I have reached my limit for the day, and I think many of you have too. Fair. It has been that sort of week.

We will be back bright and early tomorrow morning (well at least early, I am never bright) to bring you all the day’s events as this sitting week draws to a close.

We still have one more week after all of this though so don’t get too excited.

In the mean time, I wish you well in avoiding mentions of the Midwinter Ball.

Until tomorrow, take care of you Ax

The Greens have reintroduced two bills into the parliament – one to give the ACCC divestiture powers to break up corporations when they misuse their market power, and the other to make price gouging illegal across the economy.

Coles and Woolworths would risk being broken up if they were found to have misused their market power. This was something the Nationals supported, but didn’t support when the Greens tried to get it through the parliament before the last election.

Nick McKim says nothing has changed:

Coles and Woolworths have built their empires on exploiting their market dominance. They gouge shoppers, farmers, and workers.

The Greens’ Bills would finally give the ACCC the teeth to break them up and outlaw price gouging across the whole economy.

Two weeks ago the Reserve Bank found that declining competition and increased mark-ups have reduced productivity and left the average person $3000 worse off over ten years. That’s the price of letting corporations run the economy for their own benefit.

Now, in the profit-reporting season, the evidence is in black and white. Australia’s biggest oligopolies are raking in staggering profits off the back of ordinary people’s pain.

• Insurance giant IAG just booked $1.359 billion net profit, up 66% on last year.
• Commonwealth Bank pulled in more than $10 billion, their highest in at least a decade.
• Coles pocketed nearly $1.2 billion, a 3.1% jump on last year.

The minister for multicultural affairs, Anne Aly is speaking to the ABC and she is asked about the Israeli government claiming credit for Australia’s actions in expelling the Iranian ambassador.

Aly says:

My thoughts are very much along the lines of Tony Burke’s response to that. (He called it “complete nonsense” this morning.

I think it’s wrong and I’ve said this before, to conflate what is happening in Australia and conflate Australian Jewish community and indeed the Australian Muslim community, with what is happening overseas.

Unfortunately, too often these two things have been entangled and conflated together and I think it does a real disservice.

It does a real disservice to the Muslim community and particularly the Australian Jewish community here. It also feeds into the breakdown in social cohesion. It feeds into anti-Semitism, when we conflate Australian Jewish community with what is happening in Israel, in the same way – and I’ve said this before to you, – in the same way that we conflate all Australian Muslims with acts of terrorism overseas as well.

But given we know now that Iran has interfered so dramatically in actually anti-Semitic attacks in Australia, doesn’t that show that overseas interventions are actually having an impact here in Australia?

Let’s be very clear – the reason that we took such strict action here is because a foreign government, the Iranian government, our intelligence agencies got the evidence to show that a foreign government, the Iranian government, had orchestrated, through a number of what the Mike Burgess called cut-out – in other words proxies – orchestrated an attack on Australian soil, against Australians.

So it was something that happened overseas that had a domestic or Iranian… Led by the Iranian government that had a domestic impact here, that sought to harm Australians here and so the correct response is to take the response that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister and the Minister for Home Affairs took yesterday, which is to expel the Iranian Ambassador and undertake the process of listing the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation.

Brittany Higgins has issued a statement through her instagram responding to the Tottle judgement:

I am grateful that this matter has finally reached a conclusion.

I was 24 years old when I was sexually assaulted in Parliament House.

Six years have passed – years marked by challenge, scrutiny, and change.

I accept that Linda Reynolds feelings were hurt by these events and I am sorry for that. I wish her well into the future.

Thank you to the Australian public for their compassion and understanding throughout the journey.

My family and I now look forward to healing and re-building our lives.

Earlier today, NSW Greens Senator David Shoebridge introduced a private members’ bill that would introduce a federal right to protest.

If it passes into law, it would mean that state and territory governments can only restrict protest rights if doing so is necessary and appropriate for avoiding harms to national security, public safety, public health and the like.

Over the past few years, state governments have raised fines for protesting, introduced jail terms and even jailed peaceful protesters.

Australia Institute polling research finds most Australians (71%) support federal legislation to protect the right to peaceful protest, like that introduced by Senator Shoebridge today.

Once again, not a lot of substance.

We did learn that the Coalition still has no idea how to handle itself in this parliament – it is bereft of ideas, policy and even unity. But we already knew that. But the way Sussan Ley has been forced to start attacking the government on something she gave bipartisanship support to just yesterday by the hard right elements of her party, including Michaelia Cash, who started this week by leading a party room revolt against the net zero position and then today forced the Coalition into picking a fight on the timing of the IRGC terrorist designation shows one thing conclusively: the west are in control of the Liberals.

Anthony Albanese takes a dixer on what the government has done, which is just a lead up to calling an end to question time.

For some reason, question time in the house is STILL going.

Chris Bowen, who doesn’t get to spar as much with Ted O’Brien any longer now he has moved portfolios, takes an opportunity for a little sledge as a little treat.

The Member for Fairfax interjects. I will not have a bad word said about the Member for Fairfax, Mr Speaker. He is a role model for those behind him. If you come up with a toxically unpopular policy and failed to sell it to the Australian people you too can be deputy leader of your party!

Senate question time ends, but the house is still going.

Independent MP for Bradfield, Nicolette Boele asks:

Universities are facing chronic underfunding resulting in drastic cuts to staff and degrees and I’ve heard from distraught students whose degrees are being discontinued midway through. Charges, charging for services not delivered in any other context would be called a scam. What is the Minister doing to protect students and guarantee the units those students have completed and paid for will be credited towards the completion of a similar degree?

Jason Clare:

Can I thank the member for Bradfield for her question and congratulate her on her election to this place? The first point I’d make is we’re investing an extra $6.7 billion into our universities over the next decade. That’s all part of the first stage of our implementation of the universities accord. About helping to make sure more young people get a crack at going to university, particularly a lot of young people from our outer suburbs, from the bush, disadvantaged backgrounds. The second point I’d make is where a young person finds themselves in a situation that you have just pointed out, universities have legal obligations. We have to provide that student with a teach out plan. It basically means that they’ve got to enable that student to complete that degre, to complete the study of that course, or find a mutually acceptable alternative at no disadvantage to that student. That’s the law. That is the law. That’s the legal requirement under the act.

But I’d make the point that where universities are making decisions that affect students, it significantly affects staff or students, then talk to them. Listen to them. Work with them. Consult with them properly.

Can I make the general point here that I want to see more young people get a crack at going to university. There are more young people starting a university degree this year than ever before. When you take out the two years of cove is an anomaly, more young people starting a degree this year than ever before.

And universities are telling me they expect more students next year than this year. In the next 10 years, we expect an extra 200,000 young Australians to take on a university degree. And so universities need to get ready for that. That’s what the universities accord is all about.

That includes the work we’re doing to fund more bridging courses. For young peep that aren’t ready to start a university degree and do one of those free courses that builds a bridge from school to university. It includes the work we’re doing on paid prac, financial support for teaching and nursing and midwifery, while they do the practical part of their degree and includes a demand driven system for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

If they get the marks, they get a Commonwealth supported place. I’ll introduce legislation to make that a reality too because I want us to be a country where you can’t tell where someone gree up based on whether they’ve got a university degree or not. Can I also briefly say this? That is that if you don’t think that we’ve got a problem with governance of universities at the moment, then you’ve probably been living under a rock. That’s why I’ve introduced a national student ombudsman and a Senate inquiry about this right now and an expert pan that will give me advice on this and other education ministers in the next couple of weeks. It’s why I announced last week plans to increase the powers available to the university regulator

The Coalition in the senate is being just as ridiculous.

James McGrath just asked if the government could finally rule out taxing ‘spare bedrooms’ in the family home. I think this has all come from a proposal put forward by the analytics firm Cotality ahead of the economic roundtable, which was to tax spare bedrooms, in order to address the housing issue, as well as the tax deficit.

It was an idea. Put forward by a third party. At a summit which was designed to discuss IDEAS. Which the Coalition has now decided to make it’s entire personality.

These people are just being punishes for the sake of it now.

Penny Wong:

I know that those opposite are uncomfortable with the fact that the party that went to the election with higher taxes is you and I know Senator McGrath and others on the front in the coalition are on the record as wanting smaller government, and it must be very hard for them to deal with the fact that the party who went to the last election with higher taxes for every taxpayer is the coalition. Now what the Prime Minister has said is that we will be implementing the tax policy we took to the last election towards making the tax system more efficient and fairer. We’re going to be implementing our policy to give every Australian taxpayer tax cut. We cut taxes for every Australian on the first of July 2024 and we will do it again for the first of July 2026 and again on the first of July 2027 I think it has been very clear that there is one party which has been focused on making our tax system fairer, and that is the Australian Labor Party.

McGrath then asks if every family ‘forced to move’ by the non-existent spare bedroom tax that doesn’t exist will be found safe accommodation near by. This is the standard of stupid we are being served up at the moment by the opposition. The stupid is not just stupiding, it is contagious.