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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/mar/18/senate-sits-through-the-night-to-consider-voting-reform-politics-live
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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Senate sits through the night to consider voting reform – politics live | Senate sits through the night to consider voting reform – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 8.14pm GMT | |
| 20:14 | |
| Rhiannon tells Wong the progressive forces in Australian politics should work together. Wong gives her that look. Aren’t the Greens coming after Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek – two of the most progressive people in the parliament. Aren’t the Greens doing a deal with the government on senate voting reform, and on preferences? | |
| Penny Wong: | |
| Don’t give us a lecture about progressive politicians working together. | |
| 8.06pm GMT | 8.06pm GMT |
| 20:06 | 20:06 |
| Rhiannon says the Greens have a solid record on the CEFC and bills like the Australian Building and Construction Commission. Labor by contrast is weak on industrial reform, she says. Wong persists. Why are you handing the government the keys to a double dissolution? They’ve dissolved into shouting. The finance minister Mathias Cormann is frowning. | Rhiannon says the Greens have a solid record on the CEFC and bills like the Australian Building and Construction Commission. Labor by contrast is weak on industrial reform, she says. Wong persists. Why are you handing the government the keys to a double dissolution? They’ve dissolved into shouting. The finance minister Mathias Cormann is frowning. |
| 8.02pm GMT | 8.02pm GMT |
| 20:02 | 20:02 |
| Greens senator Lee Rhiannon appears unsure whether today is yesterday or today. Reasonable, really. | Greens senator Lee Rhiannon appears unsure whether today is yesterday or today. Reasonable, really. |
| 8.00pm GMT | 8.00pm GMT |
| 20:00 | 20:00 |
| To bring you up to procedural speed, government amendments to the senate voting reform bill have been considered. We are on Labor amendments currently. From the dispatch box, Labor’s Penny Wong is currently outlining what the government could put to a joint sitting after a double dissolution. Abolition of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Wholesale destruction of the union movement. She says the Greens have done a deal on Senate voting reform, paving the way for a double dissolution, but extracted no protections against nasty surprises at the joint sitting. | To bring you up to procedural speed, government amendments to the senate voting reform bill have been considered. We are on Labor amendments currently. From the dispatch box, Labor’s Penny Wong is currently outlining what the government could put to a joint sitting after a double dissolution. Abolition of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Wholesale destruction of the union movement. She says the Greens have done a deal on Senate voting reform, paving the way for a double dissolution, but extracted no protections against nasty surprises at the joint sitting. |
| 7.48pm GMT | 7.48pm GMT |
| 19:48 | 19:48 |
| Well hello there | Well hello there |
| Good morning and welcome to Friday, which is of course the day after Thursday, and in this instance the morning after Thursday night, which was a long night in the red room. | Good morning and welcome to Friday, which is of course the day after Thursday, and in this instance the morning after Thursday night, which was a long night in the red room. |
| The debate over Senate voting reform went on. And on. And on. And on. | The debate over Senate voting reform went on. And on. And on. And on. |
| And currently it is still going on. | And currently it is still going on. |
| As Thursday night dragged into Friday morning, Labor and the Greens spent hours analysing one another’s deficiencies as political movements. Various Labor frontbenchers considered the merits of the fashion sense of the Greens leader Richard Di Natale. Labor’s Jacinta Collins declared at one point that she was not conducting a filibuster, and didn’t even laugh. Finance minister Mathias Cormann did an off-the-cuff impression of Labor’s Stephen Conroy, broadening his range beyond his periodic homages to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Rather rudely, Queensland LNP senator Barry O’Sullivan yawned widely behind him. | As Thursday night dragged into Friday morning, Labor and the Greens spent hours analysing one another’s deficiencies as political movements. Various Labor frontbenchers considered the merits of the fashion sense of the Greens leader Richard Di Natale. Labor’s Jacinta Collins declared at one point that she was not conducting a filibuster, and didn’t even laugh. Finance minister Mathias Cormann did an off-the-cuff impression of Labor’s Stephen Conroy, broadening his range beyond his periodic homages to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Rather rudely, Queensland LNP senator Barry O’Sullivan yawned widely behind him. |
| Everything about this process reeks, Jacinta Collins noted, quite correctly, at 11.45pm. You can’t help but be cynical in this place, Ricky Muir observed, in the shadow of midnight. There was an enormous amount of analysis about exhausted votes. By 6am, Greens senator Lee Rhiannon thought she was considering the third amendment. The acting Senate president noted in fact it was the fourth government amendment. By 6.45am Labor’s Penny Wong thought Greens senator Robert Simms had become tired and emotional. | Everything about this process reeks, Jacinta Collins noted, quite correctly, at 11.45pm. You can’t help but be cynical in this place, Ricky Muir observed, in the shadow of midnight. There was an enormous amount of analysis about exhausted votes. By 6am, Greens senator Lee Rhiannon thought she was considering the third amendment. The acting Senate president noted in fact it was the fourth government amendment. By 6.45am Labor’s Penny Wong thought Greens senator Robert Simms had become tired and emotional. |
| But they remained on their feet, hoarse, and periodically, coarse. | But they remained on their feet, hoarse, and periodically, coarse. |
| Of course this was serious business. These are the most substantial changes to Australia’s voting system in several decades. But much of what happened over the course of the night was about the politics than gets conducted in the shadow of an election. | Of course this was serious business. These are the most substantial changes to Australia’s voting system in several decades. But much of what happened over the course of the night was about the politics than gets conducted in the shadow of an election. |
| Rightly or wrongly, everybody in the place knows this week just gone is very likely the last full sitting week before Malcolm Turnbull guns the C1 in the direction of Government House. | Rightly or wrongly, everybody in the place knows this week just gone is very likely the last full sitting week before Malcolm Turnbull guns the C1 in the direction of Government House. |
| This morning we are reconvening on Politics Live to note the eventual resolution of this debate, and take stock of the sum of the parts of our democracy. Possibly the best way to consider the parts is in parts, lest the sum of them overwhelm and we all lie down and never get up. | This morning we are reconvening on Politics Live to note the eventual resolution of this debate, and take stock of the sum of the parts of our democracy. Possibly the best way to consider the parts is in parts, lest the sum of them overwhelm and we all lie down and never get up. |
| Let’s crack on. Today’s comments thread is open for your business. Magic Mike and I are at your disposal on the twits. He’s @mpbowers and I’m @murpharoo. If you speak Facebook you can find me there, here. | Let’s crack on. Today’s comments thread is open for your business. Magic Mike and I are at your disposal on the twits. He’s @mpbowers and I’m @murpharoo. If you speak Facebook you can find me there, here. |
| Pass the double shot, here comes Friday. | Pass the double shot, here comes Friday. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 8.03pm GMT | at 8.03pm GMT |