And that's it for the day for me. What happened?
- Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed the election would be held on July 2;
- he praised the Senate's efficiency in dealing with the building watchdog legislation;
- both houses of Parliament not sit again until the budget week of May 2;
- Labor, the Greens and independents criticised the government for recalling Parliament for two weeks only to have it sit for less than two days;
- the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal will be abolished after the Senate did at least one thing the government wanted it to do.
My thanks, as always, to my co conspirators Andrew Meares and Alex Ellinghausen and to you for reading and commenting.
You can follow me on Facebook.
And Alex has a page too - it's gorgeous.
Andrew, Alex and I will be back, with Parliament, on May 2. Until then - go well.
Mr Palmer's kind of colleague, Dio Wang, was just chatting to Sky News about his differences of opinion with Mr Palmer.
Sky News political editor, David Speers, asked Senator Wang if the Palmer United Party had "imploded".
"Yes, we have," Senator Wang replied before adding it was not unusual for new teams not to work out.
Honesty and straight talking in politics isn't entirely dead, it would seem.
So there you go. So much for the recall of Parliament.
We can confirm that the #Senate will not be sitting tomorrow
— Australian Senate (@AuSenate) April 19, 2016
The Senate sits on although it doesn't seem to be doing much:
Government recalled Senate. Now filibustering. No legislation. No agenda. No idea.
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) April 19, 2016
Mr Palmer says the government has behaved "disgracefully" over the matter and that he would like to reopen Queensland Nickel.
He also confirmed he would recontest his seat at the election saying he does not want to move to the Senate because red is a "shocking colour".
A little while ago Clive Palmer held a press conference to, basically, declare he is not a crook.
Mr Palmer assured those assembled he had done nothing wrong in relation to Queensland Nickel and has commissioned his own independent report into the company's finances.
The House of Representatives has now been adjourned until May 2.
I know I said in the previous post that question time would return on May 3 but I was basing that on the convention that the house resumes on the Tuesday of a budget week. But that is not the case this time - Parliament will resume on the Monday.
Agile.
Which it decides he should not.
And that's it for question time until May 3.
Naturally the house votes that Mr Shorten should not be heard.
It is now voting on whether or not the manager of opposition business should have a go.
While we're waiting for that let's look at government whip Ewen Jones greeting school students to the gallery.
The chamber is now dividing so a vote can be held on whether or not Mr Shorten's motion should be heard.
It was only a matter of time.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is on his feet seeking to suspend standing orders and censure the Prime Minister for recalling Parliament "only to run out of legislation to debate within twelve hours of the Governor-General opening the new session".
Since the House of Representatives will not return until May 3 this is the fourth last question time of the 44th Parliament.
Mr Turnbull takes a moment to congratulate himself on his election strategy.
"It was a very efficient day's work," he says of the Senate's efforts yesterday.
The decision to recall Parliament was carried out with "enormous efficiency and dispatch".
As is the norm when independent Bob Katter has a turn to ask a question both Speaker Tony Smith and at least one minister pretend they understood what he was asking and go on to answer accordingly.
It's a bit like haiku.
Not surprisingly, Mr Turnbull's first question from his own side is about the abolition of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal: "We stand up for them. Every policy the Labor Party puts up in this coming election will be a job destroy policy."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten asks Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull why he refused to give a specific date for the election despite being asked four times.
This is a "pathetic attempt to misrepresent" his words, Mr Turnbull says, and demonstrates Mr Shorten's "lack of character".
"After the budget I will advise the Governor-General to dissolve both houses of Parliament and I will advise him to hold an election on the second of July," Mr Turnbull finishes.
Nearly question time.
"Australians are getting increasingly sick and tired of a Prime Minister who dithers," Mr Shorten continues.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is just carrying on as if the election has actually be called which, let's face it, it has barring the official visit to the Governor-General and some paperwork.
"Labor is ready por the election because we know what we stand for," he begins.
"The Labor Party has spent the last 900 plus days preparing our positive plan for Australia's future."
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