Hello and welcome to the actual first day of business in the 48th parliament.

There was quite a bit of emotion late yesterday as the first speeches began being read in the chambers. Ali France, the Labor MP for Dickson’s speech brought quite a few people to tears – in and out of the chamber.

We’ll have some of the first speeches a little later. We can also bring you more from the chamber thanks to Mike Bowers and The New Daily.

Today is the day business starts in the house of representatives (and the chamber).

Barnaby Joyce will be introducing his private members bill (co sponsored with other LNP MPs) to scrap net zero which is just the laugh we all need. Joyce likes to think of himself as a conviction politician – the conviction being whatever serves his own political needs best at the time being the conviction he’ll hold.

Lyle Shelton (there is a blast from the past) who is now with Family First has welcomed Joyce’s switch away from net zero (because there is one way to win voters back to the Coalition – appeal to fringe parties like Family First!) but says Joyce also owes Australians an apology for ever supporting it:

It was Joyce, as Deputy Prime Minister, and his Nationals’ party room who signed off on sending Scott Morrison to Glasgow in 2021 to pledge Australia to net zero by 2050. The consequences of that Coalition decision — soaring power bills, an unstable electricity grid, vandalised farmland, and economic pain — are now plain for all to see. Even current Nationals leader David Littleproud admits net zero is “almost impossible”.

Joyce is right to say the Coalition must stop copying Labor and offer voters a clear alternative. But Australians deserve an explanation: what has changed since 2021? If net zero was bad policy then, why support it? If it’s bad policy now, why not admit it was a mistake and say sorry?

Why didn’t he put up a private members’ bill in the last Parliament?

Just poetry.

Labor is focusing on lowering HECS/HELP debt by 20% for those with existing university debt (but again, it must be noted not doing anything to lower the cost of the degrees the Morrison government increased), legislating the new penalty rate regime and introducing legislation to address child care worker safety concerns.

The Coalition is still trying to pretend it is relevant (great sport) and the Greens are finding their feet.

And the world remains on fire.

The Voices of Gaza protest continues with people reading out the names of children who have been killed by Israel during its unrelenting slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. They read through freezing rain and wind last night in Canberra and are still going this morning. The weight of the book of 17,000 names should weigh on all of our consciences.

We’ll continue to cover what happens in the parliament, as well as outside, as the day unfolds.

Ready? It’s a three coffee day. Let’s get into it.