Greens Leader Richard Di Natale declared Cormann,in the seconds before he had made this improbable claim,had walked to Lambie and asked whether it was OK to say there was no deal.

"Someone is lying,"said Di Natale.

Not Lambie. She just wasn't saying anything,in quite a lot of words.

"I'm not being coy or silly when I say I genuinely can't say what I proposed,"she said,coyly.

"I know that's frustrating to people. And I get that. I don't like holding things back like this.

"But when I say I can't discuss it publicly due to national security concerns,I am being 100 per cent honest to you. My hand is on my heart and I can stand here and say that I would be putting at risk Australia's national security and national interest if I said anything else about this."

The opposition Senate leader,Penny Wong,expressed incredulity that even cabinet ministers were"coming in to vote on a deal that's been done with Senator Jacqui Lambie,that they don't even know about".

"We just walk in and put up our hands and walk across the chamber on a deal that not even the Cabinet has had a look at? What sort of government are you running?"Wong asked. It was a rhetorical question,we can only assume.

One Nation's Pauline Hanson said,as usual,many things,including that those in offshore detention were"not good character. They're rapists. These people are thugs".

"They don't belong here in Australia,"she said.

Oh,yes,and they had swallowed stones and rubbed palm oil into their penises! To get to Australia for medical treatment.

With no one any the wiser about anything much,the Senate − which is to say Liberal and Nationals Senators with the support of Lambie,Hanson and Hanson's sidekick,Malcolm Roberts − duly voted to repeal legislation that gave doctors the right to decide whether refugees needed evacuation from distant islands for medical treatment.

It was,said Penny Wong,the deal that dare not speak its name.