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| Coalition pressed on refusal to deny alleged people smuggler payments – as it happened | Coalition pressed on refusal to deny alleged people smuggler payments – as it happened |
| (30 days later) | |
| 9.09am BST | 9.09am BST |
| 09:09 | 09:09 |
| Coast appears clear, so goodnight | Coast appears clear, so goodnight |
| Checks right. Checks left. | Checks right. Checks left. |
| The coast appears clearish after a somewhat testing and testy day, so let’s wrap for now. Thank you for your company, loud and proud as it was, throughout Monday. | The coast appears clearish after a somewhat testing and testy day, so let’s wrap for now. Thank you for your company, loud and proud as it was, throughout Monday. |
| So, today, in Canberra: | So, today, in Canberra: |
| That was Monday. Let’s do it again on Tuesday. | That was Monday. Let’s do it again on Tuesday. |
| 8.40am BST | 8.40am BST |
| 08:40 | 08:40 |
| Right, thousand apologies – had to do a quick panel show with the lovely Sky folks. I’ll check the landscape and be back shortly either with an update or with our evening summary. | Right, thousand apologies – had to do a quick panel show with the lovely Sky folks. I’ll check the landscape and be back shortly either with an update or with our evening summary. |
| 7.52am BST | 7.52am BST |
| 07:52 | 07:52 |
| This is seriously how we conduct public discourse now? RT to support govt. Perhaps we should add like buttons to the Hansard. Should we honk horns too? | This is seriously how we conduct public discourse now? RT to support govt. Perhaps we should add like buttons to the Hansard. Should we honk horns too? |
| 7.47am BST | 7.47am BST |
| 07:47 | 07:47 |
| RT to support govt. | RT to support govt. |
| Does anyone believe her? ALP = 50k ppl on 821 boats & >1200 people drowned. We have stopped boats. RT to support govt pic.twitter.com/FlMV8xVVj2 | Does anyone believe her? ALP = 50k ppl on 821 boats & >1200 people drowned. We have stopped boats. RT to support govt pic.twitter.com/FlMV8xVVj2 |
| End times. | End times. |
| 7.32am BST | 7.32am BST |
| 07:32 | 07:32 |
| I’m a regular reader of political blogger the Piping Shrike, and often share the work on this blog. But I’m rather intrigued by this intervention on Twitter this afternoon. | I’m a regular reader of political blogger the Piping Shrike, and often share the work on this blog. But I’m rather intrigued by this intervention on Twitter this afternoon. |
| Labor's focus on cash for boats at #QT makes Tony look good to the backbench and keeps him in the leadership. Clever. | Labor's focus on cash for boats at #QT makes Tony look good to the backbench and keeps him in the leadership. Clever. |
| Press gallery journalists are often criticised for analysing things through the lens of race call politics. Rather than looking at events on their merits, outside the daily frame, a lot of political commentary from these corridors cops a hiding for being too inside the game, too process oriented, too wedged up its deeply dull fundamentals, not to put too fine a point on it. | Press gallery journalists are often criticised for analysing things through the lens of race call politics. Rather than looking at events on their merits, outside the daily frame, a lot of political commentary from these corridors cops a hiding for being too inside the game, too process oriented, too wedged up its deeply dull fundamentals, not to put too fine a point on it. |
| I’d place this particular observation from Piping Shrike clearly in that insider tradition. Of course fighting the government on its preferred territory (boat arrivals) isn’t great 24/7 politics. But don’t oppositions have to hold governments accountable? Isn’t that a core part of the job in a functioning democracy? | I’d place this particular observation from Piping Shrike clearly in that insider tradition. Of course fighting the government on its preferred territory (boat arrivals) isn’t great 24/7 politics. But don’t oppositions have to hold governments accountable? Isn’t that a core part of the job in a functioning democracy? |
| Legal experts say paying people smugglers potentially breaches both domestic and international law. This is a very serious issue, as the government’s body language today made amply clear. Labor is supposed to just ignore that because it doesn’t feed the daily beast? | Legal experts say paying people smugglers potentially breaches both domestic and international law. This is a very serious issue, as the government’s body language today made amply clear. Labor is supposed to just ignore that because it doesn’t feed the daily beast? |
| Like, seriously? | Like, seriously? |
| 7.16am BST | 7.16am BST |
| 07:16 | 07:16 |
| Labor’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek is on Sky now, picking up from question time. | Labor’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek is on Sky now, picking up from question time. |
| Political editor David Speers is also picking up after question time. He’s trying to ascertain Plibersek’s view on boat turnbacks. The Labor conference will debate this issue. I’ve reported previously that Labor left figures are pushing the federal leadership to explicitly prohibit turning asylum boats back to Indonesia or elsewhere in the lead-up to Labor’s national conference in July. Peter Dutton picked up on this during question time today. | Political editor David Speers is also picking up after question time. He’s trying to ascertain Plibersek’s view on boat turnbacks. The Labor conference will debate this issue. I’ve reported previously that Labor left figures are pushing the federal leadership to explicitly prohibit turning asylum boats back to Indonesia or elsewhere in the lead-up to Labor’s national conference in July. Peter Dutton picked up on this during question time today. |
| Plibersek point blank refuses to give a straight answer about her own view about whether turnbacks should be prohibited in the platform. | Plibersek point blank refuses to give a straight answer about her own view about whether turnbacks should be prohibited in the platform. |
| I’m sure there will be debate at our national conference. | I’m sure there will be debate at our national conference. |
| She’s similarly evasive on whether or not she’ll lead debate on a binding vote for same sex marriage. Plibersek says she expects the binding vote will come up at conference, and she still supports it. But she steps around the question of whether she’ll lead the debate. | She’s similarly evasive on whether or not she’ll lead debate on a binding vote for same sex marriage. Plibersek says she expects the binding vote will come up at conference, and she still supports it. But she steps around the question of whether she’ll lead the debate. |
| 6.55am BST | 6.55am BST |
| 06:55 | 06:55 |
| Crikey’s Bernard Keane has written some analysis on the legalities of paying people smugglers also. Crikey subscribers can find him here. Here’s a taste. | Crikey’s Bernard Keane has written some analysis on the legalities of paying people smugglers also. Crikey subscribers can find him here. Here’s a taste. |
| If Australian officials have bribed people smugglers, they may have breached criminal law, including laws against the funding of terrorism, and have almost certainly breached the law relating to Australian Public Service conduct. | If Australian officials have bribed people smugglers, they may have breached criminal law, including laws against the funding of terrorism, and have almost certainly breached the law relating to Australian Public Service conduct. |
| Providing support to people smugglers is an offence under both the Commonwealth Criminal Code and the Migration Act. Section 73.3.A of the Criminal Code, for example, makes it an offence to provide material support or resources to another person or an organisation to engage in conduct constituting the offence of people smuggling. That applies to activities by Australian citizens completely or partly outside Australia, and the penalty is 10 years’ jail. | Providing support to people smugglers is an offence under both the Commonwealth Criminal Code and the Migration Act. Section 73.3.A of the Criminal Code, for example, makes it an offence to provide material support or resources to another person or an organisation to engage in conduct constituting the offence of people smuggling. That applies to activities by Australian citizens completely or partly outside Australia, and the penalty is 10 years’ jail. |
| However, the attorney-general must approve any prosecution — although “a person may be arrested, charged, remanded in custody or released on bail in connection with an offence against this Subdivision before the necessary consent has been given”. | However, the attorney-general must approve any prosecution — although “a person may be arrested, charged, remanded in custody or released on bail in connection with an offence against this Subdivision before the necessary consent has been given”. |
| 6.44am BST | 6.44am BST |
| 06:44 | 06:44 |
| Unlawful, but who controls the investigation? | Unlawful, but who controls the investigation? |
| Just in case it isn’t obvious, the censure failed given the government has the numbers in the House. | Just in case it isn’t obvious, the censure failed given the government has the numbers in the House. |
| While I’ve been documenting fire and brimstone, my colleague Lenore Taylor has been chasing up expert legal views on paying people smugglers. | While I’ve been documenting fire and brimstone, my colleague Lenore Taylor has been chasing up expert legal views on paying people smugglers. |
| Here’s what she’s gleaned: | Here’s what she’s gleaned: |
| Any Australian officials paying people smugglers to take asylum seekers back to Indonesia may have broken Australian laws carrying potential jail terms of up to 20 years and contravened international law, judicial experts say. | Any Australian officials paying people smugglers to take asylum seekers back to Indonesia may have broken Australian laws carrying potential jail terms of up to 20 years and contravened international law, judicial experts say. |
| But any domestic investigation of legal breaches would have to be authorised by the government, which is stonewalling all discussion of the explosive claims, refusing to confirm or deny allegations that $30,000 was paid to six people smugglers to return asylum seekers to Indonesia in May. | But any domestic investigation of legal breaches would have to be authorised by the government, which is stonewalling all discussion of the explosive claims, refusing to confirm or deny allegations that $30,000 was paid to six people smugglers to return asylum seekers to Indonesia in May. |
| Phillip Boulten SC, a leading Sydney barrister, and Nicholas Cowdery, a former director of public prosecutions in New South Wales, told Guardian Australia that an Australian paying people smugglers would likely be in breach of the provisions of the Criminal Code outlawing people smuggling, or assisting people-smuggling. | Phillip Boulten SC, a leading Sydney barrister, and Nicholas Cowdery, a former director of public prosecutions in New South Wales, told Guardian Australia that an Australian paying people smugglers would likely be in breach of the provisions of the Criminal Code outlawing people smuggling, or assisting people-smuggling. |
| But both pointed to the fact that the government itself would have to initiate and investigate any charges. | But both pointed to the fact that the government itself would have to initiate and investigate any charges. |
| “On the face of it someone who pays thousands of dollars to an Indonesian mariner to take refugees back to Indonesia so as to breach Indonesian laws of entry may be breaching the Criminal Code,” Boulten said – including section 73(1), which makes people smuggling an offence, 73(3) dealing with aggravated people smuggling or 73.3A (supporting the offence of people smuggling). | “On the face of it someone who pays thousands of dollars to an Indonesian mariner to take refugees back to Indonesia so as to breach Indonesian laws of entry may be breaching the Criminal Code,” Boulten said – including section 73(1), which makes people smuggling an offence, 73(3) dealing with aggravated people smuggling or 73.3A (supporting the offence of people smuggling). |
| But no such prosecution could be undertaken without the consent of the attorney general, George Brandis, Boulten said, and it could be possible for any person who paid smugglers to use as a defence the fact that they were acting to uphold a separate Australian law. | But no such prosecution could be undertaken without the consent of the attorney general, George Brandis, Boulten said, and it could be possible for any person who paid smugglers to use as a defence the fact that they were acting to uphold a separate Australian law. |
| 6.23am BST | 6.23am BST |
| 06:23 | 06:23 |
| That suspension debate in four images from the clever Mikearoo. | That suspension debate in four images from the clever Mikearoo. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 7.35am BST | at 7.35am BST |
| 6.15am BST | 6.15am BST |
| 06:15 | 06:15 |
| Shalailah Medhora | Shalailah Medhora |
| Meanwhile, over in Senate, the attorney general George Brandis has been running the line that the government has broken no laws in enacting its border protection measures. | Meanwhile, over in Senate, the attorney general George Brandis has been running the line that the government has broken no laws in enacting its border protection measures. |
| At all times, Australia has acted within the law. | At all times, Australia has acted within the law. |
| 6.12am BST | 6.12am BST |
| 06:12 | 06:12 |
| The immigration minister is going back over Labor’s record in government. All those boats. All those arrivals. | The immigration minister is going back over Labor’s record in government. All those boats. All those arrivals. |
| Peter Dutton: | Peter Dutton: |
| All of this confected outrage today demonstrates that these people opposite, that these people opposite have no capacity to have the guts to stop the people smugglers again. Let me tell you, the people smugglers are lurking in the shadows in Indonesia, across south-east Asia, in the Middle East otherwise waiting, hoping, praying that Bill Shorten will be elected prime minister at the next election. | All of this confected outrage today demonstrates that these people opposite, that these people opposite have no capacity to have the guts to stop the people smugglers again. Let me tell you, the people smugglers are lurking in the shadows in Indonesia, across south-east Asia, in the Middle East otherwise waiting, hoping, praying that Bill Shorten will be elected prime minister at the next election. |
| (Not exactly lurking, if we are to believe the payment allegations. But we digress.) | (Not exactly lurking, if we are to believe the payment allegations. But we digress.) |
| People across the suburbs as we move around the country, people stop us and say Bill Shorten has no capacity when it comes to stopping the boats. All Australians know that. He didn’t have the ticker when he sat around the cabinet table in the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years. He doesn’t have the ticker now to stand up to the left. | People across the suburbs as we move around the country, people stop us and say Bill Shorten has no capacity when it comes to stopping the boats. All Australians know that. He didn’t have the ticker when he sat around the cabinet table in the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years. He doesn’t have the ticker now to stand up to the left. |
| Dutton says Shorten is facing a key test at the looming national ALP conference. Can he stand up to a push from the left to prohibit turnbacks? If he can’t win that fight, he’s failed, Dutton says. | Dutton says Shorten is facing a key test at the looming national ALP conference. Can he stand up to a push from the left to prohibit turnbacks? If he can’t win that fight, he’s failed, Dutton says. |
| Ring the bells. | Ring the bells. |
| 6.05am BST | 6.05am BST |
| 06:05 | 06:05 |
| Whatever it takes, within the law | Whatever it takes, within the law |
| Peter Dutton: | Peter Dutton: |
| We have said on this side that under Operation Sovereign Borders we will act within the law, we will meet our international obligations, but in that context, we will do what it takes to keep these people smugglers out of business, and we stand by that statement. | We have said on this side that under Operation Sovereign Borders we will act within the law, we will meet our international obligations, but in that context, we will do what it takes to keep these people smugglers out of business, and we stand by that statement. |
| Absolutely stand by it. | Absolutely stand by it. |
| All of the people in the command structure in Operation Sovereign Borders ... we will do whatever it takes, within the law, to meet our international obligations to stop the people smugglers. | All of the people in the command structure in Operation Sovereign Borders ... we will do whatever it takes, within the law, to meet our international obligations to stop the people smugglers. |
| 6.02am BST | 6.02am BST |
| 06:02 | 06:02 |
| Dutton: here's a clear statement – we stopped the boats | Dutton: here's a clear statement – we stopped the boats |
| Immigration minister Peter Dutton. | Immigration minister Peter Dutton. |
| The previous member asked for a clear statement. Here is a clear statement. We stopped the boats. We stopped the boats and they will stay stopped under this government. | The previous member asked for a clear statement. Here is a clear statement. We stopped the boats. We stopped the boats and they will stay stopped under this government. |
| 6.01am BST | 6.01am BST |
| 06:01 | 06:01 |
| Shadow immigration minister, Richard Marles, seconding the motion. | Shadow immigration minister, Richard Marles, seconding the motion. |
| Last Tuesday, we had a remarkable allegation surface, that Australian officials had paid people smugglers to take people back to Indonesia. In this area of policy, there are often some pretty amazing claims that are made out there. We tend to take them with a grain of salt and the idea that our government would be paying people smugglers to take people back to Indonesia certainly ranked amongst those proposals which would seem to be utterly outlandish. | Last Tuesday, we had a remarkable allegation surface, that Australian officials had paid people smugglers to take people back to Indonesia. In this area of policy, there are often some pretty amazing claims that are made out there. We tend to take them with a grain of salt and the idea that our government would be paying people smugglers to take people back to Indonesia certainly ranked amongst those proposals which would seem to be utterly outlandish. |
| Not surprisingly, when the question is put to the immigration minister, he answers no. Never happened. Nothing to see here. When the proposition is put to the foreign minister, she reiterates it “No, it never happened, nothing to see here”. I have to say, personally, I heard what they (the ministers) said and I thought that is obviously got to be right because which Australian government would pay people smugglers who turn up next to an Australian navy vessel and send them back to – pay them to take people back to Indonesia? | Not surprisingly, when the question is put to the immigration minister, he answers no. Never happened. Nothing to see here. When the proposition is put to the foreign minister, she reiterates it “No, it never happened, nothing to see here”. I have to say, personally, I heard what they (the ministers) said and I thought that is obviously got to be right because which Australian government would pay people smugglers who turn up next to an Australian navy vessel and send them back to – pay them to take people back to Indonesia? |
| But then, we see an absolutely astounding interview conducted by the prime minister with Neil Mitchell on Friday, where when these allegations were put to the PM, rather than repeating the flat denial, what we hear is obfuscation, we hear an attempt to avoid the question and then this fantastic line which sums up everything that this government is about: “By hook or by crook, we will do what we intend to do”. | But then, we see an absolutely astounding interview conducted by the prime minister with Neil Mitchell on Friday, where when these allegations were put to the PM, rather than repeating the flat denial, what we hear is obfuscation, we hear an attempt to avoid the question and then this fantastic line which sums up everything that this government is about: “By hook or by crook, we will do what we intend to do”. |
| This is the government of the cheap fix, this is the government that goes down the quickest avenue it can. This is the government that doesn’t have enduring solutions. Why on earth would they – would he make a comment like that? | This is the government of the cheap fix, this is the government that goes down the quickest avenue it can. This is the government that doesn’t have enduring solutions. Why on earth would they – would he make a comment like that? |
| We obviously expected that later that day, he would clean up those comments, he would do his press conference and he would assure the Australian people that no, it ain’t so, there is no way that an Australian government would have paid people smugglers to take people back to Indonesia. But, instead, he confirms it all and so where does that leave us? | We obviously expected that later that day, he would clean up those comments, he would do his press conference and he would assure the Australian people that no, it ain’t so, there is no way that an Australian government would have paid people smugglers to take people back to Indonesia. But, instead, he confirms it all and so where does that leave us? |
| That leaves us with the prime minister inviting the Australian people to absolutely accept the proposition that that is exactly what happened. | That leaves us with the prime minister inviting the Australian people to absolutely accept the proposition that that is exactly what happened. |
| That the Australian government has paid wads of cash to people smugglers who turn up next to an Australian navy vessel. | That the Australian government has paid wads of cash to people smugglers who turn up next to an Australian navy vessel. |
| 5.56am BST | 5.56am BST |
| 05:56 | 05:56 |
| This censure is ostensibly on “chaos” – chaos in the government. | This censure is ostensibly on “chaos” – chaos in the government. |
| Tony Burke: | Tony Burke: |
| Australian taxpayers have a right to know where their money is spent. Australian taxpayers have a right to know, in particular, if their money is going to the most vile trade that both sides of this chamber have made the strongest comments against. | Australian taxpayers have a right to know where their money is spent. Australian taxpayers have a right to know, in particular, if their money is going to the most vile trade that both sides of this chamber have made the strongest comments against. |
| We have a situation where we have no choice, no choice but to set aside the ordinary debate of parliament because this is not simply some mistake someone might have made at a media conference, this is something that this prime minister has claimed is an absolute cornerstone of his prime ministership and yet he won’t let people know if he has done exactly what he used to rail against. | We have a situation where we have no choice, no choice but to set aside the ordinary debate of parliament because this is not simply some mistake someone might have made at a media conference, this is something that this prime minister has claimed is an absolute cornerstone of his prime ministership and yet he won’t let people know if he has done exactly what he used to rail against. |
| He has said ‘If you pay a people smuggler, that is doing the wrong thing, not the right thing and we shouldn’t encourage it.’ I have got to say, $US 30,000, that would count as an encouragement. | He has said ‘If you pay a people smuggler, that is doing the wrong thing, not the right thing and we shouldn’t encourage it.’ I have got to say, $US 30,000, that would count as an encouragement. |
| If they are serious at all when they talk about the drownings argument being something significant, you don’t pay people to keep them on a leaky boat. | If they are serious at all when they talk about the drownings argument being something significant, you don’t pay people to keep them on a leaky boat. |
| This parliament has to be able to have a situation where we can ask a question and get something approaching an answer because let’s not forget, these are hardly questions of difficult detail. We asked the immigration minister ‘Do you agree with yourself?’ and he didn’t know how to answer. We asked the foreign minister ‘foreign minister, do you agree with yourself’ and she said ‘I must not answer that.’ | This parliament has to be able to have a situation where we can ask a question and get something approaching an answer because let’s not forget, these are hardly questions of difficult detail. We asked the immigration minister ‘Do you agree with yourself?’ and he didn’t know how to answer. We asked the foreign minister ‘foreign minister, do you agree with yourself’ and she said ‘I must not answer that.’ |
| What we have across there is a government that is in absolute chaos. They have leaks from their National Security Committee. We now have leaks from their own Question Time appearing online today. We now have a situation where they can’t hold the line even within the ranks of their own National Security Committee. | What we have across there is a government that is in absolute chaos. They have leaks from their National Security Committee. We now have leaks from their own Question Time appearing online today. We now have a situation where they can’t hold the line even within the ranks of their own National Security Committee. |
| The prime minister won’t be able to respond to this resolution with a three-word slogan but it could do with a one word answer, a one word answer will settle this. | The prime minister won’t be able to respond to this resolution with a three-word slogan but it could do with a one word answer, a one word answer will settle this. |
| A one word answer that Australian taxpayers have a right to know. | A one word answer that Australian taxpayers have a right to know. |
| 5.46am BST | 5.46am BST |
| 05:46 | 05:46 |
| Labor censures the prime minister for chaos in his government | Labor censures the prime minister for chaos in his government |
| Here’s the manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, with the censure motion. | Here’s the manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, with the censure motion. |
| We have no choice but to suspend standing orders when we have a situation where that man (Tony Abbott) is physically incapable of answering a question. | We have no choice but to suspend standing orders when we have a situation where that man (Tony Abbott) is physically incapable of answering a question. |
| Physically incapable of answering a question. | Physically incapable of answering a question. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 6.02am BST | at 6.02am BST |