Politics live as Malcolm Turnbull faces leadership pressure on energy

Okay, end of the day. What happened?

• the Coalition is in chaos - again - over climate change and energy;
• Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull not-so-subtly took a swipe at Tony Abbott over his management of the issue;
• late this afternoon backbencher George Christensen said he cannot vote for a Clean Energy Target;
• he also suggested the government should open its own coal-fired power stations;
• the government has also paid $70 million to settle a case brought by Manus Island detainees;
• Immigration Minister Peter Dutton blamed Labor for the case,

My thanks to Andrew Meares and Alex Ellinghausen for their beautiful work and to you for reading and commenting.

You can follow me on Facebook.

Andrew, Alex and I will be back in the morning with some pretty pictures from tonight's Midwinter Ball. Until then, good evening.

Back on the Manus Island settlement for a moment.

"The biggest human rights payout in Australian legal history is a powerful statement about the cruelty inflicted on vulnerable people who sought protection in Australia - and who is responsible for it," The Age's political editor, Michael Gordon, writes. 

"It is an indictment of the treatment of almost 2000 men by this government and the service providers it engaged to supervise and care for them, and vindication for those who have suffered and fought to have their voices heard."

Mr Christensen says he will not vote for a Clean Energy Target.

He is the first government MP to say this.

"The onus is going to be on the federal government to either invest in or build a coal fired power station," Mr Christensen says.

"What's wrong with that? We invest heavily in renewables; no one complains about that."

He says it is fair for the federal government to invest in coal as much as it does in renewable energy.

"If politics and government have caused the problem, we have to come up with the solution."

Queensland LNP MP George Christensen is sharing his thoughts on energy with Sky News.

He says there must be some incentives for "clean coal" and suggests pretty much every other National Party MP shares his view.

"Better off to deal with the issue the vast majority of the public is complaining about which is prices," he says.

Another one bites the dust?

The Turnbull government's plan to save nearly $1 billion by axing carbon tax compensation for new welfare recipients appears dead on arrival, Adam Gartrell reports. 

The Nick Xenophon Team has confirmed it will join with Labor and the Greens to vote against the government's legislation in the Senate, guaranteeing it will fail.

Question time is over for the day.

Mr Turnbull says legislation to ban foreign donations will be introduced in the spring session (ie not until at least August).

The opposition wants to know why the government won't agree to its proposal for a parliamentary inquiry into foreign donations.

I think we can all agree neither side is lily white on the issue of donations.

There is a lot of mud slinging going on over foreign donations.

Leader of the house Christopher Pyne says "what's good for the goose is good for the gander".

Shayne Neumann, the opposition's immigration spokesman, asks Mr Dutton a question.

It's his first question in the life of this parliament.

Mr Dutton is happy to point this out.

Naturally, the opposition returns fire with a question about a Chinese donor who sent up an organisation called "the Julie Bishop Glorious Foundation".

Ms Bishop says she had never heard of the foundation until it was brought to her attention by a reporter last week.

"I can stand here and be proud of my record. Labor is covered in shame," she says.

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop went on the attack over foreign donations yesterday.

She continues today.

Ms Bishop says Mr Shorten is "personally compromised" because he has not asked for a security briefing over allegations about donations.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton takes a question.

He says the $70 million settlement awarded to Manus Island detainees was won by "ambulance chasing law firm" Slater and Gordon, which made donations to the Labor Party.

He segues into the citizenship changes.

Mr Porter takes a question from his own side about the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

(The opposition, you will remember, is against increasing the Medicare levy across all tax brackets.)

Mr Porter wants to know why a teacher with five years experience should pay for the scheme, but a teacher with four years experience should not.

It's not even a quarter past and question time has already got a distinctly Thursday afternoon feel.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter is answering a question from opposition frontbencher Jenny Macklin about the pensioners' supplement.

Mr Porter says Ms Macklin is "the greatest threat to Australia ever returning to surplus".

Even she has a bit of a laugh.

Mr Turnbull goes in hard on the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

"How can they look into the eyes of mothers, of children with disabilities? How can they?" Mr Turnbull says.

The opposition is "all empathy, no resources".

Mr Turnbull says Mr Shorten must have accidentally grabbed his speech notes for his address to the Midwinter Ball tonight (which is supposed to be humourous).

Mr Turnbull says the opposition has only put households and businesses at risk.

Question time begins with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten asking Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull if he will work with the opposition on climate change......

He doesn't get much further than that due to the howls of protest from the government benchers.

Speaker Tony Smith intervenes.

Nearly question time.

You will probably be aware Network Ten has done into voluntary administration.

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield says it is "a wake-up call to opponents of media reform. This is a difficult and stressful time for Ten's staff and their families who are facing an uncertain future. That a major Australian media organisation is in such difficulty should be a matter of concern".

"Labor's gamesmanship has limited the options for organisations like Ten." 

"There is a lot of talk about media diversity, but the greatest threat to diversity in Australian media would be the failure of Australian media organisations."