Politics Live: September 23, 2014

Tony Abbott is due to fly out of Canberra for the UN in New York later this evening.

To replace him, we will have Julia Gillard's much-hyped interview with Ray Martin on Channel Nine at 7pm.

Before we head off to prepare a suitable snack plate for the show (to all the Adelaide kids out there, some frog cakes are on the menu), what did we learn today?

• You can't bet on anything in politics. Joel Fitzgibbon took out the 200 crown;
• But no one can flounce out like Terri Butler;
• PUP continues to prove that the internal battles are always the most interesting; 
• "Trough" is an ambiguous term;
• Eric Abetz is a poetic guy - democracy is a "fragile flower" - who would have guessed?

 

Thanks for tuning in, petals.

Andrew Meares, Alex Ellinghausen and I look forward to snapping and typing you on the 'morrow.

 

 

Next stop. Sunset in New York on Monday. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

And smiles all around for Brandis, Eric Abetz and other Coalition senators right now.

PUP's bid to set up an inquiry into the Queensland government has been surprisingly dee-feated.

Wha happened?

The Liberal Party put up an amendment to have the inquiry span the life of the Labor Bligh government as well as the Newman government.

The Greens supported the Coalition on this, but Labor and PUP did not.

So, in the end, the Senate voted down a move to have an inquiry into the Queensland government(s).

That's more than two hours of debate to get exactly nowhere.

 

The Greens vote with the Government to include the Bligh government in the inquiry. Photo: Andrew Meares

George Brandis has released the detail of the government's "foreign fighters" bill, which is due to be introduced to the Senate tomorrow (it includes a 227 page explanatory memorandum).

It will then be referred to Parliament's Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security for review.

There will be some fine tooth combing in all of this - which among many other things, seeks to make a new offence of entering a "declared area" (where a terrorist group is engaging in hostile activity). 

 

 

Staying with the broad Lambie theme, Latika Bourke reports on the latest on burqas.

Coalition MP George Christensen has told Lambie that she should "shut up" when it comes to the burqa.

Christensen (who is also a prominent anti-vegetarian campaigner) told Fairfax Media that while he agreed with the points Lambie had been attempting to make regarding Islamic law and the burqa, she had no idea how to argue the case [Exhibit A? Exhibit B?] and was doing the campaign to ban the burqa a disservice.

"She goes too far and quite frankly she doesn't know how to argue the key point, she's doing the argument actually no favours and she should shut up because she doesn't know what she's talking about."

 

Speaking of troughs, the results of today's poll are in:

38 per cent of you think "trough" is somewhere to feed people who work in politics (ping: Rob Messenger).

22 per cent think it is somewhere to feed animals.

18 per cent said trough is a public lavatory for men.

14 per cent think it is really weird point in the political cycle.

And 8 per cent agree with Joe Hockey that it is a low point in an economic cycle.

[Insert searing conclusion here.]

Thanks to the 693 people who voted!

 

While Wang was giving his speech, Jacqui Lambie's media adviser Rob Messenger called in to 2UE for an interview.

Re: his comments about troughs and cubicles earlier, he said that he was just having a laugh (and not misunderstanding what was going on).

He is a great fan of satire and Monty Python, he reasoned, and thought others would understand too. 

Wang tells his young daughter in the public gallery that even though she might think being a politician is "silly", "I am doing it for you".

"Honourable senators, lets do this."

 

Senator Dio Wang was congratulated by Senator Glenn Lazarus and Senator Jacqui Lambie after his first speech. Photo: Andrew Meares

"We need smart politicians to make wise decisions," says Wang.

But he tells the Senate, "don't congratulate yourself too early, you haven't heard my definition of smart".

He says that people need to observe carefully and think deeply.

"A really wise person considers others are wiser."

(Is this a comment about Clive saying Jacqui Lambie was not very bright?)

Senator Dio Wang on Tuesday. Photo: Andrew Meares

Wang says he wants to "sincerely" thank Palmer for starting PUP.

 

Clive can be seen working/ texting on his phone in the Senate chamber while Wang talks.