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PoliticsFederalThe Pulse Live

This was published 10 years ago

Politics Live: November 26, 2015

Hello and welcome to the last day of the week. Let's see what's going on including former prime minister Tony Abbott's detour into architecture.

Stephanie Peatling
Updated ,first published
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End of the day. What happened?

  • the opposition has called on Special Minister of State Mal Brough to resign;
  • it also tried - unsuccessfully - to censure Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for appointing Mr Brough to the ministry;
  • the government's citizenship legislation has been delayed until next week following advice from the Solicitor-General;
  • the government announced a new approach to mental health;
  • and the government will consider holding a royal commission into abuse of people with disabilities.

My thanks to Alex Ellinghausen and Andrew Meares for their superb work today and this week and to you for hanging out with us.

You can follow me on Facebook.

Alex, Andrew and I will be back on Monday and we hope to see you then.

Until then - good night.

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That end-of-the-sitting-week-Thursday-afternoon feeling.

Labor MP Terri Butler is sent out of question time on Thursday.Alex Ellinghausen
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And if, like me, you were a bit confused by the shenanigans in the Senate referred to in the 12.21 pm post political reporter Latika Bourke has explained it.

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You might like to go back to this story by political reporter Lisa Cox to refresh your memory about the issue of the search warrant.

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The search warrant executed by the Australian Federal Police has been tabled in the Senate.

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Attorney-General George Brandis disagrees.

He has just told the Senate: "For a person to be the subject of a search warrant is no indication of wrongdoing, none whatsoever."

Senator Brandis says it is up to a court to decide if he did something wrong.

"In the event it gets there," Senator Brandis quickly adds.

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It seems pretty clear to me - I just do not see how someone who is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police can be a minister (even though no charges have - obviously - been laid).

Either Mr Turnbull forgot about the investigation or he felt so beholden to Mr Brough for the role he played in the leadership change that he gave him the job nonetheless.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during question time on Thursday.Alex Ellinghausen
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The government succeeds in shutting down the censure motion and so it's all over red rover.

Mr Turnbull calls an end to question time.

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As Sky News political correspondent Kieran Gilbert quipped on twitter it must be tempting for Mr Abbott to consider crossing the floor on this one.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott and Special Minister of State Mal Brough during question time on Thursday.Alex Ellinghausen
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The government easily has the numbers to defeat the motion.

The manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, jumps up: "Do they really tink they can cover this up? He confessed on television!"

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