Julie Bishop admits making life changing decisions without due regard
The state of play today: Scott Morrison’s team was sworn in, and Julie Bishop announced she’d stay in federal parliament as a backbencher.
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live blog on the happenings in federal politics.
Scott Morrison’s new team has been sworn in today at Government House in Canberra and Julie Bishop confirms she will remain on the backbench as MP for Curtin.
3.25pm: Dutton ‘lobbied’ over au pair
Peter Dutton faces questions over revelations he halted the deportation of a third au pair after being lobbied by Gil McLachlan.
Rosie Lewis 3.20pm: Josh steps up for photo op
It was pretty much like most family photos as the new cabinet posed on the steps of Government House: A touch awkward, a jostle for the front row, a few sledges, and a familiar face missing.
Greg Brown 2.43pm: New team ‘not interested in bank crackdown’
Labor has leapt on comments from Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert that banking scandals were “inevitable” and cautioned against over-regulating the sector.
Opposition financial services spokeswoman Clare O’Neil said Mr Robert’s comments in The Australian today showed the government had no interest in cracking down on the banking sector.
“Today Scott Morrison’s choice pick for Assistant Treasurer, his former flatmate Stuart Robert, has revealed that the Morrison government has no desire to crack down on corruption and misconduct in the banks,” Ms O’Neil said.
“This kind of conduct must be stamped out immediately, not condoned by an Assistant Treasurer who has an appalling record of misconduct himself.
“Stuart Robert apparently thinks he has responsibility for banking misconduct. This would be an absolute disaster given his track record, scandal prone nature and comments in today’s papers.”
Greg Brown 2.06pm: ‘Architect of his own demise’
Two of the insurgents who pushed for Malcolm Turnbull to be replaced by Peter Dutton say the former prime minister was the architect of his own demise because he called a spill on his leadership last Tuesday.
Victorian Liberal MP Michael Sukkar, who was dumped from the ministry by Scott Morrison, said Mr Turnbull brought on the leadership change by unexpectedly bringing on a leadership spill.
“The reality is, all of us, including me, went into last week thinking it would be a perhaps lively but unexceptional week in parliament in all honesty, we thought it would be lively given what occurred in some of the energy issues in a policy sense,” Mr Sukkar told Sky News.
“Obviously that changed pretty quickly when the Prime Minister spilled his leadership on Tuesday and then there was really a cascade of consequences and a cascade of events that occurred after he made that decision.”
South Australian Liberal MP Tony Pasin denied he had pushed for Mr Dutton to become leader before last Tuesday’s spill.
“I turned up to Canberra last Sunday expecting business as usual, Monday was quite nondescript, Tuesday was anything but, spilling the leadership was as unprecedented as it was surprising,” Mr Pasin said.
“I cast my vote in favour of Peter Dutton, at the point when the Prime Minister stood down, reflecting on two things: principally, the support I had received from Mr Dutton in relation to my campaign to put price at the centre of our energy policy, and second, the fact we held 21 out of 30 seats in Queensland and a disproportionate number of them being marginal.
“I expected that I would have been one of very few people who made that choice Tuesday morning, but it turns out I had 34 other colleagues who did the same.
“At that point, quite frankly, as members of parliament, parliamentary members of the Liberal Party, in my view we had a choice. We could either let this matter play out over weeks and months and inflict the kind of pain that we experienced sharply last week over that period, or we could bring this matter to a head quickly. That was my focus from the moment I left that party room.”
They both backed the appointment of Angus Taylor as Energy Minister.
Greg Brown 1.10pm: ‘Technology of the future’
Bill Shorten has labelled renewable energy as the “technology of the future” as he pours doubt on whether the Adani coalmine will ever go ahead.The Opposition Leader said it was good the government would stick to the Paris emissions reductions target. But he doubted the government would try and work constructively to create a national framework that would reduce emissions.
“My fear with dealing with the government is that there’s such an obsession with hating Labor and partisan politics in parts of the hard line right and such a suspicion of renewable energy that whatever Mr Morrison says, he can’t deliver his party,” Mr Shorten told the ABC.
“Energy policy is taken down any number of conservative leaders and it’s been a tricky debate on all sides on all sides of politics. I do support seeing more renewable energy in our energy mix. That doesn’t mean we won’t be using coal fired power but I do believe renewable energy is the technology of the future. And with the developments in battery storage and pumped hydro, I don’t know why we’re still arguing about it at all.”
Mr Shorten said the Adani coal mine in central Queensland had to stack up on its own merits.
“I do not support putting a single dollar of taxpayer money into this project; they’ve missed plenty of deadlines,” Mr Shorten said. “What I’m going to do for Queenslanders and central Queenslanders is focus on projects which are going to deliver real jobs. That’s why we’re proposing to upgrade the infrastructure of Townsville Port for example, or ring roads in Mackay or port access roads in Gladstone, real jobs.”
Brad Norington 12.36pm: ‘Bring back Emma’
Bill Shorten faces a lobbying effort inside the ALP to “reinstate” Labor MP Emma Husar as a party candidate at the next federal election in the wake of an inquiry finding “no basis” for her resignation from parliament over staff bullying allegations.
Read the article in full here.
Troy Bramston 12.33pm: Dutton’s amateur hour failure
The clumsily executed-Dutton challenge was a personal humiliation and a significant setback for conservatives. Never has a coup been so ham-fisted.
Read the article in full here.
Greg Brown 11.55am: Whole team sworn in
Scott Morrison’s entire team of ministers have been formally sworn in at Government House in Canberra.
Scott Morrison’s new ministry poses for the family photo, and the Treasurer @JoshFrydenberg is forced up a step #auspol @australian pic.twitter.com/QGPDdVcbG7
— Rosie Lewis (@rosieslewis) August 28, 2018
.@ScottMorrisonMP’s ministry has officially been sworn in at a ceremony at Government House in Canberra.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 28, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/K9w1hoWL9i #SkyLiveNow pic.twitter.com/rSlgLLTZDv
Samantha Bailey 11.30am: Consumer confidence defies Canberra
Consumer confidence figures surged last week despite the leadership turmoil that plagued Canberra.
Confidence bounced 2.1 per cent, following a 3.5 per cent fall the prior week, according to the ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence report.
“We were concerned that the political turmoil in Canberra might deal another blow to consumer sentiment, but it appears the resolution of the leadership crisis has provided some relief — even if it hasn’t provided the coalition with a boost in the political polls,” ANZ Australian economic head David Plank said.
“It is very encouraging to see confidence recover quite strongly after a sharp slide in the previous week.”
Read the article in full here.
Remy Varga 11.22am: ‘Slut-shamed out of politics’
Emma Husar has claimed she was “slut-shamed” out of politics after scandalous allegations of sexual harassment, bullying and entitlement misuse were made public.
The 44 complaints levelled against Ms Husar made by 22 people included allegations of sexual harassment and bullying and that diverted Labor funds into her personal bank account.
The Federal Labor MP said ferocious “slut-shaming” drove her to quit in August, in an interview with ABC program 7.30 which will air tonight.
Greg Brown 11.15am: Cabinet sworn in
Governor-General Peter Cosgrove and Prime Minister Scott Morrison have arrived at Government House.
Mr Morrison first calls up Nationals leader Michael McCormack, who is again sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister, as well as the portfolios of regional development, transport and infrastructure.
Mathias Cormann is next, and is sworn in as Finance Minister and Public Service Minister.
“I, Mathias Cormann do swear that I will well and truly serve the people of Australia in the office of Minister for Finance and Public Service and I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, so help me God,” Senator Cormann said.
Christopher Pyne is then sworn in as Defence Minister.
The rest of the team is sworn in one by one.
.@MathiasCormann will continue in his role as Finance Minister and Leader of the Government in the Senate.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 28, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/K9w1hoWL9i #SkyLiveNow pic.twitter.com/Crg2GMYWQX
Greg Brown 11am: Swearing in imminent
Members of Scott Morrison’s new cabinet are arriving at Government House in Canberra as they prepare to be sworn in the their portfolios.
Greg Brown 10.50am: Bragg confirms Wentworth
Former acting Liberal Party director Andrew Bragg confirms he has quit the Business Council of Australia to concentrate on getting preselection for the seat of Wentworth.
I have resigned from the BCA to contest Liberal Party preselection in Wentworth. I thank Jennifer Westacott, the staff & members for the opportunity. Under the Party’s rules, I am unable to make further comment on the preselection.
— Andrew Bragg (@ajamesbragg) August 28, 2018
Greg Brown 10.20am: ‘Decisions without due regard’
Outgoing Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is staying in federal parliament and says she still wants justice for the families of MH17 victims. The Perth MP will sit on the backbench as the member for Curtin, despite speculation she could immediately leave parliament
At a press conference this morning, Ms Bishop suggested she had some regrets over the events of last week. The 62-year-old launched a failed bid to replace Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister on Friday, knocked out in the first round of voting for the Liberal leadership.
She quit as foreign minister on Sunday after five years in the job and more than a decade as the Liberals’ deputy leader.
Ms Bishop admitted to reporters: “The chain of events that unfolded last week was at such a rapid pace that I had to make a number of life-changing decisions without giving them my usual due regard for the consequences.”
.@JulieBishopMP: The chain of events that unfolded last week was at such a rapid pace that I had to make a number of life-changing decisions without giving them my usual due regard for the consequences.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 28, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/ykweMevBOK #SkyLiveNow pic.twitter.com/Oo8hnIKCRJ
Ms Bishop kept her powder dry on her future in the parliament, declaring she would remain the member for the safe West Australian electorate of Curtin.“I’m optimistic about my future, whatever it may hold,” she said.
She also paid special tribute to Malcolm Turnbull, calling him a “remarkable person”.
“He is one of the most substantial public figures of our times. Malcolm and I have been dear friends for almost 30 years. We have left the leadership team together and, as closer friends than ever before,” Ms Bishop said.
But she refused to comment further on last week’s spill. “I want to move on,” she said. “It’s not going to assist the new government if I pontificate on it.”
Ms Bishop said she wants her successor Marise Payne to pursue justice for the families of the 38 Australians killed when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine.
“It was the most emotional moment of my life,” she said. “I want to ensure that the people for whom we fought do get justice.”
Asked if the Liberal Party could bring itself to elect a popular female leader, Ms Bishop said: “When we find one, I’m sure they will”.
On foreign affairs, Ms Bishop urged Australia to devote a significant part of the country’s aid budget to the Pacific. “I believe every dollar of foreign aid invested wisely, effectively and efficiently is of benefit to our nation” she said.
She also nominated fighting protectionism, pushing for a strong and prosperous Indo-Pacific region and promoting the rules-based international order among the nation’s other priorities.
The long-time MP would not confirm if she would seek to return to the leadership team if she stayed in parliament beyond the next election.
“I wish Sco-Mo and Joshy and the cabinet and ministry every success in providing good governance for Australia,” she said.
9.40am: ScoMo resists pressure to dump Paris
Scott Morrison is reportedly resisting calls to ditch the government’s commitment to the Paris climate change targets because it could harm a free trade deal with Europe.
Mr Morrison is under internal pressure to abandon the emissions reduction targets after last week’s controversial Liberal leadership turmoil. The Australian Financial Review reported on Tuesday the coalition will maintain the Paris commitment, despite uncertainty over how it will reach the goal to cut emissions to 26 per cent, from 28 per cent on 2005 levels, by 2030. Internal division over the coalition’s National Energy Guarantee was one of the catalysts for the successful challenge to Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership. The former prime minister was dumped despite withdrawing the Paris targets from the policy in a failed effort to placate rebel MPs.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Mr Morrison was right to stick with the target.
“Energy policy has taken down any number of conservative leaders and it’s been a tricky debate on all sides of politics,” Mr Shorten told ABC radio. The Labor leader said he supported more renewable energy in Australia. “That doesn’t mean we won’t be using coal-fired power, but I do believe renewable energy is the technology of the future,” Mr Shorten said. NEG critic Barnaby Joyce said reducing people’s power bills should be the government’s priority.
“I don’t care if its camel dung or coal... as long a power prices go down,” the Nationals MP told ABC radio on Tuesday.
“I am completely and utterly agnostic about how you do it.”
AAP
Greg Brown 9.28am: ‘Zone of minority government’
Bill Shorten says Australia is in the “zone of minority government” with Malcolm Turnbull set to quit parliament and Nationals MP Kevin Hogan to sit on the crossbench.
The Opposition Leader said the government had failed to explain why it needed to change leaders from Mr Turnbull to Scott Morrison.
“The government only has 75 MPs out of 150 and one of those is the speaker so that means they have 74. We are in the zone of minority government,” Mr Shorten told the ABC.
“(Kevin) Hogan up in Page said he will sit on the crossbench as well.
“The government doesn’t want to have an election but, on the other hand, I think the people of Australia are feeling quite left out of all of the decisions that have been happening recently.
“People are saying they didn’t choose Scott Morrison and so the last thing this nation needs is the axe of a minority government hanging over the head of the nation.”
Mr Shorten was a key figure in the rolling of Kevin Rudd in his first term, which plunged the Gillard government into minority government.
“We have learnt our lesson,” he said.
Mr Shorten played down Labor’s chances of winning the Wentworth by-election, noting it was held by the Liberal Party on a margin of 18 per cent.
Greg Brown 9.05am: ‘Start doing your day job’
Bill Shorten has attacked Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton for being distracted from his portfolio after a boat with asylum seekers from Vietnam arrived in North Queensland on the weekend.
“The government sets great store on these matters, it is important that we have secure borders,” the Opposition Leader told ABC radio.
“The irony of a boat arriving while the former immigration minister was competing against the current Home Affairs Minister is not lost on anyone I think.
“These guys have got to stop focusing on themselves and do their day job.”
He would not say whether Australian Border Force needed an upgrade after the incident.
“We’ve got to find out why it happened and what happened, I am not going to leap to any conclusions,” Mr Shorten said.
Remy Varga 8.38am: ‘Biggest transport project in Oz history’
Victorians have been promised access to the nation’s largest public transport project under a Labor government plan to build a suburban underground train loop in Melbourne.
Premier Daniel Andrews made the announcement on his Facebook page on Tuesday in a promotional video, ahead of the state election due in November. The project would connect lines to a number of suburbs, including Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley and Box Hill and also link up to Tullamarine airport. “It’s the biggest transport project in Australian history,” the government produced video said.
Timelines and costs for the loop, which is forecast to transport 400,000 people a day, are still to be revealed.
Greg Brown 8.35am: ‘No promise on supply’
Crossbench MP Andrew Wilkie says it “remains to be seen” if he would support a no-confidence motion against the Morrison government if Labor moved one in the lower house of parliament.
The Tasmanian MP said he rejected a personal request from Scott Morrison to state publicly he would support the government on supply and confidence. But he urged Labor to only move a no-confidence motion if the opposition was confident it had the numbers.
Mr Wilkie said he received a call from the Prime Minister on Saturday.
“Scott did ask me straight would I provide some public commitment about supply and confidence, I told him no,” Mr Wilkie told the ABC.
“I said that I won’t enter into any agreements with him or anyone else and I will approach all votes on their merits, so I suppose we will just have to see what that Labor Party does in those next couple of sitting weeks.”
But Mr Wilkie thinks Mr Morrison would survive a no-confidence motion, believing there would have been a greater risk if Peter Dutton was prime minister.
“A Peter Dutton prime ministership would not have been that popular on the crossbench,” he said.
“I think Scott Morrison is probably viewed more favourably by people like Cathy McGowan and Rebekha Sharkie.”
Greg Brown 8.10am: ‘No ulterior motive as drought envoy’
Barnaby Joyce has denied he is using the special envoy for drought relief role as a pathway to get his way back on the frontbench.
The former deputy prime minister this morning doubled down on his call for environmental water to be deployed to farmers, while defending his new role as being in the interests of regional people.
“The water that is going to the environment is going past the irrigation properties that could grow the fodder to keep the cattle alive,” Mr Joyce told the ABC.
“This sort of emergency requires that sort of thought. You either accept this is a national emergency and you are going to do something distinct to deal with it or you say ‘no, no, we really like the pictures of starving cattle’.”
Mr Joyce said he did not take the special envoy role with ulterior motives.
“This special envoy role is a pathway for me to help people through the drought,” he said.
“I am absolutely enthusiastic about this, I want to really get stuck into this, not because of some ulterior plan.”
Remy Varga 7.55am: Joyce chastises Turnbull
Former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce has chastised Malcolm Turnbull for his decision to quit politics, saying the former leader is “not doing the right thing.”
Mr Turnbull announced he will quit parliament on Friday after a messy leadership coup saw him replaced by former Treasurer Scott Morrison. His resignation will trigger a by-election in the seat of Wentworth, jeopardising the government’s fragile one seat majority.
Mr Joyce said Mr Turnbull was showing contempt to his supporters by leaving.
“So many of us supported Malcolm ... we didn’t want to change the prime minister,” he told Sunrise. “But it’s a contractual relationship, if people are going to support you, and you realise you’ve got a one seat majority, you can’t at the first opportunity put that one seat majority in jeopardy because you’ve decided you’re no longer the prime minister.”
Mr Joyce quit in disgrace last year after it was revealed his media adviser Vikki Campion was pregnant with his child.
The newly appointed special envoy for drought relief and recovery said he believed Scott Morrison could win the next election if the government knuckled down and focused on running the country.
“You need a bit of time to make sure people… they’re not voting for a movie star, they’re not voting for a comedian, they’re voting for a prime minister and they’ve got another about six, seven months to make that decision.
"I think people are going to be really disappointed." - @Barnaby_Joyce. The Liberal Party is set for a new showdown as it tries to keep its one set parliamentary majority. #auspol #7News pic.twitter.com/1WOMzZnz4o
— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) August 27, 2018
What’s making news:
Malcolm Turnbull was beginning to drag the Coalition back into contention in the final weeks of his leadership.
Scott Morrison has become the first prime minister in almost 30 years to not receive a post-spill bounce in polling numbers after a federal leadership change.
Malcolm Turnbull will quit parliament this week, setting up a Wentworth by-election expected to be held on October 6. Mr Turnbull has told his senior colleagues he will quit the parliament on Friday.
Bill Shorten has attempted to shut down plans to install Julie Bishop as the Governor-general by demanding Scott Morrison extend Peter Cosgrove’s five-year term until after the next election.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has admitted “failings” with Australia’s border security after more than a dozen illegal immigrants arrived on a Vietnamese boat this week — the first people-smuggling venture to reach the country in almost four years.
Plans to build a multi-use port on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island have stoked fears that China could be set to gain a foothold on the strategically vital island, as Beijing is potentially in line to help fund the facility.
Scott Morrison is under pressure to put fossil fuels at the heart of the government’s energy policy.
The federal Liberal Party’s only indigenous MP, Ken Wyatt, has refused to endorse Tony Abbott as the Morrison government’s special indigenous affairs envoy.
Queensland MPs have set out a key challenge for Scott Morrison after defeating Peter Dutton in Friday’s leadership ballot, arguing for their state to be given a stronger voice in Canberra and reigniting a debate over whether the LNP should sit as a separate party.
Sussan Ley has put the national water authority “on notice” as her push to divert more environmental water to farmers was endorsed by Scott Morrison’s drought envoy Barnaby Joyce.
Australia’s new minister for population Alan Tudge says the nation’s growing pains are caused by migrants choosing to live in Melbourne and Sydney and a backlog in major infrastructure rather than historically high immigration levels.
Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells has delivered a scathing assessment of Scott Morrison’s elevation to the nation’s top job, warning that it expands the power of the factional powerbrokers who opposed a push to make preselections in NSW more democratic.
Incoming assistant treasurer Stuart Robert has warned that future banking scandals are “inevitable”, vowing to resist left-wing pressure to regulate the financial system to “within an inch of its life”
The clumsily executed-Dutton challenge was a personal humiliation and a significant setback for conservatives. Never has a coup been so ham-fisted, writes Troy Bramston.
Judith Sloan writes that in the week that Malcolm Turnbull stopped being prime minister, you may not have noticed that another man also ceased to occupy a top job. It was Andy Vesey, chief executive of AGL, Australia’s largest electricity company.
Miners change tune on climate change
Peak mining industry body The Minerals Council of Australia has joined the fight on climate.
Labor to turn up heat on Taylor
Labor will use the final two weeks of parliament to heap pressure on Energy Minister Angus Taylor.