I'm going to call it a day. What happened?
- Coalition MPs are meeting to discuss energy policy following the release of the Finkel review;
- at this stage it is unknown how fractious the meeting will be but there is a sense of unease in the air;
- after offering bipartisan support for energy policy last week the opposition walked away from that in question time;
- Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on immigrants to be "Australian patriots"; and
- challenged the opposition to support citizenship changes which have still not been released.
My thanks to Andrew Meares for his assistance today and to you for reading and commenting.
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Andrew and I will be back in the morning. Until then, go well.
Coalition MPs have started talking about energy again.
Chief Scientist Alan Finkel has been commandeered to talk to backbenchers.
One staffer said they had blocked out three hours in their diary for the meeting.
Senator Hanson took urgent action in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday after a damaging recording aired on the ABC's flagship 7.30 program raised questions about her party's conduct.
Senator Hanson formally dropped the case against the broadcaster this morning and will pay its legal costs.
The continuation of the Coalition party room meeting will run for as long as it needs to, chief political correspondent James Massola tells me.
The Prime Minister's Office is happy to give whatever time it takes to address the issue.
Groan.
Aha.
Back to topAnd WA Liberal senator Chris Back is retiring.
Senator Back had a three year term, which was supposed to finish on 30 June 2019, but could finish as soon as the end of next week.
The reason why is, so far, a mystery.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is on Sky News talking about energy.
He's using the adjective "agnostic" a lot in terms of where energy should come from.
He says it's "disingenuous" to suggest anything is zero emissions because even wind turbines and solar panels have to be made from something.
And counting down to the reaction in three, two, one ....
I see DPS has quietly changed some of the Parliament House bathrooms to unisex status. pic.twitter.com/7ufvqiosyb
— Katina Curtis (@katinacurtis) June 13, 2017
And that's it for question time.
Mr Shorten is also buoyed by the performance of Jeremy Corbyn in the UK election campaign.
He posted a message on Facebook at the weekend saying the Corbyn campaign was based on listening to people and so is his - hence the messages on company tax and high-income earners.
Mr Shorten has been careful to mention the company tax cuts in conjunction with rising power prices in question time today.
Back to topIt's interesting to see the opposition go so hard on power prices.
People definitely care about them but there were a couple of opinion polls last week showing people also want governments to do more to deal with climate change - including invest in more renewable energy.
So far the government has been running a very blunt campaign on keeping prices down and the need for coal to do this.
If the opposition can break through on the message that changing the energy mix will lead to a drop in prices (as the Finkel review suggested) we might be at an interesting fork in the road.
Health Minister Greg Hunt's response to the Senate's motion on medicinal cannabis:
Medical groups warned Senate against voting down protections on quality of medicinal cannabis. ALP, Greens, ON & Lambie ignored that advice.
— Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) June 13, 2017
Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese has now asked two questions, which is quite a lot for him.
He asked a question during the last fortnight which the government had a great time with, needling him over leadership and what not.
It's going the same way again today.
Labor MP Nick Champion is thrown out for heckling the Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.
Mr Dutton says his removal should "raise the IQ of the chamber".
He looks very pleased with himself.
The opposition protests but Speaker Tony Smith says he didn't hear what was said because the chamber is "carrying on like a soccer crowd".
He trolls Mr Shorten for writing him a "lovely letter" offering bipartisanship on climate policy before reverting to politics as usual.
Back to topMr Turnbull is trying out some new lines in question time.
He has said three times already that the Coalition's energy policy is informed by "economics and engineering" while the opposition's is based on "politics and ideology".
Mr Turnbull is talking about security.
He is pressing the opposition to support its citizenship changes (which, I should point out again, it still had not seen).
Mr Turnbull has a go at Labor frontbencher Tony Burke for suggesting the changes aren't related to national security.
In in #breaking news - the Coalition's climate change meeting will be at 4.30 pm.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten begins by asking Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull why electricity prices have doubled, pollution has increased and jobs in renewable energy have decreased.
Given policy is a mess, Mr Shorten says, the government should work constructively with the opposition to sort things out.
Mr Turnbull is not happy with the electricity prices game being turned back on him.
He says the opposition's policies are all about reckless disregard for the economy.
Nearly question time.
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