Twitter owned Liberal MP Dennis Jensen over climate change stance

This tweet exchange made me smile:

To be fair the Liberal Member for Tangney (WA), Dennis Geoffrey Jensen, left university with a credible BAppSc (RMIT) MSc (Melb) PhD (Monash) which qualified him in the field of biology/biotechnology, physics and material science and he did work as a research scientist for the CSIRO between 1995 to 1999.

He was on the Advisory Board of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Anti Matter/Matter Research however his register of members’ interests declarations do not make clear exactly when he began and when he vacated this non-paying position.

However, as he was employed as an air traffic controller for around three years before he managed to find science-related employment, in 140 characters or less this rabid climate change denier and wannabee science minister was momentarily owned on Twitter.

Jensen appears to have never done research in the field of climate science or published any peer-reviewed papers on this subject.

Jensen entered the Australian Parliament in 2004, has spoken against climate change science on numerous occasions in the House of Representatives as well as in mainstream/social media and, in pursuit of a denialist agenda called for audits of the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO in 2014, an audit of the Bureau of Meteorology in 2017 and an inquiry into the evidence of human influence on climate change in 2015.

He also speaks in favourable terms about that notorious climate change denier Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley.

In 2008 Jensen boycotted a sitting of federal parliament on the day that the formal apology to the Stolen Generations was made by the then Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

In September 2015 he reportedly voted to sack Tony Abbott and install Malcolm Turnbull as Australian prime minister.

Next problem for Australian Prime Minister Turnbull - his pick as Treasurer

There is such a lack of talent on the government benches in Canberra that Malcolm Turnbull would have had few ministers to choose from, even if he didn’t owe Scott Morrison the treasury portfolio as exchange for his ‘support’ in the leadership challenge which saw Turnbull gain the prime ministership.

Even after three changes of portfolio, Morrison continues implementing his far-right Christian ideology which delights in screwing over the poor and vulnerable while rewarding god’s chosen - the rich.

As this report in The Sydney Morning Herald on 12 February 2016 indicates:

The most shocking thing in the Treasury analysis delivered to Scott Morrison on January 25 isn't the finding that a cut in income tax funded by a lift in the goods and services tax wouldn't boost the economy at all.

It's what Morrison asked the Treasury to model.

He asked it to model a lift in GST from 10 to 15 per cent and then the handing back of every possible cent in income tax cuts. Because boosting the GST automatically results in extra spending on benefits such as Newstart, family allowances and pensions as prices climb it isn't possible to give all of it back.

But it is possible to hand back $30 billion of the $35 billion as tax cuts, and that's what Morrison asked the Treasury to model in the first instance, not legislated increases in benefits of the kind delivered by his predecessor Peter Costello when introducing the GST.

The impact is horrific.

High earning households do very well. In the top fifth, 81 per cent are better off. In the fifth below that, 80 per cent are better off.

In the bottom fifth, only 9 per cent are better off. Put another way, the change makes 91 per cent of the lowest-earning households worse off.

It makes 79 per cent of the next lowest earning households worse off, and 60 per cent of middle earning households better off.

Morrison had asked the Treasury to model a change that enriched middle and high earners at the expense of the least-well off.

And the results tell us something about the nature of the change. It appears to have been one that cut tax rates or adjusted thresholds at the top more than the bottom. All of the Prime Minister's talk about how any change must be fair appears to not have sunk in.

At his request Treasury and its consultants Econtech and KPMG also did sensitivity analysis. What would happen if, say, $6 billion of the tax cuts were diverted to low earners in extra benefits? They found that the more the tax cuts were diverted to benefits, the worse the economic payoff. Econtech found the payoff turned negative. KPMG found it was positive but got weaker the more low earners were compensated.

Morrison will make much of the finding in a later Treasury brief that doing nothing and allowing bracket creep to push people into ever higher tax brackets is set to take 0.35 per cent from GDP over four years. But tax cuts funded by a hike in the GST wouldn't have halted bracket creep, they would have postponed it. And during the time they postponed it, the projected budget deficit would have swelled……

Nationals MP for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker dumped as Minister for Vocational Education and Skills

Luke Hartsuyker (left) at the beginning of his brief 4.5 month stint as a full minister

Image from Coffs Coast Advocate

Lost his bid to become Deputy-Leader of the Nationals to Fiona Nash and now swiftly given the boot from the front bench by his own prime minister – Luke Hartsuyker must either have fought an unforgivably bloody leadership battle behind the scenes, been a spectacularly underperforming Minister for Vocational Education and Skills or it was discovered that he blotted his copybook when overseas like so many Turnbull Government ministers and MPs before him.

Perhaps a case of what goes on in Turkey stays in Turkey?

Clarrie Rivers will be pleased with the demotion.

What has happened in Malcolm Bligh Turnbull's first 154 days as Australia's Prime Minister?

On 14 September 2015 Liberal MP for Wentworth and former Communications Minister Malcolm Bligh Turnbull became the 29th Prime Minister of Australia, after defeating then sitting prime minister Tony Abbott in a party room poll by 55 to 44 votes.

By 21 September Turnbull had announced his new "21st Century" ministry, removing Joe Hockey, Eric Abetz, Ian Macfarlane, Kevin Andrews and Bruce Billson from the ministry in the process.

Just 154 days later and we find that his handpicked…….

Minister for Defence Materiel and Science & Special Minister of State Mal Brough had to first stand aside in December 2015, due to an Australian Federal Police investigation into allegations that he has urged a member of the staff of the House of Representative Speaker to unlawfully obtain a copy of part of the Speaker’s diary in 2012 and, then on 13 February 2016 was forced to resign as minister

Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science & Leader of the House Christopher Pyne is assisting the Australian Federal Police with inquiries in relation to those same allegations as is the Assistant Minister for Innovation Wyatt Roy

Minister for Cities and the Built Environment Jamie Briggs had to resign in December 2015 after admitting he had behaved inappropriately towards a young female member of the Australian diplomatic corps whilst in Hong Kong bar in November 2015

Minister for Human Services & Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Stuart Robert had to resign in February 2016 after it was revealed that he had breached ministerial standards in 2014 by allegedly lobbying the Chinese Government on behalf of the mutual business interests of himself and a major Liberal Party donor

Minister for Vocational Education and Skills Luke Hartsuyker was involuntarily demoted to the backbench without explanation in 2016.

Then Liberal MP for Groome Ian Macfarlane, who lost the portfolio for industry and science when Turnbull ousted Abbott, finally saw the writing on the wall after a failed attempt to cross to the Nationals and, subsequently being tarred with the Stuart Robert scandal, decided to retire at the general election this year.

After his Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss and Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb also decided to bail (voluntarily) out of politics, this left him seven ministers short since taking charge in September 2015.

In Turnbull’s emergency ministerial reshuffle there are fourteen Coalition MPs and Senators who have assumed new portfolio responsibilities – some for the very first time:

New Minister for Northern Australia, Qld Nationals Senator Matt Canavan – has been in parliament less than nineteen months sitting on a slew of parliamentary committees but doing little else;

New Assistant Minister for Immigration, Qld Liberal Senator James McGrath, retaining Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister – has been in parliament less than nineteen months sitting on a dozen parliamentary committees and becoming Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister in September 2015;

New Assistant Cabinet Secretary and Assistant Minister for Finance, NSW Liberal MP for Eden-Monaro Peter Hendy – has been in parliament a little over two years sitting on two parliamentary committees before becoming Assistant Minister for Productivity in September 2015;

New Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation, NSW Liberal MP for Hume Angus Taylor – been in parliament for a little over two years sitting on five committees but with no other obvious experience;

New Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister,  Nationals MP for Hinkler Keith Pitt – has been in parliament for a little over two years sitting on six parliamentary committess but with no other obvious experience.

New Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs, NSW Liberal MP for Reid Craig Laundy – has been in parliament for a little over two years sitting on four parliamentary committees but with no other obvious experience;

New Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister for Defence Material, Liberal MP for Wannon Dan Tehan – been in parliament for less than six years and sitting on a handful of parliamentary committees;

New Assistant Minister for Disability Services Qld Liberal MP for Ryan Jane Prentice – has been in parliament less than six years holding a number of parliamentary appointments, positions and sitting on a number of committees;

New Minister for Human Services, Liberal MP for Aston Alan Tudge – has been in parliament less than six years with two years as a parliamentary secretary and one committee membership under his belt  before becoming Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Assistant Minister for Social Services in September 2015;

New Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Liberal MP for Gippsland Darren Chester – has been in parliament for less than eight years with a two-year stint as a parliamentary secretary before becoming Assistant Minister for Defence in September 2015;

New Minister for Vocational Education and Skills, Vic Liberal Senator Scott Ryan – has been in parliament less than eight years only having served as a parliamentary secretary or shadow secretary in two portfolios and as an assistant cabinet secretary since September 2015.

New Minister for International Development and the Pacific, NSW Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells – has been in parliament less than eight years, served on various committees and as parliamentary secretary before becoming Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs in September 2015.

New Minister for Infrastructure & Regional Development and Minister for Regional Communications, Deputy Leader of the Nationals & NSW Nationals Senator Fiona Nash, retaining Minister for Rural Health – has been in parliament for about twelve years mostly spent on various committees and as shadow parliamentary secretary until becoming Assistant Minister for Health and Minister for Rural Health in September 2015; and

New Minister for Trade and Investment, Liberal MP for Moncrieff Steve Ciobo – who has been in parliament for about 15 years but only became Minister for International Development and the Pacific in September 2015 after serving as a parliamentary secretary in three portfolios.

By this stage of Turnbull's prime ministership Australia has also slipped from ranking 11 to ranking 13 on the Corruption Perceptions Index which judges 168 countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be and, had come third last in the December 2015 annual assessment of 58 nations’ climate policies and carbon emission levels, with only Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan ranking worse.

Likewise the federal government budget deficit forecast has changed and not for the better – it currently stands at est. $37.4 billion.

Additionally the Turnbull Government appears to still have four reports outstanding which should have been submitted to UN committees by now - Elimination of Racial Discrimination report overdue since 2012, Human Rights report overdue since 2013, Economic Social & Cultural Rights report overdue since 2014 and, Elimination of Discrimination against Women report overdue since 2014.

While despite the government being faced with a est. $9 million renovation bill for The Lodge, Turnbull’s wife Lucy happily shopped for sofas, curtains and other soft furnishings for the official residence.

Not exactly a glowing report card for Truffles.

Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan enthusiasically behind Nationals' federal leadership change?

If the glum face is anything to go by, Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan may have shared the feelings of many on the NSW North Coast when the new Nationals leadership team of Deputy Prime Minister & Leader of the Nationals Barnaby Joyce and Deputy Leader Fiona Nash was announced.

Original image found on Twitter

Liberal MP Stuart Robert's resignation as Australian Minister for Human Services raises more questions than it answers

The following is a rough timeline covering the the not-so-illustrious political career of Stuart Rowland Robert, Liberal MP for Fadden (QLD) since 2007.

On 10 September 2010 Stuart Robert changed his Statement of Registrable Interests to reflect that he and his wife were no longer trustees for the Robert Family Trust and Robert Investments Family Trust, as well as ceasing to be directors and shareholders in Robert International Pty Ltd.

It is understood that new trustees are close family members of Robert.

For most of his parliamentary career to date Stuart Robert has not ventured overseas that often.

His first official overseas trip did not occur until 5 August 2009 as part of a parliamentary delegation to Timor Leste. His second was also as part of a parliamentary delegation – this time to the United Arab Emirates between 13-20 May 2011.

Robert’s third and fourth overseas trips covered six days in June and five days in October 2011. First as a representative of Australia during commemorative events in France and then on a study tour of South Africa. The two and a quarter page study report cost taxpayers $16,161.58.

Between 13 Feb to 17 Feb 2012 Stuart Robert was again overseas representing Australia in Singapore on behalf of Senator Michael Ronaldson. From 17 Oct to 21 Oct 2012 Robert was in Egypt for the 70th anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein, before travelling on to Uganda for seven days on another study tour. This second three-page study report cost $3,811.92.

In June 2013  then Shadow Minister for Defence, Science, Technology and Personnel  Stuart Robert hosted a small private dinner at Parliament House for a representative of a Chinese mining company, reportedly at the request of another guest, millionaire businessman Paul Marks. 

Besides Marks, guests at this dinner included Chinese billionaire Li Ruipeng, then Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources Ian Macfarlane and then Liberal National Party president Bruce McIver. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and then Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship & Shadow Minister for Productivity and Population Scott Morrison attended the dinner towards the end.

The 2013 dinner

All the Australian politicians at this dinner reportedly received gifts of designer watches worth est. $250,000 in total.

Marks is frequently described as a close personal friend of Robert.

On 31 January 2014 mining exploration company Nimrod Resources Limited donated $500,000 to the federal Liberal Party of Australia.

In mid-August 2014 Stuart Robert accompanied Paul Marks to China allegedly to lobby the Chinese Government on his behalf in relation to the business interests of Nimrod Resources.

Robert did not bill the taxpayer for his flight to China. However, his return journey was via Singapore for the Singapore-Australia Joint Ministerial meeting and the Defence Ministers' Dialogue on 21 to 23 August. Therefore taxpayers funded the last leg of his journey home.

Nimrod Resources currently has three directors, Paul Marks (Executive Chairman), James Macaulay (Managing Director) and Robert Kingdon (Non-executive Director). Bruce McIver reportedly holds a 22 per cent shareholding in this company.

In early April 2014 Stuart Robert as Assistant Minister for Defence led a 7-day trade mission to Israel organized by the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, of which Marks' brother Sam Miszkowski is understood to be a Queensland office bearer/member.

There were two other ministerial visits overseas in 2014 - one to Afghanistan and another to New Zealand & the United States.

On 30 June 2014 P. Marks Investment Pty Ltd  donated $431,631 to the federal Liberal Party.

Between April and June 2015 Paul Marks personally donated $340,000 to the federal Liberal Party.

To date the Marks family appear to have donated at least $1.47 million directly to the Liberal Party.

In late April to early May 2015 as Assistant Minister for Defence, Stuart Robert made ministerial visits to the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and the USA as part of a trade delegation.

By 2016 Chinese businessman Li Ruipeng is no longer a high-flying billionaire but is wanted by police in China for illegal fundraising and unpaid debts of est. $30 million and Robert may yet have to appear as a witness in a court case concerning the outcome of a Dubai land deal which went wrong.

On 12 February 2016 Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull released a press statement regarding Robert’s resignation as Minister for Human Services which said in part that: Mr Robert advised Dr Parkinson that at the time he travelled to Beijing in August 2014 he did not believe that he had any interest in or connection to Mr Paul Marks’ company, Nimrod Resources. In the course of assisting the investigation, Mr Robert advised Dr Parkinson that on checking his records he had become aware that shares in Metallum Holdings Pty Ltd, a company in which Mr Marks was also a shareholder, had been allocated to his trustee some time before the visit to Beijing. He told Dr Parkinson that this had been done without his knowledge. He further advised Dr Parkinson that he believed Metallum Holdings Pty Ltd had an interest in Nimrod Resources.

Metallum Holdings has an interesting history:

METALLUM HOLDINGS PTY LTD  ACN 160 273 763

Formerly Resource House Holdings Pty Ltd

Registered: 10 September 2012

Address: Office F1 Level 1, 47-59 Ashmore Road, Bundall QLD 4217

Sole Director: Paul Marks

Company Secretary: Robert Arthur Kingdon of Kingdon Lawyers

Number of Ordinary Shares: 10,000

Shareholders:

MIST CONSULTING PTY. LTD. – a Marks family company, trading as Friends of Israel (QLD), which donated $200,000 to the Liberal Party of Australia on 13 March 2014

[See: http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Returns/55/SWIK4.pdf]

ROMELL PTY. LTD.

P. MARKS INVESTMENT PTY LTD

Louise Edwards

Previous Shareholders:

INTERIMCO PTY LIMITED – company believed to be owned or part-owned by former Liberal National Party president Bruce McIver

JJ HOLDINGS (VIC) PTY. LTD.

OZEAN INVESTMENTS PTY. LIMITED

Tom Kotsimbos.

All this leaves two questions hanging after Stuart Robert’s resignation – exactly how often did Robert assist Marks family business interests in the last nine years and, how many other Turnbull Government ministers have helped Paul Marks in a similar fashion?

UPDATE

Herald Sun, 10 April 2016:

DUMPED minister Stuart Robert took his official Defence-issued mobile phone on his controversial private trip to China, potentially exposing the device to a breach of national security.

Phone records obtained using Freedom of Information laws reveal the then-assistant defence minister had the device in Beijing while there to witness mate and Liberal donor Paul Marks sign a deal with the ­Chinese government.

The phone records show Mr Robert’s phone was switched on and connected to Chinese and Hong Kong networks eight times on August 15, 2014, and a further four times on August 16.

Just because it is beautiful.....(3)

Eucalyptus Flower

http://www.thelastpost.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/shutterstock_248793-Web.jpg

Quote of the Week

"Four banks, and we all know who they are – the Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Westpac, and ANZ – three big mining companies, in Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, and Fortescue Metals, you've got your two big grocery chains, and you've got your big telco, which is Telstra…..They have "unprecedented concentration of corporate influence" in Australia…...

The entire political debate has become so dominated by the interests that they're pushing, and the agenda that they're pushing. And [we've] ended up with this complete crowding out of a proper political discourse in this country because there is one sectional interest that is so much louder than every other voice out there combined." [Labor Senator Sam Dastyari quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 February 2016]

Political Cartoon of the Week

Bill Leak cartoon gallery

Setting the record straight on one of Tony Abbott's phantasies in 2016

Malcolm Turnbull’s first official visit to the U.S. since becoming Australian Prime Minister occurred this year. He met with President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington DC on 19 January 2016.

The occasion was attended by an obligatory White House press release and photo opportunities:

At the end of January sacked former prime minister Tony Abbott hotfooted it to Washington and then briefed News Corp to the effect that on 30 January he attended an exclusive banquet and had a private meeting with President Obama.

There was no official White House media release and the only photo opportunities with the president were outside the lunch venue and did not feature Abbott:

The casual shot above of lunch guests leaving the venue does show Tony Abbott at the top of the stairs, but the only other image that was offered to backup Tony Abbott's bae phantasy was file video of he and Peta Credlin wandering forlornly in what appears to be a park in the UK:

The real facts are that Tony Abbott attended a 100-seat lunch as a guest of one of the members of what is essentially a powerful old fogey’s group, the Alfalfa Club, which meets one day a year.

That club member was newspaper mogul Rupert Murdoch.

This year President Obama attended the lunch. Knowing the pattern of such gatherings it is safe to assume that Tony Abbott would have been lucky to speak with Obama for 10 minutes before the president’s skillful aides separated him from Abbott.

Abbott also attended the club’s annual dinner that night which Obama had politely declined to attend. Obama has only ever attended two of these annual dinners during his presidency.

When Abbott was finally sprung fibbing and it was revealed that there were no private meetings with Obama at that lunch, this was the response from a member of Tony's staff on 8 February 2016:

Mr Abbott was pleased to have the opportunity to speak with President Obama privately at a lunch on Saturday 30 January, 2016. 

It seem that he will not give up his pork pie without a fight.

NOTE: Photographs were found at The Guardian, The Malay Mail Online, Twitter, UPI, Sky News.

Minister for Human Services & Minister for Veterans' Affairs showing his contempt for the Australian electorate

Liberal MP, Minister for Human Services & Minister for Veterans' Affairs, lobbyist and professional investor, Stuart Robert, elevates the non-answer to an art form in an effort to keep the Labor Opposition, mainstream media and voters in the dark – as evidenced by these examples of his answers to questions without notice in the House of Representatives.

Question Time, House of Representatives Hansard 9 February 2016:

Mr DREYFUS: My question is to the Minister for Human Services. I refer to the minister's trip to China in August 2014 and the statement from the minister's office in The Courier Mail:

Mr Robert was on approved leave and attended in a private capacity.

Minister, is this accurate?

Mr ROBERT (Fadden—Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Human Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) (14:42): I thank the member for his question regarding a visit I undertook overseas in a personal capacity in 2014. Can I say to the House: I am confident I have not acted inappropriately and, as the Prime Minister said yesterday, this matter has been referred to the highest public servant in the land, Dr Martin Parkinson PSM, for review and I, of course, will fully assist the secretary in his review.

Mr DREYFUS (Isaacs—Deputy Manager of Opposition Business) (14:46): My question is to the Minister for Human Services. I refer to the minister's previous answer where he said he travelled to China in August 2014 in a personal capacity. Did the minister's declaration on his outgoing Australian passenger card reflect the statement he has just made to the House that he travelled in a personal capacity?

Mr ROBERT (Fadden—Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Human Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) (14:47): I thank the member for his question and, with great respect, I refer the member to my previous answer.

Mr DREYFUS (Isaacs—Deputy Manager of Opposition Business) (14:51): My question is again to the Minister for Human Services. I refer to the minister's previous answer where he said he had travelled to China in August 2014 in a personal capacity. Did the minister's declaration on his official Chinese visa application form reflect the statement he has just made to the House that he was travelling in a personal capacity?

Mr ROBERT (Fadden—Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Human Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) (14:51): I thank the member for his question and I refer the member to my previous answer.

Mr DREYFUS (Isaacs—Deputy Manager of Opposition Business) (14:55): My question is again to the Minister for Human Services. I refer to the minister's trip to China and his statement to the House: that he was in China in August 2014 in a personal capacity. But today, the Australian Financial Review reports that on the same trip the minister attended a Nimrod Resources signing ceremony. The minister also met with China's Vice Minister of Land and Resources. Did the minister meet with China's Vice Minister of Land and Resources as a private citizen?

Mr ROBERT (Fadden—Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Human Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) (14:56): Let me thank the member for his question and I refer the member to my previous statement.

Question Time, House of Representatives Hansard 10 February 2016:

Mr DREYFUS: My question is to the Minister for Human Services. I refer to the minister's trip to China and his answer yesterday that he would fully assist the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in his review. Has the minister informed the Parkinson inquiry that, as a private citizen, he not only met the Chinese vice minister for land and resources while in China, but was accompanied to that meeting by executives of Nimrod Resources? Will he also confirm this information to the parliament?

Mr ROBERT (Fadden—Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Human Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) (14:29): I thank the member for his question and I refer the member to my previous answer yesterday.

Mr DREYFUS (Isaacs—Deputy Manager of Opposition Business) (14:38): My question is to the Minister for Human Services. I refer to the minister's previous answer. The minister has referred the parliament to his statement yesterday. Given that his statement was silent on what would be provided to the Parkinson inquiry, will he now answer the question: has the minister provided the Parkinson inquiry with evidence that proves that at the time he undertook his trip to China the minister paid for his own flights, accommodation, internal travel and incidentals?

Mr ROBERT (Fadden—Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Human Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) (14:38): I thank the member for his question and I refer the member to my previous response yesterday.

Mr DREYFUS (Isaacs—Deputy Manager of Opposition Business) (14:42): My question is to the Minister for Human Services. I refer to the minister's trip to China and his answer yesterday that he would fully assist with the Parkinson inquiry. Given that it is not clear from his answer yesterday what information he has provided to Dr Parkinson, has the minister provided the Parkinson inquiry with a copy of the letter of appointment he presented to an official of a Chinese state-owned company? Will the minister also provide this letter to the parliament?

Mr ROBERT (Fadden—Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Human Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) (14:43): I thank the member for his question and I refer him to my response yesterday.

Meanwhile, despite the best efforts of the Minister for cartier & Rolex Watches, more home truths are coming to light......

Courier Mail, 10 February 2016:

EMBATTLED Liberal minister Stuart Robert organised a dinner in his Parliament House office with Tony Abbott and a Chinese business mogul at the request of his donor mate, Paul Marks.

Mr Robert hosted the dinner — three months out from the federal election in 2013 — so businessman Li Ruipeng could meet senior Liberals including shadow resources minister Ian Macfarlane.

The Herald Sun has obtained a photograph of the dinner, which shows Mr Marks, Mr Abbott and Mr Li among guests at the dinner in Mr Robert’s office…..

Mr Robert is being investigated after the Herald Sun revealed he secretly joined donor mate Mr Marks in Beijing to attend a signing ceremony between Mr Marks’s firm, Nimrod Resources, and Chinese government-owned Minmetals.

The Herald Sun then revealed Mr Robert also led a delegation, that included Nimrod representatives, to meet a Chinese government minister while he was claiming to be on holiday; and that Mr Li gave MPs who were at the 2013 dinner designer watches worth $250,000.

It has now emerged those MPs returned the watches to Mr Marks, not to Mr Li, because by the time they realised that the watches were not fake, Mr Li had disappeared.

Mr Macfarlane, who went on to become science and industry minister, yesterday told the Herald Sun: “I have a receipt showing I handed the watch back to Paul Marks.”

Also present at the gathering was the then president of the Liberal National Party, Bruce McIver, a party powerbroker recently appointed as a director of Australia Post.

A spokesman for Mr Abbott said last night Treasurer Scott Morrison also attended the dinner briefly.

Mr Abbott’s spokesman said that the then Opposition leader had originally declined to attend due to other commitments, but “agreed with a request from Mr Robert to drop in’’.

“He was not aware of any guests attending the dinner until he arrived. It is accurate that Mr McIver and Mr Macfarlane were present and earlier in the evening, Mr Morrison had joined the group,’’ the spokesman said.

“Mr Abbott was not responsible for the dinner, its purpose or guests.”

As for handing Mr Marks the watches, the spokesman said: “As it was not possible to return them to China, the office provided them to Liguancheng Global Investment Holdings Group’s (Pty Ltd) Australian business contact, Mr Paul Marks, with the request that they be returned to Mr Li Ruipeng.”

The Herald Sun can also reveal former Abbott staffer Simone Holtzapfel, whom Mr Robert praised in his inaugural speech, previously acted as a lobbyist for Nimrod Resources…..

Just three months later, Mr Abbott was prime minister, Mr Robert was assistant minister for defence and Mr Macfarlane was resources minister.

And Mr Li was nowhere to be seen.

He vanished shortly after Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a crackdown on corruption.

Herald Sun, 11 February 2016:

New Matilda, 11 February 2016:

In Estimates hearings this morning, it emerged that the Department of Foreign Affairs understood the Chinese government to be dealing with Robert in a “ministerial capacity.”

It beggars belief that Robert was able to access these high offices simply as a citizen of Australia. He was there because he was an Australian minister. 

When humanity trumps base politics

Australian international aid and community sector agencies united behind churches across the country who are opening their doors to asylum seekers facing removal back to Nauru & Manus

Media Release, 4 Feb 2016:

JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT: ACOSS, Australian Council for International Development, Anglicare Australia,Catholic Social Services, Mission Australia, Oxfam Australia, St Vincent de Paul Society, Save the Children, and World Vision.

Australian international aid and community sector agencies today united behind churches across the country who are opening their doors to asylum seekers facing removal back
to offshore detention centres.

The groups, including ACOSS, Australian Council for International Development, Anglicare Australia, Catholic Social Services, Mission Australia, Oxfam Australia, St Vincent de Paul Society, Save the Children, and World Vision, urge the Australian
government to allow the families and their children to stay in Australia.

“The High Court of Australia may have ruled against the challenge to the legality of our offshore detention centres, but what’s at stake here is the safety and wellbeing of
traumatised and vulnerable people, including 37 babies and 54 children. This goes beyond technical legalities, it’s about our humanity, our morals and values, our human
rights obligations and what’s the right humanitarian thing to do,” said ACFID Chief Executive Officer, Mr Marc Purcell.

“We are a wealthy nation made up of people who have been welcomed from all around the world. It is certainly within our capacity and our moral duty to provide these people
sanctuary,” said ACOSS CEO Cassandra Goldie.

“We remain opposed to offshore processing, and urge the Federal Government to immediately move to process the outstanding applications of asylum seekers and provide
safe haven here in Australia. Our services are offered to provide assistance to the families and their children to enable them stay in Australia, out of harm’s way.”

“Australia’s churches, community sector and broader civil society are ready and able to welcome and ensure the proper care and protection of this small group of people and
children. We have housing, community, employment and faith networks that will ensure people seeking asylum in Australia are safe and integrate successfully into the Australian
community. We call on the Government to work with us to ensure Australia fulfils its humanitarian obligations,” Dr Goldie said.

“Aid agencies have staff who are highly experienced in working with refugees in places like Afghanistan and with the Syrians displaced by war. They also have staff that specialise in working with families and children suffering from trauma. Many of our member agencies can support the churches offering sanctuary with this range of expertise,” said Mr Purcell.