As politicians returned to Canberra for the first sitting fortnight for 2025, and possibly the last before an election, it didn't take long for familiar battlelines to be drawn.
With the election likely to be dominated by cost-of-living issues, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used the first question time of the year to hone in on the economic case for his re-election.
"We do begin 2025 with new reasons for optimism about the road ahead. Inflation is going down, wages are going up and unemployment is low," he told parliament.
"The world has thrown a lot of challenges at us and we know that it has been difficult with financial pressure on households ... which is why there is more to do."
But Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the optimism among government ranks was far from the hip-pocket pain people were experiencing.
"There are families who thought two-and-a-half-years ago that this was going to be a government for them, and that this was going to be a prime minister who understood their concerns. It's been anything but that," he told coalition colleagues at a partyroom meeting.
"We know that the prime minister's not up to his task and we know that there are many families suffering because of it."
The opposition used most of question time to press the government on cost-of-living pressures and spruik its policy to allow small business to write off up to $20,000 of lunches on tax.
Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese went to church to mark the opening of the parliamentary year. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
But Treasurer Jim Chalmers hit out at the policy, saying it would set taxpayers back $1.6 billion per year.
"Their policy for lower wages for workers, longer lunches for bosses, is a matter of fairness, but not the way that they think it is," he told parliament.
The election is due by May 17, although the prime minister has given little indication as to when Australians will head to the polls.
The most recent Newspoll had the coalition ahead of Labor 51-49 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
But a Roy Morgan poll on Monday had the two at 50-50, likely driven by better inflation figures and the prospects of a rate cut.
Despite the partisan battles returning after the summer breaks, the first day back saw brief moments of political unity.
The day started with both major parties putting aside differences for an ecumenical church service, although many MPs would undoubtedly hope for divine intervention at the election.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is focused on sandbagging parliamentary seats. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
Issues including the cost of living, hate speech laws and gambling reform are set to dominate this session of parliament.
Mr Albanese will attempt to push the remainder of his government's policy agenda through parliament.
The government will introduce legislation to guarantee access to the childcare subsidy for three days a week, removing the activity test model for early childhood education support.
The bill's progress has been boosted after the Greens agreed to back the measure in the Senate.
Strengthened hate crime laws are set to be debated following a surge of anti-Semitic attacks.
