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| George Christensen resigns as National party chief whip – politics live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 1.45am GMT | |
| 01:45 | |
| Just on George. It was obviously the right thing to do. You cannot expect others to stay in line when you are off on a frolic. This will free him up completely to dig in when required from his electorate in Dawson and cross the floor on the banking commission of inquiry. | |
| 1.41am GMT | |
| 01:41 | |
| George Christensen: I was not pushed | |
| I have resigned as chief whip of the Nationals, effective 5pm this Thursday, March 2. | |
| I made the decision to resign because my continued outspokenness on a variety of issues was obviously incompatible with the position of party whip in the long term. | |
| It was my decision to resign and my decision alone. | |
| I was not pushed by anyone. | |
| However, I did feel some of my colleagues may have been aggrieved that the enforcer of discipline was being somewhat ill-disciplined himself. | |
| Over the past week, as I’ve reached this decision, Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has been incredibly supportive and said he would have supported whatever decision I made on the matter. | |
| I thank him and the rest of the Nationals team for the great honour of serving as their chief whip over the last six months. | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.46am GMT | |
| 1.34am GMT | |
| 01:34 | |
| Ben Doherty | |
| We recorded this yesterday but this is the final instalment. | |
| The Liberal senator David Fawcett has apologised after a “poor choice of words” in parliament appeared to describe asylum seekers coming to Australia seeking protection as “fleas”. | |
| Fawcett’s comments were made during a Senate estimates discussion on asylum seekers arriving by boat, saying the Labor party had “brought the fleas” and was now attempting to “nitpick” in parliament with questions over asylum policy cost blowouts, wasteful and unauthorised spending. | |
| “I just do question the ethics of nitpicking when your particular group perhaps brought the fleas in the first place,” he told the hearing at Parliament House, directing his comments at Labor members. | |
| Unknown senators on the committee said “hear hear”, while Fawcett’s fellow Liberal and committee chair Ian Macdonald was heard on the microphones to say “nicely put”. | |
| Following the comments, Fawcett sought to clarify that he had intended to suggest that Labor had created the “irritation” of stress within the immigration department, not that he was characterising asylum seekers as fleas. | |
| But he made a further late-night apology to the Senate. | |
| “I have just been on the phone to Mr Phil Glendenning, the president of Refugee Council of Australia. He has outlined how the words I spoke earlier today have been taken and the deep hurt that this has caused across the network of communities that his council represents. | |
| “Whilst it was never my intention that my comments would refer to refugees in such a way, it’s clear that my poor choice of words has caused hurt to many people and consequently I sincerely apologise.” | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.47am GMT | |
| 1.31am GMT | |
| 01:31 | |
| The Centrelink suspension motion has been postponed for other business so we will not see George C perform some of his last whipping duties until later. But Mike Bowers will be there to record it. | |
| 1.27am GMT | |
| 01:27 | |
| George Christensen goes to spend more time being outspoken | |
| Gabi brought you the news a few moments ago that the outspoken LNP backbencher George Christensen will be moving on from his post as Nationals whip. The departure is by mutual agreement with his leader Barnaby Joyce. | |
| According to government folks, both men agreed that you can’t simultaneously be the person charged with enforcing internal discipline (the calling of all party whips) and be the chief trouble maker. That’s a conflict of interest and may end up causing tension with one’s colleagues ... which is why Christensen is stepping aside to spend more time being outspoken and trying to hold out the One Nation insurgency in his seat of Dawson. | |
| Hold on to your hats, people. | |
| The resignation will take effect from this Thursday, because currently not all the senators are at liberty to sort out a replacement (being at estimates hearings and elsewhere). Christensen told his colleagues he was going during their regular party room meeting on Monday night. | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.33am GMT | |
| 1.25am GMT | |
| 01:25 | |
| While we all digest the news of George Christensen’s move from the whip’s job, we can all praise be that he was in the job long enough for Fairfax’s Andrew Meares to get this pic. | |
| Be the first to read Good Weekend's feature on George Christensen https://t.co/rZhY0s0sBp pic.twitter.com/3kut0VYoA3 | |
| 1.17am GMT | |
| 01:17 | |
| Katharine Murphy | |
| As Paul has said, there was a mild eruption in caucus today about the “Buffett” rule. | |
| The discussion kicked off when the Northern Territory MP (and right-winger) Luke Gosling asked the shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, what was happening on the proposal, which members of the Labor left have revived in recent weeks. | |
| Labor’s national conference in 2015 passed a resolution in favour of a Buffett rule. Chris Bowen isn’t interested in having that conversation and made that clear in today’s meeting. | |
| But he was challenged by three left MPs: Pat Conroy, Andrew Giles and Terri Butler, who are in favour of having this discussion on the basis Labor needs to be on the offensive on the subject of inequality. | |
| It’s an interesting issue in Labor, cooking away. | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.24am GMT | |
| 1.15am GMT | |
| 01:15 | |
| It’s all over the fan in here. | |
| The human services minister, Alan Tudge, is in the lower house, defending the automated Centrelink system. | |
| The attorney general, George Brandis, and Labor’s Murray Watt are having a heated debate about who is lying. The committee has already broken again and one gets the feeling Brandis would prefer to read his Bell statement and be done with it. | |
| We will have more info on George Christensen and his whip’s job shortly. | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.25am GMT | |
| 1.11am GMT | 1.11am GMT |
| 01:11 | 01:11 |
| Labor’s motion moved by Linda Burney: | Labor’s motion moved by Linda Burney: |
| 1. Notes: | 1. Notes: |
| a. The hovernment has released highly confidential personal information of Centrelink customers to the media as part of a vindictive political campaign to punish some of Australia’s most vulnerable people for speaking out against the government’s robo-debt mess; and | |
| b. There are serious questions about the legality of the government’s actions and whether they constitute breaches of the Privacy Act; | |
| 2. Calls on the minister for human services to attend the House to provide a full account of: | |
| a. The specific provision of the Privacy Act or any other legislation that the government claims gives it the legal right to release this highly confidential personal information to the media; and | |
| b. The involvement of himself, his office, his department and Centrelink in releasing this highly confidential personal information to the media; and | |
| 3. Condemns the minister for releasing the personal information of Australians for vindictive political purposes. | |
| Burney says the Coalition should apologise for their treatment of Centrelink clients. | Burney says the Coalition should apologise for their treatment of Centrelink clients. |
| Updated | |
| at 1.25am GMT | |
| 1.08am GMT | 1.08am GMT |
| 01:08 | 01:08 |
| George Christensen gone as whip. last day in the job is Thursday. Mutual agreement with Barnaby | George Christensen gone as whip. last day in the job is Thursday. Mutual agreement with Barnaby |
| 1.07am GMT | 1.07am GMT |
| 01:07 | 01:07 |
| It, being 12pm, the parliament has begun. | It, being 12pm, the parliament has begun. |
| Labor’s Linda Burney is up first to move a suspension of standing orders into the release of a Centrelink recipient’s personal information to counter her public criticism of the department. | Labor’s Linda Burney is up first to move a suspension of standing orders into the release of a Centrelink recipient’s personal information to counter her public criticism of the department. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 1.14am GMT | at 1.14am GMT |
| 1.03am GMT | 1.03am GMT |
| 01:03 | 01:03 |
| Paul Karp | Paul Karp |
| In Labor caucus on Tuesday, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen was asked about the Buffett tax proposal. This is the suggestion by sharemeister Warren Buffett that people earning more than a million bucks should pay a minimum no-correspondence-entered-into 30% tax rate. | In Labor caucus on Tuesday, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen was asked about the Buffett tax proposal. This is the suggestion by sharemeister Warren Buffett that people earning more than a million bucks should pay a minimum no-correspondence-entered-into 30% tax rate. |
| According to a spokesman, Bowen said Labor had already taken the most progressive tax policy to the last election including changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax changes and superannuation concessions. | According to a spokesman, Bowen said Labor had already taken the most progressive tax policy to the last election including changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax changes and superannuation concessions. |
| He noted that no country has the Buffet rule and it would impact on charitable donations and innovation. | He noted that no country has the Buffet rule and it would impact on charitable donations and innovation. |
| Three questions and statements from Labor MPs acknowledged his response but objected to the debate having been comprehensively shut down. | Three questions and statements from Labor MPs acknowledged his response but objected to the debate having been comprehensively shut down. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 1.05am GMT | at 1.05am GMT |
| 12.59am GMT | 12.59am GMT |
| 00:59 | 00:59 |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 1.02am GMT | at 1.02am GMT |