Hello and welcome to Wednesday – hump day, parliament Thursday and at this point of a double week sitting, the day everyone tends to be.a little over it and just dragging themselves to the finish line.

If you didn’t wake up for the big US announcement (delivered around 4am our time) be happy – it was a proof of life exercise and an announcement of a new location for the US Space Command, which is as stupid as it sounds.

In domestic news, it is all about aged care at the moment, as the government faces the Coalition, Greens and crossbench senators all uniting to force more action when it comes to home care packages and how the sector is treated.

A plan to open up an additional 83,000 home care places, which was due to start in July, was pushed back to November which is what has sparked the revolt. Minister Sam Rae, who has been under pressure all week, said the decision was based on what time the department and sector needed to get ready, but with more and more people writing to MPs every week, the heat is now on the government to bring the places forward.

His counterpart, Anne Ruston, has put forward an amendment to the aged care bill in the senate, which would bring more home care places on line earlier – 40,000 before the end of this year and another 43,000 by mid-2026.

There is enough support for it in the senate to pass. If it does, then the bill would have to return to the house for the government vote, where it will be forced to either accept the will of the senate, or try and fight to maintain its original plan.

Meanwhile there is still silence over events in Indonesia, where political unrest has been brewing for months. International humanitarian organisations are pleading for more help to address the tragic earthquake in Afghanistan, which has killed almost 2,000 with rescuers struggling to reach people who need help, and the landslide in Sudan which has overwhelmed an entire village of people. Israel is moving forward with its planned forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza City (a war crime) as it levels the entire sector, forcing exhausting and starving Palestinians to once move, or be killed (despite there being no safe place to go) and the US continues to be a destabalising force, with Trump’s isolationist policies now seeing India get closer to China and Russia.

Sorry for the reminder, but we are in the F.O period of FA and FO. (let me know if you need a translation.)

You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day – although Glenn Connley will make a special guest appearance for a couple of hours ahead of his blogging day tomorrow (we love you Glenn!)

It is a four coffee morning. Might need to break open the biscuits a little earlier than usual too.

Ready? Let’s get into it.