Parliament returns in Canberra on Tuesday for one of the last sittings before the election campaign, with a full slate of legislation to deal with.
Several big-ticket items were left on the Senate floor last year after being stuck at an impasse with both the Coalition and crossbench, including electoral donations reform that would have capped major donations and election spending.
You can expect what the government does put forward this week, and whether it secures enough support to pass bills, will have a significant impact on its messaging to the public during the election campaign.
Here we run through the top items left over on the government’s agenda:
Production tax credits
This one is high on the government’s agenda for this fortnight, as the remaining piece of legislation for its signature Future Made in Australia agenda.
This month Labor announced $2bn in tax credits for green aluminium and Anthony Albanese wants his legislated production tax credits to be in the spotlight.
Guardian Australia has confirmed that the government has the numbers from the crossbench to support the policy, which is likely to pass this fortnight.
This policy, which focuses on manufacturing capacity and jobs, particularly in regional areas, will also be a mainstay of the election campaign.
Hate speech laws
Labor’s hate crimes legislation, introduced in September, will be crisis.
It was reported last week that both Labor and the Coalition are keen to make a deal to show the public they’re cracking down on antisemitism.
It’s not guaranteed to pass smoothly, though, as the Coalition has made demands to specifically protect places of worship, which the government says the legislation already adequately protects.
Electoral reforms
In a dramatic turnaround last year, the government’s electoral reforms – which looked set to pass with agreement from the Coalition – were pulled at the 11th hour.
The proposed changes would cap donations, limit spending for candidates and parties, and lower the transparency threshold for large contributions.
The special minister of state, Don Farrell, who is in charge of the legislation, promised to go back to the negotiating table over summer to pass his electoral reform. Farrell has had discussions on the legislation but there’s still more work to do before he’s able to win Coalition agreement.
Asked about it at a press conference on Wednesday, Farrell’s shadow counterpart, Jane Hume, said the conversations were “entirely in the Labor government’s hands”.
Despite promises to consult with the crossbench over summer, and the independents David Pocock and Kate Chaney writing to Farrell and Albanese, the independents and the Greens haven’t been brought into any discussions on these reforms.
Super tax changes
First announced in February 2023, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, promised to double the tax rate for superannuation accounts of more than $3m but the policy has found little support in parliament.
The bill is on the Senate program for the first week but looks all but likely to fail, despite the treasurer telling the ABC on Monday: “Ideally I would see that fortnight as an opportunity to pass those [superannuation] changes.”
Nature positive bill
This was another dramatic 11th-hour turnaround from the government, when Albanese swooped in to stop a deal being made between the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, and the Greens.
Labor backbenchers were agitating for action on the bill, which would set up a federal environment watchdog, but that angered some Western Australians, who are due to have their state election in March and are crucial to Labor holding government federally.
Freedom of information documents released on Wednesday show there was a deal with the Greens and Pocock, though the details of that were redacted.
But at the weekend the prime minister made it clear that “we won’t be proceeding with it this term”.
Everything else
We’ve run through the top-ticket items but there’s a whole host of other, less high-profile items on the list.
Labor’s fee-free Tafe bill that would legislate an ongoing financial commitment from the commonwealth to states and territories to create free Tafe places will be introduced into the House of Representatives in the first sitting week. It has support from the Greens and is being considered by several crossbenchers, and is looking likely to pass. Fee-free Tafe plays a significant part in Labor’s education policy platform – it was mentioned six times in Albanese’s National Press Club address in Januaryand is likely be highlighted again in the election campaign.
Workplaces with more than 500 employees could soon be required to set targets for gender equality and commit to achieving or making progress on those targets. Labor will be looking to the crossbench for support, as the Coalition signalled in a Senate inquiry examining the legislation that it had significant issues with the bill, including that it would be too “onerous” for businesses.
The government is also looking at moving forward on legislating a scams framework to make organisations better protect consumers. But the Coalition and members of the crossbench have told Guardian Australia they have some concerns and will be pushing for amendments to ensure consumers are adequately compensated if they get caught up in a scam. The Coalition is also concerned about the cost the framework could have for smaller businesses.
There are a few other bills that will be up in the Senate this week that Labor would feel reasonably confident of passing, including legislation for the administrative review tribunal, which replaces the administrative appeals tribunal.
