WHAT WE LEARNED
* The winners of by-elections held in Braddon, Perth, Fremantle, Longman and Mayo on July 28 have taken their seats.
* Labor's newest MP has a classically Australian middle name - Patrick Possum Gorman.
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WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTED TO SPIN
Bill Shorten says one thing to one group and another to another.
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WHAT LABOR WANTED TO TALK ABOUT
Will the prime minister now admit, after not picking up any seats in five by-elections, that he got it wrong in proposing a corporate tax cut?
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THEY SAID WHAT
"I rise to ... affirm the nation's support for courageous farmers and farming communities." - Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
"If we keep the farms going, we keep the towns going." - Labor leader Bill Shorten.
"I can't say what I'm thinking." - Turnbull quotes Shorten during a microphone incident in outback Queensland.
"Why is this prime minister so careless with taxpayers' money?" - Shorten on $444 million given to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
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TWEETED
@SwannyQLD When MPs who have returned to the Parliament after renouncing their UK Citizenship then have to pledge allegiance to Queen Elizabeth, it's surely time for an Australian Head of State #qt #auspol
