Social media ban, migration laws and RBA overhaul headline Federal Parliament’s chaotic media week

After months of deadlock and dispute, Federal Parliament burst to life to pass an extraordinary 45 bills before MPs headed home for the long summer break.

Here are the main takeaways from a chaotic last sitting week in Canberra.

Social media ban

World-first laws to ban children under-16 from accessing social media platforms like TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram were rammed through at warp-speed after Labor teamed up with the Coalition.

The ban won’t start for another 12 months, giving tech companies and government regulators time to figure out exactly how the new regime will work.

While parents and politicians are rejoicing, Meta – the parent company of Facebook and Instagram – has hit out at the rushed process and what it claims is a “lack of evidence” underpinning the ban.

Harsh migration laws

Labor sealed a controversial migration package that grants new powers to pay third countries to receive non-citizens, introduces criminal penalties for non-citizens who refuse to facilitate their own deportation and allows for new, strict curbs on phones in immigration detention centres.

Migrant advocates and lawyers slammed the “brutal” legislation that they said lacked transparency and had been rushed through without regard to the “far-reaching and life-threatening consequences.”

Reserve Bank overhaul

A controversial plan to split the Reserve Bank into two boards — one for setting interest rates, the other to govern the independent institution — will go ahead after the Government clinched the Greens’ support for the overhaul.

Laws to deliver the restructure appeared doomed in September after the Coalition withdrew its support and Labor refused the Greens’ “crazy” ultimatum for Treasurer Jim Chalmers to force the bank to cut rates.

The Greens eventually folded, settling for an assurance that the Treasurer’s power to intervene – which has never been used – would be retained.

Housing

The Greens set the tone for the week on Monday, sensationally agreeing to wave through Labor’s two signature housing bills after failing to secure any concessions.

Under the so-called help-to-buy scheme, the Federal Government will give buyers an “equity contribution” on the cost of their new home.

The second scheme, known as build-to-rent, offers tax concessions to encourage developers to build new properties specifically for renters.

But the Greens didn’t leave empty handed ….

The minor party says it secured a $500 million commitment to upgrade 50,000 social housing properties and a promise the Government’s flagship Future Made in Australia would not fund fossil fuel projects in exchange for supporting a mammoth 27 bills on Thursday.

The Greens had a deal with Tanya Plibersek on the federal EPA before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese intervened to spike it.

Supermarket crackdown

The Government’s war on supermarkets received a big boost after Parliament passed its mandatory food and grocery code, which includes harsh penalties of up to $10 million for grocers who rip off farmers.