Australia politics live: Lambie threatens to disrupt Senate over Afghanistan medals; Crown agrees to $450m penalty | Australian politics

Benita Kolovos

Victorian Coalition ‘can’t claim to be fiscally responsible’ if repealing property investor and business levies

Asked why the opposition won’t commit to repealing the levies on business and property investors if elected, Brad Rowswell says they can’t afford to:

If we were in a financial position to do that, we absolutely would. But we can’t claim to be fiscally responsible while also not knowing the circumstances that we will face in three years’ time. That schools tax is opening up a new front. It’s crossing a precipice that we are not prepared to cross.

Benita Kolovos

Pesutto confirms opposition will vote against new taxes in Victorian budget

The Victorian opposition leader, John Pesutto, has confirmed the Coalition will vote against new taxes in the state budget.

Speaking in his party room on Tuesday, he said the opposition has also committed to repealing the introduction of the payroll tax for private schools if they are elected in 2026.

Pesutto says:

We don’t believe Victorians who work hard and send their kids to independent schools should be punished for the financial incompetence of the Andrews government …

The reason we have singled out, at this stage, the schools tax as a tax we committed to repealing in government after 2026, is that for a long time and historically we’ve always left independent schools untouched by payroll tax because we don’t think it’s fair, and generations before us have never considered it fair.

The shadow treasurer, Brad Rowswell also announced if elected they would introduce a legislated debt cap:

We’re not ready to say what that state debt cap level will be, because chances are over the next three-and-a-half years the economic circumstances state will change.

But together with ratings agencies, in consultation with them and other financial institutions in this state, we will have more to say about that before the next election.

The budget, handed down last week, details a “Covid debt repayment plan” to bring the state’s borrowings – set to total $171.4bn by 2026/27 – under control.

It includes two new 10-year levies on property investors and big business, which will raise $8.6bn over the next four years.

Payroll tax exemptions for about 110 “high-fee” private schools is also expected to deliver an additional $422.2m in government revenue.

We are about an hour out from question time, which has us thinking – imagine if you could actually get some questions answered?

Things that you would actually want to know?

Well, we are going to try. Given that constituents don’t often have a voice, we are going to see if we can get some answers for you.

If you have a burning question for your local representative, or a minister – about where they stand on an issue, something happening in your electorate, or just something you have wanted to know about how they vote, send me an email at amy.remeikis@theguardian.com.

Put ‘Guardian QT’ in the subject line and then in the email body, let me know who you want the answer from, and what your question is.

We will then gather them and see what answers we can get for you.

This is going to be a work in progress, but given how many of you write to us about question time and what a waste it is, we hope we can get some actual answers for you.

Jacqui Lambie threatens to disrupt Senate over Afghanistan medals

Daniel Hurst

The independent senator Jacqui Lambie has threatened to disrupt the Senate “every hour for two weeks straight” unless the government releases more information about the potential stripping of medals from former commanders of Australian special forces in Afghanistan.

Lambie foreshadowed the possible disruption to Senate proceedings during a tense exchange with the chief of the Australian defence force, Gen Angus Campbell, in an estimates committee hearing today.

During the hearing, Lambie suggested that up to 24 letters had been sent by Campbell in recent months “asking them to give their medals back”. Campbell did not confirm exactly how many letters may have been sent – he said he did not agree with the number – but it was a “very serious” and complex matter. He noted that the Brereton inquiry had recommended that a review be undertaken into decorations afforded to people in certain command positions.

Lambie replied to Campbell:

I don’t think it’s going to come down to you to release those letters, because I’m going to fight you every single step of the way. It’s even going to get worse for the Senate when I stop it every hour for two weeks straight until I get those letters redacted with the names [removed from] them.

Campbell said he would not release those letters “unless directed otherwise by the government”. He said this was “for the integrity of the process and for the privacy of the individuals”.

Lambie shot back:

The only integrity right now is your integrity which is right up there on the Richter scale, I can assure you. So I’m asking once again: minister, when are those letters going to arrive here? Or we’re going to have a hard few weeks in that senate, I can assure you. We can stop it every hour, every morning.

The Labor senator Jenny McAllister, who was representing the defence minister at the hearing, said the government would take the matter on notice. McAllister said the government would consider Campbell’s advice and the matters Lambie had raised, and come to a decision about what information could be provided.

Josh Butler

Liberal partyroom discusses details of voice no campaign

Staying in the Liberal party room meeting, one MP also raised concerns about the fact the no campaign hasn’t got deductible gift recipient status for the referendum, which Dutton said he was conscious of and lobbying the government for updates on. We must point out, though, that the reason the no campaign doesn’t have DGR status is because they withdrew the application – literally the day before it was granted that status in the budget.

The no campaign withdrew the application and said it would put in another application because the two major organisations are merging. But DGR status for the voice no case committee is literally listed in the budget papers, after being granted by the government.

Staying on the referendum, the Liberals have identified a group of MPs who will vote against the bill – even as the party itself backs the bill in principle. This, as we’ve reported before, comes down to a legislative quirk where only those MPs who vote against the alteration bill can have input into the referendum pamphlet sent to all homes.

So because the Liberals will let the referendum occur, even though they oppose the referendum, they wouldn’t be able to help write the pamphlet – unless some MPs oppose the bill. So the Liberal whips oversaw a process to choose some MPs to vote no.

We don’t know who they are, and have asked the whips office for more information.

Josh Butler

Opposition claim government is ‘chasing’ the wealthy at party room meeting

The Liberal party has identified its “authorised dissenters” who will vote against the constitutional alteration bill, to allow the party to have input into the referendum pamphlet.

In the Coalition partyroom meeting today, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, also chided the Labor government for “chasing aspirational people with wealth”.

The opposition meeting focused largely on cost of living and energy concerns, with Dutton telling the room that Australian families were struggling. He told his troops that the opposition needed to show “empathy” for those struggles, but to also put the blame for those issues on decisions made by the Albanese government. Dutton raised concerns about rising prices for energy, transport and storage being passed on to consumers at supermarkets.

The opposition also claimed the government was “chasing” the wealthy, pointing to investment properties or other assets.

The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, praised the “unity” in the Coalition and claimed the government was focused on “niche social issues”. He said the Coalition should continue to prosecute Labor for alleged “broken promises”, pointing to energy and cost of living concerns.

In questions to the leadership, several Coalition MPs claimed the government was neglecting the regions in regards to infrastructure spending, while two others brought up “faith-based” concerns – one on schools, critical of government delays on the Law Reform Commission report into discrimination at religious schools, and the other critical of the takeover of the Calvary hospital in Canberra.

Mehreen Faruqi: ‘Yes, I have experienced racism in the Greens’

Paul Karp

Earlier Adam Bandt and Mehreen Faruqi spoke to reporters in Canberra about racism in the context of independent senator Lidia Thorpe’s complaint, which the Greens are yet to see.

Adam Bandt said:

There is institutional racism in Australia, and no one is exempt from that. I’ve spoken to First Nations MPs, MPs of colour, who told me that they experienced discrimination in society and including, frankly, within the Greens. This is something we all have an obligation to stamp out. No workplace, no institution, no political party is immune.

Bandt was asked if he had received “any form of complaint about racism in your party”.

He replied that it is his obligation as leader to take steps that racism doesn’t occur. “I’m not going to comment,” he said, beyond that “any complaints we receive, we act on”.

Mehreen Faruqi said:

In my 30 years in Australia I have worked in many organisations before I stepped into politics. And I have experienced racism in each and every single one of them. And yes, I have experienced racism in the Greens … So I want to be clear that racism is systemic in this country and it has to be stamped out and eradicated at every single level and that does include the Greens.

Faruqi noted the level of racism directed at public figures who are person of colour demonstrates the “intersection of sexism and racism”, which she described as “visceral”.

Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac) has announced that it and Crown (Perth and Melbourne) have filed joint submissions with the federal court proposing a $450m penalty over Crown’s breaches of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act).

The court will have to consider the proposal, but given it is a joint filing, it means that Crown has agreed to it. But it won’t be decided until the court has examined it and decided whether or not it is an appropriate penalty.

From Austrac’s statement:

In reaching this agreement, Crown has admitted that it operated in contravention of the AML/CTF Act, including that Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth:

• Failed to appropriately assess the money laundering and terrorism financing risks they faced, and to identify and respond to changes in risk over time.

• Did not have appropriate risk-based systems and controls in their AML/CTF programs to mitigate and manage the money laundering and terrorism financing risks they faced.

• Failed to establish an appropriate framework for Board and senior management oversight of their AML/CTF programs.

• Did not have a transaction monitoring program that was appropriate to the nature, size and complexity of their business.

• Had an enhanced customer due diligence program that lacked appropriate procedures to ensure higher risk customers were subjected to extra scrutiny.

• Did not conduct appropriate ongoing customer due diligence on a range of specific customers who presented higher money laundering risks.

Tory Shepherd

Government grilled on existing PwC contracts at social services estimates

Contracts with scandal-plagued PricewaterhouseCoopers have been a scorching topic at estimates, and social services estimates is no different.

The Greens senator Janet Rice has asked the department’s chief operating officer, Pat Hetherington, about the contracts. He says they have three, two of which will end on 30 June, the other on 30 September. Rice is asking him if he can be confident the DSS data is secure. He said:

I think we’re reasonably strong on managing those things. Clearly, this will give us an opportunity to review whether all the controls we have in place are sufficient … we do have a comprehensive approach to this.