The Albanese government has launched an inquiry designed to torpedo the Coalition’s centrepiece nuclear energy policy, and has locked in the option of an early budget, as it clears the way to the federal election next year.

The surprise establishment of the inquiry, to report on the eve of the next poll, marks an escalation of Labor’s political posturing at the end of a sitting week in which it failed to secure the passage of most of its key legislation through a recalcitrant Senate.