Jacqui Lambie says crossbench ‘not important’ after Labor landslide, expects party to hold power for the next decade
The independent senator for Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie, says the crossbench is “not important” any more after Labor’s landslide victory in May.
The government’s strong showing in the Senate means it now only requires the support of the Greens to pass legislation. When asked on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing how that was functioning two weeks into parliament sitting, she replied:
No idea, because we don’t have the balance of power any more. We are not important. We are not getting the calls … I can tell you they are not chasing us. I guess we are now chasing them.
There may not be a hung parliament, but Lambie assured she “will not be any quieter” in the future, especially on defence and veterans affairs.
On the debate over Barnaby Joyce’s net zero private member’s bill, Lambie said the Liberal and National parties had failed to reflect on the election results and why they were “so depleted”.
This is a big problem. You don’t want to recognise anything. You don’t want to recognise the sea is rising, have some other excuse for that … their votes will continue to decrease … It would be very unexpected if Labor doesn’t win the next two elections. That’s how much clean up I think Liberal party has to do.
Key events
What we learned: Monday, 25 August
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. Thanks for reading, and we’ll be back first thing tomorrow with all the latest in the world of AusPol.
Until then, here’s a recap on today’s news:
The Labor party has brought forward its 5% deposit scheme for first home buyers to 1 October. The policy, committed to in the election, means first home buyers can use a smaller deposit guaranteed by the government.
The minister for energy and climate change, Chris Bowen, said it was “very legitimate” for Labor to allow time for Barnaby Joyce’s private bill to dump Australia’s net zero target to be debated during today’s question time if there was a side of politics against climate action.
Liberal senator Jane Hume labelled finance minister Katy Gallagher a “mean girl” after debate over superannuation policy kicked off in the Senate.
The independent senator for Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie, said the crossbench was “not important” any more after Labor’s landslide victory in May.
The education minister, Jason Clare, moved to legislate a code for tertiary education institutions to better respond to, and prevent, gender based violence.
Brisbane city council “unlawfully discriminated” against protest group Extinction Rebellion, a court has found.
And a UNSW Sydney study has found 90% of Australian teachers are experiencing severe stress, and nearly 70% say their workload is unmanageable.
National code to protect university students from sexual violence becomes law
A national code to protect students and staff from sexual violence in higher education has just passed into legislation.
In a joint media release, the minister for education, Jason Clare, and the social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, said not enough had been done in Australia’s universities to address sexual assault and harassment.
Students haven’t been heard. For the first time, the National Code will set standards and requirements that all higher education providers must meet to make students and staff safer, including in student accommodation.
Under the code, universities will be required to educate students and staff on preventing gender based violence and publicly disclose annual reports, with serious penalties for non-compliance ranging up to regulatory intervention.
Clare said every student deserved to feel safe on campus, and the national code “makes that non-negotiable”.
Plibersek said one in six students had reported sexual harassment and one in 20 reported being sexually assaulted on campus in the most recent survey by Universities Australia in 2021.
How a survivor of violence is supported by their university has lifelong consequences. Victim-survivors must be heard and supported, and universities must make every effort to stop violence in the first place.
Western Sydney University to accept 251 voluntary redundancies in restructure to reduce $75m deficit
Western Sydney University will accept 251 voluntary redundancies as part of ongoing restructuring to reduce a $75m deficit at the institution.
In a statement on Monday, a spokesperson confirmed the vice-chancellor, Prof George Williams, had revised initial estimates to reduce the university’s workforce by up to 400 positions down to 238 in light of strong uptake in the voluntary redundancy program.
The spokesperson said that all academic positions proposed for cuts were in response to applications for voluntary redundancies.
The number is higher than the proposed job losses because we are proposing to accept more voluntary redundancies for academic staff than needed with a view to recruiting replacements. This will help us to provide jobs for academics currently in insecure forms of employment.
The reduced net number of positions proposed to be disestablished has been possible because of the hard work across the university to find $23m in non-salary savings to help make up our $74.5m forecast operating deficit in 2026. Reducing senior staff numbers saved a further $7m.
The spokesperson attributed the financial challenges to international student caps, increased competition for students from western Sydney, declining revenue per student because of the job-ready graduates package, cost-of-living pressures and changing student behaviours.
Government’s housing changes to lead to ‘some improvements’, expects housing advisory chair
Staying on housing: the Chair of the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, attended the economic reform roundtable and contributed to discussions on housing reforms.
Appearing on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, she said she expected the federal government’s announcement to pause changes to the National Construction Code and reduce times for environmental approvals for housing would lead to “some improvements” in the property market.
Housing council modelling suggests under current settings we would create about 938,000 new homes compared to that 1.2m [federal government] target. While it will not fix all of the problems in the housing market, pausing changes to the … code is positive.
Asked if Labor would be able to reach its target, Lloyd-Hurwitz said “more consistent action” was needed across the whole system. She added that Treasury advice on 5% deposits for first-time buyers would “clearly have some impact upwards on prices”.
Hopefully it doesn’t affect prices too much and helps people get into the market, because we know for the average household it’s more than 10 years for the medium deposit. That’s a long time, and if this helps people get into the market sooner without putting too much upward pressure on prices, then that is a good trade-off.
Video: PM says Sussan Ley ‘bold’ to claim credit for new housing policies
In question time earlier, we reported on the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, accusing Labor of requiring a “three-day talk fest to acknowledge Coalition policies work”, in an attempt to claim credit for Labor’s announcement to pause the construction code and expand the 5% deposit scheme.
The prime minister replied that it was “very bold” to say the Coalition’s policies worked when it came to housing.
You can watch the full exchange here:
Study finds 90% of Australian teachers under severe stress
A UNSW Sydney study has found 90% of Australian teachers are experiencing severe stress, and nearly 70% say their workload is unmanageable.
The study, which surveyed about 5,000 primary and secondary educators, was the first to examine the rates of depression, anxiety and stress in Australian teachers.
It found they experienced mental health issues at three times the national norm.
About 90% of teachers reported moderate to extremely severe levels of stress, while more than two-thirds experienced moderate to extremely severe symptoms of depression and anxiety – more than double the national averages.
Lead researcher Dr Helena Ganziera said it was not just a wellbeing issue, but a workforce issue.
Our findings show that teachers are experiencing mental health symptoms at rates far above the general population, and that these symptoms are closely linked to their workload and intentions to leave the profession.
The research also found that workload manageability was a key factor influencing teachers’ mental health, which in turn was strongly associated with their intentions to leave the profession.
Ganziera said teachers were telling them they were “overwhelmed”, not by teaching itself, but by the growing burden of non-core tasks.
Jacqui Lambie says crossbench ‘not important’ after Labor landslide, expects party to hold power for the next decade
The independent senator for Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie, says the crossbench is “not important” any more after Labor’s landslide victory in May.
The government’s strong showing in the Senate means it now only requires the support of the Greens to pass legislation. When asked on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing how that was functioning two weeks into parliament sitting, she replied:
No idea, because we don’t have the balance of power any more. We are not important. We are not getting the calls … I can tell you they are not chasing us. I guess we are now chasing them.
There may not be a hung parliament, but Lambie assured she “will not be any quieter” in the future, especially on defence and veterans affairs.
On the debate over Barnaby Joyce’s net zero private member’s bill, Lambie said the Liberal and National parties had failed to reflect on the election results and why they were “so depleted”.
This is a big problem. You don’t want to recognise anything. You don’t want to recognise the sea is rising, have some other excuse for that … their votes will continue to decrease … It would be very unexpected if Labor doesn’t win the next two elections. That’s how much clean up I think Liberal party has to do.
Video: NSW planning minister calls objections to new housing in wealthy suburbs ‘un-Sydney-like’
Turning to state politics for a moment: the NSW planning minister, Paul Scully, hit back at criticism of a policy that aims to increase housing supply across Sydney at an estimates hearing today. About 10,000 new homes are slated for development around Woollahra and Edgecliff in Sydney’s wealthy eastern suburbs.
Scully called objections to those plans “un-Sydney-like”, saying the residents who complained were ignoring their “collective responsibility”.
Watch the exchange here:
Tehan accuses government of wanting to ‘play games’ by debating Joyce’s bill to dump net zero
Dan Tehan, the shadow minister for energy and emissions reduction, says the Coalition wants “transparency always” after feisty debate over Barnaby Joyce’s private member’s bill to dump net zero on the parliament floor.
Appearing on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing after his counterpart, Tehan was asked if he wanted Joyce’s bill to be debated publicly:
We want transparency always. What I’d say to the government is that if you’re happy to have this debate, let’s see the data and let’s see the figures and let’s see the modelling on what your approach is based on.
Asked how the Coalition would vote on the bill, Tehan said that would be a “decision that we’ll take” and Labor’s strategy was “not working”.
There are private members’ bills that go into the parliament all the time … If they [the government] want to play games on this, they can play games. We’ve got a serious policy approach that we’re going through …
We’re meeting with the gas industry this week. And we’re taking that incredibly seriously because energy is just so important to the future of our nation. If we don’t get it right, people are going to suffer when it comes to their household budgets and industries are going to suffer as a result.
Bowen defends debate on Joyce’s bill to dump net zero as ‘very legitimate’ to secure climate action
The minister for energy and climate change, Chris Bowen, is appearing on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing after Labor allowed time for Barnaby Joyce’s private bill to dump Australia’s net zero target to be debated, putting the Coalition’s internal struggle over the climate crisis on full display.
Asked why something with no chance of getting up was given time to be discussed, Bowen said it was a “very legitimate debate” for parliament if there was a side of politics against climate action.
It is yet again another indication that they refused to get the memo from the Australian people, including from regional builders. I shared with the house today the take-up of our cheaper home batteries policy in New South Wales, Gilmore number one, Richmond number two, Page number three … the National party is so far out of touch with their builders.
It’s Parliament House; we are meant to debate things, and this is one of the broader questions facing the country so why not? We didn’t seek the debates; we didn’t have the bill.
When pointed to the fact there were 70 private members’ bills that didn’t see the light of day, Bowen replied: “We don’t mind having a debate.”
Video: Liberal senator Jane Hume calls Katy Gallagher a ‘mean girl’
Circling back for a moment: Liberal senator Jane Hume labelled finance minister Katy Gallagher a “mean girl” as debate over superannuation policy kicked off in the Senate.
Hume asked what assurances Labor could offer voters amid mooted changes to superannuation policy. During Gallagher’s response, Hume could be heard saying, “Why is it always that the mean girls go personal?” before having to withdraw the comment.
Krishani Dhanji
That’s it from me today. Thanks so much for following along on the blog.
I’ll leave you with the fabulous Caitlin Cassidy for the rest of the afternoon, and will catch you back here early tomorrow morning.
Tl;dr: what happened in question time today?
The energy was pretty low in question time today, normally there’s a heap of shouting (either in support or in opposition) from the Labor and Coalition benches, but there wasn’t much today. And I counted barely a handful of points of order, which usually add a bit of drama.
The Coalition pushed the government on its housing policy, accusing it of “copying” Liberal policy, and trying to get Labor to admit its own policies weren’t working (Labor wouldn’t bite on that point).
There was a lot of housing talk today – not only did the opposition press Labor on it, at least three-quarters of Labor’s dixers were housing policy-based as well.
Independent MP Zali Steggall asked the government if it would increase spending on climate resilience – we didn’t get a clear answer.
Anthony Albanese accused the opposition of being “unworthy” after Alex Hawke asked whether Australia’s recognition of Palestinian statehood would increase or decrease the PM’s chance of meeting with Donald Trump.
There was one MP booted from QT today: Labor backbencher Tim Watts.
Sarah Basford Canales
Gallagher calls opposition ‘disrespectful’ after her response to Greens draws raucous laughter
Continuing from the last post …
Allman-Payne asked why the federal government had enough money for Aukus submarines but not for struggling Australians. Gallagher said that was “simply not true”, drawing raucous laughter from the opposition benches.
Gallagher responded:
I know those over there [on the opposition benches] find it hilarious. The government, the party of robodebt, find this question hilarious. That is how disrespectful you are about people on income support payments. We saw it when you were in government. We saw it when you threatened people with jail for debts they didn’t earn, Senator [Michaelia] Cash.
Sarah Basford Canales
Gallagher says decision over $1bn owed to welfare recipients to come ‘shortly’ after Greens press minister in Sentate
Katy Gallagher says the Albanese government will make a decision “shortly” about more than $1bn in debt owed by welfare recipients, stretching back to the late 1970s.
In Senate QT this afternoon, Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne asked the finance minister whether the government would implement a robodebt royal commission to place a six-year limit on debts, in a move that would wipe a number of those calculated under income apportionment.
To recap, in July, the federal court ruled the social services department could estimate a welfare recipient’s income using its preferred method, meaning thousands of recipients could now be liable for debts totalling more than $1bn and dating back decades.
Gallagher said she and the social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, had been in discussions about the government’s response, including considerations about debt length and debt size, and “will resolve them shortly”.
Gallagher was keen to point out that income apportionment was distinct from robodebt – a similarity some commentators have made.
Robodebt was designed to raise revenue by clawing back debt from people who never owed that money. Income apportionment was about reducing a reporting burden to try and make it easier for people. And actually, about a third of people benefited from income apportionment over time, whereas, as we know, robodebt indiscriminately made people worse off.
QT is over
After a final dixer to the education minister, Jason Clare, on measures to improve safety for children in childcare, question time is over for the day.
