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Politics Live: September 22, 2014

Updated September 22, 2014 — 6:11pm,first published September 22, 2014 — 9:01am

6.11pm on Sep 22, 2014

As the Senate signs off on the Autumn Omnibus Repeal Day Bill, it is time for us to head out into this Canberran Spring evening.

Before that, what did we learn today?

It's a bad time to do a tour of the ministerial wing of Parliament House;
The government is going to explicitly rule out torture in its ASIO bill to stop a tortured debate on the subject;
PUP is not the only force to be reckoned with on the crossbench; and
Epiphanies do happen. The government has realised it needs to negotiate with the Senate on its wildly unpopular social services budget bills.

5.43pm on Sep 22, 2014

The results of today's Pulse poll are in!

They tell us fascinating things about the Australian political psyche.

Such as:

34 per cent of those polled think that former Prime Ministers should be seen at official party events and during election campaigns but not heard.

23 per cent think that ex-PMs should have their super inversely linked to how many tweets they send (watch out Kevin and Malcolm!).

21 per cent think that former PMs should be banned from writing books about themselves.

14 per cent think they should be encouraged to spend their retirements heckling their opponents.

Just 8 per cent reckon former PMs should be down at the press club every second week telling us what they think about current events.

.... Thanks to the 715 people who voted.

5.40pm on Sep 22, 2014

Greens MP Adam Bandt is scathing of the migration amendment.

He says he hopes no one in Australia even has to flee for their lives.

"If any one of us in this country ever found ourselves in danger ... if we were forced to flee and go and knock on the door of another country, we could not in all good conscience ask them to take us in."

5.33pm on Sep 22, 2014

The lower house is knee deep in debate about the Migration Amendment (Protection and Other Measures) Bill.

Among other things, the amendment will "make clear that it is an asylum seeker's responsibility to specify the particulars of their claim ... and to provide sufficient evidence to establish their claim".

It will also "define the risk threshold for assessing Australia's protection obligation under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture".

Labor on the whole supports the bill, but opposes schedule 2 which would insert a new section, that makes it clear that the Minister "can only be satisfied that Australia has protection obligations [under international law], if the Minister considers it is more likely than not that the non-citizen will suffer significant harm if removed from Australia".

This means there would be a greater than fifty per cent change that a person would suffer that significant harm.

The government says the current risk threshold is as low as 10 per cent.

5.19pm on Sep 22, 2014

For the past hour, the Senate has been debating an urgency motion, moved by the Greens.

It is on the "need for the Prime Minister to attend the United Nations Climate Summit 2014 [which he is not attending], and to recognise that Australia's emissions reducation target is inadequate".

The matter has just been "resolved in the negative".

32 noes to 28 ayes.

5.06pm on Sep 22, 2014

National security correspondent David Wroe reports on a very creepy online message.

Followers of the Islamic State terror group are being urged to attack by any means possible civilians of the West, including Australia, in a chilling exhortation posted online purportedly by the militant group's chief spokesman.

In what would be the group's first blanket call to violence against countries planning military action in Iraq, the statement attributed to chief Islamic State spokesman Muhammad al Adnani mentions Australia three times amid page after page of apocalyptic threats against "crusaders".

"If you can kill a disbelieving American or European – especially the spiteful and filthy French – or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be," the statement says.

5.02pm on Sep 22, 2014

New screens on the floor of the House of Representatives display Prime Minister Tony Abbott's statement on national security. Photo: Andrew Meares

A spokesman for Bronwyn Bishop tells us that the screens were a recommendation from the procedures committee.

There are already screens outside the chamber, but those inside are for people coming in via the Speaker's chair entrance (which doesn't have an outside screen).

They let MPs know what item of business is happening and where a vote is up to.

5.00pm on Sep 22, 2014

Innovation is happening in the House.

And no, we don't mean replacing 94a with an old fashioned Nickelodeon sliming.

Handy screens have been incorporated so that MPs know what is going on.

New screens on the floor of the House of Representatives display Prime Minister Tony Abbott's statement on national security on Monday. Photo: Andrew Meares

4.50pm on Sep 22, 2014

Canberra Times court reporter Michael Inman has been following the Slipper case today.

As he reports:

Prosecutors argue former parliamentary speaker Peter Slipper deserves to go to jail for misusing parliamentary Cabcharge vouchers to tour Canberra-region wineries in 2010.

4.18pm on Sep 22, 2014

Meanwhile, Peter Slipper has been at court in Canberra today for sentencing.

He has already been found guilty of three counts of misuing Cabcharge vouchers in 2010.

But there is no final word today.

Politics Live: September 22, 2014

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