Ahead of the ceremony, the assistant minister to the prime minister Patrick Gorman was sent out to do doors – which is when MPs/Ministers go through the main doors where they know journalists are waiting in order to deliver the message of the day. Gorman was asked about Sussan Ley’s comments yesterday that the opposition would not ‘get out of the way’ (while also saying that she believes Australians want the government to get out of the way)

Gorman said:

I respect the parliament. I respect the role of each individual member of the parliament to do the job that their community or their state or their territory sent them here to do, and we’ll continue to show that respect.

But equally, some of these things that we’re talking about, these are not new propositions. It was last year that the Prime Minister was very clear that we want to cut student debt, and we want to make it so that people don’t have to pay back that debt as early on in their career at those lower income levels.

We want to get that done.

If the Coalition are still unsure about where they stand on that, then they should probably explain that to the Australian people, because it’s been on the agenda for so long. And of course, the Coalition will continue to pass judgement on the Government’s agenda. They’re obviously still trying to sort out what it is they stand for.

One thing that I can say, though, is I won’t be voting for the Coalition bill to abandon net zero. I don’t know if all the members of the Coalition will be voting for the Coalition bill to abandon net zero. We believe that we can act on climate change. We believe that the path we are walking on, which is to grab the opportunities of a renewable energy future is the right path for Australia. 

(There was no suggestion the government would vote for the bill to abandon net zero and the private members bill has no power, so everyone is just signalling here)