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.
Rather than asking, “How can we best address religious discrimination in Australia?”, Christian Porter is saying, “This is what we’re doing about religious discrimination; any objections?”.
As the battle over press freedom continues, the Attorney-General has ordered that any prosecution of a journalist for offences related to national security must have his approval.
As the government starts its work on workplace change, it gave Pauline Hanson a win, for past and future favours, making her deputy chair of a joint parliamentary committee into the family law system.
Michelle Grattan discusses the increasing strain on the Australia-China relationship following the arrest of Dr. Yang Hengjun, and the government’s draft religious discrimination legislation.
Given the unique aspects of the proposed bill, there should be a longer consultation period to examine why religious freedoms should be prioritised over other freedoms.
The government is relishing the difficulties the John Setka controversy has created for Labor leader Anthony Albanese, who remains opposed to tighter restrictions on unions.
The Constitution says that the governor-general can only act to fill a vacancy in the prime ministership if there is one - but in this case, some complex questions would have arisen.
After a spate of sewing needles being found in strawberries, the federal government has moved quickly to tighten penalties for those who sabotage fruit. But it is unlikely to be a strong deterrent.
The government wants to rush through its espionage and foreign interference bills, but more time is needed to make sure these make the country safer without jeopardising freedom.
The government has been extraordinarily secretive when questioned in recent months about where the investigation was up to and why it was so prolonged.