Richard Marles warned over unparliamentary remark
The independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who represents the Tasmanian seat of Clark, asks what will happen to the Anglesea Barracks in Hobart, and whether it will be included in the defence estate sell-off.
It takes 45 seconds for the deputy PM and defence minister, Richard Marles, to say: “yes, Anglesea Barracks remains a critical part of the defence estate.”
Before that he goes off at the Liberals for not asking a question on the sell-off, and makes an unparliamentary remark that earns him a telling off from Milton Dick. The words in question:
The question is noteworthy in one respect – being asked at 3.30 in question time as the first non-government question which has been asked on the defence estate review. As much as it highlights the dog over here who hasn’t barked. I mean, we had the biggest reform to the defence estate in our country’s history, and we have not heard from the shadow minister.
Key events
Catie McLeod
Hello, I hope you’ve had a nice day so far. I’ll take you through the rest of the day’s news.
Krishani Dhanji
Thank you all for joining me on the blog today. I’ll leave you with the lovely Catie McLeod for the rest of the afternoon.
I’ll see you back here bright and early in the morning.
Tl;dr – here’s what you missed from question time
It was another long question time today, clocking in at about 1 hour and 45 minutes, including that division.
The Liberals directed all their questions again on inflation and yesterday’s interest rate rise. The government tried to turn the heat back to the Liberals and their pre-election budget.
Ted O’Brien got booted out of the chamber for interjecting too much.
There was some curious reading happening in the chamber, and perhaps some not-so-subliminal messaging – with Andrew Hastie sitting with a copy of The Art of War on his desk, and neighbour Garth Hamilton reading Othello.
Kate Chaney asked Labor why they haven’t responded to 57 of the 78 committee reports they have received while in government. She didn’t get a very clear answer.
And of course there was a division in the chamber at the end of QT (something I’ve not seen before), but with no surprise the government had the numbers.
There’s a division during question time
During a dixer on why question time has changed, and why more questions are going to the crossbench (which is basically an excuse for the leader of the house, Tony Burke, to have a go at the Coalition), Alex Hawke stands up and says that Burke should no longer be heard.
This is a parliamentary procedure that, if voted by the chamber, would see Burke no longer allowed to speak temporarily.
While Labor obviously outnumbers the opposition, the opposition calls for a vote on the matter anyway, so now the house is sitting through a division.
It looks like a few Liberals and Nationals have left the chamber during the vote.
Richard Marles warned over unparliamentary remark
The independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who represents the Tasmanian seat of Clark, asks what will happen to the Anglesea Barracks in Hobart, and whether it will be included in the defence estate sell-off.
It takes 45 seconds for the deputy PM and defence minister, Richard Marles, to say: “yes, Anglesea Barracks remains a critical part of the defence estate.”
Before that he goes off at the Liberals for not asking a question on the sell-off, and makes an unparliamentary remark that earns him a telling off from Milton Dick. The words in question:
The question is noteworthy in one respect – being asked at 3.30 in question time as the first non-government question which has been asked on the defence estate review. As much as it highlights the dog over here who hasn’t barked. I mean, we had the biggest reform to the defence estate in our country’s history, and we have not heard from the shadow minister.
Interest rate rises ‘would have been worse under a Liberal government’: Albanese
Can the government guarantee that there won’t be more interest rate rises, asks Liberal MP Cameron Caldwell. He says one of his constituents, Lee, wrote to him after yesterday’s rate rise, saying the rise “will kill me. My stress levels are already out of control.”
Anthony Albanese says: “I say to Lee that we understand, as a government, that many people are under financial pressure.”
The PM then says that he would tell Lee that the situation would have been worse under a Liberal government.
Nationals MP asks about government’s broken promise on energy bills
We’re back to the broken $275 energy bill reduction promise, with Nationals MP Andrew Willcox, asking when those energy prices will fall.
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, again says wholesale prices dropped by 44% in the last quarter – and the key is getting more renewables into the grid. He said:
If we keep the policy settings in place that sees more of the cheapest, most reliable form of energy penetrate our energy system, we will see it continue to flow through to wholesale prices and retail prices.
Everyone’s joining in on the Coalition saga
It’s not just the government having fun with the Coalition split, the crossbench have been making light of it too.
And by crossbench I mean the independents including former Nationals MP Andrew Gee and independent Dai Le.
I think they might have their pop culture references confused though, it was Ross and Rachel from Friends who were famously “on a break”.
Ted O’Brien is booted out of the chamber
Ted O’Brien is back to ask Jim Chalmers about Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock’s comments yesterday that, “we are seeing aggregate demand, public and private, push up the limits of growth”.
Chalmers accuses O’Brien of being dishonest, and repeats his line that, “private demand recovered more quickly than they were anticipating”.
There’s now some protest from O’Brien and manager of opposition business Alex Hawke, before Milton Dick has a bit of a spray at the pair – and the chamber broadly.
We are not going to have a question time where everybody thinks it’s a free for all [and] you can say whatever you like when you like. That is not how the chamber will work.
He then yeets O’Brien out of the chamber.
Bob Katter asks about Queensland irrigation scheme
Back to questions, Bob Katter is up next, and asks the government about the Hughenden irrigation scheme, which he says his electorate has been waiting for for eight years.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, wades through Katter’s preamble, which includes something about young mothers having to work on top of being a wife, mother, chauffeur, cleaner and having to go to church on Sunday (not sure how that all relates).
On water irrigation, Chalmers says the government has provided $1.2bn for projects under the national water fund.
This government has made a $170m commitment to support the Hughenden irrigation scheme in the member’s electorate. He is right to point out that that project is waiting on a Queensland government review, which is currently under way.
A saga of Shakespearean heights in the House
Eagle eyes in the chamber have just spotted Garth Hamilton, an ally of Andrew Hastie, also reading today.
He’s sitting next to the Liberal MP, who has a copy of The Art of War on his desk.
What’s Hamilton reading?
Othello.
I’m not joking.
Prime minister defends government’s lack of response on 57 committee reports
Independent MP Kate Chaney says there have been 78 committee reports ranging from gambling to domestic violence, and asks why the government has not responded to 57 of them.
One of the most high profile of these reports that the government has not responded to is the Murphy report into online gambling, that was handed to Labor two-and-a-half years ago.
Anthony Albanese says his government deals with “orderly decision making”.
My government takes these issues seriously, which is why we engage, including it must be said, with the crossbench regularly at the regular meetings we have.
Chalmers turns government spending spotlight back on opposition
Jim Chalmers seems as if he isn’t having as much fun in question time today, compared to yesterday where every answer had a quippy jab at the opposition.
He’s asked by shadow treasurer (and shadow assistant treasurer), Ted O’Brien, whether all those economists who say government spending is contributing to inflation are wrong.
Chalmers brings the debate back to the Liberals’ pre-election costings (which showed that government debt would go up for two years before going down).
By his own logic, and you can’t take to an election a policy to spend much more and to have bigger deficits and more debt and then make the argument that the shadow treasurer is making, he’s got to choose one argument or the other.
There are a range of views about this. AMP – government spending has peaked the growth in government spending is going to add less to inflation, the Commonwealth Bank – the public sector’s contribution to growth has seized. Westpac – public sector demand growth is slowing and was negative over the first half of 2025.
Who has a copy of The Art of War on their desk?
I’ll give you one guess …
He might not be plotting a leadership spill, but headline-attracting conservative MP, Andrew Hastie, has a copy of The Art of War on his desk in question time.
Make of that what you will.
Hastie bowed out of a potential leadership contest last week, after a meeting with conservative heavy-hitters in Melbourne.
Bowen says electricity prices are falling even without household energy bill reduction
Colin Boyce, who has had a very exciting week following a failed leadership attempt in the Nationals party room, takes the next question, and asks energy minister, Chris Bowen, where Labor’s promised $275 energy bill reduction is.
We’ve been over this many times before, but for those who are new here or don’t recall the lore, Labor promised ahead of the 2022 election that household energy bills would go down by $275 by 2025.
Bowen says that wholesale prices are going down (again a very similar answer to what he gave yesterday to a very similar question):
The fact of the matter is in Queensland wholesale prices of electricity in May 22 with $347 a megawatt hour, they are now $58 a megawatt hour [lower], some of the biggest reductions we saw over the last quarter were in Queensland.
Albanese pressed to accept responsibility for ‘reckless spending’
Sussan Ley is back at the dispatch box and presses Anthony Albanese again on whether he will accept responsibility for Labor’s “reckless spending”.
Albanese says his government has been the only one in almost two decades to deliver back-to-back surpluses.
The prime minister then does a compare and contrast on former Liberal treasurer, Josh Frydenberg’s, budget (which he unsurprisingly says was worse) and says Australia’s economy still has a triple-A rating. He then takes another stab at the opposition over their decision before the last election to oppose Labor’s promised tax cuts.
Victorian MP, Sam Groth, announces resignation
Leaving federal politics for a moment, former deputy Liberal leader, Sam Groth, has issued a statement confirming he will resign from parliament next week “to pursue other opportunities”. He’s leaving seven months earlier than planned, which will trigger a byelection.
Groth’s statement continued:
Next week I will resign from the parliament of Victoria as the Member for Nepean to pursue other opportunities.
It has been an honour to serve the people of Nepean and I sincerely thank them for the trust they placed in me for the opportunity to represent our community.
I am very grateful to my staff for their professionalism, dedication and tireless work in supporting the people of Nepean.
I wish Jess and the Liberal team all the very best for the November election.
Most importantly, I thank my family, my wife Britt and our twin boys, for their unwavering love and support.
Liberal leader, Jess Wilson, will hold a press conference at 3pm.
