Anthony Albanese and Angus Taylor met several times last week on those policies, each of which are to make their way through parliament after agreements on core issues.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n Gambling reform is likely to pass both houses this week. We are yet to see the final amendments, but Albanese on Friday conceded wagering inducements were \u201cjust not on\u201d, pledging that \u201cwe\u2019re going to wind them back.\u201d<\/p>\n While a full ban on ads \u2013 as Peta Murphy\u2019s landmark report recommended \u2013 is not on the cards, some advertising rules will be stronger than in the government\u2019s first draft.<\/p>\n Internal advocates for stricter rules, in both the Labor and Liberal party rooms, have conceded they won\u2019t get everything they want<\/a>, but are pleased the final result is beefed up from the original version.<\/p>\n Despite a vocal campaign from the Greens and crossbench<\/a>, reforms to trim billions from NDIS spending forecasts will also pass before long with Labor and Liberal approval; so too the news bargaining incentive, which will have no problems passing.<\/p>\n The common theme here, of course, is the major parties cooperating on contentious legislation and cutting the crossbench out of the process. It\u2019s been a rarer occurrence in recent times, with Taylor\u2019s Coalition often choosing to instantly oppose legislation and leaving the Greens and independents to deal with the government, instead of seeking to make amendments of their own.<\/p>\n Usually, that simply means the Greens get to eke out a few more progressive reforms for their support, making changes even less palatable for Coalition constituencies.<\/p>\n Most recently we saw it with the government\u2019s negative gearing and capital gains changes, which passed with little fuss thanks to a deal with the Greens in June. Taylor was asked by journalists at the time what businesses and investors get out of the Coalition \u201cconstantly dealing itself out of negotiations\u201d.<\/p>\n Of course an opposition can make political hay out of letting the government make a controversial change that they can then campaign against (which is harder to do if they voted for it). That has been a plank of Taylor\u2019s strategy thus far.<\/p>\n Coalition MPs are increasingly voicing concern over his tactical calls, eager for more policy to be unveiled and for their leader to pick more fights with Labor. Some think he is playing too safely by sticking to a narrow set of topics in cost of living, immigration and energy, and deciding not to swing at other issues.<\/p>\n But this week will see the government and opposition team up on some key changes, leaving the crossbench kicking stones outside as the major parties quietly stitch up deals. The immediate benefit for the government is obvious, in finding easier paths through the Senate with their main counterpart instead of having to agree to the more radical changes proposed by the Greens on the NBI, gambling and NDIS.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n But more broadly, it also demonstrates how the traditional two-party system can still work; that methodical and measured change can be achieved without having to vote in untried, untested and fringe operators from well outside the mainstream.<\/p>\n Taylor is still working out how to stave off One Nation. For now, his Coalition is often just echoing Pauline Hanson\u2019s policy platform; on immigration, on Islamic State-linked families, even on slashing the building code<\/a>. While they figure what to do next, demonstrating the benefits of working methodically inside the system \u2013 instead of seeking to burn it down \u2013 should be an ongoing project.<\/p>\n For Labor, they remember Albanese\u2019s mantra of \u201csafe change\u201d and \u201corderly government\u201d brought Labor to power in 2022. Labor believes it\u2019s that same rationale, of making reasonable promises and then working hard to keep them, which will stave off the One Nation threat.<\/p>\n It is a shame Albanese didn\u2019t defuse the melons controversy<\/a> from the podcast-which-will-never-die from day one by apologising or otherwise neutralising the issue, because it allowed the trivial to overshadow a week when Labor got a fair bit done.<\/p>\n Even amid the drama, the government bailed out the Tomago aluminium plant<\/a>, finalised a gun buyback <\/a>with New South Wales, finalised the NBI, agreed to beef up gambling reforms, introduced legislation to boost wages for childcare workers, released stats showing their bulk billing and home battery schemes were working, and got Donald Trump on the phone to talk tariffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2998.jpg\")
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