Extract from ABC News
Analysis
It's no secret this Prime Minister, like many before him, regards attending a parliamentary sitting as up there with visiting the dentist — something that must be endured.
This final sitting fortnight of what's been his most troubled year in office, however, is proving particularly painful for Scott Morrison.
The final weeks of parliament for the year are always chaotic and sometimes turn into the "killing season" for a leader under pressure. Things aren't quite that dire, but after a bruising internal climate change debate, which left both sides unsatisfied, the frustrations and resentments are showing.
Conservative renegades are raging over vaccine mandates, long-delayed religious discrimination laws have resurfaced old divisions, and Labor is relentlessly hammering the Prime Minister's credibility.
Morrison hasn't helped himself either this week, delivering a jackpot for the opposition in a single Question Time response where he managed to simultaneously raise fresh doubts over his honesty while reviving memories of the ill-fated Hawaii holiday by claiming he had texted Anthony Albanese to tell him "where I was going".
He hadn't. An awkward correction was required.
A split Coalition
After spending last week declaring it was "time for government to get out of our lives", the Prime Minister could hardly complain about the five Coalition senators who crossed the floor to vote in favour of a One Nation move aimed at putting an end to vaccine mandates.
Of more concern was the threat from two of the renegade five to withhold their votes for all government legislation until the mandates were gone. The two senators — Alex Antic and Gerard Rennick — are both, notably, in their first term of parliament. Some of their colleagues suspect they haven't yet fully appreciated the importance of working as a team.
Still, the threats have already worked to some degree. The Prime Minister gave ground yesterday on Rennick's demand to extend access to its COVID-19 vaccine injury compensation scheme for the few people who suffer adverse impacts from the jab.
It prompted Labor taunts that government policy was now hostage to a vaccine sceptic. In return, Rennick has now promised to support the government on procedural votes, but he's making no guarantees on legislation.
Plans to require voter ID at the coming election could bite the dust as a result. The government won't be putting any legislation to a vote unless it's confident the numbers are there.
Religious discrimination bill delayed
It certainly won't be putting its religious discrimination bill to a vote this year, not due to the threats of mayhem from renegades, but because of more substantial differences within the ranks.
The bill was finally made public on Tuesday afternoon, only after the Coalition party room had met, much to the frustration of some in attendance. Both moderates and conservatives have various concerns and noticed most of those who spoke in favour of the legislation during the meeting were Morrison supporters from the centre-right faction. It all looked a "bit staged", they suggested.
The bill will go to a Senate inquiry. Few expect the differences over religious discrimination laws that have lingered for four years since the same-sex marriage debate will be resolved over the summer.
Not that Labor has been highlighting the Coalition's internal woes on this one. It has its own divisions on religious discrimination and unsurprisingly hasn't raised the issue in Question Time.
If the legislation does come back to Parliament before the election, some in Labor would prefer it to be waved through without a vote.
A balancing act
On many fronts, Albanese continues to keep his policy powder dry.
He'll announce his 2030 climate target and at least one other major policy before the end of the year, but only after parliament has risen.
Labor's main task for this final sitting fortnight is to fix the impression in voters' minds that Morrison is a shameless liar. They're throwing everything at it.
That impression is no doubt settling in for some, but the Coalition is hoping most "quiet Australians" either aren't tuned in to the parliamentary chaos this week or aren't particularly shocked by politicians accusing each other of being slippery with the truth.
The plan is to make it through the final sitting weeks, then finish the year with a budget update that re-focuses attention on the economy.
The decision on whether to bring parliament back in the new year presents a dilemma for the Prime Minister. He needs more time to recover. An early budget would be an opportunity to maximise the advantage of incumbency and talk optimistically about a future paved with more jobs and higher wages.
But an early budget and a May election would require more parliamentary sitting weeks. As this week has shown, that risks more chaos, division and derailed legislation.
Best-laid plans could be blown apart by backbench renegades, or worse, another own goal.
David Speers is the host of Insiders, which airs on ABC TV at 9am on Sunday or on iview.
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