[Theme music starts]

ANGE:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ange McCormack. This is 7am.

Parliament is back – and it’s as messy as ever. The government is pushing ahead with its contentious housing bill - and finds itself, once again, sparring with the Greens. Meanwhile, the Coalition has a new strategy for encouraging a No vote at the referendum. So, will the combative nature of this Parliament stop Labor from being productive in government - and could they lose key bills in the Senate?

Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper Paul Bongiorno on what lies ahead for the second half of the year in Canberra.

It’s Friday, August 4.

[Theme music ends]

ANGE:

Paul, Parliament returned this week and it seems like the winter break hasn't softened the mood in Canberra. Can you tell me a bit about what we've seen?

PAUL:

Well, it's certainly been a combative return to Parliament, Ange. In fact the Speaker noticed this and he kicked more people out from both the government and the opposition side this week than he has in previous weeks. It's clear that as we get deeper and deeper into the parliamentary term, everybody is looking for political advantage. And I think what's giving it edge too of course, is that we're getting closer and closer to the actual referendum vote. But I think the most puerile example of this struggle for political advantage has been the Coalition's pursuit of Anthony Albanese over a T-shirt he wore to a Midnight Oils concert.

Archival tape – Anthony Albanese:

“And I thank the member for the question and I thank whoever it was interjected about my T-shirt, because yes, yes, Mr. Speaker, Ben Fordham, has exposed the fact that at a Midnight Oil concert… I wore a Midnight Oil t-shirt…”

PAUL:

But now this T-shirt had on it the words voice treaty and truth. Well, Liberal Deputy leader Susan Ley saw it as an opportunity to press Albanese on whether he supports a treaty.

Archival tape – Susan Ley:

“This month the Prime Minister told Ben Fordham that The Voice, quote, is not about a treaty. But in May, the Prime Minister said that treaty and truth telling are, quote, very much part of the next phase…”

PAUL:

He seems reluctant to do it. In fact, in several radio interviews in recent days, he seemed to deny that he supported a treaty - he did this with Ben Fordham, he did it with Patricia Karvelas. And this led Susan Ley to ask a rather pointed question in the Parliament. Why did this tricky Prime Minister say one thing to one group of Australians and completely the opposite to another? Well, Albanese responded, saying the T-shirt was actually a T-shirt sold by the band.

Archival tape – Anthony Albanese:

“I know, Mr. Speaker, hold front page, hold the front page…”

Archival tape – Senate Speaker:

“Order!”

Archival tape – Anthony Albanese:

“…at the Oils’ last ever concert...I wore an Oils t-shirt!”

PAUL:

What I said, what I said. Well, that didn't deter the opposition. Peter Dutton accused the Prime Minister of not being definitive and lacking credibility for not linking the referendum to a Makarrata or a treaty. Makarrata, of course, is the word used in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. So, you know, this is all about sowing as much confusion and doubt about the referendum as possible.

ANGE:

Paul, why wouldn't the Prime Minister just definitively say he does support a treaty? Because, you know, the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which the government endorsed, called for voice just as the first step to truth and treaty. So why wouldn't he go there and just say that he does support it?

Archival tape – Reporter:

“If the voice passes, will you move to trying to negotiate a treaty or treaties?”

Archival tape – Anthony Albanese:

“No, Patricia, because that's occurring with the states…”

PAUL:

Yeah, I must say it's a bit of a mystery to me. But Albanese rightly says treaty is already being pursued around the country at the state and territory level and it could be a decades long process, something that's resolved long after he's Prime Minister and it certainly won't happen in this term of the Parliament. Though it has to be said the process has already begun with funds allocated to a Makarrata Commission, a treaty Commission in last October's budget. Albanese's central point is that the Voice is the referendum question, and Treaty is not what the Australian public are being asked to vote on.

Now, Megan Davis, one of the architects of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, thoroughly debunked the focus the Coalition is putting on treaty. She says it's absolutely not the gotcha moment the Coalition thinks it is. And she said this week the treaty process in so many Australian state and territory jurisdictions is in plain sight. The Queensland Treaty bill had bipartisan support. That is Peter Dutton's own LNP in Queensland at the state level support the treaty process. Victoria. They've got their process underway and it's been going for six years already. And the Northern Territory says, well, it's process already underway, well, that could take a couple of decades.

Well, Albanese sees the stirring of these fears about a treaty as straight out of the Opposition's dirt file. That's what he calls it, and it revives the arguments that helped sink then Prime Minister Bob Hawke's commitment to a treaty back in 1986. Almost ancient history.

Archival tape – Anthony Albanese:

“He's gone back to 1986 - a time where Crocodile Dundee had just hit the theatres, most women didn't have paid maternity leave, it was a crime in some states to be gay or lesbian and people were being jailed, but there was something else, Mr. Speaker: Terra Nullius was still the law of the land.”

PAUL:

All of this has changed for the better and he obviously thinks that attitude to Aboriginal Australians has changed for the better as well. I guess we're going to see that tested pretty dramatically in a few months time.

Archival tape – Anthony Albanese:

“He needs to spend less time on his dirt unit and more time in the red dirt of the Top End. I invite him to visit Garma on the weekend…”

PAUL:

He says if Peter Dutton wants to understand the issue of the Voice treaty and truth, well he should join him this weekend at the Garma Festival, the big cultural festival held in East Arnhem Land every year.

Archival tape – Anthony Albanese:

“I encourage the Leader of the Opposition to travel with me to that and to sit down and engage constructively, instead of having this absolute nonsense.”

PAUL:

And he even offered Peter Dutton a ride on his plane to get to the festival. Something that Peter Dutton has ruled out. He's more likely than not to spend the weekend campaigning against the referendum.

ANGE:

Right. And this heated debate that we're seeing in Parliament, I suppose it tells us that if the Government thought it was going to have an easier time in Canberra after the break, they were mistaken. A lot of its legislative agenda looks like it won't clear the Senate. What's the government going to do about that?

PAUL:

Oh well, Anthony Albanese, he's going to stick to his agenda and he's going to keep bowling it up and fighting for it in the Parliament. And the biggest test at the moment seems to be the Signature Housing bill. That's the $10 billion Future Fund to build 30,000 affordable homes in five years. Albanese's reintroduced it unchanged from the form that was blocked by the Greens and the Coalition a couple of months back. They deferred it rather than vote on it. And of course, Albanese, by doing that this week, set off a flurry of early election speculation. And it has to be said the Prime Minister fanned this talk of a double dissolution trigger for an election, although he did say in a couple of interviews that any election triggered in this way wouldn't be till the first months of 2025, so it wouldn't exactly be an early election. Albanese says though, you can't say that you're supporting housing supply and more public housing and then vote against it. And that's a barb aimed directly at the Greens. Well, the issue will reach some sort of resolution in October, as the Greens say. That's the month, also, you might remember when everybody is pretty sure we'll be also voting on the referendum. But you know Ange, well, the stakes are high for the Government at the moment. They're equally high for those sitting opposite. The Coalition and the Greens make for unlikely bedfellows in voting down government legislation. And there's signs that the ‘Noalition’ as the Prime Minister calls this arrangement could have challenges of their own.

ANGE:

We’ll be back after the break.

[ ADVERTISEMENT ]

ANGE:

Paul, We've been talking about the difficulty the government is having in the Senate at the moment, particularly on its housing bill. Are there signs, though, that that could be about to change?

PAUL:

Well, I think what's important to remember is that to block government legislation, the Greens and the Coalition have to vote together in the Senate. Now the Coalition simply wants to make life as uncomfortable as it can for the Government and they'll continue to vote down the legislation. They actually say the HAFF - the Housing Affordability Future Fund - is very bad legislation and it's not worth supporting. But the Greens want their party room decided to keep pressure on for more immediate funding and for rent relief until October. Now, before the Senate comes back in October, there's a meeting of National Cabinet and on the agenda is for the states and territories with the Commonwealth to come up with plans on how they will offer more rent relief. Now, this could be pretty critical in maybe swinging the Greens behind the health bill, as it called. You know, every time I use the word half, I think of people HAFFing and puffing and blowing the house down. Well, maybe they won't blow this house down if something good comes out of the national cabinet meeting ahead of the October Senate sitting.

I've spoken to a couple of Liberals this week. One seasoned backbencher, he's pretty sure the Greens will come onside after they've extracted maximum political advantage from their months of hardball. Max Chandler Mater, the Greens housing spokesperson, has already alluded to this when he briefly appeared to go off script in an interview with the nine newspapers and he said in that interview, quote, We've said we're willing to discuss a number between $2.5 billion and 500 million on the housing figure. Now Ange, an extra 500 million would be below the official Greens bargaining position and it's something the party later clarified, but it's perhaps a clue that the government could secure the support from the Greens they need. And by the way, Albanese says he's already pumped close to $4 billion extra into the housing sector since the argy-bargy began. And he says the Future Fund is just one part of his housing plan.

ANGE:

Right. And of course there's the other side of this block in the Senate to talk about the coalition. And I guess what they really have to be mindful of is how they're positioning themselves with voters. What have we seen from them this week?

PAUL:

Well, look, I think any clear air to push their message has been completely polluted once again by their record in government. This was dramatically brought to the fore in Scott Morrison's first public reaction on Monday to the excoriating findings of the robodebt royal commission against him. Well, he was completely unrepentant and he blamed the public service. And Dutton told a national television audience in something that was, I think, just as big a shock that he endorsed Scott Morrison's defence.

Archival tape – Peter Dutton:

“The case that Mr. Morrison has put a very strong case in relation to his position, he's right to put it in Parliament and he's right to serve in Parliament after having been elected at the last election…”

PAUL:

So he's standing squarely with and behind Scott Morrison. Well, that disappointed some in the Liberal Party who believe sticking to these past failures is doing enormous damage to the party's chance of renovating itself. Senator Dean Smith, on Q&A on Monday night. Well, he drew audience applause when he called on Morrison to take personal responsibility for his role in the scandal.

Archival tape – Dean Smith:

“You know, the Liberal Party is in a rebuilding phase. Many will regard the last election as decisive in terms of what lessons the community was sending the Liberal Party. We have a lot to do in terms of rebuilding trust between the Liberal Party and the community…”

ANGE:

So Paul, the Coalition needs rebuilding according to its own members. There could be cracks in the Greens housing position and the Labor Party have the enormous challenge of winning public support for the voice referendum before October. Is it safe to say there's a lot at stake in Canberra for the second half of the year?

PAUL:

Look, I've got to say it's almost an understatement to say that Peter Dutton has staked his whole leadership and credibility on defeating the referendum. And you'd have to say if he fails in that it'd be hard to see how he could survive as the Liberal leader. But on the other hand, so too is the Prime Minister put everything at stake in getting the referendum passed.

And I have to tell you one Liberal backbencher I spoke to this week, well, he thought that Senator Dean Smith was looking beyond the Dutton leadership when he made those comments. He has an eye to the next leader of the party who could better reconnect with voters.

ANGE:

Paul, thanks so much for speaking with me today.

PAUL:

Thank you, Ange. Bye.

[Theme music starts]

ANGE:

Also in the news today…

Senator Linda Reynolds is suing former Canberra political staffer Brittany Higgins over two social media posts. In a writ filed in the WA Supreme Court, Senator Reynolds alleges that she was defamed by Ms Higgins in separate posts - one on Twitter and one on Instagram. Senator Reynolds first threatened legal action in July, saying she had been the target of unwarranted abuse since Ms Higgins first made her rape allegations public.

Meanwhile…

A report on the prosecution of former Liberal Staffer Bruce Lehrmann over the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins has accused the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions of knowingly lying to the ACT supreme court. The 600 page report is yet to be released to the public, but was obtained by the Australian Newspaper.

7am is a daily show from The Monthly and The Saturday Paper.

It’s produced by Kara Jensen-Mackinnon, Zoltan Fecso, Cheyne Anderson, and Yeo Choong and Chris Dengate.

Our technical producer is Atticus Bastow.

Our editor is Scott Mitchell. Sarah McVeigh is our head of audio. Erik Jensen is our editor-in-chief.

Mixing by Andy Elston, Travis Evans, and Atticus Bastow.

Our theme music is by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Audio.

If you've been enjoying the show please give us a rating and review and tell your friends.

I’m Ange McCormack, see you next week.

[Theme music ends]