Tony Abbott considers foreign aid cuts to pay for military action in Iraq – as it happened
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Version 0 of 1. 6.26pm AEST09:26 Night time political wrap MPs pack up for another two weeks. 6.18pm AEST09:18 How do I love the Australia? Let me count the ways. And reassure you. I am Muslim. There is a strange feeling in the corridors of parliament house right now. As MPs, senators, staffers and media pack up their sitting weeks and file out of this vast building, it feels smaller and more closed. Our parliament’s only Muslim member, the normally cheery Ed Husic, just walked past looking shattered. He is not talking. Reporters on the doors, catching the comments of the politicians before they head off, say no one wants to talk. With the exception of Cory Bernardi: It’s not about vindication, it’s about the security and safety of parliament house. In here, it doesn’t feel like that. This is not about the burqa or niqab, which is worn by a tiny percentage of Australian Muslim women. Hardly an issue, said Abbott and he was right. The problem is, members of his party, stories of his chief of staff Peta Credlin, his own personal views amply shared have contributed to this decision today. And yet all of us in here come through security screening of our belongings and our bodies, just as you would in an airport. The same is true of public visitors. Muslim women have said they are happy to be identified at the time of screening. Where is the big deal? The question is about how people who normally call for integration and assimilation use these issues to marginalise, separate and divide. For the average person, the burqa = hijab = the mosque = a person of “Middle Eastern appearance = a strong stubble. Husic, as a Muslim, has been constantly asked for his opinion on Isis, like he needs to prove his Australian citizenship every day. Many Muslim Australians feel the same way. How do I love thee, Australia? Let me count the ways. And recite them. And reassure you. As if every Muslim is just a time bomb, that if they practice their faith more fully, more ardently, they will turn. So as we all head off into the night, I will leave you with Husic’s short speech just before question time. He was one of many who spoke on tolerance but his has that extra punch for his lived experience. The times that test us all are not the times to test the trust between ourselves. Because it is at this point that we seek a stronger embrace of the many, around the things we all hold dear in this nation. At this moment our values and way of life are challenged - by those who hope to see fear and distrust weaken faith in our ourselves and our values. This challenge does not just test us as a collective – it tests us to push beyond the individual discomfort that may on occasion arise from the unfamiliar. To recognise that in doing so we grow and gain strength. It should not slip from recognition that those who came to these shores to make a new home feel a deep debt of gratitude. They seek to repay this debt by building upon that we have found and benefitted from. Their children inherit and honour that debt. Not just for the sake of material prosperity and self-advancement – but to become advocates of a grander vision of this country; benefiting from the inclusion derived from a shared commitment to freedom, the rule of law and respect of others. In the brief time I’ve been humbled to be here, I’ve sought to appreciate that differences shouldn’t define or divide. It’s been an honour to work with those of you who feel the same. Together let us make this place a source of strength for others outside this place. It was a guardian of our national values, Sir John Monash, who remarked that one of the many attributes of a successful leader is a personality that “must be of a kind which inspires confidence in others.” In those past words are a course for future acts. Good night. 5.24pm AEST08:24 I said I would bring you more speeches on the MPI on prejudice, particularly in the light of the interim ban on face coverings in the open public galleries in parliament. This is some more of Bill Shorten’s speech. When Senator Bernardi describes the burqa as a ‘flag of fundamentalism’, that is not a security argument. Wrapping a call to ‘ban the burqa’ around national security is an attempt to make ignorance sound truthful and intolerance respectable – an attempt to give an appearance of solidity to hot air. Diminishing the real and important security debate to a conversation about an article of clothing, diminishes us all. And it makes Muslim women a target for bullying and intimidation. Today, I urge the Prime Minister to follow the example of the Foreign Minister and the Member for Bowman – to stand up to this ignorance. Martin Luther King once said: ‘there comes a time when silence is betrayal.’ For weeks, a noisy few Liberal and National members have been fanning the flames of this prejudice – and Tony Abbott has been silent. Yesterday, Labor called upon the Prime Minister to finally show some leadership on both 18C and this ill-informed, hurtful and harmful ‘ban the burqa’ debate. We asked the Prime Minister to lead his party room, not to follow his party room. 5.01pm AEST08:01 Labor’s Penny Wong has asked the president of the senate Stephen Parry why the senators and members were not consulted on the burqa decision. Parry said it was an interim measure while they were waiting for further advice. The first one is that anyone entering the building covering themselves in such a way they can’t be clearly identified will be asked to be identified and to produce identification that matches their identity. If people have a cultural or religious sensitivity in relation to this they will be given the privacy and sensitivity that is required in relation to that identification. Anyone is then free to move within this building in whichever manner, provided it doesn’t breach any security aspects, as they wish to in all public areas barring segmented areas of the chamber galleries. They are the galleries that don’t have the glass enclosure. If people don’t wish to be readily identified in the galleries of each chamber they may use the galleries that are fully enclosed in glass. One of the key reasons for this is that if there is an incident or if someone is interjecting from the gallery, which as senators would know happens from time to time, they need to be identified quickly and easily so they can be removed from that interjection. Or if they are asked to be removed from the gallery we need to know who that person is so they can’t return to the gallery disguised or otherwise. 4.56pm AEST07:56 As the parliamentary presiding officers have decided to ban women in burqas from the open galleries, I keep coming back to process more words from the matter of public importance on prejudice. Here is some more from Scott Morrison. Morrison says he is an optimist when it comes to the dividing line of religion which is currently visible in Australia. He says religious divides have been present in Australia before. He said there was a time when Catholics were accused of being a danger to Australia and not being loyal to Australia. Now they are running the joint on both sides. This is the great success, this is why I feel so optimistic about the challenge we face today about the similar divides and misperceptions that are in the community. Morrison says we cannot be naive to the fears and risks on all sides. He names the centenary of Anzac as an opportunity, because “we are the inheritors of their legacy” and therefore we should be striving to make the country better. Morrison does regular “mateship treks” with Labor’s Jason Clare and former independent Rob Oakeshott. 4.26pm AEST07:26 Michael Pezzullo has been appointed secretary of the immigration and border protection department. Currently the CEO of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, Pezzullo has worked as an adviser to the former foreign minister, Gareth Evans and as deputy chief of staff to Kim Beazley. 4.15pm AEST07:15 This debate so far has been contained and guarded when it comes to accusations across the chamber. That is changing now. Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus is attacking the prime minister over what he implied is a tacit approval of the Bernardi/Smith bill to amend 18C. The prime minister offered no condemnation of that bill. What a failure of leadership from our prime minister. He has also failed to show leadership on the debate about the burqa. 4.09pm AEST07:09 Liberal MP Craig Laundy, the member for Reid, is also giving a strong speech. Laundy has the second highest number of Muslims. He said his kids sit in a class with many different ethnicities and no one in the class talks of other races. In Reid we don’t talk about multiculturalism, we live it and we get it. Laundy welcomed the debate and notes that parliamentarians need to stand together because the best way the terrorists can get us is to “turn us on ourselves”. 4.04pm AEST07:04 Here is a bit of text from Bill Shorten earlier: On Monday evening in Melbourne, a 26 year old woman on the Upfield train was subjected to a stream of racial abuse from another passenger. The abuser then grabbed the young woman by the hair and neck and drove her head into the wall of the carriage multiple times. As the train was approaching Batman Station, the attacker forced the carriage doors open and pushed the woman out onto the platform. That young woman somehow walked away on Monday with only grazes and bruises. But how does she board that train on Tuesday? 3.53pm AEST06:53 Tony Burke is giving a great speech, talking about the role of parliamentarians, saying loudly that the abuse people have copped is not in our name. We need to send a message loud and clear - that prejudice is not in our name. It is an answer to Ruddock. Burke says his constituents are receiving threats of beheading. Politicians cannot hedge, he says, cannot send mixed messages. Australia needs to say people under threat are part of this country. 3.50pm AEST06:50 Tanya Plibersek is talking about how wierd the climate is right now. She relates an anecdote where her father, of European heritage who came to Australia to work on the Snowy Mountains Scheme, was told to go back to where he came from. She talked about his that even after 65 years living in this country, he felt he was still not accepted. Father of the house, Liberal and former immigration minister Phillip Ruddock is talking about the history of multiculturalism. He is defending Tony Abbott for his comments yesterday, about the freedom of deciding what to wear. There are sometimes issues we need to talk frankly about... He says we should not be having the debate because every government has affirmed the principles of multiculturalism and having this debate is, in itself, divisive. I’ve got to say this is an amazing debate. I will bring as much as possible to you. 3.38pm AEST06:38 Bill Shorten is addressing a matter of public importance on “the dangers of prejudice and the importance of social cohesion in modern Australia”. Shorten’s points were about calming the community, rather than ramping up fear and divisiveness. He says this is why Dean Smith and Cory Bernardi’s bill to dismantle 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act is inappropriate. At the same time, Greens leader Christine Milne and Richard Di Natale have held a strong press conference. warning Australia was in danger of descending into a type of “apartheid” for Muslims and we are at risk of fanning another Cronulla riot. We are at risk of creating some form of Muslim apartheid right now, says Di Natale. Think about the Cronulla riot, says Milne. In the chamber the member for Cronulla - or rather the wider area of Cook - Scott Morrison is answering on the Shorten on the MPI. Integration is a word one should never surrender....integration is about participation and when people participate we see the success. 3.21pm AEST06:21 Speaker Bishop also ruled on the the prime minister’s comments regarding the Andrew Bolt case. Labor’s Tony Burke asked Bishop to rule whether it was a reflection on the judiciary, which is against the standing orders. She ruled it was not. 3.17pm AEST06:17 The speaker ruled that it is “quite improper” to reflect on the use of members “orally or by the use of social media”. I will be instructing occupiers of the chair to refrain from using social media whilst they are in the chair. 3.15pm AEST06:15 Speaker Bishop is ruling on Twitter and using social media generally. 3.12pm AEST06:12 In the photo, you can see the glass enclosed galleries at the very top of the picture. Often these are filled with school children who cannot fit into the open public galleries. These enclosed galleries are where those dressed in burqas will have to sit following the ruling by the presiding officers. 3.09pm AEST06:09 O sole mio. 3.07pm AEST06:07 Jason Clare asks Tony Abbott, the night before the election the Prime Minister said, “There would be no cuts to the ABC.” This morning Malcolm Turnbull said, “Look, we are making cuts to the ABC and SBS. That is true.” Prime Minister, who’s right, the Prime Minister or the wannabe Prime Minister? It’s more than possible for us both to be right because we are cutting the rate of growth. We are cutting the rate of growth in funding, says Abbott. 3.05pm AEST06:05 Health minister Peter Dutton was listing South Australian government copayments on medical services: $55 for emergency dental care and $150 for general dental services. 3.01pm AEST06:01 Labor’s Catherine King is thrown out under 94A. 2.59pm AEST05:59 Wayne Swan is ejected after using "liar" Treasurer Joe Hockey taunted him with his book @gabriellechan @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/IV15rNA60j 2.57pm AEST05:57 Face covering banned in parliament open galleries The presiding officers - the Speaker and the President - have made a ruling on the burqa. Those wearing facial coverings will only be allowed in enclosed galleries - which are those spaces where there is glass between the chambers and the viewers. Photographic identification is required for the issue of escorted passes for all adult visitors. Procedures are in place to ensure that DPS Security manage any cultural or religious issues relating to this in a sensitive and appropriate manner; and Persons with facial coverings entering the galleries of the House of Representatives and Senate will be seated in the enclosed galleries. This will ensure that persons with facial coverings can continue to enter the Chamber galleries, without needing to be identifiable. Updated at 5.32pm AEST 2.53pm AEST05:53 Liberal Jane Prentice asks the “erudite” minister for education Christopher Pyne a question. When the roar goes up from both sides of the house, Speaker Bishop asks her to repeat. She again asks the “erudite” education minister. Does that mean it is written into the question prepared by the very same minister? Pyne thanks Prentice and offers with a dead bat: It was hard to hear it over the enthusiastic agreement from my colleagues. 2.49pm AEST05:49 Whaddaya mean? 2.46pm AEST05:46 A government question harking back to the Coalition of old, asking for the savings associated with the removal of the carbon tax, in the Queensland seat of Hinkler. Then a Labor question conflating the cuts to pensions with Abbott’s “rolled gold” paid parental leave. 2.44pm AEST05:44 Labor asks Abbott if he is going to remove the original budget measures from the budget papers (and thus the mid year outlook). Abbott thanks Labor for supporting parts of the social security welfare changes. We’re very pleased that a skerrick of responsibility, a moment of economic literacy has penetrated into the dim minds of members opposite and they’ve supported $2.7bn (in savings). 2.40pm AEST05:40 A government question to Joe Hockey on a stronger economy. Hockey has just managed to goad former treasurer Wayne Swan into exploding. Hockey was suggesting Swan had not mentioned a budget surplus in his book The Good Fight. Speaker, that’s a lie! The Member for Lilley knows that is against the standing orderers and will withdraw, says Speaker Bishop. I will not withdraw. It’s a lie. The Member for Lilley will remove himself under 94a, says Speaker Bishop. 2.33pm AEST05:33 Justice minister Michael Keenan is outlining the government’s funding increase to security agencies and foreshadowing a meeting tomorrow of attorneys general and law enforcement agencies. Another Labor question to Abbott about the budget backdown on social security measures and cuts to veterans’ pensions. There are no cuts and the member who asked the question should not mislead the parliament like that. He should not mislead the parliament like that. 2.29pm AEST05:29 A government question on blocking finance to terrorist organisation goes to foreign minister Julie Bishop. Bishop says Australia is working through the UN security council AlQaeda sanctions committee. A Labor question goes to the prime minister on the budget backdown. Cathy McGowan asks about the railway services in Indi. Infrastructure minister Jamie Briggs mentions the fact that minister Sussan Ley was in McGowan’s electorate to announce a $1.8m package of works, which “was a terrific investment in the electorate of Indi to ensure your people get the benefit”. He mentions former member Sophie Mirabella was there. (McGowan was not invited by the government.) It would appear the Liberal party are ramping up the campaign to Mirabella back into office. 2.19pm AEST05:19 On most occasions, this place is stranger than fiction. Bowen: Why did the treasurer in Question Time yesterday say that retail trade grew at 7.4% over the past year when in fact it grew at 5.1%? Why did the Treasurer mislead the House? Was the Treasurer being sloppy or dodgy with economic data? Speaker Bishop: The member for McMahon knows the rules about irony and sarcasm, however, the question can stand and the treasurer has the call. Joe Hockey: The Labor Party that didn’t deliver a surplus in the lifetime of Wyatt Roy. The Labor Party last delivered a surplus before he was born. Before he was born! 2.16pm AEST05:16 More gratuitous grand final photos sans PM. 2.13pm AEST05:13 Jenny Macklin asks the prime minister if he will go back to the drawing board on the budget. Abbott quotes Macklin as minister saying: “We want all young Australians climbing the ladder of opportunity not languishing on unemployment benefits.” A government question to Joe Hockey on the East West link. 2.10pm AEST05:10 Apropos of my earlier post on the burqa, there was a persistent rumour that there was some sort of demonstration involving burqas out the front of parliament. It was also a furphy but Mike Bowers captured this image while waiting for something not to happen. 2.07pm AEST05:07 A question on the aforementioned East West Link. This is tag team Coalition government messages, you need to vote Coalition at a state level in Victoria and at a federal level. Victoria needs the roads of the 21st century. 2.04pm AEST05:04 Shorten to the prime minister: Australia knows the Prime Minister doesn’t keep his election promises but is this budget backdown today proof that he can’t even deliver on his lies? Speaker Bishop rules out the last part of the question. Shorten rephrases: Is this budget backdown today proof that he can’t even deliver his Budget? There has been no Budget backdown, Abbott says. 2.01pm AEST05:01 Question time now... 1.59pm AEST04:59 Look who you trip over on the way to getting a sandwich. I heard a whisper in the gallery that the prime minister’s office had invited a few photographers and camera bods down to take a picture for the upcoming grand final. Our invitation must have got lost in the email. Having conducted a special intelligence operation, I learned it involved one Anthony Albanese, who is a tragic Bunnies fan. Sadly Albo’s office could not help but the gods must have been looking after the blog because I ran into him on the way to the canteen. As a result, I can bring you a picture of Albo with his beloved scarf, but not a picture of the PM. Not sure whether there will be a jail sentence resulting from this particular disclosure. But oh well. I’ve had a good life. 1.05pm AEST04:05 Lunchtime political wrap Here is your lunchtime political sandwich, with all its tasty layers. 12.44pm AEST03:44 Back to social security bills. Labor is supporting the new social security bill number 6, which removes the relocation scholarship assistance, which the Greens senator Lee Rhiannon says amounts to $433m in cuts to student welfare. The largest component of these cuts will remove access to relocation scholarships for students whose parents live in a major city, including Wollongong, Newcastle, the Gold Coast, Geelong and the Central Coast. For many students this scholarship payment has made a difference in terms of their ability to move to university and get established. 12.26pm AEST03:26 The lower house is voting on a bill to get rid of the Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS). This is a legislated entitlement scheme that provides assistance for the production of motor vehicles and engines, and for investment in allowable research and development. It was essentially about helping the industry transition following the death of the Australian car industry. The bill cuts $500 million from the ATS capped assistance over the financial years 2014‑15 to 2017-18 and get rid of the ATS entirely on 1 January 2018. The bill passed 78-52. 12.18pm AEST03:18 Squirrel! In the interests of fairness, I should point out Bill Shorten was talking to a whole group of people, so while he appears not to be paying attention above, he was listening to someone next to him. I just can’t resist a squirrel joke. 12.09pm AEST03:09 Man of the Moment 12.00pm AEST03:00 Just playing a little catch up on the burqa debate. Do we really need to do this? Labor’s Tony Burke has called Tony Abbott’s comments yesterday “dumb and divisive”, given he is prime minister. Burke, who has the largest proportion of Muslim residents, said Abbott cannot expect to make comments as if he is just anybody. When the prime minister casts aspersions on cultural dress, it is “hurtful”, says Burke. Foreign minister Julie Bishop said she was not personally offended by clothes. Labor’s Nick Champion said Abbott’s comments played to the fringe dwellers who want to “ban halal biscuits and smear pig fat on their Saladas”. Now Kevin Andrews has shared his opinion that the burqa is demeaning and medieval. Why is this an issue? Do we need to do this right now or ever? I do agree with Abbott on this point, when he said: Could I caution people about making mountains out of molehills. Unfortunately he went on to share a rather definite opinion. Though it was on radio, you could hear the sound of tongue in cheek when Malcolm Turnbull said “one of (the PM’s) endearing qualities is he’s very open. I think what he said was fair enough...but issues about face coverings and head coverings will be dealt with in particular locations on a security basis.” Personally I don’t care what people wear. It’s a furphy. The burqa in parliament is a furphy and if people don’t stop sharing their views, egged on by media questioning, it just has the effect of further inflaming an already tense murky mess of racial/national security/religious psychobabble. 11.33am AEST02:33 The full statement from the AEC on Indi: As reported in the media recently, the AEC has been examining the enrolment details of a number of electors enrolled in the Division of Indi at the 2013 federal election. The AEC is committed to maintaining the integrity of the electoral roll and takes any allegations of potential electoral irregularities very seriously. The current allegations involve 27 electors enrolled in the Division of Indi at the time of the 7 September 2013 election. Mr Tom Rogers, acting Electoral Commissioner, last week reiterated his ongoing focus on all forms of electoral integrity. In line with this, he tasked the AEC’s Electoral Integrity Unit, established in July 2014, with examining these allegations as a matter of the highest priority. The Electoral Integrity Unit has completed its examination and Mr Rogers subsequently determined that questions remain regarding the accuracy of the information that the electors concerned provided to the AEC when they were enrolled in the Division of Indi. As a number of Commonwealth laws may have been breached, Mr Rogers has referred the allegations to the Australian Federal Police. Given these matters have now been referred to the Australian Federal Police, the AEC intends to make no further public comment. Mr Rogers reminds all Australians that maintaining up-to-date and correct details on the electoral roll is an individual responsibility. Significant penalties apply for making a false declaration on an electoral enrolment application. 11.32am AEST02:32 The Australian Electoral Commission as referred allegations about voting irregularities in independent Cathy McGowan’s Victorian seat of Indi to the Australian Federal Police. Updated at 11.32am AEST 11.25am AEST02:25 This is the full quote from social services minister, Kevin Andrews, on the burqa. I personally find the burqa rather medieval. I think it is demeaning to women, but having said that, I don’t believe we should ban it. 11.20am AEST02:20 My feed of Kev has died at the critical point. Thank god for the twits. This from photojournalist Mike Bowers. Minister Kevin Andrews "the Burqa is medieval and demeaning to women" @gabriellechan @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/WeWn0LIlvU 11.19am AEST02:19 This might flesh out some detail on exactly what the government’s plans are for under 30s. Q: If someone is freshly unemployed and goes to the Centrelink office, can they get straight on work for the dole or do they have to wait 6 months before they can get on work for the dole? Kevin Andrews: Your confusing a few things now. Firstly, the earn or learn provision is basically that if you are under 30 and you’re not in the exempt categories, and remember we’ve exempted people who can’t work fulltime. If you can’t work 30 hours or more a week you’re exempted. If you’ve got parenting responsibilities, you get the Family Tax Benefit, you’re exempted. If you’re on stream through three and 4 in the job network, you’re exempted. There’s other exemptions as well. Essentially what we’ve tried to do is narrow this down to people under 30 or outside those exemptions who are capable of working fulltime. We’re saying if you’re not working then we expect you to be doing some sort of training that will help you get a job in the future. It is only if you don’t do either of those things that these provisions start to come into play. 11.15am AEST02:15 Andrews is asked why the original bills are being kept in the system when there is no prospect of getting them through. This goes to the tricky mechanics of budget and that if the original bills, which have much bigger savings, are kept in the system, it allows the government to include the savings in the budget. Even though the bills have not passed the senate. Therefore, when it comes to the mid year budget statement, the government can book the bills as a saving - leaving the budget bottom line looking much healthier. Watch me pull a rabbit out of this hat. 11.10am AEST02:10 There is some question over where the changes for unemployed people under 30s have gone. Are they still in the mix? Andrews says he does not want to talk about what he is negotiating in the senate. We will sensibly talk to the cross benchers on any propositions they might have. 11.09am AEST02:09 Kevin Andrews says Bill Shorten’s shrill speech hid the fact that Labor was supporting $2.7bn worth of savings in the social services bill package. 11.06am AEST02:06 Kevin Andrews is speaking now, saying the government is committed to welfare measures. There is the McClure report and the Forrest report to consider. Welfare needs reform. The government will take the measures to the senate in the next sitting later this month. There are many and varied voices in the senate these days. Any government has to work out the various combinations and permutations. 10.56am AEST01:56 We are all hugs on a Thursday. 10.53am AEST01:53 I will not be lectured on racism and xenophobia by this man, I will not. 10.51am AEST01:51 Kevin Andrews is coming up at 11am in the Blue Room. Which is the ministerial press conference room, not the Blue Tie Wardrobe. 10.49am AEST01:49 Labor senator Catryna Bilyk is speaking against the private bill on 18C but let’s just recap. Abbott promised to to amend 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act before the last election as a result of the Bolt decision. Although originally planned to legislate, attorney general George Brandis was forced into a draft amendment for public discussion due to dissenters in his own party and cabinet. The AG was hit by an avalanche of opposition submissions. There was a deafening silence and then suddenly the changes were dropped when the government brought on the second tranche of the national security changes. Abbott argued it was pretty hard to negotiate with the Muslim community while trying to change laws on race. Senator Cory Bernardi, Smith and Family First senator Bob Day were keen to keep whipping the horse though, so plans were hatched to bring on a private bill. Abbott has said that government members were free to present bills but he did not think it would go any further. Bilyk’s point is that the prime minister should stamp on it, if he is not encouraging it. The debate has been adjourned. Updated at 1.00pm AEST 10.38am AEST01:38 Dean Smith was referring to Shorten’s Adelaide speech on the government’s deliberation on a submarine contract, which may be going to a Japanese company rather than an Australian company. Shorten spoke to a rally, protesting over not getting the contract. No decision has been announced yet. According to reports, Shorten fanned nationalist fervour, drawing comparisons to Japanese actions during WWII. Among Shorten’s comments: This is a government with a short memory. In the Second World War, 366 merchant ships were sunk off Australia. 10.33am AEST01:33 Dean Smith echoes Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech to rebut Bill Shorten’s claim that his bill will fan racism. I will not be lectured on racism and xenophobia by this man, I will not. Updated at 10.53am AEST 10.29am AEST01:29 Liberal senator introduces private bill to gut 18C Liberal senator Dean Smith, cosponsor of the private bill to amend RDA 18C, is speaking in the senate. He says 18C has not stopped racism. He offers the evidence that the Cronulla riots occurred 10 years after the RDA 18c was introduced. Therefore, we might as well scrap it. Hiding racism isn’t good enough. Smith wants people to air their “ugly views” to show them as they are. Updated at 1.00pm AEST 10.18am AEST01:18 Among other things, social services bill number 6 contains: Labor has committed to support this bill, according to Kevin Andrews. 10.06am AEST01:06 Social services bill no 5 is the one that: 10.00am AEST01:00 Kevin Andrews is back, saying these measures are important because the government does not want to encourage people to be on welfare. He says Labor has actually supported bill number six - on which they were speaking - “not that you would know it from their speeches”. Updated at 10.10am AEST 9.57am AEST00:57 Here is a run down on some of the details the social services bills. The Seniors Supplement Cessation bill will cease payment from 20 September 2014 (backdated) of the seniors supplement for holders of commonwealth seniors health cards or the veterans affairs gold card. Card holders will continue to get other benefits such as discounts on medicines under the pharmaceutical benefits scheme, health safety thresholds and lower fees on medical services. It cuts out the indexation for the former clean energy supplement, which was the payment to compensate for the carbon tax. Updated at 4.04pm AEST 9.51am AEST00:51 Bill Shorten is looking down the barrel of the camera, speaking straight to voters, on the “arrogant characters” opposite. They will cut your pensions, they will leave you with nothing. Jenny Macklin is up next. 9.46am AEST00:46 Shorten is warming to the task, taking the mickey out of Kevin Andrews, which does prove he is only human. He says he doesn’t know whether Andrews is a “patsy, a bunny, or a brain surgeon”. We looked the government in the face and have not blinked. Shorten says the government criticised Labor for making a deal with the Greens but then: they slip out behind the bike shed and do a dirty deal with the Greens. This is the legislation to scrap the seniors supplement. He says Greens’ voter base is often well off (like the Coalition) so don’t really understand what the effect of the change. How did I know (Tony Abbott) was going to do a deal with the Greens? He said he wouldn’t before the election. Shorten accuses the treasurer of seeing his budget as a war on pensioners. 9.37am AEST00:37 Bill Shorten is now up speaking against the welfare changes. His general point is Labor has “kept the faith” by holding out against the government’s budget measures which cut pensions. He’s going through the cuts, which he says would have cost pensioners up to $80 a week. Shorten has his “no bull” voice on, like he is holding court in the darts room. He mentions all the ordinary spending costs that pensioners would have been under threat, heating and cooling, taking the pet to the vet, buying a treat for the grand kiddies. What a cheap bunch this mob opposite are. I love this mob opposite, says Bill, they are always saluting the flag but where are they when veterans pensions are being cut? He says lifting the pension age to 70 showed they did not know what ordinary Australians were going through. What a mob of rotten twisters...the worst injury they would face is a paper cut. 9.29am AEST00:29 Help! I am trapped in a storm of Kevin Andrews’ social security bills. It is the first Kevin storm since the Ruddster left the building. Andrews is introducing a raft of bills that break up the social security omnibus bills to get through the welfare changes to which the senate has agreed. I will be working through the details but bear with me. 9.25am AEST00:25 Kevin Andrews has introduced a parliamentary entitlements bill. This is the “Peter Slipper” bill, named after the former speaker. It requires MPs who have claimed wrong entitlements to pay back 25% more - that is the whole amount plus 25% as a “fine”. It also restricts the ‘additional travel for children’ entitlement for senior officers to children under the age of 18 from where it currently stands at under the age of 25. 9.22am AEST00:22 The lower house is off to a cracking start. Immigration minister Scott Morrison has introduced a Freedom of Information amendment bill in the lower house for his mate, the attorney general George Brandis. This bill will abolish the office of the Australian information commissioner and the ombudsman will be given sole responsibility for investigation of freedom of information complaints. The commissioner, John McMillan, in February called for intelligence agencies to be subject to freedom of information laws and expressed concern about “mixed messages” on open government and transparency. It’s only about getting rid of red tape. McMillan is on the bonfire of red tape. Is there a name for that? 9.00am AEST00:00 Julian Disney, the chair of the Press Council, has spoken to Paul Farrell about the expanded powers of Australia’s intelligence agencies, just given the big tick by parliament yesterday. In an interview with Guardian Australia, the press council chief, Julian Disney, said the new laws needed an increased level of oversight because of the additional powers they were granted. “There should be some form of independently appointed public advocate who is privy to the same information as the inspector general and can put the other side of the case to what will have been put to the inspector general by the government and Asio,” he said. 8.50am AEST23:50 Good morning all, The sun is shining and it’s the last day of the sitting week. This morning we discover that the government is considering foreign aid cuts to pay for our involvement in Iraq which is estimated at half a billion dollars each year. In David Crowe’s story in the Oz, it has been characterised thus. a two-year pause in future aid increases is the leading option to cover the cost of a fight against terrorism that is aimed at saving lives. Foreign minister Julie Bishop was out early, talking about getting the legal requirements for further involvement in Iraq. Thus far, Australia has only supported the US and other nations in air strikes. When Fran Kelly asked about what appeared to be a hold up - given how early Australia put its hand up to help - Bishop mused about the unlikely circumstance of “being berated” on the ABC for not rushing to war. It’s all about the Iraq government coordinating the assistance of the 60 nations which have offered help, she said. Not to mention the change of leadership in the country. While Bishop was denying there was any foreign aid cuts on the cabinet agenda, Tony Abbott essentially left the door open to cuts. Foreign aid was slated to explosively grow under the former government. Every year the former government put off the growth. But nevertheless, it was still slated to grow explosively under the former government. We have restrained that growth, essentially to CPI in coming years. Tony Abbott flew down to Melbourne late last night, to join an early morning cheer squad for the East West Link. This is the $7bn project that is jointly funded by the state and feds and which the Victorian opposition leader Daniel Andrews is going to shut down if he wins government. The idea, from the sound of Abbott’s comments, is to reach those people sitting in their cars in peak hour this morning, listening to the radio. Abbott said the commonwealth would withdraw their contribution of $3bn if the contract was torn up. So that’s $3bn you will never get, Victoria. As flagged by Bridie Jabour yesterday, the government is expected to introduce a new version of the social security bills after the last ones got stuck in that pesky senate. This is the legislation that takes the dole away from the under 30s, among other things. It will be a new bill, without the contentious stuff, which was originally inserted in an omnibus bill to put extra pressure on the opposing senators. It did not work. Plenty more besides so follow us today, join the conversation on Twitter @gabriellechan and @mpbowers. Some wonderful pictures coming shortly from Mike. |