Joyce exits, Turnbull returns as Ghosts of Christmas Past haunt parliament

Welcome back to your weekly federal politics update, where Courtney Gould gets you up to speed on the happenings from Parliament House.

As parliament wound up for the year, Labor joked two ghosts of Christmas past stalked the hallways.

The first, Malcolm Turnbull, was back for the unveiling of his prime ministerial portrait. The second, was Turnbull's former deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, who confirmed his exit from the Nationals. 

More on that soon. 

It's been more than seven years since Turnbull last addressed a crowd at Parliament House, on his final day as prime minister.

Having just been rolled as leader, he chose to leave it behind rather than sit on the backbench, and as such, he never got the chance to give a valedictory speech.

The likeness, described by Anthony Albanese as being "an artwork of tremendous stored energy", captures him almost in mid sentence, as if like his time as prime minister, he has been cut short. 

(Unfortunately, it is also the same pose the kids use when they cry 6-7, but I digress).

It's also probably not a coincidence that the tie Turnbull was immortalised in was quite similar to the one he wore on his final day as prime minister.

A number of Turnbull's backers, such as Julie Bishop, Christopher Pyne and George Brandis, milled about the room. Of the current crop, only Michael McCormack, Ted O'Brien, and moderates Maria Kovacic and Andrew Bragg arrived for the beginning of the event.

It was an awkward moment for Sussan Ley, who was standing off to the side, when Turnbull's seemingly off-the-cuff speech turned to the need for common sense, not "ideology and idiocy", to drive energy policy.

"Nothing's changed. It's 10 years since I became prime minister, it's … seven years since I stopped being prime minister, and there's still you know reality denial, physics denial, is still all alive," he said.

End of school vibes to end the parliamentary year

Albanese, in his tribute to Turnbull, almost caused his predecessor to shed a tear. The Labor prime minister shared a previously unreported moment between the two where Turnbull and his wife Lucy reached out to Albanese during a "difficult time" and invited him to dinner.

The unveiling of Turnbull's prime ministerial portrait was a moment of pause in what has been a somewhat chaotic final week in parliament that included a temporary blackout in question time.

While the lights going out was played for laughs and an opportunity for the Coalition again to claim Labor can't keep the lights on, in the end, it was the opposition that was left in the dark.

After months of signalling the government would prefer to move forward with the Coalition to pass its environment reforms, Albanese was all smiles as he revealed a deal had been inked with the Greens.

My colleagues Tom Crowley and Maani Truu have all the details if you want to get into the nitty-gritty, but the top line is Albanese, and his so-called Mr Fix-It Environment Minister Murray Watt, walked the tightrope of delivering enough for the environment to get the Greens on board, while also not completely frustrating the business groups.

The prime minister may have had fond words to share for Turnbull, but didn't shy away from his criticisms of his now opponent, Ley. He accused her of not taking up the opportunity to meet, and called the Coalition "impossible" to deal with.

Ley, who tried and failed to reform the laws when she was environment minister in the Morrison government, said she asked to meet Wednesday afternoon but her text message was left on read and the prime minister chose to do a "dirty deal" with the Greens.

Mere minutes later, Turnbull offered his own assessment.

"The Coalition … could have played an active role, but they chose not to. What few supporters they have left in the business community will be horrified," he said.

Two down, two to go

A year ago, the environment reforms were one of four bills the government shelved in its mad rush to clear the decks and pass 36 bills before an eventual election. Since then, it's also ticked off electoral reforms. But it's also watered down its plans to introduce a $3 million cap on superannuation tax exemptions.

Progress on the last of the four, partial bans on gambling advertising, has been pushed out to the new year. Albanese was less smiley when asked this week if he'd offer a conscience vote on the matter to Labor MPs, following reports from my colleague Clare Armstrong that it'd pass if he did so.

It's certainly something, much like the higher-than-expected inflation figure, potential public service cuts (sorry, re-prioritisations), and confirmation the government will fall short of its 2035 emissions targets, Albanese would much rather not draw attention to.

The government has some tough decisions ahead of it. Chief among them is whether to again extend the $75 per quarter energy bill rebate, which is due to expire at the end of the year. We'll find out in the coming weeks, as Labor prepares its mid-year budget update.

A high-steaks dinner

In the end, it turns out not even a Wagyu steak from Gina Rinehart's cattle company cooked on a sandwich press was enough to lock in Barnaby Joyce's defection to One Nation.

The dinner was held just hours after Pauline Hanson donned a burka for the second time in her parliamentary career and strode into the Senate. It frustrated the chamber and disrupted proceedings.

She was widely condemned for the recycled stunt and slapped with a seven-day suspension from the chamber. Buoyed by a surge in opinion polls for her party, Hanson said it was the people who would judge her.

Joyce stood alone as one of her sole defenders.

Pictures of the dinner, and vision of Hanson's culinary curiosity, hinted at an intimacy that suggested the months-long political flirtation was to result in union between the pair.

There's no love lost between Joyce and the Nationals. The newly minted crossbencher lamented that neither leader David Littleproud nor deputy Kevin Hogan got in contact in the weeks since he confirmed he wouldn't recontest the seat of New England.

Some, such as McCormack and Matt Canavan, did their best to convince Joyce not to leave. Canavan, who once worked for Joyce, called One Nation a "circus act" and warned he wouldn't pull his punches if Joyce defected.

Come Thursday afternoon, Joyce confirmed he was waving goodbye to the Nationals for good.

It was time, he said, to get out of the "ejection chair" of the Coalition backbench and put himself "into a better position". He's still considering if that better position would have him return to where he began his career in the Senate, this time with One Nation.

As he spoke to reporters about his decision, Albanese chuckled as he passed on his way to the chamber for QT. In the chamber, the crossbench were trying to figure out where Joyce (who skipped out on proceedings) would sit for the remainder of his term.

But that question, similar to the question of whether Sussan Ley can hold onto her position as Liberal leader, will be a problem for when parliament returns in the new year.