Labor attempts to move censure motion against Mehreen Faruqi over Gaza sign protest
Sarah Basford Canales
Over in the Senate, Labor is attempting to move a censure motion against Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi after she held up a sign in protest against Israel during the governor-general’s speech yesterday.
Penny Wong, who is foreign affairs minister as well as leader of the government in the Senate, said she understood Australians were “distressed by the violence” Palestinians were facing in Gaza by Israeli forces but that Faruqi had taken it a step further.
It’s about decisions taken by all of Australia during the campaign. But senator Faruqi wanted it to be about her, presumably, in her campaign for the leadership of the Greens … senator Faruqi demands respect, but she does not offer it. She denigrates anyone who doesn’t agree with her on everything, regularly, including personally, I don’t think this is the leadership Australians expect. I don’t believe this is what Australian democracy is about.
Key events
Krishani Dhanji
Thanks for joining me on the blog today, for the first full sitting day of parliament.
I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Catie McLeod, and I’ll be back here early tomorrow morning (with plenty more caffeine in hand)!
TLDR: what happened in the first question time of the new parliament?
To recap:
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The Coalition focused heavily on the government’s superannuation tax today, with questions on the impact of taxing unrealised gains on farmers, small businesses and whether Labor would go further to tax unrealised gains on the family home.
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Having given their first speeches last night, new MPs Ali France (who toppled Peter Dutton) and Sarah Witty (who toppled Adam Bandt) were given the first dixers today.
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Teal independent MP Kate Chaney asked communications minister Anika Wells whether the government would finally accept the recommendations of the now two-year-old inquiry into gambling. Wells said she’s still working on gambling reform and has been meeting with broadcasters, sports groups and harm reduction organisations.
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Tinder gained a reference in Hansard, prompted by a somewhat graphic quote from Nationals MP Michael McCormack to Sky News today, that was jumped on by Chris Bowen to attack the minor Coalition party.
Sarah Basford Canales
The Senate opposition leader, Michaelia Cash, stands and urges the motion to go further – the Coalition wants to suspend Faruqi.
We believe that the ultimate punishment fails to meet the gravity of what occurred during yesterday’s joint sitting of parliament. It falls short of what Australians rightly expect of their elected representatives. What we witnessed yesterday was not simply a breach of standing orders. It was a breach of respect for the institution of the Senate. It was a breach of our rules, for our history, but most importantly, the people that we serve.”
While Cash speaks on the opposition’s amendments to the motion, a protester from the public gallery wearing a Palestine shirt begins shouting a series of chants against Israel and its administration.
The protester can be heard saying, “Israel is murdering children” and “Netanyahu is a war criminal”. The Senate president, Sue Lines, requests broadcasting turn off the audio so it can’t be heard.
The protester is removed by security guards from the public gallery and Liberal senator James Paterson can be heard saying “on ya bike” as the man is escorted out.
Continuing briefly with Penny Wong’s searing rebuke of Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, the senior Labor figure accused Faruqi of protesting for “attention”.
I think we all understand that what Senator Faruqi wants most of all is attention, and it may well be her move is designed to sow her base – Greens base – that she’s more hard line than the current leader … the reality is, this is a very difficult conflict. I have often spoken in this place about the need for all of us to be responsible about how we deal with it here. And I also would say to the Senate, we have moved this motion because we do not believe that this institution should be denigrated in the way that it was.
Labor attempts to move censure motion against Mehreen Faruqi over Gaza sign protest
Sarah Basford Canales
Over in the Senate, Labor is attempting to move a censure motion against Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi after she held up a sign in protest against Israel during the governor-general’s speech yesterday.
Penny Wong, who is foreign affairs minister as well as leader of the government in the Senate, said she understood Australians were “distressed by the violence” Palestinians were facing in Gaza by Israeli forces but that Faruqi had taken it a step further.
It’s about decisions taken by all of Australia during the campaign. But senator Faruqi wanted it to be about her, presumably, in her campaign for the leadership of the Greens … senator Faruqi demands respect, but she does not offer it. She denigrates anyone who doesn’t agree with her on everything, regularly, including personally, I don’t think this is the leadership Australians expect. I don’t believe this is what Australian democracy is about.
The last dixer goes to Tony Burke, which allows him to list off all the pieces of legislation that the government is delivering.
And with that, Question Time (and a pretty long QT, may I say) is over.
Staying on foreign affairs, Angus Taylor in his new shadow portfolio asks the prime minister whether he got assurances from Chinese president Xi Jinping that China will no longer conduct live fire exercises on Australia’s coast.
Anthony Albanese doesn’t answer the substance of the question, and attacks Taylor over his comments to the ABC 7.30 program that the government “make principled commitments to the security of Taiwan”.
His [Taylor’s] comments when it comes to the long held position that has been a bipartisan position up to now, when it comes to the issue of the Taiwan Straits, the fact that the United States has had a long-term position about strategic ambiguity, and that has been done for a responsible reason. But what we saw from the shadow defence minister in his first outing in uttering comments in an area that requires responsibility, requires a national interest, requires the support of our sovereignty when it comes to our decision making processes – what we saw, is a breach.
Taylor stands up to make a point of order on relevance, but Milton Dick says Albanese is still in his preamble and is talking about the China trip (which was in Taylor’s question).
Albanese then says he was “concerned” about previous live fire drills and said Australia complies with international law and expects other nations to comply with international law as well. (He doesn’t say whether he got any assurances from president Xi on the issue.)
Andrew Wilkie, a long time independent from Tasmania, asks the next question to the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles.
Wilkie asks:
In July, two vessels were reportedly docked in Botany Bay with some 175,000 tonnes of petrol from the Jamnagar refinery in India, which uses up to 55 per cent Russian oil. So these vessels effectively carried some 90,000 tonnes of Russian sourced petrol paid for by Australians, which will help fund Putin’s war in Ukraine. Deputy prime minister, why are the loopholes in our sanctions so big you can drive a tanker through them?
Marles says the government is committed to supporting Ukraine’s resistance against Russia.
At [the] Nato summit, I announced increased sanctions to an additional 44 people and entities, which now means that in total, there are about 1500 people and entities in Russia which are the subject of Australian sanctions, which sees a significant impact on the Russian economy in areas such as electronics, areas such as energy, such as finance.
Wilkie tries to raise a point of order on relevance, but speaker Milton Dick says Marles still has one minute to answer.
Marles ends his answer reiterating his earlier points that Australia stands with Ukraine (not going to Wilkie’s point of Australia using Russian oil in the production of petroleum and other fuels).
Deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan has the next question, and asks the assistant treasurer how many farmers and small businesses will be impacted by the superannuation tax.
Daniel Mulino says he can’t say how many farmers will be impacted, but the total number of those who will be impacted by the policy is 80,000.
I think when it comes to drilling down into smaller categories than that, it is difficult to ascribe a particular number to particular types of business. But what I can say is that the overall number of funds affected by this is in the order of half a per cent across both our defined contribution and defined benefit, across the entire category of all members. And that’s a very small fraction.
A few Coalition frontbenchers talk over Mulino as he speaks, and I can hear David Littleproud saying some will be “hung out to dry” by the policy.
Andrew Gee, a Nationals MP turned independent, asks the next question from the crossbench.
He says people living in the country have a shorter life expectancy than people in the city, and asks when the government will fix the rural doctor shortage crisis.
Health minister Mark Butler acknowledges that not only is it hard to find a GP, it’s much harder to find a doctor in the bush.
We just haven’t kept up with the number of GPs anywhere in the country. But particularly in the bush, as the member knows, there is no single fix for this challenge, which is why we are trying to work right across a range of areas to improve that access, but also that affordability.
As he says, we’ve got to train more young people as doctors in the community, in the rural communities, we know that if they train in the bush, they’re far more likely to stay in the bush.
The next dixer goes to Jason Clare, on the issue of child safety in childcare centres.
Clare says again that not enough has been done, and it’s being done too slowly to protect vulnerable children.
The education minister introduced new legislation to crack down on centres that aren’t meeting quality standards.
I think everyone here is determined to do what needs to be done to rebuild confidence in a system that parents need to have confidence in, and the legislation that I introduced today is part of that. It’s not everything. There’s a lot more that needs to be done. And the terrible truth is that this work will never end.
Sussan Ley, on indulgence, thanks Clare for his engagement with the Coalition.
We’re back on questions about unrealised gains, and shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien asks whether the government will consider taxing unrealised gains on the family trust or the family home.
Anthony Albanese takes the question and says the government’s agenda is “tax cuts”. He also takes a swipe at O’Brien.
O’Brien stands up to make a point of order, accusing the PM of dodging the question. Milton Dick asks the PM if he’s already finished his answer or not – Albanese earns a few chuckles from the government benches by saying:
Oh, we might give him a go.
The second crossbench question goes to independent MP Kate Chaney, who asks whether the government will commit to implementing the recommendations of the gambling inquiry led by late Labor MP Peta Murphy.
Chaney was a member of that committee, which handed down its report and recommendations two years ago.
The new minister for communications, Anika Wells, says the government takes “seriously” its responsibility to people impacted by online gambling, and has “delivered the most significant” online harm reduction initiatives.
Wells doesn’t commit to implementing all of the recommendations of the inquiry report but says she’s been meeting with stakeholders including sporting groups, broadcasters, and harm reduction groups.