First week of parliament reveals Labor’s strength, Coalition’s struggles
Anthony Albanese opened parliament this week with a powerful message for his party as Opposition Leader Sussan Ley faced an early stern political test.
National
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After Labor’s emphatic election victory in May, the buzzword during the opening week of the 48th Australian parliament is “hubris” – everyone had an opinion on whether the Albanese Government was, or wasn’t, showing any.
With three years on the board to tackle some of Australia’s biggest problems on the economy, energy, health and education, the Labor establishment leaned into the first week as a time for some self-congratulations.
The Kingston Hotel – or Kingo as it is almost universally referred to in Canberra — hosted a strong contingent of union officials, Labor Party luminaries, staff and politicians each night this week to celebrate MPs’ first speeches.
Late on Tuesday the likes of former Queensland premier, now state Labor leader Steven Miles, could be spotted raising a glass to Ms France at the favourite watering hole of the capital’s political class.
On Monday at the Labor caucus meeting, where there were lower house MPs from 17 new seats previously not held by the party, Anthony Albanese issued a stark warning to his colleagues.
“A lot more people try to get here than do get here,” he said of the government party room.
“And more often than not, Labor has been at the other end of the corridor (in opposition).
“Which is why we should never, ever, ever take it for granted.”
But, he insisted, if the party maintained its discipline and “sense of purpose” there was “no reason” why each of the current Senators and MPs couldn’t be returned in 2028 and Labor even grow its ranks.
Whether talking about growing Labor’s whopping majority amounted to arrogance or not may have been up for debate, but as far as dejected Coalition MPs were concern there was one decision Labor made this week that was “undoubtedly” a sign of hubris.
The first two maiden speeches given by Labor MPs on Tuesday were first Ms France and Sarah Witty, who defeated former Greens leader Adam Bandt in the seat of Melbourne.
Both gave powerful and moving addresses to the parliament, but the deliberate decision to platform the so-called ‘giant slayers’ did not go unnoticed.
“I think unseating two leaders of a political party is … another layer on your election victory,” conceded Finance Minister Katy Gallagher when pushed on the call to put Ms France and Ms Witty up first.
Spirits remained high as Labor kicked of its legislative agenda.
The first bill introduced by the re-elected Albanese Government was to cut all student HECS-HELP debt by 20 per cent – an election promise that was hugely popular with voters.
This was quickly followed by urgent reforms to childcare allowing government to strip a provider of its Commonwealth funding if it fails to lift poor safety standards.
Finally Labor moved to enshrine protections for the penalty rates of award workers, citing fears people’s rights were being eroded as evidenced by a number of cases in front of the Fair Work Commission.
While Labor dominates the House of Representatives, it will be a different story when this legislation reaches the Senate where the government needs either the Greens or Coalition to pass bills.
The new Senate makeup means in many ways the path is simpler – crossbenchers like independent ACT Senator David Pocock or Tasmanian Jacqui Lambie no longer hold the balance of power.
But already some Labor backbench MPs are nervous about what the “binary” choice of pursuing the support of either the Greens or the Coalition.
Particularly regarding the government’s fresh attempt to pass nature positive laws that would establish an environmental watchdog and theoretically streamline how new developments are assessed.
One Labor MP in the party’s left faction said they were “really worried” the party would seek the support of the Coalition to deliver a “weaker” environmental laws.
With the Liberals and Nationals a diminished opposition, a major challenge for Mr Albanese will be in keeping his own Labor backbench happy more so that managing the threat to his agenda from across the political aisle.
The first week of parliament also confirmed internal discontent remains an issue for both Liberal leader Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud.
Mr Littleproud may have shrugged off a decision by his two predecessors – Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack – to join forces behind a private members bill seeking to drop Australia’s commitment to net zero by 2050, but later in the term any backbench ill-discipline will be toxic electorally.
Given it’s likely the Nationals will resolve to work away from the emissions target anyway when a review by known anti-net zero Queensland Senator Matt Canavan is completed in the coming months, the likelihood of another climate election in 2028 remains high.
But multiple Nationals MPs are less convinced Mr Joyce and Mr McCormack’s move this week was about policy, believing instead personal dislike of Mr Littleproud was the key motivator.
“They’re willing to risk our chances of forming government in the future just to ensure (Mr Littleproud) doesn’t join them in the deputy prime ministers’ club,” one National said.
Mr Joyce has denied the charge his actions were governed by leadership discontent.
Regardless of intent, the renewed net zero debate did have one clear impact – overshadowing Ms Ley’s first Question Time at the despatch box as the Coalition’s first female leader.
Flanked by senior Coalition women as she walked into the chamber on Tuesday, Ms Ley chose Australia’s housing crisis as the subject of her first question as Opposition leader to Mr Albanese.
It’s a central concern for most voters, but with the Coalition ranks a long way from being unified it will take a herculean effort to get the party into shape to prosecute the issue against a – for now – disciplined and ascendant Labor.
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Originally published as First week of parliament reveals Labor’s strength, Coalition’s struggles
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