The Point Live: Nationals push for Coalition to delay mining friendly environment laws, while the fallout from Hanson's Islamophobic burqa stunt continues. As it happened

We then get to the question:

How many days of Parliament will be part-time minister Miss in 2026 and what will be the cost to Australian taxpayers of the Minister’s full-time presidential duties?

This is just so stupid. Just ask him how he feels about making all that song and dance about hosting and getting a made up job and clipboard as a consolation prize!

Chris Bowen:

Mr Speaker, when you are a patriotic party of government you celebrate National successes whether you are in opposition or in government. That is the approach the Labor party in opposition talk when John Howard chaired APEC, with our support. It is the approach the Labor party took when Tony Abbott chaired the G20, with our support. The approach the Labor party took to support the appointment of Mathias Cormann as Secretary General of the OECD. I am even old enough, Mr Speaker, to remember the Labor Party and government supporting the employment of Malcolm Fraser as the Secretary General of the Commonwealth because if you are a serious party of government you want your country to do well whether in opposition or in government. And I am pleased that this government’s achievements have been recognised with the appointment of COP negotiations and it tells you a lot about the leader of the Liberal party in a domestic debate they say we should not take any action on climate change because we are just 1% of emissions.

Maybe Australia complain international role and they say it’s a terrible thing and could not possibly have that. This is a testament to Australia are testament to my team and I want to thank the assistant minister, the Member for Fremantle who represented Australia us at COP very well.

Sussan Ley brings out the Gretchen Weiner again to ask:n

My question as to the Minister for climate change and energy and welcome back to Australia! The Coalition… . The Coalition thanks the full-time president of COP 31 negotiations were taking the time today to make himself available and accountable to the Australian Parliament in his capacity as part-time energy minister.

Tony Burke has had enough. NONE FOR GRETCHEN WEINERS

Burke:

Standing orders are clear on references to members, page 514 and practice makes it clear in the reference she has given is not referring to someone by their title.

Alex Hawke then has thoughts:

The manager of opposition business on the point of order. On the point of order the leader did refer to the Minister by his title, correct title and she is allowed to describe the Minister in any way she likes. It was not part of his title. And he is the president as well. You made him the president of COP. T

Milton Dick has to play daddy and says:

To assist the house and let us move forward if the Leader of the Opposition could move to her question and we do not have commentary while we are asking questions that would help everyone and especially when addressing someone by their correct title we need no other descriptor otherwise we will get into dangerous territory. Let’s move forward and let that be a lesson to everyone. We will ask questions without descriptors. The leader may continue with her question.

The Point reports Nauru’s president, David Adeang, wrongly claiming the NZYQ refugees are “not refugees”. This is despite the Australian government recognising their refugee status. He openly suggested sending them back to their home countries. Because they have been found to be refugees, this is a move that would be blatantly illegal under international law.

The NZYQ are a group of 358 non-citizens whose visas were cancelled on “character grounds”. They were kept in immigration detention until 2023, when the High Court ruled that indefinite detention was unlawful.

To bypass this decision, the Australian government amended its immigration laws to pay other countries to accept them. Australia is reportedly paying Nauru $2.5 billion to take them on 30-year visas.

Legal experts are already warning that the deal looks unlawful. Australia can’t pay a small island nation to do what it legally cannot. And the government knows this.

Almost everything else about the deal is buried behind secrecy, with the Australian Human Rights Commissioner warning that the lack of transparency “raises serious human rights concerns”.

Could this be why the Australian government is blocking details of the deal, withholding documents, and even stopping the full translation of Adeang’s interview?

This level of secrecy isn’t just suspicious, it’s unacceptable.

And it’s exactly why the Australia Institute has called for transparency from a government that keeps insisting it has nothing to hide.

To learn more about why government transparency matters, read Australian Democracy in 2025 and sign our petition to end government secrecy.

Meanwhile, after the Coalition tried to change the censure motion to not name Pauline Hanson and instead just have some mealy words about ‘respect’ Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi had thoughts:

But first there is a condolence motion for Graham Richardson which, sigh – hasn’t there been enough? Of all the people, ‘Ritcho’ does not deserve to be lionised.

Pauline Hanson is speaking about her censure and saying it doesn’t bother her, which would be true – it’s not like Hanson attends every sitting. If anything, the censure motion makes it look like she actually does something in the senate.

She is pretending this is about a ‘dress code’ and not a Islamophobic stunt:

There is no dress code yet I’m not allowed to wear it. So, to me it has been hypocritical. I’m not into answer to the parliament or the members in there because to tell you the truth, I do not have respect for most of them. I think they say one thing and do another. It is a heart of democracy to move my members bill, to debate the issue and putted to the vote. They have denied me that right, not under this one occasion but previously as well. And I think that needs to be questioned also. I am censured. It does not really worry me. It does not. For seven days? None at all. I will stand my ground and what I believe in and I will continue to do so. And, you know, it will be the people that will judge me. I will be standing for the next election in Queensland and I will let the people of Queensland judge whether or I have and my place to be elected again or not. I will not let these people here judge me

It’s the end of the year and it’s not like Hanson turns up to every sitting anyway, but she has been officially suspended from the senate for seven days.

This was the censure motion Penny Wong put forward:

(1) Notes that:
(a) on Monday 24 November 2025, Senator Hanson engaged in behaviour in the chamber that
was intended to vilify and mock people on the basis of their religion;
(b) Senator Hanson’s actions were disrespectful to Muslim Australians;
(c) Senator Hanson’s actions disrespected the Parliament and were inconsistent with the
standards of behaviour that all parliamentarians have an obligation to uphold;
(d) Senator Hanson further disrespected the Senate by refusing to obey the ruling of the chair;
(e) the Senate then took the extraordinary step of suspending Senator Hanson for the remainder of
the sitting day;
(f) Senator Hanson refused to comply with the Senate’s order and leave the chamber, requiring
the sitting of the Senate to be suspended; and
(g) Senator Hanson’s actions were contrary to the standing orders, a blatant disregard for the
authority of the Senate President and disrespected her Senate colleagues and the people they
represent.
(2) Affirms that Australia has been built by people of every race and faith.
(3) Reaffirms that Australia is a nation that welcomes different races, religions and views, united by
respect for each other and each other’s right to live in peace.
(4) Rejects any attempt to vilify or mock people on the basis of religion.
(5) Reiterates its solidarity with those who have been vilified because of their faith.
(6) Reaffirms that all parliamentarians have a role to play in upholding appropriate standards of
behaviour in Parliament.
(7) Calls on those who work in and report on this Chamber to ensure they are not causing harm or
platforming harmful actions.
(8) Censures Senator Hanson for her actions, which do not reflect the opinions of the Australian Senate
or the Australian people.
(9) Does not regard it as appropriate for Senator Hanson to represent the Senate as a member of any
delegation during the life of this Parliament.
(10) Considers Senator Hanson’s conduct in defying the ruling of the chair and refusal to leave the
chamber following her suspension amounts to further disorder under standing order 203.
(11) Calls upon Senator Hanson to attend the Senate immediately to make an explanation or apology, of
no more than 5 minutes, in accordance with standing order 203(3)

Sussan Ley, who has entered the most annoying part of being an embattled leader – trying to make fetch happen – is still trying to make fetch happen.

Her fetch is calling Chris Bowen the ‘part time energy minister’ because he is at COP. Which is so stupid, it almost makes Twilight seem reasonable.

This is all happening while Barnaby Joyce is lollygagging with One Nation, teasing that he may make an announcement on his future by the end of the week.

“The Albanese government will establish an AI Safety Institute early next year to assess the risks from emerging artificial intelligence systems and help safeguard Australians from potential harms.”

InnovationAus reports the government will be working to set up an AI safety institute, which fulfils a pledge made last year. You can read more about that, here.

The Greens’ Higher Education Support Amendment (Reverse Job-Ready Graduates Fee Hikes and End 50k Arts Degrees) Bill is a proposed remedy to the Morrison government’s massive university fee increases. 

Job-Ready Graduates is a scheme that was designed to push students out of Arts degrees and into studying other subjects such as Maths or Agriculture by significantly raising the price of some degrees. 

However, as Professor George Williams, Vice Chancellor of Western Sydney University said in his recent Vantage Point essay: 

“The policy failed in its own terms and also failed the nation as a whole. While the plan was, for example, to use high prices for arts degrees and low prices for agriculture degrees to change student choices, it was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how students choose what to study. A potential history student did not seek a career in farming, nor did a student passionate about philosophy shift to mathematics. Instead, it made the entire university system more socially regressive and inequitable.”

One study found that fewer than one in fifty students changed degrees because of the policy. 

Australia Institute polling research has shown Australians think degrees cost too much: three in four Australians think university degrees should cost $10,000 or less, yet Arts degrees now cost nearly $17,000 per year.

Despite over one term in office, the Labor Government is yet to act on this inequitable system.