Industry and expert witnesses lined up to slam the government’s inaction on energy policy at a hearing today of the Senate Select Committee into the Resilience of Energy Infrastructure in a Warming World. Danny Price, who advised the Prime Minister on energy when he was Opposition Leader, agreed with Senator McAllister that Australia’s energy crisis was caused by an “investment strike”.

Senator Jenny McAllister and Tanya Plibersek MP at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2017.

Evidence heard at Senate Estimates this afternoon has revealed that critical sexual health prevention programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are being defunded by the Turnbull Government without any evaluation or consultation. 

RECENTLY

This week we put the Government’s economic performance under the spotlight in a rigorous estimates session.

Evidence heard at Senate Estimates this morning shows the Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion continues to preside over a failing Indigenous Advancement Strategy which is not delivering for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. 

The Prime Minister has been caught out making energy policy on the run. Under questioning from Senator McAllister, Treasury Secretary John Fraser revealed that the government had been surprised by the energy crisis, and there was no Treasury analysis supporting the government’s plan for new coal generation. 

Its day three of Estimates and I thought I’d run through what we learnt yesterday. First of all we learnt that neither Senator Hanson nor Senator Roberts could be bothered to turn up. They’d prefer to send their barbs from a distance and don’t want to participate in the Committee process

Last night at Senate Estimates the Turnbull Government’s peak digital transformation body acknowledged it hadn’t lifted a finger to fix IT messes hurting Australians. Evidence presented to Estimates revealed a total disconnect between the Digital Transformation Agency and the ongoing digital project failures from the Turnbull Government.

Welcome to day two of estimates, and I want to make few remarks about what we learned yesterday.  For a start, people will remember the Government’s Digital Transformation Organisation, which was rolled over into a Digital Transformation Agency after the last election. 

Senator Jenny McAllister speaks with the press about Senate Estimates, the Digital Transformation Agency, APS, George Brandis and 18c.