The Senate powerbroker warns if the union boss does not resign, the Coalition’s ‘ensuring integrity’ bill will pass
The Senate powerbroker Jacqui Lambie has returned to Canberra following the parliamentary break with one message.
Either union boss John Setka resigns, or the government’s controversial ‘ensuring integrity’ bill will pass, with her vote.
Continue reading...Big challenges demand a big, convincing narrative that taps into the public mood
Writing publicly means living with the chance you will be a hostage to fortune. But I wrote in March that: “While Shorten has attempted to draw parallels to Bob Hawke’s style of leadership, the best comparison may instead be with a UK Labour government that never was: the unsuccessful campaign and platform of Ed Miliband in 2015.”
On 18 May, like many progressives, a sense of an incoming Labor government was replaced by shell shock that seemed to parallel what happened in Britain in 2015. The salience of a campaign mobilised against taxation, swings in regional and outer suburban electorates and the inability of Labor to cut through despite conservative chaos and division must prompt some deep reflection.
Continue reading...Rebekha Sharkie says if the government is successful in repealing the legislation it will cause ‘needless harm’
On the ensuring integrity bill, Rex Patrick says there are political elements to the bill it can’t support:
The aim was to deal with misconduct and there is no question that has been in the union movement.
I have seen the fairly significant sheet of judicial rulings against some of the unions and in some instances we have some very conservative, considered judicial officers stating things like this union is simply using the fines, treating the fines as the cost of business.
Rex Patrick is speaking to Patricia Karvelas on Afternoon Briefing and says while Centre Alliance supports the intent of the temporary exclusion order bill, it will abstain from voting for it, because it can’t support it in its current form.
Labor will be passing it, although it has raised its own concerns.
Continue reading...Tasmanian member says he was asked to leave after trying to visit East Lorengau transit centre
The Greens senator Nick McKim says he was deported from Manus Island because he “simply stood on a public street and asked politely” to see conditions in a refugee and asylum seeker transit camp.
The Tasmanian senator arrived back in Australia on Saturday after he was told to leave Papua New Guinea on Thursday night.
Continue reading...Two worldviews face each other uncomprehendingly – and the flashpoint is the climate emergency
This is the first piece in a new series on what the election result means for the progressive side of politics and the path forward
Political commentators reflexively overinterpret election results. The story we’ve been told is that the Coalition’s win means that “Australian voters” have rejected Labor’s radical plan for reform of the tax-and-spend system, confirming that Australians prefer stability and incremental change.
Continue reading...The ALP’s candidate for Dawson confirms ‘scary incident’ where the fuel tank of her car was broken into. All the day’s events, live
And then it ends with this:
PK: Finally, you want to remove Josh Frydenberg, who fought hard for the National Energy Guarantee and for a compromise to move forward on climate change and energy. Is that a smart move?
Patricia Karvelas: One of the critiques of you is past involvement in Link Energy’s purchase of fossil fuel assets in 2010. Do you regret that?
Oliver Yates: I think the question is you need to see it was a company who bought them before I was even on the board. This is part of the Liberal dirt sheet. It’s round to everybody...
Continue reading...In an election focused on climate change, the Greens should be surging. But pressure is building inside the beleaguered party
It’s a climate change election but the political party with the utmost ambition on climate – yes, the Greens – is somehow on the outer. Flagging in the polls, cold-shouldered by Labor, the Greens have spent the campaign jostling elbows with a bunch of high-profile independents in the inner cities and battling the alt-right in the Senate.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale gave a rousing speech to the National Press Club on Thursday, pumped after an Easter family road trip from Melbourne to Brisbane with his predecessor Bob Brown’s Stop Adani convoy which will finish in Canberra on Saturday. Di Natale rattled off a list of impressive achievements in his first full term as leader of the Australian Greens, including paving the way on marriage equality, the banking and disability royal commissions, Medevac laws and a national anti-corruption body. Electorally, however, there is little sign the Greens are about to reap the rewards of its “thought leadership” among the parties.
Continue reading...Former WA premier Colin Barnett cites businessman’s ‘appalling’ record while Shorten rebuffs the Greens on climate policy. Follow the day’s news live
Mikey Slezak, of the ABC (oh how we miss him), has a story overnight regarding the last minute sign off by the Morrison government on a controversial uranium mine one day before calling the federal election.
Then there was a sneaky “public announcement” by the environment department when it uploaded the approval document the day before Anzac Day.
I want to find out what on earth has happened. The minister made no comment, no announcement beforehand. It looks like it might have been rushed. We don’t know....The reason I can’t tell you I’m on this side or the other side, we need to know what on earth she has done and what her reasons for it and the minister has gone missing.
Tony Burke was also asked about Labor’s very specific, siloed commission of inquiry that only looks a the one water buyback conducted under Barnaby Joyce as minister from Eastern Australia Agriculture.
What we have announced is there is a specific transaction from Barnaby Joyce that is different to anything that Simon Birmingham, David Littleproud, Bob Baldwin, different to anything that any other minister has engaged with. And anything else … can be dealt with properly by the Australian national National Audit Office. This one, there was no tender. There [are] arguments about conflict of interest. And it has links all the way back to the Cayman Islands, where there is complete secrecy about who is involved. Everything else you don’t need coercive powers.
In terms of making sure that we’ve got probity, we will establish a national integrity commission and there will be an ongoing watchdog on probity. In terms of the purchases by Penny that you referred to, they went fully through the National Audit Office, a report in 2011 [and were] given a complete bill of health. If I was arguing that things should apply to every other member of the government who has been involved, then the government’s characterisation would be fair. The point is no other purchase is like this.
Continue reading...Day two of the 2019 Australian election campaign is under way, with an opening salvo from the government. All the day’s events, live
The AEC has laid out its plan for counting the 16 million or so votes the federal election should bring in:
Following years of planning, fine tuning and improvements to AEC systems – plus the experience gained from running nine by-elections since 2017 – the AEC expects to:
Bill Shorten and the former AMA president, Brian Owler, the Labor candidate for Bennelong, is announcing Labor’s key policy for today: $125m for cancer research.
Continue reading...Chris Douglas calls for federal integrity commission to be handed wide-ranging powers
A long-serving former senior federal police officer has warned that the Coalition’s proposed integrity commission is flawed, weak and would “not be capable of responding to current corruption threats”.
Chris Douglas, a 31-year veteran of the Australian federal police, has called for the integrity commission to be handed wide-ranging powers, including the ability to recruit informants, use undercover operatives, make arrests and deploy wire taps.
Continue reading...The federal budget is done and the (unofficial) election campaign begins. All the day’s events, live
Penny Wong’s speech on Fraser Anning censure motion
Labor senator and Yawuru man Pat Dodson spoke powerfully about the “Killing times”, Australia’s massacre history, as part of today’s censure motion against Fraser Anning.
Our First Nations people have carried the consequence of murderous prejudice throughout our entwined history.
First Nations peoples in Australia know what it is like to be powerless in the face of hateful prejudice, fanned by the illusion of superiority; and the false courage created by a weapon in their hand and their victims are defenceless.
Continue reading...Australia’s treasurer says the budget is ‘back in the black’. This blog is now closed
And that is where we are going to end tonight, before we all turn into pumpkins.
But don’t worry, we’ll be back early tomorrow morning for all the fallout. Plus, you know, parliament.
Mike Bowers has been out and about:
Continue reading...Al-Jazeera journalist posing as gun campaigner films senior party figures in Washington DC soliciting financial support to help One Nation seize the balance of power
Senior One Nation figures James Ashby and Steve Dickson have been caught seeking millions of dollars of political donations from US gun rights group the National Rifle Association in a bid to seize the balance of power and weaken Australia’s gun laws.
The revelations are contained in an al-Jazeera investigation which used hidden cameras and a journalist posing as a grassroots gun campaigner to expose the far-right party’s extraordinary efforts to secure funding in Washington DC in September.
Continue reading...There’s a good chance Saturday’s poll will produce a hung parliament. Here’s how to make your vote count – and where to buy your democracy sausage
Almost 5.3 million people are enrolled to vote at more than 8,000 voting stations in Saturday’s state election. New South Wales has fixed terms, with elections held on the fourth Saturday in March every four years since 1995. About a quarter of voters cast their ballot before election day in 2015, and this is expected to rise in 2019. Almost 850,000 people had voted by Thursday morning.
Continue reading...Barrister says he has been unable to convince Melbourne Savage Club to allow female members
The Greens candidate Julian Burnside has resigned as a member of an exclusive all-male Melbourne social club, after being questioned about it during an appearance on Sky News on Friday night.
The human rights barrister and candidate for the federal seat of Kooyong declared that “same-sex only clubs are a relic of the past” on Saturday, and said he was resigning from the Melbourne Savage Club – which describes itself as “one of Australia’s oldest private members’ clubs”.
Continue reading...The refugee advocate sets up a four-way contest with the treasurer, Liberal-turned-independent Oliver Yates and Labor
The human rights lawyer and refugee advocate Julian Burnside will run as the Greens candidate for Kooyong at the next election.
In a statement that appeared in Nine newspapers and the Australian on Tuesday the prominent barrister said he would take on the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, in the blue-ribbon Liberal seat because he believes the “political system is broken”.
Continue reading...Senate estimates continue, with three senior ministers in Labor’s spotlight. All the days events, live
Ugh. Now that I have wrestled with tech demons, I can tell you that as expected, the motion to suspend standing orders goes down, 69 to 74.
The division is called – to see if Labor can suspend standing orders.
It does not look like the Nationals will be backing it.
Continue reading...Earlier Mathias Cormann admitted he books holidays by calling CEO of travel company, who is also Liberal party treasurer, directly. All the day’s events live
Wayne Swan is on his feet, talking about his career, which included eight election wins and one loss, since 1993. Or as he describes it, enough days to cover almost four continuous years of parliament.
Wayne Swan says yesterday was his 35th wedding anniversary, and two hours ago, he became a grandfather again.
So it’s a good week to be Wayne Swan.
Continue reading...Warren Entsch demands investigation after German convicted kidnapper boasts about new shipment
A government MP has said it “beggars belief” that more endangered Australian birds have been exported to a German organisation headed by a convicted kidnapper and extortionist, after a Guardian investigation revealed there had been multiple warnings that the birds could be sold to collectors at a huge profit.
Warren Entsch repeated calls for an independent investigation into how the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots was able to receive hundreds of rare and endangered birds from Australia, after its founder, Martin Guth, used a social media post to say more endangered species had arrived at its facilities in January.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Greens and the ACTU say parliament should investigate AFP’s role in the detention of Bahraini refugee in Thailand
A parliamentary inquiry should examine the actions of the Australian Federal Police which led to the arrest of Hakeem al-Araibi in Thailand, Australia’s peak union body and the Greens have said.
Al-Araibi, a 25-year-old Bahraini refugee who has permanent residency in Australia, was arrested on arrival in Bangkok for a holiday, on the basis of an Interpol red notice, which was later lifted.
Continue reading...