5&5: The worst behaviour I’ve ever seen in the Chamber
It was a massive week delivering on our agenda, with three important Bills passing the Parliament. A Bill to trigger the referendum on the Voice to Parliament was also introduced.
Here’s the 5&5.
BEST
Voice to Parliament Bill was introduced
Safeguard Mechanism Bill passed Parliament
National Reconstruction Fund Bill passed Parliament
Closing the Gender Pay Gap Bill passed Parliament
A big win for Dan Repacholi and Meryl Swanson
WORST
The worst behaviour I’ve ever seen in the Chamber
The June 30 funding cliff left by the previous government
The Greens voting against more housing
The Coallition's 60 hour figure that will shock you
The Nats’ newfound interest in grant funding decisions
1. The Voice to Parliament is about two things: recognition and consultation of First Nations people. This week we took the next step towards that – with Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus introducing a Bill to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Marion Scrymgour asked Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney about it in Question Time – here’s how she responded: “Now is the time for us to act as Australians, not as Labor people, not as Greens, not as Liberal or National Party people. Not as Indigenous, or non-Indigenous people but as Australians. Because what we are trying to achieve here is unity. We want inclusion, a better future and this will do it.”
2. After a decade of denial, division and delay under the previous government – this week we passed a key part of our climate policy through the Parliament. The safeguard mechanism will bring down emissions, taking us a step closer to net zero. No thanks to the Libs and the Nats though, who – failing to land 22 of their own energy policies – voted against this in both the House and the Senate. As Chris Bowen told Question Time on Thursday, “What the Parliament has done today is safeguard our climate, safeguard our economy and safeguard our future”.
3. We also passed our National Reconstruction Fund through the Parliament. It will help rebuild manufacturing in this country and create good, secure, well-paying jobs – after the industry was hung out to dry by the previous government. But that’s not all. As Industry Minister Ed Husic explained in Question Time on Wednesday. “There is one job the NRF has already created. It's a job for every one of those members opposite, and it is to go back to their communities and explain why they would not support Australian manufacturing.” After it went through Matt Burnell, who represents many workers who lost their jobs in South Australia when the previous government told the car industry to leave, gave a powerful speech exposing the Liberal record on manufacturing jobs.
4. The third important piece of legislation we passed this week was the Government’s Closing the Gender Pay Gap Bill. The fact that on average women in Australia earn $253.50 less than men each week – in 2023 – isn’t good enough. The Bill was put through the Senate by Minister for Women Katy Gallagher and through the House of Reps by Catherine King. This Bill is part of our focus on closing the gender pay gap.
5. Big win this week for Dan Repacholi and Meryl Swanson, who’ve both been campaigning for a long time for a fairer deal for coal workers in their electorates. Casuals in the coal industry have been ripped off on their long service leave for years. I’ve just introduced legislation which will make sure they’re now treated fairly.
1. The Speaker described it as “disgusting”. For me – it was the worst behaviour I’ve ever seen in the Chamber. During a division on Tuesday, seven Coalition MPs left the House after the Speaker had called for the doors to be locked during a division. Instead of doing what members normally do, picking a side of the Chamber to sit on and vote, or abstaining by sitting in the advisers’ boxes – they forcibly pushed their way out while a parliamentary attendant was trying to close the door. The female attendant still carries bruises from the crush. All of this so they didn’t have to sit in the House for five minutes. We can’t have a situation where people are using their physical size to push past the members of staff who are just doing their job.
2. We know that the previous government was all announcement, no delivery. But I never thought that extended to essential services. Turns out I was wrong. Just six weeks out from the Budget we learnt that a whole heap of government services hit a funding cliff on the 30th of June. They include MyHealth record, MyGov, the eSafety Commissioner, the Australian Radioactive Waste Agency, as well as our national collecting institutions like the National Gallery of Australia and the National Museum. I don’t know what they thought would happen. That the National Gallery would use Blue Poles to hold the roof up? Or maybe it would be like Night at the Museum and all the exhibits would start running around and looking after the building?
3. This week the Greens confirmed that they’d block our Housing Australia Future Fund, standing in the way of tens of thousands of social and affordable homes. Housing Minister Julie Collins got it through the House, but now the Greens are blocking it in the Senate. As the Prime Minister told Question Time on Wednesday, “You can't have credibility coming in here and saying: 'We don't think $10 billion is enough. We want $20 billion. Therefore, we'll oppose $10 billion.' It's just absurd to vote for zero rather than to vote for progress.”
4. We’ve now finished 50 sitting days as a Government. Because we’ve been allowing people to debate we’ve had 60 hours more of speeches on legislation than they allowed under the same time. But the real 60 hour figure to remember is that under them, we spent 60 hours voting on whether or not people would be allowed to be heard. On Thursday I changed standing orders so that nobody can move that motion after 6:30pm. Manager of Opposition Business Paul Fletcher argued that somehow it was a fundamental right of members of Parliament to move that motion. We’ve all seen the movies where people get told “you have the right to remain silent”. I’d never heard about a right to silence others – but that’s what Fletch argued for this week.
5. The party of sports rorts was at it again. In Opposition the Nats have a newfound interest in grant funding decisions. On Wednesday the Member for Wide Bay Llew O’Brien asked the Minister for Regional Development Kristy McBain about funding guidelines. Seriously? Here’s how she responded, “It's so great to see members of the LNP on the road to Damascus about guidelines. It wasn't a big priority for them previously. But it is great to see that they are interested in guidelines now.”
We’re not back until Budget week.
‘til then,
Tony
PS. In response to some constitutionally impossible requests from the Greens Party - Anthony Albanese said “One of the things I won't do is promise absolute pixie dust.” In honour of that comment, here’s one of the PM’s favourite bands The Pixies, with
