Summary
Members and Senators returned to Canberra after a brief sojourn in their electorates to find the Government has steadied a falling Newspoll trajectory with a three point improvement in the period from 27 February to 18 March. The Opposition still leads the Government 52:48, however, and pleasingly for the Prime Minister, he increased his lead as preferred Prime Minister over the Opposition Leader, the Hon Bill Shorten MP and the Coalition overtook the Opposition on the primary vote metric. The Prime Minister addressed the press gallery with his Employment Minister, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, to signal forthcoming legislation that will make it a criminal offence for a union to take a payment that might have a corrupting influence or benefit. The Opposition Leader introduced a bill to amend the Fair Work Act and continue prosecuting the Government about the recent changes to penalty rates as announced by the Fair Work Commission.
Question Time lacked its usual theatre and bombast today as the Government and Opposition traded stories, historical wrongs and failures on a range of policy topics including penalty rates, energy security, water security, infrastructure, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, the Racial Discrimination Act, pension cuts and housing affordability.
1.Given the Opposition has been a disciplined entity in recent weeks; only discussing matters pertaining to penalty rates, it was a change of direction as prominent frontbenchers including Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, the Hon Mark Butler MP and Shadow Treasurer, the Hon Chris Bowen MP, all questioned the Government on matters directly relevant to their shadow portfolios.
2.Comforted from the positive editorial and commentary following the Prime Minister’s Snowy Hydro 2.0 announcement last week, the Government today sought to pivot dialogue away from the failings of the energy grid in South Australia to the positive outcomes that await investment in an upgraded Snowy system.
3.In the weeks leading up to the budget, it is natural for a Government to be peppered on multiple policy fronts, and it seems from multiple opposition voices. Former Prime Minister, the Hon Paul Keating, joined the housing affordability debate with a critique of supposed Government policy when he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald “… only the most reckless and wilful government would abort the policy settings (superannuation access for housing) to put the system at risk”. It was a confident Prime Minister and Treasurer who reminded the House today that in fact Paul Keating had taken this very policy to the voters ahead of the 1993 election.
4.In the most efficient Question Time of the year, a total of 23 questions were asked of the Government. The Speaker, the Hon Tony Smith MP, continues to be conscious of the viewing public in the galleries and from abroad and should be commended for his chairmanship of fair and frank debate in the House.
1.Newspoll released today confirmed the Government had gained three points in the latest two party preferred poll. The Opposition still leads the Government 52:48 after preferences, however the Prime Minister convincingly leads the Opposition Leader in the preferred Prime Minister category.
2.Late on Friday afternoon the Attorney-General, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC, released 34 pages of print outs of appointments to his Labor counterpart, Shadow Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus QC MP, ending a three-year legal battle that has cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars over access to the Attorney-General’s diary.
3.Sky News told viewers that the government will examine both “substantive and procedural changes” to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. The news outlet contends the proposal will be considered at both ministry and cabinet meetings today.
4.The private mobile phone numbers of hundreds of federal politicians, and former prime ministers have been accidentally published online in an embarrassing blunder by a government department. The Department of Parliamentary Services failed to properly delete the phone numbers before it published the most recent round of politicians’ phone bills on the Parliament House website.
5.The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) today cemented its standing as the peak body for general practice in Australia with the opening of an office in Canberra. [Given this news and Senator Pauline Hanson’s recent comments on anti-vaccination, Peter Georgiou, who was deemed the most appropriate by the High Court to replace the forgettable Rod Culleton as Senator for Western Australia representing Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, has had the start of his Parliamentary career delayed due to contracting measles]
Today’s legislation focus included:
1.Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Take Home Pay) Bill 2017
2.Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Weekend Pay and Penalty Rates) Bill 2017
3.Live Animal Export Prohibition (Ending Cruelty) Bill 2017
4.National Land Transport Amendment (Best Practice Rail Investment) Bill 2017
5.Health Insurance Amendment (National Rural Health Commissioner) Bill 2017
