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Malcolm Turnbull suffers poll plunge after citizenship saga – politics live Malcolm Turnbull suffers poll plunge after citizenship saga – politics live
(35 minutes later)
I mentioned earlier that a new bill on same-sex marriage has been proposed by James Paterson, ahead of the release of the poll survey results on Wednesday. My colleague Paul Karp has written a piece on the contents of the Paterson bill, which allows for wide-ranging discrimination against same-sex weddings. Deputy opposition leader, Tanya Plibersek, earlier this morning, described Paterson as a “frontman” for conservatives. There’s a lot happening in the Senate later this morning.
Education minister, Simon Birmingham, has just said he will support the original bill put forward by moderate, Dean Smith. Birmingham has warned against introducing “other forms of discrimination” if same-sex marriage is introduced. The governor-general, General Sir Peter Cosgrove, is expected to attend parliament to swear in three new, replacement senators.
“I remain of the belief that Dean Smith’s bill is the appropriate and logical starting point for any debate,” he told Sky News. They include West Australian Greens senator Jordon Steele-John, a disability rights advocate who will become Australia’s youngest ever senator, aged 23. He will replace Greens senator Scott Ludlam, the first senator to be caught up in the citizenship scandal.
“James Paterson or any other member or senator is absolutely free then to bring to the parliament any amendments that they so choose.” The other two are Andrew Bartlett, for the Greens, and One Nation’s Fraser Anning.
Birmingham also said the issue ought to be dealt with quickly and decisively, if the survey returns a ‘yes’ result. Once the senators are sworn in, the Senate will elect a new president.
Welcome to another week in parliament, blog fans. It’s Christopher Knaus here filling in for Amy Remeikis, who is up in Queensland on the campaign trail in the state election. I’ll be carrying you through what is expected to be an intense week for the government. The successful candidate will take the chair, proceedings will be suspended for a short time, and the new Senate will be presented to the governor-general.
Malcolm Turnbull, fresh from losing the government’s majority, wakes up on Monday to find a Newspoll showing a significant drop in his popularity. He is down five points in the preferred prime minister stakes, narrowing the gap between Turnbull and the Bill Shorten to just two points. A reminder that only the Senate is sitting this week.
The citizenship cloud continues to hang over parliament. Three new replacement senators are expected to be sworn in on Monday morning, after they were declared elected by order of the high court. A new senate president will also be announced to replace Stephen Parry, who was forced out of parliament earlier this month. Back to citizenship, temporarily. Doubts exist over two Labor MPs, Justine Keay and Susan Lamb, and NXT’s Rebekha Sharkie. Turnbull has accused Labor of running a protection racket for them.
This all comes days out from the release of results from the same-sex marriage postal survey. Those results will be announced on Wednesday morning. Already, a second private members bill is being proposed by Liberal senator James Paterson, as an alternative to the bill proposed by moderate, Dean Smith. The draft of Paterson’s bill has been released. It is designed to beef up protections on freedom of speech and allow a limited form of conscientious objection. On Sunday, Labor threatened to “go nuclear” if the government attempted to refer its MPs to the high court. It pointed to doubts over Liberal MPs Julia Banks, Nola Marino and or Alex Hawke.
So, it’s set to be quite a day. Strap yourselves in. Labor has now released legal advice showing that Keay, Lamb and Sharkie are not in danger.
Liberal MP Angus Taylor dismissed that legal opinion on Monday.
“The decision that matters is the decision of the high court. Bill Shorten has simply been hiding dual citizens in the basement,” Taylor told Sky News.
I mentioned earlier that a new bill on same-sex marriage has been proposed by James Paterson in the lead-up to the release of the poll survey results on Wednesday. My colleague Paul Karp has written a piece on the contents of the Paterson bill, which allows for wide-ranging discrimination against same-sex weddings. This morning the deputy opposition leader, Tanya Plibersek, described Paterson as a “frontman” for conservatives.
The education minister, Simon Birmingham, has just said he will support the original bill put forward by a moderate, Dean Smith. Birmingham has warned against introducing “other forms of discrimination” if same-sex marriage is introduced.
“I remain of the belief that Dean Smith’s bill is the appropriate and logical starting point for any debate,” he told Sky News. “James Paterson or any other member or senator is absolutely free then to bring to the parliament any amendments that they so choose.”
Birmingham also said the issue ought to be dealt with quickly and decisively if the survey returns a yes result.
Welcome to another week in parliament, blog fans. It’s Christopher Knaus here filling in for Amy Remeikis, who is up in Queensland on the campaign trail in that state’s election. I’ll be carrying you through what is expected to be an intense week for the government.
Malcolm Turnbull, fresh from losing the government’s majority, wakes up today to find a Newspoll showing a significant drop in his popularity. He is down five points in the preferred prime minister stakes, narrowing the gap between him and Bill Shorten to just two points.
The citizenship cloud continues to hang over parliament. Three replacement senators are expected to be sworn in this morning after they were declared elected by order of the high court. A new Senate president will also be announced to replace Stephen Parry, who was forced out of parliament this month.
This all comes days out from the release of results from the same-sex marriage postal survey. Those results will be announced on Wednesday morning. Already a second private member’s bill is being proposed by the Liberal senator James Paterson as an alternative to the bill proposed by a moderate, Dean Smith. The draft of Paterson’s bill has been released. It is designed to beef up protections on freedom of speech and allow a limited form of conscientious objection.
So it’s set to be quite a day. Strap yourselves in.