Tue 28 Oct
This blog is now closed.
Watching Four Corners last night was difficult. If you couldn’t watch it, but could maybe listen to some of what is happening in the sector, the 7am podcast has crime reporter at The Age Sherryn Groch discussing the tension between rapid business growth – and child safety – at the heart of the childcare sector.
You can listen to that here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Sky News has reported Chris Bowen has written to Sussan Ley offering to ‘help’ her formulate her party’s net zero position.
In the letter published by Sky News, Bowen says he is happy to organise a party room briefing for the Coalition.
“If the Coalition’s new approach is to listen to science and experts, then we would be happy to assist in making the science and experts available”.
Which again, for those who read shade, is shade. Politicians love this sort of language, because it looks very helpful, but everyone involved knows exactly what is being said.
Hello and welcome back to The Point Live.
We are so happy to have you back with us as we muddle our way through another parliament sitting day.
The Coalition are still trying to pretend they can find some relevancy in the self-saucing mess they have created, but there will no doubt be more mess coming out of today’s joint party room meeting. Matt Canavan presented part of the net zero review he and Ross Cadell have been working on, which we were all supposed to pretend did not have a pre-determined outcome. It also didn’t include any economic modelling, because as Canavan sputtered in the Insiders interview he did on Sunday;
It’s very clear that the cost of not doing something is avoiding the cost of doing it. That’s pretty common-sense
Huzzah! We can just stop anything we don’t like, because the cost of not doing it, is avoiding the cost of doing it! Great news for critics of Aukus and other government decisions people don’t agree with. And also great for just scrapping the mutual obligations system – if the cost of not doing it, is avoiding the cost of doing it, then we should just scrap it, save billions, and harm to some very vulnerable people, who are just trying to get by.
It’s not often I agree with Canavan, but he has me there. It is just amazing how the argument he has just made only applies to things he doesn’t agree with. Much like identity politics – it is only labeled as such if the identity is different to the one they have proclaimed the standard.
Anthony Albanese is still on the summit circuit, and given that we haven’t sent any other ministers, Albanese is wearing a lot of different hats, having a lot of different chats.
That doesn’t leave the Coalition with a lot of wriggle room on how to attack the government – yesterday they came up with the CFMEU and the probable early closure of the Gladstone power station. So not exactly applying the blow torch.
Meanwhile, the independents have continued to push for actual change – they have come together to push for more transparency around the lobbyist register, as well as push the government on gambling, the CDC and environmental reforms.
Pauline Hanson is enjoying the residual attention from Barnaby Joyce’s game of ‘will-he-or-won’t-he’ leave the Nationals. Yesterday she announced she was dropping her name from Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (which she only added after some kerfuffle over who actually owned the registration of One Nation) which set the hens-a-running (and deliberately so).
Meanwhile, Sussan Ley is still sticking to her line that Labor needs to split the environmental protection bill, and just pass the taking care of business bit and deal with anything on environmental protection, later. Except business don’t want that – it wants one bill, because one bill makes it less likely that the legislation will butt up against each other and not give industry what it wants. The Coalition is betting on Labor not wanting to do a deal on the legislation with the Greens enough that it gives in to the Coalition.
And Ley is only doing this because she needs to somehow hold on to the party room, which will blow up (even earlier) if she agrees to the Coalition passing anything that has environmental protection in the title, even if its the very least Labor can do on the subject.
And so, dear readers, that is where you find the parliament today.
There will also be the fall out from Adele Ferguson’s excellent Four Corners on day care child safety failures from last night and Liberal senator Sarah Henderson will push for a senate inquiry into the Triple 0 failure.
So join us and my three coffees (at least) as we navigate the second parliament sitting day. You’ll have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day, with an able assist from Mike Bowers, who is on loan from The New Daily.
Ready? Yup, me neither. But let’s get into it.