wedgislation

 This is a term that has achieved recent popularity as a description for Scott Morrison’s practice of using legislation not for the good of the country but to try to increase his chances of winning the next election.  There is a precedent for its use in America in an argument between the Democrats and the Republicans in 2001 over who had a mandate, but it seems to have dropped out of sight until resurfacing in Australian politics in 2019.  Albanese has  taken up the term with enthusiasm. 

 The blend of wedge politics and legislation  is meant to say that the legislation is driven by the need to wedge your opponents in a way that will be useful for point-scoring later on.  Wedge politics is defined by Macquarie as:

a political strategy whereby one group seeks to weaken opposing groups by forcing them to divide over a particular issue rather than form an alliance: *The classic targets of wedge politics in Australia are Aborigines, migrants, the unemployed, supporting parents, and I suppose … the disabled. –AAP NEWS, 2000.