Parliament returns today for a rare special sitting recalled early by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Labor’s original intention was to ram through the contentious omnibus bill on hate speech, gun buybacks, and related measures in the wake of the horrific Bondi terror attack.

Since neither the Coalition nor the Greens have agreed with Labor’s response to the Islamist-inspired murder of 15 Australians, the Prime Minister has pivoted to a familiar line of attack. He is now claiming the Coalition opposition has made clear what they don’t stand for, but offered nothing on what they do stand for.

This is rich coming from a leader whose own omnibus legislation was a massive failure.

What began as a rushed response to genuine community outrage over antisemitism and Islamic extremism initially morphed into a sprawling, politically expedient package that bundled hate speech reforms with gun control in a way that alienated potential allies across the spectrum.

Now, instead of dealing with the real problem – Islamic terrorism – the Albanese government is focused on gun laws.

The Greens are happy to rush through the unnecessary gun laws. Based on recent reports, the Greens would only support the hate speech laws if these included a raft of Woke complaints that have no relation whatsoever to the murder of 15 Australians by Islamist-inspired terrorists.

Said Greens Leader Larissa Waters:

‘This is complex legislation, with a lot of massive pitfalls and omissions, and the process to fix it can’t be rushed.

‘We are willing to sit down with the government to find a way forward, but it’s clear that the amount of negotiations and legal analysis required to produce a good outcome can’t be done in the extremely tight timeframe the government has created.

‘It may be simpler to start afresh with a bill that aims to protect everyone from hatred and discrimination.’

The truth politicians voting on the legislation today must remember is that terrorists don’t give a toss about words or gun laws. They would use rocks to achieve their aims.

But banning rocks wouldn’t make a lick of difference to the actual threat of Islamic terrorism that killed 15 Australians at Bondi last month.

The Coalition, the Greens, and even some within religious communities have raised legitimate concerns about free speech, religious freedoms, and the wisdom of rushing complex laws through in mere days.

Labor’s original bill, far from uniting the nation, risked collapsing under its own contradictions, with provisions that critics argued could shield certain forms of hatred under exemptions for ‘religious texts’ while imposing broad new restrictions elsewhere.

Now his flawed legislation has failed, he is facing mounting resistance and the prospect of his flagship post-Bondi reforms falling flat completely.

Clearly, this whole debacle is one of leadership incompetence. Labor really doesn’t have the stuff necessary to protect Australians. They are clearly only interested in themselves. To that end, I’ve never seen a Prime Minister so self-interested.

True to form, Labor’s absolute failure to present legislation that would protect Australians from Islamic terrorists has degenerated into his lashing out at the Opposition for lacking clarity and principle.

But the Opposition aren’t in power. This is all Albanes’s responsibility.

Let’s turn the mirror on Albanese himself for a moment.

This is a Prime Minister who, for weeks after the Bondi massacre that claimed 15 lives, resisted calls for a full Royal Commission into the attack and its roots in Islamist extremism. He opted instead for a narrower inquiry that sidestepped naming the ideology involved.

He then claimed he had announced a Royal Commission in record time, after claiming that ‘actual experts’ had decided a Royal Commission wasn’t the best option.

You can’t make this stuff up.

The Albanese Labor government has consistently avoided honest dialogue that points to Islamic terrorism as the very real threat. Instead, Labor prefers vague references to ‘extremism’ or ‘hate’ that dilute the specific threat Australians have faced.

How can a leader and government so reluctant to confront and name the source of these atrocities – Islamic terrorism – have the gall to lecture anyone on standing for something?

This isn’t leadership, it’s cowardice dressed up as nuance.

But none of this matters because the early convening of Parliament to deal with the threat of Islamic terrorism has been reduced to a way to remove the rights of responsible Australians who aren’t intent on murdering people.

It’s clear that Labor’s focus remains squarely on their socialist priorities while the security of everyday Australians takes a back seat.

I will be in the Press Gallery during the recalled sitting days this week to watch this play out. This rather mundane sitting week will either break the Albanese government or the Opposition.

Unfortunately, I suspect the Opposition will be as weak as the proverbial and allow Albanese to strut about as if he has a clue.

I can only pray I’m proved wrong.

Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is the Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. If you would like to support his writing, or read more of Michael, please visit his website.