Australia politics live: Ted O’Brien leads procession of Coalition MPs ejected from chamber in final question time of the year | Australia news
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Like David Shoebridge in the Senate, independent Monique Ryan is asking home affairs minister, Tony Burke, why the signed a $2.5bn deal with Nauru when “allegations of corruption have been made against multiple members of the Nauru government and it’s been…
Key events
Like David Shoebridge in the Senate, independent Monique Ryan is asking home affairs minister, Tony Burke, why the signed a $2.5bn deal with Nauru when “allegations of corruption have been made against multiple members of the Nauru government and it’s been reported that Australian bikie gangs have won contracts to manage security on Nauru.”
Is it your position that the opaqueness, wastefulness and cruelty of these arrangements reflects well on this country?
Burke says that he trusts the Nauruan government is dealing appropriately with the issue.
When I last met with the president of Nauru, who I have dealt with since 2013 when I was previously immigration minister, the various allegations were taken seriously by him and I trust that the government of Nauru is dealing with that.
He then defends Australia’s offshore detention regime, and says that the people in question who have been sent to Nauru have been committed “serious crimes”.
When they have their visa cancelled it has to have meaning. If we can’t return them to their country of origin them I am grateful that the government of Nauru has given us a pathway for the third country resettlement arrangements.
Watch: Barnaby Joyce announces he is quitting Nationals
If you missed the big news earlier – or wanted to see the whole 90 second speech – here was Barnaby Joyce announcing he is leaving the Nationals, just before question time.
‘If you can’t support free electricity, what can you support?’
Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan gets a crack at Chris Bowen next, and says that despite Bowen describing himself as “focused like a laser” on energy bills, Australians still don’t have their promised $275 energy bill reduction.
Bowen agrees that “energy bills are too high”.
He then takes aim at the Coalition for criticising the government’s energy bill rebates and opposing the “solar sharer” program that would give households around three hours of free electricity during the day.
You have to be pretty negative to oppose free electricity in the middle of the day but they find a way. They of oppose the right to Australians having free electricity. That’s how negative those opposite have become … We get it, we know it’s tough but at least find something you can support – if you can’t support free electricity what can you support?
Penny Wong asked about $2.5bn Nauru resettlement deal amid corruption allegations
Sarah Basford Canales
Over in Senate question time, the Greens senator David Shoebridge is asking the federal government why it signed a $2.5bn deal with Nauru after its financial intelligence agency warned them of money laundering and corruption allegations against some of its senior politicians three years earlier, including its current president.
The allegations against Nauru’s president, David Adeang, former president, Lionel Aingiema, and other politically connected figures were contained within a classified Austrac report and aired in parliament earlier this week.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the agreement was negotiated by the home affairs minister and his department – not within her portfolio – but added:
We have zero tolerance for corruption, but unlike you, senator, I will not comment on the contents or nature of classified Austrade reporting.
Shoebridge attempts to ask again but doesn’t get much further. Wong explains the Albanese government understands taxpayer expectations and public funds are used in line with that.
Bowen asked about energy prices
Nationals MP Jamie Chaffey puts the heat back on to Bowen, asking if the “minister who works part-time” will apologise to Australians for not meeting Labor’s promised $275 reduction in energy bills.
Bowen reads a bunch of figures off a page, comparing wholesale energy costs between May 2022 and now – and takes aim at former energy minister Angus Taylor for hiding energy costs before the 2022 election.
And the wholesale price of electricity in New South Wales in May 2022 was $320 a megawatt hour. For this quarter it is $90 a megawatt hour.
5.7 gigawatts of renewables, 1GW of large scale storage and 1GW of firming gas has been added in New South Wales since May 2022, a further 5.4GW of renewables and 1.2GW of storage in NSW have been selected under our capacity investment scheme. That’s delivering. That’s what delivery looks like for the people of NSW.
Chaffey tries to make a point of order on relevance but Milton Dick isn’t having it and says Bowen was directly answering the question which was about price.
Pat Conaghan is booted from the chamber
OMG, it’s our third ejection of this QT!
Liberal MP Jason Wood asks the next question – asking Chris Bowen what he says to the 200,000 families struggling to pay for their power bills.
As Bowen starts his answer, Nationals MP Pat Conaghan (who was already on a warning by Milton Dick) keeps interjecting and joins Andrew Wallace and Ted O’Brien outside the house. Dick tells everyone to “show some restraint” – he’s not feeling very generous today.
Bowen says the previous government had no plans for the ageing coal-fired power stations that had announced they were scheduled to close – and plugs the capacity investment scheme (which backs renewables projects) and the home battery program the government has implemented.
Andrew Wallace is booted from the chamber
Over to the crossbench, Dai Le asks the home affairs minister if he was at the airport when the Australian women and children who escaped a Syrian detention camp arrived back in Australia.
He says a very quick “No”.
As Labor MP Joanne Ryan asks the next dixer, we have our second ejection from the chamber – it’s the shadow attorney general, Andrew Wallace. Milton Dick says, “absolute red line – members have got to be able to ask questions in silence with respect to the parliament.”
We’re only 20 minutes in, folks!
Ted O’Brien is booted from the chamber
We’re just 14 minutes into QT and we’ve had our first ejection!
The shadow treasurer, Ted O’Brien, steps up to the dispatch box next to test the PM, asking Anthony Albanese what he would say to mortgage holders who are “paying $1800 more in interest … than under the Coalition?”
Albanese goes immediately to the Coalition’s nuclear plan at the last election which Labor claimed would cost $600bn, and then blames Covid for “flattening” the Australian economy and economies worldwide.
Meanwhile O’Brien and Jim Chalmers are having their own back and forth – before Milton Dick tells them to go have that conversation outside.
O’Brien stands up and gestures to Chalmers, and puts his hands up in a fighting position, while laughing.
After that Dick tells him to get out.
Albanese spends the rest of his answer time plugging Labor’s support for Medicare and cuts to Hecs debt.
Albanese confirms EPBC reforms will pass parliament today
With the guillotine in place in the Senate, the environment laws will pass this afternoon. It means the amended legislation can come straight back to the house today – and members won’t have to sit for an extra hour tomorrow morning.
Anthony Albanese says:
We said we would deliver this legislation this year, and we have today in the Senate – will pass this legislation through the Senate. We’ll receive it back here this afternoon and get this reform done.
Final question time of 2025 begins
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, takes the call first, and asks the prime minister on whether he will admit that he “misled the Australian public” on the promise to reduce energy bills by $275 by 2025.
The Coalition all hold up posters – some with the $275 figure crossed out, others are holding pieces of paper with a picture of Albanese’s face and “broken promise” written below.
Needless to say, Milton Dick isn’t a great fan of the stunt.
To perhaps no one’s surprise, the PM takes the opportunity to hit back on Barnaby Joyce’s defection.
The person who was deputy prime minister when they committed to net zero, is outside doing a press conference reporting his defection from the National party. But of course, they’ve come a long way since those golden days of caring about energy policy and the environment under Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce.
This isn’t the first time the Nats have set the policy agenda and the Liberals have followed.
Joyce says he is ‘strongly considering’ One Nation move after quitting Nationals
Barnaby Joyce has run straight out of the house and is doing a snap press conference in a parliamentary courtyard.
The newly independent New England MP says he has not made a decision on whether he will defect to One Nation, but says he’s “strongly considering it”.
He confirms again that he will not recontest the seat of New England.
He says that in any relationship, when it breaks down “you’ve just got to get to a point where you either live in sort of bitter recrimination … or you get out of it”.
Thirty years in the National party – it’s certainly not a decision I took lightly. It’s not as if I fell over the first hurdle. I’ve been, you know, been trying to work a way through this for a long period of time, say, a couple of years … There seemed no real resolution to the breakdown in the relationship, and therefore the smartest thing to do is move on.
Joyce says he was previously asked to leave twice by former Coalition leader Peter Dutton, but not by Sussan Ley.
Barnaby Joyce quits Nationals after 30 years
Speaking in the house during his 90 second statement (but we’re sure there’ll be more to come), Barnaby Joyce has formally announced he’ll be leaving the National party.
He starts, quipping, “If you’re sitting here you’re in the ejection seat”.
He’s already confirmed he won’t be running with the Nationals for his seat of New England at the next election. He tells the House:
I’ve had no communication with either the leader of the National party or the deputy leader of the National party to try and resolve this. And that’s disappointing. So after 30 years with the National party, I am resigning from the party and that really leaves me with a heavy heart.
He doesn’t say whether he will be going to One Nation.
Josh Butler
Barnaby Joyce has taken his normal seat on the Coalition benches, next to Nationals colleague Colin Boyce.
As he walked into the chamber, he walked to the frontbench and had a quiet word to Melissa McIntosh, the senior Coalition person in the room at the dispatch box.
Crossbenchers Monique Ryan and Sophie Scamps got Joyce’s attention. They tapped the benches behind them, indicating to the member for New England and motioning for him to join them over on the crossbench.
“It’s lovely over here,” Ryan said, laughing.
Josh Butler
Barnaby Joyce has just entered the House of Representatives chamber.
Numerous MPs are expecting he will make a statement shortly on his political future. We’ll bring you that when it happens.
Benita Kolovos
Allan announces approval of rare earths exploration tunnel
Continuing from our last post…
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, also used her speech to announce the government has formally approved an antimony exploration tunnel at Sunday Creek.
She claimed the “world has caught up” on the importance of critical minerals and rare earths, as she had highlighted them as priority industry last year in her economic growth statement:
We estimated such an industry will contribute more than $1bn in royalties to the state – and support more than 7,000 jobs. Today, we hit go.
Allan also spruiked the Metro Tunnel, opening on Sunday, and the West Gate Tunnel, opening later in December, as well as her plans to legislate a right to work from home. She will begin a Q&A shortly.
Victorian premier announces $13.6m funding to ‘maximise benefits’ of AI
Benita Kolovos
Jacinta Allan has used her “state of the state” address at the Committee for Economic Development in Melbourne to announce $13.6m in funding to “maximise the benefits” of AI in Victoria.
The premier told the crowd there was no way to “stop” AI’s growth but the state was moving to “steer it.” She said:
We can maximise the benefits – while protecting our people – so workers are better off from the change, not left behind in its wake. I truly believe that only a Labor government can get that balance right.
She said the government will spend $5.5m in “going after the datacentre jobs”, claiming it could deliver projects “worth up to $25bn in potential capital expenditure”.
The state will also spend $8.1m on an “AI career conversion” program targeting workers whose jobs are most at risk. Allan said:
We’ll provide tailored, intensive training to upskill digital professionals to become AI specialists. We’ll target the sectors where we can make the biggest difference, fast. And we’ll offer it to more than 1,300 workers who are most at risk. And we’ll be the first state in the country to deliver anything like it.
Graeme Samuel welcomes EPBC deal
The man who five years ago wrote a report with recommendations that will finally be implemented today, says he’ll be “delighted” to no longer hear his name mentioned in the media five times a week.
Graeme Samuel popped up on Sky News said all the reforms are “sensible” and “tighten up issues that will both be in favour of protecting the environment” while not impacting efficiency.
I went through the amendments this morning with the minister’s office and gave a tick across every single one of them …
The problem is that we keep kicking the can down the road. The can just gets dented and gets rusty and I think there was no guarantee that would ever get there. Now, what minister [Murray] Watt has done, in great credit to him, he said, ‘This is it. We’ve got to do this now and let’s get the thing moved.’
He said it will now be up to the parliament and the environment department to set all the new rules and environmental standards that will be established under this legislation.