![\"Angus](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787188276_983_ac6fea97799196b71895744e77ced5df.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nIn the last term of parliament, Anthony Albanese would often delight in calling Peter Dutton “Captain No”, for being “against everything and for nothing”.<\/p>\n
It was a regular, if not entirely original, line of Labor attack. Before “Captain No” there was “Dr No”, Tony Abbott.<\/p>\n
But it will be hard for Labor to pin a similar badge on Angus Taylor after the bipartisanship on display this week.<\/p>\n
The opposition leader has said “yes” multiple times after a series of meetings with the prime minister last week.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The opposition leader has said “yes” multiple times, after a series of meetings with the prime minister last week. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n
A display of cooperation<\/p>\n
From gambling ads to the NDIS, forcing social media giants to pay for journalism and avoiding a so-called “Widow’s Tax”, the two sides of politics have demonstrated a rare degree of cooperation.<\/p>\n
“We’re not the party who says no to everything,” noted the Liberals’ Andrew Hastie on Radio National, in a nod to the old Dutton moniker. “We want to work constructively in the national interest.”<\/p>\n
Hastie is on the frontline of the Liberal Party’s fight with One Nation, and it is impossible to ignore this backdrop.<\/p>\n
This week has been an opportunity for the Coalition to differentiate itself from Pauline Hanson. It is demonstrating its credentials as a sensible party of government, rather than a party of protest.<\/p>\n
There were other motivations too, on both sides, for all this deal-making.<\/p>\n
For the Coalition, gambling advertising had become a point of internal division between anti-regulation libertarians on one side and those who wanted much tighter restrictions on the other, including three who ultimately crossed the floor to vote against the bill.<\/p>\n
“This is an emotional issue,” observed Taylor, who was “very pleased” to see the long-running debate put to bed.<\/p>\n
Labor faced its own internal pushback too, even if none were willing to risk being expelled from the party for crossing the floor under party rules.<\/p>\n
The bipartisan deal involves a new, complex set of rules on gambling advertising, and many operational and technical details still to be worked out.<\/p>\n
Advocates who wanted a complete ban have been left bitterly disappointed, but both leaders are betting the pressure will ease with a bill now passed.<\/p>\n
Loading…Taylor protects fiscal credibility<\/p>\n
On the NDIS, the disability sector is equally disappointed with the outcome, but the Coalition’s eventual support for Labor’s changes was never in serious doubt.<\/p>\n
With the cost of the scheme still growing at more than 10 per cent annually, Taylor’s fiscal credibility would have been shot if he’d delayed much longer.<\/p>\n
Political risks for Labor still lie ahead as these changes are put in place, stories emerge of people with a disability being removed from the NDIS or having their supports cut.<\/p>\n
NDIS Minister Mark Butler concedes there’s still a “tonne of work” to do in setting up alternative supports.<\/p>\n
States and territories are hardly sounding confident these supports will be there on time. The concerns being expressed by families are understandable.<\/p>\n