Greens, Coalition promise to challenge Labor’s agenda in the Senate

Even with a massive majority in the House of Representatives, Anthony Albanese is facing a big hurdle as parliament resumes.

The Greens and the opposition are vowing to pump the breaks on Anthony Albanese’s agenda as parliament resumes this week.

The Prime Minister commands a massive 94-seat majority in the House of Representatives, but the Senate is another matter.

Labor will need to work with either the Greens or the Coalition to pass legislation through the chamber – a task far easier said than done.

For many of the Albanese government’s more progressive items, such as legislating penalty rates, the Greens are more natural partners, but Senator Nick McKim said on Monday his party would hold Mr Albanese “to account”.

Nick McKim said he expects Mr Albanese to work ‘constructively’ with the Greens. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“The results were pretty clear in the Senate and I wasn’t that happy with the PM telling the Senate and the Greens to get out of the way shortly after the election,” Senator McKim told Nine’s Today.

“We haven’t been put into the Australian parliament to get out of the Prime Minister’s way.

“We’ve been put in there to hold him to account.

“And we do expect him to deliver, and we expect him to engage in some of the really meaningful issues, whether it’s climate change, whether it’s protecting nature, whether it’s the housing crisis in Australia.”

He went on to say the Greens needed “to see solutions that are commensurate with the scale of the challenges facing the country”.

“We’re here to work constructively and cooperatively with Labor,” Senator McKim said.

“We hope that they would take the same approach to us.”

Jane Hume said her party will hold the ‘very bad’ government to account. Sydney. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Meanwhile, demoted Liberal senator Jane Hume took a similar line.

She was opposition finance spokeswoman under Peter Dutton and championed some of the Coalition’s most controversial policies.

Senator Hume was booted from the frontbench after Labor’s federal election landslide decimated the Liberal Party.

Acknowledging the Coalition had “hit a low point in their primary vote”, she pledged to “work every day” to claw back support.

“We’re going to work every day to rebuild trust with the Australian people, to make sure that they know that we’re listening to their concerns and responding to them, sticking with our values,” Senator Hume told Sky News.

“Of course, those important values of reward for effort, lower taxes, growing the economy, managing the budget responsibly.

“But at the same time, we have to make sure that this three years we are holding this very bad government to account, because the last three years delivered nothing other than a cost of living crisis where people saw their standard of living go backwards and economic growth stagnating.

“The last thing we need is another talk fest – we need an economic plan.”

More to come.

Originally published as Greens, Coalition promise to challenge Labor’s agenda in the Senate