Hello and welcome to the first day of parliament – and the first Australia Institute live blog covering the day’s proceedings.

We will be following along with all the parliament shenanigans as the MPs roll back into Canberra for the faux election campaign. At this stage, all indications are the election will be right on time (as they always are) in early May, which means we have a few sittings to get through.

And while there is some legislation Labor wants to clear off its decks (nature positive laws, anyone?) these next few sittings are all about trying to define the territory the election will be fought on. So far, Labor, in trying to avoid culture wars, has allowed Peter Dutton and the Coalition to set out the battleground and you’ll be shocked to learn, it has nothing to do with actual policy, and everything to do with filling the space with as much noise as possible. There’s not a lot behind that noise (insert angry men yelling at clouds here) but with voters struggling to find a footing in this economy, that anger has some momentum behind it.

Our job is to help you sort through some of that noise and to put the politics into context. You’ll find fact checks and research, and some interesting tidbits here, along with the usual political mess. Oh, and snark. This is after all, still Auspol. We’ll treat it with the respect it deserves. You’ve got Amy Remeikis with you for the day, with the Australia Institute’s formidable brains at your disposal. Thanks for joining us on this first (soft launch) day. We hope you find some value. If you have any thoughts, feel free to hit me up at amy.remeikis@australiainstitute.org.au. Comments and interaction is coming, but for the mean time, let’s see if February is any kinder to us than January.

I have had four coffees (first day nerves!) and the fifth is brewing.

Ready? Let’s get into it.