VIDEO: The political fallout after huge piles of legislation pass the Senate

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER:  On December 1st, next week, we will have childcare workers, in their next pay packet after that, will have a 10 per cent increase.

LAURA TINGLE, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDEDNT:  Forget questions about who blew up a deal with the Greens, or when the election is going to be held, the big question for a government under pressure after last week’s rush of legislation through the Senate is how it changes the political landscape. 

In 2024, that means: how does all this legislation affect cost-of-living issues.

ANTHONY ALBANESE:  We work each and every day to make a difference, and the legislation that was passed will make a difference.

LAURA TINGLE:  For the Prime Minister, the image of childcare workers getting a pay rise in their hands next week was at least one concrete example of how the government is making a difference. 

The federal election won’t be won or lost on the government’s record of getting legislation through the Parliament, but on the four issues that have dominated politics all year: housing, immigration and energy but overwhelmingly the cost-of-living. 

JOHN BLACK, POLITICAL STRATEGIST:  The cost of living is something that impacts 100 per cent of voters. They're all they're all hurt by it, and they're all angry about it, and they're telling every single polling organisation across the country that they're disappointed in the government's record on it. 

I think the actions of the government in getting legislation through last week, at least, it makes them look like they're worried about losing. 

The impression that that I think the voters were getting out in the broader community, was that they weren't particularly disturbed about it, starting from the Prime Minister down. 

LAURA TINGLE:  The Government now has its arguments lined up on what it has done for voters on the cost-of-living.

ANTHONY ALBANESE:  We started the year by delivering a tax cut for every single Australian taxpayer and we're ending it by delivering more help for households. 

My message is 'we have your back'. 

Holding supermarkets to account to get fairer prices at the checkout; 80,000 new homes for renters; helping 40,000 Australians to be able to buy a home; historic aged care reform; tens of thousands of new jobs in manufacturing powered by clean energy through our Future Made in Australia plan.

LAURA TINGLE:  The Government also now has housing assistance to spruik, and policies that have eased power bills.

It is not clear how the Coalition’s still vague, nuclear energy policy will play for the Government or the Opposition.

But underneath last week’s events lie two big changes in the political landscape.

The Greens capitulation - first on housing, then on all the other bills that went through on Thursday - mean the Government is no longer fighting political battles on two fronts and that inevitably puts more pressure on the Opposition.

JOHN BLACK:  I think it makes life a little bit more challenging for Dutton. He can't afford to sit back and relax and drift into government, rather like Labor did last time. 

He's actually got to get out there and present some policies that are going to make a difference to the living standards of ordinary Australians. 

LAURA TINGLE: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been notable for his absences from much of the media fray this year. Though that has not stopped him dominating the debate. 

Since the breakthrough in the Senate last Thursday, he has made just one media appearance 

PETER DUTTON, OPPOSITION LEADER:  They spent a motza of taxpayers' money to get the Greens across the line in a pretty unholy alliance, and I think people see through it.

LAURA TINGLE:  But that is exactly the point the Prime Minister isn't making.

The grand bargain that got all that legislation through the Senate last week allowed the Government to tell voters that it had made no concession to the Greens: that there had been no Greens-inspired amendments to its legislation.

ANTHONY ALBANESE:  We wanted to get legislation passed, but it would be on the basis of our values. And we held the line on areas like housing. And they changed their mind, the Greens political party, and they went through unamended. 

We will hold to our values. We won't allow any tail to wag the dog.

LAURA TINGLE:  While the arguments rage about just why the Government did not proceed with environmental legislation - the bottom line is that putting all deals aside means the Government once again avoided making any concessions to the Greens. 

The PM is making sure voters - who may be concerned about what would happen in a Labor minority government - know that the Greens will not be calling the shots.

ANTHONY ALBANESE:  We were negotiating across the Parliament with the Coalition, all the crossbenchers, a range of measures, things that we didn't have agreement on were put aside. That was one of them.

LAURA TINGLE:  The question is how the Coalition now responds. 

JOHN BLACK:  A whole lot of things are happening to the Australian community, the political community now, because of increasing migration. The Indo Pacific migrants, which are making up 80 per cent of our population growth, are currently voting for the left. 

But they are highly aspirational and they're strongly transactional and I think obviously, from Dutton's point of view, the thing he could be looking at would be tax cuts. 

LAURA TINGLE:  Tax cuts of course are a hard ask when you are already arguing the budget needs to be tighter. 

But with the election possibly only a couple of months away, and Labor having now legislated most of its policies, there should be plenty more hard asks of the Coalition in coming months.