Teals accused of buying votes
LNP senator James McGrath also took to his feet during last night’s debate to question why the independents would need to spend more than $800,000 on their campaign.
He accused the “teals” of using “big money” to “buy elections,” referring to the large donations Simon Holmes à Court’s Climate 200 made to the independents at the last election.
“It is the Teals who are using big money from vested donors to buy elections,” he said
“As a former campaign director, I can say to the Teals, if they can’t get their message out in a seat with $800,000, then they need to look at their message or they need to look at what they are spending that money on.”
‘Two old white guys’ deemed unparliamentary
Amid the speeches about political donations changes, Independent senator Lidia Thorpe and Senate president Sue Lines were locked into a fiery exchange.
In comments that had to be withdrawn, Thorpe said the deal — or “stitch up” as she called it — was designed to cement the power of the major parties.
“We’ve got to keep the two old white guys running against each other every election,” she quipped.
Lines told her the remark was unparliamentary and asked her to withdraw.
Thorpe expressed confusion about which part of her comment was unparliamentary, before eventually withdrawing.
“What is wrong with saying two old white guys?” she asked.
Lines asked her again to withdraw.
“I withdraw to you, President of the colony. I withdraw,” she said.
The heated back and forth continued, with Lines asking Thorpe on multiple occasions to withdraw parts of her speech.
In arguing against the proposed changes, Thorpe also expressed concern the deal would lead to less diverse representation in parliament.
PM kneecapped Teals: Greens
Greens senator Larissa Waters took aim at the “back room” discussions between the two major parties that lead to the political donations deal.
“Democracy is a sham folks,” she told the Senate.
“When the two big parties reach an agreement, none of this here [in the chamber] matters — the deal was done in back room, probably between Albanese and Dutton personally.
“Probably [Tuesday] night after he’d [Albanese] tried to wine and dine the Teals while kneecapping them at the same time.”
She went on to say it was the dodgiest deal she’d seen in more than a decade in parliament, also criticising the limited debate the government allowed on the bill.
👋 Good morning
Hiya friends.
Welcome back to our politics live blog. Courtney Gould from the ABC’s Parliament House team here to guide you through the day.
But before we bring you the day’s action, it would be remiss of me not to dive into the Senate shenanigans last night. It all began late in the afternoon when Labor and the Coalition confirmed it had reached a deal on its electoral reforms.
The reforms will also create a lower minimum threshold for disclosing donations, set up provision for real-time donation disclosures and cap total national spending by a party at $90 million.
The government stared down a furious crossbench, switched up proceedings in the Senate to extend sitting, and brought on debate for the bill. The legislation passed with amendments late into the night.
Friend of the blog (and political reporter) Evelyn Manfield watched the drama unfold and will be popping in shortly to share some of the big moments.
