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Scott Morrison’s last facebook post was about making curry while watching the Sharks, so it seems like he is pretty busy in post-prime ministerial life.

Fun fact about picfacs

Short for picture facility, picfac is an Australian phrase (at least according to the Oxford Dictionary peeps) and has been in use since the 1990s (as a term, obviously politicians have been pretending to hold conversations for the cameras since cameras existed).

Labor opens party room doors for photos

And in the third picfac (photo opportunity) announcement of the day, Anthony Albanese has thrown open the doors of the Labor caucus room for photos of the whole parliamentary team.

Your questions answered: green and white papers

Rafqa Touma

What are green papers?

A green paper is a government document that goes through details of specific issues, and outlines potential policy and legislation changes for those issues (for example, a green paper about the issue of an ageing population and the potential for a new aged care system).

A green paper doesn’t actually commit to any action or change Instead, it is about prompting discussion, and acts like a first step towards changing the law.

Their name come from the UK tradition of printing on green paper to help tell them apart from other documents.

What about the white ones?

After a green paper is published, the government talks to the public for their thoughts and feedback. From those discussions, a white paper is born. (It gets its name from historically being published without a cover, and being bound in plain paper).

White papers are documents with actual legislative intention, proposing change to policy or law. They are sometimes debated before a bill is produced. (Then that bill is debated and goes through a whole process of voting and debating and signing before it becomes a law. Stay tuned for how they work, coming to the liveblog soon.)

But in short: green is for consultation/discussion, white is for proposal.

Behind the lens with Mike Bowers

Our photographer Mike Bowers has had a very busy morning. Here is just some of where he has been so far:

Sarah Collard was there.

Linda Burney has held a press conference and spoken about Labor’s pledge of $4m for Aboriginal families affected by the collapse of funeral fund Youpla, as reported by Lorena Allam and Ben Butler:

Burney said the company was “despicable” and had left families who had paid into funeral funds for years believed their loved ones would be buried with dignity.

The Indigenous Australians minister said the government was “absolutely committed” to those families getting a proper funeral for their loved ones:

We are talking to a number of government agencies that will be involved in a scheme, but I can assure you there will be someone on the end of a phone line for people to talk to.

That is what we have been advised by our First Nations members, and that is what we will do.

Minister [Stephen] Jones has outlined for those people that have an active policy between the 1st of April and 1st of November 2023, we believe that will cover the investigations we have done so far, in terms of families and numbers of people.

Obviously we will be sensitive to particular issues. In terms of timing, it is very much what we have just said, that we are working as hard as possible and with the appropriate consultation in getting something [set] up that will allow people to go through, as you know, a very important part of Aboriginal culture and that is Sorry Business.

I can promise you that both minister Jones and myself are absolutely committed, along with the prime minister, to making sure that those families will get what they are justly deserving of, and that is a proper decent funeral, culturally appropriate, because they can’t do it at the moment because of the falling out with this particular fund.

Things have started off really well:

Your questions answered: dixers

Rafqa Touma

Why is everyone talking about Dorothy Dixers?

A Dorothy Dixer is a question planted by a government minister and asked by a backbencher of their own political party during question time.

The dixer tactic has a few goals: to give free publicity to the government, to help the minister speaking look good, to make the opposition look bad, to raise the profile of the backbencher asking the question, or to waste the available question time as to avoid harder questions.

The term Dorothy Dixer has been used in Australian politics since the 1950s, so the public and press are often on the lookout.

So … who is Dorothy Dix?

Dorothy Dix was an American advice columnist who was known to make up and submit her own questions so she was able to publish more interesting answers in her columns. Now it makes sense, right?

Anika Wells will be presented a Commonwealth Games blazer as the minister for sport in about an hour.

(This will be another picfac.)

The pomp and ceremony to expect as parliament opens

There have been a few questions about what happens tomorrow, when the 47th parliament officially opens.

For those who haven’t been part of a first sitting week of the parliament, there will be a few bits of pomp and ceremony to get through.

Don’t expect anything to actually happen tomorrow in terms of parliamentary proceedings.

There will be a Welcome to Country ceremony in the Great Hall.

Then the chief justice of the high court, Susan Kiefel will show up, alongside justice Stephen Gageler. Kiefel, as the deputy of the governor general, will walk into the Senate (which is officially known as “attending” the Senate) and address the members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The new Senate president and Speaker of the House will be elected (fun fact – the previous Senate president and Speaker remain in place, with pay packets, until new people are elected, so Slade Brockman and Andrew Wallace have stayed in those positions).

The governor general, David Hurley, will arrive in the early afternoon and there will be a royal salute and inspecting of the guard and then he heads into the members’ hall, where the newly elected Senate president and Speaker of the House will welcome him.

Hurley will then head into the Senate and summon the House of Representatives (the Queen’s representative stays out of the house, as it is the people’s house) and once everyone is in the red chamber, he addresses the MPs, and the parliament is open.

There is a 19-gun salute (21 gun salutes are reserved for royalty and heads of state) on the parliament forecourt, and then the GG leaves (about 4.40pm)

After all of that, the House will re-commence its sitting from 5pm.