Old habits die hard at Senate estimates, no matter the election results that throw nine-year-old governments from power.
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Day two of the latest round of hearings proved it on Monday. The Coalition had grown so used to the Senate estimates role it played in government - one that involved thwarting scrutiny - it probably stopped rehearsing its lines and committed its non-answers to muscle memory.
Now it has to learn an entirely new way of doing the hearings, if it wants to wield them to full political effect.
It has a long way to go, judging by the Senate estimates sessions on Monday. The Coalition is finding out that asking the questions is much harder than blocking them.
That's even truer when the government under questioning has fewer than six months in power to defend, while your own party has nearly a decade.
As strange as it was to see Labor senator Katy Gallagher and Liberal senator Jane Hume switch their sides of the estimates table on Monday morning, at times they seemed to resume their former postures in the finance and public administration hearing.
It started with good intentions - and a reminder that Labor had promised a new way of doing parliament after it won power.
Senator Gallagher declined to give the usual statements that traditionally make eyes glaze over before hearings begin.
"Happy to proceed to questions but also looking forward to assisting the committee with its inquiry today," she said.
Less than an hour in, and things were already getting tense as Senator Hume, the Coalition's public service spokeswoman, asked about the government's public sector reform agenda.
As in all politics since May, Labor made attack its form of defence, a tactic it obviously wants to employ for as long as it can.
"It's all about rebuilding the capability and capacity of the public service that was destroyed under your government," Senator Gallagher said.
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Labor wouldn't apologise for its public service reform agenda, or its appointment of officials to the task, she added.
Senator Hume said she was not asking the minister to apologise for it.
"I promise you, I'm not being critical," Senator Hume said.
"There's no need to jump down my throat, just yet."
Somehow, it was the Liberal senator doing the defending, even as she asked the questions.
For all the opportunity that Senate estimates presents an opposition to score political points - or more importantly, hold a government to account - the Coalition largely didn't know what to do with its chance.
There was seemingly interminable and arcane questioning about Senate procedure from Coalition senator James McGrath. It was as appealing to watch as someone banging their head against a wall, hoping for a different outcome each time.
Later on, Coalition senators spent an excruciating 30 minutes grilling officials about the automated answering system in the Prime Minister's office.
Some of the most effective questioning came from Labor committee members, such as Nita Green, interrogating the legacy of their predecessors.
It's only the first round of estimates since the Coalition lost power, and to be fair, it landed some important blows on Labor's cuts to infrastructure projects during day one, held about a week earlier.
As Labor inevitably makes mistakes and the honeymoon wears off, estimates won't look such hard work for the opposition. It'll need to sharpen up its questioning, regardless.