ABCC legislation rejected, giving Coalition double dissolution trigger – politics

Senate rejects Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation 34-36, giving government trigger to request governor general dissolve both houses of parliament – all the developments from Canberra

 The treasurer, Scott Morrison, during question time on Monday. ‘Both major parties are muscling up this session.

So long, farewell

Well good people of Politics Live, that will do for today. You’ve been delightful as always. Let’s part ways for this evening by taking stock of Monday in two points.

• The Turnbull government has emerged with a trigger for a double dissolution election, with the senate knocking back the ABCC bill before it reached committee stage. That means we’ll be off to the polls shortly after the budget on May 3. For the longest election campaign in recent memory. In winter. Apart from all that it will be blooming marvellous.
• The trigger emerged at the end of a combative day, where Labor’s deputy senate leader Stephen Conroy shirt fronted the governor-general for proroguing the parliament, before the Labor leader Bill Shorten shirt fronted Conroy for being rash. The government declared Labor was in the pocket of the CFMEU, while Labor contended the government was in the pocket of the big banks by failing to back a royal commission into the financial services industry. There was more of course, but that’s the main threads.

 John Alexander looks like he is demonstrating how to serve a tennis ball during a division in the House of Representatives this evening,