PARLIAMENTARY ROUND-UP: NOVEMBER/DECEMBER EDITION

With the final week of Parliament now complete, here is your round-up of the key moments from the last Parliamentary sitting fortnight of 2019.

WEEK ONE

 

AGED CARE RESPONSE

On Sunday 24 November 2019, The Morrison Government announced a funding injection of $537 million into aged care to start addressing the three issues that the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety recently said were urgent.

Almost $500 million will go towards supporting 10,000 in-home care places. The rest will fund measures to reduce the use of the chemical restraint of residents and the removal of young people from aged care facilities.

Prime Minister the Hon Scott Morrison MP stated the funding was an initial response and the Government was aware that more needed to be done. Labor’s Shadow Minister for Ageing and Seniors, the Hon Julie Collins MP, said the response was a “drop in the ocean” with 120,000 older Australians on the home care waitlist.

CASUAL VACANCY

The Independent Senator Cory Bernardi has announced he will leave the Senate at the end of 2019. Senator Bernardi quit the Coalition in 2017 to start his own political party, which he later disbanded after lower than expected election results.

Senator Bernardi’s departure will create a casual vacancy that will need to be filled by a member of the Liberal party.  To learn more about Senator Bernardi’s departure, and what it will mean for the Senate, we encourage you to read our in-depth analysis which can be found here. 

UNION-BUSTING LEGISLATION

Last Thursday, Senator Pauline Hanson and Senator Jacqui Lambie joined forces to deliver a surprising defeat of the Government’s key union crackdown legislation. Although the Government accepted many of One Nation’s amendments to the Ensuring Integrity Bill, Senator Hanson’s key deciding votes resulted in the Bill’s eventual defeat.

After the vote, Senator Hanson stated that her decision to reject the bill was influenced by the scandal surrounding Westpac, saying that the Morrison Government needs to take more action on dealing with white collared crime.

Despite vowing to support the union crackdown unless Mr John Setka resigned as Victorian Secretary of Construction Division of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), Senator Lambie also voted to defeat the bill.

FOREIGN INTERFERENCE

Last Sunday, the Morrison Government has announced $88 million of funding to establish a new Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce.

The taskforce will grow the resources of the National Counter Foreign Interference Coordinator — currently within the Department of Home Affairs — with the goal to “disrupt and deter anyone attempting to undermine our national interests”.

At the announcement, the Prime Minister stated that “This threat has been evolving and we have been staying ahead of it by building that capability now over many years, and most recently this initiative, which improves the collaboration, ensures that the tools they have are world-class and they can work together to identify, disrupt and prosecute,”

WEEK TWO

 

ENCRYPTION LEGISLATION

Earlier this week, Labor indicated they will attempt to force the Government to change controversial encryption-piercing legislation, introducing amendments to the Senate in line with the findings of a bipartisan parliamentary committee. The Government swiftly passed the Assistance and Access Bill through Parliament late last year with Labor’s support.

The Opposition has since accused the Government of breaking a promise to put in place a series of amendments to the legislation. The encryption legislation is part of a global push by law enforcement to confront the growing challenge of suspects “going dark”, with their data encrypted and out of reach to investigators.

POOR SCORES

On Wednesday it was revealed that Australian students recorded their worst results in international tests, and for the first time have failed to exceed the OECD average in maths while also declining in global rankings for reading and science.

Compared to Singapore, which was the top performing country globally, Australian students who sat the test last year were three years behind in maths, a year and three months behind in reading, and a year and nine months behind in scientific literacy. Australian students were also more than a year behind the 15-year-old Australian students who sat the original tests in the early 2000s.

Minister for Education, the Hon Dan Tehan MP said, “these results should have alarm bells ringing” and urged his state and territory counterparts to take “ambitious” action at next week’s Education Council meeting.

MEDEVAC

On Wednesday, the Morrison Government achieved a notable victory with the repeal of the Medevac legislation. The changes will see the refugee medical transfer rules restored to their previous state after striking a deal with Senator Jacqui Lambie.

The Coalition gained support from four of the six crossbenchers in the Senate to repeal the legislation by 37 to 35 votes, removing the changes that were introduced by the former Member for Wentworth, Dr Kerryn Phelps prior to the 2019 Federal Election.

Senator Lambie has refused to reveal the conditions for her support for the government’s attempts to dismantle the Medevac legislation and restore the full discretion of federal ministers to accept or reject medical transfers to Australia.

 DEPARTMENTAL RESTRUCTURING

On Thursday, the Morrison Government has announced a major shake-up of the public service, with multiple departmental secretaries set to lose their jobs and the number of government departments to be reduced from 18 to 14.

Four new departments would be created from February 1, 2020, which will include a new Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment; a Department of Industry, Science and Resources; a Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications and a Department of Education Skills and Employment.

Five departmental secretaries are set to leave office due to the changes, this includes Secretary of the Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business Ms Kerri Hartland, Secretary of the Department of Human Services, Ms Reneé Leon PSM, Secretary of the Department of Communications and the Arts, Mr Mike Mrdak AO, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Mr Daryl Quinlivan and Secretary of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, Dr Heather Smith PSM.

One new secretary was named as part of the shake-up, with Mr Andrew Metcalfe AO returning to the public service as the Secretary of the new Department of Agriculture, Water Resources and the Environment. Mr Metcalfe previously served as the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry before being replaced following the 2013 Federal Election.

Mr Metcalfe will replace Mr David Fredricks, the current Secretary of the Department of the Environment and Energy, who was appointed in November 2019. Mr Fredricks will now lead the new Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.