Time for me to call a halt to proceedings. What happened?
- the silly season is upon us;
- the Senate passed the amended backpacker tax;
- but the House of Representatives has knocked it back;
- which means things are back to square one;
- Pauline Hanson is sick of being called a racist; and
- there is only one more week of Parliament for the year.
My thanks to Andrew Meares and Alex Ellinghausen for their work and to your for reading and commenting.
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Alex, Andrew and I will see you soon. Enjoy your evening.
Senator Culleton has explained what he was doing in the House of Representatives: "It was the red fox in the chook yard."
The House of Representatives has rejected the amended backpacker tax which means it has to go back to the Senate.
I love the body language in this photo.
![Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and Labor senator Penny Wong in discussion after question time.](/web/20161126120847im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/w/u/j/s/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gswulh.png/1479966140131.jpg)
The House of Representatives is now debating the amended backpacker tax.
Back to topHere's a video of the exchange:
"Go and do your job!" @JacquiLambie fiery exchange with the new @NationalFarmers president, who got her posting today pic.twitter.com/hUOnhXyl9p
— Rashida Yosufzai (@Rashidajourno) November 24, 2016
Heaven help us. I can only imagine what next week will be like.
As I've already observed today, things are getting more than a little silly.
Fresh from her appearance in the Senate shortly before question time, Jacqui Lambie has just taken the new president of the National Farmers' Federation to task.
Fiona Simson, the first woman to hold the role, was holding her inaugural press conference which overlapped with Senator Lambie's. Senator Lambie just had a win on the backpacker tax but the NFF does not like what has been agreed.
The two had what we might call a difference of opinion in front of the cameras.
"Don't worry about me, go and talk to your farmers," Senator Lambie finished with while Ms Simson was left to ponder her career move.
![Senator Jacqui Lambie on Thursday.](/web/20161126120847im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/w/u/h/f/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gswsl8.png/1479966012803.jpg)
That time a senator popped into question time in the House of Representatives.
![Senator Rod Culleton with shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus during question time on Thursday.](/web/20161126120847im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/w/q/9/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gswrx6.png/1479963514356.jpg)
A staffer has just called to explain that the MP making noises at Ms Ley was not meowing but making the sound of a plane landing. And that the noise gets made "all the time" (which I assume means at many MPs, not all the time Ms Ley speaks).
I stand corrected.
Back to topAnd that's it for question time.
Senator Culleton has left the chamber. An attendant reminds him to nod at the Speaker on the way out.
An unidentified Labor MP has meowed three times while Health Minister Sussan Ley was answering a question.
Speaker Tony Smith is angry about it.
Sexism has always been a bipartisan matter, as far as I can tell.
In a further sign of how nutty today is, Senator Culleton just strolled on to the floor of the House of Representatives.
Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus has pottered over to say hello.
![Leader of the house Christopher Pyne during question time on Thursday.](/web/20161126120847im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/w/q/9/i/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gswnpu.png/1479963578540.jpg)
Deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek asks Mr Turnbull: "Why does the policy of this government always refelct the demands of the Liberal Party's extreme right?"
Mr Turnbull says the opposition is stooping to "childish, undergraduate questions" such as its characterisation of Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's comments about migrants.
He wonders whether Mr Shorten is "a fool or a knave".
"I think he's both," Mr Turnbull finishes.
Back to topCheeky.
The opposition wants to know if Mr Turnbull has been briefed on what policies Tony Abbott has asked the Parliamentary Budget Office to cost.
Speaker Tony Smith swiftly rules it out of order: "We've been here before.....Play on."
Sorry to interrupt QT but Alex Ellinghausen just filed this picture of One Nation senator Rod Culleton running through the Senate to make sure he doesn't miss the backpacker tax vote.
![One Nation Senator Rod Culleton runs across the chamber to vote on backpacker tax.](/web/20161126120847im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/w/m/w/n/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gswn17.png/1479957955514.jpg)
Mr Joyce is getting upset by the opposition's actions in relation to the backpacker tax.
The manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, interjects because "I thought he should take a breath".
Question time has begun in the House of Representatives where Opposition Leader Bill Shorten wants to know if the Coalition will vote for the backpacker tax in the lower house (remember the legislation has been amended in the Senate so it needs to go back to the house).
"This is a plain act of economic vandalism....a plain act of undermining Australian businesses," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull thunders.
Senator Hanson is very angry with this suggestion saying it has taken her six months to work out the Senate and it is wrong to suggest she cut a deal.
She planned this, she said, and it was not some last minute deal to get the legislation through.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale says One Nation has become "a doormat " for the Coalition and the agreement is so useless "you might as well have an amendment on world peace".
![Senator Pauline Hanson in the Senate on Thursday.](/web/20161126120847im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/w/o/c/t/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gswlvr.png/1479959333952.jpg)
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