Extract from The Guardian
Labor frontbencher attacks prime minister over his handling of the
Darwin ports controversy and his appointment of Mal Brough to the
ministry
Malcolm Turnbull speaks to reporters after a meeting with Barack Obama
at the Apec summit in Manila. Anthony Albanese said the Darwin port was
‘an incredibly important strategic asset’ and it was ‘extraordinary that
there was no heads-up given to our ally in the United States’.
Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Malcolm Turnbull’s handling of the Darwin port controversy and his appointment of Mal Brough to the ministry are symptoms of the prime minister’s flawed political judgment, the Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese says.
Albanese sought to sharpen the opposition’s political attack on Turnbull on the eve of parliament resuming for the final sitting fortnight of the year.
The Coalition has enjoyed a surge in the polls after Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott in September, and the prime minister secured a 51-point lead over Labor’s Bill Shorten as the country’s preferred leader in the Fairfax Ipsos poll published last week.
Albanese attributed the Coalition’s boost to Turnbull being “a shiny new thing for people to look at” but maintained that the government’s numbers would decline when voters examined the substance.
He argued the prime minister was facing the same sorts of problems with his political judgment that emerged when Turnbull served as the Liberal opposition leader.
“Just like he trusted [Treasury staffer] Godwin Grech last time, already, early on in his prime ministership we saw him appoint Mal Brough to the position in charge of ministerial responsibility for the integrity of the parliamentary process and yet Mal Brough is under investigation from the AFP about the Peter Slipper and James Ashby affairs and, indeed, there was a raid just this week on Mal Brough’s house,” Albanese told The Bolt Report on the Ten Network.
“Malcolm Turnbull should have been aware of that, and should have avoided that potential conflict.”
Guardian Australia revealed in September – a day after Brough was sworn in as the special minister of state – that the Australian federal police were actively investigating the alleged unauthorised disclosure of Slipper’s diaries in 2012.
Search warrants indicate the investigation is examining Brough’s contact with Ashby, a former staffer to the then Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Turnbull cautiously expressed confidence in the minister after it emerged Brough’s home was one of the Sunshine Coast properties covered in search warrants the Australian federal police executed on Tuesday.
Brough, a key backer of Turnbull’s challenge against Abbott, said he was happy to assist the AFP and indicated he had handed over the same material he had previously provided to the federal court.
Turnbull said on Thursday there was nothing to suggest Brough should stand aside from his ministerial position “at this stage” – but added that the Queensland-based MP should continue to provide “complete cooperation with the investigation”.
Shorten stopped short of calling for Brough to stand aside but demanded an explanation.
In the interview on Sunday, Albanese also cited Turnbull’s response to concerns about the Darwin port sale as an example of poor judgment. The US has asked why it was not notified of the Northern Territory government’s decision to sell the port to a Chinese company with alleged links to the People’s Liberation Army.
Albanese said the port was “an incredibly important strategic asset for our nation” and it was “extraordinary that there was no heads-up given to our ally in the United States”.
“The fact that Malcolm Turnbull laughed this off is, again, I think, symptomatic of his lack of judgment that characterised the last time he was leader of the opposition,” Albanese said.
Turnbull played down the issue after the US president, Barack Obama, raised concerns during a meeting on the sidelines of the Apec summit in Manila on Wednesday.
The prime minister said the fact the NT government was privatising the port was not a secret, and he had suggested to US officials “that they should invest in a subscription to the Northern Territory News”. He said the Australian Department of Defence had been consulted and did not hold any security concerns.
Albanese, who ran for the Labor leadership after the 2013 election, also used the interview to defend Shorten’s performance while acknowledging the party’s present challenges. He said it was “a difficult time for an opposition leader with a new leader of the Liberal party” but argued the government’s leadership change showed Shorten had successfully opposed “the draconian measures of the 2014 budget”.
MPs are returning to Canberra for the final sitting fortnight before the summer parliamentary recess begins on 4 December.
Albanese sought to sharpen the opposition’s political attack on Turnbull on the eve of parliament resuming for the final sitting fortnight of the year.
The Coalition has enjoyed a surge in the polls after Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott in September, and the prime minister secured a 51-point lead over Labor’s Bill Shorten as the country’s preferred leader in the Fairfax Ipsos poll published last week.
Albanese attributed the Coalition’s boost to Turnbull being “a shiny new thing for people to look at” but maintained that the government’s numbers would decline when voters examined the substance.
He argued the prime minister was facing the same sorts of problems with his political judgment that emerged when Turnbull served as the Liberal opposition leader.
“Just like he trusted [Treasury staffer] Godwin Grech last time, already, early on in his prime ministership we saw him appoint Mal Brough to the position in charge of ministerial responsibility for the integrity of the parliamentary process and yet Mal Brough is under investigation from the AFP about the Peter Slipper and James Ashby affairs and, indeed, there was a raid just this week on Mal Brough’s house,” Albanese told The Bolt Report on the Ten Network.
“Malcolm Turnbull should have been aware of that, and should have avoided that potential conflict.”
Guardian Australia revealed in September – a day after Brough was sworn in as the special minister of state – that the Australian federal police were actively investigating the alleged unauthorised disclosure of Slipper’s diaries in 2012.
Search warrants indicate the investigation is examining Brough’s contact with Ashby, a former staffer to the then Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Turnbull cautiously expressed confidence in the minister after it emerged Brough’s home was one of the Sunshine Coast properties covered in search warrants the Australian federal police executed on Tuesday.
Brough, a key backer of Turnbull’s challenge against Abbott, said he was happy to assist the AFP and indicated he had handed over the same material he had previously provided to the federal court.
Turnbull said on Thursday there was nothing to suggest Brough should stand aside from his ministerial position “at this stage” – but added that the Queensland-based MP should continue to provide “complete cooperation with the investigation”.
Shorten stopped short of calling for Brough to stand aside but demanded an explanation.
In the interview on Sunday, Albanese also cited Turnbull’s response to concerns about the Darwin port sale as an example of poor judgment. The US has asked why it was not notified of the Northern Territory government’s decision to sell the port to a Chinese company with alleged links to the People’s Liberation Army.
Albanese said the port was “an incredibly important strategic asset for our nation” and it was “extraordinary that there was no heads-up given to our ally in the United States”.
“The fact that Malcolm Turnbull laughed this off is, again, I think, symptomatic of his lack of judgment that characterised the last time he was leader of the opposition,” Albanese said.
Turnbull played down the issue after the US president, Barack Obama, raised concerns during a meeting on the sidelines of the Apec summit in Manila on Wednesday.
The prime minister said the fact the NT government was privatising the port was not a secret, and he had suggested to US officials “that they should invest in a subscription to the Northern Territory News”. He said the Australian Department of Defence had been consulted and did not hold any security concerns.
Albanese, who ran for the Labor leadership after the 2013 election, also used the interview to defend Shorten’s performance while acknowledging the party’s present challenges. He said it was “a difficult time for an opposition leader with a new leader of the Liberal party” but argued the government’s leadership change showed Shorten had successfully opposed “the draconian measures of the 2014 budget”.
MPs are returning to Canberra for the final sitting fortnight before the summer parliamentary recess begins on 4 December.
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