Question time in federal parliament

QUESTION TIME IN FEDERAL PARLIAMENT

WHAT WE LEARNED

* Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says he spent his summer break helping unload steel for the new inland rail project.

* Thousands of Australians families are already saving hundreds of dollars off their energy bills thanks to the government dressing down electricity retailers last year, according to the prime minister.

* The government's second priority in Defence - after building force capability - is to use the heft of that $200 billion military build-up to create jobs in manufacturing and advanced technology.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTED TO SPIN

* The largest annual jobs growth on record - 403,000 new jobs, three-quarters full-time - occurred under the coalition's watch in 2017 and we continue to deliver economic leadership.

WHAT LABOR WANTED TO TALK ABOUT

* Last year company profits increased 20 per cent while average wages grew just two per cent - yet the government wants to give the top end of town a $65 billion tax cut.

THEY SAID WHAT

"Manual labour, they think, is a Mexican bandit." - Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's assessment of the working class credentials of Labor MPs.

"They don't have an economic plan to grow the economy; they just have an envy plan to dice it up and spread it around in accordance with their own prejudices." - Treasurer Scott Morrison on the economic credentials of same.

"Isn't it time, prime minister, to stand up for refugees, equality and a safe climate by bringing a bit of Bernie (Sanders) to Batman and electing the Greens member Alex Bhathal?" - Greens MP Adam Bandt does a bit of spruiking for the woman he hopes will join him on the crossbenches after a by-election.

"People in Sydney are not looking for the prime minister's harbour views - they just want to be able to afford their first home." - Emma Husar, Labor MP for Lindsay.

TWEETED

@karenlsweeney: Adam Bandt's getting booed from both sides on his first question of 2018. Speaker interjects and says he can't hear the question. "It wasn't a good one anyway," someone tells him.

Wayne Swan - @SwannyQLD: Turnbull lectures the nation on the virtues of manual labour, but his only exposure to shovel-ready projects involved a silver spoon #auspol #qt

@workmanalice: Highlight of #SenateQT - Mathias Cormann bringing back the Wibble Wobble.