Sarah Hanson-Young to Albanese: ‘It’s not leadership to be a bulldozer’
Paul Karp
The Greens environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, has labelled Anthony Albanese a “bulldozer” for his comments appearing to rule out a climate trigger in environment laws.
Hanson-Young said the prime minister’s approach to negotiations is simply to urge the crossbench to “get out of the way”.
She said:
This parliament doesn’t operate like that. We’re a democracy. The government does not have the numbers in the Senate. The government needs to negotiate and to work collaboratively to get outcomes. It is not leadership to bulldoze your way through.
Our previous prime minister was a bulldozer, let’s not forget, that didn’t end so well. You can’t bulldoze your way through the Senate. We need to put a stop to the bulldozers in our forests and the bulldozers that are pushing our wildlife to extinction and to breaking point.
The prime minister needs to work out what he wants to do. On one hand he’s got his minister out saying they want to negotiate and then he’s out telling everybody to get out of the way. It’s not leadership to be a bulldozer, it’s arrogance.
Key events
It is two-minute statement time in the Senate (the house MPs get 90 seconds) but the airing of the grievances continue (just for 30 seconds longer).
Today seems mostly focussed on Labor senators being very upset the Greens are not passing their housing bills.
Sarah Hanson-Young to Albanese: ‘It’s not leadership to be a bulldozer’
Paul Karp
The Greens environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, has labelled Anthony Albanese a “bulldozer” for his comments appearing to rule out a climate trigger in environment laws.
Hanson-Young said the prime minister’s approach to negotiations is simply to urge the crossbench to “get out of the way”.
She said:
This parliament doesn’t operate like that. We’re a democracy. The government does not have the numbers in the Senate. The government needs to negotiate and to work collaboratively to get outcomes. It is not leadership to bulldoze your way through.
Our previous prime minister was a bulldozer, let’s not forget, that didn’t end so well. You can’t bulldoze your way through the Senate. We need to put a stop to the bulldozers in our forests and the bulldozers that are pushing our wildlife to extinction and to breaking point.
The prime minister needs to work out what he wants to do. On one hand he’s got his minister out saying they want to negotiate and then he’s out telling everybody to get out of the way. It’s not leadership to be a bulldozer, it’s arrogance.
There is just under 20 minutes until the first of the week’s Senate question times gets under way.
For those who don’t know, in the Senate, someone who asks a question also gets two supplementary questions.
Which usually means we hear the same answer three times. Good times!
Sarah Basford Canales
Labor’s Help to Buy bill yet to gain support in Senate
Every politician and their dog is speaking in the Senate today on the federal government’s Help to Buy bill.
The bill would create a shared equity scheme between the government and eligible applicants to get them into the housing market with smaller deposits and loans. The bill outlines it will do so by loaning recipients 30% for an existing build purchase price or 40% for a new build. This reduces the bank loan to 60% or 70%, so those eligible will require smaller deposits and loans.
It needs either the opposition or the Greens and a few crossbenchers to support but so far no one’s budging.
But one person yet to deliver their statement is former Labor senator Fatima Payman.
In an Instagram video posted a few days ago, the 29-year-old independent senator is seen looking at a flipchart that reads “actually good policy ideas”. Under the title, it lists cap negative gearing, limit capital tax gains discounts and take action on Hecs debts.
Those policies were once Labor plans that have since been taken up by the Greens and some crossbenchers.
Another line appears below the options and Payman sarcastically circles it in a dig at her former party: “Things no one asked for – ban kids from social media.” She hashtags it #makeitmakesense.
You can take it as a good indication of where Payman will stand on the matter.
Independent Tammy Tyrrell says states complaining about school funding should ‘dust off their own budget papers’
You can add independent Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell to those crossbench senators not impressed with public school funding – but unlike the other crossbenchers, Tyrrell’s beef is with the state governments, not the federal.
As Caitlin Cassidy has been reporting, Labor’s proposed deal is to increase its share of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) to 22.5%, up from 20%, and to 40% in the NT due to additional need. Its been agreed to by Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The remaining states are holding out and Tyrrell has some words for them:
The states haven’t funded schools to the level they said they would and now they’ve got their cap in hand asking the federal government for more money. That’s not how this works.
It’s like agreeing to split the bill at dinner, except someone doesn’t pay their share and the last person is left to cover their tab too. No one likes that person.
What the federal Labor government is putting forward in extra funding is reasonable. If the states are complaining that public schools aren’t properly funded, they should dust off their own budget papers.
Paul Karp
Pocock ‘disappointed’ by Albanese’s stance on climate trigger
The independent senator David Pocock has criticised Anthony Albanese for speaking out this morning against inclusion of a climate trigger in Labor’s Nature Positive bill to set up an Environment Protection Agency.
Pocock said:
[It’s] really disappointing for a prime minister who in 2005 moved his own bill to ensure that the [Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation] Act considers climate. He’s known about this being a huge issue since the year I finished high school. To be in this place in 2024 and see what’s happening when it comes to our climate and biodiversity in Australia, the nature that Australians love and cherish and have him taking these lines is pretty disappointing. There’s a lot of people out there who are wondering why there is such a lack of leadership, vision and courage when it comes to protecting the people and places [that we love].
The former Labor senator Fatima Payman said she has been speaking to stakeholders on both sides and is still waiting to see what the government proposes. Payman said the balance is between those who want more environmental protection, but she could also see the importance of job creation.
Payman said Albanese has “still not given me my full staffing allocation”, making it “really difficult” to get on top of critical legislation.
AFP employee charged with ‘secrecy related offences’
The Australian Federal Police have sent out a statement:
An AFP employee has been charged with secrecy related offences, pursuant to 60A of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979, and will appear in the ACT Magistrates Court today (16 September, 2024).
The employee, charged by AFP Professional Standards, has been suspended from duty.
The AFP is committed to transparency.
No further comment will be made.
Dutton on TikTok
We are reliably informed by blog watchers that Peter Dutton’s first foray into TikTok (a platform the Coalition wanted banned in – checks notes – March of this year) is going very well.
Peter Dutton MP (verified) now has 76 followers – up from 52 at 7am this morning – and his first Tiktok is going well, with a raft of comments questioning what the Coalition did while in government, what they would do, and one making the comment “pizza”.
There is, however, someone who “can’t wait to call [Dutton] PM” so it’s found part of its target audience.
New poll shows Coalition slightly ahead of Labor on two-party preferred basis
AAP has taken a look at a recent poll first published in the Nine newspapers:
The Australian Financial Review/Freshwater Strategy poll published on Monday shows the Coalition is ahead 52% against 48% for Labor on a two-party preferred basis.
However, the online poll of 1,057 voters taken between Friday and Saturday also shows Anthony Albanese is the preferred prime minister on 45%, against 41% for opposition leader Peter Dutton.
The two-party outcome is in line with other recent voter polls, which have either the Coalition ahead or neck-and-neck with Labor.
Bowen: ‘Dutton has no plan for Australia’s energy future, just a risky gamble’
Chris Bowen certainly keeps track of time’s passage.
The energy minister just posted to social media:
It’s been 89 days since Peter Dutton announced his risky nuclear reactor sites and he still won’t tell us how much they will cost the taxpayer, how long they will take to get up and running, or how much energy they will generate. Peter Dutton has no plan for Australia’s energy future, just a risky gamble.
The Greens will be holding a press conference in a short while to respond to some of the day’s events, including the never ending housing debate.
The Greens leader Adam Bandt has stuck around Canberra, despite the house not sitting, so it’s obvious the party was preparing for this to be a big week.
