Coalition defends Hockey against Helloworld ‘slur’
The Coalition says attempts to discredit Joe Hockey are Labor’s “weak’ bid to distract from their own problems.
- Labor denies asylum rift
- ‘No hand in Nauru law change’
- Charities ‘hurt by retiree tax’
- Labor fails in milk price floor bid
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live blog on the happenings at Parliament House in Canberra.
Top story: The Coalition has staunchly defended Joe Hockey in the face of a Labor campaign Christopher Pyne says is a ‘straight-out slur” and distraction tactic.
Greg Brown 10.13pm: Workers could face fines over unlawful strikes
Workers from six companies or building projects could face fines of up to $42,000 as the Australian Building and Construction Commission hones its investigation into employees who allegedly took unlawful strikes to attend the”Change the Rules” protests.
ABCC commissioner Stephen McBurney told Senate Estimates there were six investigations underway because construction workers attended the rallies organised by the Australian Council of Trade Unions last year.
He would not say how many workers were implicated as part of the investigation process.
He would also not name the companies they worked for out of concern it could impact potential prosecutions by the building watchdog.
“We have six live investigations into unlawful industrial action in relation to an unknown number of workers attending the rallies,” Mr McBruney said.
“The precise number of workers under investigation will depend upon what responses have been to date from workers.
“So one of the steps taken in each case is to write to each worker, afford natural justice to each worker and to ask them for an explanation as to why they failed to attend work.
“So the number of actual workers under investigation will vary depending upon where each of the six investigations is at.
“We can take the question on notice and we can provide you with an answer on notice as at a specific data how many workers were under investigation at that particular time.”
ABCC deputy commissioner Cliff Pettit said the six investigations were a mix of workers who may have walked out of an individual project or complaints of illegal striking from head contractors.
“Some relate to individual projects and some relate to particular head contractors who reported workers from multiple sites leaving work on the day,” he said.
Mr Pettit said there were 34 complaints made by building companies as a result of the rallies last October.
The building watchdog opened nine investigations, three of which have been jettisoned.
The ABCC commissioners came under heavy criticism from Labor senator Doug Cameron, who accused them of refusing to assist in providing information about the investigations.
The ABCC says that, under the Fair Work Act, workers were supposed to get written permission from their employer to attend the Change the Rules rallies.
Michael Roddan 8.36pm: Court action ‘urgent’: ASIC chair
Corporate watchdog chair James Shipton has warned the regulator has an “urgent imperative” to launch court enforcement against large financial companies as it looks to bare its teeth after a drubbing at the royal commission.
Appearing before a Senate Estimates committee tonight, the head of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission said a defining lesson of Kenneth Hayne’s banking royal commission was that any organisation – financial or government – needed to understand its culture and what it was projecting itself to be.
Read more here.
Greg Brown 5pm: O’Dwyer, Macklin valedictory speeches
Kelly O’Dwyer and Jenny Macklin have given valedictory speeches this afternoon as they draw the curtains on the careers in Canbera
Ms O’Dwyer urged her colleagues to overcome “tribal echo chambers” that have “warped perceptions of Australians’ views”, and spend more time in the community to restore trust in the parliament and in democracy.
Ms Macklin tearfully ended 23 years in federal politics with the message: “there’s nothing wrong with having a big heart in politics”.
Ewin Hannan 4.48pm: Hartland subpoenaed to appear at AWU raids court case
The secretary of the Department of Jobs and Small Business, Kerri Hartland, has been subpoenaed to give evidence in Federal Court proceedings over raids on the Australian Workers Union.
Giving evidence at Senate estimates today, Ms Hartland revealed she and the department had been served subpoenas by the AWU.
Ms Hartland and Small Business Minister Michaelia Cash were being questioned by ALP senator Doug Cameron about letters Senator Cash wrote to the Registered Organisations Commission in 2017 referring allegations to the commission about donations made by the AWU to GetUp.
The court case resumes next Monday when a former acting media adviser with the commission, Mark Lee is scheduled to give evidence.
Senator Cash’s former chief of staff, Ben Davies, has told the trial that Mr Lee told him in advance about the AFP executing search warrants on the AWU office in Melbourne and Sydney. Mr Davies told Senator Cash’s then senior media adviser, David De Garis who then tipped off the media.
Richard Ferguson 3.39pm: Motion to suspend standing orders fails
The house is tied on the Helloworld motion 71 to 71.
But Labor fails to suspend standing orders either way as they do not meet the 76 threshold needed.
Question time wraps up for the day.
Richard Ferguson 3.34pm: Helloworld motion vote
The motion calling on Scott Morrison to investigate his MPs’ dealings with Helloworld and Liberal Party treasurer Andrew Burnes is now being voted on.
Crossbench MPs Cathy McGowan, Rebekha Sharkie, Kerryn Phelps, Julia Banks, Andrew Wilkie, and Adam Bandt are voting with Labor.
Maverick MP Bob Katter is not in the chamber.
Crossbenchers Kerryn Phelps, Julia Banks, Rebekha Sharkie, Cathy McGowan, Andrew Wilkie and Adam Bandt are all voting with Labor to suspend standing orders. @SkyNewsAust
— James O'Doherty (@jmodoh) February 20, 2019
Richard Ferguson 3.18pm: ‘A straight-out slur’: Pyne on Helloworld
Defence Minister Christopher Pyne rises to oppose the motion to suspend standing orders.
“That was really one of the weakest performances I have seen in this place for a very long time,” he says.
“This is one of the most — the weakest cases I have ever seen in this House, Mr Speaker, to condemn either a minister or in this case the ambassador to Washington DC.
“It is a straight-out sneer and a straight-out slur, Mr Speaker, and what the Labor Party have been saying in the press gallery all day today to anybody who wanted to hear bragging about how they have had this story for months, they have known about the Helloworld story for a long time and they were just waiting to drop it to distract from their own problems.
“That is not what the people of Australia are talking about, Mr Speaker … they are frightened of a Labor government coming to power.”
Richard Ferguson 3.09pm: ‘Stench of scandal’: Chalmers
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers is moving a motion for the House to acknowledge reports about Helloworld chief executive and Liberal Party treasurer Andrew Burne’s reported dealings with high-level government officials.
“(The motion) calls on the Prime Minister to investigate and report to the House how far this Helloworld scandal reaches into his government,” Mr Chalmers says.
“They are far too serious to be dismissed and to be laughed off and to be ignored by this arrogant and out of touch government.
“This is a very Liberal scandal that we’re dealing with — it has all of the stink and all of the stench of a very Liberal scandal. It has got all of the mates at the top end of town, all the insider deals that lockout ordinary working people.”
Richard Ferguson 3.01pm: ‘Aspersions’ a distraction tactic: PM
Opposition finance spokesman Dr Jim Chalmers asks Scott Morrison if trips made by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and US Ambassador Joe Hockey paid for trips to Las Vegas with Helloworld chief executive Andrew Burnes.
“He is not asking a question, he is making an assertion about something he hasn’t even established as a fact,” the Prime Minister responds.
“On what basis should I allow a member to come and simply just come to the Despatch Box, cast aspersions on people in this chamber and the other chamber and foreman — former members of the chamber simply because the Labor Party wants to distract attention from the fact they’ve come into this place and undermined Australia’s border protection regime, Mr Speaker?”
Richard Ferguson 2.54pm: Helloworld question hockey continues
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers asks Scott Morrison about documents involving US ambassador Joe Hockey and Helloworld.
Defence Minister Christopher Pyne responds.
“If such documents exist, and if such reports exist, I’m sure that we can find those things out when we actually investigate the efficacy of this question, Mr Speaker,” he says.
“And I’m not going to simply accept on face value that because the opposition says something, it makes it true.
“The government has absolute confidence in our ambassador in Washington, DC, and we’re not going to take lectures from the Labor Party about integrity in politics.”
Richard Ferguson 2.47pm: ‘We have every confidence in Joe Hockey’
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers asks Scott Morrison about reports a DFAT official raised concerns about US ambassador Joe Hockey’s dealings with Helloworld chief and Liberal Party treasurer Andrew Burnes.
Defence Minister Christopher Pyne answers the question.
“We have every confidence in Joe Hockey as our ambassador in Washington DC. He is a former distinguished member of this House,” he says.
“He is a former distinguished Treasurer. He did a great deal more to get this economy back on track than any member the Labor party ever had and one of the reasons we are reaping the benefits today of budget surpluses and a strong economy is because of the work that Joe Hockey did when he was a distinguished member of this House.”
Labor MPs yell out: “You dumped him (Hockey).”
Richard Ferguson 2.43pm: The never-ending question
Labor MP Nick Champion tries to ask a question to Scott Morrison about trips taken by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton with Helloworld chief executive Andrew Burnes.
He tries to finish his question and Labor MP Wayne Swan says he could not hear.
Speaker Tony Smith allows him to ask the question again. By the time he starts to ask about Peter Dutton, Coalition MPs erupt in jeers and laughter.
It is not clear what he was asking. And the Speaker moves onto another question.
Richard Ferguson 2.32pm: Labor ‘misrepresenting truth’ on Helloworld
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers again asks if US ambassador Joe Hockey directed embassy staff to meet a Helloworld subsidiary and Liberal Party treasurer Andrew Burnes.
Scott Morrison says Labor is “misrepresenting the truth.”
“I can advise the Australian Embassy staff meeting … on 26 April 2017, I’m advised, was not in relation to the tender process,” he says.
“QBT was then, and continues to be, a travel for DFAT through a whole-of-government supply arrangement.
“Mr Joe Hockey declared his interest in Helloworld to embassy staff ahead of the meeting.
“I’m advised embassy staff did not meet QBT or other staff in relation to the tender and embassy staff have met and corresponded with a whole range of travel providers to discuss the embassy’s travel requirements.
“So, Mr Speaker, what this is, just, again, is the Labor Party trying to distract attention.”
Richard Ferguson 2.27pm: Hockey and Helloworld
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers asks Scott Morrison about reports US ambassador Joe Hockey helped to organise a meeting for Helloworld while they were seeking a government contract.
The ambassador had no role in the tender process and recused himself from the meeting.
The Prime Minister says: “The tender process commenced with the register for expressions of interest advertised in August 2018.
“ Mr Hockey has had no role in the tender process. He has declared his business interests in accordance with DFAT guidelines.
“This is just another grubby attempt by the Labor Party to distract attention from one very simple thing … they know they have made a very big mistake in showing up the weakness of their own leader by forcing him to back down to them and come into this place and weaken Australia’s border security arrangements.”
Richard Ferguson 2.22pm: Children ‘should be at school’: McCormack
Greens MP Adam Bandt asks Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack if he will support students striking from school to protest climate change.
“The children should be at school, that’s where they should be. They should be learning about Australian history, they should be learning about Australian geography, they should be learning about all the lessons that their teachers are willing to teach them,” the Deputy Prime Minister says.
Mr Bandt makes a point of order to ask if students should be taught science as well.
Speaker Tony Smith warns him not to use points of orders to ask supplementary questions.
Richard Ferguson 2.20pm: Burnes complied on travel: PM
Bill Shorten asks Scott Morrison if it is still the case his ministers fully complied with ministerial standards when dealing with Helloworld and Liberal Party treasurer Andrew Burnes.
Mr Burnes has been brought into the spotlight after Finance Minister Mathias Cormann re-paid flights paid for him by Helloworld, which he took soon after Mr Burne’s company was awarded a $21m contract by Senator Cormann’s department.
Senator Cormann said he had expected to be billed for the flights, but the bill never came.
The Prime Minister says: “It is still the case, Mr Speaker, and I’m not going to take lectures from the leader of the Labor Party who it took eight years to disclose the campaign support he got from unions when he first ran for the parliament.
“I’m not going to take lectures from those on my right, Mr Speaker, who won’t even co-operate with the police when it comes to taking money out of union members’ pockets and giving it to GetUp himself.
“I’m not going to be lectured by this bloke, Mr Speaker.”
.@ScottMorrisonMP on Coalition members allegedly refusing to be interviewed over AWU raids:
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 20, 2019
My ministers fully cooperated with the requirements of the AFP. The ministers responded and no further information was sought from them.
MORE: https://t.co/kKDzIWzZUs #qt pic.twitter.com/NDv2RMsljz
Richard Ferguson 2.13pm: Cash, Keenan ‘did co-operate’: PM
Opposition employment spokesman Brendan O’Connor asks why Small Business Minister Michaelia Cash and Human Services Minister Michael Keenan did not give witness statements to federal police over an investigation into media leaks of an AWU raid.
The Prime Minister says the ministers did co-operate and reads out a note from the AFP.
“What I can tell you is that the AFP has acknowledged the receipt of both the correspondence from Minister Keenan and from Minister Cash,” he says.
“And in relation to Minister Keenan they said, ‘I acknowledge receipt of your statement, AFP will review the statement and if we require any further clarification we may reach out to you.’ That was the end of the matter, Mr Speaker.”
“The simple explanation is this. The AFP contacted the ministers, the ministers responded, and no further information was sought from the ministers.”
Richard Ferguson 2.06pm: Townsville floods support
Bill Shorten opens question time by asking Scott Morrison about guaranteeing insurance payouts for victims of the Townsville floods.
The Prime Minister responds: “Specifically on the matter of insurance that is one of the many issues that the government is dealing with as part of the ministerial task force in our response to the flood crisis in northern Queensland
“The Assistant Treasurer has been working on those issues and I can assure you hat the insurance companies are on notice from our government that they need to address the claims.
They need to be standing with the people of North Queensland in the same way that our government is doing just that, Mr Speaker.”
Richard Ferguson 1.29pm: Adani? ‘We’ll see’
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek says “we’ll see” if the Adani project goes ahead as she is not convinced the project stacks up on economic and environmental grounds.
“We don’t make a case-by-case decision about how we feel about a particular project,” she told Canberra’s National Press Club today.
“We have rules, we have laws, we work through them and we make a sensible decision. The evidence that we’ve seen so far are that the jobs claims of Adani are vastly overstated.
“I believe the royalties agreement hasn’t been signed yet with the Queensland government. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens.”
Richard Ferguson 1.14pm: Labor denies asylum rift
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek continues to refuse to back Bill Shorten’s position that it is “fine” to send sick refugees to Christmas Island, but claims there is no split with her leader.
“The proposition (of a split) is absolutely false,” she told Canberra’s National Press Club today.
“It is up to the government to explain how people who cannot be adequately treated on Manus Island and Nauru can have adequate medical treatment on Christmas Island. It is up to them to explain how that can happen.
“It is up to them to explain how they justify the extra expense of doing it this way given that this government has already brought hundreds of people from Manus Island and Nauru to Australia to the mainland for medical treatment.
“The last briefing we got, I think the security agency said the number of people who had been brought here for medical treatment by this government in recent times was close to 400. And the number of accompanying family members was something over 500.
“How can it be safe for those people to be brought here by Peter Dutton but we need to open Christmas Island for anybody else?”
Richard Ferguson 1.11pm: ‘Fact’ world is moving away from coal: Plibersek
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek says it is a “simple economic fact” the world is moving away from coal and how she “feels” about coal does not matter, after her frontbench colleague Richard Marles says the death of thermal coal would be “wonderful.”
“The first thing to say about coal is it’s not about how we feel about coal, it’s not the vibe,” she said at Canberra’s National Press Club today.
“There is a simple economic fact that the world is moving away from coal-fired power generation, it’s becoming increasingly expensive, we’ve recognised that global warming is a problem, we want to reduce our pollution, some countries are worried about the air quality in their cities.
“However you look at it, this is a change that is happening not just in our economy, but around the world. And how I feel about it is not the relevant issue. It is back to the data. The data shows us that renewables are becoming cheaper all the time.”
Australia’s export earnings from thermal coal rose to $25.8b in 2018, according to ABS international trade figures.
According to the IEA, the thermal coal market is forecast to remain stable over the next five years, as declining demand in Europe and North America is offset by strong growth in India and Southeast Asia.
Resources Minister Matt Canavan said Mr Marles had revealed Labor’s “true colours” on the coal industry.
Ewin Hannan 12.42pm: Company’s ‘free labour’
A company has been excluded from the federal government’s internship program after receiving $17,000 in taxpayer funds for taking on 17 interns but not offering one of them a job.
Department officials told Senate estimates today the company had been removed from program and the government was seeking the return of the public funds. The company has not yet paid back the money.
Officials revealed the $840 million PaTH program was operating well below its set target of 30,000 placements a year, or 120,000 over four years.
Of 8913 placements last year, 5619 were completed, and 3652 interns were employed with their host business or another business.
Business taking on an intern receive an upfront $1000 payment. The internship is between 15 and 25 hours a week for four to 12 weeks. Interns will receive $200 a fortnight from the government on top of their regular income support. If the intern gets a job, the employer receives a further payment of $6500 or $10,000.
Labor Senator Deborah O’Neill said the excluded company got 68 weeks of “free labour” and $17,000 of taxpayers funds.
She said the program looked like a “policy failure” given it was well below the 30,000 a year target set by the government.
Liberal senator Linda Reynolds said the government had changed eligibility requirements to attract more jobseekers to the scheme, and the program had been “very successful”.
Richard Ferguson 12.34pm: Labor pledges $30m for principal ‘super school’
Labor will set up a $30 million super school to train school principals and pump $300m to support students with disabilities if it wins the next election, the party’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek says.
“Almost three quarters of Australian principals are over 50 years old and the proportion of principals over 60 grew by 10 percentage points (from 8 to 18 per cent) in recent years,” she told the National Press Club in Canberra today.
“A state-by-state and system by system approach to identifying, training and supporting school leaders is haphazard and acts as a potential barrier to movement between the systems.
“That is why today I’m committing a Shorten Labor government to investing $30 million to establish a National Principals Academy.
“Training will be available to current and aspiring school principals, as well as other school leaders. There will be a range of courses offered by the Academy, from stand-alone subjects to programs that run for a couple of years.”
While the support for Australia’s more than 450,000 disabled school students will be on top on increased Gonski funding if Labor wins in May.
“This increased disability loading will help students get specialised teaching and support, pay for necessary equipment and alternations to school facilities and provide access to modern technologies that enable learning,” Ms Plibersek said.
“It is a significant contribution towards making sure that students with disability can reach their full potential.”
Richard Ferguson 11.46am: ‘Adequate’ facilities at Christmas Island: Coleman
Immigration Minister David Coleman says there will be “adequate” medical facilities at Christmas Island, as Labor rifts open over sending sick refugees to the controversial detention centre.
“The government has it made it clear we will have to re-open Christmas Island … because we are expecting a large number of people,” he told Sky News.
“We’ll ensure that adequate medical facilities are provided. So if a person needs to be treated for a particular matter, adequate facilities will be provided at Christmas Island.”
Despite repeat questions, Mr Coleman would not comment on the capacity of medical facilities at Christmas Island as of now.
Bill Shorten yesterday that he was “fine” with sick refugees being sent to Christmas Island, but Labor frontbenchers Tanya Plibersek, Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles have still stated their opposition to the centre’s reopening.
Ben Packham 11.40am: ‘No hand in Nauru law change’
Immigration Minister David Coleman says the Australian government played no role in the drafting legislation passed in Nauru to restrict medical transfers under Labor-backed medivac laws.
Mr Coleman said Australia also made no requests to Nauru for it to draft the legislation, which bans telehealth consultations as a basis for medivac transfers of refugees.
“The answer to both (questions) is no,” Mr Coleman told The Australian.
The comment follows that of Independent Andrew Wilkie, who branded Nauru a “co-conspirator” in the Morrison government’s attempt to circumvent the medivac bill.
“I’m also alarmed, but hardly surprised, that the Nauru government is a co-conspirator with the Australian government,” Mr Wilkie told The Australian.
“It’s an open secret that Nauru does whatever Australia demands, so we can assume their response to the medevac bill was on instructions from Canberra.”
With Rosie Lewis
Richard Ferguson 11.27am: Littleproud attempted to offload Woolies shares
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud says he has tried to sell his shares in supermarket giant Woolworths, as he calls on consumers to boycott their competitors Coles and Aldi for not scrapping $1 milk like Woolworths has.
“25 shares. That’s 750 bucks worth I understand. I think a dividend a year equates to $15, from what I understand. It was a dividend reinvestment which was held over when I tried to sell those shares some time ago,” he said in Canberra today.
“I’ve got shares in Telstra and big banks and, let me tell you, I’ve had a stink with all of them. I’m not afraid to have a stink with them because I’m going to support the people I’m here to represent. I’m here to represent agricultural Australia and I’ll continue to do that.
“I’ve made all avenues available to sell these 25 shares.”
Richard Ferguson 10.49am: Charities will be hurt by franking credits crackdown: Frydenberg
Josh Frydenberg says charities will be among those hit by Labor’s franking credits policy, as he attends a “fair retirement forum” in Parliament House.
“The dramatic impact of Labor’s retiree tax will be felt across the economy,” the Treasurer said.
.@JoshFrydenberg on the Labor's franking credits policy: The impact of Labor's 'retiree tax' will be felt across the country. We have heard from charities that warn their donors won't be able to make 'the contributions they have made in the past.'
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 19, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/ykweMevBOK pic.twitter.com/GVd6J3K54D
“We’ve heard from charities that their donors will no longer be able to make the contributions that they’ve made in the past.
“And today at the forum we heard from retirees about the effect it will have on their disposable income, that they can spend on living their normal way of life. These people are frugal people, they are not living expensive lives. They are people who have diligently saved for their retirement.”
Primrose Riordan 10.43am: Australian man fights for wife, child’s safe passage
An Australian Uighur man is attempting to convince Chinese authorities to allow his wife and 18 month old child to leave China.
The man and his wife, who cannot be named for safety reasons, are both of Uighur ethnicity. The Chinese government has been detaining ethnically Uighur and Turkic people en masse in the Xinjiang region in North-West China.
The child has recently been granted Australian citizenship and is currently in the region in China with his mother, who is a Chinese national, according to his lawyer Michael Bradley from Marque Lawyers.
He said the man had to return to Australia for work reasons and the mother ended up giving birth in China.
The mother’s passport has been confiscated, and after a number of hurdles the child was granted citizenship earlier this month. The move allows Australian diplomats to raise the case with Chinese authorities.
A DFAT spokeswoman said: “DFAT consular officials are providing consular assistance to an Australian man whose family are in China. Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment.”
Richard Ferguson 10.35am: Labor fails in milk price floor bid
Labor has failed to suspend standing orders and call for a floor price for milk, after Agriculture Minister David Littleproud called on consumers to boycott Coles and Aldi for not scrapping $1 milk.
Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon wanted the parliament to talk the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate how best to prevent dairy farmers being ripped off by big supermarkets.
“Australia’s dairy farmers are caught in a long-running cost-price squeeze, where they are paid less than the cost of producing their milk,” his motion read.
“Government intervention is needed to save our dairy sector and our dairy farmers,
Therefore, (the House) calls on the government to task the ACCC with testing the efficacy of a minimum farm gate milk price and to make recommendations on the best design options.”
Independent MPs Kerryn Phelps and Andrew Wilkie sided with Labor. But crossbenchers Julia Banks went with the Coalition to keep parliament going.
Ben Packham 10.15am: Labor rift deepens over Adani coal mine
Labor frontbencher Richard Marles says the collapse of thermal coal — which earned Australia $23 billion last year — would be “wonderful” and “a good thing”, as he refused to back a CFMEU campaign calling for Queensland Labor MPs to endorse the Adani coal mine.
Despite strong global demand for thermal coal, Mr Marles told Sky News that the world market for the commodity had “collapsed”.
“The global market for thermal coal has collapsed, and wonderful — that’s a good thing — because what that implies is the world is acting in relation to climate change,” the Opposition defence spokesman and close ally of Bill Shorten said.
Rachel Baxendale 10.07am: Andrews backs disability royal commission
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says a federal royal commission into abuse of Australians with a disability would have his support, criticising the Morrison government for not allowing the issue to be debated in federal parliament.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison earlier this week waved a motion calling his government to establish a disability royal commission through federal parliament, but said the inquiry would require the approval of the states and territories to get underway.
Mr Andrews, who has established Victorian royal commissions into family violence, mental health and the Lawyer X scandal, said there was very clearly a problem in the disability sector.
“I think my views on royal commissions as the highest and most formal type of inquiry are well known,” he said.
“I think that at the very least we should have had a debate in Canberra about it.
“I think some of the contrivances — the longest Question Time ever — it’s all to avoid having a debate. I don’t think that’s the parliament working at its best.
“There might be different options. There might be other ways in which you could inquire into what’s going on and then set about trying to fix it, but at least having a debate would have been a good thing.
“If a royal commission is set up, or any other inquiry, then we would stand ready to co-operate with that.”
Primrose Riordan 9.55am: ISIS defeat ‘imminent’
Vice Admiral David Johnston has raised the prospect of Australia scaling down its training operation in Iraq as he said the defeat of the “physical caliphate” was expected within a “few weeks”.
Defence was being questioned by Labor Senators Penny Wong and Kimberley Kitching in Senate Estimates hearings about the US planned withdrawal from Syria.
Vice Admiral Johnston has said the training needs of Iraqi forces might be change in the wake of the military defeat of Islamic State in Syria, and they might not be a need to scale of training the Coalition provided during the military conflict. Australian military trainers are part of this Coalition.
Vice Admiral Johnston said the “the caliphate defeat is imminent” and the remaining “pocket” of Islamic State forces are confined to a 700 square metre area.
He said the Islamic State’s land forces are expected to be defeated within the next few weeks.
Richard Ferguson 9.43am: Plibersek continues Christmas Island confusion
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek continues to contradict Bill Shorten and pour doubt on government moves to send sick refugees to Christmas Island.
“I frankly can’t understand — and it really is up to the Government to explain — why if a person cannot be properly treated on Nauru or Manus Island or Port Moresby, that they somehow can be properly treated on Christmas Island,” she told reporters in Canberra.
“Christmas Island, I know, has good medical facilities, but it’s hard to see how they could be that much better than what’s available on Manus or Nauru.
“So it’s up to the government to explain how they can properly treat people on Christmas Island. It seems to me that this is a very expensive way of providing the medical treatment as well.”
Mr Shorten told reporters yesterday he was “fine” with sick refugees going to Christmas Island.
Ms Plibersek said earlier today on Sky News she doubted Christmas Island could look after those medical transfers, as did opposition defence spokesman Richard Marles who called the reopening of the detention centre “silly.”
Richard Ferguson 8.55am: Mixed messages from Labor on Christmas Island
Labor frontbenchers continue to contradict Bill Shorten’s position on Christmas Island, as opposition defence spokesman Richard Marles called the decision to re-open the detention centre “silly.”
“The whole discussion around Christmas Island from this government is silly,” Mr Marles told Sky News.
“I don’t want to talk about Christmas Island because I think Christmas Island sends exactly the wrong message to the people we need to be careful about, who we’re sending messages to, and that’s people smugglers in Indonesia.
“At no point in those 900 people coming here (for medical transfers before the medivac bill), did they (the government) feel it necessary to send any of them to Christmas Island to get treatment.”
The Opposition Leader said yesterday he was “fine” with refugees being sent to Christmas Island for medical treatment, instead of the Australian mainland.
Richard Ferguson 8.30am: Swan defends Shorten on Christmas Island
Labor national president Wayne Swan has defended Bill Shorten over sending sick refugees to Christmas Island, after deputy leader Tanya Plibersek poured doubt over the detention centre’s ability to deal with medical emergencies.
When asked today if Mr Shorten had “capitulated” for saying it was “fine” to send refugees to Christmas Island after his frontbenchers had spent days attacking Scott Morrison’s decision to re-open the controversial detention centre, the former treasurer dismissed the questions.
“There’s no need to repeat all of the government’s lines … The two (criticising the decision to re-open Christmas Island and saying it is “fine for refugees to go there) are not incompatible,” he told ABC radio.
“We passed a bill which related to medical situations … nothing has changed with Christmas Island, nothing.”
Richard Ferguson 7.50am: Government ignoring will of parliament: Plibersek
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek echoed comments from independent MP Kerryn Phelps and Greens senator Nick McKim that the government was ignoring the will of parliament over medivacs.
“It’s not just the Labor Party that’s decided that (refugees should be brought to Australia for medical reasons), it’s the parliament. The parliament of Australia has made that decision,” she told ABC radio.
“And the way the government is responding to the parliament of Australia is to throw any sort of complication they can to whip up a scare campaign.”
Dr Phelps, the member of Wentworth, tweeted on Monday night that sending refugees to Christmas Island for medical treatment instead of the mainland was a “subversion of representative democracy”, despite Christmas Island being an Australian territory.
The Greens have called on the lower house crossbench to rescind confidence and supply from the government over the Christmas Island move.
Richard Ferguson 7.44am: Labor at odds on Christmas Island
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek has poured doubt on Christmas Island’s ability to medically treat sick refugees, just hours after her leader Bill Shorten said he was “fine” with asylum seekers being sent there.
The comments, which appear to cut across Ms Plibersek’s leader, come as cross bench MPs accused the government of “subversion of representative democracy” for not bringing medivac refugees to the mainland.
“It’s up to the government to explain how people who couldn’t get proper medical care on Manus Island and Nauru can somehow get proper treatment on Christmas Island,” she told ABC radio.
“Which of course has good but limited medical treatment available.”
Mr Shorten said yesterday he was fine with medivac refugees being brought to the Christmas Island facility, despite Labor frontbenchers spending days attacking Scott Morrison’s move to re-open the controversial detention centre.
Richard Ferguson 6.57am: What’s making news
Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten face their own battles in parliament and estimates. But Greens leader Richard Di Natale might be in the most trouble according to private polling.
What’s making news:
• Bill Shorten’s mentor, former union leader Bill Ludwig, has blamed a “few lefties’’ within Queensland’s Labor government for politicising the Adani coalmine and backed the CFMEU’s threatened campaign against federal ALP candidates who refuse to support the project.
• The Greens face an electoral backlash as voters concerned about climate change and asylum-seekers — and enticed by Bill Shorten’s softer policy agenda — refuse to shift their support to a minor party beset by dysfunctional campaigning and infighting.
• Building a new “hack-proof’’ mobile network is being actively examined by the nation’s national security experts to protect whole power grids, hospitals and universities from being shut down by state-sponsored cyber attacks.
• Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop are ramping up pressure on Russia to accept responsibility for the downing of MH17 and to compensate victims by supporting a private member’s bill targeting Russian officials ahead of unexpected talks.
• The corporate watchdog has flagged criminal prosecutions against senior bank executives from almost 40 investigations into alleged breaches as the government prepares to extend the time jilted customers can seek redress from banks back to 2008, the start of the global financial crisis.
• Up to 50,000 pensioners over the next decade could fail to meet Labor’s safety net threshold and lose their annual cash refunds for excess franking credits under Bill Shorten’s plans to axe $55 billion in tax breaks for retirees.
• Josh Frydenberg will today resurrect government legislation that clamps down on a $2.6 billion life insurance fee gouge on young Australians’ superannuation savings in a bid to test Labor’s appetite to reform the union- and employer-backed industry fund sector.
• Finance Minister Mathias Cormann personally told Peter Costello the government would not be adopting the former treasurer’s proposal to nationalise the default superannuation sector by creating a publicly run savings scheme that could be administered by the Future Fund, which he chairs.
• Wayne Swan was ever a warrior in his lifetime of politics. He kicked heads, got kicked in the head, would swing and hit, sometimes swing and miss but, typically, the Labor man with links back to the Whitlam government went out swinging yesterday.
• The Australian Maritime Safety Authority faces a Senate inquiry after a ferocious attack by a government senator into its handling of the death of a Perth father who is believed to have fallen off a boat.
• Christopher Pyne is on track to easily retain his suburban Adelaide seat of Sturt, with internal polling finding the Defence Minister 18 points ahead of Labor on a two-party basis.
• A split has opened between Labor and an alliance of Greens and key independents over the contentious medivac bill, as Bill Shorten is attacked for supporting refugees and asylum-seekers from Manus Island and Nauru being sent to Christmas Island.
• Refugee lawyer David Manne has warned that the limited scope of the Labor-backed medivac bill, which captures only refugees and asylum-seekers held on PNG and Nauru, will not stop future arrivals from taking legal action.
• Manus MP Job Pomat says he wants as many asylum-seekers and refugees as possible to be sent from the island to Australia under the Labor-backed medivac bill, declaring offshore processing had transformed his home into a “hellhole” in the eyes of foreigners.
• A surge in migration from the Middle East is putting “democracy and social cohesion at risk” in Europe, according to new research that finds voters in 16 European countries are less likely to support a welfare state amid a rising number of foreigners.
• Australia’s Jewish leaders have praised Scott Morrison’s attack on the UN’s “anti-Semitic agenda” as the nation celebrates 70 years of diplomatic relations with Israel.
• The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions believed there was prima facie evidence a crime had been committed in relation to the leaking to the media of raids on the Australian Workers Union.
• James Jeffrey’s Sketch: Google has the answer as ScoMo casts a line.
• Paul Kelly writes the 45th parliament has reached a status probably unmatched since Federation — Scott Morrison stumbled into minority government against his will and while Bill Shorten can humiliate the government on the floor, he cannot destroy it through a no-confidence motion.
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