Controversial environment reforms proposed by Labor face obstacles as neither the coalition nor the Greens have yet lent their support for the changes.
Federal parliament will resume for the fortnight from Monday, with the government in triumphant mode after a successful first meeting between Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump.
The prime minister will be absent this week as he jets off to Malaysia for the ASEAN summit, before flying to South Korea for APEC where Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet.
The two leaders will likely discuss the US president's trade war. They might also talk about security issues such as Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory.
"One in four Australian jobs rely on trade and we will be focused on continuing to grow our key economic and trade relationships during ASEAN and APEC," Mr Albanese said on Sunday.
Labor's bid to push through long-awaited changes - which include setting up the first national Environmental Protection Agency - isn't guaranteed as it lacks the numbers it needs in the Senate to get legislation over the line.
Environment Minister Murray Watt said he was "absolutely happy" to defend the bill.
"What we're trying to do through these reforms is deliver a balanced package that actually delivers real improvements for our natural environment and real improvements for business," he told Sky News.
The reforms include heavier penalties and enforcement powers for breaches of environmental protection and biodiversity laws, such as fines of up to $825 million.
The bill will remove red tape by simplifying processes to get housing and energy projects approved faster.
The government is likely to come under fire from the coalition over its handling of the triple-zero outage at the hands of Optus last month that has been linked to three deaths.
The Greens are confident they have the support needed to establish a parliamentary inquiry into the deadly outage next week.
If it gets up, Optus executives can expect an uncomfortable grilling over the tragic failure.
Efforts by the government to rush through legislation to establish a watchdog for emergency call networks will also likely be attacked by the opposition and crossbench as coming too late.
Key questions remain over Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce's future, as he mulls over an invitation by Pauline Hanson to join her far-right party One Nation.
While remaining in the Nationals, Mr Joyce said his relationship with leader David Littleproud was broken beyond repair.
The Nationals are yet to declare their position on net-zero emissions by 2050, which risks splitting the coalition again, after a previous separation from the Liberals in response to the disastrous May 3 federal election.
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan could not confirm on Sunday whether a review on the issue had been completed.
"There's been a lot of work done on it," he told Insiders.
"I think the Nationals Party is single-minded here in seeking a better deal for Australians. Currently, we're not getting a good deal from net zero."
