Blind Freddy could have guessed what would dominate Thursday's question time - the latest Qantas job losses and one of the causes, the dreaded carbon tax.
And so it came to pass, though it unfolded slowly, with diversions along the way.
Tony Abbott was initially low key: no shouting, no goading.
It was a very serious matter, he said. A difficult and anxious day for Qantas workers. Playing politics was the last thing he was going to do.
Labor's refusal to help repeal the carbon tax was hardly mentioned.
Abbott maintained his "above politics" stance as the questions continued. The guts of his message was that companies produce the wealth which produces jobs and the government's main task is to make it easier for business to flourish. That largely means giving it as level a playing field as possible.
But he wasn't keen on giving Qantas a loan facility because if you do it for one, you have to do it for all.
As other ministers - including regular performers Greg Hunt and Bruce Billson - started wading into the carbon tax, Labor moved on to another of the week's favourites, Alastair Furnival, the former chief of staff of assistant health minister Fiona Nash, who part-owned a lobbying firm with links to the snack food industry, including Cadbury.
This time the main issue was Furnival's role in the coalition's pre-election promise of $16 million to Cadbury.
While Nash was the main target, the issue also meshed with the Qantas argument. After all, if you give money to a chocolate factory, why not to Australia's national carrier?
Catherine King reinforced her questioning with a photo of Furnival, Abbott and other Coalition heavyweights at the Cadbury factory.
Abbott was dismissive. The matter was so secret, he sneered, that half the press gallery was at the function.
But the matter got lost in a side issue which is becoming central to question time, Labor's growing frustration with the Speaker.
Earlier, Bronwyn Bishop had ruled part of a Labor question, which claimed the government always blamed the workers when jobs were lost, was out of order.
Then, invoking a no-props policy, she wouldn't let King show her photo. Recent speakers have tolerated the moderate use of props like photos when they're clearly relevant.
A couple of questions later King was in more trouble for asking Abbott if Furnival would be a beneficiary of the Cadbury grant.
Tony Burke, as manager of opposition business, had several testy exchanges with Bishop and, when Joe Hockey shouted "hypocrite" across the chamber, went close to accusing her of bias.
If anyone from Labor's side had done that, they'd have been ejected, he said.
But Burke pulled back from the precipice. He knows that he can't win a fight with a speaker who has the weight of government votes behind her.
