Federal Politics Live: October 23, 2014

Here we are at the end of another day and another week. Thank you, again, for your company.

A quick sum up before Andrew Meares, Alex Ellinghausen and I call it quits:

• much of the day was dominated by reaction to the shooting overnight at the Canadian Parliament;
• the government tried to prosecute its case on national security but was overshadowed by Labor's exploitation of the stories about Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's expansionist fantasies;
• the government confirmed it has received requests from the United States and United Kingdom governments to send medical personnel to west Africa and it says it is considering them; and
• Tourism Minister Andrew Robb has been in the spotlight over his ownership of a restaurant that has been promoted by a government agency.

Andrew, Alex and I will be back on Monday for another week when the anti terrorism laws and the stalemate over the renewable energy target will return to the agenda. We would be delighted to see you then. Good night.

The march towards the end of the sitting day (and week).

The eyes have it.

A couple of court/political stories have been bubbling along today. Now that I have a little bit of air let me share them with you.

The privacy of poetry professor Barry Spurr has been "trashed" with the exposure of his racist and sexist emails as part of a political campaign against the federal government's national curriculum review, his barrister argued in the Federal Court today.

You can read a full version of the story here.

Of course the government has been trying to reassure everyone that they are safe although there is a threat of an act similar to the one that happened overnight in Canada taking place in Australia.

Its bid for increased security powers will go before Parliament next week.

Canada and Australia have both featured prominently in the Islamic State's online diatribes, in which the group urges its global followers to kill.

But, is that where the similarities end? Defence and security correspondent David Wroe takes a look in this article here.

And that's question time for the day. And, indeed, the week.

FYI - Labor's Pat Conroy, Ed Husic and Mark Dreyfus have all been removed from question time. An early mark on the last sitting day of the week is always useful.