That's the end of our live blog for today. Thank you for joining us!

I'll be back again tomorrow morning to bring you all the day's developments in federal politics.

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It's one big happy family at the good ship government and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

In interview after interview Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers were jumping out of their skin to tell the world just how aligned they were.

We text all the time, they said. We meet in person all they time, they insisted. Don't believe what you read in the newspapers, they cried.

Read the full analysis in the link below.

The prime minister's well-telegraphed announcement this week that Australia will recognise a Palestinian state surprised precisely no one in the end. 

As national political lead David Speers writes, nor did the opposition's rejection of this diplomatic step.

But the arguments from both sides this week revealed more than just a foreign policy split over the Middle East. The growing divide over how deferential Australia should be towards the United States has become a chasm.

The prime minister and opposition leader have expressed starkly different views on whether Australia should be prepared to "break" with its great ally on such a major foreign policy question.

The partisan divide over how closely to align with the US has been steadily building since Donald Trump's return to the White House.

Continue reading his analysis at the link below. 

The next topic is on today's unemployment figures. The jobless rate has dropped to 4.2 per cent.

Asked if that means Australians will get fewer rate cuts, Patrick Gorman says he doesn't speak for the decisions of the Reserve Bank.

He says today's data shows there's a record low gender pay gap, and more women working full time. 

"I'm really pleased to see the numbers. It's never mission accomplished in government — you've always got more to do — but I'd rather be in Australia with low unemployment, interest rates coming down," McKenzie says.

But Zoe McKenzie takes a different view of it. She says people are still paying hundreds and thousands dollars more on their mortgage versus when Labor came to power. 

She says her constituents are concerns about the proposals coming forward ahead of next week's economic roundtable.

"I've had a couple of retail and hospitality owners in my electorate talking to me about their fears for the future," McKenzie says.

"I say enjoy these figures, because small business is wondering how they're going to make it all add up in months to come with the IR changes coming down the line from this government," she says.

And that's where we'll leave Afternoon Briefing for today!

Assistant Minister for Employment Patrick Gorman and Shadow Education Minister Zoe McKenzie have joined the Afternoon Briefing political panel.

The first question is about Hamas' praise of Australia's decision to recognise Palestinian statehood, and why Australia should listen to the terrorist organisation's statements.

McKenzie says Australia shouldn't listen to the propaganda unit of Hamas. She says the prime minister has made a "precipitous" decision recognising Palestine. 

"What happens in terms of future elections in the West Bank or Gaza, should there ever be future elections — you can't prevent Hamas or Hamas operatives or Hamas supporters running in those elections. So it's a false promise in terms of the intention to recognise the state of Palestine," McKenzie says.

Gorman has been asked for his response. He says people in Gaza and the West Bank want a state of their own. He says Hamas is a horrible organisation who do not share the aspirations of the Palestinian people. 

"They don't share our view that there should be two states. That's something that we've been really clearly saying," Gorman says.

Andrew Bragg has been asked whether he accepts that many peaceful Palestinians want their own state, and if the Hamas project distorts the reality on the ground. 

Bragg says there is no defined borders of a state of Palestine, and that if there was a government there, it would be run by Hamas. 

"[UK Prime Minister] Keir Starmer started all this a few weeks ago. I think it's actually had the reverse impact of what he wanted. It wasn't a serious contribution. And, unfortunately, now, Mr Albanese has spent Australia's capital on this ridiculous undertaking," Bragg says. 

He says the Australian government has been putting pressure on Israel, rather than applying pressure on Hamas. 

"I think we should be putting maximum pressure on Hamas. They're a terrorist organisation," he says.

Andrew Bragg has been asked about jobs figures today showing the unemployment rate fell to 4.2 per cent in July from 4.3 per cent. 

Bragg says while it's good more people have been employed, most of that has been driven by employment in the public sector. 

"We want to see the market economy come back to life, and we're worried that, over the long term, 80 per cent of the jobs growth over the last year has been in that non-market sector. That's not a good sign of health for our economy," Bragg says.

Shadow Productivity Minister Andrew Bragg has joined Afternoon Briefing.

Bragg says the treasury's ideas (that were obtained by the ABC), including freezing the National Construction Code (NCC), were policies the Coalition brought to the last election.

"These are good ideas and, in fact, the government said during the last campaign that changing the NCC was a bad idea and, in fact, Ed Husic said that it would result in there being bad houses or shoddy housing in Australia," Bragg says.

"There was a reason this was our policy because we knew there was a lot of red tape in the housing sector," he says.

He says Australia needs to build more houses because the country has seen a massive surge in population growth since the 1950s. 

Bragg says if the government has ideas to speed up the construction of homes, the Coalition would support them.

Gallagher has been asked about a Hamas statement reportedly praising the Australian government's decision to recognise a Palestinian state. 

The Coalition says Hamas's praise should give the government a reason to reconsider its decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.

Asked if the government would reverse its decision, Gallagher has backed in the move and says the government's announcement was right.

"And I would say to the opposition: I don't know why they would be wanting to promote the propaganda of Hamas, which is exactly what they are doing," Gallagher says.

"Hamas has no role in the future of Palestine. Our position is very clear and very firm, and I would urge the Coalition to stop promoting Hamas propaganda," she says.

Katy Gallagher says the federal government has been talking with states and territories about looking at an electric vehicle road user charge. 

However, the finance minister hasn't said whether it's something the government will introduce. 

"Obviously, as we go through this transition from petrol-fuelled cars to electric vehicles, we need to talk about how we're going to fund the road system and the infrastructure required across the country," Gallagher says.