Di Natale: Roberts’s story has changed more times than I’ve changed underpants as it happened – The Guardian

3.41am EDT 03:41

Thats it for tonight. Thanks to Mikey Bowers and Paul Karp, Gareth Hutchens and Katharine Murphy. Thanks for your company. It was a blast.

Tomorrow is Thursday, the last sitting day.

Go well.

The Murray-Darling faction.

Ive been misrepresented.

Naughty Nick McKim.

Night night.

Updated at 4.12am EDT

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3.08am EDT 03:08

Christopher Knaus

The Greens have introduced a bill to the Senate to raise the Newstart allowance by $110 a fortnight. Newstart has not risen in real terms since 1994 and the maximum Newstart allowance is now $38.39 a day, less than half the minimum wage, and below the poverty level. The Greens senator Rachel Siewert said:

We are a wealthy country and have the resources available to us to significantly reduce the existing rate of poverty, if only there was the political will to do so. No one in a country as rich as Australia should be living in poverty.

The Greens are hopeful for Labor support for the bill, given their recent rhetoric on addressing inequality.

The bill also comes three weeks after the human services minister, Alan Tudge, used a speech to argue increasing welfare payments was not the way to solve poverty.

Updated at 3.11am EDT

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3.01am EDT 03:01

South Australian response:

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3.00am EDT 03:00

Tony Abbott has spoken to Ben Fordham on 2GB in his regular spot. Inevitably, same-sex marriage comes up and Fordham asks about Abbotts sister Christine Forsters remarks on Twitter that we covered earlier this morn.

Forster was taking issue with Abbotts remarks calling on people to vote no if they value marriage, freedom of speech and if they wanted to vote against political correctness.

Abbott says his sister is a great person but they have agreed to disagree on marriage.

He tells Fordham she wasnt always a supporter of same-sex marriage.

I mean she joked years ago that she just got herself out of one marriage, why would she be rushing into another one. The gay activists at university, the last thing they wanted was same-sex marriage because they thought marriage was a bourgeois patriarchal institution so a lot of people are quite late converts to this thing which they are now absolutely passionate about.

Updated at 3.11am EDT

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2.46am EDT 02:46

The call for a judicial inquiry into allegations of water theft in the Barwon Darling section of the Murray Darling has passed. As I said before, there is no way the Senate can compel minister Joyce to hold this inquiry.

It is an expression of the Senates will but they have no big stick to wave.

Updated at 3.12am EDT

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2.29am EDT 02:29

The Senate is now debating the need for a national judicial inquiry into the Murray-Darling Basin. It was supported by Labor, NXT, Cory Bernardi and the Greens. It is not supported by the Coalition.

The Senate is voting now.

Even if the Senate supports this bill, which it looks like it will, it has now power to force the water minister, Barnaby Joyce, to hold a judicial inquiry.

Updated at 3.12am EDT

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2.24am EDT 02:24

Updated at 3.12am EDT

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Di Natale: Roberts's story has changed more times than I've changed underpants as it happened - The Guardian