Katina Curtis: Turn up and tune in to 48th season of Parliament, will it be a blockbuster or bomb?
Same sets, same lead character, new actors in key roles, new drama and hopefully some new plotlines.
This first parliamentary sitting after the election will set the tone for what's to come.
Sussan Ley has been telling everyone on her listening tour that she knows the Liberals got smashed. The reality of just what that means will sink in once everyone gathers in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Labor MPs are set to sprawl across the chamber's aisle — Perth's Patrick Gorman is among five assistant ministers seated in what's traditionally crossbench territory.
Meanwhile, the remaining members of the Coalition fit into about two-thirds of the space they previously occupied.
The Government's key challenges are twofold: not to succumb to the hubris of the thumping victory, and to work out what it will do once it delivers its election pledges.
Anthony Albanese's opening lines to his colleagues on Monday were a reminder that Labor has more often sat in Parliament's opposition party room than in the government one.
Despite the humble rhetoric, Labor is sticking the knife into its opponents in sly ways.
Ali France (who defeated Peter Dutton) and Sarah Witty (who beat Adam Bandt) will kick off more than 11 hours of speeches by new MPs this week.
Not coincidentally, both are also seated within TV shot behind the Prime Minister. And of the 24 backbench MPs in those positions that routinely end up on the nightly news, 16 are women, in stark contrast to the Coalition.
The fresh season also gives Tony Burke and Albanese another crack at rewriting the standing orders. Last time they laid several traps for new players and they're keen to test anew how Ley and her lieutenants manage parliamentary tactics.
As for a full term's worth of stuff to get done, Jim Chalmers setting up the economic reform roundtable next month is a good base from which to build an argument for hard tax changes.
That point is grudgingly conceded among his opponents, although they're waiting to see if Albanese has the same enthusiasm for tough changes as his Treasurer.
There is even a growing openness from some in the Coalition to a move to increase the GST rate or broaden its base in exchange for lower income taxes amid a grand package to make the budget bottom line more sustainable.
For Ley, the plotlines ahead could contain treachery and she needs to show steel to her own ranks.
Not everyone is content with the tone of constructiveness struck since she took over as leader — although Ley warned the PM on Monday that 'we won't be getting out of the way' on everything — and already questions are being whispered about her tactical nous.
Whether you stay tuned or switch off until early 2028, there will be plenty going on.
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Major step towards cutting maximum medicine cost to $25
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West Australian
12 minutes ago
- West Australian
Major step towards cutting maximum medicine cost to $25
Australians will pay no more than $25 for selected medicines for the first time in more than 20 years under a proposal to be brought before parliament. It will be the second cap on medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) introduced by the Albanese government in three years, after it cut the maximum price of PBS prescriptions from $42.50 to $30. "The size of your bank balance shouldn't determine the quality of your health care," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. "My government will continue to deliver cost-of-living relief for all Australians." PBS medicines would be capped at $7.70 for pensioners and credit card holders until 2030. The bill's introduction is largely a formality, with its passage through the lower house all but assured thanks to Labor's massive 94-seat majority in the 150-seat House of Representatives. The election promise is the Albanese government's next priority after it introduced childcare safety and HECS debt reduction legislation. Federal Labor has been talking up plans to strengthen the PBS amid concerns the scheme will be targeted as a bargaining chip in US trade negotiations to ward off threatened pharmaceutical tariffs. Mr Albanese has repeatedly said the scheme was not up for negotiation. Australia eased its biosecurity restrictions on US beef imports last week, but the prime minister has denied the move was linked to US trade talks, noting it followed a 10-year review of Australian biosecurity rules. Beyond new legislation, conflict in the Middle East will likely prompt fierce debate on the parliamentary floor after Mr Albanese said Israel had breached international law by blocking the flow of food aid into Gaza. "Quite clearly, it is a breach of international law to stop food being delivered, which was a decision that Israel made in March," Mr Albanese said on ABC's Insiders program on Sunday. He stopped short of saying Australia would join France in recognising a Palestinian state, but said his government would decide at "an appropriate time". "Hamas can have no role in a future state," he said. "Hamas are a terrorist organisation who I find, their actions are abhorrent." Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said Mr Albanese failed to adequately condemn the role of the group in the ongoing conflict. The government is also likely to come under pressure regarding transparency when parliament resumes, after a Centre for Public Integrity probe revealed only a quarter of freedom of information request responses returned by the government in 2023-24 were un-redacted. By comparison, the Morrison government returned almost half of its FOI requests as complete documents in 2021-22.
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5 hours ago
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Government to introduce legislation for cheaper PBS medicines next week as parliament resumes
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