But first Grogs wants you to see those prime TV spots with the new seating plan:

Ok, that is pretty much it for most of the formalities.  We will take a very short break while we re-group ahead of the afternoon and the official start of parliament.  I’ll also bring you some of Mike Bowers work (thanks to the New Daily) looking at what it was all like this morning.

Nationals MP Michael McCormack is seconding Labor MP Joanne Ryan’s nomination for Milton Dick to the be the speaker of the house. Which is the first bit of actual bipartisanship in this house for the new parliamentary term.

It’s more of a testament to Dick’s reputation among colleagues in the parliament. Dick is one of the more popular members across the chamber, no matter what political party you belong to.

The never ending swearing in continues.

Milton Dick will soon pretend to be dragged to the Speakers’ chair (it’s an old tradition that dates back to when monarchs used to literally kill the messenger, the messenger being the person nominated to be the speaker for the house of commons, so the person nominated was usually pretty reluctant to take up the role and had to be physically dragged to the chair and in some cases, held there)

Now it comes with a pretty flash office and the perks of not having to indulge in too much politics/kick MPs out of the house.

Over in the senate, Pauline Hanson has nominated ACT independent David Pocock as the president of the Senate. He has respectfully declined the nomination (Labor’s Sue Lines will get the spot, just as Milton Dick will retain the Speaker spot in the House)

Grogs has pointed out that the ACT Labor reps, Andrew Leigh and Alicia Payne have also been relegated outback spots in the new house of representatives seating plan. David Smith is at the other end of the outback.

But both Leigh and Payne can console themselves that they are near one of the prime minister’s favourites, Patrick ‘Possum’ Gorman, so it’s not a punishment.

News Corp have added up Anthony Albanese’s travel costs with the headline ‘our $7 million man’ and so of course that came up in the breakfast TV slots this morning.

Tony Burke was asked about it and told the Nine network:

I’ve got to say. If you do no work, you run up no bills. That’s the nature of it. And if you have a look, if you have a look at the costs that are referred to, a whole lot of them, for example, are the overseas travel that has protected a whole lot of Australian jobs that were previously, previously gone. Like the, the changes in our trade with China compared to where we were at in 2022. You work in the wine industry, the barley industry, the beef industry. There’s a whole lot of industries there, where Australian jobs were being lost, where the Australian economy was taking a huge hit. That doesn’t change by accident. Changes by, you know, by visiting other countries, building relationships and delivering for Australia. I can tell you every time, I reckon most Prime Ministers would rather be at home and rather be with the Australian people. But the reality is, as a nation, you know, people are in work and are being better paid and the economy’s going more strongly because a whole lot of those things have been done. And, yeah, they run up bills, but it’s completely, completely in the national interest.

The very next questions? WHEN WILL ALBANESE MEET TRUMP. So travel is fine if its approved by that particular media outlet, we suppose.

The swearing ins are underway.

So far Tony Burke has had the biggest bible. MPs and senators can choose either a religious book, or an affirmation for their swearing in, where they must repeat the words, which include an oath of allegiance to the King. If you don’t say the words, you are not legally sworn in (Senator Lidia Thorpe had to come back and repeat her oath after protesting against the monarch in a swearing in, and while Bob Katter claims he doesn’t swear allegiance to the monarch and crosses it out in his official swearing in paper work, there is no evidence of that. (I’ve checked with the Speakers’ office on a few occasions).

So yes, Katter also does the oath.

The new seating plan for the house of representatives has been published and as expected, it is mostly Labor as far as the eye can see. There are more women on Labor’s front bench than the entire Liberal party. Good times.

Also worth noting, Ali France, who toppled Peter Dutton, has been given the prime TV space behind the despatch box. That is a place of honour for MPs, because it is one of the most visible slots. Petrie MP Emma Comer joins France in the prime position. The Coalition liked to crowd their few women backbenchers around the despatch box to try and make it look like they had more women then they did. Labor liked to do it to prove to the Coalition that they had more women.

At this point of the game though, it is about reward. France and Comer have been anointed.

Former minister Ed Husic gets a spot on the benches immediately behind the front bench, but he has been relegated to near where the Hansard sits. That’s still in front of the press gallery, but well away from the main action. Former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus is a few rows back, but more in the centre.

Seating plans are ALWAYS political, so none of this just ‘happened’.

Sussan Ley has Anne Webster and Zoe McKenzie behind her, so she is keeping up the Coalition tradition of crowding women around where the cameras will spot them, but it is slim pickings. Barnaby Joyce is out in the sticks.

The crossbench are closer to Labor. Bob Katter, Rebekha Sharkie and Andrew Wilkie have been given the prime spots there, befitting their time in parliament.

You can see where everyone ended up, here.

The Greens call for a climate trigger is not new – here is Sarah Hanson-Young talking about the need for such a legislative lever in 2022:

You truly have to wonder what is behind the Coalition’s full throated support of Israel’s actions in Palestine at this point. Every major humanitarian organisation has concluded it is a genocide. International law experts have concluded it is in breach of international law and humanitarian law. Its leaders are wanted for arrest by the International Court of Justice after it found there were “reasonable grounds” of criminal responsibility by Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes.

What Palestinians are showing us every single day and have been showing us for almost two years is some of the worst footage to ever be shown, and it has been proven that starving Palestinians are being slaughtered at Israeli-US controlled ‘aid’ sites. The population is entering stage five malnutrition – which causes irreversible damage – because of Israel’s refusal to allow in food, water, fuel and baby formula, let alone medical supplies. Every hospital has been bombed to almost closure. There are no safe spaces for civilians. Civilians, who have been displaced multiple times in 22 months are told to go into areas which are then bombed by Israel. Doctors are reporting children are being deliberately shot by Israeli snipers. Israeli ministers and MPs openly make genocidal statements.

There is so much evidence this is a genocide. And yet this is what we have from the Coalition’s Michaelia Cash:

It is disappointing that once again the Albanese Government is supporting a statement attacking Israel. First and foremost, any moral outrage about the situation in Gaza should be directed at Hamas.

Hamas are a listed terrorist organisation who have made it clear they do not believe Israel has the right to exist.

It is disturbing but not surprising that Hamas has welcomed the statement signed by the Albanese Government.

Hamas could end the suffering of the people of Gaza by freeing the remaining Israeli hostages and laying down their weapons.

This war began because of Hamas’s abhorrent attack on Israeli civilians and they bear responsibility for the continuation of this conflict.

It is important that aid flows into Gaza, but unfortunately Hamas has not a been allowing this aid to flow freely. Proper quantities of food and other aid must be provided to the people of Gaza.

However, the right system must be in place so that it can be distributed without Hamas intervening in the process.

The Albanese Government’s decision to blame Israel for Hamas’s disruption of the flow of aid is appalling.

There is no justification for genocide. No act which makes allowances for it. And as has been reported multiple times, Hamas has offered to release the hostages at all stages of Israel’s assault, including the early days, but Israel has rejected the offer. There is no evidence Hamas has been stopping the flow of aid, but there is all the evidence that Israel (and the US) have turned humanitarian aid deliveries into killing zones. This statement is not based in evidence.