The government’s first round of haggling, with recalcitrant Senators, is now in sight.

The Coalition has decided to block the government’s plan to lift the Medicare levy threshold to $100,000 for singles.

The opposition doesn’t have the numbers in the Senate to block that measure, by itself.

A small clutch of Greens and independents now holds the balance of power.

A former Prime Minister, Paul Keating, despised the Senate, dismissing its members as “unrepresentative swill.”

The new government of Kevin Rudd will have to be more diplomatic.

And Family First Senator, Steve Fielding, has already set his terms, in the latest stoush.

He says he will not vote for the government’s bill, unless low income families withhttp://privatebriefing.com.au/2008/08/28/how-inflation-hits-working-families private health insurance are compensated.

He says these families are those least able to afford private health insurance.

But they make that choice, to protect their financial security.

“They already provide a rebate,” Senator Fielding said.

“That rebate needs to be looked at to work out how we can compensate low income families,” he added.