Wins, losses and barnacle clearing mark final sitting for Parliament

A packed legislative agenda coupled with old-fashioned barnacle clearing has sparked speculation federal politicians won’t be returning to Canberra before an election, making this the final sitting week of the term.

The Coalition and Greens have slammed the chaotic agenda — typical for an end-of-year sitting week — while Labor is seeking to turn their opposition to its plans into an election attack.

There are 31 bills on the Senate’s agenda for the week; last week, the upper house passed just one.

Long-standing priorities like schools funding and overhauling veterans entitlements are mixed with measures that have been before Parliament for less than a week like electoral funding reform and the social media ban.

Currently, there are no plans to truncate debate but this may come on Wednesday if the Senate doesn’t match the pace the Government wants.

The lower house has already extended its sitting hours to deal with a raft of bills.

Manager of Opposition Business Paul Fletcher said it was shaping up as a “pretty chaotic” week.

“This government has left a lot of things to the last minute . . . In government, you’ve got to keep a lot of things going at the same time and so in area after area there’s legislation backed up,” he said.

Over the weekend, the Government dumped its efforts to force social media companies to deal with misinformation and disinformation and back flipped on plans to bring in a ban on gambling ads this year.

But it had two wins on Monday: its overhaul of aged care passed into law and Housing Minister Clare O’Neil stared down the Greens, who will now wave through a pair of measures they had blocked for a year.

Ms O’Neil blasted the minor party’s opposition to the shared equity Help to Buy scheme and Build to Rent incentives, labelling it a “juvenile charade” and hypocritical.

“Do the Greens want to go to the election having blocked and delayed everything and having stood in the path of childcare workers owning their own homes? Are they anything more than an ineffective party of protest?” she said.

“We will soon find out. The ball is in their court.”

Two hours later, Greens leader Adam Bandt and his rambunctious housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather fronted media to say they would drop all their demands and wave through the laws.

Mr Bandt denied recent poor election results for the Greens across State and local government elections had anything to do with the backdown and said he didn’t accept the characterisation that voters were alarmed at the party’s increasingly extreme positions on non-environmental issues.

“Ministers want to get outcomes, the Greens want to get outcomes that improve people’s lives — and over the course of these two years of Parliament, that’s what we’ve delivered,” he said.

But Labor insiders believe the minor party has alienated its traditional supporter base with its position on the Middle East conflict, support for the militant CFMEU, and opposition to progressive policies.

Senior government figures are relishing being able to paint both the Coalition and the Greens as recalcitrant blockers of sensible ideas during the election campaign.

Those lines were tested out in question time on Monday as minister after minister listed the measures the Opposition had sought to block, including cheaper medicines, energy bill rebates, fee-free TAFE and measures to boost the wages of low-paid workers.

“If they say they are against something, they are probably against it, and if they say they support something, they are against that too,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton — who was absent from question time — took his attacks online, saying Australians deserved better than what they were getting form the Government.

“What does Anthony Albanese stand for? This Prime Minister is weak on security, weak on the economy, and weak on leadership,” he said.

Parliament rises on Thursday for the summer break.

It is scheduled to return on February 4, but many have an eye on the open election window and think they won’t be back in Canberra until after voters have their say.