Barnaby Joyce says ‘people crying’ in regional areas about net zero
A little earlier this morning, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce stopped in the corridor to have a spray about net zero (he’ll be introducing his own private members bill to repeal the target).
Joyce is asked why he’s not participating in the process that leader Sussan Ley has established, reviewing the opposition’s energy policy, that will be led by Dan Tehan.
He says people feel the process has been “obfuscated” and they want to see action.
People feel that the process has been obfuscated, people are furious. You get to understand the sort of fury that [they have] in regional areas. We have in meetings, people crying, we have in meetings, people feeling bullied. They believe the government is just running roughshod over them.
They do not want they do not want us to say, ‘Well, what I’m going to do is have a committee about how you feel.’ They’re saying now you go down and do something about it, and that’s what we’re doing.
Joyce also denied that the push to repeal the target is a threat to David Littleproud’s leadership of the Nationals.
The Australian reported Joyce said he would “happily” back former leader Michael McCormack to return to the role, but wasn’t agitating for a spill.
Please God, I’m not pushing any barrow for leadership of the National party. People ask you questions, you give them straight answers, it’s not about that. It’s about net zero.
Key events
Australia may have to pay half a billion dollars to oil giant Chevron under 1980s deal
The Australian government faces having to pay half a billion dollars to American oil and gas company Chevron to help it clean up oil wells on Barrow Island, in Western Australia, under a deal made in the 1980s.
The WA government also faces a hefty bill – estimated to be $129m – to help repair an offshore nature reserve where about 900 wells have been drilled over the past six decades.
Chevron says it has paid more than $1bn in royalties – about $3 a barrel – for oil and gas extracted from beneath the island, which is about 70km off the state’s north-west coast. Under state legislation written especially for the project, federal and state taxpayers will have to pay them back about nearly half that amount to help cover remediation costs.
The Greens have called the decades old deal “perverse” and senator Peter Whish-Wilson says the government shouldn’t give Chevron “an inch”.
You couldn’t imagine a more perverse deal between a big corporation and government. It’s critical that a full rehabilitation of the ocean commences immediately, but the bigger the job the more the taxpayer is on the hook. This provides a perverse incentive for both parties to overlook regulator responsibilities and minimise rehabilitation.
You can read more from my colleagues Peter Milne and Adam Morton here:
House passes establishing votes on regular joint standing committees
There’s all sorts of procedures that take place in the new parliament.
Right now in the House, MPs have just finished voting to establish all of the regular joint standing committees – that’s committees that have both MPs and senators on them.
This includes committees on human rights, treaties, electoral matters and migration. They’re all fairly long-standing committees.
Now that those have been passed, they’ll go to the Senate this afternoon for “concurrence” and then they’ll be established.
Sarah Basford Canales
McCormack reiterates support for David Littleproud as Nationals leader
There’s been a lot of commotion in the Nationals camp this morning after former Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, got behind his colleague – and occasional foe – Barnaby Joyce in support of repealing the opposition’s net zero by 2050 policy.
McCormack’s comment to the Australian also cheekily hinted at potential leadership ambitions of the Coalition’s junior partner when he referenced Scott Morrison’s infamous line before voting against then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in a spill: “I’m ambitious for him”.
But the Nationals backbencher has sought to quell those whispers on Sky News this afternoon.
David Littleproud is the leader … David, as he said this morning, will do what the party wants as the leader, and that is his obligation and duty. And I support David.
McCormack then took the interview in an unusual direction, after saying he didn’t want to be a boring interview for the media. Liberal MP Dan Tehan had earlier suggested on Sky News that McCormack and Joyce were like two steers in a paddock that should be left to fight it out.
McCormack responded:
We’re not gelded, we’re not emasculated. We’re very much virile and out there.
As for whether the majority of Nationals agree with Joyce on repealing net zero, McCormack responded: “Time will tell. I’d like to think so”.
Greens raise three hopes for productivity roundtable
The Greens want the government to use their productivity roundtable (coming up in August) to address three areas of reform, including to help mothers re-enter the workforce.
They’re calling for Labor to:
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End property speculation incentives that they say allow wealthy investors to pay half the tax of workers.
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Put in place policies that make it easier for primary carers to get back to work.
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Drive investment in to clean industries.
The party leader, Larissa Waters, said in a statement that the roundtable shouldn’t be a “high level talkfest”:
Mums and parents who want to get back to work should be encouraged to do that, not smashed by tax so hard they’re essentially working for free.
When a second parent goes back into the workforce, they can face an effective marginal tax rate of up to 80% – which punishes mothers for wanting to go back to work and perpetuates gender based economic disadvantage which haunts mothers for life.
Tom McIlroy
What’s on the agenda for the Liberal postmortem into their election defeat?
Sussan Ley’s postmortem into the Liberal party’s historic thumping at the 3 May election is gaining speed, just as the new federal parliament gets down to work.
Ley has tapped Liberal elders Nick Minchin and Pru Goward to lead the probe into what went so badly wrong for former opposition leader Peter Dutton and the party.
Minchin, a former Howard government minister, and Goward, a former NSW state minister, are at Parliament House today, talking with Liberals about policy and organisational changes needed to win back voters.
The terms of reference for the review are broad, allowing it to consider the election campaign, the party’s conduct in the last term of parliament, and “further relevant matters” if judged to have a bearing on election results.
It will also consider: the historically low primary vote for the Liberal party; the party’s electoral performance among different voter segments; and “the long-term challenge for the party presented by independents”.
The Queensland Liberal National party senator James McGrath is expected to run a separate review into the party’s structure.
Josh Butler
Greens say Labor’s childcare bill ‘Band-aid’ solution but won’t block it
The Greens have derided the government’s childcare safety bill as a “Band-aid” solution that won’t do enough to address issues in early education, but say they won’t stand in the way of the legislation passing.
The Green’s spokesperson on early childhood education, Senator Steph Hodgins-May, said her party had offered support to the government but had “heard very little in return”.
“The bill introduced today is a band-aid measure that only comes into effect after harm has occurred; it does nothing to address the deeper, systemic issues that put children at risk,” she said in a statement.
We won’t stand in its way, but it’s disappointing we weren’t provided this legislation until today.
Hodgins-May said the Greens wanted to see more reform down the track, including an independent watchdog “with real teeth to enforce national quality standards”.
Until the government reckons with the market-driven childcare system, it will always put profit over the safety and quality of our children’s care.
Asked whether the Liberals are wrong to support net zero, Joyce says:
Net zero is bad policy … net zero is the wrong policy.
After backing net zero for two elections, and going “forward with government policy”, Joyce says the Coalition was handed its “derriere on a plate” by the electorate.
Earlier in an interview with Sky News, Joyce went further to say he never agreed to net zero and didn’t vote for it in the Nationals party room.
It was an agreement of the National party room for a whole range of tabulated items – intermodal for Tennant Creek, for Alice Springs, sealing of roads, beef roads, there was a whole range of issues that were part of it … None of those eventuated, so there was no, as far as I’m concerned, there was no deal.
For those wondering what “intermodal” and “beef roads” are, he’s talking about regional infrastructure.
Barnaby Joyce says ‘people crying’ in regional areas about net zero
A little earlier this morning, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce stopped in the corridor to have a spray about net zero (he’ll be introducing his own private members bill to repeal the target).
Joyce is asked why he’s not participating in the process that leader Sussan Ley has established, reviewing the opposition’s energy policy, that will be led by Dan Tehan.
He says people feel the process has been “obfuscated” and they want to see action.
People feel that the process has been obfuscated, people are furious. You get to understand the sort of fury that [they have] in regional areas. We have in meetings, people crying, we have in meetings, people feeling bullied. They believe the government is just running roughshod over them.
They do not want they do not want us to say, ‘Well, what I’m going to do is have a committee about how you feel.’ They’re saying now you go down and do something about it, and that’s what we’re doing.
Joyce also denied that the push to repeal the target is a threat to David Littleproud’s leadership of the Nationals.
The Australian reported Joyce said he would “happily” back former leader Michael McCormack to return to the role, but wasn’t agitating for a spill.
Please God, I’m not pushing any barrow for leadership of the National party. People ask you questions, you give them straight answers, it’s not about that. It’s about net zero.
Josh Taylor
Anika Wells meets with YouTube to discuss social media ban for under 16s
Ahead of the Albanese government announcing in the next few weeks the rules for the social media under-16s ban, the minister, Anika Wells has met with YouTube to discuss its potential inclusion or exclusion from the ban.
It is understood that no decision has been made on whether the platform will be included in the under-16s ban from December, but YouTube has stepped up lobbying efforts to remain out of the scope of the ban, meeting with Wells in recent days.
The company has also taken out a full-page ad in the Australian newspaper this week when parliament returned arguing the platform was different to rivals such as Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
The ad says YouTube is in a “category of one” and is “built for kids”.
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The lobbying is set to continue this week with the annual Google showcase event scheduled for next week in Parliament House.
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, last month recommended rescinding the federal government’s planned exemption for YouTube, citing research putting YouTube at the top of where children encounter harmful material online.
Politicians join Voices for Gaza vigil
Outside parliament house, several politicians have joined the Voices for Gaza vigil, organised by several aid groups including Amnesty International and Oxfam, to read out the names of the 17,000 Palestinian children who have been killed.
This morning, Labor’s Ed Husic, a Muslim MP and outspoken critic of Israel, and independent senator David Pocock spoke in front of a small crowd of people.
Yesterday, Greens senators Larissa Waters and David Shoebridge were also out on the lawns reading some of the thousands of names.
Steggall attemps to move amendment to define disorderly conduct in Labor’s new parliamentary rules
The independent MP Zali Steggall is trying to move an amendment to the standing order changes to better define disorderly conduct.
Her amendment is backed by fellow independent Helen Haines. Steggall says it’s important to define disorderly conduct so it’s not left to “vague interpretation”.
There is a balancing act between robust parliamentary debate and having a safe, respectful, and discrimination-free workplace. As parliamentarians we must lead by example and ensure that freedom of speech is encouraged in our workplace, but it is not used to excuse harmful behaviour and disorderly conduct.
The leader of the House, Tony Burke, says the government won’t support Steggall’s amendment but acknowledges some of the “intimidatory” behaviour that has been directed at the crossbench.
Offensive words are out [of the new practice], offensive gestures are clearly out, but offensive and intimidatory behaviour are not necessarily covered.
What we have often seen, which is more directed at the crossbench than any other members in this place, is … a pile-on occurring, which for any observer would think they are watching intimidation … I’ve seen it happen a lot to the crossbench.
Greens and Coalition bristle against Labor’s changes to the standing orders
You can see just how dominant the government’s numbers are in the House, as they vote on changing some of the parliamentary standing orders (as Tom explained below).
The opposition has made some criticism of the changes, with the manager of opposition business, Alex Hawke saying they have only a “veneer of increased transparency and democratic operation”.
The Greens are also pretty incensed about some of the changes – particularly the rule that would allow Hansard not to record the names of MPs voting in favour of legislation if there are six or fewer members on one side of the chamber for the vote.
Greens MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown has called it a “stitch up” that undermines transparency.
It gives Labor and Liberal MPs cover to hide how their MP’s are voting on important issues. Voters deserve to know how their representatives are voting.
Labor needs to explain why they want to hide their MPs voting positions from the public. Transparency should be a bare minimum in a democracy.
Tom McIlroy
Parliamentary time-out length to be increased to three hours among other procedural changes
It is the first substantive day of sitting in federal parliament, with the first question time since the election due to kick off at 2pm.
The leader of the House of Representatives, Labor’s Tony Burke, is introducing new changes to the standing orders – the rules which govern how business in the lower house is run on a day to day basis.
Among the changes are rules allowing members to be booted from parliamentary proceedings for a maximum of three hours, up from the previous rule of 60 minutes.
The speaker would have the power to remove a member from debate for three hours “where there is continued or escalating disorderly conduct.”
Another change would allow Hansard, the record of proceedings, not to record the names of MPs voting in favour of legislation if there are six or fewer members on one side of the chamber (ie, clearly in the minority) at the time of a vote. The new rule states:
If, after the doors are locked, there are six or fewer Members on one side in a division, the Speaker shall declare the decision of the House immediately, without completing the count. The names of the Members who are in the minority shall be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings.
Labor is expected to pass the changes to standing orders using its new, larger majority, even if the Coalition or the Greens disagree.
Hume says we should ‘take the politics’ out of net zero and view it from an economic lens
Liberal senator Jane Hume says “take the politics out” of net zero, and look at the issue from an economic lens.
Hume, who was kicked off the frontbench by Sussan Ley, is weighing into the energy debate within the Coalition, with some Nationals MPs pushing for the 2050 target to be scrapped. She tells Sky News voters have sent a message to the Liberal party on the issue.
The electorate has told us that they want to see a net zero energy future, they want to see emissions come down. That’s what successive elections have told us. Now my personal opinion is that this is profoundly important for not just the electorate, but also for our country. We want to make sure, though, that that transition to a lower emissions future is seen through the lens of an economic problem …
We need to be able to take the politics out of this issue, and say, how do we get to a net zero energy future and reduce emissions, but at the same time maintain our prosperity.
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has said he’ll introduce a private members bill to repeal net zero, while Ley has handed her shadow energy minister, Dan Tehan, the responsibility of leading a team to review all energy policies.
Clare introduces childcare safety bill into House
Jason Clare is now introducing the childcare safety bill in the House of Representatives.
The education department secretary will have the power under this bill to consider a provider’s “quality, safety and compliance history” to determine whether they should be approved to access the childcare subsidy.
Clare says this has “never been part of the childcare subsidy system” but he concedes that government’s haven’t worked fast enough.
I’ve been pretty blunt. In the last few weeks, people have been arrested and convicted of offences like those alleged before, and governments of different colours, state and federal have taken action, but not enough, and not fast enough. That’s the truth.
Clare says the bill also expands commonwealth powers to publish information about providers that are sanctioned for non-compliance, and publicise information when a provider is refused approval for a new service.
Hecs legislation to increase income threshold before debt repayments begin
The new Hecs legislation also increases the income threshold for paying off the debt.
Clare says that the threshold will increase so you’ll only be repaying the debt when you earn above $67,000, rather than the current threshold of $54,000. For someone earning $70,000, the government says it’ll reduce their minimum repayment by $1,300.
That’s real cost of living, health, more money in your pocket, not the government’s, when you really need it. This is important structural reform … This is about putting money back into your pocket and putting intergenerational equity back into the system.
Unsurprisingly, Clare takes a dig at the Coalition for opposing the policy during the election. He says one unnamed Nationals MP told the media: “My kids are paying off a university debt, and I reckon they voted Labor.”