Question time in federal parliament

QUESTION TIME IN FEDERAL PARLIAMENT

WHAT WE LEARNED

* Labor wasn't prepared to protect non-union tilers and plasterers, but quick to rush to the aid of multi-millionaire American chiefs of giant electricity companies, Malcolm Turnbull said sounding very unlike a Liberal prime minister.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTED TO SPIN

Labor is standing up for inner-city Green ideology and not the workers it's supposed to represent.

WHAT LABOR WANTED TO TALK ABOUT

Can the PM confirm the average Sydney household is paying almost $1000 more in power bills since the coalition was elected to office?

THEY SAID WHAT

"That'll go down really well at the workers club in Muswellbrook." - The PM says of Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon's support for AGL's plan to close the Liddell power station in 2022.

"He's a knight in Newcastle, but he's a coward in Canberra." - Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce joins the attack on Fitzgibbon.

"Does the treasurer stand by his Wombat Hollow declaration (that coal-fired power generation was coming to and end) or do his views change depending on whether or not he's carrying his pet (coal) rock? - Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen.

TWEETED

@michellegrattan: If any politicians wonder why ordinary people have little respect for them, they shd watch a replay of this QT

@TimWattsMP: Everyday the Turnbull govt is more like a bad sitcom. They go on zany adventures every week but always end up exactly where they started.