Nick Visser

‘It’s going an be an inauspicious and short leadership under the member for Hume’, says O’Neil while refusing to answer a question

We have our first booting of the day, with Labor member for Leichhardt, Matt Smith, removed for interrupting a question.

Liberal frontbencher Aaron Violi asks about Clare O’Neil’s comments on a “market correction”, versus Jim Chalmers’ explanation that she was talking generally, not technically. Is the market facing a correction, or not, he says.

Housing minister Clare O’Neil refuses to answer the question despite repeated probes from the opposition and the Speaker.

She notes house prices have risen dramatically by “400%” over the last 25 years, saying the government is pulling “every lever” available to rein in house prices.

double quotation markWe cannot allow that to happen again for another generation. If we do, our country will be unrecognisable to us. This has already radically transformed what it means to be aspirational in our country.

O’Neil said the Coalition are the “last people in Australia” that “can’t see that this housing market is broken”, which prompted loud interjections and then a retort from Milton Dick for many on the shadow front bench to stop yelling and “take a breath”. He tells O’Neil to go back to the question.

She doesn’t, and ends with an attack on Taylor:

double quotation markI’d say again to those opposite, it is going to be an inauspicious and short leadership under the member for Hume [Taylor] I can see that. Let’s hope that the leader that follows him takes a different approach to the housing matter.

Minister for housing, Clare O’Neil. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare

Updated at 01.01 EDT

Key events

Krishani Dhanji

Thank you all for joining me on the blog today!

I’ll leave you with the brilliant Adeshola Ore for the rest of the afternoon, and see you back here bright and early tomorrow.

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Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time

• Economy was the main game for the opposition again today, pressing the government on the latest inflation figures. The Coalition tried to pin the PM on his previous capital gains on investment properties – it took two goes, because the first question was ruled out of order.

• The government countered with a few sledges at the opposition, and some unflattering comparisons to One Nation, but they didn’t land quite as strongly as yesterday’s blows.

• The agriculture minister, Julie Collins confirmed a third bird has been infected with the H5N1 bird flu.

• Two MPs got kicked out for interjecting too much, and Milton Dick gave several warnings.

• And Jim Chalmers rejected a call to tie local council funding to 1% of federal taxation, after a warning from councils.

• Overall, a far more subdued QT after yesterday’s drama!

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After a final dixer to the local government minister, Kristy McBain, the PM calls time on QT.

Just one more to go for the week!

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Allegra Spender has a question on industrial relations

asks the government to defend its workplace legislation that will allow the commonwealth to legally discriminate against businesses without an enterprise agreement or those without a union in procurement processes.

Spender says that a similar policy in Victoria was found “to have been used by the CFMU, costing taxpayers billions and supporting organised crime and weaponised.”

Amanda Rishworth, the minister for workplace relations, defends the bill and says it doesn’t impose any obligations on the commonwealth “to do anything such as require an enterprise agreement.”

double quotation markWe are not shutting out employers, we’re not shutting out unions, we are bringing people together, and that is why the bill is called the Co-operative Workplaces Bill,

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Updated at 01.15 EDT

Labor ‘pulling up the ladder’ for aspirational Australians, says opposition

Liberal MP, Zoe McKenzie, follows Alison Penfold’s script, but asks housing minister Clare O’Neil why she was able to make capital gains from a negatively geared investment property which sold for more than $1.3m in 2023 but then “pull up this ladder of opportunity for millions of aspirational Australians.”

O’Neil says the question is “beneath” McKenzie.

double quotation markI respect her, and this is beneath her. It is truly beneath her.

The opposition takes umbrage at the insult, but Milton Dick says he’s already uncomfortable with the question (see earlier post here).

Before anyone can continue, Nationals MP Pat Conaghan gets kicked out of the chamber. Someone says “well done”, to which Dick says angrily, “it’s not a badge of honour to be disrespectful.”

O’Neil continues:

double quotation markWhat is truly hypocritical here is the group of people who sit opposite me, the vast majority of whom own their own home, many of whom own investment properties, and who are continuing to lock generations of young people out of the housing market.

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Third positive bird flu result, agriculture minister confirms

Nick Visser

Julie Collins said she received confirmation of a third positive result for H5N1 bird flu just before question time from a CSIRO lab.

She said:

double quotation markI’ll be receiving an update from the chief veterinary officer straight after question time and then I’ll provide an update to the public as you’d expect us to do.

The revelation came after a question from South Australian independent MP Rebekha Sharkie, who asked the prime minister about the algal bloom and the threat of H5N1 bird flu, saying an outbreak would risk the environment, tourism and agriculture.

Albanese said the government worked closely with the SA government, and would do so again if needed:

double quotation markWhen a challenge happens we work across the board with industry, with different levels of government, and I certainly worked with them and the member and I had conversations at that time. We’ll continue to work on this challenge as well.

Collins echoed what she’s said in recent days that the development is concerning, but that the government can’t stop the spread of H5N1 as it is found in migratory birds.

double quotation markWe can’t stop migratory birds coming to Australia but we can be prepared.

A northern giant petrel at the Esperance Wildlife hospital tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu on 18 June. Photograph: Lori-Ann Shibish/Esperance Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary/ReutersShare

Updated at 01.15 EDT

Alison Penfold is back

She asks the same question, almost word for word, except substituting the words “personally pocket” to “make” $200,000.

The leader of the house, Tony Burke, says that under standing orders, a member can’t ask about the private affairs of a minister or their conduct.

His shadow counterpart, Dan Tehan, disputes this and says it’s confirmed practice that questions are allowed to be asked of ministers about statements they have made in parliament, and that questions can be asked that are officially connected to the matters of public affairs – like media articles.

It’s all semantics but eventually Milton Dick rules the question in order, but warns again that he doesn’t want questions to get personal.

Anthony Albanese says he hasn’t seen the media report that relates to the question (to which someone on the opposition benches shouts ‘you’ve got a hundred staff, get one of them to send it to you’!)

The PM continues:

double quotation markAll of my arrangements have been declared appropriately. What we are doing here, when it comes to housing, is wanting to make sure that just as I had the opportunity way back in my 20s to own my own home over my head when I purchased a property … I want young Australians and people who are now in their 20s and in their 30s to have the same opportunity.

We are the party that want Australians to have access to their own home. Those opposite show just how desperate they are.

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Updated at 00.56 EDT

Milton Dick skips another Coalition question

It feels like a bit of a pattern now, with a third opposition question of the week skipped by Milton Dick, who rules it out of order.

Yesterday it was Angus Taylor’s question, today it’s Nationals MP, Alison Penfold, who asks about a report that shows the PM saved around $200,000 on the sale of three investment properties under existing capital gains tax rules.

She asks why it’s fair for him to pocket the money and then “pull up this ladder of opportunity from millions of aspirational Australians?”

Dick’s not having it and skips the opposition question entirely, meaning Labor get two dixers in a row.

ShareNick Visser

‘It’s going an be an inauspicious and short leadership under the member for Hume’, says O’Neil while refusing to answer a question

We have our first booting of the day, with Labor member for Leichhardt, Matt Smith, removed for interrupting a question.

Liberal frontbencher Aaron Violi asks about Clare O’Neil’s comments on a “market correction”, versus Jim Chalmers’ explanation that she was talking generally, not technically. Is the market facing a correction, or not, he says.

Housing minister Clare O’Neil refuses to answer the question despite repeated probes from the opposition and the Speaker.

She notes house prices have risen dramatically by “400%” over the last 25 years, saying the government is pulling “every lever” available to rein in house prices.

double quotation markWe cannot allow that to happen again for another generation. If we do, our country will be unrecognisable to us. This has already radically transformed what it means to be aspirational in our country.

O’Neil said the Coalition are the “last people in Australia” that “can’t see that this housing market is broken”, which prompted loud interjections and then a retort from Milton Dick for many on the shadow front bench to stop yelling and “take a breath”. He tells O’Neil to go back to the question.

She doesn’t, and ends with an attack on Taylor:

double quotation markI’d say again to those opposite, it is going to be an inauspicious and short leadership under the member for Hume [Taylor] I can see that. Let’s hope that the leader that follows him takes a different approach to the housing matter.

Minister for housing, Clare O’Neil. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare

Updated at 01.01 EDT

Chalmers rejects call to tie council funding to tax collection

Independent MP, Sophie Scamps, says local councils have written to federal parliament warning of a funding crisis and asks if the government will tie council funding to 1% of federal taxation.

Jim Chalmers says he’s aware of the additional funding request, but that the government won’t heed the call.

He says the government is already providing a bunch of extra funding for councils through grant programs like the stronger communities program and the active transport fund that councils apply for.

double quotation markI engage with councils and local governments in good faith, because we value the important work that they do in every single community represented here, but we are already providing substantial new funding for councils in the budget, which was only six weeks or so ago.

Member for Mackellar, Sophie Scamps. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty ImagesShare

Updated at 00.32 EDT

‘Nothing darkens their mood like another fall in inflation’: Chalmers

Tim Wilson accuses the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, of “economic incompetence” over core inflation rising from 3% to 3.6% over the last year, and interest rates rising 15 times since Labor took office.

Chalmers quips back, saying “nothing darkens their mood like another fall in inflation”.

double quotation markThe second consecutive month we saw inflation go down in our economy, which is terribly inconvenient to those opposite.

He says that the war in Iran has pushed up inflation in our economy. He points out that it’s come down substantially, that’s also true, and in his usual ham-fisted way he attributes that to my budget settings Mr Speaker, I’m not sure that that was the point that he was trying to make. I’m not sure, but it is very kind of him, very kind of him, none the least. I appreciate him every day

Dan Tehan tries to make a point of order on relevance, but Milton Dick dismisses it.

Chalmers then ends with a personal jibe:

double quotation markYesterday I said that one of the reasons why the Liberal party is dying in the arms of the opposition leader is because he’s trying to out One Nation One Nation … to be fair to him, there is a second reason why the Liberal party is dying in his arms, and that’s the member for Goldstein [Wilson].

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Updated at 00.29 EDT

It’s question time!

Angus Taylor begins, asking the prime minister why Australians are continuing to pay for “Labor’s economic incompetence”, blaming the government’s spending for high inflation.

Anthony Albanese says cost of living is his government’s number one priority, and lists a bunch of changes coming into effect from 1 July – including new funding for instant asset tax write offs, as well as indexation on certain social welfare payments (which happen automatically).

double quotation markToday, of all days, just one week from when a whole lot of those measures cut in, is an appropriate time to answer a question about living standards, because next week every Australian worker will get a tax cut, every worker, including a significant increase for those who are on the minimum wage. We know that those opposite were opposed to that.

Opposition leader Angus Taylor. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShare

Updated at 00.11 EDT

What is cultural confidence?

Thank you all for your contributions to the debate on what cultural confidence is – there’s some mixed reactions.

Tim Wilson earlier said that Australia should be a “culturally confident country”.

One person in the comments section wrote “It’s phrase you can mould any way you like and if you get a bad reaction, you turn it into some other thing altogether. It’s meaningless.”

Wilson – a dedicated reader of the blog – has pointed out to me that there’s a meaning in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management which says cultural confidence:

double quotation markRefers to individuals’ perception of cultural identity, belonging, and pride based on understanding, accepting, and living up to their own culture.

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