Thu 27 Nov
This blog, and the parliamentary year, are now closed.
Independent MP for Fowler Dai Le then asks:
My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Minister, my community would like to know were you or any government minister at the airport when the ISIS affiliated women also known as ISIS brides arrived back in Sydney in September?
Tony Burke:
“No”
Ted O’Brien, the answer no on ever asked for, then tries to pretend he understands economics.
But Anthony Albanese is in too good a mood today. He got his political win, his opponents are still a ravel and one less in the numbers (without him having to do anything but put Barnaby Joyce’s private members bill scraping net zero up for debate) and it’s the last day of the sittings, which means he actually may get a weekend.
So when O’Brien asks about inflation, Albanese just plays with him for a bit, saying the man who helped bring the Coalition down to 42 seats with his nuclear policy, now has the economic policy.
And that gives him a lot of cheer.
The wet sock of political leaders, Sussan Ley, opens the last question time of the year with an issue that is from the last parliament – the $275 decrease in power bill promise from 2022 Labor.
It wasn’t mentioned in the 2025 election campaign, which Labor won with a historic majority. No one cares. Ley and her tactics team have zero original thoughts and so here we are. Stuck in the past with disgarded sopping wet socks.
Ley: My question is to the Prime Minister. Next Wednesday marks the four-year anniversary of the day that the Prime Minister promised to reduce power prices by $275 in 2025. A promise made almost 100 times. On the final sitting day of the year, can the Prime Minister finally give a straight answer and just admit that he misled the Australian people?
Albanese:
Mr Speaker, the once great party of the Liberal Party and the National Party… (INTERJECTIONS) Reduced… (INTERJECTIONS)
They’ve gone from either being a party of government… ..or the alternative party of government into play school, Mr Speaker, into Play School.
While the person who is Deputy Prime Minister, when nay committed to net zero, is outside doing a press conference reporting the defection conference reporting the defection — reporting his defection from the National Party.
But, of course, they’ve come a long way since those golden days of caring about energy policy and the environment under Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce.
Now, my learned colleague up there, Phil Coorey (political editor at the Fin), had this to say. ‘In reality the climate wars of the past two decades…” (INTERJECTIONS) – They’re all outside watching you go down to 42!
In really this is what Phil Coorey had to say. ‘In reality the climate wars of the past two decades, caused primarily by recalcitrants from the Conservatives, is the reason why the energy grid today is such a dysfunctional and costly mess as it tries to play catch up.”
(INTERJECTIONS)
That is – in that radical journal, the Australian Financial Review had to say.
But today instead of having tactics committee meetings in the morning member they are trying to paper over the cracks in the coalition
Where the Leader of the Opposition, who doesn’t support the policy that she’s been out there spruiking but supports net zero and said she did from the day that it was adopted, when half of those opposite there support net zero, half of them don’t, but when the National Party has proudly said that they are now leading and they follow… (INTERJECTIONS) ..this is what the leader… had to say – this isn’t the first time the Nationals have set the policy agenda and the Liberals have followed – indeed that is right.
So Barnaby Joyce held a press conference straight after that to moan a little more about how the Nationals didn’t try hard enough to keep him, even though he has done nothing but bitch and moan about how much he hates the leadership.
He is an independent for the moment because Joyce needs to be wooed and he needs as much attention as possible, so he will drag this out until One Nation offer him the leadership on a fool’s gold platter.
Barnaby Joyce has given everyone a Christmas present by announcing his move into irrelevancy. I don’t know if Joyce realises how much of his influence comes from being from a major party and not his sparkling personality.
If you’re here, this is the ejection seat. This is about a far away you can get from the dispatch box. And if you’re sitting here, they want you out there. Now, in the past, I’ve been asked to leave twice by Peter Dutton, and I suppose when they talk about generational change, it’s pretty clear what people want.
One of the biggest things – I announced this about five weeks ago, and a part from a 90 second phone conversation with the leader, I’ve had no communication with either leader of the National Party or the deputy leader of the National Party to try and resolve this, and that’s disappointing.
So after 30 years with the National party, I am resigning from the party. That really leaves me with a heavy heart, and I apologize for all the hurt that that will cause other people.
He then goes on with some bullshit about how this is not about him and then repeats his greatest bullshit hits.
And that’s it. He is out. And butthurt that the leader he openly undermined and couldn’t stand didn’t beg him to stay. Dolly save us from mediocre middle aged men and their superiority complexes.
It is the airing of the grievances time in the chamber (90 second statements) which at this time of year contains a bunch of Christmas thank yous and poems (proving why politicians go into politics and not the more obvious creative fields)
We are all waiting for Barnaby Joyce to get up and announce his move to One Nation.
Much like he announced he was actually a New Zealand citizen and had to resign from parliament (a story Adam Gartrell and I were about to break for the SMH and his staff screwed us on when we waited for comment) he’s doing it for the Hansard.
Monique Ryan and Sophie Scamps are laughing and pointing to Barnaby and patting the benches next to him, telling him to come on over.
Well the government really is feeling its oats because not only has it released the quarterly emissions figures, it has also released the annual greenhouse gas emissions projections.
These however are not so good.
The projections ae less optimistic than last year about the projection of emissions out to 2040. The biggest issue is electricity, which is now project to produce 996mt CO2 from now till the end of 2040 compared to the estimate last year of 929mt CO2
What this means ius that the government is set to miss its target for a 43% cut by 2030 and massively do so for its 2035 target range of 52%-70% cuts below 2005 levels:
The government is saying that it will only just miss out on the 43% cut target by 2030, but this is only the case if “by 2030” means “by the end of 2030”. In 2029 the govt estimates annual emissions will be 36% below 2005 levels. It does however project emissions in 2030 to be 42.2% below 2005 levels, so basically at the 43% target.
But no such semantics is of any use for the 2035 target. The government has a target of 62% to 70% cuts. At the moment they are on track to be just 47.5% below at the end of 2035.
Given that target remains far too weak it is pretty dire news, made worse so when you consider that the government set those targets by estimating the cumulative emissions that will be produced between now and 2035.
The government’s projections are such that we will blow through our carbon budget for a 70% cut in 20304.
In essence this means we are set to be 2 years worth of emissions more than is currently budgeted.
Not good, and just highlights how much faster the transition away from fossil fuels needs to happen.
David Shoebridge has announced the Greens will lead a senate inquiry into offshore detention deals, going back to 2022:
Cruelty creates corruption, and corruption thrives in darkness, this inquiry is a chance to shed light on this toxic mess.
We have seen scandalous evidence of Labor’s rotten Nauru deal this week. From bikie gangs to crooked politicians and contractors, this whole project of disappearing people offshore is offensive to basic decency.
Billions of dollars have already been funnelled into some of the most brutal policies in modern Australian history, with billions more promised, we need to draw a line in the sand.
It is about time the Australian public knows what our tax dollars are buying and who is raking them in.
For over a decade people seeking asylum and refugees have faced torturous conditions in Nauru and PNG, funded by the Australian government. The whole system is not just morally corrupt but financially corrupt too, and it’s time we heard the full truth about it.
The fact that the Albanese Labor Government explicitly opposed this inquiry speaks volumes. Imagine that, after all the scandals, all the corruption, all the abuse, to then oppose even a little bit of oversight.”
Andrew Wilkie has welcomed the chance to address forestry exemptions in the environment bill the Greens negotiated on with the government:
I welcome the changes to the Federal Government’s environmental law reforms. I voted against the reforms in the House of Representatives because, as initially drafted, it was clear the Government had forgotten they were supposed to actually stop environmental destruction.
While the amended package is still far from perfect, there is now at least some greater protection for the environment and, of particular importance for Tasmania, for forests specifically.
I’ve long campaigned for the removal of the exemption in the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act for Regional Forest Agreements, as there was never a good excuse for forestry not to meet the same standards as elsewhere. Ruling out expedited approvals for fossil fuel projects is also a welcome step forward.
Of course, I’d much prefer the reforms included a genuinely independent Environmental Protection Authority, a proper recognition of climate impacts in the assessment and approval process, and better consultation and engagement standards for First Nations peoples and local communities.
Laws, of course, should not remain stagnant. They should be continually reviewed and improved. So I’ll keep advocating for improvements to ensure our national environmental laws consider climate impacts, provide strong protection for the environment and strong protections from vested interests.
Just a reminder that Australian music artists are struggling so badly they need a charity.