Dutton claims PM ‘misrepresented’ earlier comments about Rudd’s performance as US ambassador – as it happened

Here is how Mike Bowers saw question time today:

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Still working on that smile:

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We now all know what Jim Chalmers looks like singing in the shower. (He’s a 90s hip hop fan, but not sure that Biggie ever threw this move)

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The video team have been very busy today – here is Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton duelling at the end of question time over Kevin Rudd

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Anthony Albanese is now holding his own meeting with China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi.

We’ll have the photos from that very soon.

We reported on this earlier today, but in case you missed it, the video team have clipped it up for you –Labor MP Graham Perrett made a late night speech on Tuesday on what is happening in Gaza.

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David Shoebridge hails pro-Palestinian protestors with ‘more conviction and principle’ than in the parliament

Over in the Senate, Greens senator David Shoebridge has paid tribute to the anti-genocide protesters who disrupted the house question time on Monday and criticised prime minister Anthony Albanese for not meeting with them outside his electorate office.

Shoebridge:

In parliament question time on Monday this week, we saw protesters disrupting parliamentary procedure, because they were calling for a ceasefire, and they were calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza.

And many of the protesters that were in the gallery during the House of Reps question time, have come from groups like Families for Palestine, that have been picketing outside the prime minister’s electorate office in the heart of Sydney now for six weeks.

Picketing in circumstances where there were mums, largely mums and supporters of those mums from within the prime minister’s own electorate, and he has directed his office to lock the door to them.

To not answer their calls, to not let them in, to not speak to them. And for six weeks, they have been camped outside seeking a response so they finally came here and they came to parliament and in the gallery.

And in case you couldn’t hear their call on the video feed, this is what they said and I quote, ‘Albanese your hands are red, 15,000 children dead’.

That was their call. That’s what they said. And I can tell you this. It’s not the first time that there’s been more conviction and principle in the galleries of this place than there is on the floor of parliament.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen clearer, morally unambiguous statements coming from the community and holding this place to account.

And the response, the smirking response from members of the government and the opposition to these families, many of them who have loved ones in Gaza. The smirking responses – they were removed from the parliament because they dared to bring politics and truth to the parliament – was hard to watch.

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Question time ends – with more sparring over Trump and Rudd

Anthony Albanese asks to add to an answer though – the Paul Fletcher question on Kevin Rudd and Donald Trump.

Albanese wants to add this comment:

I wish to add this comment with regard to the position of Kevin Rudd as the ambassador of Australia to the United States: On 11 February, just a month ago, Peter Dutton, the leader of the opposition, was asked by Andrew Clennell on Sky News the following: ‘Could you work with Kevin Rudd as ambassador, or would you seek to replace him if elected?’ The leader of the opposition responded as follows: ‘I mean, what grounds would there be to replace him? I would work very closely with him. I know him, Kevin - I caught up with him when he was in Australia, and he gave us an update as to what he was seeing in Washington. He represented his country well, and we are a few steps down the road. But I think for most Australians, they get it - the importance of the relationship with America is at its height, more so than any period since the second world war.

That’s a fairly significant statement, but that’s exactly as the prime minister puts it as well.’ It is indeed, Mr Speaker, the way that this prime minister puts it, because the relationship with the United States is very important. It should be beyond the sort of cheap politics that we saw earlier today.

Peter Dutton now wants to make a comment, saying he has been misrepresented by the prime minister “just then”:

I did have complimentary things to say about Mr Rudd, and it is in our national interest to make sure that the ambassador to the United States – our most important strategic alliance partner – is successful, and we will do everything we can to support him. The point I make is that the president of the United States – past president Trump ...

President Trump, who likely will be the nominee for the Republican party at the next election in November, has now made very serious comments in relation to Australia’s ambassador. They need to be answered, and Mr Rudd needs to repair the relationship. That’s the point we were making. And we won’t be hectored to or intimidated by these bully boys over here.

PM questioned on migration and housing

I was just thinking Michael Sukkar had been quiet today – turns out he had a late question, so couldn’t risk being thrown out.

Sukkar:

My question is to the prime minister: Permanent long-term overseas arrivals are outpacing the construction of new homes at a rate of almost 4 to 1, with 900,000 net overseas arrivals but only 265,000 building completions since Labor came to government. When will the prime minister admit Labor’s housing crisis is out of control and Labor’s fake promise to build 1.2 million homes is yet another broken promise? Why is the prime minister taking this country in the wrong direction?

Albanese takes this question on a journey as well:

I thank him for the tag line, and I respond to him by saying Australia is indeed heading in the right direction.

It was heading in the wrong direction, Mr Speaker. But it’s now setting in a direction which sees inflation going down. I think that’s a good thing. It’s heading in the direction where real wages are going up. I think that’s a good thing. Productivity is increasing. I think that’s a good thing. Now, instead of deficits under them, we’ve got surpluses. I think that’s a good thing. And we’ve seen more jobs created under this government than in any new government in Australian political history.

I think that’s a good thing as well. The other thing that is a good thing is that every Australian’s going to get a tax cut. Not just some – not just politicians – every Australian. Every worker. Including those who are building and working on Australia’s programs such as the social housing accelerator, which is seeing new public housing built.

Etc, etc, etc.

Albanese then gets to the population numbers. He reads from a piece of paper with lots of yellow highlighter (well done to the staffer who very quickly grabbed that and found the right paragraphs):

Of course, when it comes to the population of Australia, as the population statement said last December, for 2030-31 the expected population is 600,000 below what was projected prior to the onset of the pandemic in 2019-20. And we, of course, note the comments of the leader of the opposition, who said, ‘We do - in September 2022 - ‘We do need an increase in the migration numbers. It’s clear the numbers needs to be higher.’ That’s what he had to say.

There is a bit more but we have heard it and occasionally you have to choose self care.

PM questioned about tax treatment of discretionary trusts

Angus Taylor is back! Two days in a row. How lucky are we.

Taylor asks:

Prime minister, hundreds of thousands of Australian small businesses operate within family trusts. Can the prime minister guarantee that he will not impose a 30% minimum tax rate on discretionary trusts?

Anthony Albanese goes on a bit of a journey:

The shadow treasurer continues to sit there and dream up what can I ask about what the Labor government isn’t doing today? What can I just make up? What can I just make up and then say to today?

So the leader of the opposition can jump in and say, ‘Why won’t you rule it out?’ Well, the sun will come up tomorrow. The sun will go down ...

We have such an absurd position put forward … here we go.

The here we go is in reference to Peter Dutton standing up on a point of order which is not a point of order. Albanese continues:

He’s very angry, Mr Speaker. He’s very angry. Always. We saw it yesterday in the chamber and then we saw it in the press conference afterwards, where he stood up and he said, oh, well, you know, ‘we’ll forget the fact that Michaelia Cash, my attorney general, did a Sky News interview and blew things up on the Sunday … we’ll forget that Michaelia Cash wrote in an oped in the West Australian ….

(There are so many interjections Albanese is cut off)

He continues:

I’m asked about tax and ruling things out. Here’s some things for you. So could tweaks for negative gearing perhaps help younger generations? The member for Menzies. ‘I’m not going to do the rule-in-rule-out of particular policies here. I think the problem with rule-in-rule-out when there is Question Time or here in the media is I think we get focused in the 24-hour news cycle and not the problems that people sent us here to solve.’ That’s what they continue to say. When we talk about tax changes, I’m interested in their view of negative gearing because the member for Canning had something to say as well. He said if the problem includes negative gearing, then we should make changes. The new Senator Kovocic – probably not backed by the leader, given his track record on preselections – [says] we should not be afraid to consider tax changes.

The answer continues but it is more of the same …

The protest out the front of the parliament during China’s foreign minister’s meeting with Penny Wong continued to the front of the Chinese embassy

Greens ‘ready to work with government’

On Albanese’s answer there, the Greens say they have not been approached by the government to work on any of the legislation he was talking about, but they are willing to work with the government on the issue: