The House has had its way, the Senate is now going to play

The week the House did its sums

Welcome to your sitting week wrap-up as the Parliament shifts its mind to remaining matters on the go, with the RBA widely expected to increase interest rates and Senators expecting correspondence from businesses, industry associations and interest groups ahead of the chambers return for their last sitting period of the year.

This week, in the House

The Parliament obviously opened the week on a sombre note, with a day of pause in the House for tributes for Helen Haines. Parliamentarian and electoral office security as expected was a theme carried through the week in both the House and Senate Estimates.

All eight bills the government wanted to get through this week have passed, now sitting at the Senate's door when it returns on 16 November. On the votes, the bills passed:

• Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 3) Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au): 91 to 46
• Income Tax Rates Amendment (Minimum Tax on Discretionary Trusts) Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au): 91 to 45
• Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 4) Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au): 96 to 38
• Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au): passed without amendment
• Domestic Gas Reservation (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au): passed without amendment
• Domestic Gas Reservation Levy Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au): passed without amendment
• Defence Legislation Amendment (Accelerating Capability and Protecting Bases) Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au): passed without amendment
• Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au): 96 to 38, with the government's amendments and Chaney's (Independent) in the bill.

None of the trust or tax bills changed despite much debate. On Tax Reform No. 3, Labor, Watson-Brown (Greens), Spender and Steggall (both CSA) and independents Chaney and Ryan were all in favour. Wilson's (Liberal) call to withdraw the trust tax or delay it 12 months lost 42 to 84, and Chaney's testamentary trust fix lost 17 to 79 at the detail stage. The newly established Senate inquiry (aph.gov.au) covers Tax Reform No. 3 and the rates bill only - despite strong opposition from parts of the economy, bill No. 4 did not get an inquiry.

On the gas package, Minister for Defence Industry Conroy told Question Time the scheme will require exporters to reserve up to 20 per cent of their exports; the associated Senate Economics Legislation Committee (aph.gov.au) reports on 11 November. The Defence bill passing without amendment is largely due to it being subject to inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence (aph.gov.au), at the request of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Three things did not move this week as slated. The Child Support and Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Ending Financial Abuse in the Child Support Scheme No. 1) Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au), was to get its third reading by leave, but is still at second reading. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au) and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (National Policing Information Charges) Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au) carry to 23 November when the House returns.

The Opposition used Question Time to return to the Marrickville Golf Club's $6 million grant, in the Prime Minister's electorate. Tehan (Liberal) raised a matter of privilege to ask the Speaker to consider whether the Prime Minister deliberately misled the House. The Speaker will report next sitting. A Senate inquiry into the program (aph.gov.au) is due to report on 18 November.

This week, in the Senate

Estimates finished yesterday, for the year. The transcripts for hearings have started to appear on the APH Senate Estimates page (aph.gov.au) if you are in need of the detail; answers to questions on notice are due on 17 December. A couple of call-outs that may not have reached your inbox through other channels as follows, with a full summary in an ad hoc edition next week.

Snowy Hydro chief executive Dennis Barnes said the target cost for Snowy 2.0 is $22.2 billion with a $25 billion upper scenario; the company will need government support by the middle of next year, and that its credit rating is at risk without it. Finance later said advice on quantum and financing will come through MYEFO, and Minister Gallagher (Labor) confirmed shareholders were given a positive forward net present value. A Senate order for tabling of the cost reassessment, due within the hearing, was not met.

Services Australia was required to provide a timeline on the OpenAI rogue agent intrusion into a public Medicare statistics portal, revealed by the Prime Minister (pm.gov.au) at the end of September. The agency's issues disclosure mailbox, checked once a day in business hours, received an email from OpenAI at 2.42am on 10 September; it was read at 2.04pm on 13 September, escalated on 14 September and confirmed on 15 September, when the portal was taken offline and security agencies notified. Services Australia said that independent forensic analysis found no evidence citizen information was accessed.

The Office of Impact Analysis, which sits in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, said it no longer assesses the quality of impact analyses that accompany draft legislation, that agencies self-certify, and that the 30 to 60 day consultation period on a draft is "best practice guidance".

On the federal government's use of contractors, the ANAO has rated the APS Strategic Commissioning Framework (apsc.gov.au), released in late 2023 to reduce outsourcing and rebuild core public servant capability, partly effective with 12 of 22 sampled agencies having increased spending contracting since the framework's introduction; Minister Gallagher disagreed with the ANAO's analysis. The pause on KPMG bidding for Commonwealth work now runs to 28 February 2027, and Finance does not hold a list of all current KPMG contracts.

From the committees

Consequently, Communications Minister Wells has asked the House Standing Committee on Communications, the Arts and Sport to examine the future of Australia Post (minister.infrastructure.gov.au) (inquiry page not yet available) and report by mid 2027. This comes while the current Senate Environment and Communications References Committee's inquiry into the Australia Post retail network (aph.gov.au) is underway, reporting March 2027.

Reports tabled in the House yesterday:

• Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, Report 519: Inquiry into the administration of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (aph.gov.au): 14 recommendations. The foreword cites an estimated 6-10 per cent of NDIS spending was lost to fraud, non-compliance and payment error in 2022-23 ($2-3.5 billion), and the committee wants the NDIA to report within six months on fraud and operational risk. Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Anti-Corruption Commission, report on proposed recommendations for appointments (aph.gov.au): unanimously approved Deputy Chief Justice Robert McClelland AO as Commissioner and Christopher Savundra as a Deputy Commissioner, each full-time for five years. Estimates heard the new Commissioner starts on 11 January 2027. Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, report on strengthening Australia's trade and investment relations with the countries of Africa (aph.gov.au): 13 recommendations. Two-way trade is just under one per cent of Australia's total, and the committee recommends an Austrade Africa market intelligence initiative and a Work and Holiday Maker pilot for up to three African countries. Debate was adjourned to 23 November. Standing Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests, report concerning a subpoena issued by the Federal Court of Australia (aph.gov.au): the subpoena sought documents recording communications between Wilkie's (Independent) office and Mr Swan. The House agreed that those documents are likely "proceedings of Parliament", though whether privilege applies is ultimately for the courts. The report is here (aph.gov.au).
• Standing Committee on Appropriations and Administration, Report 36 (aph.gov.au): its annual report 2025-26.

Submissions to the inquiry into the Digital Duty of Care bill (aph.gov.au) close today (report due to be tabled 20 November), and to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence (aph.gov.au) review on Tuesday, 3 November.

Public hearings today:

• Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence (aph.gov.au): review of the Defence Legislation Amendment (Accelerating Capability and Protecting Bases) Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au)
• Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence (aph.gov.au)
• House Standing Committee on Primary Industries: Inquiry into factors shaping social licence and economic development outcomes in critical minerals projects across Australia (aph.gov.au)
• Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee (aph.gov.au): Carbon Credits and Other Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au)
• Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee: Department of Veterans' Affairs funded health treatment (aph.gov.au)
• Senate Economics Legislation Committee (aph.gov.au): Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026 (aph.gov.au) and related bills.

As you might expect, there are a lot of scheduled public hearings over the next couple of weeks. I will provide an ad hoc edition later today on this detail, so that you can skip it if it's not of interest to you. Your next regular edition will land Monday 16 November, when the Senate returns.

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— Mia