Those who have been released have little financial or social support, confining them to lives of precarity, dependency and impoverishment in our community.
Morrison would rather live with a problem minister in a key post than give a scalp to Labor.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The situation with Naomi Wolf is another case of Angus Taylor being sloppy with facts and refusing to clean up his mess quickly.
Following conflicting accounts on whether there was a deal, Richard di Natale said Cormann had ‘walked over to senator Lambie and said, “Is it OK if I say there’s no deal?” We heard you say it’.
Lukas Coch/AAP
After securing a condition which she cannot disclose “due to national security concerns”, Jacqui Lambie has voted with the government on the repeal of the medevac laws.
“The government was totally taken by surprise” when the One Nation senators and Jacqui Lambie voted against the ensuring integrity legislation, says Michelle Grattan.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Leigh Sullivan and Michelle Grattan discuss this week in politics, and talk about what to expect in the year’s final parliamentary sitting week.
A leader with any appreciation of process should know that by directly contacting the commissioner he was opening himself to attack.
Lukas Coch/AAP
With one parliamentary week remaining, Angus Taylor has been discredited, and Scott Morrison has been embroiled and embarrassed – or embarrassed himself. And the whole thing was avoidable.
“[The Westpac scandal] comes at a bad time for the government which has legislation before parliament to crack down on union behaviour that goes off the rails, and here you have business behaviour being even worse,” says Michelle Grattan.
Joel Carrett/AAP
University of Canberra VC Deep Saini and Michelle Grattan discuss this week in politics, and talk about what to expect in the last parliamentary sitting fortnight, which starts this Monday.
Morrison this week delivered to an audience of big business what was described as his most important speech for the rest of the year.
Steven Saphore/AAP
Next week begins the year’s final parliamentary fortnight, and the main attention will be on the fate of two bills - the ensuring integrity legislation, and the medevac repeal.
Protesters holding a vigil last year for deceased asylum seeker Hamid Khazaei, who died in a Brisbane hospital due to an infection at the Manus Island detention centre in 2014.
Darren England/AAP
A Senate report details the high need for refugees on Manus Island and Nauru to be able to seek medical care in Australia. The fate of the medevac law now rests in Jacqui Lambie’s hands.
Jacqui Lambie has yet to announce whether she will support the bill to have medevac repealed.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The government would be willing to put a feast on the table to get a win on the medevac repeal, but this is a piece of legislation on which Lambie should not contemplate any deals.
Henderson beat Greg Mirabella 234 to 197 after other runners were eliminated.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
After losing her marginal seat of Corangamite at the election, Sarah Henderson is set to return to parliament after winning preselection for a Victorian Senate vacancy.
After a bruising election result for GetUp, national director Paul Oosting is in Canberra this week to work on press freedom.
Joel Carrett
Paul Oosting responds to GetUp’s critics
The Conversation, CC BY29,1 MB(download)
GetUp's national director Paul Oosting joins Michelle Grattan to respond to critics who accuse the organisation of "creating an environment...[of] abuse, harassment, intimidation".
Jacqui Lambie with Centre Alliance senators, who threw their support behind the government’s $158 billion income tax cuts, guaranteeing the package will become law.
Sam Mooy/AAP
After a hectic first week for the new parliament, Michelle Grattan speaks with Deep Saini about Jacqui Lambie’s role in helping pass the government’s tax cuts, and a further cut to interest rates - now 1%.
The medevac law was passed to streamline the process for emergency medical evacuation of refugees from Manus Island and Nauru. Thirty-one people have been transferred since its passage.
Refugee Action Coalition
With parliament sitting next week, the home affairs minister is pressuring Labor to support a repeal of the medevac law. But the law has worked just as it was intended.
Senator Cory Bernardi announced this week that he will be winding up his party, the Australian Conservatives, following a lacklustre vote at the 2019 federal election.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Bishop’s claim she’d reconsidered her plans on the basis she believed the government will be re-elected doesn’t wash. She was always expected to bail out – it was a matter of when she’d say so.
The latest Ipsos poll has the gap between Labor and the Coalition narrowing to 51-49, but it may be an outlier.
AAP/James Ross/Grant Wells
A Queensland Galaxy poll taken at the same time shows a healthier lead for Labor - but more polls are needed to determine any trends in voting ahead of the federal election.