Labour is considering dissolving Parliament, but such threats only work if the people being threatened are serious.

Welcome back to your weekly federal politics update, where political correspondent Brett Worthington keeps you up to date with what's happening in Parliament House.

It was as if Prime Minister Toto could sense the impending danger.

Early in Anthony Albanese's interview with RN Breakfast this morning, a rapid series of short, sharp barks emanated from the nine-year-old Cavoodle.

Up to that point, the interview had gone well, with the Prime Minister happily listing the measures his government had taken to reduce budget expenditure.

If Toto sent a warning, it was not received.

Halfway through the 23-minute interview, Albanese's tone soured when asked about his government's inability to implement the Help to Buy program.

An irritated Prime Minister accused moderator Patricia Karvelas of asking “not particularly clever questions” when she questioned him on whether negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions could be considered in negotiations with the Greens.

Albanian: Well, Patricia, I don’t answer these kinds of questions in the way that –

Karvelas: You mean the good ones?

Albanian: Well, they are not good.

Karvelas: That's a good question! Will you say no to that or not?

Albanian: That's not smart. These are things that journalists – the next question is: when are the elections?

The parliamentary pantomime lacks substance

The entire Help to Buy debate was a pantomime that dominated the Senate but produced nothing of substance this week.

More than 200 days have passed since the shared equity program passed the House of Representatives.

Labor brought the issue up for debate in the Senate even though they knew they did not have enough votes to get it through – but that was the point.

The government wanted its bill to be rejected so that it could accuse the coalition and the Greens of standing in the way of supporting tenants in buying their own homes.

It was pure politics.

The only problem was that Labor was once again reminded that, while it is part of the government, it has no control over the Senate.

The week ended with the Greens and the Coalition joining forces to delay the bill, leaving the government facing a complex constitutional threat that, if implemented, could see Albanese seek an election to dissolve Parliament.

Such threats only work if the people you threaten take them seriously, which is certainly not the case this time.

The Prime Minister is a “bulldozer” … albeit a “weak” one

As tensions between Labour and the Greens boiled over, the non-affiliated party gave Albanese a new nickname.

In a deliberately unoriginal manner, they have begun to refer to the Prime Minister as a “bulldozer” – the same nickname that his predecessor Scott Morrison adopted in the final days of the 2022 election campaign.

After meeting with Housing Minister Clare O'Neil on Monday to set out their demands for the passage of the Help to Buy scheme, the Greens expressed anger at the lack of a counter-offer (this is generally an indication that one knows one's original demands are a little, well, unrealistic).

In the eyes of Labor, the Greens' initial demands were so ridiculous (not to mention policies the government is loath to touch) that it was a bit like demanding a new car in exchange for cleaning your windscreen.

At one press conference after another, the Greens let the bulldozer roll.

But on Thursday morning, the bulldozer was suddenly being branded “weak” after Albanese again refused to show any sign of heeding backbenchers' calls for a ban on sports betting advertising.

“The Prime Minister’s comments today are weak and they are wrong,” said Green Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Criticism comes from the local area

Albanese, who long represented an urban Sydney constituency, has long campaigned against the Greens, so it is unlikely that the Greens will label him weak or a bulldozer.

But that wasn't the only criticism his character faced this week.

Bill Kelty, a former union leader and heavyweight, told the Australian Financial Review that Albanese's government was “muddling in mediocrity”.

Kelty told the newspaper he wanted comprehensive tax reform, changes to lending rules and a new approach to housing.

If the criticism hurt, the Prime Minister didn't let it show.

“Bill Kelty has been a great secretary of the ACTU. I will take over the government in 2024,” he told RN Breakfast.

Pagers and walkie-talkies

In the wake of parliamentary maneuvers in Canberra, the situation in the Middle East continued to deteriorate.

In light of news of pagers and walkie-talkies exploding in Lebanon, Foreign Minister Penny Wong quickly deviated from her role as Senate Speaker and reiterated her call for Australians to leave the country while they still can.

The government has feared for months that Australians and their families could be stranded in Lebanon if war breaks out.

The deadly attacks occurred while Australia stayed away from a United Nations vote on the Palestinian occupation.

Australia abstained from supporting a Palestinian-drafted resolution calling for an end to Israel's “illegal presence” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank within a year.

Even before the war broke out last October, Wong had reshaped Australia's approach to the region.

Speaking on ABC's AM program, she said Australia had wanted to support the motion but did not do so after the changes it contained failed to gain support.

The band comes together one last time

Regional tensions closer to home will be high on the agenda when Albanese meets Quad partners this weekend in Delaware, President Joe Biden's home state.

At the meeting, Albanese will discuss “regional security” (political code for “what is China doing across the Indo-Pacific”) as he sits with Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The fact that the Prime Minister is resigning despite some criticism that he should stay at home and concentrate on inflation gives an idea of ​​how serious the threat to the region is.

It could be a nostalgic trip for the Prime Minister as it could be the last meeting of the Quad in this form.

Within a few months, half of the top politicians will lose their offices.

Albanese hopes he won't join them.

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