Turnbull and members of his cabinet took questions on combatting terrorism, climate change, and Marriage Equality. The Australian Public Affairs channel provides the highlights from the session. Hello, and welcome to this edition of question time rap. During question time, one of the questions, a lot more action happening in the high kout. That gave a tick of approval to the governments plan for a Postal Survey on samesex marriage. Just after that decision, the Opposition Leader asked the Prime Minister would he be campaigning strongly for a yes vote, and that question put strongly to all australians. The leader of the opposition before i go to my question, mr. Speaker, i wondered, its been an important if the leader of the opposition come to his question or resume his seat. Okay, not a reporter for the high court. Members on my right, i have already cautioned the minister from immigration and border protection. Hes warned as well. I note the high courts decision moments ago in relation to the Prime Ministers 122 million Postal Survey on Marriage Equality. Will the Prime Minister work with the community to show its active support for Marriage Equality . And will the Prime Minister now accept my invitation to write a joint letter to every australian to support voting yes in the survey . The leader of the house will speak interjecting. Members on my right. The Prime Minister has the call. The leader of the opposition must be relieved that the promise you gave to the australian christian lobby in 2013 is now being delivered by the coalition. He went there. To the australian christian lobby and said i think every australia should have their say. He did. I mean, i assume that was his heartfelt conviction. Or was he simply telling people what they wanted to hear . You know, mr. Speaker, i fear it might have been the case that he was just being his old disingenuous self, telling people what they want to hear. And here he is, here he is now, having done everything he could in this parliament to stop australians having their say, much to his disappointment now. Every australian will have their say. And that is as it should be. And we encourage every australian to vote in this survey to have their say, and mr. Speaker, as i have said in this house and in many other places, lucy and i will be voting yes. And ill be encouraging others to vote yes. But mr. Speaker, above all, i encourage every australian to have their say because unlike the leader of the opposition, i respect every australians view on this matter. And i thoroughly reject the way in which hes sought to vilify and demonize people who have a different view to him. This is a great example, where every australian can have a say and we can. We can. As a commonwealth. As a commonwealth of australia, of grave important social change, consider it and make a decision. The member will withdraw that remark. And youll now withdraw from the chamber. Member from mcewan, you better be very careful what you say. You know the rules very well. The Prime Minister will resume his answer. Hes concluded his answer. Theres also been an increased focus on this crisis in ruhinga. Refugees leaving their country and hundreds of thousands now, the government asked if its going to consider putting in more money than the 5 million to assist this crisis. Several mckim. Thank you, president. My question is to the leader of government in the senate representing the Prime Minister. Minister, i refer you to the humanitarian disaster currently unfolding in myanmar and the ongoing persecution of the ruhingen people by the myanmar military. The most recent figures, im sure you will agree, show that almost 300,000 ruhingen people have fled raqqah in the last ten days. Thats 30 down a day. Minister, and across the border into bangladesh. Is the funding up to 5 million announced on the weekend the entirety of the Australian Governments response to this crisis . And when will the Prime Minister follow the lead of other Global Leaders and personally express concern about the situation in myanmar . The attorney general representing the Prime Minister. I think youre wrong. The Prime Minister, i understand, has already expressed on behalf of the australian people his concern about the humanitarian issues of the people in raqqah and state. And the foreign minister as well on behalf of the government on saturday sent out the Australian Governments response including a commitment up to 5 million to address immediate needs. The government has spoken directly to myanmar, and we have called for protection of civilians and unfettered access to humanitarian workers. We have also spoken directly with our regional partners. The Prime Minister the foreign minister, i should say, personally spoke with the president and well continue to closely engage with indonesia and others. We, like everyone in our region, are very focused on this crisis. Now, at the moment, senator, what australia like other regional partners needs to do is to focus on immediate issues. Our focus must be on meeting the urgent needs of food and shelter and supporting agencies like unncr, australia recognizes the heavy burden placed on bangladesh. We have committed up to 5 million for our Immediate Response to the crisis. That funding will bring australians assistance for ruhinga and other affected communities to over 50 million since 2012. We also welcome myanmars commitment to insure assistance reaches communities through the red cross, but this must be expanded to other agencies including u. N. Agencies. Thank you, attorney general. Senator mckin, supplementary question. Yes, thank you, president. I would just like for the attorney to resume his seat. We welcome the response to date from the Australian Government. But could you explain, please, what steps the government intends to take to resettle or assist in resettling the ruhinga people who have been displaced and do you agree that australia has a leadership role to play in our region and a much greater capacity to assist the ruhingen people than most other countries in the world . The attorney general. Before i respond, can i just correct something i said in answer to your primary question . So the conversation which i referred was a conversation between the Prime Minister and the president , i think i said the foreign minister and the president. Senator, i have outlined what the Australian Governments response is to this humanitarian crisis. And it is an aspect of the broader assistance that australia has provided since 2012, as i said, for the ruhinga and other affected communities. Another 50 million. Thats been a generous response. It has been a response in which australia has been one of the leading regional participants. And that is the response that the government proposes to make. Thank you, attorney general. Senator, follow supplementary question. Ill refer you to the letter written in may to the Prime Minister over the weekend calling for a special impact of 20,000 ruhinga refugees over and above our current annual hum humanitarian intake. Could you please advise whether the government will at least consider this request in good faith, noting the urgency of the situation . Attorney general. Well, first of all, the urgency of the situation demands the urgent response which i have outlined. In answer to your primary question, the government is not lined to exceed to calls including from senator denutally and yourself for increases in the humanitarian intake, but we do, as you know, senator, operate most generous humanitarian refugee program. To another global issue, the continuing battle against isis. The force is still there in the middle east in which australia is playing a part in trying to rid the middle east of these extremists and the defense minister asked exactly how progress is being made. Thank you, mr. President. My question is to minister of defense, senator payne. Could the minister update the senate on the progress of the campaign to defeat daesh in iraq and syria . The minister for defense, senator payne. Thank you, mr. President. I thank the senator very much for her question. Mr. President , after what has been an extended period of extremist and terrorist activity in iraq, in the past few months, the Iraqi Security forces have won a number of decisive victories and have now liberated more than 90 of the territory that was once held by daesh. Indeed, following the lib rashz of mosul in july, the momentum against daesh has continued to increase. Just at the end of august, the Iraqi Security forces with the support of the membership of the International Coalition liberated the strategic city of tell afar, which is west of mosul, but the liberation of mosul and talafar dont mean that daesh is defeated. They still retain other strongholds that need to be liberated. These include the towns in the Euphrates River valley. In syria itself, more than 60 of raqqah, their selfproclaimed capital, has been liberated by Syrian Democratic forces. However, daesh continues to use what are barbaric and illegal tactics to slow their inevitable defeat. As we saw in mosul, theyre again preventing civilians from leaving and theyre using them as human shields. Recently in raqqah, they used a Childrens Hospital as a fortified headquarters. The stabilization efforts in mosul and in talafar are ongoing and they will take some time. The reestablishment of both institutions and essential services are critical to insure that residents are able to begin to rebuild their lives. This has been a particular focus of the counterisil defense ministers meetings that have occurred in relation to progress, mr. President. Australias commitment to the coalition continues. And we will continue to support iraq and its Security Forces so that they can defeat daesh, keep their people safe thank you. The time for answering the question has expired. Supplemental question. Can the minister advise the senate how the Defense Force is contributing to the campaign against daesh. I want to particularly acknowledge the men and women of the atf who continue to make a very significant contribution to the International CounterDaesh Coalition in support of the Iraqi Security forces, mr. President. Over 26,500 iraqi Army Trainees have graduated from our building partner capacity partnerships and that includes 4,000 Police Trainees following a train to our activity there. Following the Iraqi Security forces liberation of mosul and talafar, our special Operations TaskGroup Continues to work to support the counter support system. Currently, our f18 hornets continue to provide Precision Air strikes against terrorist targets. Our tankers have offloaded more than 30 million kilograms of fuel and we continue to provide what is critical battle state management in both northern raerk thank you. Senator mckenzie, your final supplementary question. Can the minister tell us why it important that australia contribute to the International Coalition to defeat daesh at its source . Minister. Mr. President , it is vital for Global Security and for stability that we defeat daesh in iraq and in syria to deny it a base of operations and a narrative for its success or a narrative of its success. This narrative has been used as a key social Media Recruitment tool to attract foreign fighters from around the world, and we know that that has included australia. Its also used that narrative to radicalize vulnerable youth in many countries to act with appalling violence against their fellow citizens and we have seen that most recently in spain, in finla finland, in the United Kingdom as a number of kexamples. We know fleeing daesh fighters will seek refuge, and our region is vulnerable to that. Recognizing this threat and the challenges that we face, the member nations have for example agrees to strengthen their focus on counterterrorism as a recognition of the regional challenge. Thats why australia continues to make thank you. The time for answering the question has expired. Overshadowing that threat, at least for now, north korea and those continued tests of Nuclear Weapons and threat that poses not just of course to south korea, to japan, but also to australia. This is something within australias region. And government today asked about exactly whats happening in terms of escalating some of the various elements that the world is trying to take against north korea in terms of sanctions. Can the minister out update the house on how the government as part of International Efforts is stepping up pressure on north korea . The minister of foreign affairs. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the members for this important question. The Australian Government welcomes and strongly supports the u. N. Security counsel resolution that was passed overnight by all 15 permanent temporary members of the Security Council, imposing further sanctions on north korea five days after north korea conducted its sixth illegal and most powerful nuclear test. Last thursday, i spoke at length with u. S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson about the contents of the proposed resolution, and we noted that while north korea is isolated diplomatically, it is not selfsufficient economically. Particularly in relation to basic commodities including energy. As secretary tillerson and i agreed that ever increasing economic pressure on north korea is an essential pillar of the collective International Strategy to compel north korea to return to the negotiating table and to abandon its illegal missile and nuclear programs. We noted the special responsibility of the permanent five members of the Security Council, particularly those who maintain an economic relationship with north korea, to uphold the authority of the Security Council in face of the repeated violations by north korea. And to impose maximum economic pressure on the north korean regime to make it change course. Mr. Speaker, the new additional sanctions target very important parts of the north korean economy. There will be a complete ban on the export of all north korean textiles. Thats worth about 950 million a year to the regime. The amount of oil that north korea can import will be reduced by a third. There will also be a prohibition on the importation of natural gas. All joint ventures with north korean individuals and entities are banned. No north korean workers will be permitted to Work Overseas once the current contracts are completed. And no new work visas will be issued, again, this will deny the regime of hundreds of millions of dollars that it has been channeling from remittances to fund its illegal programs. Mr. Speaker, also the powers to stop and search vessels that are carrying cargo to and from north korea will be greatly expanded. Australia continues to fully implement all sanctions, including those that were imposed on the fifth of august, and we will implement fully the latest sanctions. We also had our own regime of more permanent sanctions against 31 entities and 37 individuals from north korea. And if the International Community remains united and resolute, we can Deter North Korea from its course. Closer to home, the 48th Pacific Island forum recently had been held. The minister asked about the talks there and exactly whats happening in terms of concrete decisions. Senator mckenzie. Thank you, mr. President. My question is to minister for International Development and the pacific. Can the minister update the senate on australias participation in the 48th Pacific Island forum . The minister for International Development and the pacific. Thank you, mr. President. Can i thank senator mckenzie for her question and her interest in the pacific. Australias engage lt in the pacific is one of our highest priorities. As i have said on different occasions after australia, the stability and security of our region is our highest priority. And the Pacific Island forum is the preeminent political body in the pacific region. It brings together heads of government to address those shared challenges. As we know, working together in the pacific as we did in ramsey and the Regional Assistance Mission to the solomon islands, we work best when we work