POLITICAL parties always like to point out what their opponent's priorities should be, especially when the topic of conversation makes them uncomfortable.
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AS our state parliamentarians entered the chamber for the last time in 2015 this week, the theme was priorities.
Accusations were launched that the Greens were wasting time on marriage equality, Labor was wasting time on Damien Mantach, and the government didn't have enough legislation on the table.
Unsolicited advice was flying thick and fast as to what each should have really been spending their last week on.
On Wednesday, Police Minister Rene Hidding had a dig at the Greens for pursuing their marriage equality motion during the final sitting week.
"I am amazed at the Greens for their priorities," Mr Hidding told Parliament.
"In the last week of Parliament for the year, no threatened species, no forestry, no Tarkine, no logging in the wilderness, no terror in Paris, no international priorities, because it is important for them to wedge one or two people in this house," he said.
It's not often you'll hear a government MP wanting to talk about the Tarkine.
While marriage equality would be far from Mr Hidding's favourite topic, the importance of that motion cannot be understated.
Not only did it test the Parliament on the issue for the first time, it also acted as a truce.
While it was a win for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender and intersex Tasmanians, it was also a win for free speech in the lead up to the nation plebiscite.
The Parliament has backed marriage equality, but also affirmed that those in the community against it should be entitled to freely hold their beliefs.
On Thursday, Premier Will Hodgman slammed Labor's priorities for continually asking questions about former Liberal official Damien Mantach.
Mr Mantach, who has been charged with stealing $1.5 million from the Victorian party, is definitely one of the Liberal MPs least-enjoyed topics.
Mr Hodgman said it was "symbolic" that on the last sitting day when the members opposite could ask any minister any question about "important matters" they spent time asking about Mr Mantach.
Despite the generous offer from Mr Hodgman, Opposition Leader Bryan Green wanted to know why the Liberals hadn't lodged a complaint to the police about the circumstances surrounding $48,000 being paid back to the state party by Mr Mantach.
It was a long shot by Labor, who knew they couldn't ask about it, but it got them media coverage.
The government has now finished it's second year of Parliament, marking the half-way point of its first-term legislative agenda.
Labor and the Greens have consistently accused it of not putting enough legislation on the table.
Perhaps they are sensitive to when they had so many over-hanging bills in their last term of government the upper house refused to deal with them.
This year they knocked off at about 4.30pm.
While there were no marathon debates this week, planning reforms were locked in and a bill about mandatory treatment of sex offenders passed.
All up, about 45 new laws passed through the lower house this year.
But with school out for summer, each party has more than three months to work out their own priorities for 2016.
And I'm sure they'll all return to the chamber with more helpful advice for their opponents when the heat is on.
