Cheaper medicines, nurses in aged care and crazy conspiracy theories – it was all on this week.

In case you haven’t caught it, the 5&5 is now also a podcast. You can listen here. This week’s guest is the Member for Hunter, Dan Repacholi.

Here’s the 5&5.

BEST

The hypocrisy of the Opposition’s power price preferences
Chris Bowen's energy correction
Putting nurses back in nursing homes
Linda Burney's perfect response
The PM's Question Time summary

WORST

The Opposition not comprehending an A4 piece of paper
Nationals 🤝 Liberals 🤝 One Nation
The Opposition just don't get the severity of Robodebt
The Liberals voting against a promise to never let Robodebt happen again
The Opposition trying to block cheaper medicines

1. On Monday Industry Minister Ed Husic pointed out Peter Dutton and the Coalition’s hypocrisy when it comes to power prices. They opposed our Energy Price Relief Plan.

“He said it was a massive con job. This one was a doozy: he claimed it would lead to blackouts! Blackouts, he claimed! No claim too outrageous or absurd! I guess that if the Teflon count is big enough the embarrassment just whooshes straight off—that's what it does! The master of disaster! But what did you expect? This is the party of robodebt, who are only interested when people's lives are miserable.”

2. Meanwhile, at a time when we’re focussed on bringing down energy prices - the Liberals and the Nationals are focussed on the most expensive form of energy: nuclear. Ted O’Brien – the Opposition’s energy spokesperson – this week announced nuclear would be the Coalition’s focus going forward. Chris Bowen had a great response in Question Time on Wednesday.

“I was listening to one of my favourite podcasts on the weekend, Sundays with Stoker. You can't think of a Sunday without Sunday with Stoker. The honourable Member for Fairfax was on, and he said, 'If you look at Canada, even today, between 50 and 60 per cent of their grid is nuclear; they pay half the energy prices of Australia.' And I had to pause and rewind and listen again because I thought—actually, I know—that 50 to 60 per cent of Canada's power comes from renewable hydro energy. Less than 15 per cent comes from nuclear.”

3. This week Aged Care Minister Anika Wells announced registered nurses are now onsite in aged care homes 98% of the time as part of our 24/7 nursing commitment. Less than a year and a half since the election and we’ve made huge improvements in this space. This is despite the fact that Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley recently raised concerns about ~ and I quote ~ “the actual collapse of the aged-care system as we know it.” Who would have thought, nurses in nursing homes – radical.

4. We heard a lot of misinformation, disinformation and just plain conspiracy theories this week about the Referendum (more on that later). But during a particularly disingenuous question on Monday from Liberal MP Andrew Hastie about World War 2, submarines, nuclear waste and the Voice – Linda Burney had the perfect response.

“Defence is not my portfolio, I'll point out, and the Minister for Defence might like to take the question. But before he does that, can I say to you that the imagination you have is commendable! The Voice is about two things. It is about listening, and it is about changing practical outcomes for First Nations people.”

5. Wrapping up Question Time on Wednesday – the Prime Minister summed up the pretty weird approach the Opposition had been taking in their line of questioning this week:

“After no questions on the economy or the cost of living from those opposite, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.”

1. So where was the Opposition focussing this week during Question Time? Turns out they wanted to know about the size of one A4 sheet of paper - the Uluru Statement from the Heart, questioning whether or not it was actually a one page document. Here’s how the PM responded.

“What we have here are conspiracy theories colliding with each other. They're struggling to get their scares straight. I mean, what role did Marcia Langton play in the faking of the moon landing? What was the role of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in that? This is absolutely nonsense. There's a whole lot of projection going on here—more projection than at a film festival—and it's coming from those opposite, who do not want to debate the facts and take what is in the Uluru statement, an eloquent request from Indigenous Australians to come together as a nation.”

2. And if you wanted evidence of the unity ticket that’s developing in both chambers – it’s worth knowing that this strange conspiracy theory wasn’t only asked about once. It was asked about in the Reps and the Senate. Have a look at the names of who asked these almost identical questions:

Collin Boyce – Nationals MP
Sussan Ley – Deputy Opposition Leader
Michaelia Cash – Liberal Senator
Pauline Hanson – One Nation Senator

3. I’ve heard Bill Shorten deliver a lot of great speeches over the years. But on Thursday he gave one of the best moments I’ve ever heard from him in the chamber, when talking about Robodebt and how the other side still just don’t get it.

“Robodebt is political, but not in the way that's insinuated by those opposite. For Labor, for the Albanese government, for me, it is political when you bully the poor, when you pick on the vulnerable, when you demonise them, when you trash their reputations in the paper. That is political. It's political when you divide this country into those on welfare and those not on welfare. It is political when you seek to divide the country and say that some people are lesser than other people.”

4. On Thursday we passed a motion accepting the findings of the Robodebt Royal Commission, apologising to the victims and committing it would never happen again. Guess what words the Libs specifically tried to take out of the motion? It was the commitment that this would never happen again. After everything that’s happened they’re apparently keeping their options open.

5. Not content with standing in the way of cost of living relief, wage increases and a stronger social safety net - the Liberals and the Nationals this week managed to one up themselves, by introducing a disallowance motion to block our cheaper medicines legislation. This is the one that helps millions of Australians with half price medicines. Once they’d introduced it they then voted six times to try to stop their own motion from coming to a vote. So once the Senate had decided that it was definitely going to be debated they refused to move their own motion. They’ll say “no” to cheaper medicines, “no” to higher wages and apparently they’re sufficiently in the habit now they’ll just say “no” to themselves.

We’ve got our national conference next week and Parliament returns in September.

‘til then,

Tony

PS. PS We got the sad news this week that Rodriguez had passed away. So I knew there had to be a Rodriguez song of the week. The only problem was my office always has a paranoid check of the lyrics of different songs I want to choose for the song of the week. Having gone through the lyrics of a bunch of his songs there’s *nothing* they’re comfortable with. But – I’ve found a way around it. Former PM Kevin Rudd was back in the building this week having his official prime ministerial portrait unveiled. During his speech he referred to the rise of the fact-free debate. And so instead of any of Rodriguez’ songs - this week I’m picking his album ‘Cold Fact’.

5&5: The conspiracy has landed