Politics live updates: Simon Birmingham retires, ALP makes $500m of concessions to Greens, EPA deal ‘delayed’
The final sitting day of Parliament has been packed full of drama, twists and 11th-hour deals.
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Key Events
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As we conclude today’s live coverage of Parliament’s mammoth final sitting day, we ask: What were the well-behaved, real schoolchildren sitting in the gallery of Thursday’s proceeding thinking?
Generation Z is increasingly disconnected from politics, with under 50% of 18- to 34-year-olds having no connection with a single registered political party, points out leading pollster and former Victorian Labor strategist Kosmos Samaras, from the RedBridge consultancy group.
Which raises the question of whether chaotic scenes in parliament will help improve that engagement?
“Public is trust towards institutions and politics in general is probably the lowest we have ever seen,” Mr Samaras said.
“People are looking for politicians who take bold steps to try and change the deep structural problems that Australians are facing, particularly young Australians,” he said.
Politicians from all parties today would argue that that is exactly what they were doing.
And when the dust settles on what was actually passed into law, Australian voters will be the ones to give their verdict.
This concludes today’s live politics coverage. Thanks for following.
-- With files from Nicola Smith
Albo: ‘We have worked to make a positive difference for Australia’
Anthony Albanese’s first-term legacy will now include a world-first ban on children using social media, draconian deportation powers for non-citizens, new housing measures and an overhaul of the Reserve Bank.
But the passage of 31 bills on a chaotic final day of Parliament only came after the Government made a string of concessions to the Greens, leaving leader Adam Bandt to declare: “Greens pressure works”.
The Bills passed included a $500 million commitment from the Government to electrify 50,000 social housing properties and a ban on fossil fuel funding under Future Made in Australia.
The deal allowed Labor to force the bills through with minimal debate on Thursday evening.
Mr Albanese closed out the mammoth final sitting day saying he took “nothing for granted” as the Government turns its attention towards next year’s election, due by May.
“But each and every day, we have worked to make a positive difference for Australia, and at the next election, we will be talking about Australia’s future and not going backwards,” Mr Albanese told ABC’s 7.30.
- By Katina Curtis, Dan Jervis-Bardy, Ellen Ransley and Nicola Smith
Read the full story here.
‘It is dangerous to shove Bills down our throats’
“It’s going to be a bit of a ride,” promised Finance Minister Katy Gallagher on ABC radio at 7.30am on parliament’s final sitting day, in what turned out to be the understatement of the year.
News that Labor would suddenly try to force through a dizzying raft of 36 bills — including controversial major laws that been stalled for months in delicate negotiations — sent parliament into a tailspin.
By 9am, Independent Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie had kicked off a morning of furious horse-trading with a tirade of righteous anger over Labor sending the “mother of all guillotines” on “undercooked” bills only at 8.30pm the night before.
The Albanese government had tabled more guillotines in its first three years than the Coalition did in nine, she railed, referring to the tactic of closing the floor for debate on a bill in order to go straight to a vote.
“This government likes to pack a lot of legislation together to avoid scrutiny,” she charged. “These aren’t small bills, they aren’t tweaks to the legislation that you can call non-controversial. They are big and they are massive,” Ms Lambie said in a crescendo of indignation.
Among the bills in the astonishingly large package were some of the most consequential new laws of the year – a social media ban for under-16s, new migration laws that include powers to pay third countries to receive non-citizens, reforms to the functioning of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
“It is dangerous to shove bills down our throats. It is dangerous to shove bills down the Australians’ throats without us properly going through and actually having a good look at it and actually putting it under the microscope.”
Read the full story here.
Was there another reason behind Albo’s EPA intervention?
From Dan Jervis-Bardy in Canberra: Labor insists it still wants to pursue its promised environmental protection agency in 2025 amid fresh speculation as to why Anthony Albanese intervened this week to shelve the plan.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said Mr Albanese was committed to laws to establish the long-promised nature watchdog and wanted to revisit them when Federal Parliament is due back in February.
Senator Gallagher confirmed Labor was “close” to accepting a deal with the Greens but needed more time to consider the minor party’s proposed amendments, rather than rushing the EPA through alongside dozens of other bills on Parliament’s final sitting day of the year.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek had thrashed out an agreement with the Greens and independent David Pocock, which included a legislated timeframe to introduce national environmental standards, before Mr Albanese intervened to call it off.
The Prime Minister’s intervention followed lobbying from WA Premier Roger Cook and mining and business groups that feared the EPA could devastate the State’s economy.
In a new twist to the saga, senior political and industry insiders believe Mr Albanese had another reason to shelve the EPA laws — Labor simply didn’t have the numbers.
Birmingham laments ‘culture wars’ in retirement speech
Ellen Ransley reports that the long-time Liberal senator and the party’s highest-ranking moderate used his speech to warn against culture wars and reflect on his progressive stance on social issues, namely his “proud” support of same sex marriage, and taking a backseat during the Coalition’s campaign against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
“The ultimate strength of the yes vote for marriage equality demonstrated that Australians overwhelmingly back concepts of equality and respect for each other, regardless of our differences. We must learn this lesson in all aspects of our work, but including in the pursuit of reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. We should strive to make Australians proud of having the oldest continuously living culture in the world,” he said.
“For all those on the harder edges of the left and the right who seek to divide our country, only make us weaker in our division, little is gained by culture wars, politicians obsessing over what happens in private bedrooms, or anyone seeking to override evidence based medical practice.”
Reserve Bank shake-up set to pass Senate
From business reporter Matt Mckenzie:
A shake-up of the Reserve Bank looks set to pass the Senate after an 11-hour deal between Labor and the Greens that will keep a special power for the treasurer to overrule interest rate calls.
The two parties nailed a broader agreement which includes $500 million of funding for social housing and support for the Federal Government’s Future Made in Australia manufacturing subsidy program.
The RBA reform will split the board into two expert panels — one for governance and one for interest rates — following a major review of the central bank released last year.
The changes had been parked until the final sitting day of Parliament on Thursday, with the Greens successful in a bid to keep rules allowing the treasurer to overrule the RBA’s decisions.
Simon Birmingham announces retirement from politics
Simon Birmingham has announced he will retire from Federal politics at the next election.
The Liberal senate leader and foreign affairs spokesman is the party’s highest-ranking moderate, and was first elected in 2007.
In a speech to the Senate on Thursday, the South Australian said now “is the right time for me” to leave politics.
He said he would step into a “new, commercially oriented direction” next year that has “nothing to do with lobbying, government relations, or commentary”.
Senator Birmingham served as finance minister before the Coalition lost government in 2022.
“I have been fortunate to spend more time on the Government benches than in Opposition,” he said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was present in the chamber as he gave his speech.
Greens win $500m for social housing in final-day horse-trading
The Greens will wave through almost 30 pieces of legislation – including to overhaul the Reserve Bank’s structure – after a frantic round of horse-trading with Labor on Federal Parliament’s final sitting day of the year.
The minor party says it has won a $500 million commitment from the Government to electrify 50,000 social housing properties as part of a package of concessions that secure its support for 27 separate bills.
As part a deal to back Labor’s Future Made in Australia laws, the Greens say coal, oil and gas projects will be blocked from accessing the program’s funds while Export Finance Australia will be barred from financing domestic or overseas fossil fuel ventures.
The Greens will support the contentious plan to split the RBA into two boards – one for monetary policy and the other overseeing governance – after Labor agreed to retain the Treasurer’s never-before-used power to overrule the bank’s decisions.
The minor party had previously refused to support the change unless Treasurer Jim Chalmers immediately used that power to force an interest rate cut.
“Greens pressure works,” Greens leader Adam Bandt said.
“Having delivered good outcomes that will help people, the Greens now turn to keeping Peter Dutton out and pushing for cheaper rents, cheaper groceries and no new coal and gas in a coming minority parliament.”
As reported on Wednesday, the Greens were on the brink of a deal to support laws to establish a federal environment protection agency before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese intervened to stop it going ahead.
Greens environment spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young paid tribute to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, who she claimed was overruled by a Prime Minister who was taken his advice from mining and logging interests.
“This election will be an election that is a referendum on Mother Nature, and we will make sure that it is at the top of the agenda,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
What is a guillotine motion?
The West Australian’s Federal political editor Katina Curtis talks with Ben O’Shea on The Nightly Five podcast to explain what all the fuss was about this morning.
Listen below.
Greens spilling beans on concessions
The Greens are holding a press conference as we speak, talking about the concessions they’ve extracted from the Albanese Govrnment in this chaotic final week of Parliament for 2024.
Our reporter Dan Jervis-Bardy is there and we’ll hear more from him very shortly.
