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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Bronwyn Bishop suggests Gillian Triggs resign and run for office – politics live | Bronwyn Bishop suggests Gillian Triggs resign and run for office – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 9.32am AEST00:32 | |
| Another reader has pointed me to a story from Fairfax Media’s David Wroe and Sarah Whyte, which I missed in the early morning flurry. | |
| Cash payments have been made to members of Indonesian people-smuggling rings by Australian intelligence officials for at least the past four years – including under the former Labor government, Fairfax Media has learnt. Multiple sources have said that such payments have been part of successive governments’ tactics, though not always as part of boat turnbacks, which were not used by the previous government. | |
| Doesn’t matter to me who made the payments – which stripe of government I mean – the first principles question remains the same. Was the activity within the law? | |
| 9.25am AEST00:25 | |
| On the lawfulness question, Tim Bell, via Twitter. | |
| @murpharoo I've been told that ASIS has power to break the law under some circumstances. What would those be, and who has to authorise it? | |
| Tim is quite correct to say ASIS has wide ranging powers, including immunity if the act is done in the proper performance of a function of the agency. | |
| But right now, I don’t know if the Australian government through its officials made a payment to people smugglers; I don’t know who made the alleged payment, whether it was ASIS or Defence or Customs; I don’t know whether it was properly authorised – lots of questions. Lots of questions. | |
| 9.03am AEST00:03 | |
| Let's try and stick to the actual question | |
| Back to boats, and sticking with The Australian, Cameron Stewart and Rowan Callick have a story which provides some useful context to the current controversy about the Australian government reportedly paying people smugglers to return asylum seekers to Indonesia. The story outlines in general terms operations by police and Australian intelligence agencies in Indonesia over many years to disrupt people smuggling networks. Someone let it be known to the Daily Telegraph yesterday that ASIS could have been behind the current payment to people smugglers to return the asylum seekers. The inference this morning is this is all business as usual. Both sides of politics do this sort of stuff, stop the inquisition. | |
| Well, maybe it is business as usual, maybe it isn’t. But I’d encourage Politics Live readers to keep a clear head on this issue. The question about this specific incident – paying people smugglers to transport asylum seekers – is quite clear: was this activity lawful? | |
| Whether you support the government’s asylum policy, or whether you don’t, or whether you don’t care either way, the accountability question remains simple. Is our government acting within the law? | |
| Because I’m dead certain every active citizen in a liberal democracy wants to know the government acts within the law. | |
| We are in all sorts of bother if we start to assume ends justify means. | |
| 8.42am AEST23:42 | 8.42am AEST23:42 |
| I’ll come back to boats directly but we do need to transact this morning’s Newspoll. (Do we call this the Galaxy poll now? I’m not sure.) | I’ll come back to boats directly but we do need to transact this morning’s Newspoll. (Do we call this the Galaxy poll now? I’m not sure.) |
| The fortnightly survey published by The Australian this morning has Labor ahead of the government on the two party preferred measure 51% to the Coalition’s 49%. The satisfaction ratings suggest the public has had about a gutful of major party politics right at the moment. The Labor leader Bill Shorten has a satisfaction rating of 28% – which The Australian reports as a “record low”. Tony Abbott’s satisfaction rating also fell four points since the last survey to 34%. The Newspoll has the Greens on 14%. | The fortnightly survey published by The Australian this morning has Labor ahead of the government on the two party preferred measure 51% to the Coalition’s 49%. The satisfaction ratings suggest the public has had about a gutful of major party politics right at the moment. The Labor leader Bill Shorten has a satisfaction rating of 28% – which The Australian reports as a “record low”. Tony Abbott’s satisfaction rating also fell four points since the last survey to 34%. The Newspoll has the Greens on 14%. |
| As my daughter would say, that feedback to the major parties from the voters amounts to mergh. | As my daughter would say, that feedback to the major parties from the voters amounts to mergh. |
| 8.27am AEST23:27 | 8.27am AEST23:27 |
| Key formulations of the moment, ICYM (them) | Key formulations of the moment, ICYM (them) |
| I mentioned in the first post the prime minister has squeezed in an off campus visit to a business in Fyshwick. I suspect the prime minister would like more focus on the budget – the good bits anyway. But most of the questions this morning concerned payments to people smugglers to take asylum seekers back to Indonesia: did the Australian government do this? Was it legal? Why won’t the government give a straight answer to the question? | I mentioned in the first post the prime minister has squeezed in an off campus visit to a business in Fyshwick. I suspect the prime minister would like more focus on the budget – the good bits anyway. But most of the questions this morning concerned payments to people smugglers to take asylum seekers back to Indonesia: did the Australian government do this? Was it legal? Why won’t the government give a straight answer to the question? |
| Tony Abbott just deployed his standard formulation(s) in relation to these questions, which are, variously: | Tony Abbott just deployed his standard formulation(s) in relation to these questions, which are, variously: |
| The prime minister was also asked about the government’s relationship with Indonesia given the escalating war of words. (The Australian foreign minister has sent up a red flare, giving Jakarta some free advice about managing its borders. Overnight Indonesia’s vice-president has said that if Australia “bribed” people smugglers to turn back, it could be considered a party to trafficking.) | The prime minister was also asked about the government’s relationship with Indonesia given the escalating war of words. (The Australian foreign minister has sent up a red flare, giving Jakarta some free advice about managing its borders. Overnight Indonesia’s vice-president has said that if Australia “bribed” people smugglers to turn back, it could be considered a party to trafficking.) |
| The prime minister then said something odd in response to the question. The prime minister noted there were many media outlets more interested in promoting discord than in celebrating all the constructive things that happen between our two countries. | The prime minister then said something odd in response to the question. The prime minister noted there were many media outlets more interested in promoting discord than in celebrating all the constructive things that happen between our two countries. |
| (I thought the discord was being perpetrated by ministers in Canberra and Indonesia and reported by news outlets, rather than news outlets promoting discord. I hope the prime minister didn’t mean The Australian’s interview with the foreign minister Julie Bishop yesterday in which she advised Jakarta to close the border. That wouldn’t be friendly.) | (I thought the discord was being perpetrated by ministers in Canberra and Indonesia and reported by news outlets, rather than news outlets promoting discord. I hope the prime minister didn’t mean The Australian’s interview with the foreign minister Julie Bishop yesterday in which she advised Jakarta to close the border. That wouldn’t be friendly.) |
| Updated at 8.29am AEST | Updated at 8.29am AEST |
| 8.02am AEST23:02 | 8.02am AEST23:02 |
| Good morning and welcome to Tuesday in Canberra. The forecast today is rain, with rising bluster. | Good morning and welcome to Tuesday in Canberra. The forecast today is rain, with rising bluster. |
| We have several strong news lines in politics this morning (and the prime minister has already been out to inspect a small business in Fyshwick) but we’ll start with the wash-up from last night’s Q&A program last night, where Madam Speaker Bronwyn Bishop advised the president of the Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, to get a (political) job. | We have several strong news lines in politics this morning (and the prime minister has already been out to inspect a small business in Fyshwick) but we’ll start with the wash-up from last night’s Q&A program last night, where Madam Speaker Bronwyn Bishop advised the president of the Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, to get a (political) job. |
| Bronwyn Bishop, to Triggs: | Bronwyn Bishop, to Triggs: |
| You have to make the decision: are you a statutory officer, carrying out an obligation with the protection of that office, or do you wish to be a political participant? | You have to make the decision: are you a statutory officer, carrying out an obligation with the protection of that office, or do you wish to be a political participant? |
| If you do wish to be a political participant, then you have to be no longer a statutory officer and stand for office. | If you do wish to be a political participant, then you have to be no longer a statutory officer and stand for office. |
| There have been so many right left hook combinations landed on Triggs by various government people over the past few months that being told on national television to seek alternative employment seemed more of the same than anything extraordinary, even though it was, of course, extraordinary. | There have been so many right left hook combinations landed on Triggs by various government people over the past few months that being told on national television to seek alternative employment seemed more of the same than anything extraordinary, even though it was, of course, extraordinary. |
| The thematic territory of ‘get a job’ is always somewhat fraught for politicians, as it was for Paul Keating in 1995 .. | The thematic territory of ‘get a job’ is always somewhat fraught for politicians, as it was for Paul Keating in 1995 .. |
| .. and for Joe Hockey recently when he entered the housing affordability debate. | .. and for Joe Hockey recently when he entered the housing affordability debate. |
| And so it was for Madam Speaker last night on social media, where a bunch of wags lined up to note that a Speaker routinely criticised for excessive partisanship was in no position to lecture others on being partisan. | And so it was for Madam Speaker last night on social media, where a bunch of wags lined up to note that a Speaker routinely criticised for excessive partisanship was in no position to lecture others on being partisan. |
| The speaker of the parliament is a statutory role too, and has a fairly politicised incumbent just at the moment. #qanda | The speaker of the parliament is a statutory role too, and has a fairly politicised incumbent just at the moment. #qanda |
| Perhaps the most partisan Speaker in memory lectures the Human Rights Commissioner on becoming a political figure. #auspol #qanda | Perhaps the most partisan Speaker in memory lectures the Human Rights Commissioner on becoming a political figure. #auspol #qanda |
| Anyway, apart from the free advice from Madam Speaker, who at times appeared to be presiding over the program, (except, unusually, everyone managed to remain at the table rather than being booted under 94A) – or perhaps, because of the free advice, Q&A last night was what it too rarely is, a fine and informative program. If you were watching Game of Thrones, or Tiny House Hunt, or smashing your favourite box set instead, my colleague Daniel Hurst can bring you up to speed with this news story. | Anyway, apart from the free advice from Madam Speaker, who at times appeared to be presiding over the program, (except, unusually, everyone managed to remain at the table rather than being booted under 94A) – or perhaps, because of the free advice, Q&A last night was what it too rarely is, a fine and informative program. If you were watching Game of Thrones, or Tiny House Hunt, or smashing your favourite box set instead, my colleague Daniel Hurst can bring you up to speed with this news story. |
| Much more to get across so let’s get cracking. You get cracking too. The thread is open for business, and you can find us on the Twits @murpharoo and Mikearoo’s @mpbowers | Much more to get across so let’s get cracking. You get cracking too. The thread is open for business, and you can find us on the Twits @murpharoo and Mikearoo’s @mpbowers |
| Buckle up. Here comes Tuesday. | Buckle up. Here comes Tuesday. |