RET, anti-piracy and fuel excise: What you missed in politics this week

Amid the often hyperbolic coverage of the Abbott government’s citizenship bill, a raft of other legislation has passed this week with very little fanfare.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott (AAP Image/Alan Porritt) Source: AAP

The introduction of legislation to strip citizenship from dual citizens suspected of terrorism has sparked more than a few colourful headlines and plenty of debate. 

The new terror laws are expected to pass through the lower house with the support of Labor, who are debating the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill 2015 in a special caucus on Wednesday.

This has all but overshadowed the fact that a bill to reduce the renewable energy target passed through parliament in the late hours of Tuesday.

It was one of the latest coups for the government, achieved through negotiation with the Opposition, which also helped secure the introduction of a fuel excise.

Earlier, changes to the aged pension passed with the support of the Greens, who negotiated to get an extension on the government’s tax review to include superannuation. Another pension measure passed through the lower house with little fanfare on Tuesday, saving the government $465 million through a cap on defined benefit incomes.

Since Treasurer Joe Hockey handed down his second federal budget last month, the parliament has also passed measures addressing:

• social services
• copyright amendments and online pirating
• the establishment of a medical research future fund

The debate around the cizitenship laws reached fever pitch this week with hyperbolic headlines in reaction to Monday’s controversial Q&A program on the ABC, which included a question from guest Zaky Mallah, who in 2003 was the first man in NSW charged under then new anti-terror laws.

The Prime Minister has kept national security at the forefront, allocating more than $31 billion to defence and littering press conferences with references to the terror threat.

An examination of Tony Abbott’s published speeches, transcripts and media releases between January 1 and June 23 – as well as comments in Parliament – found that Mr Abbott used the phrase “death cult” almost twice a day.

According to the Hansard, Mr Abbott made 48 mentions of "death cult" over the 39 sitting days since the beginning of the year. Outside the chamber, it was used more than 220 times over the 173 day period.