Labor demands Scott Morrison sack Angus Taylor over grasslands saga
Labor has demanded Scott Morrison sack the energy minister Angus Taylor after revealing his comments in a radio interview where Taylor acknowledged he was standing up for farmers, including “me and other family members”, in the grasslands saga.
Taylor faced a censure motion in parliament on Tuesday – promptly gagged by the Morrison government – after the energy minister’s comments on 26 July were presented by the opposition during question time.
The minister, who faced questions about his conduct during the July parliamentary sittings, told ABC Illawarra at the height of that debate that he had intervened about the technical aspects of the grasslands listing, but “I make absolutely no apologies for standing up for farmers in my region – that includes me and other family members”.
“It is my job to stand up for us,” Taylor said. “If I’m not standing up for farmers in the federal parliament, then who is?”
Under sustained questioning during the last parliamentary sitting period, Taylor told the parliament it was a conversation with a Yass farmer – who he did not name – and not the interests of his farming family, that spurred him to seek briefings with the environment department.
In parliament on Tuesday, Taylor said the point he was making in the July radio interview “was that me and my family are farmers in my electorate” and being a farmer in his own electorate was not a crime.
A Guardian Australia investigation revealed in June that Taylor met with senior environment officials and the office of the then environment minister Josh Frydenberg in 2017 to discuss the listing of the natural temperate grassland of the south-eastern highland as critically endangered under national environment law.
The meeting took place at the same time investigations were under way into whether the company Jam Land Pty Ltd illegally cleared land containing the grasses in the Monaro region of New South Wales. Richard Taylor is one of the directors of Jam Land and Angus Taylor himself holds an interest in the firm via his family investment company, Gufee.
After Angus Taylor’s lobbying, Frydenberg’s office sought advice on whether protection of the grasslands could be watered down and if that change had to be published.
Labor and the Greens have accused both ministers of misconduct but attempts to establish a Senate inquiry into the events have been blocked by the government and One Nation.
Taylor and the department have repeatedly stated the compliance case was not discussed at the meeting. Taylor has previously said the meeting was to discuss the grasslands listing because it was an issue of concern for his constituents in Hume.
A hearing last month of the Senate’s inquiry into fauna extinctions was told Taylor did not declare his business or personal interest in Jam Land at the time of the meeting with department officials in March 2017 and that one of the senior officials present did not take notes.
Asic records show Taylor’s interest in Jam Land was recorded in May 2017, after the departmental meeting. However the department was aware of the family connection when the meeting took place.
Moving a censure motion on Tuesday, Anthony Albanese accused Taylor of using his public office to advance his private interests and deliberately misleading the House. The Labor leader called on Taylor to resign “and if he will not, I call on prime minister to immediately sack the minister”.
Morrison blasted back, declaring “I will not cop lectures on integrity from the NSW Labor party, Mr Speaker”. He said the build-up to Tuesday’s censure motion was “the lamest build-up I have seen to that type of a question in this place before”.
Referencing recent controversy about Labor’s fundraising in the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, Morrison said the “Liberal party and the National party will not be lectured by someone who used to work in the NSW branch of the Labor party”.
“[Albanese] had a desk in the office, Mr Speaker, in the Sussex Street headquarters of a party that stinks with corruption, where they get money in plastic bags and count it out on the table,” Morrison said.