August 20, 2026
Both Houses rise today: the Senate puts twelve bills to a final vote, a Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence is proposed, and an order for Tokyo's correspondence falls due.
Both Houses rise today until 7 September, and the Senate is using the last sitting day to empty the shelf: twelve bills get their final vote at 1.15pm, from the Combatting Illicit Tobacco Bill 2026, stuck since June, to the five-bill news bargaining package. What isn't landing on schedule is a letter. The government was ordered on 13 August to table Tokyo's correspondence about the Prime Minister's podcast remarks; the Assistant Minister to the PM tried to sit on it because a matter had gone to the Australian Federal Police, and on Tuesday the Senate voted 26 to 23 that that isn't good enough, setting a fresh deadline of midday today. Coalition, One Nation, Senator Lambie (Jacqui Lambie Network) and Senator David Pocock (Independent) combined for the ayes; the Greens weren't in the count at all. Read the names, not just the margin: this one is crossbench-plus-opposition against Labor, not left against right.
It's also the day a new committee is born. The Leader of the House moves to establish a Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, twelve members strong and due to report by 30 November, covering everything from sovereign AI capability to deepfakes to whether Commonwealth agencies are transparent about the algorithms they already use (no inquiry page exists yet, since the committee isn't until the motion passes). Worth a look too, if you missed it: ABC News tracked Liberal senator Paul Scarr breaking ranks on the gambling bill, a day after Nationals MP Pat Conaghan and LNP MP Andrew Wallace did the same in the House. In Sydney, the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has opened its ninth and final hearing block, with Commissioner Bell ruling out an extension before the first anniversary of the Bondi Beach attack this December, the same attack sitting behind an amendment the House resolves today.
Here's where to watch.
The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 comes back from the Federation Chamber with one question still open: an amendment from Ms Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) to strip judicial discretion under section 19B of the Crimes Act, so a guilty finding for a terrorist act must produce a recorded conviction, the same rule that already applies to people-smuggling. She built the case on Bondi and on the prospect of someone convicted of terrorism walking into an aged-care job with a clean record. The government puts the question and moves to a third reading by leave either way.
Behind it, the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026 finishes today. Dr Ryan's (Kooyong, Independent) second-reading amendment on Job-Ready Graduates funding was voted down yesterday, and the bill goes through consideration in detail and third reading by leave this morning. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Accountability for Tax Adviser Misconduct and Other Measures) Bill 2026 follows, unopposed but not uncontested: the opposition wants it sent to the Senate economics committee over a new capital gains rule for foreign investors in energy and infrastructure assets, paired with a 50 per cent discount that applies to renewables only, which Mr Hogan (Page, Nationals) all but accused Labor of trading to the Greens for support.
In the Federation Chamber, the government wants a decision on the Administrative and Judicial Review Legislation Amendment Bill 2026, against an amendment from Dr Ryan warning that its oral-reasons and identity-verification provisions weren't carved out for protection visa applicants, some of whom are stateless or have had documents withheld by an abusive partner or employer. Before any of that, Mr Burke moves to establish the AI committee, and two new bills get first readings only: a Criminal Code Amendment (National Sport Integrity Offences) Bill from the Attorney-General, and a carbon credits integrity bill from Assistant Minister J Wilson.
At 1.15pm the Senate puts the question on all remaining stages of:
It's the largest single clearance this newsletter has tracked all year, and it happens the day before three weeks of nothing.
The gambling package actually finished its own journey yesterday, not today, and it's worth going back for. The Senate guillotined debate at 5.17pm, knocked back a Pocock amendment and a Greens amendment 11 to 24 each, then passed the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 and the National Self-exclusion Register (Cost Recovery Levy) Amendment Bill 2026 29 to 13, with One Nation voting alongside Labor and Liberal senators Scarr and McLachlan voting against alongside the Greens, Senator Lambie and both Senators Pocock. Everyone in the noes was there for a different reason: the Greens want a national online gambling regulator and a donations ban, Scarr called the bill "an absurdity," and Mr Conaghan called it a bill that "leaves the fox in the henhouse." All three bills go to the Governor-General for assent, unamended. The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 also cleared yesterday, on 63 negotiated amendments (30 in the House, 33 in the Senate) that Minister Butler moved without a division, thanking the opposition for "constructive engagement", a rare bipartisan landing for a bill that has dominated three months of these editions.
Elsewhere in formal business, Senator Bragg introduces a Fair Work Amendment (Disqualified Officers) Bill 2026 to remove the five-year cap on how long the CFMEU administrator can disqualify an official, naming John Setka's three arrests since November as the case for scrapping it. Six new committee referrals go up for a vote too fresh to have inquiry pages of their own yet, covering:
Committee reports and government responses land on:
Summaries tomorrow.
Two hearings run in Canberra: the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade on Australia's international development program and conflict prevention, 8am to 8.55am, and the Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport on local government funding and fiscal sustainability, 11.05am to 12.30pm.
Both Houses are gone until Monday, 7 September, so tomorrow's edition does what it always does before a long break: a thematic wrap of the fortnight, and this time there's a genuinely enormous amount to sort through. Until tomorrow!
— Mia
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