Back in the House, another Dorothy Dixer on energy, and Labor persisting on why the government is being reckless and allowing ministers before the high court to keep making decisions.
The prime minister wants to know why labor aren’t interesting in energy prices. And other things.Meanwhile, in the other place, the blowtorch is well and truly on Nationals senator Fiona Nash in the Senate. Labor have begun right where they left off on Monday. They’ve launched an immediate attack on Nash over her handling of her dual citizenship, and divergent approaches taken by her and former resources minister Matt Canavan, who resigned from cabinet.
Labor senator Catryna Bilyk quotes Canavan to the chamber. Caravan said he was standing aside from cabinet because he wanted to “fully respect this process”.
“Was senator Canavan right to do so?” Bilyk asks.
Nash repeats the line she employed yesterday. That Canavan resigned without fully knowing the facts. Subsequent advice emerged showing the eligibility of Nash and her Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, were not threatened by their dual citizenship.
Bilyck presses on. She asks whether Nash is simply trying to protect the government’s slender majority in the Senate.
Fiona Nash:
The answer to that is no. I’ve indicated of course the timeline of events in terms of the information that was provided.
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Government confirms it is in talks with AGL about keeping the Liddell power station open until 2027
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Meanwhile, in the other party room, the Coalition party room, same-sex marriage and the clean energy target didn’t rate a mention.
Malcolm Turnbull accused Labor of behaving like “bawdy school children behind the bike shed” intent on causing mayhem in parliament. He said nobody in the Australian community was raising the issues Labor was focused on, which Barnaby Joyce expanded on by nominating citizenship (his eligibility for parliament) and same-sex marriage as the issues that “nobody” is bringing up outside the Canberra bubble.
Joyce suggested Australians wanted their government to be like a dentist - competent.
The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, discussed North Korea and the deal on maritime boundaries with East Timor. Treasurer Scott Morrison rattled off the recent positive economic figures.
In response to the question Murph has mentioned from Ian MacDonald about why the government was doing badly in the polls – Turnbull, according to the official version, apparently replied that it was good to hear his colleague being so candid.
A quick summary of the Greens party room meeting, and this morning’s Labor caucus.
The Greens have telegraphed a plan to move a motion in the Senate on Tuesday asking senators to declare if they think coal-fired power is a clean source of energy. The Greens have also telegraphed a campaign to try to wedge Labor on energy policy, with a big decision on the Finkel review coming up. The Greens will move a motion on Tuesday that “the Senate does not consider coal-fired power to be clean” as part of an effort to keep the spotlight on this issue.
The Labor caucus met on Tuesday morning, too. It has agreed to support the Turnbull government’s cashless welfare debit card legislation in the House of Representatives, but it will withhold support in the Senate until it sees the results of a Senate inquiry into the card.
Labor MPs asked numerous questions about the card. They wanted to know what the views of Indigenous leaders were in the communities in which the cashless card has been trialed; what was the geographic area of the new trial site in Kalgoorlie; and if there was a black market on the card.
Jenny Macklin, the shadow minister for social services, responded to all questions. She said the majority of Indigenous leaders in affected communities continued to support the card. She said there were anecdotes of a black market on the card, but it was hard to qualify.
The Labor caucus has also agreed not to oppose the government’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing amendment bill in the House of Representatives.
But it wants to reserve a final position pending a briefing from the government, and the results of a Senate inquiry into the bill.
The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, addressed caucus on the seriousness of North Korea’s nuclear testing, saying every responsible member of the international community condemned the tests.
“North Korea’s dangerous, provocative aggression is a grave threat to the security of the regime and the stability of the world,” Shorten said.
“Every nation has a responsibility to implement measures under the UN Security Council’s sanctions regime, and we support tougher and more targeted sanctions where appropriate.
“This remains the best path to de-escalation. China has supported the sanctions but may be able to do more, and if they can be encouraged to exert their influence, they should.
“We support the United States and China working together on practical steps to achieve a peaceful outcome on the peninsula.”
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Back to the forecourt. The Queenslander Bob Katter stopped by for a chat on his way back from a rally with maritime workers.
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One more.
Just a sprinkle of Mike Bowers’ beautiful work from down on the forecourt.
Here’s the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, meeting Indigenous man Clinton Pryor.
I love this frame.
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