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Scott Morrison says he expects GDP figures to avoid technical recession – politics live
Joyce says bureaucrats moved to Armidale chose to work from McDonald's – politics live
(35 minutes later)
12.38am GMT
00:38
Paul Karp
Australia’s economy has rebounded, recording 1.1% growth in the December 2016 quarter.
The result reverses the shock negative result in the September quarter and means Australia has avoided a recession, as was widely projected by market economists.
Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday show Australia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has now grown 2.4% through the year.
Australia has now recorded 101 quarters between the June 1991 and the 2016 December quarter without two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.
Australia continues to close in on the Netherlands’ record of 103 quarters without a recession, which Deloitte Access Economics has predicted it will surpass this year.
12.35am GMT
00:35
Australia avoids recession after recording 1.1% economic growth in the last quarter.
12.31am GMT
00:31
Someone left a bag of Macca’s on the lawn in the courtyard when the National party emerged for its press conference.
Updated
at 12.35am GMT
12.29am GMT
00:29
John Fraser (treasury secretary) says there is a problem in Australia's gas market and there's a group within treasury looking at it #auspol
12.28am GMT
00:28
John Fraser (treasury secretary) says Treasury has not looked into the affects of the wages decision #auspol
12.27am GMT
00:27
Treasury secretary John Fraser says demographics of immigrants mean they congregate in cities, so yes, they can be a driver of house prices.
12.26am GMT
00:26
There is no clear answer from Barnaby Joyce on whether he supports a “debranding” of the Nats from the Liberals in Queensland. He does say he has been going to Queensland regularly.
People clearly understand who we are. I’ve never had anybody confused which party I’m in.
12.22am GMT
00:22
So to be clear, the National party has started a Senate inquiry and has urged rural and regional towns across Australia to make a bid for a government office.
Barnaby Joyce says the Nats don’t need to carve out a new identity because they already have a strong identity.
This relates to the idea that in Queensland, the Nats in the LNP want a separate identity.
Updated
at 12.30am GMT
12.19am GMT
00:19
Asked about APVMA expertise is being lost, Joyce says:
Well, we’ve also had an awful lot of inquiries about people who want to work there. Everything balances off.
12.16am GMT
00:16
Barnaby Joyce: APVMA Macca's claim ridiculous
Barnaby Joyce says the APVMA workers have plenty of office space. They don’t need to work from McDonald’s.
This is ridiculous. There are so many areas up there if they wish to have office space, they could get it. Armidale was one of the first cities to get the NBN. So the idea that you have to work out of Macca’s is a choice that they’ve made. I’ve been overwhelmed by people saying it was ridiculous and there was office space if they wanted it.
Updated
at 12.19am GMT
12.14am GMT
12.14am GMT
00:14
00:14
Barnaby Joyce is freewheeling on the benefits of decentralisation. He says Bob Hawke previously supported some decentralisation. As did Gough Whitlam BTW. But I digress.
Barnaby Joyce is freewheeling on the benefits of decentralisation. He says Bob Hawke previously supported some decentralisation. As did Gough Whitlam BTW. But I digress.
Here is Barnaby:
Here is Barnaby:
What’s happened to the Labor Party is it’s lost a vision for the nation and it’s become myopic and is going into the parochial paces of saying they’re going to support where things already are. If that was the vision that was around at the time that they developed the constitution for our nation, before federation,we would not be having this press conference here. There would be a city called Melbourne and a city called Sydney and one of them would be slightly bigger because all of the administrative centres would be there.
What’s happened to the Labor Party is it’s lost a vision for the nation and it’s become myopic and is going into the parochial paces of saying they’re going to support where things already are. If that was the vision that was around at the time that they developed the constitution for our nation, before federation,we would not be having this press conference here. There would be a city called Melbourne and a city called Sydney and one of them would be slightly bigger because all of the administrative centres would be there.
12.02am GMT
00:02
Julie Bishop also spoke about her plans to bring home more than 100 diplomatic staff to nut out Australia’s foreign policy.
We hear from them through communications all the time but what we are seeking to do is replace the meetings and the regional meetings that occur regionally or around the world with one significant meeting to gain the insights and perspectives of our most experienced diplomats.
In fact, it’s within the budget. There is no new money required and I believe it’s a very efficient and effective way of hearing from them on their experiences, observations, their real-time experiences. These are people situated in countries, in our missions across the globe, over 100 missions, and they are coming back to Australia to be part of our white paper on foreign policy.
Updated
at 12.04am GMT
12.00am GMT
00:00
By the way, former Howard minister Amanda Vanstone (again) calls Tony Abbott a narcissist.
It’s always been about Tony from the minute he was born.
Whoa! @amandavanstone slaps down @TonyAbbottMHR #sun7 pic.twitter.com/9NXf1fr1wq
The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, has been asked about it.
Is Tony Abbott a narcissist?
That’s not how I’d describe him.
Updated
at 12.05am GMT
11.47pm GMT
23:47
Hey kids, join the Department of Finance and you get to eat paleo pear and banana bread.
This little video to applaud the features of the department’s graduate program drew a questioning in estimates last night. And a little tittering.
But don’t laugh too hard. There may be a future head of treasury in there.
Updated
at 11.54pm GMT
11.42pm GMT
23:42
Jenny Macklin was trying to knock off the omnibus bill because:
It will hurt pensioners, families, new mums and young Australians while holding childcare assistance and the National Disability Insurance Scheme to ransom;
The motion also called on the government to:
(a) drop their unfair cuts to pensioners, families, new mums and young Australians; and
(b) fix their childcare changes so that vulnerable and disadvantaged children are not worse off and Indigenous and country services do not face closure.
The Labor motion failed.
Updated
at 11.54pm GMT
11.39pm GMT
23:39
The lower house has moved onto the omnibus/social services/childcare bill. Labor’s Jenny Macklin is trying to amend the legislation. The house in voting now and we could expect on the numbers Labor will lose this vote.
11.36pm GMT
23:36
Let’s just touch base on the morning
We have GDP figures coming out at 11.30am.
We have the leader of Nationals, Barnaby Joyce, and Nationals members and senators launching a new decentralisation campaign at 11am.
Which will be a chance for journalists to quiz him on the workers from the APVMA from Canberra to Joyce’s electorate.
AAP reported late yesterday from estimates committee:
Senior executives at a pesticides agency being forcibly moved to the electorate of deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce are working from a fast food restaurant as they search for a temporary office.
A dozen staff at the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority were due to move to regional NSW in March but their hunt for Armidale real estate continues.
“We need a base rather than sitting in McDonald’s using their free wifi,” chief executive Kareena Arthy told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Tuesday.
“It [the office] is there really as a practical basis for the APVMA staff who go to Armidale because honestly we sit in McDonald’s to do our work.”
Updated
at 11.57pm GMT
11.27pm GMT
23:27
Updated
at 11.35pm GMT
11.07pm GMT
23:07
Let me explain the shenanigans in the house.
The government introduced two bills, one on vulnerable workers and one to remove the requirement of the Fair Work Commission to conduct four-yearly reviews of modern awards from the beginning of 1 January 2018. Labor supports these bills.
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, introduced them, said they were urgent. So Labor called his bluff and said effectively, bloody oath. Let’s push them through right now.
Dutton said, yeah, nah. We don’t want to do it right now.
So Labor suspended standing orders in the house to allow the bills to be rushed through.
The house has just voted against the motion to suspend standing orders.
Updated
at 11.15pm GMT
10.59pm GMT
22:59
The house was debating the fair work amendment on vulnerable workers.
Tony Burke tried to suspend standing orders to debate.
The government gagged him.
Then Anthony Albanese tried to take up the suspension motion.
The government is now in the process of gagging Albanese.
Updated
at 11.15pm GMT
10.33pm GMT
22:33
The house starts at 9.30am and begins with government business.
The government will introduce a bill to protect vulnerable workers, the omnibus social services/childcare bill and the NDIS savings fund (created for the savings out of the omnibus bill).
