Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has told Coalition MPs that a double dissolution election this year is a "live option".

Abbott knew it was daft because he had said so just three months earlier. After the Irish vote, he rejected the idea for Australia because “questions of marriage are the preserve of the Commonwealth parliament”.

"Secure, affordable housing that is connected to transport and jobs, to education and support services, is a crucial piece of the puzzle for reducing poverty and disadvantage in this state," she said.

Ms Howe said she believed the fund had the potential to deliver "far more" than 3000 additional homes.

IPA chief executive Brendan Lyon said the fund "will see thousands of people get stable housing and tailored support services, but it also begins to trial new ways to solve the public housing backlog".

However, opposition spokesman for social housing, Tania Mihailuk, questioned why the government needed to subsidise developers in "a booming housing market" with rents "on the rise".

Who is paying for the proselytising trips of Tony Abbott and Kevin Andrews to the USA? Taxpayers? Churches? Are these trips going down as investigation for parliamentary purposes when we know they're not?

Tony Abbott's sister and same-sex marriage campaigner Christine Forster has expressed concern about his upcoming visit to anti-gay marriage and anti abortion Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) group in the US this week.

"With great respect to those who don't share my views and recognising our proud history of European settlement in this country and beyond, over 200 years and more, I will lend my voice to the republican movement in this country," General Morrison said in his acceptance speech on Monday night.

Joe Hockey has had a very chilly reception in Washington DC as he starts his new job as Australia's Ambassador to the United States. 

Mr Hockey has arrived in the US capital to take up the plum diplomatic job, just in time to experience the "snowmageddon​" that is sweeping the area first-hand. 

He has posted several photos to Twitter showing the Ambassador's residence blanketed in snow, as well as a  "snelfie" (snow selfie), complete with slight grimace and hoodie. 

US Republican front-runner Donald Trump says he could stand in New York's Fifth Avenue "and shoot somebody" and not lose voters.