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Treasurer says Coalition has not decided how to use potential revenue boost – politics live
Leaders trade blows on business tax cuts v penalty rate cuts – question time live
(about 1 hour later)
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I should say Barnaby also launched a website for anyone who would like to make a submission on decentralisation.
There is argy bargy between the speaker, the government and Labor over the latter’s call for relevance. Speaker Smith rules Turnbull is relevant because he is talking about the penalty rate cut decision (albeit in regard to Shorten’s previous work at the AWU).
We have been trying to get the major parties to engage in the conversation about decentralisation, which is growing jobs in regional Australia and saving government money by relocating government agencies out of the major cities.
3.37am GMT
Which sounds like the Nationals are not part of the government.
03:37
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Labor’s Tony Burke to Turnbull: Have any ministers disclosed potential conflicts of interest as required by the statement of ministerial standards? How many members of the government will profit from the decision?
02:23
Turnbull says it is not the government’s decision, it is from the Fair Work Commission.
Lunch time politics
So this would be an interesting question, whether a small business owner and politician would have a conflict of interest on a penalty rate decision made by an independent body. (Given the small business operator would benefit from a cut in penalties.) I think it’s a long bow myself but let’s watch where it goes.
In keeping with good blogging practice, herewith a lunch time summary.
3.35am GMT
As predicted by Scott Morrison and the consensus, the national accounts were good. The economy grew by 1.1% in the December quarter - the best one quarter result since March 2012, and comes off the back of the September quarter result which saw the economy shrink by 0.5%. Recession under the technical terms has been avoided. Again.
03:35
Barnaby Joyce says evidence given in senate estimates APVMA workers had to access wifi at McDonalds was ridiculous. The agency was moved to his own electorate based in Armidale.
Labor to Turnbull: This morning on Adelaide radio the assistant minister for agriculture said “The overall decision of this commission, which I have got to say I support, being a small business operator. “. Have any ministers disclosed potential conflicts of interest in relation to the government’s response to this decision, as required by the statement of ministerial standards? How many more members of the government will profit from the decision to cut the pay of 700,000 Australians?
Joyce was calling for towns across regional Australia to put in a bid for their own agency through a senate committee on decentralisation.
Turnbull does not answer the question, which references Anne Ruston, the assistant ag minister and primary producer.
Former Howard minister Amanda Vanstone said Tony Abbott was a narcissist. Julie Bishop said he wasn’t.
He talks about Bill Shorten’s negotiated EBAs with Cleanevent and Cirque Du Soleil.
The omnibus social services/childcare bill passed the lower house. Indi independent Cathy McGowan tried to amend it to put some structure around mobile childcare funding for regional Oz but it was voted down by the government.
3.28am GMT
Treasury head John Fraser said the demographics of immigration meant migrants did have an effect on house prices.
03:28
1.58am GMT
Bob Katter to immigration minister Peter Dutton: The The Daily Telegraph, October 2014 reports young New South Wales is the unofficial Muslim capital of the outback, population 7,000 Arabic as the second language and home to 400 Middle Easterners. Yesterday, Haisem Zahab was arrested on allegations of assisting ISIS to develop long range missiles. Last week the Federation of Islamic Councils President reportedly stated domestic violence is the last resort. Will the minister listen to his own backbench and the United States and ban visas from North Africa and the countries between Greece and India, exempting of course persecuted minorities, namely Sikhs, Jews and Christians?
01:58
Dutton makes three points.
I asked Treasury if they knew how many young people can't afford a home. This is what they said... 😐 pic.twitter.com/eG1Jd74jT6
One.
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It is important to point out that the vast majority of people who are working hard in that community, supporting the abattoir that can only stay open because of that local Muslim population, it provides support to local farmers and to that local economy. They are hard working people. They are doing the right thing. Like 99% of people from the Islamic community in this country, they are doing the right thing.
01:47
Two.
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Where we find the 1% and where the 1% are doing the wrong thing or people who would seek to do harm to our country, we will come down on them hard.
01:15
Three, re Keyser Trad’s comments:
Treasurer Scott Morrison has been speaking on the national accounts. He covers the numbers, the company tax cuts and their passage through the Senate and the increase in commodity prices.
This is Australia and if you come to our country, you abide by our laws and one of the things that sets us apart from many other nations is our respect of women” we all want our daughters to succeed, be in loving relationships,get a good education, get a good job and be the equal of any man in this country”. It is unacceptable for the vast majority of the Islamic community as well, I am sure.
While Treasury secretary John Fraser suggested in estimates earlier today that any increase in revenue should be banked, Morrison said it was too early to be definitive and he would consider Treasury forecasts in the lead up to the budget.
3.18am GMT
He is pushed again on why the government will not prosecute the yes case for the Fair Work Commission’s decision on penalty rate cuts. He steadfastly refuses to do this. He just says the government supports the independent umpire and will abide by the decision.
03:18
Shorten to Turnbull: The prime minister has said he supports the decision to cut penalty rates. Will the prime minister please advise the 700,000 Australians who rely upon these penalty rates whether he will intervene to stop these pay cuts? Yes or no, will the commonwealth intervene to stop these pay cuts?
He notes correctly that Shorten said he would accept the decision of the Fair Work Commission on penalty rates.
It does not look like there will be an answer from the PM on the substantive issue of whether he supports the penalty rate cut.
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03:12
Who is that man?
Chris Bowen to Scott Morrison: This morning at Senate estimates the secretary of the Treasury was asked whether the decision to cut penalty rates would create more jobs. The secretary said “I don’t have an opinion on that”. Can the treasurer confirm that his own department has not advised the government that this will create jobs and in fact this is just a straight pay cut for 700,000 Australians?
Would you like fries with that?
Morrison says the Fair Work Commission has decided to cut penalty rates following the referral from Bill Shorten, former workplace minister.
12.55am GMT
Morrison again declines the opportunity to give Labor a grab lauding pay cuts that could be used in the next election.
00:55
3.09am GMT
Hold off on the cartwheels, not quite the beautiful set of numbers
03:09
Greg Jericho
Malcolm Turnbull’s first Dorothy Dixer spruiks the national accounts. The question comes from a WA MP which allows him to talk about the strong economic leadership of his government and WA premier Colin Barnett. Can I hear a state election coming?
The GDP figures out today showed the economy grew by a rather stunning 1.1% in the December quarter. That is the best one quarter result since March 2012, and comes off the back of the September quarter result which saw the economy shrink by 0.5%.
3.03am GMT
While the figure is very good, there needs to be a bit of caution before you limber up to do cartwheels. One reason the figure is so strong is because the September quarter figures were so bad – and they were bad for a number of one-off reasons, including bad weather which reduced housing construction. So it’s not like the economy has suddenly got a lot better, more we just didn’t suffer the same bad events in December that occurred in September
03:03
The annual growth figures of 2.4% remains below the long term average (historically a figure of 3%, but now considered to be closer to 2.75%).
Shorten to Turnbull: Why is it that under the Turnbull government, when companies receive record profits, they get tax cuts and when wages flat line, workers get pay cuts?
Also the big 1.1% growth figure is the seasonally adjusted figure which can be a bit erratic. The trend growth figure is a rather less ebullient 0.3%, and the trend annual growth figure is a fairly pathetic 1.9%.
Turnbull is shuffling through a pile of enterprise bargaining agreements signed by Bill Shorten’s delegates at the Australian Workers Union under his leadership.
The big driver of growth was household consumption – which contributed nearly half of the 1.1% growth – exports and also non-dwelling construction.
What about the workers? The cleaning workers at Cleanevent who were paid thanks to the leader of the opposition $18.14 an hour when they were entitled to $50.17 under the award. That is what he did. Where did the money go? Was there a payment to the AWU? Were membership lists provided to the AWU? Follow the money.
There is good news for the government from the nominal growth figures. Nominal GDP measure the size of the economy in current dollars and this figure has more of an impact for government tax revenue. In the December quarter nominal growth grew by 3.0% in seasonally adjusted terms – the best result since June 2010. It means nominal GDP grew by 6.1% in 2016. Given the December mid-year fiscal and economic outlook estimated growth for 2016-17 of 5.75%, that is good news for the budget figures.
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The house is now voting on the omnibus bill. As the National party was doing its thing, the house voted down a very detailed amendment from Indi independent Cathy McGowan.
Bill Shorten is using a 90 second MP’s statement just before question time to speak against changing the Racial Discrimination Act.
Her amendment sought to put some structure and process around mobile community childcare funding which seeks to fill the gaps in childcare places in rural and regional towns.
The ball is now in the prime minister’s court
It would require the government to assess hard data around the number of places in various areas so that it provides a more transparent process and funding.
He should rule out the right to be a bigot once and for all.
McGowan said the minister had been helpful, but was only offering grants and guidelines without a permanent process.
2.59am GMT
She said especially for the National party, this policy affected poor and needy women in rural Australia, including Indigenous communities.
02:59
In speaking to the bill, McGowan had a warning for the major parties. You are already bleeding votes and until you start recognising that regional communities have different needs (and responding to them), you will lose more votes to minor parties.
Cory Bernardi has delivered his Weekly Dose of Common Sense blog. He is using the 18C report by the human rights committee as a bit of a recruitment drive for Australian Conservatives.
Labor voted for the McGowan amendment but the Coalition including the National party voted against.
The committee bowed at the altar of political correctness, they heeded the caution of the saturated mattress.
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It is time to take a stand, says Cory.
at 1.05am GMT
This snowflake-protecting, damaging ideology and its proponents are hurting our country. If the political class won’t support freedom of speech what will they support? What other of your freedoms will they limit to make their already-cosy lives easier?
12.38am GMT
There really is a better way…a principled way that does the right thing no matter how tough it is. That’s the attitude parents have shared with their children for generations. Do the right thing, do it once and do it right.
00:38
Our political class need to hear that message loud and clear. Australian Conservatives are committed to taking it to them.
Paul Karp
He notes he will name founding members in weeks to come.
Australia’s economy has rebounded, recording 1.1% growth in the December 2016 quarter.
Bernardi really is the master of the political tease.
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.
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Australia avoids recession after recording 1.1% economic growth in the last quarter.
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Someone left a bag of Macca’s on the lawn in the courtyard when the National party emerged for its press conference.
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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
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John Fraser (treasury secretary) says Treasury has not looked into the affects of the wages decision #auspol
12.27am GMT
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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.
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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
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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.
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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:
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.
