I could do a what did we learn in question time post, but let’s be honest, we didn’t really learn anything new. Or at least, we learned the same things we did yesterday and the day before and honestly, we all deserve a bit of a break from this mess.

So I am going to be cheeky and shut the blog down early. Not because I don’t love you – obviously I do – but because I DO love you. And I want to free you from having to even pretend to care about parliament for a moment longer.

There is lots more to care about. Namely, how to push the government into doing more than the LEAST possible. On all sorts of things. Palestine. Climate. Inequality. Poverty. University fees. Housing. Tax.

You name it – it needs big, brave thinking. And so far, – well, we are getting the least they can do.

You deserve better. Australia deserves better.

So that’s where our focus is going to be for the next term. Thank you for joining us for the first sitting weeks – we have three joint sessions left in this year (and a house and estimates sitting) so we will be spending a bit more time together.

But until then, take care of you. Ax

And so too does my will to live.

Anthony Albanese gets to sledge Alex Hawke a little after a point of order that is not a point of order, and that makes him chipper:

Every time the new Manager of Opposition Business gets up you feel a little nostalgic for Paul Fletcher. Joni Mitchell was right, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

After more of the best of 2022, we get a dixer to the prime minister to talk about how amazing his government’s agenda has been this last two weeks.

This smells like the end of QT to me. FINGERS CROSSED

Bob Katter is up and gets a question while his son, Robbie is in the chamber (Robbie Katter, a Queensland MP is here with a delegation advocating for the government to bail out the Glencore’s copper smelter at Mt Isa)

Katter Snr:

After Newcastle and Gladstone, Mt Isa is the biggest industrial centre.

Most of Mount Isa is to vanish.

….That essential service could be owned by an entity answerable to the Australian people. Further that a gas reserve resource policy be initiated to forestall the closure of this and the thousand million dollar a year Mount Isa fertilising plant.

Albanese:

The member for Kennedy is a fierce advocate for his community, his electorate and for North Queensland.

And I do want to acknowledge firstly the workers affected by Glencore’s decision to close the mountain Isa copper smelter. The Member is right for calling it out. Workers are losing their jobs and the community is hurting. I also want to acknowledge the keep our copper delegation that are here. You’re fighting hard for your industry.

Mount Isa which I have visited with the member for Kennedy on at least five occasions I think now, is too important to Queensland and for the nation for there not to be Commonwealth involvement and that is why the minister has been speaking with Glencore and the Government almost daily. Let’s be clear about Glencore.

They paid $2.2 million in dividends this year. Australia has been good to Glencore and the need to be good back to Australia.

They should back the town that has backed them and has helped build the wealth of their shareholders. Our plan for a Future Made in Australia is about keeping smelting and processing capability here in Australia and the good blue-collar engineering jobs that go with it. We back this with transformative policy. The production tax credit, the investing is the Green Line investment fund, the $2 billion for Australia aluminium smelter to transition to clean energy and we are getting on with their jobs, supporting North Queensland and Australian industry.

The critical mineral facility will be extended by another billion dollars taking it to $5 billion to finance a critical minerals projects. Queensland has provided $160 million for the purity alumina project and has been delivering money to Queensland through the program.

This is not a government only solution. Companies must step up and invest in transforming they facility to meet future opportunities.

I assure the Member I will continue to work constructively with him, as I always have, and that the industry minister is very engaged in this issue along with a whole of government response because we understand how critical this industry is for his electorate but also for the nation.

Helen Haines asks the minister for aged care Sam Rae:

I thank the Member for the question and I acknowledge her genuine interest in ensuring that every old Australian can access safe, dignified high-quality aged care. In the last term of parliament, my predecessor the Minister for Communications asked for a new Aged Care Act with support from the Opposition and constructive contributions from the crossbench and parliament was able to come together on this work because of older people should be above politics.

These once in a generation reforms will deliver world-class aged care services to the older Australians who worked hard to build our country and whom we owe the very best care. Alongside these reforms, supported home which the members question refers, which is simplify in-home care arrangements and deliver a system that will help all the people to stay-at-home for longer.

Our population ages, demand for home care packages has grown fast. It is operating at record levels, we have more than 300,000 Australians accessing home care packages as compared with just about 100 and 50,000 people accessing them five years ago. Last financial year, the federal government spent over eight William dollars on home care packages programs as compared with just a billion 10 years ago.

We are delivering more care to more people than before and we will do it better. Minister Butler and I announced in consultation with older people, providers, that we will defer the act to the 1 November and that includes the introduction of support at home program. To make sure operational digital and legislative paces are in waste so that the new system is a genuine success. When support at home comes into effect, we will roll out an additional 80,000 packages in the first 12 months.

…As I said from the 1 November will roll out an additional 80,000 packages in the first 12 months. Until then, over the course of the period between now and November my number one priority is ensuring that older people continue receive the care and services that they need, and until November we continue to assign the packages each and every week in accordance with the National priority system.

I can assure the house that all the people who are assessed as being high priority will continue to receive the packages within a month. Mr Speaker, our government continues to deliver more care for more Australians and this brief deferral will give aged care providers more time to prepare the clients, support the workers and get the system is ready for these historic changes.

Ted O’Brien is back and he has a very Steven Hamilton question (those who know, know)

Treasurer, former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating has reportedly described Labor’s unfair super tax as” unconscionable”, Mr Keating said that young people entering the workforce today stop they will see their super balances rise, the same threshold in which the unfair tax kicks in, are these views of Mr Keating wrong?

Jim Chalmers who did his PhD on Keating and is on the record as seeing Keating as a bit of a hero internally appears to roll his eyes somewhere up near Cairns, and answers:

I was beginning to wonder where the shadow treasurer had gotten to, so I welcome his question today about these changes.

His question has a number of important elements.

First of all, I want to remind the house that when it comes to the changes that we are proposing to superannuation, this side of the house is cutting taxes for 100% of the 14 million Australian workers in income tax system, that side of the house wants to go to the wall for half a percent of people who already have $3 million in superannuation so there is a difference here Mr Speaker between this side of the house on that side of the house they want to jack up taxes on every single Australian taxpaying worker but they will go to the wall for some of whom have hundreds of million dollars already in superannuation and what that tells us is they have not listened, they have not learned and they have not changed, they were not listening to what the Australian people told them on the 3 May and when it comes to Paul Keating, as the Minister for energy reminds her, she should hear about what Paul Keating thinks about you lot.

That is the first point.

The second point is, it is a matter of public record that I value my relationship with Paul Keating, someone I have known for a long time and somebody who I continue to admire. It is possible to admire Paul Keating and respect him and to occasionally have a different view to Paul Keating and this is what has happened on this occasion and I have said that publicly on a number of occasions, no disrespect to Paul when I say it, we speak about this matter from time to time and we speak about a whole range of matters from time to time and I value the engagement and the reason that this is so important, the reason why this wreck question from the shadow treasurer is so unfortunate, is because the reason that Paul put out a statement talking about the balance that people have in their superannuation is because he was rightly celebrating the fact that this side of the house is delivering 12% superannuation guarantees and the reason that is so important Mr Speaker is because at every single term those opposite have tried to diminish and undermine superannuation and it is one of the great public policy triumphs of this country and we are very proud of it, Mr Speaker, it took three Labor governments to get superannuation to deny to 12. — from nine to 12.

I pay tribute to former Treasurer Swan and former Assistant Treasurer Bowen for legislating the increase in superannuation guarantees and this government oversaw 12% superannuation guarantee, that is what Paul was talking about when he put that statement out Mr Speaker. I will not be taking lectures on superannuation from those opposite, they hate superannuation, from John Howard on, we believe in superannuation and that includes making sure that the concessions are sustainable.

I’m sorry – I might be hallucinating here – but we did have an election right?

There was a whole campaign, and a vote and a bunch of Liberals including the leader lost their seats?

That did happen right?

SO WHY ARE WE ASKING THE SAME QUESTIONS FROM THE LAST TERM OF PARLIAMENT WHEN PEOPLE HAVE OTHER ISSUES AND THEY ALREADY VOTED ON HOW THEY FELT ABOUT THIS?

WHHHYYYYYYYYYYY

The new Keith Pitt asks:

Christine is a resident in my electorate. She 74 years old and due to rising electricity prices and rents has been forced to return to work at a local supermarket just to get by. The minister explain weight electricity bill has not been reduced by $275 as promised 97 times

Christine’s power generators are owned by the Queensland state government, so maybe not Keith Pitt should also be leveling some of these concerns to his state party room?

Chris Bowen:

I think it is his first question in the house but he should be well advised to let Christine know why he is party voted against energy relief three times.

That would be good to communicate that to her.

We say to Christine, we know that her energy bill is high and that is why we have worked so hard to bring it down and three rounds of energy bill relief and energy market reform so that Christine and everyone like a gas affair ago at the energy system.

These are all policies that we work done in the first term of the Albanese government…

He goes on, Ben Small got booted out, and everyone moves on.

Meanwhile,