As the prime minister is forced to deny he stopped key environmental legislation passing the Senate, he issues a plea to Australians who are doing it tough to stay the course at the 2025 federal election.

Labor has passed an amended guillotine motion to rush through a mound of legislation in the Senate on the final parliamentary sitting day of the year.

A bid to establish a new national environment watchdog will be punted into next year, after Anthony Albanese rode roughshod over Tanya Plibersek’s attempts to negotiate a deal with the Greens.

After an intense day on Tuesday of last-minute negotiations and lobbying by environmental and mining groups in which a deal was said to have "come close", the government has now shelved the talks.

Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell has revealed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been “feverishly” calling crossbenchers to try and reach a deal on key legislation.