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Last week’s melon-gate controversy was a pretty unedifying spectacle for everyone involved. There’s much more important work to be done in this parliamentary week, with a logjam of long-awaited reform landing all at once.

But beyond the immediate – disability, media, gambling harms, and a looming fight on immigration – it will give a glimpse into how the major parties plan to combat the rising populist rage from the right.

At its best, parliament can be a place where Labor and the Coalition put aside petty squabbles to find common ground, fix problems and make good change in the interest of Australians.

Of course, parliament has been far from its best in recent times, but in three key areas – the gambling advertising reforms, the news bargaining incentive (NBI) and NDIS reform – the major parties are working constructively.

Anthony Albanese and Angus Taylor met several times last week on those policies, each of which are to make their way through parliament after agreements on core issues.

Gambling reform is likely to pass both houses this week. We are yet to see the final amendments, but Albanese on Friday conceded wagering inducements were “just not on”, pledging that “we’re going to wind them back.”

While a full ban on ads – as Peta Murphy’s landmark report recommended – is not on the cards, some advertising rules will be stronger than in the government’s first draft.

Internal advocates for stricter rules, in both the Labor and Liberal party rooms, have conceded they won’t get everything they want, but are pleased the final result is beefed up from the original version.

Despite a vocal campaign from the Greens and crossbench, reforms to trim billions from NDIS spending forecasts will also pass before long with Labor and Liberal approval; so too the news bargaining incentive, which will have no problems passing.

The common theme here, of course, is the major parties cooperating on contentious legislation and cutting the crossbench out of the process. It’s been a rarer occurrence in recent times, with Taylor’s Coalition often choosing to instantly oppose legislation and leaving the Greens and independents to deal with the government, instead of seeking to make amendments of their own.

Usually, that simply means the Greens get to eke out a few more progressive reforms for their support, making changes even less palatable for Coalition constituencies.

Most recently we saw it with the government’s negative gearing and capital gains changes, which passed with little fuss thanks to a deal with the Greens in June. Taylor was asked by journalists at the time what businesses and investors get out of the Coalition “constantly dealing itself out of negotiations”.

Of course an opposition can make political hay out of letting the government make a controversial change that they can then campaign against (which is harder to do if they voted for it). That has been a plank of Taylor’s strategy thus far.

Coalition MPs are increasingly voicing concern over his tactical calls, eager for more policy to be unveiled and for their leader to pick more fights with Labor. Some think he is playing too safely by sticking to a narrow set of topics in cost of living, immigration and energy, and deciding not to swing at other issues.

But this week will see the government and opposition team up on some key changes, leaving the crossbench kicking stones outside as the major parties quietly stitch up deals. The immediate benefit for the government is obvious, in finding easier paths through the Senate with their main counterpart instead of having to agree to the more radical changes proposed by the Greens on the NBI, gambling and NDIS.

But more broadly, it also demonstrates how the traditional two-party system can still work; that methodical and measured change can be achieved without having to vote in untried, untested and fringe operators from well outside the mainstream.

Taylor is still working out how to stave off One Nation. For now, his Coalition is often just echoing Pauline Hanson’s policy platform; on immigration, on Islamic State-linked families, even on slashing the building code. While they figure what to do next, demonstrating the benefits of working methodically inside the system – instead of seeking to burn it down – should be an ongoing project.

For Labor, they remember Albanese’s mantra of “safe change” and “orderly government” brought Labor to power in 2022. Labor believes it’s that same rationale, of making reasonable promises and then working hard to keep them, which will stave off the One Nation threat.

It is a shame Albanese didn’t defuse the melons controversy from the podcast-which-will-never-die from day one by apologising or otherwise neutralising the issue, because it allowed the trivial to overshadow a week when Labor got a fair bit done.

Even amid the drama, the government bailed out the Tomago aluminium plant, finalised a gun buyback with New South Wales, finalised the NBI, agreed to beef up gambling reforms, introduced legislation to boost wages for childcare workers, released stats showing their bulk billing and home battery schemes were working, and got Donald Trump on the phone to talk tariffs.

Interestingly, this week will also see a visit from the Japanese defence minister, to talk naval vessels with Richard Marles. No word yet on the catering menu or the gifts the pair might exchange.

The government wants this week to be another one of “getting things done”. Just as long as no other fruit-related misadventures trip things up.

• Josh Butler is a political reporter and the Guardian’s Canberra bureau chief of staff