John Howard joins donations drive for Dunkley byelection
Josh Butler
The Liberal party is again leaning on John Howard in the final days of an election campaign, tapping the former prime minister to make a final-week appeal for donations for the Dunkley byelection. Liberal supporters received this email sent in Howard’s name this morning:
As you are probably aware, there is a very important byelection taking place in the Victorian electorate of Dunkley.
The Liberal party is the underdog, but a strong showing would send a powerful message.
Howard, who lost his own seat at the 2007 election but who remains a Liberal hero for four successive election wins, is regularly rolled out by the Coalition in the final days of campaigns. The Liberal message in the final days of the Dunkley poll, due on Saturday, is a call to “send Labor a message” on cost of living issues.
Labor also seems particularly focused on delivering power for its union masters and on prosecuting the politics of envy.
In short, Labor needs a wake-up call.
The Liberals and Labor (and conservative campaign group Advance) are trading blows online over the looming byelection.
Labor candidate Jodie Belyea put her name to an ALP email this morning too, telling supporters “it’s no secret that I’m not a seasoned politician” but promising to be “a strong local voice on bread and butter issues like tackling the cost of living, building more affordable homes and making it easier to see a doctor”.
Key events
Tim Watts begins the government response to the Greens motion with the Hamas attack on 7 October.
Since the appalling terrorist attacks of October 7, the Australian government has taken a principled and consistent approach to this conflict.
Australia is not a central player in this conflict but we do have a respected voice.
And we’ve used it with countries who have influence in the region to pursue our objectives.
We’ve used our voice to advocate for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and humanitarian access the release of hostages and for the protection of civilians.
This conflict has touched so many Australians, Australians in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories during this conflict have obviously been directly affected.
But many more Australians have been directly connected to this conflict through the constant stream of horrifying messages and images shared directly from this conflict.
There’s been so much suffering in this conflict and so much trauma in our own community. And we mourn for the horrifying loss of innocent civilian life that we have witnessed.
He says the Australian government supports efforts to “broker an extended cessation in hostilities”.
Adam Bandt continues:
What this motion is about is something very simple … Do you think that right now the invasion should stop and stop permanently?
Not a weasel word, not a humanitarian pause so that children can be fed, and then killed.
So paused, so that food can get in and then they can be bombed.
But do you agree right now that the invasion should stop and should stop permanently?
That is what this motion is about. I urge everyone to understand that what we say and do here matters. This is our chance to join that growing international chorus that says enough is enough.
And we need an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
His Greens colleague Max Chandler-Mather is seconding the motion.
Bandt: stopping Israeli invasion is the bare minimum that should be done
Adam Bandt:
Now, there is much more that the government should be doing.
It is time when you have a war cabinet that is now subject to orders to stop genocide.
That is the time … that the government should impose sanctions on the members of that war cabinet, and I note how quickly the government has moved to impose sanctions, with respect to terrible events in Russia, and associated with Russia.
And yet, there is still the full backing … for the invasion of Gaza.
It is also the time to stop sending weapons, stop military exports to a government that is subject to orders to stop genocide …
And it is also the time Labor to restore the UNRWA funding, because we are seeing children dying and people running out of food and water and they need the money to get back in there and give them the very basics of life.
But the bare minimum, the bare minimum that should be able to be done and agreed on by everyone across this parliament, is that the invasion must stop.
This catastrophic loss of life must stop and there must be an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
The chamber is almost empty as Bandt delivers this speech.
Greens calls for similar ceasefire bill in House of Representatives
In the House of Representatives, Adam Bandt is moving to suspend standing orders to debate a similar motion to the one Jordon Steele-John introduced into the Senate earlier this morning (which was defeated by Labor and the Coalition).
Bandt wants Australia to stop its support for the Israel invasion of Gaza and for the government to call for a permanent and immediate ceasefire.
You can expect the same result in the house as you saw in the Senate.
One Nation calls for urgent tax reform
One Nations’ Malcolm Roberts is in the Senate calling for corporations to pay their “far share of tax”.
He is referring to Labor and the Coalition as the “uni-party” (meaning one party) which I don’t think will catch on.
His wider message is “we need tax reform urgently”.
Broken clocks and all that.
Joyce appears on Seven program despite ‘week off’ from parliament
Barnaby Joyce attended his regular spot on the Seven network this morning, which seems to be a gifted three minute spot for him to yell at Tanya Plibersek about a variety of issues.
Today’s yelling issue was nuclear, which he went, to quote the host, “nuclear” over.
There was no mention of his week off parliament.
Barnaby Joyce to take ‘week off’ from parliament after footpath incident
Sarah Basford Canales
Barnaby Joyce will take the week off from parliament after being filmed lying on a Canberra pavement earlier this month in an incident he described as a “big mistake”.
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, confirmed his frontbench colleague had notified him he wouldn’t be coming to Canberra for the sitting week. Littleproud told Nine’s Today show on Monday morning:
He’s having the week off, which we gave him the opportunity to undertake with his family. And I respect that. And I hope he went to church yesterday and all he had was altar wine.
Daily Mail Australia had published nighttime footage of Joyce in Canberra lying face up on the pavement with his feet on a planter box, having a phone conversation and uttering profanities.
Joyce later explained it was a “big mistake”, which happened after he had mixed alcohol and prescription drugs during an earlier event at Parliament House.
The Nationals MP has said he is giving up alcohol for Lent but lashed out at his critics, accusing them of seeking to exploit the issue of parliamentarians’ consumption of alcohol.
The deputy Nationals leader, Perin Davey, was similarly criticised the following week after footage emerged of her appearing to slur and stumble over her words during a late-night Senate committee hearing.
Davey admitted to drinking two glasses of wine before the appearance but insisted she was not drunk. Davey later explained a 2019 medical incident had left her with ongoing speech issues and was a contributing factor to her estimates appearance.
The two incidents have renewed calls for a crackdown on alcohol and drug consumption within Parliament House, with crossbenchers calling for random testing.
Guardian Australia has contacted Joyce for comment.
Defence leadership must be made accountable for failures, Lambie says
Independent senator Jacqui Lambie has continued her crusade against Australia’s defence leadership and says that while she welcomes defence minister Richard Marles’ focus on accountability culture, she won’t take it seriously until there is more than just chat.
As AAP reports:
Australia’s senior defence leadership need to be called out publicly and made accountable for failures, independent Senator Jacqui Lambie says.
Defence minister Richard Marles has said there are “issues of culture” within the higher ranks of the Australian defence force and Department of Defence that need to be challenged.
Marles reportedly hauled in secretary Greg Moriarty and chief of the defence force Angus Campbell for a meeting to demand a better culture of excellence.
Defence has a history of projects blowing out and being delayed.
Lambie said she would take Marles seriously when he began issuing letters of no confidence to defence’s leadership.
She told Sky News on Monday:
The minister needs to take the next step and he needs to get rid of them. Because if he’s not going to do that, he’s all just chat and I’m not interested.
The ADF also faces a major retention issue, as thousands of personnel leave every year, in addition to falling behind on recruitment targets.
Lambie said the military had become an “institution in itself”.
They just believe they don’t have to answer anybody.
Amy Remeikis
Howard’s presence shows Dunkley byelection is too close to call
John Howard being rolled out (even in email) tends to be the signal that yes, the Liberals do actually believe the contest is close and hope the prime minister most boomers remember will be what gets them across the line.
(Next year, there will be people eligible to vote who were born when Howard lost his seat, so he is rapidly losing his “break in case of emergency” currency).
A reminder that in byelections, the swing is usually against the government. And the Labor margin in Dunkley has a 6 in front of it – which is not a big enough buffer in a seat not naturally Labor to insulate it from in-general voter anger.
Which is why Labor is making a big deal of playing down its prospects as well.
John Howard joins donations drive for Dunkley byelection
Josh Butler
The Liberal party is again leaning on John Howard in the final days of an election campaign, tapping the former prime minister to make a final-week appeal for donations for the Dunkley byelection. Liberal supporters received this email sent in Howard’s name this morning:
As you are probably aware, there is a very important byelection taking place in the Victorian electorate of Dunkley.
The Liberal party is the underdog, but a strong showing would send a powerful message.
Howard, who lost his own seat at the 2007 election but who remains a Liberal hero for four successive election wins, is regularly rolled out by the Coalition in the final days of campaigns. The Liberal message in the final days of the Dunkley poll, due on Saturday, is a call to “send Labor a message” on cost of living issues.
Labor also seems particularly focused on delivering power for its union masters and on prosecuting the politics of envy.
In short, Labor needs a wake-up call.
The Liberals and Labor (and conservative campaign group Advance) are trading blows online over the looming byelection.
Labor candidate Jodie Belyea put her name to an ALP email this morning too, telling supporters “it’s no secret that I’m not a seasoned politician” but promising to be “a strong local voice on bread and butter issues like tackling the cost of living, building more affordable homes and making it easier to see a doctor”.
Round-the-clock protest outside PM’s office over Palestine enters third week
The 24-hour-a-day sit-in outside Anthony Albanese’s Marrickville electoral office, calling for the government to take a stronger position on Palestine, continues. The round-the-clock protest is into its third week. Protesters say Albanese is yet to seriously engage with them and they will continue the sit-in for as long as it takes.
Greens: ‘Neoliberal brain worms have affected both parties’
Nick McKim continues:
They [Labor] are too gutless to put to make the corporations pay their fair share of tax. They’re too gutless to put a wealth tax on in this country. They are too gutless to walk away from the $370bn of the Aukus submarines. They are too gutless to reverse Mr Morrison’s stage-three tax cuts
And so it goes.
The government in this country is being swamped by a rightwing extremist party in the LNP and a centre-right party in the form of the ALP. And that is why this country keeps on lurching to the right.
That is why Australians are literally starving on income support. That is why we have a six-figure number of Australians who are homeless who can’t afford to rent a place to live.
The neoliberal brain worms have infected both major parties.
Greens senator Nick McKim lashes Labor over tax bill
The stage-three tax cut changes are making their way through the Senate.
The bill will pass (the Coalition, despite still pushing a “broken promises” barrow, is voting for them).
(And your daily reminder that the tax changes won’t help “every taxpayer”. People on welfare pay tax, but if you earn under $19,000 – like if you were on jobseeker, for example – there is no tax cut for you.)
Nick McKim is speaking on the bill and is giving a searing assessment of Labor’s positions in general.
He tells the chamber:
Folks, this is why the country is in such a mess. Let me explain to you how this happens. The LNP come into government and they lurch this country to the right.
They torture refugees they demonise migrants, they give tax cuts to the wealthy.
They lurched this country to the right.
And Labor acquiescence to every one of these things because they are too gutless to stand up and fight for what is right in this country.
And they leave it to the Greens and we oppose these every step of the way.
And then when Labor gets into government, they move us back about 2% of the way that the Liberal Party took us because Labor is to gutless to actually move this country where it needs to go.
Unions protest on front lawn of parliament
Our own Mike Bowers has arrived in Canberra and has immediately gotten to work. The CFMEU and ETU are protesting outside the parliament in support of members who are on a 24-hour strike from the parliament.
They want pay raised to the industry standard.
Greens motion to end Australian support of Israel’s Gaza invasion voted down
The divisions have played out for Jordon Steele-John’s motion – it was defeated 31 to 11.
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe voted with the Greens.
Labor and Liberal unite to vote down Greens motion on Gaza
Over in the Senate, the chamber is dividing on a Greens motion from Jordon Steele-John calling on the “Australian government to end its support for the state of Israel’s invasion of Gaza”.
Looking at the chamber, the government and Coalition are voting together to vote down the motion.