So here is what we know that we did not this morning:
The Abbott government's carbon tax repeal failed in the Senate for the third time this morning. The fate of the carbon tax is now uncertain with Clive Palmer insisting on on a heavy penalty for power companies - and possibly others - for not passing on the savings.
The government also lost a procedural vote to Labor on the Future of Financial Advice changes over the fact that the government has yet to table the regulations. The government's changes are expected to fail next week.
Foreign minister Julie Bishop said she was not going to avoid causing offence to China if it was required, which drew sharp criticism from Tanya Plibersek for jeopardising Australia's relationship.
We are one step closer to knowing the deep algorithms of the Australian Electoral Commission's computer system after the Greens forced the beleaguered organisation to reveal how the Senate votes are counted.
The other motion we skated past in the melee was one regarding the Australian Electoral Commission and its attempts to declare Michael Cordover a vexatious applicant after just two freedom of information requests.
After a motion from Lee Rhiannon, the AEC has been ordered to reveal details of how Australia’s Senate votes are counted after earlier refusing to release documents about the voting system.
The Senate ordered the AEC to produce details of the computer program used to calculate Australia’s complex system of preference votes by 15 July.
The AEC earlier refused to release the information in response to a freedom of information request for the documents. It seemed like not such a great move, given that following the botched WA senate election, just about every member in the parliament has the AEC in their sights.
While we were staring into our new chamber of choice, things were happening around the China/Japan debate, discussed on the blog at the beginning of this long day. Paul Farrell filed this earlier in the afternoon:
The opposition spokeswoman for foreign affairs, Tanya Plibersek, has accused Julie Bishop of jeopardising Australia’s relationship with China and playing a “zero sum” game with Australia’s regional relationships.
On Thursday, the foreign affairs minister signaled a willingness to directly confront China, in an interview with Fairfax Media, and said that while the best outcome would be deeper engagement with China, the government was “clear-eyed about what could go wrong”.
Plibersek said Australia’s interests were best served by developing a close relationship with both China and Japan.
It is worth mentioning the bleeding obvious as the light fades on the fourth day of the new senate. This parliament is looking a lot like the last one in terms of the hung parliament. It has just been transplanted to from the House to the Senate.
Tony Abbott used every means available to him to rock the 43rd parliament and now he has an equally committed adversary in Clive Palmer.
It seems like a long time ago, but here are a few examples of the rhetoric used by Abbott prior to the election. If you search for "chaos" and "Labor" on the Liberal Party's website, you are rewarded with endless examples.
There is only one way that Australians can be sure to leave the chaos, the division, the failures, and the bloodletting behind, for good… and that is to change the Government.
Labor is just offering you more of the same. If Labor hangs on, they will only be offering more talk, more chaos, more division, more uncertainty and more unexpected new taxes. There will be more turmoil and you can be certain there will be another deal with the Greens.
Or this:
This election is the most important in a generation. It pits the Liberal and National parties' positive plans for the future against more of the same from a confused and chaotic Labor Party.
I have long been of the view that independents are actually good for parliaments because they challenge major parties and bring on debates that often don't get a run. In just this short couple of weeks leading up to the senate, already attention has focussed more on climate change, whether we want carbon pricing and the real breakdown of electricity price rises such the costs of poles and wires. The keen interest has also provided a lesson in parliamentary practice.
But major parties always champion democracy until democracy provides something else. Then it is called chaos.
For all Labor's division in the last parliament, Julia Gillard negotiated a lot of legislation through the parliament.
Clive Palmer’s last-minute carbon tax repeal amendment appears to extend the consumer watchdog’s tough powers and huge potential penalties to enforce price reductions to businesses other than electricity and gas companies.
The list proposed by PUP includes “an individual, a body corporate, a body politics, a partnership, any other incorporated association or body of entities, a trust or any party or entity which can or does buy or sell electricity or gas”.
There are a lot of tweets on the failure/postponement of the carbon tax repeal this afternoon but they are all Labor/Greens. Palmer United has taken to the twittersphere to show his press conference with John Hewson (covered here earlier today) and PUP senator Glenn Lazarus' first question. The only things I can find from government members are non-carbon related issues.
So in the interests of balance, I can't resist this:
So the bottom line of that last entry - the Fofa faux par - is that the senate is a step closer to striking out the government's changes to the Future of Financial Advice.
Mathias Cormann's plans were already on shaky ground, given Labor, the Greens, PUP, Xenophon and Madigan and just about every seniors and consumer group was against them. Cormann had agreed to pause the changes but then "decreed" them without tabling them.
The Dastyari move was designed to flush Cormann out.
Voting with Labor was the Greens, Muir, Madigan and Xenophon.
Voting with the government was Day and Leyonjhelm.
PUP senators were missing in action.
It forced another embarrassing loss in the senate.
Senate is currently voting on a motion relating to the Fofa regulations brought in sneakily by the government, which has yet to table the appropriate document, as Faulkner noted in question time. Dastyari spoke about the government's failure to table the changes when he was taking note of Mathias Cormann's answer just now. He was reading directly from the Fofa regulations.
Labor then had another senator call for Dastyari to table his document, to force the issue.
Firstly there was no quorum in the chamber.
Secondly, when there was a quorum, the government again lost the vote 34-31.
This day really is turning to crud for the Coalition.
Daniel Hurst is one of the pillars - nay the Doric columns - that hold up this blog. He has been chasing down the competing press conferences as the carbon tax repeal results became known. Here is a little of his endeavour.
The Greens leader, Christine Milne, said the chaos showed that Abbott was "a crash or crash through prime minister and today he crashed".
"The government came in today all cock-a-hoop, thinking they had the whole thing stitched up; they went in to gag the debate, then they had to filibuster when the amendments came unstuck and the whole thing fell to pieces - that is going to characterise this period of government unless Tony Abbott learns to respect the Senate and give the Senate time to do what it needs to do," she said.
The Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm and the Family First's Bob Day said they were disappointed at failure to repeal the carbon tax on Thursday.
Day said he had suggested, during the impromptu meeting with other crossbenchers and the government in the Senate corridor, that the carbon tax repeal bills should be passed immediately and then the PUP amendment could be considered by the House of Representatives next week.
"I put that suggestion to Clive. That suggestion was not taken up," Day said. Leyonhjelm indicated he may not support the PUP amendments, which he described as "very prescriptive" with "extremely high fines for failure to lodge documents".
He said if the carbon tax was not repealed "the blame for that will rest with Labor, Greens and the Palmer United party".
Penny Wong to Abetz: I refer to the PM's promise before the last election, "there will not be dealing done with independents and minor parties under any political movement that I lead. Is that still the position, didn't last long, did... it?
Abetz:
I say to the Australian people that the then leader of the opposition, the now prime minister said he would not do any deals with others to form government, unlike the dodgy deal that the Australian Labor Party did with the Australian Greens, to their eternal shame.
Wong asks Abetz: Which Palmer amendments are government policy? And will the penalties for not passing tax savings relate just to power companies or all companies.
This relates to reports today that airlines and supermarkets may not pass on savings.
Greens to Abetz: Why is the Government ignoring the mounting evidence that workforce exclusion is complex and have you directed the McClure review with its employment focus to also quantify the impact that long periods without financial support will have on work readiness?
This relates to changes to Newstart for under 30s which take away the dole for six months.
Abetz says the government is "enhancing" a work for the dole scheme to combat youth unemployment and "individual flexibility arrangements" that the government will be introducing under the Fair Work Act.
Q: Why has the Government not considered the business wage subsidies that will be providing should also be made available for part-time worker, not just full-time work?
Everybody wants a full-time job, there has been regrettably a degree of casualisation in the workforce and part-time jobs with, the good news is that if you do get yourself a part-time job, or a seasonal job there is a lot greater chance that you can then move on to full-time employment, says Abetz.
A government outline of the changes to aged care rules from Mitch Fifield:
Previously there was only an assets test for accommodation and there was only an income test for care, so you could have a situation where people of high assets paid very little for their care and people of high means paid very little for their accommodation. So there will in effect be under the new means testing arrangements, three tiers.
For those people of low means, those people with assets below $45,000 and income below $24,000, the only contribution they will have to make is a basic daily fee which is 85% of the age pension. They will not have to pay anything towards their accommodation. For people of moderate means, they will pay that basic daily fee and a contribution towards their accommodation. For people of higher means, they'll pay the basic daily fee, a means tested fee and they'll be responsible for all of their accommodation costs.
I note that Queensland Nurses Union estimate that this year only about 600 of the 2,500 nursing graduates will be successful in gaining employment and many of these employed in temporary part-time positions. Can the Senator explain why the federal government continues to support the importation of overseas nurses and midwives on 457 visas while Queensland has the highest level of new graduate unemployment and underemployment in nursing and midwifery sector?
Minister Michaelia Cash says the numbers in the 457 visa category has slowed under this government, though "we support foriegn workers".
Lazarus asks: Will you review the 457 program:
which allow foreign workers to take Australian jobs?
Cash says she has instituted a review already of more than 100 people in 457 program, she has received the report and she is considering the recommendations.
Christine Milne is now asking about the savings guarantees in the government's plans in the event of the carbon tax repeal.
Eric Abetz says the government is trying to ensure savings are passed on through the ACCC.
Milne: Given that the government has agreed to introduce and pass regulations and penalties developed by the Palmer United Party regarding the clean energy legislation repeal bill, and given that it affects entities, everything from individuals through the to body corporates through to unincorporated associations and trusts, will the Government explain whether this includes Qantas and the supermarkets, for example or is it restricted to only electricity and gas suppliers?
Abetz is refusing to say whether the guarantee relates to all companies, or just power companies.
In relation to the Palmer United amendments....we provided a belt, a security and they then provided braces to provide further security to ensure that the consumer would be protected.
Labor's John Faulkner asks finance minister Mathias Cormann whether there was a delay in tabling of the Fofa regulations which came in on July 1.
I'm not aware of the specific mechanics but as minister I take responsibility.
Cormann says the government was mindful of the new senators coming into parliament and wanted to brief them on the very "technical" changes.
Faulkner:
Is it true that late on Friday 4 July 2014 a further message was conveyed to the table office advising that the Treasury wanted the tabling of the FOFA regulations to be delayed until Tuesday 15 July 2014?
Labor is asking asks minister Michael Ronaldson about cuts which effect Tasmania from the recent budget. It is directed straight to PUP senator Jacqui Lambie.
Q: This week it was announced that 350 jobs would go at the gold mine and Mt Lyell copper mine on the West Coast. The West Coast is an important part of the region, already identified as one of the most economically vulnerable in Australia, why is the Government cutting vital assistance to small employers in the region?
If you are going to look through the budget papers I suggest that you don't selectively pull out things for political purposes. The entrepreneurs infrastructure program is a $484 million program.
The Senate has voted down the government's carbon tax repeal for the third time after Clive Palmer refused to support it due to differences over the power price savings guarantee.
The government will re-introduce the carbon tax repeal legislation next Monday as Palmer introduces a power saving amendment and ministers say that it will be passed by the end of next week.
Labor has won a Senate vote which will force the Abbott government to produce documents relating to the Future of Financial Advice Laws (Fofa) weakening regulations on financial advisors.
The Senate is now debating the bill which would abolish the Climate Change Authority, which would have included Palmer United party amendments to introduce a zero-rated emissions trading system. The events around this bill are still fluid.
Greg Hunt and Eric Abetz after the carbon tax repeal goes down in the senate. Photograph: Mike Bowers Guardian Australia Photograph: Mike Bowers Guardian Australia
BEFORE
BEFORE: Smiles and back slaps for the Government as the carbon tax repeal bills pass in the House of Representatives on June 26. Photograph: Mike Bowers Photograph: Mike Bowers
The amendment only applies to gas and power companies, not companies like Coles or Woolies, asks Lenore Taylor?
Hunt says he will let Palmer United explain their power amendment but the government had already planned the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to police the savings.
Hunt says the government's original ACCC powers were "general" but then clarifies the ACCC powers apply to power, electricity and gas.
The senate is now debating the Climate Change Authority (Abolition) Bill 2013 [No. 2] – Resumption of second reading debate.
The CCA was the independent advisory body headed by former Reserve Bank head Bernie Fraser, which Palmer said the government had to save in exchange for his support to vote down the carbon tax.
Palmer senators were going to amend this legislation so it remains to be seen where this one goes. I will try to track down the latest amendments and you'll forgive me for not making any predictions...
Labor senator Sam Dastyari is moving a motion to order the government on the production of documents regarding the Corporations Amendment (Streamlining Future of Financial Advice) Regulation 2014.
Now next week the government will have to introduce a new carbon tax repeal bill into the House of Representatives, which is expected to be the same, but will have a NEW Palmer amendment to it. Then the whole process starts again, that is House debate, votes, then up to the Senate, debate and votes.
According to Palmer, the clerk advised that his power price guarantee penalty on companies would represent a tax and as such it cannot be introduced from the Senate.
Senators are completely confused over what amendments they are voting for. Christine Milne is worried that a swifty is being pulled. Wong is also unclear.
Christine Milne is objecting to the "secret meetings" held between the government and PUP, given the government has not yet explained what the amendments are that the senate will vote on.
We need to know exactly what you have stitched up.
We are seeing a range of amendments circulated by the PUP, says Wong.
She says one amendment was circulated, then a second, then a third amendment, then the filibuster to allow government to work a deal.
This is the calm, considerate and responsible government that Mr Abbott promised. If you walk around the corridors you can see a whole lot of huddles discussing these amendments.
Clive Palmer and John Hewson with a little free advice for Tony Abbott. Photograph: Mike Bowers Guardian Australia Photograph: Mike Bowers Guardian Australia
Mathias Cormann is now filibusting while the government meets PUP senators outside of the senate chamber. PUP senators left the chamber after their chat with Fifield and Birmingham.
He says Labor doesn't know that Australia's ETS is not represented anywhere in the world.
It's not a market mechanism, says Cormann, it's more like something you would find in Pyongyang.
Now he is praising WA Labor senator Joe Bullock as a:
fundamentally honest and decent man. He was sent out into the community to say Labor was scrapping the carbon tax while they were voting for.
Clive Palmer on his way to the press conference to announce PUP would not support carbon tax repeal for the moment. Photograph: Mike Bowers Guardian Australia Photograph: Mike Bowers Guardian Australia
To be clear, Palmer was upset apparently because once the senate went into its committee phase, which is happening now until 11.50am, NEW amendments cannot be introduced. That is, he had no hope of getting his power price guarantee up.
The Palmer power price guarantee is that power companies - and possibly others - will be charge 250pc of the saving that was not passed on as a penalty.
This is the detail that government was fudging on, according to Clive Palmer.
Finance minister Mathias Cormann in the senate says he will look at any circulating amendments though he is not clear whether he is referring to the PUP amendments.
By the way, an ETS is a govt intervention. It is not a market mechanism.
It's less than an hour before the repeal bills are brought on? Will you move the amendments then?
Palmer says he wants to give senators time to consider the amendments.
Asked about the time frame, given that if PUP votes the carbon tax repeal down and amends, the bill will have to go down to the lower house again and then come back to the senate. The implication being that business will not know what is going on for another week at the very least.
I guess they should have thought about that, says Palmer.
Palmer is lauding former Liberal leader John Hewson, for his courage in trying to do the right thing (Fightback) and helping John Howard become such a successful leader.
To recap, the carbon tax repeal debate is going on in the senate "in committee" until 11.50am. That was a government guillotine agreed to by Palmer United senators among others. Yet as they had their bums on the government benches, their leader Clive Palmer was briefing the media down the hall, saying they would not support the carbon tax repeal.
Clive Palmer has suggested his senators will not support the repeal of the carbon tax today, suggesting there is an issue with the government's support of his amendment to give a power price guarantee.
We did that last night, put it in expecting (our amendment) would have no problems. We had no indication from the government that it would not support it but the old amendment, which was prepared by the government in good faith lying there, our senators would have thought it was a new amendment and voted accordingly. But now they know it's not so they will be voting against the carbon tax, I understand...we'll see what happens.
As you can see from the quote, there are a lot of mixed messages coming in today so watch this space...
President Stephen Parry rebuffs Liberal Ian Macdonald who expects to speak but is sat down as the protocol requires leaders to be given precedence. This means Christine Milne can get up and speak next.
Just to mess with our minds while the carbon tax repeal is going down in the senate, the Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer, economist and former Liberal Party leader John Hewson and The Australia Institute’s Matt Grudnoff are launching Fighting Dirty on Clean Energy, a new report from The Australia Institute about Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET).
Singh says its a complete furphy to claim the world is not acting on climate schemes. She says China and the US, the world's two largest powers, have signed eight partnership pacts on climate change.
China wants to act yet here is Australia today - the only country going backwards.
Security camera outside the senate doors of parliament house this morning. Photograph: Mike Bowers Guardian Australia Photograph: Mike Bowers Guardian Australia
Senator Lisa Singh is now leading the charge for Labor on carbon tax. She again runs through the science, the number of governments acting on climate change and the number of community groups which have protested the repeal of the carbon tax.
I am still baffled as to why a liberal party doesn't support market based mechanisms.
Liberal senator Ian Macdonald is raising a point of order, given that president Parry ruled the climate change protest in the public gallery was a "disturbance of the senate". Macdonald says a couple of senators "actually turned around and applauded those who have disturbed the senate". Does that constitute contempt?
The president Stephen Parry:
No but I was going to raise it as disorderly conduct so thank you for raising it.
Government leader in the senate Eric Abetz says the carbon tax repeal is urgent because the financial markets need to react and power companies and others need to know whether to charge the carbon tax.
Nick Xenophon has moved a mysterious motion to refer a matter to the privileges committee about evidence given by a witness to a senate committee investigating aviation accidents.
It will debate:
whether displinary action has been taken against a witness
if any contempt was committed in respect of those matters
John Madigan has corrected (just tiny details) in his interesting - in the Chinese sense of the word - adjournment speech last night. More on that in a mo.
The government has moved to gag the carbon tax repeal debate again.
The senate remains fully in focus today with the carbon tax - again - expected to be voted down, some say before lunchtime, if there is such a thing here.
Wednesday gave us a little taste of how this new senate will work and in a strange karmic echo of the last parliament, the government negotiations were frenetic and unpredictable.
But the government is maintaining a stiff upper lip, as you would expect, and the leader in the house, Christopher Pyne, declared:
We are not going to throw in the towel after three days.
As a result of the precarious senate situation, we now know that the government will need to find extra funding for:
the schoolkids’ bonus – which provides eligible families with $410 per primary school child and $820 per high school child. Retaining the bonus will cost the budget $3.9bn over four years.
the low income superannuation guarantee – which provides a $500 top-up to the superannuation accounts of very low income earners to make up for the vastly higher tax advantage super savings offer higher income earners. Retaining the guarantee would cost $2.7bn over four years.
the income support bonus – a top-up for government benefits – at a cost of $955m.
Elsewhere today, Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs confirmed seven women have attempted suicide, threatened suicide or self-harmed at the Christmas Island detention centre in the past two days. The government is preparing for a High Court challenge on the Sri Lankan asylum seekers next week.
Billionaire businessman James Packer, has weighed into the trade debate, telling Rick Wallace at The Australian the Abbott government should "go for broke" and put commerce and investment at the forefront of bilateral deals with Asia. Packer didn't much like Kevin Rudd's handling of relationships with Asia.
But it will be foreign minister Julie Bishop's comments which will be more closely watched by China.
She spoke toJohn Garnaut at Fairfax, after the visit of Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe caused waves of consternation north to Beijing. Here is Garnaut:
Ms Bishop said it had been a mistake for previous governments to avoid speaking about China for fear of causing offence.
"China doesn’t respect weakness," she said.
But they may respect a bloody big tyre, as displayed on our blog this morning and tweeted by the prime minister last night after his visit to the Pilbara.
Stay with us as the day's events unfold, captured in full colour by Mike Bowers.
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