Senate Estimates this week finally had Labor Ministers back at the table. But the priority this week in the Reps was to make sure that all the legislation that needed to be in front of the Senate when it next sits was ready and waiting.

BEST

Secure Jobs, Better Pay passed the House
Peter Dutton's not so bright idea
Paul Fletcher *still* not getting the hang of standing orders
Jim Chalmers vs. Angus Taylor
Catherine King's incredibly fair point

WORST

The Libs/Nats knew Robodebt was illegal
Cash's “close down Australia" prediction
The Opposition treating Defence as a show ride
Angus Taylor's terrible question
Our cybersecurity being 5 years behind because of the Opposition

1. We said we’d get wages moving again – and this week we took another step towards that. The House passed our Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation. After a decade of deliberate wage suppression, we’re taking the opposite approach. Our legislation will get wages moving especially for those in female-dominated sectors, who’ve been left behind. Thank you to the early childhood educators who stood with me after the Bill passed the House.

*MEETING WITH EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATIORS*

2. Peter Dutton thought asking the Prime Minister about climate change policy was smart. “One of the things I won't do, in front of a boom mic, is make a joke about our island neighbours drowning. That's one of the things that I won't do!” the PM responded. Relations with the Pacific are just another mess we’ve had to clean up.

3. The Manager of Opposition Business is still struggling to get his head around the standing orders. After Angus Taylor asked the Treasurer a question on mortgages, Paul Fletcher shot up with a point of order on relevance. Thankfully the Speaker Milton Dick put him in his place. “The Treasurer is referring to interest rates which in my understanding is linked to mortgages.” Poor Fletch.

4. Treasurer Jim Chalmers didn’t let Angus Taylor off the hook when talking about the cost of energy in Question Time. “There are two people in the world most responsible for what we're seeing in energy prices. One of them sits in the Kremlin, and the other one sits over there.”

5. The mess we inherited from the previous government isn’t just confined to the economy, energy policy and foreign affairs – they also made a mess of infrastructure spending. As Catherine King rightly pointed out. “The previous government was more interested in going out and getting an announcement in the papers and putting the press release out. You can't drive on a press release”.

1. It was illegal and they knew it. This week we learnt the previous government knew their deadly Robodebt scheme was unlawful back in 2015. In 2016 Alan Tudge had this message for people who apparently owed Centrelink money: “We’ll find you, we’ll track you down and you will have to repay those debts and you may end up in prison”. In a way he had a point, someone was breaking the law. Turns out it was the Liberal government.

2. I don’t often thank Peter Dutton, but this week I thanked him for keeping Michaelia Cash in the Workplace Relations portfolio. The melodrama is hysterical. She’s gone from predicting that Labor would end the weekend, to now saying our Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation could “close down Australia.” I presume Armageddon is next.

3. When asked about our plan to fix the mess we inherited in Defence, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles gave a good reminder of how seriously the Libs took the portfolio. “Johnson, Andrews, Payne, Payne-Pyne, Pyne, Reynolds … and then Dutton. … They regarded ministerial jobs in the Defence portfolio as like a ride at the showground. Literally everybody got a go.”

4. “We're not going to take lectures from the lightweight on the hill over there.” Angus Taylor thought it would be a good idea to ask the PM about the economy. Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus.

5. Continuing their run of bad questions the Libs decided to ask Clare O’Neil about cybersecurity. If only Peter Dutton and Karen Andrews had been in government for close to a decade so they could do something about it. “We are about five years behind where we need to be on cybersecurity. And do you know who the Minister was for the previous five years? It was the Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and the person who sits in the Opposition Leader’s chair.”

Thanks to the work done this week our Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill will be waiting for the Senate when Parliament returns on November 21.

‘til then,

Tony

PS. This week’s song goes out to the member for Hume.

5&5: Parliament: Secure Jobs, Better Pay