PM ends year on a high in a final parliament week of the good, bad and ugly for Labor

Parliament has ended for the year with some major wins for Anthony Albanese, as well as the dumping of key promises. See the full list of Labor bills that have passed.

Anthony Albanese struck an eleventh hour deal to pass dozens of bills through the Senate after promising the Greens an extra $500 million for social housing upgrades and no fossil fuel funding in Labor’s signature Future Made in Australia investment plan.

There was good, bad and ugly for the Prime Minister in the final week of parliament, as Labor’s initial push on Thursday to ram through 37 bills was kiboshed by the crossbench furious over the rush, with a downsized agreement to pass 30 pieces of legislation secured later in the afternoon.

Mr Albanese’s victory came at the expense of several major Labor commitments, with misinformation and nature positive laws dumped, and reforms to political donations and gambling ad limits kicked into the new year.

Labor’s urgency in passing the huge suite of bills sparked speculation parliament would not be returning in 2025 before the PM called the next election.

Anthony Albanese struck a late deal to pass dozens of bills through the Senate. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Albanese left the possibility open when asked to confirm if MPs would be returning to Canberra in February.

“We fully expect to be sitting in February,” he told ABC.

Greens leader Adam Bandt claimed victory following the negotiations with Labor, saying it was thanks to the minor party that people in 50,000 public and community homes would receive life-changing upgrades and save about $1,800 on annual power bills.

Mr Bandt said in negotiations on Future Made in Australia, the Greens had stopped “billions of dollars of public money going into coal, oil and gas projects, here or overseas”.

The deal with the Greens enabled the rest of the package to pass through the Senate late on Thursday, with Finance Minister Katy Gallagher positive about the government’s final bill tally.

“This is not unusual for the end of the sitting period,” she said.

“There is always a bit of a rush on with different things.

“Sometimes those amendments land a bit late, but we get the job done if those amendments are important for the passage of the bill.”

Historic new laws raising the social media age limit to 16 passed the Senate .

The good

Historic new laws raising the social media age limit to 16 passed the Senate with the support of the Coalition, making Australia a world-leader in children’s online safety.

Mr Albanese has banked a huge win in getting Labor’s signature Future Made in Australia package through the parliament, even if it cost him $500 million in upgrades for social housing in the deal he made with the Greens.

Other bills such as creating a complaints body for the higher education sector, defining the objective of superannuation in law and ensuring domestic and family violence is considered in settlements when families separate were also key Labor promises.

Mr Albanese’s biggest success came earlier in the sitting week when the Greens capitulated on two of Labor’s housing bills and agreed to back them without amendment.

With the backing of the Coalition, Mr Albanese’s government also passed major reforms to aged care designed to improve safety and quality of care for older Australians while making the sector more economically sustainable longer term.

Labor also secured the opposition’s support for a raft of changes to immigration powers, including measures that will allow the government to reinstate ankle monitors and curfews for non-citizen criminals released from detention by the High Court.

Katy Gallagher said the Coalition had put forward a ‘list of last-minute amendments’. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Peter Dutton during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The bad

Labor had to shelve its electoral reforms late on Thursday after negotiations with the Senate reached an impasse.

The bill would have imposed caps on political caps and spending during election campaigns, but lacked crossbench support due to concerns it unfairly favoured the major parties and incumbents.

Ms Gallagher said the Coalition had put forward a “list of last-minute amendments” that the government needed time to work through over the summer.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton said they could not support the government bill “at the moment”, with measures for unions a sticking point.

Before the sitting week had even begun, Mr Albanese had abandoned Labor’s controversial misinformation and disinformation bill, which would have been opposed by the opposition and the entire crossbench if put to a vote.

It is also expected the government will not pursue its planned changes to the tax treatment of superannuation accounts of $3 million or above this term.

Other promises unlikely to be dealt with before the next election include a proposal to expand the number of senators from the ACT and Northern Territory and truth in political advertising laws.

David Pocock initially refused to support Labor’s bid to “guillotine” debate on the wide range of bills. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The ugly

The PM has come under fire for the decision to kick gambling ad reforms into next year, with many advocates fearing the issue will not be dealt with before the next election.

In response to pleas from the West Australian not to go ahead with the laws, Mr Albanese intervened earlier in the week to scupper talks between Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and the Greens to find a way forward with the bill, which would have created an environmental watchdog in Australia.

Independent Senator David Pocock initially refused to support Labor’s bid to “guillotine” debate on the wide range of bills as the package had not included the government’s controversial nature positive proposal.

Mr Pocock said it was “disappointing” the government had refused his “good faith” proposal to move forward with the laws this week, but he ultimately agreed to back the smaller group of 30 bills.

The huge rush of bills on the final day of parliament for the year also deeply angered crossbench Senators, with many attributing the backlog of bills to Labor’s mishandling of the process throughout the term.

Anthony Albanese was able to pass dozens of bills through the Senate after promising the Greens an extra $500 million for social housing upgrades. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Full list of bills to pass parliament

— Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2024: new compliance obligations for real estate agents, lawyers and accountants

— Sydney Airport Demand Management Amendment Bill 2024: penalties for misuse of timeslots at Sydney Airport

— Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024: component of funding overhaul for the sector

— Commonwealth Entities (Payment Surcharges) Bill 2024: first part of a fix to retrospectively make card surcharges on payments to government legal

— Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Bill 2024: extends credit code to apply to buy now, pay later operators

— Capital Works (Build to Rent Misuse Tax) Bill 2024: tax rate of 1.5 per cent on some build to rent developments

— Crimes Amendment (Strengthening the Criminal Justice Response to Sexual Violence) Bill 2024: enacts recommendations from the child sexual abuse royal commission

— Family Law Amendment Bill 2024: ensures courts can take family and domestic violence can into consideration in property settlements for separating families

— Future Made in Australia (Guarantee of Origin) Bill 2024: provides framework for a range of industry subsidies

— Universities Accord (National Student Ombudsman) Bill 2024: creates a complaints body for the higher education sector

— Treasury Laws Amendment (Fairer for Families and Farmers and Other Measures) Bill 2024: code of conduct for food and grocery sector

— Superannuation (Objective) Bill 2023: puts an objective of superannuation into law

— Treasury Laws Amendment (Reserve Bank Reforms) Bill 2023: overhauls the structure of the RBA

— Communications Legislation Amendment (Regional Broadcasting Continuity) Bill 2024: provides access to a satellite TV service if a commercial broadcaster stops services

— Customs Tariff Amendment (Incorporation of Proposals and Other Measures) Bill 2024: a collection of bills dealing with customs duties, including extension of zero duty on products made in Ukraine

— Crown References Amendment Bill 2023: updates monarchy references from Queen to King

— Customs Amendment (ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Second Protocol Implementation and Other Measures) Bill 2024: rules needed to comply with the free-trade act

— Midwife Professional Indemnity (Commonwealth Contribution) Scheme Amendment Bill 2024: extends indemnity scheme to ensure midwives are properly insured

— Treasury Laws Amendment (2024 Tax and Other Measures No. 1) Bill 2024: increases the withholding rate for the foreign resident capital gains withholding payments regime

— Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024: range of privacy protection measures

— Surveillance Legislation (Confirmation of Application) Bill 2024: retrospectively deals with AFP warrants related to Operation Ironside

— Treasury Laws Amendment (Mergers and Acquisitions Reform) Bill 2024: overhaul of merger laws

— Migration Amendment Bill 2024: raft of bills to deal with former immigration detainees, grant tough new powers to deport, detain or monitor convicted non-citizens