What we learned: Tuesday 20 August
This is where we’ll wrap up the blog for today – but first, a quick recap:
Australia and Indonesia have struck a new security pact that will lead to more joint military exercises and visits, prompting human rights advocates to call for safeguards.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, reiterated her call for a Gaza ceasefire at the outset of a meeting at Parliament House with the visiting prime minister of Qatar.
Penny Wong has hit out at narratives of immigrants being a “burden” or “peril” as she accused the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, of reviving “divisive” rhetoric about Palestinian refugees.
Coalition senators have split when voting on a divisive motion regarding abortion, with a Liberal moderate imploring fellow politicians to “mind the language that we use” because “this is not our playground”.
The independent MPs Andrew Wilkie and Rebekha Sharkie released a letter to the prime minister and opposition leader in which they call for a conscience vote on gambling ads.
The education minister, Jason Clare, has confirmed universities will learn the government’s plan on capping international student numbers “in the coming week”.
The former Labor senator Fatima Payman has reiterated that she does not have “any plans” to form a new political party but her new chief of staff says it is “a discussion we need to have”.
Independent Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell has announced she won’t be supporting the government’s NDIS bill when it pops up in the Senate.
An environment group has dropped a long-running legal case against Woodside Energy’s proposed Scarborough gas development off Western Australia’s north-west coast.
Six environment NGOs have come together to release a “statement of concern” over the lack of regulation for offshore gas and oil companies, particularly when it comes to cleaning up mess from the projects.
Updated
Coalition senator says Parliament ‘is not our playground’ and ‘the things we do here matter’ amid divisive abortion motion
Maria Kovacic, a Liberal senator, told the Senate when it was considering a motion regarding abortion proposed by the UAP’s Ralph Babet:
What is critically important in relation to this issue, and any other issues for that matter, that this chamber addresses is that we keep in mind the language that we use, the accuracy of the information that we share and the transparency for the reasons that we share them.
This is not our playground. The things that we do here matter.
There are also questions as to the accuracy of the information contained in this motion. This is a matter of great sensitivity. There is no question about that. The motion as set out is very black and white. The matters for which it deals with are not.
Kovacic told the Senate that the constitution was clear that abortion was a matter for the states, not for the federal parliament:
More broadly, the complexity of issues that arise from the contents of this motion are challenging for most people, but particularly for women, and they are deeply personal. They are not decisions that are made either lightly or flippantly, and should not be open to judgment by others. In many cases, these decisions are informed on the basis of medical necessity, and we should think very, very carefully as to the appropriateness of elected representatives making healthcare decisions for Australian women.
The Greens senator Larissa Waters told the Senate:
I am appalled that once again, we’re here debating women’s choices over their own bodies, choices that are no one else’s to weigh in on. Senator Babet’s claims are incorrect. Late-term abortions resulting in a live foetus are extremely rare, and they only occur in situations of lethal foetal abnormalities or serious risks to the pregnant person.
Medical practitioners are already subject to ethical responsibilities that manage those complex situations, and moreover, the vast majority of terminations in Australia occur prior to 16 weeks, at which time a foetus would not survive outside the womb.
If you want to prevent unwanted pregnancies, then support the calls by the Greens to make contraception free, but you just want to control women’s bodies.
Updated
