Anthony Albanese all smiles in the chamber after Bill blitz in final parliamentary fortnight of the year
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was all smiles on Friday morning after Labor successfully pulled off a marathon session to race through 45 bills in the final parliamentary fortnight of the year.
After a frenetic Thursday that saw the Senate blitz through dozens of Bills — including major reforms to the Reserve Bank, migration laws and a social media ban — until after 11pm, bleary-eyed members of the House of Representatives were called to vote at 7am on the last day of term.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Six minutes later they had already zipped through votes on the first four Bills. A visibly relaxed Prime Minister was seen laughing and appearing to share a joke on his phone with Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.
Mr Albanese continued his victory lap shortly after 8am as he walked breezily past the Christmas tree in his office to greet journalists with a cheerful “good morning” before briefing them on Labor’s line-up of wins.
One journalist observed the contrast between his demeanour on Friday and last year, after losing the Voice referendum.
“How important is it to morale inside your government going into the summer and into the election season in terms of, you know, giving everyone a bit of a kick?” he asked.
“We’ve always been positive,” quipped back the PM. “We’ve always been focused on the plan that we have. Not on the 24-hour media cycle…. You have to deal with things as they are, but always focused as well on the horizon.”
