High stakes end to Parliament locks in legacy without debate: 32 Bills pass after Labor makes deal with Greens

Anthony Albanese’s first-term legacy will now include a world-first ban on children using social media, draconian deportation powers for non-citizens, new housing measures and an overhaul of the Reserve Bank.

But the passage of 32 bills on a chaotic final day of Parliament only came after the Government made a string of concessions to the Greens, leaving leader Adam Bandt to declare: “Greens pressure works”.

In a day of high drama in Canberra, senator Lidia Thorpe caused another stir less than 24 hours after the Senate suspended her for misbehaviour involving flipping the bird and throwing paper at One Nation leader Pauline Hanson during a heated debate over racism.

Senator Thorpe had a private members bill listed for debate Thursday morning, but because of her suspension was unable to speak.

Instead, she tried to shout “genocide” while standing outside the Senate chamber, before the doors were shut.

She then made her way up to the press gallery, which is directly above the President’s seat, to shout, “Free free Palestine. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” before leaving.

The act was symbolic of the maelstrom that engulfed Parliament on Thursday during a frantic round of horse-trading that eventually saw the Greens agree to wave through 28 bills after a raft of concessions.

These included a $500 million commitment from the Government to electrify 50,000 social housing properties and ban on fossil fuel funding under Future Made in Australia.

The deal allowed Labor to force the Bills through with minimal debate on Thursday evening.

Laws to ban under-16s from social media and a trio of draconian migration bills – giving greater powers to deport non-citizens and confiscate phones from immigration detention centres – were dealt with separately under a side pact that won the Opposition’s support.

Mr Albanese closed out the mammoth final sitting day saying he took “nothing for granted” as the Government turns its attention towards next year’s election, due by May.

“But each and every day, we have worked to make a positive difference for Australia, and at the next election, we will be talking about Australia’s future and not going backwards,” Mr Albanese told ABC’s 7.30.

Mr Bandt called a snap press conference just before question time to reveal the raft of concessions the Greens secured in exchange for helping Labor clear the bulk of its legislative backlog.

“Having delivered good outcomes that will help people, the Greens now turn to keeping Peter Dutton out and pushing for cheaper rents, cheaper groceries and no new coal and gas in a coming minority parliament,” he said.

This came less than 90 hours after the Greens capitulated on two housing bills, saying it would wave them through after a 12-month standoff despite the Government rejecting all the minor party’s requests.

Votes on the dozens of bills started at 6.30pm Canberra time. The lower house returns early on Friday morning to tackle amendments.

But the deal didn’t include the environment protection agency, the electoral reform, lifting taxes on superannuation accounts larger than $3 million, or expanding the instant asset write-off for small business.

Several ministers said these measures – along with the production tax credits that passed the lower house despite the Coalition’s opposition – could be dealt with in February, if Parliament returns.

“We fully expect to be sitting in February,” Mr Albanese said, before describing the final sitting day as “good”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton didn’t think politicians should return to Canberra.

“Prime Minister, why not call an election now to put Australians out of their misery and allow a competent Coalition government to get our country back on track?” he asked.

Mr Albanese shot back that the last time his opponent called for an immediate election – over the tax cut shake-up – “he rolled over and had his tummy tickled and voted for it”.

“Now he is suggesting that we should have an election (the week of) New Year’s Day,” the PM said bemusedly.

Independent Zali Steggall said the Government should just add another sitting week in December and end the brinkmanship.

“The Government clearly had an issue of dealing reasonably with the crossbench in both houses at times. It’s incredibly unproductive,” she said.

“And I think the deals the Government does with the Coalition are ultimately incredibly dangerous because they are both in the next six months vying to form government ... (and) they may well each have to turn around and gain the support of members of the crossbench.”

Earlier, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher set the scene for Parliament’s 2024 finale by declaring the Government was prepared to sit through the night to pass its agenda.

“It’s going to be a bit of a ride,” she said.

So it proved, with the bells calling MPs and senators to votes ringing near-constantly throughout the day.

“The House would get no work done if we just kept revisiting the same topic over and over again,” Speaker Milton Dick lamented after a series of attempts to derail the agenda.

In the Senate, Labor’s original plan to ram through 36 bills was thrown into chaos after crossbenchers teamed up to block its attempt to “guillotine” – or gag – debate.

An angry Jacqui Lambie blasted Labor for demanding “the mother of all guillotines” at the last minute.

“It is dangerous to shove bills down our throats,” shouted the Tasmanian senator, calling out the “hypocrisy” of forcing employees to work so much overtime in the face of recent “right to disconnect” laws.

The Opposition’s Senate leader Simon Birmingham chimed in with his support: “What Jacqui said!”

Labor succeeded on a second gag motion – with some of the earlier list binned – after the Greens shifted.

Thursday’s tactics hiked the number of bills with limited debate this year from 73 to 105.