That's all from our federal politics blog this week.
But don't dismay - there will be the usual weekend columns from our political analysts.
And if you keep across the politics section of the ABC news website, you'll be kept up to speed with whatever political news breaks over the weekend.
Thank you kindly for joining me!
We're now well into Friday afternoon, so things are pretty quiet on the political front at the moment.
Looking forwards to next week, both the House of Representatives and the Senate will be sitting from Monday to Thursday.
Also on the calendar is the tabling of a report on Australia’s sanctions regime as well as a report into greenwashing.
We're also expecting to hear more about the Labor government's Closing the Gap Statement.
And you can bet there will be more hard hats, bright-yellow vests and more speculation about when this jolly election will be held.
We still don't have a date for the federal election.
Prime Minister Albanese won't just be picking the date for the upcoming federal election out of a bingo barrel.
There's a few key dates ABC political reporter Maani Truu has pointed out that we should watch for:
February 18: This is when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meets next. Truu says if the RBA announces a rate cute, the PM might be tempted to piggyback off this good news and call the election early.
March 8: This is when the Western Australian election is going to be held. Truu reckons calling the election before then would would be an odd move but it's technically a possibility..
March 25: This is when the Labor government is due to deliver its next budget.
If you want a deeper dive into when we'll be heading to the polls, I can heartily recommend letting Truu guide you down that rabbit hole:
A federal senate inquiry into Australia's wine grape industry continued in Canberra today.
The inquiry into the voluntary wine grape purchases code of conduct is examining the potential benefits and limitations of making the code mandatory.
The first hearing was held in the South Australian Riverland town of Renmark in December.
Multinational wineries Accolade Wines and Treasury Wine Estates attended, along with council representatives and growers.
Growers have told the committee without a mandatory code, they fear many won't make it to the 2026 vintage.
Today was the second hearing, with the committee hearing from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
A third hearing is scheduled for February 12, with a report expected to be handed down at the end of the month.
You can see vision from that hearing at the beginning of this clip at the Australian Parliament House Streaming Portal on YouTube.
Regional newspaper publisher Australian Community Media (ACM) is to eventually move all of its mastheads to one print edition per week within the next seven years.
The company has 65 daily and non-daily mastheads including major mastheads like:
Managing director Tony Kendall told the ABC the company is shifting their focus towards a digital platform.
He said journalists would still publish daily news online and the changes would not impact employees.
The following newspapers will immediately move to Saturday-only print editions:
A Victorian man has been charged with allegedly making death threats and antisemitic comments to a federal MP.
The 33-year-old Melbourne man has been charged with four counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence and one count of using a carriage service to threaten to kill.
Australian Federal Police will allege the man used social media and email to contact a NSW-based federal MP several times in mid-January — making death threats and antisemitic comments.
Victoria Police will also allege the man used social media to contact a Victorian-based state MP last month.
The man has been granted conditional bail and will face the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court again in April.
Right, so before we said the election had to be either on or before Saturday, May 17.
And given we're still in early February, you might think there's a lot of time between now and then to hold an election.
And, look, you're not wrong - all of the pre-election press conferences, ads and general noise we'll be exposed to in the coming months could make us feel like it's really dragging on.
But a lot of things are happening between now and then that could clash with an election date.
And because of these complications, our political experts reckon there are only four dates that are most likely to be election day this year:
I'm just going to take you back to Alice Springs quickly, because there was a snippet of that press conference with Anthony Albanese I missed.
The PM was asked about why this deal became an election promise instead of something the Labor government just went ahead and implemented?
Here's an exchange from that press conference:
Journalist: What protections are going to be in place to stop cuts or delays in future funding? And also how will you make sure this isn't just another government promise that fades away?
Albanese: Re-elect a Labor government.
Of course Mr Albanese kept talking after the word "government", but for the sake of brevity, I've cut him off there.
He went on to encourage voters to pick Labor and talked about how the Coalition wouldn't reveal where it planned to make cuts to make budget savings if it won the election.
Then came this follow-up question from the pack of reporters:
Journalist: Prime minister, why is this contingent on being re-elected? Why was this funding not committed to earlier? Why only a couple of months out from an election?
Albanese: It'll be in our budget. It's a six-year plan we've negotiated out through the Northern Territory government ... but also with Indigenous organisations themselves.
He then started talking about a building, saying "those walls and that concrete represent concrete gains that are being made".
Mr Palmer told reporters at this morning's press conference in Sydney that he was retired from politics.
So what's the point of this court case to re-register the United Australia Party (AUP)?
For background, the UAP voluntarily gave up its registration after the 2022 election.
And when the party went to re-register for this year's election, its application was rejected.
That's because of a law that says a de-registered party cannot re-register at the next election, but must wait until the poll after that.
Here's what Mr Palmer said about case:
"It's a principle thing.
"It's not so much a move to stand at the next election - I mean, I'm retired from politics personally.
"I think it's a very bad mechanism to have in our democracy that any government can ban any person from standing in an election.
"So [it is] a principle we thought we had to challenge."
Following his press conference in Alice Springs, the prime minister popped into the local ABC studios for an interview on ABC Alice Springs' Breakfast program with host Stewart Brash.
Towards the end of the chat, Brash went for a blunt question and sparked a rather tense exchange.
Brash: Isn't it a bit dumbfounding that a first-term prime minister is claiming underdog status? And ... do you recognise that you're a bit on the nose with the electorate?"
Albanese: You're verballing me there.
Brash: Well, that's my job.
Albanese: No, it's not actually, it's not the job of the ABC. There's enough other media outlets trying to engage in that. I'm confident that we will form a majority government after the next election.
While I wasn't there to see it, it sounds like there is an air of humour rather than anger in the exchange.
The PM finishes by getting a song request in — Camp Dog by King Stingray.