Politics live updates: Social media ban passes first hurdle despite MPs voicing concerns about rushed process

Senator Pauline Hanson has asked why Independent Fatima Payman should be treated “totally different than any other Senator” as she pursues her over an alleged citizenship breech.

Ms Hanson triggered a procedural vote in the Upper House on Wednesday morning as she sought to refer Senator Payman for investigation over an alleged section 44 issue for her Afghan citizenship.

The Government and Coalition voted yes, the Greens and crossbenchers Tammy Tyrrell and Lidia Thorpe voted no (she also threw her papers at Ms Hanson and stormed from the chamber, middle finger raised).

After the vote, Ms Payman accused Ms Hanson of racism and said she brought “disgrace to the human race”.

Ms Hanson accused the Greens of creating a “protection racket” around the Independent senator.

In a statement issued after the dramatic scenes, Ms Hanson said: “Try as they might,” referring to the Greens and crossbenchers’ opposition, “they can’t wish this matter away.”

She continued, saying Ms Payman had not been held to the same strict standards as other elected representatives in the 2017 eligibility crisis.

“If she’d been elected in 2016 instead of 2022, she would have been referred to the High Court like all the others. If she’d been elected as a conservative in 2022, I suspect she’d be referred right away.”

Dodgy taxi drivers will be banned from NSW roads after the Minns Government announced its latest crackdown on those who rip off customers.

Drivers who don’t use their meter, overcharge or refuse short trips will be banned from the industry if they’re twice convicted of fare misbehaviour.

The NSW Taxi Council says rogue drivers have been on the loose in recent years following deregulation that made it more difficult to find and remove them from the sector.

The new laws come into effect on December 6 and will extend to rideshare apps such as Uber and Didi. A driver must be found guilty of fare misbehaviour by a court on two separate occasions to be banned.

Drivers who have previously breached the rules will be told they are on their final warning before the crackdown starts.

Read more.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that inflation has failed to drop in the month of October in a sign that prices are yet to come under control.

The headline figure of 2.1 per cent is broadly in line with economist forecasts but the more important trimmed mean, which excludes one off items has ticked up to 3.5 per cent from 3.2 per cent.

Inflation has been the key concern of Australia Reserve Bank in determining when to cut rates, with the latest minutes from the November meeting showing that the Board was concerned that underlying inflation had still remained too persistent over the year to give them comfort.

See what it means here.

The legislation, passed overnight, is an important win for Labor to uphold its promise to four states and territories that it would increase funding share to 22.5 per cent from next year.

Labor’s legislation would ensure under-resourced public schools, according to the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS), would not have funding commitments reverse.

Education Minister Jason Clare said the Liberal Party, whose Coalition government enforced the former legislation, had “ripped the guts out of public school funding”.

The former funding model put 80 per cent of the SRS funding for non-government schools on the Commonwealth and 20 per cent on the states.

For public schools, it is reversed: the Commonwealth covers 20 per cent, while 75 per cent is funded by states - leaving a 5 per cent gap.

Victoria, Queensland and NSW have held out from agreeing to Labor’s plan, demanding the Commonwealth fund the full 5 per cent increase, as teachers unions and the Greens have called for.

If they do not get on board, the current funding arrangements will continue for another 12 months.

Moderate Liberal MP Bridget Archer has crossed the floor to vote against banning children under 16 from social media, joining with the Greens and independents to air concerns about a rushed process.

Ms Archer, who has crossed the floor on multiple issues, flagged the move late on Tuesday night before the vote on the legislation was held on Wednesday morning.

But she said it was out of concerns about the rushed process to legislate the ban inside of a week.

“My very strong preference would be for this bill to be deferred for proper scrutiny and consultation, as we’ve heard from other members here today, that would give an opportunity for that process to be corrected and to take more of our community along with us, but disappointingly, it is clear that there is no appetite for that,” she told Parliament.

“Because of that, I won’t be supporting … this bill under these circumstances, but I reiterate that this is an important space and it is something that we need to do something about.”

Ms Archer pledged to engage constructively on the issue of helping protect children from the harms of social media.

​Get the latest from Parliament here.​

A fired-up Fatima Payman says Pauline Hanson brings “disgrace to the human race” as the One Nation leader continues to hound the Afghan-born senator over her eligibility to sit in Parliament.

Senator Hanson wants an investigation into whether Senator Payman falls foul of section 44 of the constitution, which prevents foreigners and dual-citizens from sitting in Parliament.

Senator Payman - who was eight when her family fled Kabul - addressed the issue before 2022 election, explaining that her attempts to renounce her Afghan citizenship could not be completed because the Afghanistan embassy in Australia had no contact with the new Taliban regime.

She received legal advice at the time confirming she took “all reasonable steps” to hand back her Afghan citizenship, meaning she was eligible.

But Senator Hanson has continued to hound Senator Payman on her citizenship status, sparking dramatic scenes in the Senate on Wednesday morning as she sought to refer the Independent for investigation.

Get the full story here.

The election of Donald Trump will factor in to Australia’s thinking as it prepares to set its 2035 emissions reduction target.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen will release new modelling showing Australia is on track to meet its 2030 target of 43 per cent, but questions are dogging the Government over what’s next.

Mr Bowen on Wednesday morning refused to guarantee the 2035 target would be released before the next election, but said the final number will come when the Climate Change Authority is “ready”.

He said it would take into account “all international developments”.

“Not just the election of Donald Trump. There are other developments in other countries,” he said.

“Australia is an integral part of the world’s energy supplies, so obviously what other countries are doing does impact on us.”

Mr Trump has indicated he will pull the US back out of the Paris Agreement, and wind back crucial clean energy investment.

Mr Bowen said even if that eventuated, it wouldn’t impact Australia’s current trajectory.

“We’re on track (for 2030),” he said.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen says NSW is unlikely to have a blackout even as demand soars in line with heatwave temeratures and despite a handful of coal-fired power plant units being offline.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has issued a level 3 lack of reserve (LOR) market notice this morning, and warned that NSW is at an “elevated risk” of blackouts by the afternoon.

It warned that unless there was a response from generators, there could be an “interrupted load” (a blackout) in NSW at about 4.30pm AEDT today.

The warning comes as Western Sydney claims the title of the hottest point in Australia on Wednesday morning, with the Bureau of Meteorology recording 32.4C at 9am.

Tops of 39C are expected in some inland NSW regions, Sydney can expect tops of 34C.

The heatwave has come when the grid is already under strain, with a handful of coal-fired power plants working at reduced capacity due to maintenance.

But Mr Bowen was confident, “providing no other coal-fired power units break down today, there should be enough power in NSW”, The Australian reports.

He said “AEMO is managing that carefully”.

Campaigners for Julian Assange hope Anthony Albanese can put pressure on US President Joe Biden to deliver a pardon for the WikiLeaks founder.

Assange’s wife Stella and his brother Gabriel Shipton will be in Canberra today to lobby MPs for support in putting diplomatic pressure on the US to pardon Assange in the dying days of the Biden administration.

A multi-partisan group of MPs had been instrumental in helping to raise the plight of Assange and secure his release from custody on espionage charges after years behind bars.

Mr Shipton said time was running out for a pardon to be secured before Donald Trump was sworn in as president in January.

“The parliament was integral to getting Julian out and they were the key to unlock his cell basically, and they can continue and finish the job and push for this pardon,” he told AAP.

“There’s a ticking clock going on for when the president can make the decision to pardon Julian.”

He said a pardon would be “a real coup for the prime minister”, and that the power to unwind the precedent set during the first Trump administration lies with Mr Biden.

Get the full story here.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has welcomed the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah, saying she hopes it’s a “catalyst for a broader ceasefire in the region”.

“We look forward to the day when there is a ceasefire too in Gaza,” Senator Wong said.

“We’ve been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for over 11 months now. And we see every week the death toll rising - more children, more women.

“We again join with the overwhelming majority of the international community to urge a ceasefire in Gaza.

“But today we are very pleased to see that there is a ceasefire with Hezbollah and that the people of Lebanon and Israel can know some peace.”

She said Australia would continue to advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza.