The Point Live: Barnaby keeps the Nats guessing on his future. As it happened.

We are back on the biggest issue facing Australians in this day and age – the CFMEU administration.

Is corruption something that should be addressed? Of course. Are the allegations worthy of investigation? Of course, no one is arguing otherwise.

Does the issue deserve being the dominant issue in the first question time in weeks given everything else that is going on? That is very questionable and I would suspect the answer lies on which side of the political divide you sit on.

Is this very safe ground for a Coalition which, much like season four of Riverdale, has completely lost the plot and relevancy?

Yes. Yes it is.

Sussan Ley:

Last year when asked whether he would deregister the corrupt and criminal CFMEU the Prime Minister said “Nothing would be taken off the table”. Under Labor’s hand-picked administrator CFMEU officials have been caught taking bribes and running around with bikies and gangland figures. Will the minister finally deregister the CFMEU is the coalition has called for, or is the only thing off the table this government’s courage to stand up to corrupt criminal unions that bankroll the Labor Party?

One of the reasons given at the time for not de-registering the CFMEU is because the government can lose the ability to regulate it – a lesson which was learned following the de-registration of the BLF under Bob Hawke.

Amanda Rishworth:

Of course, if she had been following the debate while we were putting the CFMEU into administration, she would know the strongest possible action you can take in terms of transparency and in terms of ensuring that there is accountability is to put the CFMEU into administration.

Of course, we compare that to what the Coalition did, which was stand and ABCC which really was a toothless tiger. And if we look at some of the incidents and allegations that are being exposed at the moment, they happened under the ABCC and indeed the Coalition’s watch.

So quite frankly, we on this side of the house are taking this issue of stamping out corruption in the construction industry with the seriousness and the dedication it deserves. It is about getting the regulators to work together, it is about getting the police to work together. It is putting an administration that is so transparent that reports twice to the parliament every single year. Appoints investigations and tables those investigations or puts them on their website. Puts their financial records out to the world to see.

This is the type of transparency that we need. But if those opposite think that this is an easy task, if those opposite think that this is an easy task, then they are naive and it has been demonstrated by the shadow minister, today made some absolutely baseless claims about the administrator which actually, really, for a barrister with the standing of Mark Irving was absolutely a disgrace. They on the other side may want to play politics with this issue. We take it seriously. We want to see a construction industry free from corruption. We are dedicated to the task and we will work until the task is done.

The benches are looking a little more empty than usual today, so we will see if there is something going on, or whether with Anthony Albanese not being around, some non-government MPs have decided to skip the Richard Marles hour.

Maybe Rob Mitchell, the Labor MP for McEwen has decided to join them – he is booted out in the FIRST question, which tells us that Milton Dick has his alter ego, Dugald out and about today.

Sussan Ley asks about the issue at the forefront of every Australian’s mind – the CFMEU.

It is based on this story from Nick McKenzie and Ashleigh McMillian at The Age and SMH

The crux of the issue is – does the minister still have faith in administrator, Mark Irving.

Amanda Rishworth says:

I would like to thank the leader of the opposition for her question and I want to make a statement really clearly – the government has absolutely no tolerance for criminal conduct or misbehaviour in the building industry and that is why our government took the strongest possible action to put the CFMEU into administration.

Let me just talk about – business will be difficult work. This is difficult work and I have spoken with the administrator on numerous occasions about just how difficult this work is, and for him, he is absolutely committed to clean out this union and I just want to go through some of the work that he has already been doing.

He has taken significant steps to either remove or accept the resignation of over 60 staff. Over two-thirds who were in leadership positions or organisers.

He has developed a national code of conduct and a statement of expectations for all staff. He has made it absolutely clear, where the union stands when it comes to, organised crime, menacing behaviour and what the consequences will be.

He has also acted on over 500 complaints under the anonymous whistle-blowing website which triages complaints which some adults with internally and many referred to authorities. He is working with, of course, the joint agency working group that consists of the AFP, the flow, the Fair Work Commission, police forces across all jurisdictions and he is doing his job.

He is working very, very hard and has achieved more – has achieved more in the 16 months than the ABCC see did in its whole time.

Question time is just about to begin.

Richard Marles will be playing the role of Anthony Albanese today, so grab something extra strong to get you through the coming hour.

Barnaby Joyce has compared his drawn-out divorce from the Nationals to punching a journalist in the nose.

The former deputy prime minister chose not to attend Nationals party room meetings because of a dispute over climate policy, as parliament resumes for a fortnight.

The regional party is reviewing its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 but Mr Joyce believes his colleagues must abandon the policy without compromise.

Asked by one reporter whether his position on net zero was all or nothing, he said it was a matter of aspiration and target

If I was to say … I have a target to punch you in the nose, but now I’ve just got an aspiration, would you feel more comfortable about it?” Mr Joyce asked the journalist.

By the way, I’m not a violent man,” he added.

That was a metaphor, not a promise.”

Mr Joyce also refused to rule out rejoining the Nationals and said he’d make that decision “down the track.”

Speculation has been running rampant that the New England MP could defect to One Nation, possibly to take over as leader when Pauline Hanson retires.

Pressed at an earlier media conference on whether he would meet with Senator Hanson while parliament sits over the next fortnight, Mr Joyce said it was “a free country.”

“I’ll meet with Pauline Hanson, I’ve met with Pauline Hanson before,” he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

“You’re allowed to actually meet other people. I talk to people from the Greens … I actually do talk to other people away from my own party.”

Although he won’t attend the Nationals party room this week, Mr Joyce said he would still sit with the regional party in parliament.

He said he’d had a brief and courteous discussion with Nationals leader David Littleproud, which went for about three minutes but declined to give further details about the conversation.

Mr Littleproud described the discussion in similar terms.

Mr Joyce’s defection was prompted by a dispute over climate policy, with the former leader urging the coalition to abandon its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050.

On Monday morning, Nationals MPs received an update on an internal review of net zero, led by outspoken climate sceptic Matt Canavan and his colleague Ross Cadell.

Mr Littleproud said the review was about coming up with serious policies, not just opposing the government’s plan.

“It’s great to sit there and beat your chest and say ‘no’, that’s the easiest thing to do in politics,” he told reporters in Canberra before the meeting.

“The hardest thing is to say, ‘what’s the alternative?'”

He said Mr Joyce was welcome to rejoin the Nationals at any point, and encouraged his predecessor to come back and make a contribution.

And the last question in that press conference was on….China and critical minerals:

The Chinese Premier on critical minerals expressed a sentiment he wants the status quo to remain and doesn’t welcome Australia shaking up the markets. On the QUAD, did you speak with President Trump in DC about the QUAD directly and what is his view?

Albanese:

I refer to previous comments I made about the QUAD. It is important. It’s a busy period. You can only be in one place at one time. Although, sometimes I think that I managed to almost be in two places at once, if you look at my schedule over the last little period. So we will try to, I think it’s important that we engage with regard to the issue of the US and the agreement that we made with the US is a very positive one for investment as we go forward. It’s a really good outcome that we had in the US. Because these critical minerals and rare earths are what will power the global economy in the 21st century. I will see you all at a number of events over the coming little period. But thank you to the journalists as well who have made the effort to come and for locally based journalists as well. Thanks for engaging with us while we’re here.

Nice little deflection there.

Q: Have you been briefed on the two US aircraft that have gone down in the South China Sea? They’re not blaming anyone at the moment, but does it add to your level of concern about possible catastrophe, if there’s a miscalculation or something of that sort?

Anthony Albanese:

I have a been briefed. And the positive news that I’ve received in my briefing, these are developing issues, is that the crew on both the helicopter and the aircraft are safe. There hasn’t been a loss of life and that is a very positive thing that has occurred. Obviously the US will undertake an investigation as it occurs, when issues arise from the military. That will be up to – I have been briefed – but it will be up to the US obviously to make statements about that.

Q: Did Premier Li raise any questions with you about Australia’s critical minerals cooperation with the US?

Albanese:

We talked about the relationship with the US. I clearly have indicated the success of my visit to the US and we talked in a common way about that it was a good thing that President Trump and President Xi having a meeting over the next little period.

Q: You were talking about the importance of ASEAN but I understand you’re cutting your visit here short by one day. Can you just explain what you’re leaving out of your trip here? And what you’re going to get out of the extra day in Korea?

Albanese:

I’m not leaving out anything. Our program has been truncated because I note that the journalists who are here, as I said on the plane, aren’t the same as the journalists who were there on the trip to the US. As I say to my friends and colleagues here, just try and keep up with me. It’s a busy period. And we are engaged with Prime Ministers. We will have our bilateral tomorrow afternoon rather than Wednesday morning. It will enable me to be in Korea in time for the dinner which is Wednesday night. Programs at events like this change. That’s what happens. I don’t have other … ministers here. I’m doing the lot. As I say, just try and keep up.

So no Quad this year? (That’s Japan, India, Australia and the US, which comes together to discuss China. But a meeting hasn’t happened since Trump was elected.

Albanese:

The QUAD is important for us to engage. Australia, the US, Japan and India. I’m hopeful that there will be a meeting in the first quarter. I would hope of next year. Prime Minister Modi is due to host the QUAD meeting. This is a busy summit season. President Trump has a busy period. He is travelling to Japan, but also having the meeting in Korea with President Xi. We welcome the fact that the leaders of the two largest economies in the world are having that direct engagement.

On those disagreements with China, what about when flares are being fired at Australian fighter jets?

The back story here is a dispute over which plane was over which line in the South China Sea. Australia has already complained.

Albanese:

We have disagreements and friends are able to discuss issues. That’s what we’re able to do. It’s important that we engage and that we engage diplomatically and we make clear our position which I did directly, which we did when the incident occurred. He heard the message very directly.

I’m not here to report in on what meetings that, on what people say when I have meetings. I’m accountable for what I say. I made the position directly clear. That this was an incident of concern for Australia.

Q: You’ve said Xi Jinping has given you no reason not to trust him. When there’s an incident which is dangerous and unprofessional, does that not make it harder to trust?

Albanese:

That’s a nation to nation issue which we raised very directly. What I said very clearly in that context, very clearly and explicitly, is that anything that President Xi has said to me, has occurred. That is just a fact, that’s how you deal with these things. This isn’t, this is engagement internationally. I engage directly. I’m a straight guy. I talk to leaders the way that I talk to the Australians. Straight, clear, unambiguous but in a positive so that where there are differences, I talk about that, but always bearing in mind what is in Australia’s national interest? Clearly it is in Australia’s national interest to have relations with nations in our region.

The prime minister is in Kuala Lumpur where he is speaking from the ASEAN summit. It is summit season, which means that Anthony Albanese will be travelling a bit over the next week or so, but the time difference isn’t so extreme that he can’t still pick his moment to break in on the domestic cycle.

As a general rule, Albanese has made it a point not to talk about domestic politics while he is overseas. Let’s see if that holds, given the Coalition mess and Barnaby Joyce’s freelancing.

(Fun fact – free lance comes from Sir Walter Scott’s 1819 book Ivanhoe, where he used it to describe medieval knights who served no lord – so basically, their lance was footloose and fancy free)

Albanese:

Last night I had the opportunity to meet Japan’s new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, for the very first time.

We had a very warm first engagement.

And it was terrific to be one of the first international leaders to meet the new Prime Minister, the first woman to be Prime Minister of Japan.

And Japan is such an important relationship for us. We engage in defence and issues but importantly as an economic partsner, we’re a reliable supplier of energy for Japan.

Japan of course has recently with the Magami frigates as well which is where we will source them and manufacture in Western Australia as that relationship goes forward. This morning I met with China’s Premier Li.

Not our first meeting n deed, our seventh meeting. That says something about the engagement which is there. It was a positive meeting. Dialogue is about advancing our interests, matching our differences but dealing with each other in a frank and clear way.

China is our largest trading partner. One in four of Australian jobs depends upon trade. And China represents almost arn about 30% of the destination of our exports. So this is a relationship that has improved.

That is stabilising. It’s a relationship that’s important for Australian jobs. It’s as simple as that. I’ve said repeatedly we must cooperate where we can. Disagree where we must. But engage in our national interests. And that’s the spirit in which we entered the discussion today. Later today, I will attend event shortly, the next event I attend will be to welcome Timor-Leste’s ascension in to full ASEAN membership.

We welcome this. Timor-Leste is an important relationship for Australia. I very much congratulate them on their joining the ASEAN group of nations as well. So the next period is going to be very busy. We have a dinner tonight that is hosted by the Malaysian Prime Minister who welcomed me here this morning. I have other bilaterals with a range of nations but last night as well I was able to engage informally with the leaders of Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and other nations as well, just to reinforce the work that we’re doing on engaging in our region

We have popped into the senate where the chamber is debating the Triple 0 legislation Anika Wells introduced in response to the Optus failure.

This one is a no-brainer and will get through (after a bit of political grandstanding)