Draft laws of the Federal Government's proposed lifetime ban for asylum seekers trying to reach Australia by sea are expected to be introduced into parliament this week. The laws are designed to prohibit any detainee who arrived as an adult at the detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru from July 2013 onwards from ever entering Australia.
Labor has yet to formally declare whether it will support the plan, but it will reportedly announce its position tomorrow (tue) after caucus meets.
In the House of Representatives, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull renewed his call for Labor's support.
"In the election, the Leader of the Opposition said he was on a unity ticket with us. Well, is he? Is he? We have presented legislation which will do no more than put into law that which both sides of politics have said has been our unity ticket. And we call on the Leader of the Opposition to stand up to the left in his party, support the bill, stand up for our border security, stand up against the people smugglers."
And it was straight to business in the Senate, where debate over the Government's proposed plebiscite on same-sex marriage became personal.
It looks set to fail in the face of opposition from Labor, the Greens and several crossbenchers, and a number of senators made impassioned pleas against it.
One was Greens senator Janet Rice, who married her transgender wife Penny 30 years ago when she was Peter.
To stay married, her wife cannot update her birth certificate to reflect her changed gender.
Senator Rice says Australia does not need to be put through a divisive debate that would not even be binding.
"We don't need to put the LGBTI community and their families through damage and harm and hate speech, hate speech which would be unleashed by the plebiscite campaign. We can achieve marriage equality through a free vote in our parliament."
Labor Senate leader Penny Wong spoke of why she will oppose the plebiscite, saying it is not the right path to marriage equality.
Elsewhere in the Senate, the validity of the election of former senator Bob Day has now become a matter for the High Court.
And the Senate has supported a motion to ask the High Court to rule on whether his election breached Section 44 of the Australian constitution.
The issue did not go untouched in the House of Representatives either, with Labor pressing the Government about its knowledge of Mr Day's affairs.
Manager of opposition business Tony Burke had this exchange with Treasurer Scott Morrison ...
"In May 2014, the Special Minister of State accepted Bob Day's advice that he had sold his interest in the taxpayer-funded electorate office. But if the Minister, his office or his department had checked publicly available land-titles records, they would have discovered that Senator Day still owned the property. Has the Government conducted any investigation as to why basic due diligence was not performed?"
(House Speaker:) "The Minister representing the Special Minister of State."
(Morrison:) "Thank you. Mr Speaker. I thank the Member for his question. I refer the Member to the motion moved by Senator Ryan in the other place (Senate), which makes note of the fact that, in November of 2014, the Department of Finance undertook a title search which confirmed the property was formerly transferred to Fullerton Investments in September of 2014."
The upper house is also considering whether to refer One Nation senator Rod Culleton to the High Court over a now annulled larceny conviction.
The conviction existed at the time of the July federal election.
llSo far, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has backed the referral, saying politicians should be held accountable.
