.
“Which minister or office in the government approved the creation of a new position last year in either the office of (senator Matt) Canavan or the office of the then Nationals whip? Will the government release the documents relating to the creation of those positions?”
Scott Morrison takes the question and fobs it off.
“I refer the member to the Prime Minister’s response because he made it very clear these are matters that are dealt with by the National Party,” the Treasurer says.
Greg Brown 2.20pm: PM questioned on Joyce saga
Labor goes on the Barnaby Joyce saga.
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus asks if Malcolm Turnbull was involved in creating a new position in the office of Nationals MP and party whip Damian Drum.
The PM says the Nationals have control over their own staff.
“The Deputy Prime Minister addressed this in a statement on February 10, in which he said that he had not discussed (Vikki) Campion’s employment with me or my office,” Mr Turnbull says. “He confirmed that the Nationals were responsible for decisions relating to staffing. And that the Prime Minister’s Office has an administrative role in informing the Department of Finance of changes.”
Greg Brown 2.15pm: We’ll consider children’s summit: PM
Labor frontbencher Linda Burney asks Malcolm Turnbull if the government will back Labor’s proposal for a national summit on indigenous children.
Burney, the first indigenous woman elected to the House of Representatives, says there are more than 17,000 indigenous children living in out of home care, compared to less than 10,000 a decade ago.
The PM says the government is willing to consider it.
“We are consulting more thoroughly and comprehensively than ever before,” he says.
“To make sure the people who are closest to the problems and the challenges are most empowered to deal with them and ensure that the funds and the resources and so forth that the government provides are best employed.”
Greg Brown 2.05pm: Compensation for Stolen Generations?
Bill Shorten opens question time by asking if Malcolm Turnbull will back Labor’s plan for a compensation scheme for the remaining survivors of the Stolen Generations in commonwealth jurisdictions.
The PM tells him their advice is that there are about 500 people.
The government is in advice with indigenous communities about the next phase of the Close the Gap targets. “The important thing is that we do things with indigenous Australians, not do things to them,” Mr Turnbull says. “And that’s been one of the criticisms of the first set of targets. We’ve taken that on board and the next set are going to be the result of very careful consultation.”
1.58pm: Rudd on Joyce
Barnaby Joyce received some sympathy from former prime minister Kevin Rudd today. “This is a tragic set of personal and family circumstances,” Mr Rudd told the National Press Club.
“From my own experience, I know that politics is a brutal business for all of us who are in it ... and for those reasons I have not the slightest intention of contributing to the public discussion of it.”
We’ll have a full report of Mr Rudd’s NPC address shortly.
Question time is kicking off now.
Stephen Fitzpatrick 1.20pm: ‘We won’t wait for you’
Labor will begin conducting the policy design work around the Uluru Statement’s proposed “voice” to parliament while in opposition with a view to implementing it immediately if it wins government, Bill Shorten says.
As Malcolm Turnbull delivered an only slightly improved Closing the Gap report over last year’s dismal outcome, the Opposition Leader declared the design work on the advisory body would also include plans for a referendum to enshrine the body in the constitution.
Mr Shorten urged the Prime Minister to “move past misleading scare campaigns” after the proposal, which came out of last year’s Uluru constitutional convention, was dismissed out of hand by the government.
“In this place we don’t get to choose what the people tell us, in this place we listen to what the people want us and we implement their choice,” Mr Shorten told parliament.
“I say to the Prime Minister and the government - we will work with you, but we will not wait for you,” he said.
Mr Turnbull had revealed that just three of the seven Closing the Gap targets were now on track, up from one of seven last year, but by his own admission said the scheme had long “lacked community buy-in” and that “an effective way to tackle this is to make sure everyone is included”.
The Referendum Council’s proposed voice to parliament is seen by its framers as the most effective way to break the top-down nexus of indigenous affairs policy making at the same time as achieving effective indigenous constitutional recognition.
Closing the Gap school participation rates and child mortality rates appear to be on track to be met, although some of those expire this year and the entire scheme, begun a decade ago at the beginning of Kevin Rudd’s time as prime minister, is under redesign.
Centre for Independent Studies analyst Charlie Jacobs warned the entire scheme was problematic and contained at its heart problems with measuring outcomes. In some instances progress in the indigenous markers could be distorted by shifts in the non-indigenous population.
“The fluid nature of the gap makes it challenging for program providers to know where they stand. If the standard you measure yourself against is constantly changing, it is difficult to strategise for the year ahead,” Mr Jacobs said.
“Hard targets are not as idealistically desirable as closing the gap, but would bring clarity and consistency to program and service providers seeking to improve outcomes.
“Today the Prime Minister committed $2.5 billion of funding to be directed specifically to Indigenous-run service providers. Knowing exactly what figure you have to reach would allow these providers to incrementally plan a program over a number of years.”
Greg Brown 12.55pm: On track for 3 in 7 targets
Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed Australia is on track to meet three out of seven of the Close the Gap targets as he hands the 10th report on improving outcomes for indigenous Australians to federal parliament.
The Prime Minister said the targets on child mortality, early childhood education and secondary school completion were on track.
The nation is not on track to meet the targets of school attendance, literacy and numeracy, employment and life expectancy targets. Mr Turnbull said there had been improvements in most categories in the past decade.
The Prime Minister said the targets would be refreshed in consultation with states and territories.
“As part of the Closing the Gap refresh, state-by-state targets will give us more granular and specific local insight: the progress or lack of progress. And more precisely where more focused effort is needed,” Mr Turnbull in parliament.
Mr Turnbull said data must be given to local communities rather than kept in Canberra.
“To give effect, data must be local and made available to communities, to local decision-makers who need to know what is happening on the ground and track changes and monitor progress,” he said.
He said an expansion of the cashless welfare card would improve indigenous health outcomes.
“We are committed to stopping the welfare fuelled violent and misery, putting the rights of children far above arguments driven by ideology,” Mr Turnbull said.
“We hope that common sense will prevail as we seek support for the cashless debit card for those communities who have chosen to use this tool to make their communities safer for everyone.”
Chris Kenny 12.00pm: Joyce derails Coalition
There was a moment on Friday afternoon when it seemed clear that Barnaby Joyce’s political career probably is finished. You could see the blood draining from Malcolm Turnbull’s face, you could read the justified curses in his mind, and feel the momentum of the Coalition’s mini-fightback falling into a black hole of tawdry mundanity that should never even figure in matters of national leadership.
But that is what the Deputy Prime Minister had done. Forget the issues of character, trust and morality that are none of our business — we can never know the inner workings of anyone else’s relationships — but Barnaby’s poor judgment and poor management had allowed his personal life to derail his government.
So on Friday afternoon the Prime Minister was hosting the formal media conference with all the state and territory leaders after the Council of Australian Governments meeting — usually a wonky, high-minded, policy-orientated event — and he was asked about Barnaby, or more specifically, whether everything was “above board” when it came to the job switches and promotions for his girlfriend and former staffer Vikki Campion.
Turnbull was having none of it. “Can we just focus on COAG, we’ve got Closing the Gap, we’ve got health, we’ve got schools,” he protested.
Here was the leader of the nation reduced to the tedious, low-rent dance of avoiding questions triggered by another man’s personal imprudence. Turnbull would have hated it — and understandably so.
11.50am: Joyce set for acting PM next week
Barnaby Joyce is set to be acting prime minister next week as one of his Nationals MPs says he has “100 per cent support” in the party. The deputy prime minister will take over the top job when Malcolm Turnbull flies to the US to meet with Donald Trump.
Nationals senator Nigel Scullion today angrily defended his leader. “Fair dinkum, this is the biggest beat-up I’ve ever seen,” the minister told reporters.
“This started off as a personal matter. There seems to be a bit of a swell — ‘let’s go and get rid of Barnaby’.
“I tell you what, the people who keep Barnaby in his position are National Party people and he has 100 per cent support from all of us.”
AAP
A cacophony of camera shutters announces Barnaby's arrival in the House of Reps.
— James Jeffrey (@James_Jeffrey) February 12, 2018
Greg Brown 10.50pm: Labor compo for stolen generation
Labor will establish a compensation scheme for victims of the stolen generation in the ACT and the Northern Territory if it wins government.
The scheme will fund payments of $75,000 to the 150 stolen generation survivors in the two territories, as well as providing $7000 for funerals. Most of the states have compensation for stolen generation victims.
Labor has also promised to convene a national summit on indigenous children in its first 100 days of government.
Labor senator Pat Dodson said Labor’s compensation model would be similar to the one in NSW.
“They wouldn’t be a whole onerous process; people have had enough burdens in their lives in this situation,” Senator Dodson told ABC radio.
“We’re talking about a relatively small group of people that are now left, elderly people in the main. “So, we’d design a program where that could be, you know, empathetic to their situation rather than the one that bureaucrats would want to, you know, have a box to tick on every matter.”
Stephen Fitzpatrick 10.42am: ‘Voice must be in Constitution’
Lawyers and academics who crafted the Uluru Statement have rounded on suggestions its proposed indigenous “voice” to parliament need not be enshrined in the Constitution, warning it is the best practical approach for reforming the foundering Closing the Gap strategy.
Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt and prime ministerial indigenous affairs adviser Chris Sarra each said that while the proposed body was still being considered, it would be done through legislation only, not by a referendum.
But Referendum Council co-chair Mark Leibler warned that indigenous Australia would “not countenance the substitution of what was a unanimous outpouring at Uluru”.
Rosie Lewis 10.30am: Tassie senators sworn in
Former Turnbull government minister Richard Colbeck is not expecting to be restored to the frontbench after he was sworn-in as one of the country’s newest Tasmanian senators.
Senator Colbeck was tourism and international education minister until he was placed in an unwinnable position at the double dissolution 2016 July election and lost his seat.
But he said “any changes” to the government’s frontbench after the December reshuffle “would be unlikely at this point of time”.
“Stability of government in my view is a good thing. I’m happy to take my place among the rest of the team and do what I can in the interests of Tasmania,” Senator Colbeck told The Australian.
“I’m pleased to be back, I wasn’t ready to go. I’ve had the opportunity to see and do some things while I’ve been outside the parliament that gives me different or refreshed insights, particularly around e-commerce.”
Senator Colbeck replaces former Senate president Stephen Parry, who was disqualified for being a British citizen.
Independent Steve Martin has also been sworn-in today to take the seat that used to belong to Jacqui Lambie, who also bowed out of politics when it was revealed she was a British citizen. Ms Lambie expelled Senator Martin from her party last week after he refused to stand aside to allow her to return to the Senate.
The crossbench has been restored to 11 senators and Tasmania has a full suite of upper house MPs once again.
Without the support of Labor or the Greens, the government needs the support of nine crossbench votes.
Senator Colbeck said he expected to serve a three-year term, meaning he will have to contest the next federal election if he wants to stay in federal politics, while Mr Martin is fighting to get a six-year term. Based on past precedent he, like Senator Colbeck, is entitled to three years.
Greg Brown 10.25am: ‘This is what we need to see’
Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger — a long-time critic of the Business Council of Australia — has hailed business for speaking strongly in favour of company tax cuts.
Mr Kroger said it was good the BCA and high-profile chief executives promoted the benefits of company tax cuts in The Australian today.
“This is what we need to see, we need the major corporation heads out there defending the interests of their shareholders and corporate tax cuts are good for their shareholders,” Mr Kroger told Sky News.
“They need to go further with a campaign, a social media campaign in relation to these issues, because the government can’t do it all on its own.
“I certainly welcome a more aggressive approach by business to issues which are obviously the interests of the people who keep them in their jobs.”
Peter van Onselen 10.15am: Joyce now Nats’ loaded dog
The Barnaby Joyce saga now has a life of its own — he’s become like the loaded dog of Henry Lawson fame.
In the 1901 short story a retriever dog described as “an overgrown pup ... a big foolish, four-footed mate” picks up a stick of dynamite and accidentally runs it through a camp fire igniting it. His owners run for cover but the dog thinks it’s a game and playfully chases them up hill and down dale with the dynamite in his mouth.
The difference, perhaps, between the Lawson story and the Joyce saga is that the dog named Tommy eventually offloads the dynamite to other dogs who go on to blow themselves up. Tommy and his owners safely wander off into the sunset unharmed.
Joyce’s problem, in contrast, is causing him and his colleagues harm.
Greg Brown 10.10am: $1bn for indigenous business
Malcolm Turnbull has announced indigenous businesses have won over $1bn in government funding since 2015, compared to $6m in the year to June 2013.
Speaking in Canberra ahead of the release of the Close the Gap report, the Prime Minister said there had been growth in government work given to indigenous businesses since targets were set in 2015.
“$6m to $1bn, that is progress,” Mr Turnbull said.
He said the gap could not close unless there was equal work participation.
“One of the most effective ways to tackle disadvantage is ensuring everyone is included in the economy and shares in its benefits, I am determined to build a stronger economy so that everyone who can work is able to find employment,” Mr Turnbull said.
Greg Brown 9.45am: PM ‘chops and changes on China’
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has accused Malcolm Turnbull of being inconsistent with his approach to China.
Mr Rudd said he had some difficult times with the Chinese but at least the communist nation knew where he stood.
“On this question of Chinese infiltration of domestic Australian politics, there is one very simple thing Turnbull could have done when he was last leader of the Liberal Party, and that was pass the foreign donation law amendments which both John Faulkner and I moved into the Reps and the Senate at the time which would have proscribed once and for all, all foreign donations to political parties,” he told ABC radio.
“We saw a deeply accommodationist view on the part of Mr Turnbull (when he was Opposition Leader) now it seems for a range of domestic political factors … he has lurched in the opposite direction.
“It is consistency which is required over time not a simple chop and change depending on the political circumstances.”
Mr Rudd welcomed the appointment of US Pacific Commander Admiral Harry Harris as the new American ambassador to Australia, saying he was someone who knew the wider region well.
But he cautioned that the Turnbull government faced difficulty in fully engaging with the US on security challenges in the region, particularly those involving China and North Korea, while always reflecting an Australian view.
AAP
Greg Brown 9.20am: Labor ‘running Joyce whispers campaign’
Turnbull government ministers have accused Labor of fuelling the rumours of the Barnaby Joyce’s affair with a former staffer Vikki Campion.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham said Labor was running a “whispers campaign” against the Deputy Prime Minister.
“They are trying to create a whispers campaign or a smear campaign, I’m not actually sure what Labor’s allegation really is,” Senator Birmingham told Sky News.
“Staffing details are made public, travel details are made public, all of these areas of information are published in the normal course of events and there is nothing that has been hidden.”
Cybersecurity Minister Angus Taylor said Labor was trying to fuel a “gossip campaign”.
“I think Labor is trying to fuel a gossip campaign, that is what they are trying to do, it is mudslinging, these are very difficult times for Barnaby’s family obviously,” Mr Taylor told Sky News.
“He has enormous support in the Coalition party room, he has been a very successful Deputy Prime Minister, a very successful Agriculture Minister.”
Mr Taylor warned Labor it was playing on “dangerous turf” by pursuing Mr Joyce over the issue.
“If they want to start playing in this turf of mudslinging and gossip campaigns then I think that it is dangerous turf,” he said.
Greg Brown 9.00am: ‘Clarity needed’ on Joyce as Acting PM
Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh says the opposition will be seeking “clarity” as to whether Barnaby Joyce will be Acting Prime Minister when Malcolm Turnbull goes overseas next week.
Mr Leigh said he had been told Mr Joyce may not be Acting Prime Minister when the Prime Minister is in the United States but he refused to disclose the source of his information.
“I don’t care what parliamentarians do in their consensual personal lives I think the only question here is just making sure taxpayers resources are used appropriately, we need to know that the stable operation of government will continue,” Mr Leigh told Sky News.
“It is important to know, for example, who will be the Acting Prime Minister when the Prime Minister goes to the United States next week, they are the sort of questions of public policy that are important.”
Mr Leigh acknowledged that the convention would be for Mr Joyce to be Acting Prime Minister because he is the leader of the Nationals.
“(But) there are comments that have been made to me that wont be the case, I think it is useful to have that confirmed, to have that clarity going forward,” he said.
“To know the appointments were made in accord with appropriate procedures, to know that the acting arrangements will continue.”
Greg Brown 8.20am: ‘We would have been very different’
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd says Australia would be “radically different” if he did not deliver an apology to Aboriginal Australians a decade ago.
With tomorrow being the 10th anniversary of Mr Rudd’s “sorry” speech, he said it was an important step of healing for the First Australians.
“If you are serious about the project which we call reconciliation it can’t really begin unless you formally, publicly acknowledge that you have wronged people and that you then seek to make amends, that is essentially what the apology is about and I am glad that we did it, “ Mr Rudd told ABC radio.
“I think if you were to ask all Australians, black and white, what it would now be like if we had not delivered a national apology 10 years ago I think the country would be radically different.
Mr Rudd said it was a “false dichotomy” to put practical indigenous issues ahead of symbolic ones.
“Both are critical when it comes to 220 years of indigenous disadvantage, you couldn’t get to the business of practical reconciliation until you cross the bridge of saying sorry for the hurt and the injustice that we have delivered,” he said.
“On Closing the Gap itself, what I would say to those who are its detractors is that, of the seven targets that we have set, I understand from today’s press reporting that in three of the seven we are on track to achieve the targets” Mr Rudd said.
“But on practically all of them improvements have occurred, some small, others substantial.”
Mr Rudd said there would have been better results of the Abbott government did not pull $500 million from indigenous programs in 2014.
“It has a real effect on the ground in delivering health services and school services,” he said.
Mr Rudd also attacked the Turnbull government for failing toi guarantee the indigenous remote housing agreement “which will mean thousands of indigenous homes are not built in the years
Greg Brown 8.00am: Williams ‘doesn’t know’ Joyce’s future
Nationals senator John ‘Wacka’ Williams was today unable to say whether Barnaby Joyce will be Nationals leader at the next election.
Senator Williams said the Deputy Prime Minister’s leadership would depend on whether he broke any rules through the use of taxpayer funds for jobs and travel for his girlfriend Vikki Campion.
“Let’s see how all of the travel things come out and so on. I just don’t know,” Senator Williams told the ABC.
“I don’t know if he’s done anything wrong by the law of the parliament or the taxpayers and I can’t judge on that. How can I form an opinion when I simply don’t know? That’s just speculation.”
Greg Brown 7.45am: Bowen welcomes banks inquiry
Opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen has welcomed the start of the banking royal commission, which Labor campaigned in favour of for two years before Malcolm Turnbull reluctantly established one late last year.
“The focus must now turn to the victims of banking and financial scandals. This is an opportunity for those who have suffered because of insurance scams, dodgy lending and fee rip-offs to tell their stories and present their evidence to the commission,” Mr Bowen said in a statement.
“Labor acknowledges the work of those fought tirelessly for justice. Individuals who bravely blew the whistle on bad behaviour and organisations who demanded action from government. This is a significant day for them and we are appreciative of their efforts.”
Greg Brown 7.30am: ‘Wish we could turn clock back’
Nationals senator John ‘Wacka’ Williams says he wishes Barnaby Joyce’s affair “didn’t happen” and that he could “turn the clock back” as the Deputy Prime Minister faces internal ructions over the fallout of his relationship with former staffer Vikki Campion.
The NSW senator said he would stand by his leader but did not hide his displeasure with Mr Joyce’s actions.
“He has certainly been a great leader and I stand by that, I am very sad about what has happened, Natalie and their four daughters I have known for probably 10 years, class them as friends and it is a very sad situation, no doubt a lot of people hurting on this I just hope time can heal the wounds,” Senator Williams said.
“I wish it didn’t happen and I feel very sorry for Natalie and the girls.
Barnaby, he’ll be suffering under this too, he is under a lot of pressure and he has been a good mate for many years, I wish I could turn the clock back but I can’t.”
Senator Williams said he had not liked the newspaper headlines over the past week.
“There are headlines coming out I would prefer to see, being frank, we are a close family in the Nationals, we are very proud of the job we do and there are headlines I would rather not see but I don’t control the headlines,” he said.
What’s making news:
National MPs are turning on Barnaby Joyce, warning that his leadership is in jeopardy amid concerns the party will lose conservative voters following revelations the Deputy Prime Minister is having a baby with his former staffer Vikki Campion.
The Armidale townhouse provided rent-free to Barnaby Joyce and his pregnant partner by an influential businessman has a “pretty thorough security upgrade” fitted by the new Department of Home Affairs.
BHP boss Andrew Mackenzie has joined chief executives of Australia’s largest employers in calling on the Senate to pass the company tax cuts, claiming the issue is now critical to whether companies like the global mining giant invest more in the country.
The cost of programs that helped meet the government’s Closing the Gap targets to improve indigenous Australians’ lives over the eight years to 2016 exceeded $130.2 billion, according to analysis of government spending data by The Australian.
Energy users paid $50 million in total to buy back power from major manufacturers so as to keep the lights on in Victoria and South Australia on two occasions in the past three months.
Resources Minister Matt Canavan has warned that Australia’s energy markets in Asia are under threat as the US ramps up exports of coal and gas under President Donald Trump.
The Turnbull government says it has met its objective of halving domestic gas prices, while reassuring overseas gas buyers of the reliability of Australian LNG exports.
Graham Richardson writes that Malcolm Turnbull is either not telling the truth about the Barnaby Joyce affair or he has a very different view about the meaning of “inappropriate expenditure.”
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