Monday, 19 August 2024

Australia politics live: Fatima Payman insists she has ‘no plans’ to form new party; CFMEU bill to pass parliament with Coalition backing

Former Labor senator told ABC’s Australian Story she will not form a Muslim-only party but in politics ‘you never commit definitively to anything’. Follow the day’s news live

The opposition has continued its political attacks against visas being given to Palestinians from Gaza (before Israel seized and completely closed the Rafah border in May).

The Australian newspaper has reported:

I guess the key point is we are using exactly the same processes as were used by the coalition when they were in power and when Peter Dutton was the minister. Mike Burgess, the Director-General of Asio, has confirmed that himself.

Peter Dutton was quite prepared to use certain processes when he was the minister, now we’re in power, he wants to criticise that. He wants to find division, to find reasons for criticism and be negative of the government.

I think this is just a ridiculous example he’s [Adam Bandt] giving, to disguise the fact yesterday the Greens were the only party in the Parliament who decided to side with John Setka and the organised crime and bikie elements around the CFMEU, rather than taking the side of the Australian people.

We had a vote in the Parliament yesterday, in the Senate, that called on the Greens to say they wouldn’t take political donations from the CFMEU construction division, they refused to vote for that. So I think it’s pretty clear what the motivation here is in voting against this legislation.

We haven’t received a dollar from the CFMEU for a decade, the Coalition received $175,000 in the last two years, Labor has received millions of dollars and what we say is we have not received the money, it is not why we are engaged in the debate.

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from World news | The Guardian https://ift.tt/G6l9g0H

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