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Clive Palmer's new United party 'to contest every lower house seat' – politics live Clive Palmer announces Brian Burston as UAP Senate leader – politics live
(35 minutes later)
I just....ugh. Mark it down. It is 11am on the first sitting of the new parliament and I CAN NOT EVEN: And the Clive Palmer press conference started so well:
My exchange with Brian Burston and Clive Palmer a few minutes ago...#auspol pic.twitter.com/8v0NFIER98
Just a small correction – Senate Greens put through the axe-the-tampon-tax as a bill, not a motion.
But with the House numbers as they are, it won’t get a pass.
Siiiiigggghhhhhh
STATEMENT: Senator Brian Burston to lead United Australia Party in the Senate #auspol pic.twitter.com/levWRTNC25
Also sidenote - press conferences are held in the Senate courtyard all the time. And I have never seen the sprinklers go off. Especially not at 11am on a Monday morning.
So who turned them on?
And despite Sarah Vogler from the Courier Mail reporting overnight that Brian Burston would be joining Clive Palmer’s party, Burston claims he didn’t make the decision until 10.30 this morning.
That is because he told the Senate at 10am he was standing as an independent. Which he is not. He’s standing as a United Australia Party. By stating he didn’t make the decision until 10.30, he has not, technically, misled parliament.
But before it all ended, Clive Palmer, who has not paid his sacked workers their entitlements, said he would be using the money his companies raise, to fund his political party comeback:
Course the money from my companies that I own 100% will be supporting political lives in Australia. You people seem to think if I have got money that I own I can’t spend it as I want to. That is a freedom in this country.”
The Senate courtyard sprinklers just brought that press conference to an end.
Probably because it resembled a flaming trash heap and the sprinklers got confused.
Labor MP Cathy O’Toole turned up to Clive Palmer’s press conference. She represents north Queensland seat of Herbert, which is where Palmer shut down his nickel refinery – the region’s biggest employer:
Here is the exchange:
O’Toole: Why aren’t you paying the workers in Herbert district in Townsville the money they are owed? I have got John who is owed $10,000 by you.
Palmer: Let me answer your question.
O’Toole: Laura $7,000, Chris from Bushland Beach $10,000. These people are doing it tough, Clive.
Palmer: We have got to do something – can I answer your question, please? First of all, I announced last week we are reopening a refinery and the Townsville Bulletin ran a poll in Townsville and found that 70% of people supported my plans of doing that. Secondly, I do not owe anyone anything in North Queensland.
O’Toole: They think differently.
Palmer: It is not true.
O’Toole: It is their back pocket. They are not wealthy like you that is the sad thing.
Palmer: What we have to do is look to the future and get jobs for the country. I sympathise with all people in North Queensland.
O’Toole: Sympathy doesn’t pay their bills.
Palmer: It is not my responsibility to pay the people’s bills.
O’Toole: It is your responsibility to pay your workers their entitlements.
Palmer: I didn’t sack anybody in North Queensland.
O’Toole: They are not seeing it. These people do not have a job.
Palmer: That is not true. If they haven’t got a job after three years ...
O’Toole: We have huge unemployment. Imagine taking 850 jobs out of our community – it nearly killed our community.
Palmer: 70% of people supported us in Townsville to reopen it. We have got to get more jobs open in this country. Another question?
Clive Palmer has just announced Brian Burston is the Senate leader for the United Australia Party.
Palmer says Burston has shown a courage not often seen in Australian politics.
I just ... ugh. Mark it down. It is 11am on the first sitting of the new parliament and I CAN NOT EVEN:
Barry O'Sullian just told the Senate he's in love with one of Derryn Hinch's former wives - Jackie Weaver - and doesn't want to ruin his chances of meeting her in the future by speaking too strongly against Hinch's live exports ban. Australian politics wtfBarry O'Sullian just told the Senate he's in love with one of Derryn Hinch's former wives - Jackie Weaver - and doesn't want to ruin his chances of meeting her in the future by speaking too strongly against Hinch's live exports ban. Australian politics wtf
That awkward moment you run into your ex at the shops:That awkward moment you run into your ex at the shops:
The end-the-tampon-tax-god-damn-it motion just passed the Senate on the voices. The end-the-tampon-tax-god-damn-it bill just passed the Senate on the voices.
The House can, and will, choose to ignore that though.The House can, and will, choose to ignore that though.
So now that the Senate musical chairs have calmed for just a moment, here is what Mathias Cormann is working with, if Labor and the Greens oppose government legislation:So now that the Senate musical chairs have calmed for just a moment, here is what Mathias Cormann is working with, if Labor and the Greens oppose government legislation:
He needs eight of the remaining 10 crossbenchers. So, now that Pauline Hanson has lost her voting bloc of three – and effectively, her balance of power, here is the puzzle the government has to put together.He needs eight of the remaining 10 crossbenchers. So, now that Pauline Hanson has lost her voting bloc of three – and effectively, her balance of power, here is the puzzle the government has to put together.
Option one:Option one:
One Nation, Centre Alliance and four of the remaining six crossbenchers: Tim Storer, Derryn Hinch, and the loose conservative alliance of Brian Burston, Fraser Anning, Cory Bernardi and David Leyonhjelm.One Nation, Centre Alliance and four of the remaining six crossbenchers: Tim Storer, Derryn Hinch, and the loose conservative alliance of Brian Burston, Fraser Anning, Cory Bernardi and David Leyonhjelm.
Option two:Option two:
One Nation and every single crossbencherOne Nation and every single crossbencher
Option three:Option three:
Centre Alliance and every single crossbencherCentre Alliance and every single crossbencher
Option four:Option four:
The conservative crossbench and either One Nation, Centre Alliance or Hinch and Storer.The conservative crossbench and either One Nation, Centre Alliance or Hinch and Storer.
This morning @WilkieMP is introducing the Refugee Protection Bill 2018 in the House of Representatives. I will be seconding and speaking to the Bill. #RefugeeWeek2018 #auspol
Clive Palmer will be holding a press conference at 11 in the Senate courtyard.
So, yup. He’s back.
Independent senator Tim Storer confirms again he wants the tax bill split, but also won’t be horse trading.
This is now officially in the Hansard:
"If men bled every month - do you think the GST would be added to sanitary products?" @janet_rice tells the Senate.
Fraser Anning has advised the Senate he has joined Katter’s Australian Party.
Brian Burston says he will be sitting as an independent Senator. He also wants to be a whip.
Cory Bernardi is sitting behind him and looks like he is having the time of his life. He’s watching the proceedings like he’s just seen Clueless for the first time.
For those attempting to keep up with the Senate, my wonderful colleague Nick Evershed has created this, which is much more fancy than the blackboard I have to keep updating in the office.
Brian Burston will probably make a statement to the Senate about his switched allegiances.
I think we can all agree the real tragedy here is that Pauline Hanson will no longer have anyone to wear a NSW jersey to set off her Maroons jersey for State of Origin photo stunts anymore.
David Smith is being sworn into the Senate, as a replacement for Katy Gallagher.
Gallagher, of course, announced last week that she would be running for the Senate again. Smith has indicated he wants to hold on to the seat.
Fun times ahead for the ACT Labor branch then.
Jordon Steele-John will be introducing a bill in the Senate to lower the voting age to 16:
If the Australian political establishment actually listened to young people and looked past the three-year election cycle then we would see real action on these issues, but instead they continue to lock us out. Young people care deeply about our future and the world around us and yet we rarely get a seat at the table in making those decisions.
Lowering the voting age to 16 also represents an exciting chance to reinvigorate the way we teach civics education by bringing democratic participation into the classroom in a tangible new way and helping young people to form good voting habits early from a sound understanding of our electoral processes, not just however their parents vote.
Sigh.
Palmer is planning to run a candidate in every lower house seat at next election. Brian Burston will be joining his UAP team @SkyNewsAust
I’ve been told Clive Palmer himself won’t be among those.
He might be too busy, given the court cases he also has to juggle at the moment.
Tony Abbott is speaking to Ray Hadley on 2GB. The presenter lines him up to smash Malcolm Turnbull by pointing out that the prime minister has now beaten Julia Gillard’s record of most consecutive Newspoll losses (33).
Abbott has a chuckle and says this is why he never thought Newspoll should be “the be all and end all”.
“But obviously, if you do lose two years of Newspoll, that does tell you something,” says the man who lost almost two years of Newspolls.
“And what I think it tells us, as the government, is that we have to do something different.
“And as I used to say in a different context, you don’t need to change the leader, but by God you need to change the policy.”
This is why Abbott, who voluntarily signed Australia up for the Paris agreement, says he has been “banging the drum for a long time now” to get more coal-fired power into the system.
So the energy wars are going great in the party room then.