The first tangible change in policy of the new government from the old has been announced: a family of Tamil asylum seekers have been permitted to return to their home in the regional Queensland town of Biloela.
The case of Nadesalingam and Priya Murugappan who fled Sri Lanka after the country's civil war became a great matter of controversy when the authorities decided they should be returned to Sri Lanka.
The couple had met in Australia. They married and had two daughters, Kopika and Tharunicaa, now aged respectively six and four. By all accounts, they had become exemplary residents (but not citizens) of the small town in Queensland.
In the end, despite much protesting by their supporters, and after much litigation, the family were sent to a detention centre on Christmas Island.
At one stage, their deportation to Sri Lanka was halted mid-flight when a judge granted a last-minute injunction.
This afternoon, the new acting Home Affairs Minister, Jim Chalmers, said he had exercised his powers under the Migration Act to allow the family to return to the Queensland town.
It is, though, only on a temporary visa. The saga has some way to run - but Labor's decision is very different from the Coalition's previous policy.
In another sign that the new Labor government is getting down to business, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will sign a letter to the Fair Work Commission advocating an increase to the minimum wage.
But the government will not specify the rate at which it thinks the minimum wage should be raised.
You may debate whether this is counter to the impression given during the election campaign where he indicated that the minimum wage should rise at the rate of price inflation.
There are bigger clouds on the government's horizon, though.
The price of heating a home is set to rise sharply.
Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen warned that consumer energy prices would rise over the coming months after the Australian Energy Regulator said that the wholesale cost of energy (the price the distributors pay to the generators) would rise.
In the states affected by the changes, household prices are set to rise between 1.7 per cent and 8.2 per cent above inflation.
Mr Bowen blamed the Coalition government. He may wonder if voters will see it that way.
So might the Coalition.
Both Liberals and Nationals are deep in post mortems on their defeats. Did they lose because they were out of touch?
The departed veterans affairs minister Darren Chester has thrown his hat in the ring for the leadership of the Nationals. He urged the party to recognise the diversity of views in regional areas.
Mr Chester will challenge leader Barnaby Joyce for the role when the party room meets in Canberra on Monday.
THE NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- Biloela family to return home
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- One man's experience as a Stolen Generations survivor
- Nine years of neglect': Labor blames Coalition for energy price rises
- Albanese govt lodges wage rise submission
- Chester to contest Nationals leadership
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
