MARK DREYFUS MP

With just over a week until the Northern Territory is due to lose its vital shortwave radio service, Indigenous Affairs Minister and Country Liberal Senator for the Northern Territory Nigel Scullion made his first, limp protest.

Labor condemns the resumption of illegal whaling by a Japanese fleet inside the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary, reported over the weekend.

Labor encourages Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to use this weekend's visit from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to raise the issue of illegal Japanese whaling happening now in protected waters.

Labor's Mark Dreyfus and Terri Butler have called on a Senate Select Committee to reach agreement on the terms of a bill for marriage equality, in a submission made this morning.

Another week, another Turnbull minister with something to confess about how much they knew about the Bell affair.

Labor utterly condemns the barbarous and deadly attack on the Reina Nightclub in Turkey.

News today that ethnic community groups around the nation have mobilised in opposition to the Turnbull governments attack on protections against racial hate speech should surprise no-one except perhaps Mr Turnbull himself.

Christian Porter's late confession that he knew far more about the Bell Group saga than originally disclosed delivered just days before Christmas raises serious questions about the depth of his involvement in this sordid affair.

Today, just days after Malcolm Turnbull declared the wasteful, hurtful $300 million plebiscite on marriage equality is still the Government's policy, it has been killed off in MYEFO.

This afternoon, under questioning from Labor senators at a hearing of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, George Brandis was given the opportunity to rule out taking a diplomatic or judicial posting before the expiry of his current term in the Senate.