Labor's post-election honeymoon has been lengthy, but the reality of politics and people's patience is that it has to end sometime. Australian voters roared on May 21 that they wanted politics done differently. They were sick of rorts, desperate for accountability and over the major parties. Now "helpfully" Scott Morrison is still around with his "me-ministry" revelations to remind us there were some kooky and seriously questionable things going on under his leadership. So is the early glow over? Not quite. Not quite at all. Recent polling shows a surge in support and has given the Albanese government a further blush as it collectively braces for much tougher times ahead. And now we are at that artificial, but still worthy time in the electoral cycle. This week, Monday no less, marks 100 days of Labor in power. It has been "unfussy", not too flashy and the ministers have a "general sense of competence about them" as they have hit the ground running, according to ANU political scientist Jill Sheppard. "Definitely had a fair bit of luck. Everyone loves a new government, whether that's voters or public servants or members of the crossbench, everyone has a sense of excitement in these first 100 days," she told The Canberra Times. "So we'll see what happens when some of that excitement wears down." To take stock, the Prime Minister moved into The Lodge, busted out the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags and, while chamber hollering and those interminable Dorothy Dixers remain, changed the standing orders in the House to reflect the new yearnings and personnel in the 47th Parliament. READ MORE The big ticket, straight-up actions which have been relatively easy to do are splashy "Coalition cancelling" items: switching off the useless COVIDSafe app, taking compulsory religion out of the school chaplain program, ending the secretive Bernard Collaery case, allowing charities to speak out and not risk their funding, sending Penny Wong very quickly to the Solomon Islands, giving permanent visas to the Nadesalingam family from Biloela, lifting the "woke" ban at Defence and announcing the promised royal commission into the Morrison government's "shameful" Robodebt scheme. That's a lot of Coalition unwinding and there's still the October reset budget to come. But notably, on a wage growth mission, the government backed a winner for an increase to the national minimum wage with the Fair Work Commission increasing it by 5.2 per cent. Now what is the government actually creating? "So far, there's nothing really legislative to show for the first 100 days. That's probably not unusual, particularly with such a large crossbench," Dr Sheppard said. "They haven't had to really fight for any legislative changes." The real fight starts now. There's this week's Jobs and Skills Summit, where all eyes will be on tangible outcomes. The aged care legislation to support the recommendations of the heart-breaking royal commission has passed, but the climate bill to enshrine Labor's 43 per cent emissions reduction target will have a bit more trouble in the Senate after making it through the House. Same for the private members' bill to follow the states and restore the rights of the ACT and the Northern Territory to debate voluntary assisted dying. While legislation to create a federal anti-corruption commission is about to see the light of day as the government runs up to its commitment to legislation before the end of the year, there's more to do on the Jenkins Review recommendations, a NDIS review is on the way and we are still yet to see any sign of the promised $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to promote "Australian made" manufacturing. But perhaps the Albanese government's signature item, and most contentious, is the path Australia is now on towards the Voice to Parliament referendum. No mean feat, but the Prime Minister has declared he is full of hope as it is the right thing to do. "We know that they have two fronts that they have to fight this case. The Greens on one side and conservatives on the other and they kind of really need a stomach for that and I'm not sure that they necessarily have it," Dr Sheppard said. "It could go either way from here, right? That's the difficult balance for all issues. "The cynics among us will say, 'Well, you know, again, talk is cheap'. But, maybe if we're looking for points of optimism, we can say they still have got two and a half years to bed down some of these ideas," she said. Labor is fortunate the Coalition is far from recovered from the hiding it got at the election and it is contending with having Mr Morrison hanging around in Parliament while scoring a few paid speaking gigs and being exposed as fundamentally undermining the principles of responsible government. They really don't want to lose his seat of Cook. Peter Dutton is yet to hit his straps as Opposition Leader and seems content to continue the same old lines and route that saw the Coalition vanquished in May. On the other hand, after a seemingly early win with the Greens over the not yet passed Climate Bill, there's clearly testing times ahead for Labor with the beefed-up progressive party. The Greens are none too impressed with the government saying one thing on locking in net zero targets on one hand, and opening up polluting gas exploration fields on the other. How's that Climate Bill now? Adam Bandt is very keen to point out to Mr Albanese that he needs the Greens in the Senate. And not just on climate. At the start of the year, as he looked to get Labor out of nine years of hard opposition, Anthony Albanese was adamant he was not going to do the "100 day game". He was more keen to talk about what could be done in a first term of government. Expect to hear more about the hard stuff. About real reform and what can realistically be done. Rocketing global inflation has changed the picture and there are fears of a hard landing, there's just no end to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the dial has been turned up on extreme weather events. 100 days in. The Albanese government is still just getting started.