This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2017/feb/27/coalition-support-falls-one-nation-rises-newpoll-politics-live

The article has changed 16 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 7 Version 8
Labor and Coalition debate penalty rate cuts – politics live Labor and Coalition debate penalty rate cuts – politics live
(35 minutes later)
1.59am GMT
01:59
Paul Karp
Labor shadow Brendan O’Connor spoke in the house after Malcolm Turnbull. O’Connor said far from abiding by the umpire’s decision, the Coalition had previous chucked out umpire decisions, including the Victorian Country Fire Authority dispute, and in abolishing the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal.
In the CFA dispute, the Turnbull government made changes to the Fair Work Act in August 2016 prohibiting terms of enterprise agreements that restrict emergency services organisations’ ability to deploy volunteers.
The Fair Work Commission hadn’t yet approved the EA so the government didn’t technically overturn an existing decision, it changed the goal-posts in order to affect the outcome in a particular case.
In the case of the RSRT, the government abolished the body that set the rates independent contractors’ charged for work (and therefore their pay). In this case, the RSRT had already issued a pay order, and the government got rid of not just the order but the whole body.
Coalition types would defend the move because - unlike the Fair Work Commission which sets minimum pay for employees - the RSRT set minimum rates for independent contractors’, which arguably interfered with their ability to compete. But it is still an example of overturning the decision of an independent tribunal.
Liberal defence industries minister Christopher Pyne just told Sky:
The RSRT was a fit-up by the Labor party.
1.52am GMT
01:52
Lunchtime politics
Newspoll has the Coalition on 45% to Labor’s 55% on a two-party-preferred basis. The Coalition’s primary vote is bleeding to One Nation and Labor.
This appears to have put Malcolm Turnbull in a mood, which has led to a stern lecture to journalists for getting distracted rather than focusing on the issues of bottlemakers and butchers.
The prime minister also said the bad poll was Tony Abbott’s fault and the former PM’s intervention was specifically designed to inflict damage in the polling period.
The poll didn’t put Barnaby Joyce in a mood though, because he actually said he reads polls. He is listening, says he.
Treasurer Scott Morrison had batted off suggestions from Ray Hadley that he should a) listen to Tony Abbott on his policy prescriptions to stop immigration and dump the renewable energy target and b) not listen to Tony Abbott and hold the government line. Morrison suggested that Abbott’s policy to dump the RET was a sovereign risk. Labor environment shadow Mark Butler agreed with Scott Morrison and everyone cheered.
Updated
at 1.53am GMT
1.42am GMT
01:42
Labor social services shadow Jenny Macklin is speaking against the omnibus/childcare bill and I will focus on a lunchtime summary.
Updated
at 1.44am GMT
1.39am GMT
01:39
Labor lost the suspension motion to introduce its penalty rates bill.
1.35am GMT
01:35
Is that a berm?
Senate president Stephen Parry has told Senate estimates there was never a plan to build a moat around parliament house.
It was going to be a ditch called a ha ha, it was mooted for one section of the parliament house perimeter but it had serious technical difficulties. It was never going to be filled with water or crocodiles, it was just a ditch.
This was reported on last year by Michael Koziol at Fairfax:
Security agencies considered digging a channel similar to a moat around Parliament House as part of a controversial security overhaul, Fairfax Media can reveal.
The embankment, technically called a “berm” and commonly used as a defence against tanks, would have encircled the building as a way to keep vehicles off the hill.
Updated
at 1.35am GMT
1.26am GMT
01:26
OK the lower house is now voting on Labor’s suspension motion.
1.20am GMT1.20am GMT
01:2001:20
Malcolm Turnbull is losing his voice as he rounds on Bill Shorten and his record with the FWC, saying,Malcolm Turnbull is losing his voice as he rounds on Bill Shorten and his record with the FWC, saying,
he started ithe started it
he staffed ithe staffed it
he defended it in advancehe defended it in advance
now he tries to backflip.now he tries to backflip.
Nobody has traded away more penalty rates than the leader of the opposition.Nobody has traded away more penalty rates than the leader of the opposition.
1.16am GMT1.16am GMT
01:1601:16
Malcolm Turnbull now goes to the substance of the issue.Malcolm Turnbull now goes to the substance of the issue.
All of us understand how hard this will hit those who work on weekends.All of us understand how hard this will hit those who work on weekends.
But Turnbull says the trade-off will be more hours worked, more jobs in hospitality and retail and workers will benefit.But Turnbull says the trade-off will be more hours worked, more jobs in hospitality and retail and workers will benefit.
UpdatedUpdated
at 1.20am GMTat 1.20am GMT
1.13am GMT1.13am GMT
01:1301:13
Malcolm Turnbull is speaking against the Labor suspension of standing orders.Malcolm Turnbull is speaking against the Labor suspension of standing orders.
Turnbull is talking about Shorten appointing the president of the FWC,Turnbull is talking about Shorten appointing the president of the FWC,
hard-handed capitalist Iain Ross.hard-handed capitalist Iain Ross.
He has worked in and around the unions for years, says Turnbull.He has worked in and around the unions for years, says Turnbull.
1.06am GMT1.06am GMT
01:0601:06
Bill Shorten says the Labor party had opposed any cuts to penalty rates in the Fair Work Commission.Bill Shorten says the Labor party had opposed any cuts to penalty rates in the Fair Work Commission.
Whereas the Coalition, having supported cuts to penalty rates previously, was now pretending it was Labor’s fault.Whereas the Coalition, having supported cuts to penalty rates previously, was now pretending it was Labor’s fault.
Proverbial dog that has caught the truck. It doesn’t know what to do.Proverbial dog that has caught the truck. It doesn’t know what to do.
1.01am GMT
01:01
Bill Shorten is moving to suspend standing orders on penalty rates in the lower house.
Stop the cuts!
Shorten wants to amend the Fair Work Act 2009 on penalty rates.
Updated
at 1.02am GMT
12.57am GMT
00:57
Unity ticket from Coalition and Labor on Tony Abbott's RET policy
Labor Mark Butler has been asked about Scott Morrison’s suggestion that Tony Abbott’s plan to scrap the Renewable Energy Target presents a sovereign risk to Australia?
Butler said he did agree with Morrison and said Abbott had agreed not to touch the RET in the 2010 and 2013 elections after the Coalition voted for the policy in in 2009. Renewable energy companies invested in projects on that basis, only to find the Coalition had flipped.
I do agree with the treasurer on this matter … really, his [Abbott’s] backflip on his own legislation less than two years old can only be seen as the desperate cry of a man who is dealing with very significant irrelevance.
Updated
at 1.12am GMT
12.17am GMT
00:17
Paul Karp
Eric Abetz has continued his assault on the Department of Parliamentary Services for its proposed 70% rent hike for Aussies cafe.
The Tasmanian senator has asked why DPS has insisted on Aussies providing sales figures for coffees and its business plan, and suggests the department is “hopelessly conflicted” because it competes in sales of coffees in Parliament House.DPS secretary Rob Stefanic replied:
The licence hasn’t been subject to market testing in 25 years. DPS has been criticised by [the national audit office] for not maximising the return to the commonwealth, hence the recommendation to develop a retail strategy. Do we just leave the existing licence in place?”
Stefanic suggests the Aussies owner Domenic Calabria should negotiate with DPS over the proposed rent increase, rather than apply pressure by speaking to the media and through Senate estimates.
The Senate president, Stephen Parry, said there is “no suggestion” DPS wants to compete with Aussies, because DPS catering services are not operating for profit.
Updated
at 12.25am GMT
12.09am GMT
00:09
12.05am GMT
00:05
The head of the Bureau of Meteorology Andrew Johnson is questioned by Greens leader Richard Di Natale. He says it is problematic to attribute individual climate events to climate change.
But the frequency of climate events is increasing.
He will not speculate on the magnitude of heating and consequences for the world is but the Bom’s projections are on the record.
We know from the trends already observing...there are some parts of the country that is likely to be drier than they already are.
11.57pm GMT
23:57
One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts is questioning the Bureau of Meteorology in estimates about its forecasts and has some very pointed questions about its temperature data, in contrast to the findings of a retired scientist in contact with Roberts.
Talk amongst yourselves.
Updated
at 12.06am GMT
11.48pm GMT
23:48
In the interests of consistency, Greens leader Richard Di Natale wants to know why the parliament is not an equal opportunity stunt zone.
Di Natale was just trying to show the damage being done to the Great Barrier Reef by coal-driven emissions when he held up a lump of coal and a lump of dead coral in estimates.
Apparently it’s acceptable for the treasurer to hand out a lump of coal on the floor of the house but not for me to draw the connection between dirty, polluting coal and the death of one of our greatest natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef.
Emissions from coal are killing the reef but this government would rather prop up their cronies in the energy sector with subsidies to build new coal-fired power stations than address the real damage being done.
Updated
at 12.06am GMT
11.45pm GMT
23:45
I love you. I honestly love you.
11.41pm GMT
23:41
Paul Karp
In estimates, Eric Abetz is grilling the Department of Parliamentary Services about a report that it is trying to hike rent for the Aussies cafe in Parliament House by 70%, and order it not to use the name “Aussies”.
DPS secretary, Rob Stefanic, said there was no order to change the cafe’s name, only a clause in a draft contract that gives DPS the right to object if an unsuitable name is used. Nor does DPS want a veto over the Aussies menu, he said.
Stefanic said Aussies currently pays $87,000 a year in rent (excluding GST), and DPS has proposed increasing its rent to about $150,000. So, the proposed increase is in the order of 70%.
He said Aussies has refused to provide an independent valuer with details of its turnover, so the valuer had to make an estimate.
Stefanic said he “recognises the value of Aussie’s as an institution”, which led Abetz to quip “that’s reassuring” given the proposed 70% rent hike.
Abetz suggests DPS wants to “fleece” Aussies because the department is in competition with the popular cafe. DPS provides catering services at parliament’s other cafe known as “The Trough”.
Updated
at 12.08am GMT
11.37pm GMT
23:37
The Department of Parliamentary Services is currently being grilled about the terms and conditions of Aussies cafe in the parliamentary building.
This is cafe that services pollies, press and other poseurs who inhabit the building. As Liberal pollster Mark Textor wrote in 2014:
Hanging out at Aussies cafe in Parliament House gives “poli-tourists” a version of the cool they never had at school. Returning home to the wife to tell tales from the big house of how he told the minister this, and that provides the influence-affirmation his money can’t attain in Sydney or – if he’s a leftist – what his wit can’t attain online.
The AFR’s Joe Aston reported this morning:
Last week, without warning or explanation, DPS hit Aussies’ proprietor, Domenic Calabria, with a 70% rent hike (from $94,000 to $160,000 per annum), a new tenure-by-licence arrangement granted on a month-by-month basis and, most outrageously, has ordered him to stop using the name “Aussies”. The new conditions also give DPS a right of veto over the contents of the menu and its prices, and require Calabria to establish key performance indicators for his part-time staff, which include his mother and sister. Yep, DPS wants to file a performance review for Mamma Calabria’s tomato soup. Can you believe it?
Updated
at 11.49pm GMT