00:00We've entered this sitting week with a kind of real sense around the building that this
00:08is, if not the second last, it won't be the last week, but it's probably the last, definitely
00:14the last fortnight. We'll see the government, the Prime Minister in particular, still dangling
00:20out the prospect that he brings down a budget in March that would push an election out to
00:27something like May. But I think there's a real sense that we're watching the shadow
00:32boxing of a campaign that's going to be called, you know, reasonably soon.
00:40Who wants to talk about what, do you think, Jacob? Because there were so many things that
00:44potentially could have been brought up today. Let's start with the Prime Minister. What
00:48does he want to talk about?
00:51He's really focused on convincing people that life will be better under him in another term
00:59and that the thought of Dutton having been in control of the country over the last three
01:04years would have meant people were worse off. It's very much a cost of living focus. It's
01:10about the government emphasising, and we saw that all the way through question time today,
01:16and it was quite a willing, lively question time, I'd have to say. The government's emphasis
01:20was really on talking about all the relief it's brought via packages on energy bills,
01:28for childcare, for student debt relief. You name it, the government goes through its list
01:34every time it speaks. And it's contrasting that critically with what the coalition is
01:41talking about. The coalition has been defending its policy today to provide tax breaks for
01:49small and medium-sized businesses to have lunches, essentially. The government's poo-pooing
01:54that idea, saying on the one hand it's looking after families, while the opposition is really
02:01focused on helping out business. So they're making that the contrast between the two.
02:07During the break, a lot of talk amongst the politicians as they started to emerge and
02:12come back into work was about hate speech and anti-Semitism. Did that appear in question
02:18time today? So, interestingly, the anti-Semitism issue, I would say, was quite muted during
02:25question time. The opposition leader didn't challenge the Prime Minister on this topic.
02:32He certainly did do that last year repeatedly, portraying the Prime Minister as slow to respond,
02:40you know, not attuned to the concerns of the Jewish community, and sort of sending a message
02:46of ambivalence about these anti-Semitic attacks. Now, that didn't dominate question time. There
02:53was one question from the opposition about when the Prime Minister knew about this caravan
02:59that had explosives in it in New South Wales, but it didn't get into that sort of more direct
03:04full-on attack. Now, one of the reasons for that was also that there was a motion moved
03:09by Allegra Spender, one of the independents, condemning anti-Semitism, and there was across
03:17the Parliament support for that motion. I have got four more things that were on my
03:22bingo list in terms of what might come up. Gambling reform, tech regulations, digital
03:28duty of care, if you like, political funding and childcare subsidies. Any of them? Certainly
03:34the gambling thing reared its head today with the Greens suggesting that they were ready
03:40to do a deal on a ban for gambling advertisement. My understanding is that's still looking pretty
03:47unlikely as something the government thinks it will land this week. They would prefer
03:51that to go away. There is also discussion about some hate crimes legislation. That is
03:59also in the mix, probably has a greater chance of getting up given no-one wants to be seen
04:05to be giving a green light to that kind of expressions of hate. Certainly the argument
04:12that freedom of speech, the sort of advocates for freedom of speech, they have taken a definite
04:17back seat in this argument. It is now about who can be toughest on this sort of odious
04:22and terrible expressions that we have been seeing. You should also put onto your bingo
04:30card the prospect of a vote on the future made in Australia bill, specifically the production
04:39tax credits that go to minerals companies that start to produce. That is really aimed
04:45at the West. The government wants to get the opposition on the record as opposing that.
04:50The government feels that will help them in that big resources state.
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