Morning mail: religious discrimination bill passes, Covid fines ‘imbalance’, Perth festival

Thursday: The Coalition has passed the controversial legislation through the lower house. Plus: Perth prepares for festival opening despite border closures

Good morning. The Morrison government has passed its controversial religious discrimination bill after a marathon all-night sitting of the lower house - expect a day of reaction ahead. Russia and Belarus prepare for joint military exercises, and more Australians turn to renewable energy than ever before.

In a long but dramatic debate, the hotly contested religious discrimination bill has passed the lower house, despite five Liberal moderates defecting to help add more extensive protections for LGBTQ+ students. Bridget Archer, Trent Zimmerman, Katie Allen, Fiona Martin and Dave Sharma crossed the floor against the government, helping Labor and the crossbench add protections for LGBTQ+ students into the Sex Discrimination Act. Zimmerman told the house the parliament could not send a message by omission" by moving to fix sexuality discrimination but not gender identity discrimination: I could not live with myself if I didn't seek to address those issues."