Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has channelled Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood, urging the Government to make his day by keeping the political focus on the economy.
Addressing the Coalition party room before Parliament met for the first time this year, Mr Abbott begged leave to use the famous catchphrase of Eastwood's maverick cop Dirty Harry.
He said if the government wanted to talk about the economy, he was more than ready for the fight.
''They say they want the political battle to be about the economy,'' Mr Abbott said.
''Well, if I can plagiarise for a moment - make my day. Make my day.
''This is a government which says that the test of economic management is going to be the great political battleground of the year and this is the government that wants to clobber the economy with the world's biggest carbon tax.''
He also suggested Prime Minister Julia Gillard was using the ''sexist card'' to describe criticism about her because she knew her time was running out.
But when the House of Representatives met for question time later in the day, Ms Gillard shot down the Opposition Leader, saying the Coalition didn't understand what it meant to manage the economy for all Australians. ''They're for the privileged interests of the few rather than the many working families who need to benefit from our resources boom,'' the Prime Minister said. ''This is the debate of 2012 and I'm very happy to say to the Leader of the Opposition - bring it on.''
And so began the first day of Parliament for 2012, with the heated debate ensuing as the Reserve Bank also met and decided to keep the official interest rate on hold.
The Opposition's attack over the carbon tax fell flat a number of times, most notably when Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd put in a fiery performance to accuse the Coalition of trying to ''bury Australia in the past''.
As speculation continues to mount that the former prime minister is working towards a leadership challenge against Ms Gillard, it was at Mr Abbott that his public outrage was directed yesterday.
''We should look to the Leader of the Opposition's multiple statements on his commitment to an emissions trading scheme - a tax at various stages,'' Mr Rudd said.
''There's so many positions that he'd make the Kama Sutra redundant.''
But it was the new Speaker Peter Slipper who drew most attention yesterday, entering Parliament wearing a ceremonial black gown and declaring that the main committee would now be known as the Federation Chamber of the House of Representatives.
He stated his intention to shorten time limits in question time, but allow more opportunities for supplementary questions.
And he would take no nonsense from disruptive MPs, saying he didn't intend to warn anyone before he kicked them out of the chamber for an hour.
Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey became this year's first victim, being ejected for unruly behaviour at the end of question time.
Mr Slipper, who quit the Coalition last year to fill the Speaker's vacancy created by the resignation of Labor's Harry Jenkins, may have provided the Government with an extra vote on the floor of Parliament, but he made it clear he wouldn't be playing favourites. ''It is my intention to follow the principles set out in House of Representatives practice, that is that the Speaker should always vote to allow further discussion,'' he said.
''Where no further discussion is possible, decisions should not be taken except by a majority and the casting vote on an amendment should leave a bill in its existing form.''
Member for Fraser Andrew Leigh was named yesterday as part of the new Speaker's Panel, to be called upon for a few hours each week to take up the chair in Mr Slipper's absence.
As first reported in The Canberra Times on Saturday, the new Speaker intends to soon open each session of Parliament with a full procession, including all the pomp, ceremony and regalia usually associated with Westminster and the House of Commons.
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