Welcome to Day 2 of Canberra Playbook
ESSENTIALS
- Party room meetings will progress the debate on gambling reform, while Taylor awaits a response on his NDIS ultimatum to the PM.
- Pat Conroy calls bullshit on AUKUS myths.
- The secessionist movement Canberra forgot to pay attention to.
DRIVING THE DAY
LETTERS AND LEVERAGE: Labor and the Coalition are poised to reach a deal on gambling reforms today after Communications Minister Anika Wells introduced an opt-out register for online advertising, the ABC reports. A list of amendments will be put to the full caucus and party room meetings this morning for final approval.
Listening and preempting: “The government has listened carefully to the evidence presented during the recent Senate inquiry,” Wells said, ahead of the committee actually dropping its report. Technically the Labor-strong committee recommended the reforms pass, but pages of extra comments from the Greens and independent Sen. David Pocock expressed dissent, while the Coalition called for amendments.
“The government’s reforms respond to these concerns by introducing new restrictions on inducement-based marketing and establishing the Wagering Advertising Opt-out Register, which will provide Australians with a ‘one-stop shop’ to opt out of seeing wagering advertising on online platforms,” Wells said.
OK, JANE AUSTEN: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor aren’t just holding talks, they’re now exchanging letters. Taylor has written to Albanese to say the Coalition won’t support the government’s NDIS amendments until slated tax concessions for widows and divorcees are passed, The Australian reported.
Given the “widow tax” amendment is open for public consultation until Aug. 21, no deal there means no NDIS deal this week. As we went to bed, the Treasurer wasn’t committing to a deal on the “widow tax.”
Potential loser: Jenny McAllister, who had high hopes that the NDIS legislation would pass this week.
A message from Amazon:
Thousands of businesses in Australia sell on Amazon. Like Freshwater Farm, a family-run business on the NSW Mid-North Coast. After buying the farm, Allan Hutcherson and his family revived its native plants and turned the oils and honey into premium body care. Already well known in Australia, they wanted to make a splash overseas — and Amazon helped them reach customers in the US, where repeat customers have nearly doubled. Learn more about how businesses in Australia grow on Amazon.
THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW
PAT CONROY, MINISTER FOR DEFENSE INDUSTRIES AND PACIFIC ISLAND AFFAIRS
Finn McHugh interviewed Conroy in his Canberra ministerial office.
Explain the Pacific’s importance to national security for the average Australian.
We are in a permanent state of contest with other countries in the region.
What’s the deeper point of rugby league diplomacy?
This is the first time in the history of the world a country’s used sporting diplomacy to this level. It’s essential in building people-to-people connections. It interlinks our countries at fundamental levels. I call it “PM Marape’s Nelson Mandela vision.” Marape sees this as one of the ways to uniting a very diverse country of 800 languages spoken across 1,000 tribes.
We’re using every lever of statecraft to be the partner of choice.
We’ve now got a league fan in Number 10. Is that a point of leverage? And is Andy Burnham coming to the World Cup in October?
Well, I hope so. I have no idea. The northern English Rugby League heritage is incredibly powerful. So it’s a great opportunity. One of my greatest rugby league heroes is Adrian Morley.
Barrow-in-Furness, where Britain builds its nuclear subs is facing an uphill battle just on ballistic submarines, let alone the new attack class.
I think declarations of the death or struggles of the U.K. sovereign industry have been completely overblown. They’ve got challenges but now they’re scaling up massively. I was in Barrow in February 2023: they had 8,000 people in a shipyard. Now it’s 16,000.
Do you expect the path on AUKUS to change at all under Burnham?
No, it’s survived changes of government in all three countries. John Healey is a great friend of Australia, and having him as Chancellor is a great boon for us.
Do you think the public understands that there might be multiple paths to what are our ultimate AUKUS goals?
This is the most complex industrial undertaking this country’s ever attempted, and that’s going to be challenging. [In the U.K.] their plan is probably to have their first two AUKUS submarines come off the production lines before we get our first. So a lot of risk is being borne by them.
What’s the biggest common misconception in the reporting of AUKUS?
That somehow this is selling out our sovereignty. That’s absolute bullshit. We retain full sovereignty.
I’m a descendant of Irish Catholics and recently you said, “They had a very different culture to our English Protestant jailers.” What do we need to remember about our history?
Go back to the indigenous pre-European settlement, there were hundreds of tribes, hundreds of different cultures. The Irish convicts were the original boat people. It is what it is, and we’ve never been a monoculture.
REQUIRED READING
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham engaged with messages from somebody impersonating one of Donald Trump’s closest advisers, Sam Blewett reports from London.
CANBERRA MEETS WORLD
CANBERRA VS. NORFOLK ISLAND
Australia has an independence problem on its own Pacific island, but you’d never know it from the nonchalance of everyone representing the Islanders in Canberra.
While the government won plaudits for its deft Pacific diplomacy, it can’t figure out how to manage less than 2,000 voters on Norfolk Island, writes Finn McHugh.
Secessionists held an independent referendum Jan. 1, have set up a rival authority, and they’re taking their claim to the United Nations. The Infrastructure department says the Jan. 1 vote has “no basis in law.” The island’s administrator, Fiona McKergow, doesn’t want to talk to POLITICO, and not even the member of Parliament representing Norfolk Island is getting involved.
Kristy McBain, the minister responsible, recently announced she hopes to “restore local democracy” through the imminent creation of the Norfolk Island Transition Assembly.
CAN DAVID SMITH COUNT? OR WILL DAVID POCOCK DO IT FOR HIM? Smith holds the ruling Labor Party’s most marginal seat — Bean, which includes Norfolk Island, by just 700 votes. Norfolk Island has double that number of voters.
Smith told Playbook he’s steering clear of the independence debate, but independent Sen. David Pocock — who backed Smith’s 2025 rival Jessie Price and would love nothing more than to supplant ACT Labor — visits the island annually, and is on-record to POLITICO providing a sympathetic ear to the disaffected.
SPLIT SCREEN — SMITH AGITATES FOR MORE DEMOCRACY IN CANBERRA: Smith might be dampening down democracy demands on Norfolk Island, but he’s found time to develop reform ideas for the ACT. Smith wrote an op-ed for The Canberra Times, published Monday, reminding citizens that “being well served by an institution must never stop us asking whether it could serve us better.”
What he said: ACT concentrating state and local governance in one Assembly exhibits patterns that “should concern anyone who values strong local democracy.”
What Canberra heard: Oh no, not more politicians!
What Norfolk Island heard: More democracy is good for Canberra, but not for Norfolk Island.
FUN NORFOLK FACTS: Norfolk Island’s independent streak runs deep. Roughly a third of Norfolk Islanders are descendants from mutineers on the HMAS Bounty — the tale that spawned four Hollywood films starring giants Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson.
You couldn’t make it up: One of Nigel Farage’s MPs, Andrew Rosindell, has offered to negotiate with Canberra on the islanders’ behalf, if called upon.
DON’T MENTION THE MELONS! Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles will host his Japanese counterpart, Japan’s Minister of Defense Koizumi Shinjiro at Parliament House over lunch. There’s a press conference: two questions total.
Useful reading: Can Australia, Japan and the U.S. integrate their missile defense systems as our region gets more dangerous? The United States Studies Centre explains why they should.
STATE OF THE NATION
MILTON DICK, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE
There’s too much attention on Anthony Albanese’s sprawling power base and not enough on Speaker Milton Dick’s cunning moves.
Dick — easily the most popular figure in the building in Playbook’s assessment — has ambitions far beyond running one chamber in one Parliament.
There is a factory line of democracy enthusiasts coming in and out of the Speaker’s Courtyard on any given day that Parliament sits, and he’s reinvigorating Parliamentary friendship groups covering dozens of countries.
This week he’s teamed up with The Y to launch a National Youth Parliament and is also branching out into merch.
The Parliament Gift Shop now stocks a range of onesie suits training Australia’s babies to aspire to one day be Speaker of the House or President of the Senate — the result of a joint lobbying effort with Senate President Sue Lines. At this rate we wouldn’t be surprised to learn if he has a reality TV deal in the works.
ON THE DL: Dick is discreetly running (not discreetly enough!) to become President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which is based in Switzerland. He won’t have to do any of the dirty work, like getting a tan sitting beside Lake Geneva or skiing in Davos at weekends — that’s for the full-time Secretary-General. If he wins, he’ll be more of a soothing therapist for the elite group of people tasked with keeping MPs in line, including the speakers of notable parliaments such as Afghanistan, Russia, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.
Milton has a Nobel ring: Every parliamentary speaker gets a vote in the election — so hopefully our new Pacific allies will run up the numbers for Milton, and give him a shot at a Nobel: Nine IPU leaders have won the Nobel Peace Prize.
EX-FILES: Former Speaker Tony Smith will oversee National Youth Parliament Question Time.
Y NOW: Dick was bubbling with excitement when Playbook spoke to him Monday on his way to introduce Governor General Sam Mostyn to the students. “My vision is to bring in people who are less engaged. Kids in boater hats and ties are already engaged,” he said, unfussed at whether that might ruffle debate team feathers.
The Youth Parliament has 150 school student representatives, one for each federal electorate. While the national project is Dick’s brainchild, every state has one. Labor Sen. Charlotte Walker is, at just 22, a very recent alum of the South Australian edition.
A message from Amazon:
QUESTION TIME
CANBERRA GOES FULL SCHOOLYARD
Question Time in the House started promisingly Monday, as MPs around the chamber lauded National Youth Parliament members watching proceedings. Dan Tehan, Manager of Opposition Business, went as far as to praise the “quite extraordinary” organization and cooperation the young visitors had sparked across the building. He suggested that if any MP were to be thrown out of the Chamber for bad behavior, capable and willing substitutes were waiting in the gallery.
Almost like magic, Tehan (Xavier College) set about getting expelled. One could say there were 147 willing members of the playground punch-on.
Exasperated House School Principal Milton Dick was left constantly interrupting proceedings, “Resume your seat!” … “Show some respect in this house” … “That is in direct defiance of what I just ordered!” … “That language is beneath the dignity of this house!”
After Tehan urged Chris Bowen (St. Johns Park High School) to “cut the crap,” Head Prefect Zali Steggall (Queenswood School for Girls) urged Principal Dick to expel Tehan for setting a bad example to other students.
Given one last chance, Tehan returned to the dispatch box to reframe the question: “Will the minister just cut the fecal matter.” He was, finally, ejected.
Playbook noticed Nicolette Boele (Killara High) squeezing into the Opposition benches — camouflaged in head-to-toe blue — to pass notes to Alison Penfold (St. Clare’s High, Taree). Do either of you want to fess up to what was being discussed at length?
HUMBLED BRAGG: Over in the Senate, Liberal Sen. Andrew Bragg (Notre Dame College) had a terrible day. Dogged by rumors he’d been given a wedgie by the Shadow Cabinet bullies behind the toilet block after his recent Press Club field trip, Bragg then got detention for a rude comment before class began. “Don’t talk back to me!” Senate School Principal Sue Lines snapped. At least he was on time …
Late mark: Sen. David Shoebridge (James Ruse Agricultural High School) missed his question slot, forcing Green house captain Larissa Waters (Kelvin Grove State High School) to beg Mrs. Lines for a reprieve.
QUESTIONS WITHOUT BEING NOTICED: When the Opposition isn’t busy getting thrown out of QT, it’s almost like the government is pushing them out by other means.
In the House yesterday, Tony Burke (St. Patrick’s College, Strathfield) was nicer to One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce (Riverview) than Labor MPs were to any other member asking a question.
Labor also focused their fake (Dorothy Dixer) questions around the themes where they see One Nation as being vulnerable, such as superannuation and paid parental leave. Given the government just chooses not to answer the substance of most Opposition questions, it must be a lonely 75 minutes each sitting day for them.
EMBASSY ROW
AWARDED: The hand of Pierre-André Imbert, recently France’s ambassador to Canberra, and from this month Emmanuel Macron’s chief of staff, is detected in a new round of promotions and appointments to the Ordre du Mérite agricole, which is conspicuously heavy with Australian names.
Queensland’s Romain Bapst is now a Chevalier Mérite Agricole (French Knight).
Peter Gilmore is an Officer, and Knighthoods were awarded to Emmanuelle Bekkers, Shannon Bennett, Geraud Fabre, Gordes Frobenius, Alexandre Rougeot, Kirsten Tibballs, and Clement Demarais.
IN TOWN: John Spellar, the U.K.’s Trade Envoy to Australia.
ONLY IN AUSTRALIA
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE DFAT TOILETS: Playbook spoke to 19 diplomats and contractors, and the results are not pretty. For your own sake, we’re not printing all we’ve been told, and without a pass to the highly secure R.G. Casey Building it’s impossible to verify each report.
But it’s clear that something’s up when the feedback falls into categories such as “truly disgusting,” “lack of personal responsibility” and “I actually hold it in until I get home rather than use them.”
We hear that the bathrooms are in better shape in DFAT’s Civic outpost. But all this begs the question: If the government can’t maintain toilets at a prestige location on a lease that costs more than $20 million a year, and if the people in that building can’t be trusted with toilet brushes and paper: what else on the world stage do we need to worry about them handling?
Do you know more? WhatsApp us on 0494 380 487 or email canberraplaybook@politico.com
DEAR DOROTHY
Should I tell on an MP if I see them letting their friend tailgate into the Parliament gym on the weekend?
AFTER HOURS
PLAYBOOK READER FEEDBACK
Thank you for your messages about our exclusive story on how Paul Keating has been trying to sway Albo to soften his line on China. Our favorite reply:
Memo to Keating: “Australian power can only ever be about working with other powers to leverage our own. The problem with Keating is that he just wants to delete U.S. and replace with China. Sucking up to a new superpower is not the solution when our interests are clearly not aligned.”
We also noted frustration at how the Productivity Commission report on dividing GST Funds is being handled. The top reply:
Memo to Roger Cook and Anthony Albanese: “Why are we not being smarter on the W.A. deal? There is a deal to be done. We know we need to electrify mining to become self-reliant, instead of being dependent on diesel. So why not help them future proof the mines with clean energy, with a tax credit, in exchange for more of the GST money being split with other states? All this can be done without bringing a gas tax into it!”
SPEAKING OF THE WA DEAL: He might sit in a swanky Parisien office, but OECD chair Mathias Cormann still has one eye on Canberra. The former finance minister called into ABC radio to defend his “very important” sweetheart GST deal for his home state.
How convenient: Asked about multiculturalism and One Nation’s rise, Cormann suddenly lost his courage for commentary: “I’m now in a non-partisan job … I’m just not going to get into that sort of party political commentary.”
REQUIRED READING
YOUR NACC NEEDS YOU: In the midst of its identity crisis, the National Anti-Corruption Commission is begging federal public sector staff to share anonymous feedback on corruption risks in order to inform its education and prevention work. (That’s a much bigger chunk of the work of the NACC and many integrity bodies than often recognized.)
Submissions are open until Sept. 25 and public servants have already received an email with the survey link: Check your inbox!
NACCKERED: NACC has received 222 referrals this financial year, has launched 19 preliminary investigations and has another 33 full-blown investigations underway.
Nepotism and stationary fiends: Top corruption concerns captured in the last report included nepotism, fraud and undisclosed conflicts, but also a whopping 50,000 respondents pointing to petty crime within their organization, including theft, vandalism and intimidation.
Playbook takes corruption seriously. If you know someone who’s stolen a pen or notebook recently, or if you want to provide us with your concerns, let us know on WhatsApp 0494 380 487 or canberraplaybook@politico.com.
LOCAL CANBERRA
COMMUNITY CORNER
This is your place to share tips about life and drama in Canberra.
WhatsApp 0494 380 487 or email canberraplaybook@politico.com
SPARE A THOUGHT: Jason Koutsoukis, beloved press gallery veteran, Saturday Paper special correspondent, and husband of Berlin Playbook editor Ulrike Putz, has suffered two lost teeth and a broken hand after being attacked by a magpie while riding an e-scooter into Parliament. You should see the other guy.
CITIZEN OF THE YEAR goes to Josh Martin, a 7NEWS press gallery reporter who tackled a man attacking shoppers in Dickson Woolies. The supermarket chain says the man had been responsible for nine earlier incidents at the supermarket. The modest Martin said his effort “probably wasn’t your standard rugby league tackle. It was more just to bring the guy down and not injure him.”
EX-FILES: Tickets are still available to watch Alastair Campbell, former spin doctor for Tony Blair, in-conversation at The Canberra Theatre on Nov. 23.
There are 10 tickets left if you want to join former PM Kevin Rudd at the annual Australian Institute of International Affairs ACT branch dinner on Sept. 9.
MOVES, APPOINTMENT AND PROMOTIONS
MEET THE ANTI-JULIE BISHOP, READY FOR CLEAN UP ON AISLE ANU: ICYMI, Gordon de Brouwer is the new Chancellor at the ANU. De Brouwer, who’s an alumnus of the university, has just finished up a gig as Australian Public Service Commissioner where he spent two years cleaning up after the unlawful robodebt scheme. He’s now been brought in to mop up at Australia’s national uni, which was at pains to point out in its announcement materials what a good, integrity-minded guy he was. Doyenne of Australian higher education journalism Julie Hare writes that he is the “polar opposite” of outgoing chancellor Bishop. Let’s see if Playbook readers can boost his 78 Instagram followers.
Chris Gatenby has been sworn in as a Tasmanian Senator, replacing retiring Sen. Wendy Askew. Gatenby was previously a senior adviser to Jeremy Rockliff.
David Turvey, Australian Tertiary Education Commission CEO, has been promoted to SES Band 3, Veterans’ Affairs.
Debbie Arnold has been promoted to SES Band 2, First Assistant Secretary, Ministerial, Engagement & Communications.
BIRTHDAYS
Independent Sen. Lidia Thorpe, Global Strategic Communications Council’s Tim Nuthall turns 50, POLITICO’s Hanne Cokelaere, The AFR’s business reporter Zoe Samios, and senior writer Myriam Robin.
It takes a village. Playbook is brought to you by a global team, today including editor Joe Schatz and producer Rachel Confetti, with thanks to Paul Karp and to Milton Dick for supplying us with so much content. If the Real Housewives ever build a Canberra franchise: we want you on it.
A message from Amazon:
Thousands of businesses in Australia sell on Amazon — helping turn local products into global brands. On the sun-drenched NSW Mid-North Coast, Allan Hutcherson runs Freshwater Farm, a family business that makes body and hair-care products.
After buying the farm, the family revived its native plants and used the oils and honey to craft premium body care, including their signature Lemon Myrtle range. They were already well known in Australia, but wanted to make a splash overseas. Amazon helped them reach more customers in the US, where repeat customers have nearly doubled. And it stays a family affair: Allan, his wife, their kids and their grandkids all get their hands dirty on the farm.
