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Jacqui Lambie, the Tasmanian Palmer United Party senator, has given her maiden speech to the Senate.
Lambie, 43, was elected at the 2013 federal election. PUP polled 6.58% of the primary vote and she was elected on preferences. Her term began on July 1, 2014 and will expire on June 30, 2020. [Read more…]
Senator Glenn Lazarus has delivered his official first speech to the upper house.
Having spoken numerous times on legislation over the past month, each time stating that it wasn’t his first speech, the Queensland Palmer United Party senator joked at the outset that it “is now my first speech”.
Senator Lazarus was elected as a Queensland representative at last year’s federal election. His term began on July 1 this year and will expire on June 30, 2020. He is the Senate leader of the Palmer United Party. [Read more…]
The Abbott government has accepted Clive Palmer’s amendments to the carbon tax repeal legislation and Palmer has offered an explanation of last week’s events in the Senate that led to the rejection of the legislation.
Palmer says the crisis “was brought on by the government” which refuses to recognise Palmer United as a political party, “despite the fact that Palmer United received 5.6% of the national vote at the last election, while the Deputy Prime Minister’s party, the National Party, only managed 4%”.
Palmer says he formed the view that the office of the Senate Clerk “was being manipulated by the Liberal Party, or through time had assumed power it does not have to veto laws before they have been proposed by elected representative (sic) of the Australian people”. [Read more…]
The Senate has rejected an Abbott government bill to repeal the carbon tax.
A combination of ALP, Greens and Palmer United Party senators, supported by Motoring Enthusiast Senator Ricky Muir, voted 37-35 to defeat the bill that would have abolished the carbon tax.
The bill failed due to a breakdown in negotiations between the government and the Palmer United Party. Palmer wanted the legislation to mandate that power savings be passed on to consumers. In the end, the amendment moved by Palmer was judged to be a tax that the Senate had no power to introduce. [Read more…]