Labor leader Bill Shorten has labelled the government's plans to defund hundreds of vocational education and training (VET) courses as "deeply flawed" and asked the prime minister to "urgently intervene".

In a letter to prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, Shorten said he's "deeply concerned" by the VET courses set to be cut, but that he doesn't intend to delay passage of the legislation, which is currently being debated in the Senate and is expected to pass parliament next week.

Under the government's crackdown, VET courses will only qualify to receive taxpayer funded student loans if the training provider has a pass rate of 50% or more, and the course has a high likelihood of leading to employment opportunities.

Education minister Simon Birmingham said the eligible courses list, announced last week, was based on the courses' inclusion on the "skills need lists" of two states and territories, or their alignment to science, technology, engineering and mathematics and agriculture.

Shorten believes the government has been "overly simplistic" in its approach to determining the eligible VET courses list and the classification of courses under different cost caps.

"The overly simplistic methodology which the government has adopted to determine the eligible course list would have extreme consequences for many students, providers and indeed entire sectors," Shorten wrote to the PM.

Lisa Maree Williams / Getty Images

Shorten is particularly concerned the VET course restructure excludes several arts programs, including courses at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts and Australian Ballet School.

"In my discussions with stakeholders, it has been made clear that the current proposed approved course list and flawed allocation of courses within cap categories risks costing thousands of jobs, including forcing the closure of quality vocational education providers and limiting the pathways of many Australians seeking skills to pursue future employment," he said.

More than 450 courses are slated to be defunded include veterinary acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, energy healing, butler service management, ayurveda, how to care for horse hoofs, therapeutic arts in counselling, golf management and religious counselling.

Any institution that wants other courses to be included on the VET student loans list has to make their case to the state and territory governments, who determine if a skill that a course provides is in "need".

Shorten argues that without the PM's intervention, not-for-profit providers will be particularly poorly affected and the TAFE sector will be "further eroded".

"I'm asking you to urgently intervene and ensure that the government immediately reviews the approved course list to ensure the courses listed are as appropriate as possible, and the list allocates the appropriate caps to each course."

With the changes scheduled to come into effect from January 1, 2017, Shorten wants the PM to address his concerns as "a priority".

"The arts are under sustained attack from this government and they need to be defended,” Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP / Getty Images

“Cleaning up the dodgy rorting in the VET sector should not come at the cost of arts courses and education providers that were doing the right thing."

The South Australian senator is critical of the education minister's description of the creative and performing arts sector as a "lifestyle choice".

“Our creative industries employ thousands of people across Australia and help to build the social fabric of our community."

Educators such as the Australian Institute of Music offer a range of subjects including entrepreneurship in its two-year Bachelor of Performance course.

Hanson-Young has proposed an amendment that would give TAFEs a 12-month extension on the course list, which Labor say they will support.

“Stripping almost all of the arts courses from the VET Student Loans Eligible Course List is not an acceptable way forward and I hope that the Senate will see sense and back the Greens’ move.”

Mick Tsikas / AAP

Aly, who is Egyptian-born and describes herself as a "secular Muslim", told BuzzFeed News she's received a series of "nasty emails", including one with the subject line "Leb thugs" that said:

Peter Dutton was right.

Pack your bags and piss off back to where you came from and take all of your terrorist faith with you.

Death threats against Aly, the first Muslim woman to be elected to federal parliament, also appeared on her Facebook page this week.

One Facebook comment that has been reported to the AFP Protection Liaison Unit said:

Your [sic] a worthless cancer on this country you and your Koran [sic] can fuck off the sooner your [sic] dead the better this place will be.

ALL MUSLIMS WILL DIE.

I would love to kill you and your poison family.

The emails and Facebook comments came after immigration minister Peter Dutton claimed on Monday that terrorism-related crime is an immigration issue because the majority of people recently charged have Lebanese Muslim parents or grandparents born overseas.

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull backed his minister, saying Dutton had done an "outstanding job" by “presiding over a very effective and much-admired immigration system”.

Having a "pretty thick skin", Aly said she's used to receiving emails critical of Islam and can "handle it", but is worried about other members of the Muslim community who may be experiencing similar abuse.

"If I'm getting those kinds of emails, you can be sure that there are people out there in the communities, people out there in Liberal-held seats of Arab or Muslim or Lebanese background, or just any kind of migrant background, who are also going to be getting comments like that in the streets," she said.

"And we don’t need that in this country. We’ve been a very successful multicultural country. We are a nation that is built on migrants and what we need right now is to come together, not to be pushed apart."

Aly laid blame at the feet of Turnbull, accusing the prime minister of "lacking leadership" and backflipping on his previous comments about an inclusive nation that doesn't stand for racism.

Mick Tsikas / AAP

"It wasn't that long ago that Malcolm Turnbull said that 'the best weapon against terrorists is an inclusive nation'. And you know, if Malcolm Turnbull believes that – if he really believes that – he would have come out and slapped down Peter Dutton's disgraceful comments against migrant Australians who have helped build this nation."

The counter-terrorism expert added that it was "heartening" that people have called out Dutton's comments as "politics of fear" and "division".

During the election campaign, deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop described Aly as being soft on terrorism and border protection.

Nationals MPs Andrew Broad brushed off the abuse Aly had received, saying, "Yeah, I got some wedgies in school, so you know..."

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The NSW Labor senator made the comments during a late night debate over the government's plan to introduce a registered organisation commission, one of the two industrial relations bills that triggered July's double dissolution election.

Cameron implied Cash needed to have her hand held by finance minister Mathias Cormann during the long debate, which resulted in the bill passing after 2a.m.

"Are you not answering the question or are you getting advice from senator Cormann not to respond?" he asked.

"I know you need senator Cormann there to hold your hand," he said. "Senator Cormann, I know you have to be there to hold the minister's hand."

"The minister cannot handle the bill on her own. She needs senator Cormann there to chaperone her through this bill... I've never seen this before, a senior minister in the government, to have you sit there and hold her hand and chaperone them through this bill."

Mick Tsikas / AAPIMAGE

Liberal senator James Paterson interrupted and asked Cameron to withdraw his comments, but he refused. Instead, Cameron called on Cash to stop "being so mediocre" and hiding behind her colleagues.

Finance minister Cormann slammed the comments as "juvenile, pathetic and patronising", adding that Cash had done an "outstanding" job.

Cash said she wasn't offended by the comments. She told BuzzFeed News “how Labor senators behave is a matter for them... It is now a matter for senator Wong as Senate leader to determine what sort of behaviour she deems acceptable”. But the minister's colleagues have lined up to support her.

Coalition senators told BuzzFeed News they were disappointed more wasn't made of the comments, which they consider "sexist" and "hypocritical" given Labor leader Bill Shorten's promise to call out women being disrespected.

Another added that Cameron, a former vice president of the ACTU, was exhibiting the exact bullying union behaviour the government's industrial relations bills aimed to extinguish.

Labor's Senate leader Penny Wong told BuzzFeed News she didn't think Cameron's remarks were sexist, rather they were intended as a "comment on senator Cash's competence".

This isn't the first time the Labor senator has been caught making gendered comments to female politicians. In February, he called Cash and Liberal MP Linda Reynolds "silly schoolgirls" during a debate on unions. Cameron later apologised.

Roberts started with 10 minutes of his best material, including claims there is no ~empirical evidence~ of global warming and his belief that a group of elites (that includes bankers, US billionaire George Soros, and Australian lobby group GetUp) have been getting rich off it.

Mick Tsikas / AAPIMAGE

Nationals senator John Williams followed, focusing on how Labor's carbon tax had seen concrete producers go out of business and questioned why scientists focus on carbon dioxide, which is "actually odourless, colorless".

He also said emissions trading schemes, which are the preferred method for industrialised countries to cut back on carbon emissions, were about "wealthy people selling clean air to wealthy people and poor people paying for it".

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Fellow Nationals senator Ian Macdonald delighted in the discussion and said: "We were once covered in ice, so of course the climate changes!"

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In a late night speech to parliament, the Labor MP broke down the gender problems underlying the election of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.

"We have to confront the harsh reality that for too many people — women and men — the initial response to the idea of female leadership is to be sceptical," she said.

"This is not just an American issue; we have had our fair share of average male political leaders who were given numerous chances to prove themselves and time to find their feet. They were given time to grow into the role. None of that is afforded to women, and it is the case in most businesses and industries, and, unfortunately, in government."

"As it stands, women who have made it to the heights of politics are anything but average; they are over-qualified, incredibly talented and brilliant."

Ryan, who took the seat of Australia's first female prime minister Julia Gillard after she retired in 2013, believes women are made to run a gauntlet in politics that men never are.

"A culture that is sceptical of women in leadership can only be described as toxic," she said.

Ryan worries Clinton's loss will dissuade young women from entering politics.

"There is a young man in my office who sent me his resume only because Obama became president in 2008. I am worried that there are dozens of capable, insightful and talented women who will not think to send me their resumes in the future," she said.

"If a former secretary of state, senator, first lady, leader of an international charity, and stateswoman who negotiated trade deals, negotiated peace with Iran and gave the right advice on Osama Bin Laden cannot be elected commander-in-chief without hesitation or drama, I can imagine why some women around the country — and, indeed, the world — are shattered tonight."

The former school principal hopes Clinton's defeat will not silence young women from all political persuasions, but act as motivation for them to get involved.

"We cannot afford to wait for it... women need to be in the room when decisions are made. They need to be seen discussing important issues. They cannot, and should not, wait for men to get them there," she said.

"The light may be on a steep hill, but we cannot afford not to climb it. The glass ceiling must be damned, and women tonight should commit to support one another to make sure that the representation of women in this parliament and every parliament around the world means we have women leaders."

Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images

Ryan's words echoed those of Clinton, who in her concession speech told women not to give up the fight.

"To all the women and especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion," she said.

"Now, I know, I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday, someone will."

But the problem doesn't just lie with the United States.

Women make up only 32% of the Australian parliament, with just 73 women to 153 men.

Labor has the highest female representation of any party: 42 women to 53 men. There are only 21 Coalition women to 85 men, meaning women make up 19.8% of their party, or less than one in five.

"I am proud that Labor has committed to equality with our 50-50 target, but we can do more to change the culture," Ryan said.

In a speech to The Australia Institute on Wednesday night, Shorten said he won't apologise for "calling it as [he] sees it".

In the past, Shorten has said Trump's comments about women make him "entirely unsuitable" to be president, and described his views as "barking mad".

"I’ve said my piece about Mr Trump’s views before – his comments about women, about migrants, about race," he said.

"I don’t apologise for calling it as I see it – I will always do that."

"If I see women being disrespected, I’m going to call it out."

"If I see people being discriminated against because of the colour of their skin or their religion, I’m going to call it out."

Shorten said he refused to compromise his values to bow to the president-elect, and thinks Australians are entitled to know this.

Foreign minister Julie Bishop has called Shorten's comments "completely wrong-footed" and "counter productive".

In a June interview with Darwin radio station Hot 100FM, Shorten compared a Trump presidency to an alien invasion.

Asked if he had a contingency plan for a Trump presidency, he said “I once got a letter from a constituent that said, ‘What plans do you have if alien life make contact with Earth?’.”

“They’re sort of scenarios you hope don’t emerge.”

But Shorten also emphasised the strength of the Australia-US alliance, no matter who was president.

"Our alliance with the United States has grown and thrived for seven decades. The friendship between our two nations is strong enough for honesty," he said.

"It is far bigger than any individual, far more powerful than any personality – and it will endure."

On Tuesday, prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that a parliamentary committee would conduct an inquiry into section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

That's the section that makes it unlawful to "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate" a person on racial grounds.

Some members of the government say the section restricts freedom of speech in Australia.

The inquiry means there'll be many more months of debate around 18C, so here are 18 other things that are way more important:

The Australian

Cost of living.

It's getting hard out there, especially for those living in capital cities AND because of the ballooning cost of services in rural areas.

William West / AFP / Getty Images

Constitutional recognition.

The constitutional recognition referendum was supposed to take place in 2017... it's fallen completely off the agenda.

Torsten Blackwood / AFP / Getty Images

Car manufacturing.

Car factory closures in South Australia and Victoria have left thousands of people out of work.

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"This latest proposal from Mr Turnbull is just ludicrous on face value," he told the ABC on Sunday.

"On its face, the idea you will deter people smugglers by saying a genuine refugee who becomes a citizen of another country couldn't visit Australia in 2056 - it's just ridiculous, Barrie."

Under the new laws, any person who tried to get to Australia by boat and was resettled in another country after mid-July 2013 would never be allowed to visit Australia.

“The door to Australia is closed to those who seek to come here by boat with a people smuggler,” prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Monday. “It is closed.”

Shorten says he agrees with the Coalition that people who come to Australia by paying people smugglers shouldn't be allowed to settle here permanently, but that his "instinct" is to question the government's motives for the proposed law, which would ban refugees from travelling to Australia on business or tourist visas.

"It doesn't seem to make any sense to say that someone who is found to be a genuine refugee, who then becomes a Canadian or American citizen, couldn't visit Australia in 40 years' time as a tourist or teacher."

"That's over the top. It is a distraction from the real problems."

But he refused to say Labor would block the tough new measures.

Shorten says Labor only received the draft legislation on Friday, meaning caucus won’t have an opportunity to consider the plan and decide Labor’s position until parliament resumes next week.

He's accused the government of purposely delayed Labor access to the draft legislation, despite announcing the lifetime ban to the media a week ago.

"We received the legislation late Friday afternoon, in classic Turnbull government style," he said.

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Immigration minister Peter Dutton says the new laws would pave the way for so-called “third country resettlement” deals.

“What we don’t want is if somebody is to go to a third country, that they apply for a tourist visa or some other way to circumvent what the government’s policy is by coming back to Australia from that third country.”

The opposition leader says he wants the government to prioritise negotiating settlement agreements for the more than 1,300 people living in detention on Manus Island and Nauru.

Australia's 12-month track record on climate change has just been released, and environmental groups are calling it a big fat fail.

Environmental group 350.org has compiled a list of the top 12 ways Australian governments have failed on climate change in the past year.

"While the majority of people want to see strong action on climate change, the Turnbull government has consistently undermined Australia’s climate credentials," 350.org CEO Blair Palese told BuzzFeed News.

** DRUM ROLL PLEASE **

Here they are...

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Not committing new money to climate change.

In December 2015 at the Paris Climate Conference, Malcolm Turnbull announced $1 billion to help vulnerable nations cope with climate change.

But it turns out this is not new money; it's redirected money from the foreign aid budget.

In comparison, Canada promised to spend more than $2.5 billion and Japan pledged more than $10 billion of public and private money.

Labor leader Bill Shorten described the prime minister's move as "robbing Peter to pay Paul".

Lukas Coch / AAPIMAGE

Funnelling millions into fossil fuel.

In February, then industry minister Christopher Pyne announced the government would invest $15.4 million over four years in a new major national fossil fuel research centre: the Oil, Gas & Energy Resources Growth centre.

Chaired by key players in the fossil fuel industry, its aim is to "direct research to industry needs".

“Importantly it will also promote industry-led research in priority areas by facilitating deeper engagement between industry and researchers," Pyne said.

This was at the same time as the government continued to cast doubts on the future of the renewable energy bodies ARENA and the CEFC.

Lukas Coch / AAPIMAGE

Introducing jail terms for protesters.

In 2014, NSW premier Mike Baird told a mining industry dinner that his government would “crack down” on civil disobedience and “throw the book” at people who “unlawfully enter mining sites”.

He made good on this promise in March when the NSW government introduced into parliament harsh anti-protest laws that could see protesters at fossil fuel project sites jailed for up to seven years.

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The cartoon, published in The Australian, depicts a young Aboriginal child being held by the neck by a police officer and handed to an Aboriginal man holding a can of beer.

The police officer tells the man, “You’ll have to sit down and talk to your son about personal responsibility.” The Aboriginal man, who is holding a beer, replies, “Yeah righto what’s his name then?”

The cartoon was published on National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day and labelled "racist" by members of the Indigenous community.

John Howard described the cartoon as "brilliant" and said the attacks on Leak were a "terrible assault on free speech".

Mick Tsikas / AAPIMAGE

Howard was speaking at the National Gallery in London, where he was awarded the Edmund Burke Award by the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe and described as the "greatest living conservative".

"It was a brilliant perspective cartoon that made the point," the ABC reports he said.

"We do live in an age of creeping political correctness that is restricting free speech."

Howard also expressed concern that Leak could face questioning by the Human Rights Commission over the cartoon.

"That is a terrible assault on free speech, a terrible assault on free speech."

Howard has previously called on prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to water down the Racial Discrimination Act to protect free speech.

He told Sky News in September he was sorry the Abbott government took removing the words "offend" and "insult" from Section 18c off the table, adding he didn't amend the act while he was PM because it was "dormant" and "didn't seem to matter".

"Once the Andrew Bolt case came about we knew the thing had potency," he said. "At some stage I'd like to see the thing revisited.

"It's not the most important issue, but to use the old saying: You can walk and chew gum at the same time."

There has been a reignited push by Coalition backbenchers calling for the changes, and while the prime minister says there are worthy arguments for amending the law, he has no plans to do so at the moment.

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The shadow assistant treasurer has had roughly 55 unpaid interns through his office since he was elected to parliament in 2010.

Comprised mostly of high school and university students, the interns work without pay for periods of weeks to months. The interns are sourced through ANU's Commonwealth Parliamentary Internship program, the ACT Department of Education, and Leigh's Labor website.

Outside of general office work, the interns are tasked with "data-related issues" and "carrying out research" that has contributed to Leigh's last four books.

As explained on Leigh's website, he prefers economics students, and they need to bring their own laptop.

One Canberra high school student who spent six weeks in Leigh's office told BuzzFeed News that as a 16-year-old she did "research on the weather patterns of McLaren Vale for him to use to prove that weather had some kind of effect on the price of wine".

That data contributed to a section in Leigh's 2014 book The Economics of Just About Everything about the auction price of Grange vintages.

The intern wasn't told her research would be contributing to the publication and wasn't aware that she was credited alongside eight other interns as "researchers" in the acknowledgments.

In another instance, a student intern complied research for Battlers and Billionaires: The Story of Inequality In Australia, which is about rising inequality and the risk of Australia becoming a country of "haves" and "have nots".

"From egalitarian beginnings, Australian inequality rose through the nineteenth century," Leigh wrote. "Then we became more equal again, with inequality falling markedly from the 1920s to the 1970s. Now, inequality is returning to the heights of the 1920s.

"And the further apart the rungs on the ladder of opportunity, the harder it is for a kid born into poverty to enter the middle class."

Leigh confirmed to BuzzFeed News that unpaid researchers do contribute to his published work as part of his office's interns, fellows, and work experience program.

Not paying them is something he says he's "worried about a lot", but having a completed an "eye-opening" internship aged 16 he hopes his internship program will provide insights into democracy that students can't get any other way.

But, he added, interns contribute to less than 1% of the output from his office, and aren't productive enough to justify the taxpayer paying them.

"We think it's better to run a stimulating but unpaid internship program than no program at all."

As part of the 100 Positive Policies it took to the election campaign, Labor promised to fight the government's "exploitative" Youth PaTH program and pledged $2.4 million to the Fair Work Ombudsman's Young Workers team to "ensure young people working as interns are not being ripped off".

"Following the exposure of the questionable legality of the Turnbull Government’s exploitative Youth PaTH program, Labor has committed to focus on preventing the exploitation of interns," the opposition said.

"We will also work with those stakeholders on proposals to ensure unpaid internships are not being used by businesses to replace real jobs."

Employment minister Michaelia Cash says Leigh's internship program is another example of "rank hypocrisy" from Labor and the unions.

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“Labor have criticised the PaTH programme, specifically the internship component, despite many Labor MPs (and Greens for that matter) using interns in their own political offices," a spokesperson for Cash told BuzzFeed News.

“Labor MPs seem to appreciate the value of internships themselves yet deem businesses using interns as ‘exploitation’ – hypocrisy writ large.”

Colleen Chen from Interns Australia wants a parliamentary inquiry into internships to clearly define by law what type of work needs to be paid for by an employer.

"This demonstrates the ambiguity and lack of clarity around unpaid interns in Australian society: while some unpaid internships, such as those done for course credit, would be done under the 'vocational placement' exemption, others may be considered unpaid work experience or even an employment relationship (and so should be paid)," she said.

"It's why we need a parliamentary inquiry into internships – so we can be sure the rights of all interns are legally recognised and protected."

The vegan singer, best known as the frontman for the Smiths, wrote to the deputy prime minister and agriculture minister asking him to shut down the controversial live export industry as he wrapped up his two-week Australian tour.

“The horrific cruelty in the live export industry is heavy enough to sink a ship, yet you insist on condemning millions of animals to this fate every year," he wrote.

He even took a shot at Joyce's famously rosy complexion.

“You can deny it until you are red(der) in the face, but the industry is dying."

Morrissey cited live export company Elders' decision to shut down its long-haul cattle trade to Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia last month, and the export numbers of both cattle and sheep slipping, as reasons to shut down the industry.

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Australia exports millions of live animals to countries in the Middle East and Asia. The industry is worth more than $800 million each year. Indonesia was Australia's largest live cattle export market in 2014-15, taking 746,193 cows valued at $601 million.

The Gillard government introduced the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) requiring ships to comply with strict rules on ventilation, drainage and provision of water and food after a 2011 Four Corners story exposed cruel treatment of export cattle.

But footage obtained earlier this month by Animals Australia shows goats and sheep having their throats cut with long knives and being left to bleed out in the Middle East and Asia during Eid celebrations.

Reports show other cattle still die of dehydration, starvation, or disease before they reach their destination and out of those who survive, some are violently slaughtered.

Morrissey called on Joyce to reconsider creating an animal welfare office in the agriculture department to investigate claims of mistreatment.

"Your recent dismissal of the need for an animal-welfare office in your department shows that you are currently on the wrong side of history," he said.

Quoting his famous song "Meat Is Murder", the British singer described live exports as "the slow boat to hell".

"Please help pave the way towards a kinder future by putting the live-export industry out of its misery immediately," he wrote.

The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources insists the live exports system and ESCAS are working.

"The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) itself has said Australia is leading the world in animal welfare and that industry's investments in improving the implementation of OIE welfare standards has its full and unequivocal support," a spokesperson said.

Joyce's office told BuzzFeed News they had received Morrissey's letter, but wouldn't confirm if he planned to respond.

Instead, the deputy prime minister tweeted that he "mightn't be a big fan of The Smiths", but said he was a fan of "families in WA, NT & FNQ who rely on our $2bn live export industry".

Mick Tsikas / AAPIMAGE

Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie has joined Morrissey in his call to ban live exports, saying the cruelty is systemic and indefensible.

He's labelled Joyce the "Minister for Cruelty".

"Barnaby Joyce doesn't just turn a blind eye to the cruelty – he rubs his hands together with glee at the prospect of it continuing," Wilkie said.

Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie accidentally dropping the c-bomb on live TV.

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This Aussie legend yelling, "You're all a bunch of wankers" at then prime minister Tony Abbott.

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Bill Heffernan's "Fuck, that's risky shit" moment.

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This totally-not-edited version of Julie Bishop's infamous death stare.

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Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has called out his predecessor Tony Abbott for lying about a deal to trade changes to gun policy for votes in the Senate.

This is the latest development in what Labor is calling the "guns for votes" scandal between the current Turnbull government, the former Abbott government and Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm.

Earlier this week, Leyonhjelm claimed the Abbott government had reneged on a deal to lift the ban on the importation of the seven-round Adler shotgun in return for his vote on a migration amendment bill.

He offered up proof, in the form of an email from a government staffer confirming the then prime minister had "agreed" to the deal.

But Mr Abbott told the ABC's 7:30 program on Wednesday that Leyonhjelm was wrong and there was no formal agreement made.

"No deals from my office. No deal," he said.

Abbott's claim was contradicted by Turnbull during Question Time on Thursday:

Turning to the specific question, I have made inquiries of my ministers and can say to the House as a result of those inquiries I'm satisfied that the Minister for Justice acted in the full knowledge of the Prime Minister's Office at that time.

Then, Abbott snapped back:

Various Labor members put it to this parliament that I had somehow connived, had a deal with Senator Leyonhjelm to weaken Australia's tough, gold standard gun control laws. This is absolutely and utterly false.

"We all heard it, that thudding noise as Malcolm Turnbull threw Tony Abbott under the bus," Labor leader Bill Shorten joked.

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The government bill was supported by crossbenchers Bob Katter and Cathy McGowan, and opposed by Labor, Andrew Wilkie, and Rebekha Sharkie.

Greens MP Adam Bandt, who also opposes the plebiscite, was absent for the vote as he is on paternity leave.

There was a "boo!" from Labor MPs as the bill passed, and no discernible celebrations on the government benches.

It passed "not with a bang, but with a whimper" one Labor MP told BuzzFeed News.

Independent MPs Cathy McGowan and Bob Katter vote with the government in support of the plebiscite.

Lukas Coch / AAPIMAGE

Despite the intense attention on the issue of same-sex marriage, the public gallery was deserted for the vote.

Security told BuzzFeed News they had closed the doors of the chamber to the public before the plebiscite vote – normal practice for the period prior to Question Time.

A debate on the bill occurred over several days, during which many government MPs contended a plebiscite is the best way of dealing with same-sex marriage, and Labor argued the public vote is costly, unnecessary and harmful to the LGBTI community.

The debate was cut short by the government on Thursday, angering some Labor MPs who remained on the speaking list.

During the division, shadow minister for employment and workplace relations, Brendan O'Connor, rose to complain he had been denied a chance to speak.

The bill will now go to the Senate for debate, where it is expected to be voted down.

Forty senators have pledged to vote against the bill, two more than the 38 needed to block legislation.

Social demographer Bernard Salt angered Aussie millennials on the weekend when he equated young people's love of brunch with their inability to save for a deposit on a house, saying:

I have seen young people order smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 a pop and more. I can afford to eat this for lunch because I am middle-aged and have raised my family. But how can young people afford to eat like this? Shouldn’t they be economising by eating at home? How often are they eating out? Twenty-two dollars several times a week could go towards a deposit on a house.

On Wednesday at Senate estimates, Treasury secretary John Fraser was asked if he agreed with Salt's assessment that young people are spending too much money on brunch. He said:

I understand the issue, but I prefer people to start talking about the exorbitant price of coffee in Melbourne. It's got to be the highest in the world.

Fraser went on to say housing affordability is a "massive issue" not only for young people entering the housing market but for all lower-income Australians.

He said young people are increasingly relying on the "bank of mum and dad" to get into the property market, and went on to blame land supply, land regulations, building costs, and infrastructure for the real-estate bubble in major cities.

Fraser said it's "a worry" young people have been locked out of the housing market, "but I haven't found many people who are not saying we've got to help the kids".

He said buying a home was still a sensible investment and that supply was the main problem making housing unaffordable.

Wielding an avocado at Treasury officials, Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson condemned Fraser's comments as out of touch, and called on the government to do more to help young people get a foothold in the housing market.

Lukas Coch / AAPIMAGE

“John Fraser today accepted that younger people being locked out of housing is a ‘huge issue’ but offered little in the way of concrete actions to address it," he told BuzzFeed News.

“I put to Mr Fraser that 25- to 34-year-olds are less well-off than the same age group a decade ago and every other older age group has significantly increased in wealth. He accepted that this was true but could only talk in the abstract on how we could address it."

In 1975 the average house price ($28,000) was almost four times the average annual Australian salary ($7,618). The national average house price is now $623,000, around 7.8 times the national average annual salary ($79,716, including overtime and performance bonuses), figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.

A Treasury report into housing affordability will be presented to state and territory treasurers in November.

Senator Bob Day will resign from the senate to focus on his failing construction business, sparking a search for a new Family First MP for the nation's parliament.

Day took a leave of absence last week for "personal reasons". On Monday, he confirmed he will resign, citing the financial issues associated with his construction business.

He has been a senator for South Australia since 2013 and the sole MP for the conservative Christian Family First party in the parliament.

Mick Tsikas / AAPIMAGE

The party will get to decide who replaces Day in the parliament for the remainder of his three year term. The second position on Family First's South Australian senate ticket at the 2016 election was Kenyan-born Lucy Gichuhi.

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When asked on Sky News on Friday morning if the same-sex marriage plebiscite will remain Coalition policy beyond the next election, Frydenberg replied “I have no reason to doubt that”, adding that it will remain policy “for the foreseeable future”.

Labor announced it would vote against the plebiscite on Tuesday, ensuring the legislation will not pass the Senate.

But prime minister Malcolm Turnbull continues to put up an optimistic front on the issue.

He told 3AW on Friday morning that he has "absolutely not" given up hope the plebiscite on same-sex marriage will be held on 11 February next year.

"I know the Labor party has said they'll vote against it, but there are crossbenchers," he said.

"My commitment was to give every Australian a say in a plebiscite on this issue."

Labor, the Greens, the Nick Xenophon Team, Derryn Hinch, and Liberal senator Dean Smith have all indicated they will vote against the legislation.

This means there are 40 votes against the legislation in the Senate – two more than the 38 required to block a bill.

Hinch responded to Turnbull's comments on Friday morning, telling Turnbull to "do the sums" and that "the plebiscite is dead".

Aly reached out to Hanson after watching her first speech, during which the One Nation senator claimed Australia was "in danger of being swamped by Muslims who bear a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own".

Egyptian-born Aly said she was "pleasantly surprised" the One Nation senator accepted her invitation "without hesitation".

Over an hour-long lunch in the parliamentary dining room, the unlikely pair discussed a number of subjects, including Islam and terrorism.

BuzzFeed News understands the lunch was "respectful" and "pleasant", and "not at all awkward".

From the outset, both had an understanding that they weren't going to agree on everything, but common ground was reached over the need to do more to stop radicalisation and violent extremism.

"I said, 'I wanted to talk to you because I know we're not going to agree on things and I will call you up ... if I don't agree with you on something,'" Aly told ABC radio.

"And she said, 'I will do the same for you.'

"I do believe that there are issues of concern that we may have in common, we just approach them differently ... and maybe we can start from that point.

"The point is, we can always learn something from others."

Two topics they agreed to disagree on were Hanson's call for a royal commission into Islam and the banning of all Muslim immigration into Australia.

"I think it's possible for people from very diverse backgrounds with very diverse views to ... find common ground," Aly said.

Aly joked the pair also bonded over how much weight politicians put on in Canberra when "all you do is run every time the bells go".

"It was extremely cordial," she said, "there was no offence or anything like that."

BuzzFeed News understands Hanson ignored a number of divisions during the lunch to continue the conversation.

No word on what cuisine was consumed, but we're guessing it wasn't halal, despite Aly's love of the HSP.

Not everyone in Labor was amused by the lunch, with some of Aly's colleagues wondering why she would bother wasting her time talking to the far-right senator.

One Labor MP mused, "What was she trying to do, counter extremism?"

Aly confirmed another meal is on the cards, so the pair can discuss section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Via Facebook: anneazzaaly

A leaked document from the Anglican Church called What has God joined together? warns that same-sex marriage is the "greatest threat to religious freedom" Australia has ever seen.

The booklet, which was distributed to nearly 1,000 Sydney Anglicans on Tuesday, instructs church members on how to win arguments about marriage equality.

Churchgoers are told to warn friends and family of the negative social consequences of same-sex marriage, which the church claims include widespread adultery, divorce, child marriage, bigamy, polygamy, and women's bodies becoming "slaves" to commercial surrogacy.

Bishop Michael Stead, chair of the Archbishop's plebiscite task force, said the booklet is “moderate and reasonable and non-defensive, and not narky or hysterical”.

The booklet criticises both major parties for "only contemplating minimal protection for religious freedom".

In its proposed legislation on same-sex marriage, the Coalition suggested exemptions for religious ministers and civil celebrants from marrying same-sex couples and exemptions for religious organisations from providing them service. The Labor party says ministers of religion are the only necessary exemption.

"If [same-sex marriage] occurs then the law will be used to silence dissent. This would be the greatest threat to religious freedom we will ever have seen in Australia," the booklet reads.

Via sydneyanglicans.net

In the booklet, Stead argues "we shouldn't tear apart a good thing that God has put together" and that same-sex marriage is a "long way from the good picture of marriage given to us by Jesus and the Bible".

Anglicans shouldn't be "anti-anybody or anything", he wrote. Instead they should focus on being "pro-woman, pro-man, pro-marriage, pro-family and pro-the common good".

It also states that God "really doesn't" have a problem with gays. "He does have a problem – and we see this throughout the Bible – with acts of sex outside of a man-woman marriage," the booklet reads.

Stead encourages followers to urge gay people to leave their life of sin and "live in a way that is pleasing to the Lord".

The booklet tells churchgoers they aren't bigoted or homophobic if they are opposed to same-sex marriage but "if you ever feel silenced because of your view, it may be the other person who is being the bigot".

If asked the question "Marriage is between two people – what's it got to do with anyone else?" followers are instructed to reply that because marriage is public and affects our "common future" everyone should have a say on changes to the Marriage Act.

Comparing the plebiscite to communism, Stead dismisses the argument that Australia is behind the rest of the world on marriage equality and that same-sex marriage is inevitable.

"In the 1920s progressives proclaimed communism was inevitable in Australia. Then in the 1950s conservatives said a war on communism was inevitable. As it turned out, they were both wrong. No one knows the future."

On Tuesday, the Labor party confirmed it would oppose the government's plan for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage, partly because of a possible increase in youth suicide caused by a negative public debate.

The church rejected this argument.

"There is no evidence that public discussions overseas have led to an increase in LGBTI youth suicide. The Irish referendum points in the opposite direction, with the overall suicide rate falling in 2014-2015," the booklet reads.

"LGBTI youth have nothing to fear from a respectful public discussion about same-sex marriage."

The booklet comes just weeks after Melbourne Archbishop Phillip Freier released a letter he sent to other Archbishops saying the Anglican church "must accept" same-sex marriage if a plebiscite is carried.

“We can still stand for and offer holy matrimony between a man and a woman as a sacred ordinance given by God, while accepting that the state has endorsed a wider view of marriage,” Freier wrote.