So the government party room is fighting over energy again, and Barnaby Joyce’s personal decisions are dominating the news agenda, but it’s almost June, not February.
I just had to check that, because I was having the worst case of deja vu.
Maybe tomorrow someone could come out and slam Safe Schools, or argue against marriage equality, or find out they are a dual citizen, just so we can throw ourselves completely into this time loop.
Who knows with this parliament. The 45th parliament is certainly a doozy.
A big thank you to the Guardian brains trust, which went above and beyond in getting estimates posts to me today. And of course, to Mike Bowers, who fills my day with sugar, laughter and, of course, amazing images. You’ll find him and his office yoga technique on the Instagram story of @pyjamapolitics and you’ll catch some more of his pics at @mikepbowers.
As always, the biggest thank you to you, for reading and following along. I know I say this all the time, but I truly do appreciate it, more than you know. You are always free to drop me a line at @amyremeikis if you have some burning thoughts about the blog.
We’ll be back bright and early tomorrow morning, so have a lovely evening – and remember – take care of you.
Updated
Will the government's tax plan affect men and women differently? Treasury doesn't know.
Here’s an interesting little piece of information from senate estimates today.
Treasury secretary John Fraser admitted Treasury has not modelled the financial impact of the government’s income tax plan on men and women separately.
Labor senator Jenny McAllister sent a note to Treasury before today’s hearings asking if it could provide a breakdown of the tax plan’s impact on taxpayers by gender and by electorate.
Fraser said Treasury didn’t have access to electorate data so it could not show how the tax cuts affected different electorates.
“[And] it wasn’t done by gender [because] the tax cuts are gender neutral in terms of ... the impact on the person,” he said.
Liberal senator Mathias Cormann jumped in, wanting to know why McAllister was interested in the tax plan’s likely impact on different electorates, suggesting it wasn’t relevant.
McAllister said it wasn’t up to him to approve her questions, and then asked Fraser to clarify his answer about the gender impact.
“In relation to the impacts by gender and the number of men and women who would relatively benefit and by how much, that analysis wasn’t done by Treasury?” she asked.
Fraser was unequivocal: “No.”
It’s an interesting point because the National Foundation for Australian Women has been pushing for years for Treasury to think more deeply about how budget measures affect men and women differently.”
In modelling last year, it found the combined impact of the government’s 2017-18 budget would see women earning below-average wages hit with effective marginal tax rates of 100%.
Treasury officials were then asked about that modelling in senate estimates, and they admitted they hadn’t modelled the impact of the budget on men and women separately.
Michael Brennan, the deputy secretary of Treasury’s fiscal group, told senators during senate estimates last year: “It is something we do look at from time to time, looking through the income scale with particular household cameos, where effective marginal tax rates might be particularly high, but I’m not aware that we’ve done anything for this particular budget.”
Kelly O’Dwyer is not backing away from her earlier comments regarding Barnaby Joyce’s decision to accept (a reported) $150,000 for a tell-all interview. But she’s not willing to add to them, either.
O’Dwyer has voiced the strongest views out of all her colleagues – including those on the other side of the chamber – saying she believes most Australians would be “disgusted” by the interview payment.
Asked about Joyce’s comments, when he said it was his partner’s decision to accept the money, given they are being hounded anyway, O’Dwyer had this to say to Sky:
“I’ll let your viewers judge that. I have made very strong statements on this. I don’t resolve from them at all.
“... I don’t think a parliamentarian should take money for an interview. I don’t think their spouse should either.”
Updated
From Mike Bowers’ eyeball, to yours:
Updated
More questions have been asked about My Health Record data during community affairs estimates.
A trial of the opt-out e-health record system was conducted involving one million people, and of those, 1.9% opted out. About two-thirds of people in the trial didn’t know they’d been given a My Health Records, estimates hears.
Less than one-tenth of 1% of people in the trial added additional privacy measures to their accounts, such as requiring a pin code to access certain documents. For example, if the results of a medical test are particularly sensitive, a patient can alter their privacy settings so that the results of the test require a pin to be seen. People can also opt to have the document blanked out altogether.
But once people have a My Health Record, consent to upload even sensitive medical information to the system is assumed, the Australian Digital Health CEO, Tim Kelsey, told the committee.
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And question time ends.
Everyone take a breath.
Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull have another bunfight over who is lying about cuts to schools and hospitals.
I think we can all see where the election campaign is going.
Peter Dutton, in his latest round of “you are very safe, and also all unions are evil” dixer answer, is at least consistent.
While talking about Labor’s refugee policy battle, he made the CFMEU the bad guys, even while describing how they came in and shut down the debate.
On the weekend there was a Victorian ALP conference and, Mr Speaker, there was a motion that was to put at conference and it said, and I quote, that the Labor party should close the offshore detention centres, transit centres and other camps on Manus Island and Nauru within the first 90 days. What happened during the course of that debate, where people would argue for and against strong border protection policies?
You know what happened? The CFMEU rode into town on their Harleys, they hopped off, went inside and the debate was closed down.
They don’t only muscle up on building sites, they turn up in at the Convention Centre, where the Labor party is seeking to conduct ... and they closed the debate down.
There you have it. The CFMEU are still the bad guys, even when stopping the boats.
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Tanya Plibersek to Malcolm Turnbull:
Extra funding will be needed for the second Gonski report. If they accept the recommendations from this report, why is he still cutting $17bn from Australian schools while giving the big banks a $17bn tax cut?
Turnbull:
The funding for schools is the highest ever. It is the highest ever and the key thing that we have to achieve is to ensure that we get the best outcomes from this very large spending.
That is David Gonski, whose recommendations my government has adopted and the honourable member’s government ignored and misrepresented and that’s why we need to know what other measures that will ensure we give all of our students the best education that we can deliver, and the Gonski 2.0 report is a very valuable guide, and Senator Birmingham will be meeting with states and territories to discuss how that can be implemented. I have to say, the report has been broadly accepted.
There is always some resistance to reform, but I think we all agree that every child should make a year’s progress every year and that is the fundamental point that David Gonski is making because, as they have observed in the report, there are many students who are not progressing as much as they should or could and that is why we need to have a more student-focused approach to school education. The resources are there, the funding model is there, and it is now important to put it to work for the benefit of our children.
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Catherine King to Malcolm Turnbull:
Instead of giving an $80bn handout to big business, why won’t the prime minister support Labor’s commitment to invest in a cancer patient treatment centre so they won’t have to travel long distances to get the care that they need?
Turnbull:
I will ask the minister for health to add to this but I want to record with respect to Caboolture hospital, the shocking lies being told by the Labor party. Shocking lies. These are the facts. The government is spending a record amount on public hospitals in Queensland and in particular in the metro north hospital network. The truck that the Labor party is towing around saying the federal government is cutting funding to hospitals in Queensland let alone in Caboolture hospital, is a lie. It is an absolute lie.
We have seen an increase in funding to local hospitals in that area including to Caboolture hospital. There is record GP bulk billing in that electorate of 93%.
Again, both sides are right here. Health funding is increasing. Every government will get to say they are making record investment in health, because it just keeps growing. The issue, is the 2014 budget cut how much that funding was supposed to grow by. So all the states made plans around what they thought they were getting, but they are not getting as much as they thought. I’ll say it again – funding is increasing. But the rate of funding increases has been cut.
And that truck that the PM keeps bringing up? It is a particularly sore topic within the LNP, not just because they think it’s claim of hospital funding cuts is a lie, but it was a truck, with a billboard of former LNP MP Wyatt Roy embracing Malcolm Turnbull at a GQ event, that cost the Coalition that seat. Caboolture is more of your Tony Abbott town than your Malcolm Turnbull town. By linking Roy so closely to Turnbull, Labor helped sieve off more votes and ultimately, with the help of One Nation preferences, took the seat.
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Michelle Landry delivers a dixer for Kelly O’Dwyer and the minister for revenue throws in a “who is such a hard-working member” which can only be seen as a message to the Queensland LNP which is dragging Landry in front of its candidate review committee, after she spoke out against Jane Prentice’s dumping.
Chris Bowen to Malcolm Turnbull:
Last week the Member for New England said that the prime minister should take his $80 billion big business tax cut to the next election. Does the prime minister agree with the free advice offered by the Member for New England? Can the prime minister confirm the government’s commitment today is to implement its full company tax cut despite any obstacles?
There’s a lot about Bowen’s book, which talks about cutting company tax, but the only line which matters for these purposes is this one:
I can repeat the commitment I have made. I repeat it and we have made to ensure that we secure a competitive company tax rate for Australian businesses.”
Barnaby #qt @AmyRemeikis @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive https://t.co/o9LfnU2Pbc pic.twitter.com/faweVmiGBJ
— Mikearoo (@mpbowers) May 29, 2018
Mike Bowers is in the house ... and has spotted someone who is not having a great day.
Updated
Bill Shorten rises to associate the opposition with Julie Bishop’s remarks:
Like members of the house I have had the sad privilege of meeting the families of the people who were murdered in 2014. 298 people were murdered. We supported, when this occurred, the strong actions of the then prime minister, the member for Warringah. We support, now ... the actions of the foreign minister.
We wholeheartedly agree with the conclusions in the international report about the origin of this murder weapon and, despite what the Russian ambassador to Australia has said– that these are merely reports on social media – they most certainly are not.
And no amount of counter-rhetoric from the Russian Federation will dissuade me or the opposition from the truth of what has happened.
And I make these remarks on indulgence … to send a message to the Russian Federation that whatever the debates we have here, when it comes to the MH17 atrocity, this parliament is of one mind, there is no daylight, there are no shades of grey, the UN security council resolutions must be respected, we demand full transparency, compensation ... there is not a single family member who would not rather have their loved ones back … but as a recognition of responsibility. The families of those people who were murdered deserve closure and the Russian Federation should be on notice that this parliament unanimously supports the actions of the government.
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Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull trade more barbs over the superannuation amnesty.
Julie Bishop is given a dixer, but it is on MH17, and she responds:
Last Friday, the Australian government joined with the government of the Netherlands in asserting state responsibility of the Russian Federation for its role in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines MH17 on the 17 July 2014.
We have officially informed the Russian Federation in Moscow, in Canberra, and in The Hague, of the findings of the joint investigation team, that the missile that was deployed to shoot down the plane belonged to the Russian army’s 53rd anti-aircraft missiles brigade, that the missile system was transported from Russia into Ukraine and into territory that was controlled at the time by Russian-backed fighters. That a missile from that system was deployed to shoot down a passenger jet that was cruising at an altitude of 33,000 feet, that the missile system was then transported into Russia immediately that very same day.
The decision to deploy an advanced, sophisticated military weapon directly led to the deaths of all 298 passengers and crew on board, including 38 people from Australia. Mr Speaker, the actions of the Russian Federation demands a response and we have urged Russia to admit responsibility, we have called on Russia to enter into negotiations on matters relating to its conduct, including compensation for the victims’ families.
We have also called on Russia to comply with the unanimous Security Council resolution that requires all states to fully co-operate in all efforts to establish accountability. The joint investigation team will continue its work and this will lead to a Dutch national prosecution.
Ukraine, the country where the crash occurred, has transferred all relevant legal jurisdiction to the Netherlands to enable the prosecution to proceed and to enable all victims to be represented. I point out that Ukraine has extradition arrangements with Russia.
The Australian government remains absolutely committed to pursuing the perpetrators and holding them to account and we have allocated over $50 million to enable the prosecution to proceed and also to ensure that the Australian families can also attend.
Mr Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the many Australian officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, from Defence, from the Attorney General’s Department, from the Australian federal police, and our intelligence community, who have played a significant role in this response to this crash and also to the investigation in 2014, and their work is continuing.
This atrocity represented a threat to global civil aviation safety and we stand with the grieving families and with our international partners in the pursuit of answers and ultimately justice.
Updated
Michael McCormack just invoked my ire by setting up “an alternative approaches” dixer, which, thankfully, until this moment, we had been spared from.
In giving his answer, he gives his best impression of a human doily stack, because no one can sell that ‘alternative approach” bullshit with authenticity. #deathtodixers
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Andrew Wilkie has the crossbench question:
The NDIS is obviously a great reform. With too many people trying to access the scheme hitting a bureaucratic brick wall. Problems staying in touch with the planner once you get it. And difficulties understanding the finished plan. Reasonable requests are too often denied, and it is telling that the NDIS is spending millions of dollars a year to try and stop people getting funding through legal battles. Fights it is often losing. What will you do, Prime Minister?
Malcolm Turnbull (After a few minutes of information we already know, about people who are not having trouble with the NDIS, which is basically the parliamentary equivalent of whuddaboutery):
“As a nation, funding will increase to about $8 bn a year to $22 bn when it is rolled out.
“... In response to that [I missed the name] review, the agency’s been developing and trialling a new model that requires more face-to-face time to ensure people are listened to and receive better quality plans and a more consistent point.
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Clare O’Neil to Malcolm Turnbull:
Is the prime minister aware of ABC reports that Jessie, a barman, was left with just $98 in super after working for more than 12 years, as he was ripped off by dodgy businesses. Why is the prime minister rewarding dodgy businesses who have stolen their retirement savings from workers like Jesse [and giving them a tax deduction as well]?
Turnbull:
“In respect of the last part of her question, I refer her to the answer given a moment ago by the minister for revenue. The arrangements that the minister described are designed to ensure that employees get all of their money and the interest back. It is designed to ensure, it is a 12-month amnesty.
Not to employees but providing the incentive to encouragement to bring forth their money and pay them to employees. It is designed to ensure that people like Jessie actually get what they deserve.
That’s the goal of the change. That’s the first point. With respect to the honorable member’s reference to dodgy businesses, it is difficult to comment on that detail but I just would, other than to say, we are doing everything to ensure that Australian super is protected. The Productivity Commission report is being released today and be aware that the government, in anticipation of many of those concerns, already introduced legislation to support this, as I described earlier – banning exit fees, increasing the ability to reunite lost accounts. And making insurance through superannuation opt-in for members under the age of 25.
Mr Speaker, in making this observation, I can add: in 2013, as ... part of the MySuper reforms, the Labor government repealed the standards, and those standards protect it ... The honourable member can shake her head that this may very well apply to Jessie. They protected accounts below $1,000 or accounts held in eligible rollover funds … requiring fees that do not exceed investment earnings.
Updated
“Bloody” has been ruled unparliamentary language.
I’m very glad the Speaker does not have my desk within earshot.
Scott Morrison, giving his best impression of the pointed finger emoji, takes the next dixer.
Kelly O’Dwyer takes the prime minister’s question:
It is very clear that the government is not letting anybody off the hook from paying the superannuation guarantee entitlements that they ought to pay. Far from it. This government has put in place a mechanism to allow small and medium-sized businesses who otherwise have not paid superannuation guarantee entitlements to come forward, under an amnesty, and make good every single dollar, every single dollar, that they owe their workers.
And why? Why are we doing this? We are doing this because we actually care about these superannuation entitlements of every single worker ...
It is because on this side of the chamber we actually care about these superannuation savings of millions of Australians.
Unlike those opposite, when the leader of the opposition, when the leader of the opposition was minister for financial services, he himself, with his changes, uncapped fees. He put, he put young Australians, those Australians under the age of 25, and low-income workers, into insurance arrangements that would cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement.
He did this. Why? Maybe, maybe it was to support some of his mates in the superannuation sector. Maybe it was to do that. We have announced reforms, in our most recent, in our most recent budget, where we are reuniting people with their own money. $6 million to more more than 3 million Australians. We recognise the superannuation is not the government’s money, it is not the employer’s money, it is not the union’s money, and it is not Labor’s money, it is the member’s money.
Updated
For anyone wondering about what Labor is talking about, it is this statement from Kelly O’Dwyer I popped into the blog last week:
The Turnbull government is continuing to take action to ensure Australian workers are paid the superannuation entitlements that they are owed.
Today the Turnbull government introduced legislation to complement the sweeping superannuation guarantee (SG) integrity package already before parliament by introducing a one-off, 12-month amnesty for historical underpayment of SG.
The bill incentivises employers to come forward and do the right thing by their employees by paying any unpaid superannuation in full.
Employers will not be off the hook – to use the amnesty they must pay all that is owing to their employees, including the high rate of nominal interest. However, the amnesty will make it easier to secure outstanding employee entitlements, by setting aside the penalties for late payment that are normally paid to the government by employers.
Employers that do not take advantage of the one-off amnesty will face higher penalties when they are subsequently caught – in general, a minimum 50% on top of the SG charge they owe. In addition, throughout the amnesty period the ATO will still continue its usual enforcement activity against employers for those historical obligations they don’t own up to voluntarily.
“The ATO estimates that, in 2014‑15, around $2.85 billion in SG payments went unpaid,” Minister O’Dwyer said.
“While this represents a 95% compliance rate, any level of non-compliance is unacceptable, which is why the Turnbull government is giving the ATO the tools it needs to enforce compliance going forward.”
“We are introducing this one-off amnesty to allow employers to wipe the slate clean and pay their workers what they’re owed. All Australians workers should be paid the entitlements they are owed.”
The amnesty will run for 12 months from today.
Today’s announcement builds on the government’s package of reforms to protect workers’ superannuation entitlements by:
· Giving the ATO the ability to seek court-ordered penalties in cases where employers defy directions to pay their superannuation guarantee liabilities, including up to 12 months’ jail in the most egregious cases of non-payment;
· Requiring superannuation funds to report contributions received more frequently, at least monthly, to the ATO. This will enable the ATO to identify non-compliance and take prompt action;
· Bringing payroll reporting into the 21st century through the rollout of Single Touch Payroll (STP). Employers with 20 or more employees will transition to STP from 1 July 2018, with smaller employers coming on board from 1 July 2019. This will reduce the regulatory burden on business and transform compliance by aligning payroll functions with regular reporting of taxation and superannuation obligations; and
· Improving the effectiveness of the ATO’s recovery powers, including strengthening director penalty notices and use of security bonds for high-risk employers, to ensure that unpaid superannuation is better collected by the ATO and paid to employees’ super accounts.
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Superannuation 2018 Measures) bill 2018 also includes measures to streamline the SG system and support the integrity of superannuation tax system.
The bill will allow employees with more than one employer to avoid inadvertent breaches of their concessional contribution cap from compulsory contributions by applying to the ATO for an exemption certificate for some of their employers.
The bill will also ensure that the cap on tax-free retirement phase assets cannot be circumvented through the use of non-arm’s-length expenditure or certain strategies using limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBAs).
Together, these measures reflect the Turnbull government’s ongoing commitment to a fair and sustainable superannuation system that delivers for all Australians.
After all, your super is your money.
Updated
Chris Bowen to Malcolm Turnbull:
I refer the prime minister to his government’s own legislation, currently before the parliament. Is the prime minister even aware that it is now government policy to reward dodgy businesses who have robbed workers by failing to pay their superannuation for more than 25 years, by not only waving all penalties for the businesses but also giving them a tax deduction as well?
Updated
Then into the first #deathtodixer
(If you want the answer to this, what the government is planning to do about tax, go read a government press release.)
Updated
Question time begins
Bill Shorten to Malcolm Turnbull:
Can the prime minister please explain to the Australian people why it is government policy to forgive businesses who have illegally failed to pay the employee superannuation for over 25 years by waiving all penalties and rewarding them with tax deductions?
Turnbull (after spending a few minutes talking about how Labor voted against the government’s multinational tax avoidance legislation):
“We should not forget this ... that it was the leader of the opposition, when he was in government, they removed protections for people with low, ah, ah, ah, superannuation accounts.
“He did. His legislation failed to protect people with low-balance superannuation accounts. A matter that is being addressed by the government’s superannuation reforms.”
Updated
Stephen Jones is speaking just before question time – he’s talking about the decentralisation program, which he says is a failure – and has given what, to my ears, is the first utterance of “the $150,000 Man”.
Everyone needs a legacy, I guess.
Updated
The Coalition party room has met, minus senators who are tied up in Estimates. Malcolm Turnbull spoke about the need to counter “Labor lies” and played down expectations for the upcoming byelections, by arguing that they are hard to win for governments.
The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, made some interesting observations about China:
The relationship with China is a very important relationship and we must manage it for our mutual benefit but we need to uphold our principles. That can lead to differences from time to time but those differences can be overstated.”
It’s interesting in the context of Andrew Hastie’s intervention into the debate last week and shades of difference between ministers Marise Payne and Steven Ciobo over China’s activities in the South China Sea.
In addition to the discussions about the national energy guarantee detailed below, Tony Abbott also raised Catholic school funding. Malcolm Turnbull responded that the review of the socio-economic status formula would help address that and the schools funding package introduced in 2017 increased funding.
On the Neg, the energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, said that what will go to the Council of Australian Governments was consistent with what was discussed in the Coalition party room and after Coag legislation would come back to the party room.
Although six MPs spoke up about energy, Frydenberg’s answer amounts to: no, there will be no relitigation of the Neg before it goes to the states.
Updated
It is that time of day again!
Question time is almost upon us.
You know the drill – hit me up with your predictions.
Updated
Australian politicians going global ...
Uproar as Australia's former deputy PM plans to sell his story about having a love child with a former aide https://t.co/VRczuribaU pic.twitter.com/nddhU0qZCQ
— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 29, 2018
Updated
Before lunch the community affairs committee interrogated the government’s My Health Record scheme. Earlier this month the government revealed that from 16 July people will have a three-month window to opt-out of the scheme. After that period, a health record will automatically be created for all Australians.
If people do not opt out, two years’ worth of pharmaceutical benefits scheme and Medicare data will be uploaded to the system. The chief executive of the Australian Digital Health Agency, Tim Kelsey, told the committee that an advertising campaign would run in newspapers, on television and on radio alerting people to the opt-out period. If people forget to opt-out they will automatically have two years of data uploaded at their next medical appointment, Kelsey says.
The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, asks about what would happen if someone is taken to an emergency department and is unable to consent to this occurring. Kelsey said that at the point of the patient being discharged a discharge sheet would be uploaded to the patient’s My Health Record and this would trigger an automatic upload of two years’ worth of data.
But he tells Di Natale the patient can also retrospectively request to remove this data. The committee heard that patients will need to opt-out of having their data passed on to third parties, such as pharmaceutical companies for medical research.
Updated
Barnaby Joyce has had a little bit of a longer chat to Greg Brown at the Australian earlier today, where he explains why he has accepted the money for the interview:
Remember there are other people in this interview, being Vikki and Seb, so if it was just an interview with me as a politician, sure, I am not going to charge for that.
But that is not what they wanted, they wanted an interview obviously to get Vikki’s side of the story and, like most mothers, she said: ‘Seeing as I am being screwed over and there are drones and everything over my house in the last fortnight, paparazzi waiting for me, if everybody else is making money then [I am] going to make money out of it’.
Updated
Anthony Albanese has written an op-ed on how we look at sporting facilities in our local communities:
Whenever we build new housing estates we should ensure they include adequate sporting fields and open space, not just for now, but for the future, as populations increase. But the real challenge lies in increasing space for sport in existing urban areas.
Across Australia’s cities there has been a strong increase in construction of apartments, which is increasing population density in some areas.
Our challenge is to accommodate this greater population density while also creating more open space.
One solution here is incorporating indoor sporting facilities in urban renewal plans.
We should also work harder to better utilise existing sporting grounds and improve their facilities.
Many existing sports facilities have only male change rooms. Significant investment is required to ensure that female facilities are provided so as to encourage female participation.
Another way to make better use of existing space is to think harder about the way we design and use parks.
Updated
For anyone who feels like they haven’t had enough Barnaby Joyce today - here are those comments, straight from the MP’s mouth:
Barnaby speaks. Briefly. #auspol pic.twitter.com/FozfSsvfd7
— ABC Politics (@politicsabc) May 29, 2018
“I am anticipating that will be the case,” Eric Abetz says about separate tickets for Tasmanian Liberal senators and the Tasmanian tiger. (That’s Steve Martin, who Michael McCormack has accidentally donned with the extinct* moniker)
“[I also anticipate] that there will be respectful and healthy competition but a very strong exchange of preferences,” Abetz says. “The people of Tasmania will be able to determine whether or not they prefer Liberal or National party senators, noting that the difference is relatively small, and that is why I would anticipate those who vote one Liberal would be voting two National and vice versa.”
As for the Braddon byelection, Abetz doesn’t believe the “sympathy” vote, which was with the Coalition MPs in the earlier section 44 byelections, will be present this time around.
“I think we are in with a very real fighting chance, for a number of reasons ... the former Labor member clung on to her seat for an extra six months, when people like senator Stephen Parry and senator Jacqui Lambie ... accepted the high court decision and resigned, but the Labor member, limpet like, kept on and drew an extra $100,000 worth of salary, in circumstances where she must have known that she was at all times disqualified and I think therefore she won’t have the sort of sympathy that John Alexander enjoyed when he had to recontest his seat.”
Both Parry and Lambie only resigned after the high court decision that ruled Fiona Nash, Malcolm Roberts and Barnaby Joyce were dual citizens.
*thought to be extinct
Updated
The IPA has a solution for the super issue – just be done with compulsory superannuation.
From its statement:
“Compulsory superannuation in Australia should be abolished in favour of a voluntary scheme,” said Morgan Begg, research fellow at the free market thinktank the Institute of Public Affairs. “The Productivity Commission’s recommendations are a mixed bag that does not address the fundamental problem in the superannuation sector: over-regulation and compelled participation.
A September 2016 paper for the IPA found that high taxes and transaction costs, complexity, inconsistent treatment of different assets and a bias against savings are a predominant feature of Australia’s superannuation system.
“With employees’ money locked up in superannuation for several decades, it is important that the system is transparent and empowers workers to control their own financial choices,” Begg said.
“Instead, superannuation in Australia has become a playground for vested interests. For instance between 2013 and 2017 trade unions directly received over $18m from industry super funds via directors’ fees.”
Updated
Eric Abetz had a chat to Sky, where he had opinions on everything, except what he thinks about Barnaby Joyce accepting the reported $150,000 for a tell-all interview.
Anything he has to say on that, he’ll say privately to Barnaby, he says.
Updated
Things are going great in the government’s energy policy discussions – with its own members.
Breaking: Another discussion about the national energy guarantee in the Coalition partyroom today. Tony Abbott wanted a guarantee the policy would come back for discussion before sign off. Josh Frydenberg declined to give that guarantee #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) May 29, 2018
The NEG discussion kicked off with Andrew Gee raising concern about power prices. Abbott then chimed in, wanting the NEG to come back before sign off. Craig Kelly raised this morning's Newspoll, saying the Coalition needed to differentiate more with Labor #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) May 29, 2018
On power prices, Frydenberg told colleagues they would come down in Queensland from July. It would take longer in other states because of hedging. He said the govt would not agree to an emissions reduction target higher than 26%, & it might be a hockey stick trajectory #auspol
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) May 29, 2018
Updated
The last hour or so of Defence estimates has been taken up debating the department’s $89bn shipbuilding plan, which has been pilloried by the auditor general.
The auditor general’s office released a scathing report on the plan earlier this month.
The report criticised the approval of a new fleet of patrol boats without a concrete idea of running costs, and revealed that the decision in 2016 to begin construction of new frigates forward to 2020 “presented such extreme risk that cost and schedule overrun was likely, and that to proceed on the current schedule had the potential for severe reputational damage to Defence and the government”.
But in questioning in estimates, department official Kim Gillis said media reporting of the audit was “outlandish” and insisted much of its findings were “relatively positive”.
He maintained that in early 2016 Defence had identified some aspects of the frigate building program were of high to extreme risk but mitigation efforts were in place to make this more manageable.
“This was our statement that the audit office was reporting, it wasn’t the audit office’s assessment,” Gillis said.
He said some parts of the audit report were “out of date”.
Twelve new submarines, nine frigates and two new offshore patrol vessels are set to be constructed in Adelaide, while Perth will host the building of 10 offshore patrol boats and 19 Pacific patrol boats.
Updated
If you really want to know what is destroying Australia though, it’s obviously the divide between those who see a battered, deep fried, smashed scoop of grated potato and think potato scallop, and those who think potato cake.
It is obviously a potato fritter.
But the war has had a brief flare up in Canberra, after the Canberra Times ran the term “potato scallop” in its headline and my messages and DMs are blowing up with people who don’t want to take part in a public war, but still feel the need to tell me if it’s a cake or a scallop.
How Potatoes are Destroying Australia is 100% a book launch I would attend.
Where were you when the Canberra Times reignited the great Australian battered and fried potato war? https://t.co/kilQh6SM2z
— Amy Remeikis (@AmyRemeikis) May 29, 2018
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This invitation has just popped into our inboxes:
Michael Wilkinson & Wilkinson Publishing invite you to the official launch by The Hon Tony Abbott MP and Mr Alan Jones AO of Dr Kevin Donnelly’s new book:
HOW POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS DESTROYING AUSTRALIA (enemies within and without)
It’s on Wednesday, 6 June, in Sydney, if anyone feels the need to mark their calendars.
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So the Australian Electoral Commission wants you to know it is ready for anything.
Including, one would assume, early elections
We employ 80k Australians to help deliver a federal election. Paid roles available before, on or after election day. Register your interest today at https://t.co/dvHG7Xd1KM pic.twitter.com/VUi26E2yvz
— AEC (@AusElectoralCom) May 29, 2018
Labor still hasn’t settled on an immigration policy – and the deferment of the Labor national conference because of the byelections is not going to help this matter go away anytime soon.
Ged Kearney’s repeated refusal to answer whether or not detainees on Manus and Nauru should be brought to the Australian mainland on the bad show last night, has only breathed more life into the debate.
Here is what Chris Bowen had to say about it this morning when he was asked during a press conference:
Our policy development continues. We continue to say to the government they should accept New Zealand’s offer. It is the most concrete thing they should do. Accept New Zealand’s offer and get at least some of these people resettled in New Zealand as a matter of urgency.
Updated
Back in Community Affairs estimates and Greens leader Richard Di Natale is questioning a comment by the commonwealth chief medical officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, that the community wants a mix of public and private healthcare.
Not so, Di Natale says. He says high out-of-pocket medical costs for patients with private health insurance is surely an argument for investing in a more effective, well-funded public health system.
“The community has expressed a view for a mixed private-public system,” Murphy tells him.
But Di Natale responds that “the community hasn’t expressed a view”.
“They’re penalised if they don’t take out private health insurance, if they earn over a particular amount,” he says. “It’s not a free choice. [Private health is] being influenced by incentives and disincentives in the system.”
Murphy: “I don’t think that’s something I should comment on senator”.
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A country can't be complicit in the death of 38 Australians and face no consequences. If the Russians don't apologise, we should expel the Russian ambassador until they do. https://t.co/m64CI2h9MX
— Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) May 29, 2018
Mike Bowers popped in to the Treasury estimates, where Pauline Hanson was asking questions about immigration.
Because of course she was.
And commenter Banjofromeden has just pointed out below the line, the other change in the crossbench was Jacqui Lambie switching from Palmer United party to form her own.
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At the Labor caucus, Bill Shorten tried to rev up the troops in preparation for five byelections, framing them as a choice between big business tax cuts that will benefit banks and Labor’s social spending and larger personal income tax cuts.
Shorten said that “nothing could be done” about the date of the byelections, which are likely to be called for 28 July, the last day of the Labor conference. He called that “an extraordinary coincidence”.
Regarding the national conference, Shorten set out three principles: the party still wants to hold it; ideally before the next election; and will aim to hold it at the same venue – the Adelaide convention centre – to keep costs down.
On Monday we reported the national executive was considering moving the conference to September or January.
Labor has also confirmed it was briefed about the proposed electronic voting in the House of Representatives, just announced by Christopher Pyne.
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In Senate estimates, Treasury officials have just revealed how the Turnbull government’s $144bn income tax plan will affect individual taxpayers.
And their figures appear the same as figures published by the progressive think tank The Australia Institute.
Treasury has produced a document with some figures which were published with the budget papers, but which also contain a new presentation of the impact on taxpayers once the government’s tax plan is fully implemented in 2024-25.
A worker on $40,000 a year will receive a tax cut of $455 a year, while a worker on $200,000 will receive a tax cut of $7,225 a year.
The Australia Institute produced similar figures in a briefing note on the tax cuts:
Someone earning $40,000 per year will get a tax cut of $455 per year while someone earning $200,000 will get a tax cut of $7,225 per year. Some might say that of course someone on $200,000 will get a bigger cut; after all they pay more tax. But while someone on $200,000 earns five times more than someone on $40,000, their tax cut will be 16 times larger.
Treasury officials also confirmed the biggest gains from the government’s tax cut plan will come from the decision to abolish the 37 cents (for each dollar) tax bracket.
The government wants to remove the 37 cents bracket from 1 July, 2024, leaving everyone earning between $41,000 and $200,000 paying the same marginal tax rate of 32.5 cents (for every dollar they earn between those amounts).
That part we knew.
But Treasury has produced a table showing when the 37 cents bracket is abolished, it will provide someone on $130,000 with a $450 tax cut, while someone on $200,000 will get a $5,200 tax cut from that single move, according to Treasury.
The Australia Institute produced further modelling this week that looked precisely at this later component of the tax plan.
It found the biggest beneficiaries of the final years of the tax cut will be the highest income earners.
It showed the abolition of the 37 cents bracket will cost approximately $16bn a year when it comes into full force, with the top 10% of taxpayers receiving the lion’s share of those tax cuts, worth $8.5bn.
Treasury officials have released estimates of the financial impact of the Turnbull government's 7-year income tax plan on taxpayers, broken down into taxable incomes from $20,000 to over $200,000 #auspol pic.twitter.com/lBzchz15F2
— Gareth Hutchens (@grhutchens) May 29, 2018
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How electronic voting could work in the House of Representatives https://t.co/IN50i2vXgD pic.twitter.com/aUFJRxEKQo
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) May 29, 2018
There is also some discussion about things which will actually impact your individual lives today, which is nice. For a change.
One of the Productivity Commission recommendations to come out of the superannuation review was to create a panel which would offer up a top 10 list of super funds for customers to choose from.
The government hasn’t been a big fan of union-run, industry super funds. But here is what Kelly O’Dwyer had to say about that list this morning when talking with the ABC – and what would happen if union-run industry funds ended up dominating any best-in-show list:
I’m completely agnostic in terms of whether it’s a retail fund or an industry fund. I simply want to see low fees, good governance, I want to make sure that members’ money is being spent in their best interests and that their money is working for them, whether it’s a retail fund or an industry fund. I don’t discriminate. So I think what is very clear is that the Labor party needs to back in the changes that we announced in the budget. They need to be unequivocal in their support.
The Productivity Commission today has completely belled the cat on all of the problems that exist. It can’t be ignored [and it’s now up to] Labor to support our changes and do it quickly because otherwise it will cost millions of Australians millions of dollars in their retirement savings.
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Treasury releases more information on government tax cut plan
As well as the back and forth of questions and answers, Treasury has dropped a bunch of new material about the impact of the government’s proposed income tax cuts.
From 2024-25, Australians with a taxable income of $200,000 a year will get a tax cut of $7,225 – that’s when abolishing the 37% tax bracket kicks in.
A worker on that level of income will pick up $135 when the $87,000 threshold goes up to $90,000, $540 when the $37,000 threshold goes up to $41,000, and $1,350 when the $90,000 threshold goes to $120,000 (that’s stage two of the package), then a further $5,200 when the 37% bracket disappears.
Someone earning $30,000 will get a tax cut of $200.
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Doug Cameron has been asking Michaelia Cash whether she has been interviewed by police yet in relation to their investigation of the leak to the media about the raid on the Australian Workers’ Union headquarters.
Cash says that everything she knows about the leak is already in Hansard from earlier estimates sessions, and in regards to whether she has been interviewed:
The [police] commissioner himself has made a public interest immunity claim in relation to that which was accepted by the committee.
Cameron suggests this means “the cover-up is still on”, which Cash rejects politely by saying “that is your summation”.
Liberal senator Jim Molan seeks the call about a minute early, which prompts Cameron to ask “when did you start chairing?”. “You’re not a major general in here.”
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Meanwhile, in Michaelia Cash’s estimates hearing
Michaelia Cash won't say if she's provided a statement to police or been interviewed about the media tip-off from her office about AWU raids. She's claimed PII, as has the AFP commissioner.
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) May 29, 2018
"So, the cover up is still on minister?" - Doug Cameron #estimates
Electronic voting coming to the House of Reps.
The future has arrived. Christopher Pyne has announced electronic voting will be coming to the House of Representatives chamber.
This comes after a bipartisan committee recommended it be implemented in April 2016.
From the statement:
Electronic voting will be implemented in the House of Representatives, dramatically speeding up the voting process.
The Leader of the House of Representatives, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, today announced the initiative and said electronic voting would be operational in 2019.
“The implementation of electronic voting will reduce significantly the time required for each vote in the chamber,” Minister Pyne said.
“Voting outcomes will be transparent, accurate, and known immediately freeing up more time for important parliamentary business to be conducted each day the House sits.
“Electronic voting will also provide an electronic solution for recording division voting and improve online accessibility to division process and results.”
The Department of Parliamentary Services will shortly call for tenders for the project giving innovative Australians and Australian businesses an opportunity to contribute to this initiative.
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What is happening with the crossbench?
Brendan O’Connor wants to know, after Steve Martin joined Lucy Gichuhi on the government benches, Tim Storer left NXT/Centre Alliance to sit as an independent, Cory Bernardi left the government to sit as his own party and Fraser Anning left One Nation to sit as an independent (I am missing one change, I think, but it will come to me).
Here is O’Connor speaking to Sky this morning:
I have to say, just a broader reflection on what is happening on the cross-bench in terms of stability – this is now up to six senators who have started and been elected by constituents in one place and have moved elsewhere, and it does speak to the instability of the crossbench.
I get on well with crossbench senators, but it is extraordinary that so many now have moved away from where they originally were. So, they have told the electorate one thing, and they have made a decision subsequently to join someone else. In a way that’s a sign of betrayal. It’s not representing what you said to the electorate when you put yourself on the ticket for either a minor party or as an independent, and then to say you’ll join a political party or leave a political party.
They are big steps, and it is happening with such frequency at the moment, I think people have got a good reason to say, ‘Well, what’s happening with the crossbench?’
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Back in Defence estimates, Kim Carr has been asking about the ongoing review of the Defence Trade Controls Act.
Earlier this month we reported that the Australian Research Council had looked into claims of breaches of the Act, reported in the Australian, and found nothing amiss.
The ARC came under fire last year after allegations it was funding research between Australian universities and Chinese state-run enterprises with military links.
Writing in the Australian, outspoken China critic professor Clive Hamilton wrote that the ARC was “funnelling Australian taxpayer funds into research with applications to China’s advanced weapons capacity”.
The ARC looked into the allegations and said it found “no cause for concern”.
But Defence is currently reviewing the Defence Trade Controls Act – which governs the transfer of defence and strategic goods technologies to other countries – and Senator Carr wanted to know whether the review would be “informed by recent allegations in the media about claims of collaboration involving Australian universities and politically funded research organisations”.
He said the review was taking place amid a “highly politicised debate about the role of foreign interventions in our research community”.
Defence minister Marise Payne suggested the review would look at the relationship between Australian research organisations and foreign entities.
“The review is required by legislative structure and we’ll take into account matters of public debate that pertain to it,” she said.
Updated
This is also a thing which is happening in estimates (Pauline Hanson is making what is, I believe, her second appearance – she popped in late last week to talk about the family court. Happy to be corrected if she’s appeared anywhere else).
Meanwhile Pauline Hanson is telling Mathias Cormann the migration program is a ponzi scheme. "I don't agree," says the finance minister #auspol #estimates
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) May 29, 2018
Cormann strongly disagrees with Hanson's claims that immigration to Australia is a "giant ponzi scheme."
— Eryk Bagshaw (@ErykBagshaw) May 29, 2018
"I came as a holidaymaker in 1994, now I am a permanent resident. I think [Labor] Senator Keneally came as a migrant in 1996." #auspol
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There’s been a brief discussion in the Treasury estimates about an incident at budget time when the Labor senator Penny Wong departed the lockup with budget papers before 7.30pm. Treasury objected to the departure in possession of embargoed papers. By the looks of things, Treasury is still objecting. Officials say they are unaware of other incidents in which either government ministers or staff have departed in possession of the budget papers.
In the process of the objections, the Treasury boss John Fraser had a confession of his own. In 2017, he walked out prior to the embargo being lifted with budget papers. He had to be stopped by his staff.
Updated
The search for MH370, which disappeared in 2014 with 239 people on board, including six Australians, officially ends today.
Michael McCormack was asked about it on Sky:
“It is very sad for the families and relatives of the 239 people on board, particularly the seven Australians closer to home, particularly the seven Australians [there was also a New Zealand resident on board who was living in Perth].
“There has been a search which has cost more than $200 million, it has been going for four years. Sadly, they have not been able to find MH370 and that is a tragedy.
“Of course it may be, like a lot of those ships which go down, ultimately they find them and new technologies come on board and new searchs are mounted.
“But it looks as though this will remain a mystery for the time being.”
So will Australia be joining another search?
No.
“... we’ve got to remember that the actual plane is about 60 metres long, that is about four times less than the Titanic, and they took more than 70 years to find it and they knew exactly ... where it went down.”
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Greens leader Richard Di Natale is questioning the commonwealth chief medical officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, about out-of-pocket medical costs. Murphy is chair of an expert committee examining the issue and has been tasked with examining options to ensure that consumers are better informed of fees before agreeing to treatment.
Di Natale asks Murphy if people are downgrading their private health insurance cover because they are realising they are out-of-pocket regardless.
Yes, it’s a factor, Murphy says.
“The most prominent reason [for dropping or downgrading cover] is the actual size of the premiums, but the out-of-pocket costs are stated as a factor,” he says.
Di Natale tells Murphy it shouldn’t be up to patients to push back when surgeons tell them their fees, to “shop around” or be aware of what a reasonable fee is. Patients are often in a vulnerable position by the time they see a surgeon, he states, and are worried about jeopardising the quality of their care if they push back.
Murphy: “What we are saying is the patient can have that [costs] information before they exercise their choice from the range of specialists their GP has recommended. Once you’ve undertaken a clinical encounter and have a relationship with surgeon ... it’s very hard to back out. If you have that information before any relationship is formed you can make a decision based on fees.”
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Greens senator Lee Rhiannon has been asking what the employment department did about the death of Joshua Park-Fing, a Work for the Dole participant, at the Toowoomba showgrounds in Queensland.
The employment department officials said the department:
- Limited Neato Employment Services’ Work for the Dole activities, including suspending nine of its outdoor jobs, although it is still a contracted provider of Jobactive services;
- Charged Neato penalties for failing certain requirements under its work-for-the-dole deed
Martin Hehir told the hearing that no Work for the Dole activities now occur at the Toowoomba showground. He said further penalties might be imposed after the results of a case in the Toowoomba magistrates court.
When Rhiannon pushed for release of a departmental audit of work health and safety compliance relating to the incident, jobs and innovation minister Michaelia Cash responded:
“As the matter is before Toowoomba magistrates court, it is not appropriate at this point of time to release the report. We’re awaiting the outcome. We don’t want to prejudice the hearing ...
Like everybody here we continue to express our sympathy for the parents of Mr Park-Fing. It’s a matter for Queensland and is before the Toowoomba magistrates court.”
Updated
We have the costings, but we won’t give them to you
Treasury is up in Senate estimates this morning. The questioning has opened on the Turnbull government’s personal income tax cuts, outlined in the budget.
The total cost of the package is $144bn. Labor has been chasing year-on-year costings for the back half of the package when the benefits start to flow to high income earners.
Treasury officials only want to talk about the figures in aggregate, although they say they have calculated year-on-year costs over the decade.
Labor senator Jenny McAllister would like those figures. The Treasury secretary says those figures are unreliable. The finance minister Mathias Cormann says no governments provide year-on-year figures outside the forward estimates, so refusing to cough up the numbers is standard practice.
The hearing has moved on now to the banking royal commission. The Treasury secretary, John Fraser, has been perturbed by the evidence to date. “Personally, I think it’s very sad what’s coming out in the royal commission”.
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In Defence estimates, officials have taken a question about the job description of Australia’s new “defence export advocate” on notice.
Last month the defence industry minister, Christopher Pyne, announced that former senator and defence minister David Johnston would take up the new role, which he said would “greatly expand the government’s reach in promoting Australia’s world class defence industry”.
The former Western Australian senator is best remembered for comments he made in 2014 when, as defence minister in the Abbott government, he said he would not trust South Australian shipbuilders ASC (previously known as the Australian Submarine Corporation) “to build a canoe”.
The committee heard that Johnston was appointed to the job by Pyne. His salary hasn’t been published.
Labor Senator Kim Carr asked for a position description and was told by defence officials that Johnston’s role would be to “assist with Australian defence exports on a global scale”.
“Our view is a senior level advocate is important for export success,” Carr was told.
“The government has set out a strong focus on defence exports and the advocate’s role is to support those activities.”
Carr then pushed the defence officials on whether there was a formal job description with key performance indicators and was told the question would be taken on notice.
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#BREAKING Barnaby Joyce breaks his silence, defending actions of paid TV tell-all. "We tried for privacy. In the last fortnight we've had drones over our house. We've had paparazzi waiting for us outside Armidale airport. We tried just just burning this out & that didn't work."
— Airlie Walsh (@AirlieWalsh) May 28, 2018
Malcolm Turnbull is once again talking about Barnaby Joyce.
I’m sure he’s absolutely thrilled with that. He called in to Tasmania’s 89.3 LAFM and was asked about the interview:
I haven’t spoken to him about it, no I haven’t.
... It’s been very widely criticised, it is not ... I’ll have, no doubt, will have the opportunity to talk about it with Barnaby privately, but it is certainly not something that I, it is not a course of action I would have encouraged him to take.
You can understand how I feel about it, but I will be circumspect, uncharacteristically circumspect, on this and leave it for a private discussion.
He also mentions that backbenchers are covered by the disclosure register, and any source of income will have to turn up there.
“Again, it is not something I would have encouraged him to do, in fact quite the contrary, but the fact is, he will have to disclose that in his members’ interest register in due course.
“But just to be clear, the ministerial code of conduct applies only to ministers.”
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The Australian has published its latest Newspoll results, which show voters believe Labor would be better at keeping power prices down than the Coalition.
Not a great endorsement for the National Energy Guarantee.
It’s only a two-point different – 37% for the government compared with Labor’s 39% – with about a quarter of respondents undecided.
You can find that report here.
Updated
The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work has released a report into insecure work, using ABS statistics.
Tanya Carney and Jim Stanford authored the report and found for the first time, “less than half of employed Australians work in a permanent full-time paid job with leave entitlements”.
From the report:
The inadequate quantity of work is evident by many measures. Official job-creation statistics seemed strong in 2017, but in essence only kept up with population growth and labour force participation.
So the official unemployment rate remains elevated (5.6% in most recent data) and has increased in recent months even as global economic growth picks up (and the unemployment rate in other countries with lower joblessness, like the US, Japan and Germany, continues to fall).
More important, the official unemployment rate is just the tip of the iceberg of this quantity problem: other “hidden” pools of unutilised and underutilised labour indicate that the true quantity problem is much worse.
This includes underemployment (workers employed for a few hours per week, but who want and need more hours), discouraged workers (who have given up looking and hence disappear from official unemployment statistics), and a large group of close to one million workers which the Australian Bureau of Statistics calls “marginally attached” (people who say they would work if jobs were available).
Including these pools of “hidden unemployment”, true underutilisation in Australia’s labour market exceeds 15%: three times the official unemployment rate.”
You can read the whole thing, here
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You may have seen yesterday that Steve Martin, who was the No 2 on the Jacqui Lambie ticket and arrived in the Senate after Lambie discovered she was a dual citizen, joined the Nationals.
Michael McCormack keeps referring to him as the “Tasmanian tiger”. Which is hilarious, because, well, the Tasmanian tiger is extinct*. So perhaps not the greatest analogy.
In announcing Martin as the latest member of the Nats, McCormack mentioned how he is the first Tassie National since William McWilliams, in 1927.
Actually ... no, says Malcolm Farnsworth on his blog, AustralianPolitics.com
In 1927, McWilliams was out of parliament. After being elected to Franklin in 1903 as a Revenue Tariff candidate, McWilliams was variously an Anti-Socialist/Free Trade member (1906-09), a Liberal (1909-17) and a Nationalist (1917-20). He then joined the Country party and became its leader in February 1920. After internal differences, McWilliams was replaced as leader in April 1921. At the 1922 election, running as a Country Party candidate, he lost his seat to the Nationalist candidate Alfred Seabrook.
Farnsworth says the last Country party member from Tasmania was actually Llewellyn Atkinson.
So, now we all know.
*Well, thought to be extinct. There are still sightings.
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Time for a conversation on MPs being paid for interviews: Chester
Darren Chester, who was the first to break the “that’s a personal matter, we don’t want to comment about it” wall, which is also the line Labor MPs took, has also doubled down on his comments on Barnaby Joyce while talking to the ABC this morning:
What I said is that I’m uncomfortable about cheque book journalist and uncomfortable about the idea of sitting MPs getting paid. I am not getting paid to be on your show. In the longer term, do we want to see sitting members of parliament paid to turn up on radio and TV programs?
My feeling is that that would be a poor result. But the specific circumstances around Barnaby’s case are more complex because you’ve got private citizens, a private citizen, who is a part of the story, and every right to seek, I guess, payment if they want to to sell their story. So it’s more complex [than] perhaps just me as a sitting MP turning up on a program. But my view is cheque book journalism isn’t great for journalism, and I don’t think that sitting MPs want to be in a position where the public is questioning whether they’ve been paid.
This is unprecedented in my 10 years as a member of parliament, so I think that a conversation now, now that it has arisen as an issue … I think that a conversation among my colleagues and across party lines about when this is appropriate [is needed].
Members of parliament obviously have to fill in a register of interest if they have income from other sources, if you have a rental property and the public knows about it, and I guess that that would be the same in terms of media interview requests where payment is involved. I don’t think that it is a pathway that we want to go down.
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“I think these decisions are decisions taken by individual members and that is a question you might like to put to him,” Kelly O’Dwyer told Sky News, about whether Barnaby Joyce’s interview payday was appropriate.
But she repeats her criticism from this morning, and says she thinks most people would be “disgusted”.
She also said that while talking to Radio National this morning:
Strong comments from frontbencher Kelly O'Dwyer on @RNBreakfast with @hamishNews, regarding Barnaby Joyce's reported $150,000 payment for an interview with a commercial network #auspol
— Matthew Doran (@MattDoran91) May 28, 2018
"I think most Australians are pretty disgusted by it." pic.twitter.com/7iUNBqvWew
Good morning and welcome to day 27
It’s the last week of this Senate estimates hearing and the House of Representatives is back – but, once again, Barnaby Joyce is in the name on everyone’s lips.
After testing the reaction on Sunday and Monday, Joyce’s colleagues have decided it is OK to criticise the former deputy prime minister’s decision to accept a six-figure sum, reportedly $150,000 for a tell-all interview with Network Seven.
On Monday, Darren Chester, who was dumped by Joyce from the frontbench in a reshuffle late last year, before being returned to the ministry by new Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, was the first to break the dam wall, saying he did not believe Joyce could complain about losing his privacy anymore.
This morning, Kelly O’Dwyer was even stronger speaking to ABC radio this morning:
I think most Australians are pretty disgusted by it.
In policy news, the government has put all its cards on the table and will put both its income tax plan and corporate tax cuts, unchanged, to the vote by 28 June. That’s a month before the five byelections are scheduled to be held and has only heightened speculation the government is headed to an early election.
At the very least, if the package is defeated, it gives the government an opportunity to drop the corporate tax plan, which would take some of the steam out of Labor’s attack.
So watch this space.
And the Productivity Commission has released its report into superannuation – we’re throwing away $2.6bn in fees and premiums each year. It has come back with a whole slew of recommendations – you can read more about that here from Greg Jericho – but we’ll be hearing a lot more about the report today.
Mike Bowers is out and about, as usual. You can catch him at @mikepbowers or showing up in the behind the scenes updates on @pyjamapolitics .
I’ll be lurking in the comments, when I get a moment, and you can find me on Twitter at @amyremeikis.
OK! Let’s get into it!
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