RBA holds cash rate at 0.1% as Coalition shuts down bid to censure Craig Kelly – as it happened

Klemm continued to say he is hopeful about the state of the fire, but said the fire was pretty large.

It is reflective of the wind, certainly reflective of the wind strength yesterday and again last night. Really, really dry. The relative humidity. Low dew point. That means you have a low and dry atmosphere with intense fire behaviour.

His message to people still in the affected region to be on standby, and to have a bushfire plan.

They should have a bushfire plan. That is the most critical thing. That should have been done already.

Importantly, they should be listening to the warnings. It is not a case of just going to bed and thinking that things will be OK in the morning because we continually, particularly with emergency warnings, they come out every hour. We use a telephone warning system so we can wake people if needed.

Warnings were used extensively last night because of the intense fire behaviour and because that was at 1am or 2am.

When asked if he expects if any further buildings will be destroyed, Klemm says they are still in a “difficult moment”.

At the moment, we are still in really difficult conditions. The southern flank of the fire and its proximity through to the top of Brigadoon and Upper Swan are still a great concern for us. Our warnings reflect that.

There is a lot of work to be done on the fire to make it safe. We are a long way from that point. The issues around access are such that there is still an active fire.

Klemm also confirmed that nobody has lost their life and there have been no injuries to the public so far.

We’re just waiting now for an update from the DFES commissioner on the Perth fires.

Former PM Kevin Rudd has said it is Australia’s responsibility to demonstrate “solidarity” with Aung San Suu Kyi during the military coup in Myanmar.

The former Australian prime minister and president of the Asia Society Policy Institute was on ABC News24 earlier this afternoon discussing Australia’s response to the crisis.

The first step should be having a razor-sharp focus on Aung San Suu Kyi’s personal safety and that on the elected members of the Burmese parliament.

I would strongly recommend to the Australian government, and to like-minded governments, to dispatch our military attaches in Yangon to go and see the military leadership, military to military, to demand the safety and security of the government in Burma.

If the military in Burma refused to do that, a range of other options should be considered, one of which is dispatch of an envoy. The former Indonesian Foreign Minister comes to mind, who has dealt with the military in Myanmar over many decades.

Then, we come to the question of sanctions against the Burmese military, but I would consider it in that order.

Collingwood football club president Eddie McGuire has apologised for his comments on Monday following the release of a report that found there was “structural racism” at the AFL club. McGuire on Tuesday evening stated he’d been wrong to say it was a “proud day for the club”.

McGuire had been widely criticised for his comments at a press conference to address the report that examined the history of racism at the Collingwood football club. AFL boss Gillon McLachlan on Tuesday said of McGuire’s comments: “The articulation, I didn’t agree with it.”

At the opening of the Collingwood annual general meeting on Tuesday evening, McGuire apologised for his previous comments:

Over the course of an hour, we answered every question, but in my opening [comments] I got it wrong.

I said it was a proud day for Collingwood, and I shouldn’t have.

I meant to sincerely acknowledge not only the enormous work the club had done, especially Jodie Sizer and Peter Murphy, in bringing this report together, but also the work of all our staff and their preparedness to take a deep and uncompromising look into our past as a club.

I did not mean we’re proud of past incidents of racism and the hurt that have caused. It’s been interpreted widely that way, and I regret that deeply.

McGuire said the focus on his comments had been a distraction from the report and the club was apologetic and humbled:

And we are also galvanised to dismantle any structures of systematic racism.

This is my last year of 23 years as president of this club I want to leave it knowing that I have helped implement the next stage of changes, we have committed to on this historic mission, committed to a year of hard work to implement these recommendations.

So we become an even more inclusive club.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire is currently addressing the AGM about how he handled the report into systemic racism in the club, and has seemingly taken back his comments calling yesterday a “proud day for the club”.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has declared the Pfizer vaccine safe for older patients.

The declaration comes after around 30 elderly people in Norway died after receiving the vaccine, but the TGA believes it is safe.

The cases were part of the discussion at a meeting between the TGA and European experts, with the meeting concluding that no causal link could be established between vaccination and deaths.

Medical regulators in North America, the UK and Europe have made similar conclusions, the TGA says.

Elderly patients can receive this vaccine and there is no cap on the upper age limit.

The TGA will continue to monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines as they are rolled out in Australia and internationally.

For frail patients over the age of 85, the TGA says the benefits of the vaccine should be weighed against the potential risk of even mild reactions.

The Victorian government should clarify the role chief health officer during the next pandemic, according to a parliamentary inquiry.

The 500-page Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) investigation into the Victorian government’s response to the pandemic also found that without the strict lockdown, there would have been 20,000 Covid-19 cases each day.

The investigation outlined that before the pandemic hit, the state’s health department had planned for the CHO to take the lead on any emergency response in a pandemic.

However, during the planning stages of the Covid-19 response, it was not clear what role the CHO would play.

The committee found the government should “clearly define and make public the roles and responsibilities of officials” during any future emergencies to ensure “clarity, accountability and transparency”.

The investigation concluded by making 47 recommendations, including that the government release modelling of various possible scenarios in future pandemics and that one of its contact tracing benchmarks be improved.

A meteorologist from the Bureau of Meteorology was just on the ABC, saying the fire near Perth would be “quite dangerous over the next few days”.

Jonathan Howe said persistent easterly winds coming in were continuing to fan the flames.

We really do need rain. That wind isn’t going to let up. There’s a potential for the tropical low moving down, but there’s quite a bit of uncertainty for this one. It could be a double-edged sword. We’ll see the really gusty easterly winds pick up, but we could see some rainfall over the weekend as well.

Leading up to summer, we are in at a La Niña period, and even though it means wetter than average conditions for eastern Australia, in the south-western WA it’s the opposite. We have seen higher than average temperatures and drier conditions. We’ve seen a really drying out of the grass fuels and also forest fuels as well over the past few months. And unfortunately, it has led to this fire starting and very dangerous conditions which is what we expect for this time of year.

The NSW Rural Fire Service is sending a large water tanker to help with the fire fighting efforts in Western Australia.

The 737 is named after former NSW governor Dame Marie Bashir, and can carry 15,000 litres of water of fire retardant, and can be filled in just 15 minutes.

The plane is currently en-route.

Good afternoon everyone, and a quick thanks to Amy for once again expertly guiding us through the day’s news.

There’s still much to get through, with the fire continuing to burn near Perth, so let’s dive in.

That’s where I will leave you today – Mostafa Rachwani will guide you through the evening, and we’ll be keeping a very strong focus on the fire in WA – thinking of all of you in Perth right now. It’s a lot, and we are keeping everything crossed for you.

Thank you for joining me for the first official day of parliament – I’ll be back with politics live tomorrow for day 2. We have Phil Lowe at the press club, and the Bob Brown Foundation judgment (on native forrest logging) and the Westpac vs Asic ‘wagyu and shiraz” judgment is also due (that was on responsible lending laws – the original judgment may reference to consumers eating wagyu not being relevant, because people would cut back on luxuries when paying back a loan).

Both cases will have wider implications depending on which they go, so we’ll keep an eye on them for you.

A big thank you to everyone for today, and all of your messages – I am slowly returning them as I can. I’ll be back here tomorrow – in the meantime, take care of you.

Over in the Victorian parliament, Daniel Andrews’s government is attempting to extend its Covid emergency powers until December.

The opposition have said they will oppose the bill, meaning its back to negotiating with the crossbench to get it through the upper house.

Ed Husic is also asked about the CFMEU ad that depicts Scott Morrison driving a literal bus (called the omnibus) towards workers, which is meant to illustrate workers being hit by IR changes, and whether it goes too far:

Husic:

Some of the unions, or some people will try and characterise it in that way, and whether or not that works in their favour, to be putting it bluntly, I think there is a genuine concern about what the government’s industrial relations reforms will do, what impact they will have on working people.

When you go through the detail of what they are proposing, they will be seeing the greatest burden placed on working Australians and it’s just wrong. They shouldn’t have cuts to their take-home pay.

In saying that, public information campaigns that are run, you want to be bringing people with you, I’m sure there will be a lot of who react strongly to that imagery. And it’s something to be borne in mind as to whether or not that works in your favour or doesn’t.

But I think we cannot be distracted from the biggest thing, and the biggest thing is this, the reforms the government are putting forward impact on people’s take-home pay, job security, enforcing terms that are really, for example, greenfield agreements running eight years.

This is just ridiculous in terms of some of the stuff being put forward. I think we really do need to focus on those material impacts.

It is not the greatest ad I’ve ever seen – but then again, we have also had a political ad in the not-so-distant past where Bob Katter “shot” people representing the Liberal and Labor party, so the bar is pretty low.

Ed Husic is on the ABC this afternoon, where he is asked about the topic of the day – government backbencher Craig Kelly and the government’s leadership refusal to censure him.

Husic:

The prime minister occupies an important place in the country, the words of the prime minister matter, the actions mean even more, and in this case allowing Craig Kelly to just keep rolling on the way he is, to undermine the investment of taxpayer dollars, in information campaigns to embrace the inoculation process, to help us deal with a Covid-19 pandemic that has crippled the economy for the best part of 2020, resulted in 2 million Australians being unemployed or underemployed and the vaccine bringing one way to bring us closer to normal, as it were, this is just wrong, that you could have a government MP being allowed by virtue of inaction by the prime minister for that to continue.

It shouldn’t, and if he did take this matter seriously it would be reined in and it wouldn’t be an issue and you and me wouldn’t be talking about it.

The Reserve Bank of Australia governor, Phil Lowe, will be in Canberra tomorrow to address the National Press Club – for the last few years he has done a start of year speech, as as bit of a central bank scene setter.

In the first meeting of the year, the RBA board decided to hold the cash rate target at 0.1% (no surprises there) but Lowe repeated the rate wouldn’t move up until actual inflation hits somewhere between 2% and 3%.

The bank doesn’t expect that to happen until 2024 – at the earliest.

Late last year the RBA announced a shift in policy – it is going to focus on unemployment rather than inflation for the immediate future – and Lowe wants to see wage growth as part of that.

Mike Bowers has emerged from question time:

In a somewhat rare turn of events, it appears someone within the tactics team leaked the Coalition’s Senate question time pack to Labor (there is not a lot of information in there, other than who is going to ask a question, what the question is, and in what order, but it takes away the element of surprise somewhat).

I can’t remember that happening to Mathias Cormann, so it isn’t the greatest start to Simon Birmingham’s reign as leader of government business in the Senate.

Labor made sure to wreak as much havoc as they could, reciting questions en masse at the same time as the government senator who was reading the dixer.

Not the end of the world, but still, interesting that it happened.

Western Australia’s health minister, Roger Cook, says that security guards in Perth’s quarantine hotels are not required to wear face masks at all times.

Cook’s comments come as WA authorities reveal that the security guard who contracted the UK variant of the virus may have caught it from a returned traveller he delivered medication to on 24 January.

Cook said:

Security guards or any personnel in a hotel quarantine don’t need to wear masks at every point of that building and at every point to carry out their duties. There are particular circumstances in which they are required to wear PPE. At other times they may not be.

A reporter asked whether security guards would be required to wear a mask if they were working on the same floor as a person confirmed as having the virus.

Cook said:

“No, not necessarily. If people are in their rooms and the guard is simply monitoring that corridor, not necessarily. They would have to carry it with them to protect themselves in the event that someone is in the room.”

Reporter: “Is that under review?”

Cook: “Everything is under review.”

Cook also clarified the timing of the man notifying his employer that he was unwell. The man first felt unwell on 28 January, went to his doctor on 29 January. He was not scheduled to work until 30 January. Cook said the man called his employer at 5.30am on the morning of the 30th then went to get a Covid-19 test.

Craig Waters says firefighters are also wearing masks (while not on the fire ground) and socially distancing, as everyone tries to deal with a fire emergency in the middle of a health pandemic.

But fire trumps pandemic – if you are in the fire zone and can leave your home, you should.

Waters:

With the current restrictions with Covid-19, or people who have been asked to isolate because of travel restrictions, they need to do whatever they need to do to look after their own safety and the safety of their loved ones.

If that means staying with a family member or a friend, that is fine.

If they have to go to an evacuation centre, that is fine too.

They just need to make sure that they do the appropriate thing, commonsense, self-isolate, wear a mask, make it known to representatives from the department that they are required to self-isolate.

They will also be required to contact police as well.

Craig Waters is giving an update on the Perth fire, on behalf of Western Australia’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

Residents in areas where a warning has been issued are being urged to leave.

Waters:

Because of the uncertainty of this fire and the changing wind conditions, residents in this area are under immediate danger. If you have not put your bushfire plan in place, you need to do that straightaway. We’re also encouraging members of the public to go to the emergency WA website.

If you’re in the shaded area on the map, it is too late to leave and you need to shelter in place. All other warning areas, the best option is to leave early and should leave now.

You’ll find the map here

Anthony Albanese is making a speech on indulgence about his head-on car crash over the summer.

He thanks all those who contacted him from all sides of politics to ensure he was OK.

He again thanks the off-duty nurse and police who were on the scene, and helped keep him calm while he was trapped in the car, and the paramedics who gave him urgent care.

Staff at Royal Prince Albert hospital also get a personal thank you.

Question time ends.

Back to QT for a moment – Mark Butler tries to ask Scott Morrison this question:

Yesterday the prime minister patted the member for Hughes on the back, said he does a great job.

The prime minister explained how the member for Hughes’s record of undermining medical advice about vaccines, attacking Australia’s health agencies and calling masks a form of child abuse during a pandemic is doing a great job.

Will the prime minister now condemn the member for his remarks as irresponsible.

Tony Smith rules it out of order, because it is asking about the prime minister’s views of a member and his statements, which he says goes against practice.

Tony Burke argues Labor is asking about a comment the prime minister made himself.

Right now it is more important than ever in terms of policy that there be public confidence in our health agencies during a pandemic.

So in both paths, none of that in both parts, both in terms of a quote from the prime minister himself, and the link to the importance of public policy, I’d asked you to reconsider whether the question is in order, and I’ve got to say very strongly on the second point.

Obviously, you know, we’re well aware of the importance of the issue but that doesn’t modify standing orders or practice.

Smith says the practice is laid out.

Anthony Albanese then argues that his order then means the government can no longer ask questions “on alternative views”:

With respect for the ruling that you’ve made, there are two points.

One is that if it is not possible for the opposition or any member in this parliament to ask the prime minister about a quote that he has made – this is a statement that the prime minister made at the National Press Club yesterday.

Yes, the second part of that question does put the context in which the question was asked, otherwise it wouldn’t make sense. So that’s why the second part has to be put in there. So that’s point one.

The second point I’ll make is that if your ruling is to be consistent, then every time those opposite ask about alternative views of those on this side of the House and those questions are out of order.

Because what we have on this side of the chamber, day after day, is questions whereby we get responses that go for three minutes 30 seconds about their policy, then two and a half minutes about us.

That is, in my view, very clearly the implication of this ruling, and perhaps you might like to reflect on member for Rankin on that as well. But I think very clearly in this chamber, the prime minister of the day has always had to answer questions about ... their statements in public.

Smith still rules the question out of order:

Yes, ministers and prime ministers have been asked about their statements, but the statements have to relate to the ministerial or prime ministerial responsibilities.

... The prime minister or minister made a statement about a member. ‘What do you think of all that’ opens up a Pandora’s box.

Now I will say to the leader of the opposition, and to the manager of opposition business, I can understand the point they’re trying to make. I hope you understand the point I’m trying to make on behalf of all members.

Eighty per cent of homes in the rural Tilden Park area of Gidgegannup, north-east of Perth, have been destroyed by a fast-moving bushfire, the Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, has said.

“DFES advise they have lost 80% of all properties in the rural area of Tilden Park in Gidgegannup. DFES will be conducting inquiries at the Tilden Park fire scene this morning in an attempt to establish where there has been any loss of life.”

Earlier, the mayor of the City of Swan estimated that the fire may have destroyed at least 30 homes.

Some 2,750 homes and businesses in the Perth Hills are now out of power. McGowan urged people to remain at least eight metres back from any fallen power lines and report them to authorities on 131 351.

McGowan said:

This is an extremely concerning and serious situation. The thoughts of all Western Australians are with the people impacted.

Right now, WA is battling two different kinds of emergencies – a dangerous fire emergency and a Covid-19 lockdown emergency.

Can I also give my heartfelt thanks to our firefighters and emergency workers who have done and continue to perform a crucial and critical role. You are true heroes. It is going to be an extremely challenging day for everyone involved. Please do everything you can to keep you and your family safe and look after each other.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) will hold a press conference later today.

We have Calla Wahlquist, Matilda Boseley and Elias Visontay following the WA situation, both on the Covid and fire front.

We’ll bring you more updates as they come.

In better news for WA, Mark McGowan says there has been no more locally acquired cases of Covid following a security guard working in a quarantine testing positive.

That’s from more than 16,000 tests, so that is an excellent result.

Another aerial tanker is on its way to Perth.

Mark McGowan:

I want to update you on another emergency situation with bushfires threatening lives and homes north-east of Perth.

I understand DFES will do a media conference and provide a comprehensive update on the Wooroloo fire situation later today. I urge people to listen to the advice and follow the instructions.

People in the area are in danger. There is a threat to lives and homes.

This is an extremely dangerous fire. Please visit emergency.wa.gov.au or call 13 DFES – that is, 13 33 37 – follow DFES on Facebook and Twitter, and continue to listen to local news bulletins.

Planning has been going overnight to address the potential impact. A number of homes have been lost and the morning winds are predicted to turn from easterly to north-westerly. Weather conditions are extremely volatile. For the people affected by the fire, an evacuation centre has been established at Brown Park in Swan View. DFES advise they have lost 80% of all properties in the rural area of Tilden Park in Gidgegannup.

DFES will be conducting inquiries at the Tilden Park fire scene this morning in an attempt to establish where there has been any loss of life.

Western Power advises that around 2,750 homes and businesses are without power due to the bushfires burning in Wooroloo, Bailup, and Gidgegannup in the Shire of Mundaring and City of Swan. Western Power is working closely with DFES and will safely access the fire ground when possible to assess the damage before we begin repair and restoration.

At this stage, there has been significant damage to the network.

We urge people to stay eight metres away from – as a minimum from any fallen powerlines or other damage to the network. And report it to us on 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard and make the area safe. We are currently securing another large aerial tanker from New South Wales to assist. It should be here in Western Australia later today.

I’m not not bashing my head on my desk after that stretch of logic.

Moving on.

Angus Taylor takes a dixer on the increase of renewables on the Australian grid, pointing to solar as one of the great success stories.

It is.

But mostly because of state government policies, which provided very generous feed-in tariffs and subsidies.

But, you know, never let the truth get in the way of a great story.

Andrew Leigh wants to know why the government hounded robodebt victims, but is letting corporations keep millions of dollars from jobkeeper that was spent on bonuses or paying dividends.

Scott Morrison talks about how the government apologised and paid the money back (after losing court cases, which he doesn’t mention) and then repeats that jobkeeper helped save the economy.

He also includes this, which is how you know he is getting annoyed:

What I noticed from the Labor party is they like to have an each-way bet on this pandemic.

They want to support the government’s initiative and oppose the government’s initiatives all at the same time.

That’s not something that Australians can rely on, an opposition party that has become a fight club, not an opposition, Mr Speaker, and cannot, cannot agree with itself, Mr Speaker.

Julie Collins also asks about the coming end of jobkeeper, and Scott Morrison decides to take this one.

He gets cranky. Perhaps he needs a nice turn about the lake.

Morrison:

The opposition says you’re spending not enough Mr Speaker, and then they say we’re spending too much.

Well, Mr Speaker, we’re not going to take fiscal advice from the Labor party.

Our government has demonstrated its fiscal responsibility, but also the urgency of fiscal action when it is necessary, which the governor of the Reserve Bank has also commended now, Mr Speaker, for those sectors and those areas, specifically, who are continuing to contend with the effects of the pandemic.

We have already demonstrated that we will continue to provide targeted support, Mr Speaker, where that can be effective, and that is what exactly what the government will do, and what those opposite have done all throughout this pandemic and continue to do here, Mr Speaker, is to seek to undermine the competence of Australians, as we work through this, whether it’s seeking to undermine the great work that has been done in rolling out the vaccines, Mr Speaker, or elsewhere, what we see from the opposition, Mr Speaker, is an opposition addicted to politics and not solutions.

Friends of the blog have gone through some of Scott Morrison’s recent speeches and found that he quite likes a boat story.

There is a photo of “Scotty Mo” (his high school nickname) hanging in the Sydney Boys High School’s rowing shed in Abbotsford.

So it’s not just stopping boats he likes. He’s a fan of rowing them, and watching them too, apparently.

The foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, has spoken in the Senate about the developments in Myanmar.

Payne did not flag any new actions at this point on sanctions or cutting defence ties but said she had spoken about the developments with her counterpart in Brunei, which is the Asean chair. Payne also said she had spoken with Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and had raised Myanmar in the discussion.

Payne said Australia had expressed its deep concern about the developments, which have included the military’s detention of democratically elected leaders.

She said political stability of Asean member states was vital to maintaining a peaceful, prosperous region. Australia was staying in close contact with other countries, including through the embassy in Yangon.

“Australia has been a long standing partner for Myanmar through good times and more difficult periods.”

Payne said Australia’s development program in Myanmar included a focus on promoting peace and stability and supporting elections. She said Australia’s commitment to Myanmar’s development and and its people “continues at this difficult time”, including on the issue of Covid-19 vaccinations.

“We sincerely hope to see Myanmar succeed for the benefit of all of is people and for the region as a whole.”

Payne ended by assuring the diaspora community in Australia that “we will stand with them at this difficult time”.

Jim Chalmers to Josh Frydenberg: why are you cutting Jobkeeper to the tourist industry, “but can splash $100m on sports rorts”?

Frydenberg is using a lot of words to say “we were always going to cut jobkeeper after six months”.

Given we keep hearing about Kyoto, it is worth reminding you what those targets were (thank you Daniel Hurst).

First commitment period of Kyoto: Australia committed to no more than an 8% increase in net greenhouse gas emissions in 2008 to 2012 period (compared with 1990 levels).

Kyoto 2nd commitment period: Australia committed to reducing its emissions to 99.5 per cent of 1990 levels for the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period (2013–20) (that’s a 0.5% cut against that baseline year, but the government says it’s consistent with a 5% cut when compared with 2000 levels).

I just had to check the tape, but yes, we have also had this line from Scott Morrison this afternoon, in answer to a dixer on how well Australia is doing in the pandemic.

Emergencies are emergencies and then you have to emerge from them.

You’re seeing a line being made in real time ladies and gentlemen. Emergencies – emerge. Like florals for spring. Groundbreaking.

That’s why he gets the big bucks, obviously.

Scott Morrison also makes a point of saying the election will be next year.

So an election this year is all but confirmed then.

Adam Bandt gets the independents’ question.

He wants to know if Scott Morrison will lift Australia’s 2030 targets ahead of Joe Biden’s coming climate summit in April.

Morrison falls back on “meet and beat” targets and points to Kyoto.

(A reminder that for the first part of the Kyoto targets, Australia negotiated to be allowed an 8% INCREASE to emissions.)

Morrison then says Bandt is “not interested in the how” but he is. And the “how” is apparently “transformational technology”.

I’m still waiting for an actual hoverboard, but cool.

Over in the Senate, the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the US president, Joe Biden, had made climate action a priority and was going to hold a climate summit on 22 April. Hanson-Young said Biden had spoken to many heads of state but hasn’t yet spoken Morrison: “Why hasn’t this call happened. Is Mr Morrison way down the call list because he’s a climate laggard?”

Simon Birmingham, the leader of the government in the Senate, responded: “I am certain of one thing and that is President Biden won’t be scheduling his call list on the advice of Senate Hanson-Young or the Australian Greens.”

Birmingham said the new Biden administration had already engaged deeply in building the relationship with the Morrison government. He pointed to calls the foreign and defence ministers had received from their counterparts, and noted John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, had spoken with Angus Taylor. Birmingham said he had “no doubt” that discussions between Biden and Morrison would happen soon. Birmingham rejected the characterisation of Australia’s climate record as that of a laggard.

Tony Burke has a question for Scott Morrison on why store managers who work the overnight shifts face losing thousands of dollars in shift penalties under the government’s proposed IR legislation.

Scott Morrison flicks it to Christian Porter, which Burke draws attention to.

Porter once again says it is not going to happen.

Michael McCormack failed to find a personality over the summer.

He’s answering a dixer in the same way I imagine one of the prototype AI robots would, if they were fed only buzzwords from a CWA morning tea.

Richard Marles wants to know why workers earning under $57,000 face losing penalty shift rates under the government legislation.

Christian Porter says it isn’t true, because Labor said people would lose money before Christmas and that didn’t happen (the bill hasn’t passed) so obviously no one would listen to Labor.

Tony Burke attempts to table the document from retailers asking for penalty rate cuts ahead of Christmas, but Porter says no.

The rest of the condolence motion for the former governor-general has referred to the federation chamber.

Scott Morrison is presenting the new ministry list, after his small reshuffle, and Anthony Albanese presents his reshuffled list.

And now the first question time of 2021 begins.

ACT Health gave an exemption for Western Australian federal MPs to attend parliament – but as AAP reports some have still decided to return home, just in case the lockdown is extended.

At least four federal MPs have returned home to WA instead of staying in Canberra for the first sitting of parliament for the year.

WA MPs were given special exemption to work in Parliament House after the bulk of their home state went into a hard lockdown to deal with a coronavirus case, forcing the ACT to put in place restrictions on visitors from that state.

Labor frontbencher Madeleine King was one of those who decided to turn around and go home.

“Each of us as members of parliament have different responsibilities and different roles in the parliament; also different responsibilities to our electorates and different private and personal responsibilities,” she told Sky News on Tuesday.

“A few of us made the decision to return home.”

King said she also had some concerns about “the ability to return to Perth” should circumstances in the pandemic change this week.

“Not everyone perhaps shared those concerns as much as me but some did and on that basis I did decide to return home to my community.”

Other Labor MPs to return included Anne Aly, Matt Keogh and Josh Wilson.

The 90-second statements have ended, but question time is going to be delayed for the condolence motions for former MPs and past senior government figures who died during the summer.

Major general Philip Jeffery, a former governor general, is the first major condolence motion.

Labor MP Tim Watts has used his 90-second statement to talk all things Craig Kelly, calling him a “conspiracy theory super-spreader”, complete with a picture of Pete Evans’s $15,000 magic Covid light thingy, which was supposed to protect you from Covid. Kelly appeared on Evans’s podcast this week.

He gets in trouble for the prop, but the point stands.

The Australian government does not have an agreement with this Australian firm.

It’s amazing how long it takes for these things to be made public, and picked up, before they are fixed.

The health minister, Greg Hunt, has foreshadowed a debate over allowing a partial DNA donation in Australia related to mitochondrial disease.

Hunt provided Coalition colleagues with a briefing at the joint party room meeting today. He said the government would soon release a consultation paper about how Australia might adopt approach that would allow for such partial DNA donation.

Draft legislation is expected to be ready in late March, with a parliamentary vote possible in May or June. Significantly, Hunt indicated that Coalition MPs would have a free vote on the issue rather than be bound to a unified government position.

Further to Paul’s post, it is worth keeping in mind that for some markets, like Cairns, up to 40% of the tourism market is from international tourists.

So almost half of the tourist market is locked out, not because of state border closures, but because of the international border closure - which will remain closed for this year.

That’s why the government is considering a rescue package - but it also something to keep in mind when you hear the federal government and its MPs complain state governments (cough Queensland cough) aren’t doing enough to restart tourism.

And just because it is that kind of day:

Here is how Mike Bowers saw the division to suspend standing orders to debate censuring Craig Kelly (Labor lost).

Tfw you’re trending again and you mistake attention for validation

Apparently, one Coalition MP raised “Covid treatment options” as an issue in the party room.

No one responded.

Dollars for doughnuts that MP was Craig Kelly.

The New Zealand Nationals did an entire advertising campaign based around a team rowing together a few years ago.

The Queensland LNP then lifted it (from memory, it was the same advertising firm – Crosby Textor I think) and used exactly the same imagery and ads.

Looks like the ole row boat is getting a third run, with Daniel Hurst reporting:

We understand Morrison’s advice to his colleagues, based on a rowing analogy, is: “Keep your eyes in the boat – no matter what else is happening, to not be distracted, maintain coordination and continue working together.”

Just keeping your eyes on the boat worked out great for the Titanic. Just saying.

The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, counselled his colleagues that it was important not to accept commentators’ views that Coalition already had the next election in the bag.

At the joint party room meeting, the deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, said there was no greater privilege than being in government and delivering for communities.

McCormack said in his recent travels he had found Australians encouraging, optimistic and hopeful.

The Greens have demanded the Australian government sever any ties it has with the Myanmar military, after it seized control of the parliament on Monday.

Janet Rice:

The Australian government must turn their concern into action. Australia must scrap all military ties with Myanmar until democratic processes have been restored, and impose targeted sanctions on General Min Aung Hlaing and all others involved in this action by the military.

The Australian government should also accept any political refugees from Myanmar seeking protection in Australia.”

Rex Patrick, who left Centre Alliance last year, has set up his own political party.

It’s called the Rex Patrick Team - following in the footsteps of his former boss, Nick Xenophon, who called his political party the Nick Xenophon Team. A lot of original thinking going on there.

Continuing the original thinking, his logo is apparently an echidna, and the slogan is ‘sic em’ Rex’ which I am reliably informed is related to this very strange underwear commercial from the 1980s.

Leaving aside why you would ever call underwear ‘Antz Pantz’ and thereby make people think of itches, I am not sure why as a politician you would want to align yourself with this particular echidna.

It’s not an issue covering many front pages – but the cost of insurance in north Queensland (or even in some cases, getting insurance) is outrageously, impossibly high.

It’s a huge issue for a region which is constantly under threat from natural disasters (which, yes, are exacerbated by climate change). Not being able to get flood or cyclone insurance is a massive deal.

It’s an issue which has been building, without solution, for more than six years now.

The Local Government Association of Queensland wants the federal government to fix it:

The peak body representing Queensland’s 77 councils is urging the Federal Government to establish a national reinsurance pool to help reduce the cost of insurance premiums in North Queensland and across northern Australia.

The Local Government Association of Queensland has called for this measure in its Federal Budget submission to the Commonwealth, in support of member councils like Townsville City Council and the Whitsunday Regional Council and their communities, who have been vocal for some time in calling for change.

A precedent already exists from when the former Howard Government established the terrorism reinsurance scheme and the LGAQ is asking the Commonwealth to follow that precedent and establish a similar arrangement for insurance in northern Australia.

The government closes down the debate.

Interestingly, it seems on the numbers, that the crossbench voted with Labor on that.

Richard Marles tries to get the Craig Kelly motion up again. “Anti-vaxxer conspirator” is all he manages before the debate is once again gagged.

Morning all. Amy has brought your attention to the rituals that are deployed at the opening of the parliament.

A trip to the Australian War Memorial. A church service. It’s worth noting that the Labor leader Anthony Albanese raised the frontier wars during his remarks at the war memorial last night – and in stark terms.

Albanese’s point was the stories Australians tell themselves about sacrifices made during armed conflict are not complete.

These stories often omit the war unleashed on the original inhabitants of the land by British settlers. Here’s an excerpt from his speech.

Anthony Albanese:

Our nation has stood against darkness and won, but darkness is not vanquished from the world. Freedom is not something we can keep carelessly. Nor is freedom free. We gather here to remember those who have paid its price. But there are holes in our memory we need to fill. Not least the Indigenous soldiers who went and fought. Those First Australians who donned the khaki and left their homes to fight for a nation that was not prepared to fight for them. A nation that did not treat them as equals. Not when they went. Not when they returned from those distant battlefields. Yet they went. They fought for a continent that had been the home of their people for a long, unbroken chain of millennia. A continent for which their ancestors had fought so desperately during the frontier wars — wars we have not yet learned to speak of so loudly. They died protecting their loved ones. They died protecting their way of life. They died for their country. We must remember them just as we remember those who fought more recent foes.

Here is the motion (which won’t be argued because the government is using its numbers to gag debate)

That the House:

1. notes:

a) the Member for Hughes’ repeated use of social media to spread damaging mistruths about COVID-19;

b) comments made by the Member for Hughes regarding COVID-19 vaccinations which have the potential to undermine public confidence in the upcoming rollout;

c) the Member for Hughes’ claims have repeatedly been refuted by health experts;

d) last week, the Member for Hughes told SBS he is in “regular contact with the Health Minister and the Prime Minister’s office”;

e) yesterday at the National Press Club, the Prime Minister again refused to condemn the Member for Hughes’ irresponsible and dangerous comments during a pandemic;

1. calls on the Prime Minister to condemn the irresponsible and dangerous comments of the Member for Hughes.

The government wins the division to shut down debate.

Ayes 62

Nos 59

Ged Kearney jumps up to try and have the motion censuring Craig Kelly again –

“The member for Hughes is a dangerous fool and a real leader would have (censured) him by now” is all she gets out, before she too is shut down.

Darren Chester asks her to withdraw the comment – Tony Smith, the Speaker, says she doesn’t have to.

“Mr Speaker, the member for Hughes is a dangerous menace to the national Covid response,” Mark Butler says, before he is shut down.

“You never shut down Craig,” someone from the Labor benches calls out, as a division is called.

The government better get a wriggle on – its benches are almost empty.

The government hasn’t said how much the jobseeker rate will be once the covid supplement runs out on 31 March.

It’s been dropped to $150 a fortnight – so an extra $75 a week – from its former rate of $40 a day.

Even before the pandemic, there were screaming calls to raise the rate. The pandemic saw a the rate almost doubled for a few months, which lifted many long term unemployed people out of poverty for the first time. There hasn’t been a real world raise to the rate (outside of the pandemic) for two decades.

We know whatever the government lands on, it’s not going to be a lot. Beyond that, we don’t know what figure the government will decide on.

This morning, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry argued for the rate to stay at $40 a day, with increases to rent assistance, or public transport subsidies, and increased access to training, while speaking to RN Breakfast. It wants supplement to cover internet/public transport access – which it says will help people access work. But in terms of the daily rate, it only wants the supplement to remain for the long-term unemployed.

“The main focus for unemployment policy for people who are recently unemployed is to get them back into work as soon as possible, and that is more than just the rate,” ACCI’s Jenny Lambert told the ABC.

The Business Council of Australia has recommended an increase. Economists have recommended an increase. It’s not out of the goodness of their hearts – it’s because it is good for the economy. The reason the government increased the supplement at the beginning of the pandemic, was purely to save the economy. Because people without money spend money when they get it. The only people who can afford to hold on to money, are those who have enough to cover their daily expenses. And that is not people on jobseeker.

Parliament is about to officially begin for 2021.

A little more detail about the Labor caucus meeting this morning, where the opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, warmed up some of his lines for the next election.

After thanking the caucus for all of the well wishes after his recent car accident, Albanese referred to the twin themes of “no one held back” and “no one left behind”. Both of these lines are expected to feature heavily in Labor messaging in the lead-up to the election that could be held in the second half of this year or the first half of next year.

The Labor leader argued that the “no one held back” line should be seen as “a call to aspiration”.

Albanese also reported to his colleagues that the national campaign committee is now meeting – but he noted it had not met for over a decade.

(A short bit of background here: the Labor review of the 2019 election defeat said no formal campaign committee had been established, “creating no forum for formulating an effective strategy or for receiving reports evaluating progress against the strategy”. The review called for a formal campaign committee to be established early, with representatives of the party and the leadership group.)

Albanese said that at the next election, Scott Morrison would be asking for the Liberal-National Coalition to have more time in office than John Howard had.

Albanese portrayed the Coalition agenda as cutting jobkeeper, jobseeker and wages.

“Once we get past March, and it will be after parliament rises, workers and businesses will feel the impact of these cuts,” Albanese said.

“People in Queensland haven’t forgotten that Scott Morrison came to Queensland to campaign against decisions Annastacia Palaszczuk took to keep people safe. People in Western Australia haven’t forgotten that Scott Morrison joined with Clive Palmer to oppose decisions that Mark McGowan took to keep people safe.”

Mark Butler:

I think the prime minister should outline what steps he is going to take to stop Craig Kelly’s relentless campaign at undermining the nation’s Covid response. At the least he’s got to condemn it.

He can’t pat him on the back yesterday, saying he’s doing a good job as the member for Hughes, when Craig Kelly spends most of his time undermining the advice of our public health experts.

He’s accused the chief medical officer of cruise missiles against humanity. He said that mask wearing is child abuse. Every step of the way, as we’ve been trying to build this response, trying to put Australians in the best position to get through this pandemics, we’ve had someone receiving taxpayer funds as an MP, sitting in the Government’s party room, undermining that response. The prime minister needs to take action.

Mark Butler is holding his press conference on Craig Kelly’s claims.

He says it’s a hard line to thread because of the whole Streisand Effect (drawing attention to something thereby creating more attention for it) but says Kelly’s reach is vast.

The chats are slowly happening

There is always a lot of religion involved in a parliament representing a secular nation.

Mike Bowers was there for the traditional ecumenical service ahead of the new parliamentary year.

Parliament will be starting at midday today – the first part room and caucus meetings are being held at the moment, so we’ll let you know what comes from that.

The home affairs departmental head, Mike Pezzullo, was on Sky News this morning – seems like there is a pretty important job remaining vacant at the moment.

Craig Kelly appears to be emerging as a theme of the day.

Mark Butler, Labor’s health shadow minister, has announced he’ll hold a press conference today - the topic?

Scott Morrison refusing to condemn Craig Kelly’s dangerous Covid-19 conspiracies.

Simon Birmingham was on ABC RN Breakfast this morning, where he was also asked about Craig Kelly and his views.

He said being a democracy, the government could not control everything its MPs say.

(Which must be news to political parties who sit in opposition to the government, given how many times government leaders have demanded those parties show leadership and take responsibility for what their MPs say.)

Anyways, Birmingham also wants you to listen to the experts and not his colleague.

Whether you’re a member of the public, a member of the media, or a member of parliament – everyone should rely upon and promote the advice of the medical experts in their fields,”

He did not censure Kelly.

The RBA will hand down its rate decision today.

It has currently set the cash rate target at 0.1%. That doesn’t leave a lot of room to move (and the bank has already said it doesn’t want to go negative) so I think it is a safe bet to say there will be no movement today.

Yesterday, when asked about Craig Kelly’s continual push of debunked or unproven Covid treatment options – and raising of questions over vaccines – Scott Morrison did not censure his MP. He said people shouldn’t get their information from Facebook, but instead visit official government websites.

But people do listen to Craig Kelly.

As journalist Cameron Wilson pointed out:

Pressed again, Morrison said:

He’s not my doctor and he’s not yours. But he does a great job in Hughes.

That’s right – Craig Kelly is not anyone’s doctor. Before coming to parliament, he worked for his family’s (now failed) furniture business (it imported flatpack furniture from Asia and onsold it to larger retailers).

But he is a member of the government.

Anthony Albanese was also asked about Craig Kelly this morning. Here is what he had to say:

Craig Kelly’s actions are dangerous.

And what worries me isn’t just that his comments are dangerous, that they endanger people’s health, that those mixed messages will undermine our response to Covid. And in terms of vaccinations, if you have members of the government saying different things, I find it quite extraordinary.

But yesterday at the National Press Club, the prime minister was asked a very clear question to distance himself from Craig Kelly, and he said he was doing a fantastic job as the Member for Hughes. Craig Kelly is not doing a fantastic job.

Craig Kelly is doing a dangerous job. Craig Kelly is a problem. And it’s a problem for the government and it’s a problem for the country.

And leadership requires you to make tough decisions, including tough decisions with regard to the way that you run your political organisation.

I’ve made tough decisions in intervening into the New South Wales branch and the Victorian branch to make them stronger.

I’ve made tough decisions in removing people from the Labor party who are bringing it into disrepute.

Scott Morrison has a member of his caucus who is undermining the health response to this pandemic. And yet, he won’t even say anything to distance himself from Craig Kelly.

Seems like the criticism of the government’s implementation of the natural disaster royal commission recommendations is having an impact. David Littleproud has introduced a tracking document, which will lay down the implementation’s progress.

You can find it here

Speaking of lines, Scott Morrison again repeated the one he has created for net emissions this morning, turning climate action into Sophie’s Choice.

Q: You’ve said it’s preferable to get to net zero by 2050,

Morrison: It is.

Q: Why won’t you set that as a target yet?

Morrison:

Because when I know how we can get there, then I can tell Australia when we’re going to get there. Because if you don’t get there by technology, you get there by taxes. And I will not make Australians pay higher taxes to get to net zero.

Just your daily reminder that it is a) not a binary choice and b) no one is proposing taxes. No one. The carbon price was a decade ago. The world has moved on. And technology is not a zero-cost solution either.

Yesterday, Scott Morrison was asked this question:

what concrete action will you take to ensure those companies that took billions, or tens of millions of dollars from taxpayers for jobkeeper and then funnelled it through to executive bonuses and dividends, pay that money back?

And responded with:

I’m not in the politics of envy, I’ll leave that to my opponents.

He went on to explain the benefit that jobkeeper had in keeping companies and businesses afloat during the pandemic. But given the damage inflicted by the Centrelink robodebt scandal (where the Coalition government decided to take away the human checks and reverse the onus of proof for welfare recipients) calling accountability for businesses that profited from taxpayer funds “the politics of envy” jars. And says a lot more about priorities.

Andrew Leigh was on 2SM this morning, where he was asked about that phrase:

Nothing like having clichés thrown at you by a former ad man, is there? But the fact is that the prime minister designed robodebt to harass people on welfare. Then when people ask reasonable questions about why jobkeeper is going to millionaire CEOs or billionaire shareholders, he dismisses them with the oldest cliché in the book. Now the fact is, this is about fairness and decency. It’s about making sure that taxpayer dollars are spent where they need to go at a time when we’re facing a recession and a pandemic.

The pandemic isn’t the only thing that has led to this Victorian abattoir closing but its impacts mean you’ll be seeing these sorts of statements more and more – particularly after March, when the stimulus comes to an end.

We didn’t learn a lot of new things in the prime minister’s speech yesterday – he had said late last year that he was favourable to zero emissions by 2050, and essentially just repeated that in his press club address.

Greg Jericho has taken a look at why that isn’t enough:

Labor has added “on your side” to its party logo – it now sits next to the Labor party branding on all its communications.

Tim Watts also managed to incorporate it into his doorstop interview this morning – so you can add another three word slogan to the Australian political lexicon.

Watts was speaking about Scott Morrison (and the rest of the Coalition’s leadership) refusing to censure Craig Kelly (who just did a 90-minute podcast with conspiracy theorist Pete Evans) over his continual misleading and false Covid treatment theories.

Watts:

A real leader would be on the side of the Australian people during this pandemic. An Albanese Labor party is on the side of the doctors in this pandemic. We’re on the side of the nurses. We’re on side of the epidemiologists and the scientists. Because in a pandemic, that’s what you need to do to be on the side of the Australian people. That’s where we need Scott Morrison to be during this pandemic.

The draft legislation paper is out: you can find it here.

Can’t disagree with any of this, from Amy McQuire:

The new Essential poll is out.

With approval comes expectations of a good job. Let’s see how that plays out this year.

As far as I know, Joe Biden hasn’t made it to Scott Morrison’s number in his call list so far but there are other chats being had.

Mike Bowers attended the Last Post ceremony yesterday, which is attended by political leaders ahead of the commencement of the new parliament sitting.

Western Australia is in day two of its snap lockdown, after a security guard working at a quarantine hotel tested positive for Covid. The security guard has the more contagious new strain.

More than 3,100 people were tested in WA on Sunday afternoon. Those results, and the ones over the next two days will give a clearer idea of whether the lockdown will be extended beyond the five days. So far, no one else has tested positive and more than 60 close contacts have been placed in isolation as a precaution.

Labor is yet to announce its alternative climate policy – because it too has issues within its own ranks. Don’t underestimate the impact Joel Fitzgibbon’s very vocal complaints – as a backbencher, he is everywhere and on everything, airing all of the grievances. At the moment, the Labor leadership don’t have anything to bring the party around when it comes to climate.

Still, Labor is in opposition, and it is the government’s lack of policy direction on this topic which should always remain the main focus. The Coalition at the moment though, is being a little quieter about the party room unease, whereas disgruntled Labor MPs are more open, and more available than a reality TV star pushing their third show.