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Matt Canavan was on the Nine network a little earlier this morning, where he was again speaking about his opposition for vaccine mandates and made this comment about the protests, where death threats against elected officials were made:
I think voting in our Australian parliament is something serious. I think that is absolutely my job and we have seen hundreds of thousands of Australians out on the street against this policy. We have seen them denigrated as some sort of far-right extremists and I have met them and they are average mums and dads in the street.
I think voting in our Australian parliament is something serious. I think that is absolutely my job and we have seen hundreds of thousands of Australians out on the street against this policy.
We have seen them denigrated as some sort of far-right extremists and I have met them and they are average mums and dads in the street.
Penny Wong was also asked about what Labor plans to do on religious discrimination. She said the party had not yet come to a decision. Religious freedoms was a fairly big issue for Labor at the last election, with the party accused of not doing enough to protect faith-based views. That has led to Labor so far playing dead on the issue, but Wong seems to suggest that might be changing:
I support, Labor supports, protection against religious discrimination and that protection should not come at the cost of reducing protections for other forms of discrimination.
Wong said she hasn't looked at the bill as yet as she has had a "pretty busy 24 hours" (that's a reference to Peter Dutton and his China comments, as well as the Senate mess).
Our principle position has been that this right, the right to practice your faith freely, which is a human right, should not be protected through the reduction of protections that other Australians have against forms of discrimination.
You can read more about the bill here:
Related: Coalition's religious discrimination bill: are protections for minorities being sacrificed for faith?
Penny Wong did spend a bit of time talking about Peter Dutton's comments on China though.
He's lying about what I said, he's lying about Labor's position and he's making [these comments] because he wants to turn this into a domestic political fight."
Wong says she believes that is a dangerous line to be walking.
Scott Morrison will introduce the religious discrimination bill to the parliament (most likely tomorrow) but it will be heading straight to a Senate committee, as reported yesterday by Sarah Martin and Paul Karp.
The Coalition party room signed off on the bill before seeing it - the legislation wasn't released until after the meeting. It was signed off on though, because of the agreement to send it to a Senate committee.
LNP MP Angie Bell was on ABC News Breakfast this morning speaking about that:
I think it is important that we understand that all Australians need to be protected against discrimination, and that is my position, and that is the position of the party, and the party room, but also the position of the prime minister, and the attorney general. I'm sure all Australians would agree with that position, that there should not be discrimination to any minority groups or indeed any religious faith groups, and that's what this discrimination bill is based upon. The government has taken out a couple of clauses, that minority groups were concerned about and indeed moderate Liberals were concerned about, and my position on this is that we are at a reasonable position to move forward with this bill, but I also put my concerns forward that it should go to a Senate inquiry to make sure that any stakeholders who have further concerns have the opportunity to put those forward.
I think it is important that we understand that all Australians need to be protected against discrimination, and that is my position, and that is the position of the party, and the party room, but also the position of the prime minister, and the attorney general.
I'm sure all Australians would agree with that position, that there should not be discrimination to any minority groups or indeed any religious faith groups, and that's what this discrimination bill is based upon.
The government has taken out a couple of clauses, that minority groups were concerned about and indeed moderate Liberals were concerned about, and my position on this is that we are at a reasonable position to move forward with this bill, but I also put my concerns forward that it should go to a Senate inquiry to make sure that any stakeholders who have further concerns have the opportunity to put those forward.
Related: Scott Morrison promises Senate inquiry to calm fears over religious discrimination bill
Daniel Hurst has been covering Peter Dutton's escalating comments on Penny Wong and Labor when it comes to China, as well as Taiwan. Yesterday, Dutton accused both Labor and Wong of being "weak" against China. He said:
I notice the acting Chinese ambassador has been out attacking Australian values and Senator Wong today doesn't stand up for those values; instead, she folds in a fit of weakness.
Related: Peter Dutton attacks Penny Wong on China declaring he aims to deter 'aggression' on Taiwan
Wong is speaking to ABC radio RN and defended Labor and her own position, but accused Dutton of politicising national security for the purposes of the coming election.
I think it's about elections. Now, an interesting point - he has not been backed up by the prime minister.
I think it's about elections.
Now, an interesting point - he has not been backed up by the prime minister.
Speaking of the Senate, Greens senators Lidia Thorpe and Dorinda Cox have been working to disallow the $21m in public funding for gas fracking in the Beetaloo Basin.
Labor has been in support of the project, and has previously voted with the government in these sort of motions, but this morning, GetUp, 350 Australia, Seed Mob and Lock the Gate are coming together to hand over a petition with more than 110,000 signatures asking that public money for the fracking project not be spent.
That petition will be handed over to Thorpe and Cox on the parliament house lawns this morning.
It's the first hump day on the last sitting fortnight of the year, which means nothing other than we are all one day closer to this being over.
Which no one seems to want more than the prime minister.
It hasn't exactly been the greatest of times for Scott Morrison. After launching the pseudo-election campaign, Morrison was hoping to come into parliament and tick off a couple of election promises, clearing the way for the actual election in either March or May next year.
But his own party has other ideas. There is discontent in the backbench, in both the Senate and the house, with the rabble rousers who haven't exactly been brought into line at any point in the term now realising they have just a few more days to create some havoc, make a name, and get themselves (or members of their factions) re-elected.
So the Senate has gone rogue and now house MPs are threatening the same thing. George Christensen will vote on his "conscience", whatever that means, and fellow Queenslander Llew O'Brien is once again considering his own options about withholding his vote/crossing the floor. That's not a new position - O'Brien left the Nationals party room for a while (but stayed in the LNP) and has threatened to cross the floor on issues like the federal Icac. He also accepted Labor's nomination to be a deputy speaker over the government's endorsed candidate Damian Drum in 2020, with enough of his colleagues defecting from the vote to get him across the line.
So, like I said, not new. But it is bad timing for the prime minister who spent a good chunk of yesterday's joint party room meeting talking about discipline and unity.
Meanwhile, the Senate is in disarray, with Gerard Rennick now wanting to re-commit his vote in the Greens-Labor motion to end the ABC complaints Senate inquiry. The motion got up, meaning the inquiry was stopped, at least until the ABC board ordered the inquiry had been completed (some time next year). The bells were rung for the vote, but Rennick didn't make it into the chamber. He was paired instead, but is now saying he didn't want to be paired. But he hasn't explained why he missed the vote. So today, the Senate will consider whether it re-commits the vote, which if it does could overturn the decision to end the inquiry. It's all a bit of a mess and no one is happy, so all in all it is shaping up as a great day in the parliament.
Mike Bowers is already out and about and you will have Katharine Murphy, Paul Karp, Daniel Hurst and Sarah Martin keeping you updated. Amy Remeikis will be on the blog until the early evening. There doesn't seem to be enough coffee this morning.
Ready?