Church will be the first port of call for many politicians before federal parliament sits for the first time in 2014.
The ecumenical service to mark the start of parliament on Tuesday will likely offer a rare moment of calm for federal politicians amid fallout from Toyota's devastating decision to stop making cars in Australia.
Coalition members at their joint party meeting are likely to debate requests for support for the Toyota workers set to lose their jobs by the end of 2017.
Toyota says no single factor was responsible for its decision.
But unions, Labor and the Australian Greens blame the coalition and are unlikely to ease up on their attack.
The federal government's package of carbon tax laws will be first order of business in the Senate, but there will be no joy there for the coalition.
Neither Labor nor the Greens are backing down from their opposition to the bills and debate is likely to go on for months.
