Hello and welcome to the first sitting of the 48th parliament.

You have Amy Remeikis with you to guide you through the day, along with the photo excellence of Mike Bowers (with thanks to The New Daily) and all the fact checks and context you could possibly need to make sense of Auspol.

Not that you will need too much of it today. it is a lot of pomp and ceremony as the new parliament is opened. There are the salutes and the bangs on the door and the Governor-General reading things in the third person (think of it as democracy-affirming care).

Labor has already said it’s first legislation priorities will be lowering the HECS debt for those with an existing HECS/HELP debt (a good policy, but it does nothing to lower the cost of a university degree after the Coalition hiked the price of degrees they didn’t value (including Arts) to ridiculous levels), cement the new penalty rate structure, and address safety concerns with childcare workers.

The Coalition are…there? Pretending they remain relevant (the only people who can make the Coalition relevant this term are those in the Labor party, choosing a legislation path through the senate) and that their internal fights mean something (spoiler: they don’t. The Coalition are having fights over issues they have already lost. Bless.)

The Greens are working out who they are after losing Adam Bandt and Max Chandler-Mather and are now under the leadership of Larissa Waters, who has always been a little more cautious about the fights she wades into it. Keep an eye on that as senate negotiations start to heat up.

The crossbench will be working out their role in this parliament (you can expect them to each adopt a special interest area in lieu of having much influence over policy direction in the parliament, so instead the smart ones will choose to influence policy from outside the parliament, through winning public opinion). For reasons known only to crossroads spirits, Liberal candidate Giselle Kapterian is so desperate to be a part of the leftover leftover Liberals she has asked the Court of Disputed Returns to hear her challenge to Nicolette Boele’s Bradfield win (she wants the court to decide on 151 ‘lineball’ ballots) so we can’t say for sure what the crossbench will look like yet, but we can remain confident that it doesn’t matter one iota to the outcome of policy direction coming from the house of reps.

So the main question (I am sure I am boring you with this already) will be over what Labor does with power and whether it still pretends it doesn’t have any. That’s what we will be watching for, as well as doing what we can to help explain the Auspol situation to you, along with the context of legislation, where it sits, and what is needed: hint – reform. And a lot of it.

So thank you for choosing to spend some time with us today – we hope to keep you entertained. I spent wayyyyy too long last night (and into the early hours of this morning) reading news stories, previous hansard speeches, and annoying people in my contact lists, so the coffee can not come fast enough today. I’ll also keep you updated on the 24 hour protest occurring outside the parliament, as people try and get the government to stand up for international law and humanity and sanction Israel for it’s crimes in Palestine. It’s important. All too often we can feel powerless and like we’re screaming into an abyss, but I can tell you – you’re not.

Caring is rough. But it matters. And it matters that you care enough to not just pay attention, but to try and create something better. You’re not alone.

That’s what will guide me through this parliamentary term – refusing to give into despair, while pushing for courage from those who can create change. Hope is nothing without action. So thank you for your arm, and heart, in this battle.

Ready to start a new parliamentary term? Let’s do it.