LNP candidate advertised one of the grants on Facebook a month before election without specifying source of funds
Six taxpayer-funded grants were approved in the key marginal seat of Longman through the Department of Social Services in the month before the last federal election, including $177,000 for the Bribie Island and Districts Junior Rugby League Club.
Continue reading...Exclusive: senior officials claim no ‘specific recollection’ of a hastily convened teleconference to discuss colour-coded spreadsheets
Sport Australia defied a Senate committee request to respond to questions about its role in the Morrison government’s controversial sports grants program, while senior officials involved in the administration of the grants claim to have no “specific recollection” of a hastily convened teleconference to discuss the government’s colour-coded spreadsheets.
Sport Australia had been ordered to respond to 40 questions its officials had taken on notice following a 28 February committee hearing examining the $100m sports grants program by 6 March.
Continue reading...If we care about integrity in government, the Coalition must be held accountable for the grants saga
Before we go forward, just for a minute, I want to look back. Let’s track back to last April when the Morrison government was mulling the grants at the centre of the “sports rorts” scandal.
Politics was hurtling towards a federal election that the Coalition (well, perhaps everyone apart from the prime minister himself) fully expected to lose. Believing there were five minutes left to live, the government went into hyperdrive. There was a rush of appointments and decisions – in the press gallery it felt like a volcano was erupting in our inboxes.
Continue reading...Rachel Noble tells Senate estimates the agency has sought ministerial approval to gather intelligence on Australians
The Australian Signals Directorate has already spied on Australians in the last year, invoking “rare circumstances” and seeking ministerial approval to extend its powers in an unspecified number of cases.
ASD’s director general, Rachel Noble, indicated in Senate estimates on Wednesday that although the focus of the agency’s powers was directed at gathering intelligence about people or organisations outside Australia, it had also produced intelligence about Australians.
Continue reading...The economy holds the headlines as government inches closer to releasing its stimulus package in response to coronavirus. All the day’s events, live
I missed this yesterday:
Mathias Cormann reveals that he personally intervened to chose the colour of the new fleet of Comcar vehicles, which will shift from their traditional white to dark grey. #Estimates pic.twitter.com/PqsJCQFOBC
*Grandstanding*
*Actually evidence from officials*
Don’t be misled by Senator Carr’s grandstanding & fear-mongering. The Bushfire & Natural Hazards CRC has funding until mid-2021 & the Govt is considering future funding for its work to continue. We’re actively engaging with the CRC, including a meeting with the PM last month. https://t.co/xZgEyqH2g7
Continue reading...The prime minister has presented himself and his office as bystanders, but all the evidence points to their deep involvement
Given the intricacies of the sports rorts controversy can be bamboozling, let’s keep this really simple.
Scott Morrison has spent the weeks since the Australian National Audit Office completely eviscerated his government’s administration of the $100m sports grants program presenting himself and his office as a bunch of breezy feedback brokers, just lurking about periodically to give the sport minister a hand.
Continue reading...PM has dismissed opposition’s concerns but Penny Wong says it could be used to ‘cover up decision-making’
Labor has labelled a cabinet committee with just one permanent member – Scott Morrison – an “abuse of process” that would enable Morrison to call meetings protected by cabinet confidentiality, even if no other cabinet members are present.
The cabinet office policy committee was the focus of questioning in both Senate estimates and question time, where Morrison defended the committee responsible for his policy “deep dives” and dismissed Labor concerns as “trivial Canberra politics”.
Continue reading...Australia’s home affairs minister had linked New Zealand prime minister’s comments to her upcoming re-election bid
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has brushed off criticism from Australia’s home affairs minister Peter Dutton, saying his policy decisions are “regrettable”.
At her weekly news conference in Wellington on Monday, Ardern was scathing about Dutton’s criticism of her recent meeting with Scott Morrison, saying it was not her plain-talking that was to blame for increasing tensions between the neighbours – but Australia’s policy decisions on immigration matters which were hurting Kiwis.
Continue reading...Treasurer’s references to Hinduism while criticising Labor’s wellbeing budget labelled ‘derisive’ and ‘heartbreaking’
Josh Frydenberg is facing increased pressure to “fix the mess” he created when he made what’s been described as “brazen” and “offensive” comments about Hinduism.
The treasurer made repeated references to Hinduism and other Indian religions in question time last week while criticising Labor’s idea of potentially pursuing a “wellbeing budget”.
Continue reading...The New Zealand prime minister said the Australian government's policy of deporting NZ citizens, no matter how long they had spent in Australia, was “testing” the friendship between the two nations, at a joint press conference in Sydney on Friday.
Jacinda Ardern lashes Scott Morrison for 'testing' friendship over deportations to New Zealand
The New Zealand prime minister was justified in taking Scott Morrison to task over a policy that is both spurious and damaging
We’ve seen this movie before.
Then, in Love Actually, Hugh Grant played the unlikely prime minister of Britain, standing up to an oleaginous Billy Bob Thornton as president of the US.
Continue reading...New Zealand PM says Australia is deporting ‘your people and your problems’ using unfair policies
The New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has lashed Scott Morrison for “testing” the friendship between the two nations, accusing Australia of deporting “your people and your problems” using “unfair” policies.
Ardern took her strongest stance yet opposing Australia’s policy of deporting New Zealand citizens, no matter how long they had spent in Australia, if they had committed a crime.
Continue reading...Trent Zimmerman says Australia needs to look beyond good target for 2030 as we head into Glasgow. All the day’s events, live
It’s time for who’s that MP?
It’s Andrew Wallace.
Asked about the Nationals (and some Liberals) who claim a net zero 2050 emissions target would bring about end of days, Trent Zimmerman tells the ABC:
No-one is saying that getting to 2050 with a net zero target is an easy task. It is a challenge.
We know in many areas we are doing really well.
Continue reading...The former prime minister has stepped into the climate debate, with a stark warning to moderate Liberals to act. All the day’s events, live
Greg Hunt will be giving the next coronavirus update at 1.10pm
Meanwhile, the lights keep flickering in Parliament House, which can only mean that my moods have begun to physically manifest.
Continue reading...Churches win funding through program that allocates grants only to organisations formally invited by local federal MP
A cluster of evangelical churches with strong links to West Australian Liberals have won almost $40,000 in grants in the past four months through a federal scheme.
Related: Sports rorts inquiry set to grill Bridget McKenzie and Phil Gaetjens
Continue reading...Thorny issues await the two prime ministers when they meet in Australia this week
As gang violence in New Zealand soars – partly fuelled by Australian deportees, police say – prime minister Jacinda Ardern is heading to Sydney for her annual bilateral with Scott Morrison.
The issue of New Zealanders with only distant links to their home country being summarily shipped back to Aotearoa will again be on the agenda, but experts say it is unlikely Ardern will take as tough a stance as last year, when she said the issue was having a “corrosive” affect on trans-Tasman relations.
Continue reading...Government MPs have lashed out at Labor over its emissions target, with arguments in parliament’s corridors. All the days events, live
Parliament starts at 10am.
Tellingly, Joel Fitzgibbon is on board with Labor’s plan. Here he is writing for his local paper, the Newcastle Herald over the weekend:
The aspiration of carbon neutrality by 2050 (zero net emissions) offers a conservative and low-risk path to satisfying the commitment Malcolm Turnbull made in Paris on our behalf back in 2015.
First, it provides plenty of time to think and act, including the time needed to embrace existing and future technologies.
Continue reading...Shadow education minister emphasises education as key battle line against Coalition, while Greens leader Adam Bandt calls for end to public school fees
Labor will continue to make education funding a key point of difference to the Coalition, with a greater emphasis on the disparity between public and private schools’ spending on facilities, Tanya Plibersek has signalled.
In a speech delivered to the Australian Education Union on Friday, Plibersek warned both the government and internal critics arguing for lower social spending that “the fight for fair school funding is not over” and claimed that “visible inequality” in facilities suggests Australians care more about some children than others.
Continue reading...The ALP leader says a feasibility study into a new coal-fired power station in Queensland is ‘hush money’ for climate sceptics
Anthony Albanese says he supports jobs and economic activity from the Adani coalmine, but he has blasted a feasibility study into a new coal-fired power plant in Collinsville as “hush money” for climate sceptics in the Coalition.
In Queensland on Wednesday for his fourth “vision statement” since taking the Labor leadership, Albanese told reporters the ALP needed to improve its electoral performance in the state given the poor showing in last year’s federal election. He said he was listening to voters in a number of regional centres.
Continue reading...Politicians from WikiLeaks founder’s home country have flown to UK to visit him in jail
Boris Johnson should block attempts to extradite Julian Assange to the US, say two Australian MPs who have flown to the UK to visit the WikiLeaks founder.
Andrew Wilkie, an independent federal MP, said the extradition of Assange, who has been charged by the US with conspiring to hack into a secret Pentagon computer network, would set a dangerous precedent.
Continue reading...