The immigration minister Scott Morrison was forced to hose down reports he was getting too big for his boots and executing grabs in other portfolios. Such reports were false, he said. The thing about whispering campaigns is they only take off if there’s some fire under the smoke. Curious how every leadership contender eventually gets undermined by a whispering campaign. First Hockey, now Morrison.

Ebola was the other big issue of the day. It emerged that both the United States and the United Kingdom have requested that the Abbott government send health teams to West Africa – but the prime minister still seems cool about the idea, arguing that Australians can’t be deployed until he’s certain they can be kept safe.

There’s been an exchange on renewables. Labor wants to know why the government is intent on gutting the RET. Abbott wants to know why Labor won’t support the real 20%. The prime minister says the RET needs to be adjusted to protect jobs. (Adjusted is always a nicer word than cut, right?)