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Even with a near Labor dominance of National Cabinet, the prime minister doesn't always get his way. There are limits to his power.
A case in point? Anthony Albanese's push for a public holiday in the event of a Matilda's World Cup victory.
Last week the prime minister said it would be "on the agenda for sure". He predicted the premiers would "fold like tents" and suggested it would be a "pretty brave" state leader who said no to a public holiday.
In the end, the public holiday idea didn't even make the agenda at all. Two "brave" premiers, from South Australia and Tasmania, had already said "no".
Only NSW Premier Chris Minns committed to a day off should the Matildas go all the way. The rest remained on the fence, reading the room of mixed opinion in their electorates.
State and territory leaders will always put their own interests first.
Which brings us to what was actually on the agenda at yesterday's meeting: housing.
Feeling the heat
All levels of government are feeling the heat over housing.
A lack of supply, growing demand, declining approvals, soaring construction costs, building firms going bust, and spiralling rents, has created a perfect storm.
But the idea, pushed by the Greens, that rents should be capped and frozen for two years, simply wasn't in the interests of the states or territories.
The ACT is the only jurisdiction that places a limit (110 per cent of the inflation rate) on how much landlords can increase rent each year. The rest aren't convinced.
Victoria's Dan Andrews briefly flirted with the idea but now appears to have fallen into line with the orthodox view (most recently expressed by the soon-to-depart Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe) that such limits ultimately drive investment out of the market and make life worse for renters.
Secondly, state governments rely heavily on property taxes. Anything that significantly drives down property prices would deliver a hit to revenue (along with a political backlash).
The rejection of a rental freeze at yesterday's National Cabinet means the push from the Greens has hit a dead end.
Does that mean the party will join with the Coalition to vote down the government's $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund? We'll see.
LoadingThe big move was housing supply
The Greens were disappointed with the outcome of yesterday's meeting, but they're keeping their cards close to their chest on how they'll vote on the HAFF when it comes back before the parliament in October.
The big move yesterday wasn't on renters' rights. There was barely any change on that front. The big move was on housing supply, as the prime minister had flagged leading into the talks.
He put an extra $3.5 billion on the table, far more than was expected, as a carrot for the states to get cracking on zoning and planning reform. The money would be paid on delivery, over a five-year period.
The aim is to deliver more medium and high-density housing where people want to live, something the big state premiers of NSW and Victoria have begun warning their respective electorates is coming. Less urban sprawl, more "going up".
This won't necessarily be politically easy for them to deliver in suburbs that prize green space and don't want big developers moving in. But a financial incentive from the Commonwealth is now there.
National Cabinet leaders are confident this package of funds will help deliver an extra 1.2 million new homes by mid-2029, an increase on their earlier target of 1 million.
Whether that target will be hit will ultimately depend on the detail. We're yet to see how far the states will go with planning and zoning reforms, how far their willing to push against NIMBYism, what resistance they'll face, and what appetite developers will have to seriously boost supply.
The prime minister doesn't have the power to dictate the details. He can't tell the states exactly what to do on planning laws any more than he can on public holidays. But he can offer incentives.
After handing the states $2 billion for public housing in June and now a potential $3.5 billion to speed up private construction, it's clear Anthony Albanese isn't putting all his chips on the Greens passing the Housing Australia Future Fund.
David Speers is National Political Lead and host of Insiders, which airs on ABC TV at 9am on Sunday or on iview.