QUESTION TIME A BATTLE OVER “CHARACTER, CONVICTION AND COMMITMENT”

Summary

The Prime Minister commenced the day by visiting the Australian Government Crisis Centre for an up-to-the-minute briefing on the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Debbie. Speaking to the assembled press, he optimistically pleaded, “the sun will be shining again, the resorts will be open again and people shouldn’t be cancelling their holidays”. Meanwhile, the Opposition chose to host close to 100 members of the multicultural community in an attempt to pressure the Government over reforms to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975.

Opposition Members used their 90 second statements prior to Question Time to attack the Government over proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. From the dispatch box, Manager of Opposition Business, the Hon Tony Burke MP, called for people and community groups to join the Opposition at Lakemba this Friday for the annual Walk for Respect event.

1.In a fiery and cantankerous Question Time, the Prime Minister was the focus of the Opposition’s attack. The Shadow Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus QC MP, pelted the Prime Minister with questions on three separate occasions about the collapse of HIH and what role he might have played in confidentially settling litigant matters. The Prime Minister, saw off the Shadow’s third question, when he said, “throughout my life I have represented many people. I have represented people with lots of money and people with no money. I’ve represented the battlers and I’ve represented the big end of town, but the one thing I’ve always done is I’ve always done the best, I’ve always done the best for them, and now I’m representing every Australian and I’m doing the best for them now”.

2.Greens Treasury spokesperson and Member for Melbourne, Mr Adam Bandt MP, injected himself distastefully into the theatre of Question Time today when he asked the Prime Minister, on the very day residents in Far North Queensland were assessing property damage following Tropical Cyclone Debbie, “why do you push policies like burning more coal that will make cyclones more intense?” The Prime Minister was right to label the question “contemptible” and he was further right to praise volunteers, first responders, evacuation crews and Australian Defence Force personnel, currently deployed on the ground, “ensuring that Australians are safe and that they are recovering from this cyclone”.

3.The zinger of the day went to the Prime Minister while answering the second question from the Member for Gorton, the Hon Brendan O’Connor MP, after his failed first attempt. Responding to a question on the merits of the enterprise wide tax cuts of nearly $50b, the cessation of the temporary deficit levy and the Fair Work Commission’s decision to reduce some penalty rates, the Prime Minister was able to humorously note dubious invoices regarding back strain research to the Australian Workers’ Union, uncovered during Justice Hayden’s Royal Commission, when he said, “well Mr Speaker, picking up that much money can put your back out”.

5.The formalities of the House were somewhat muted during Question Time today as the 27th Speaker, the Hon Peter Slipper, was publicly acknowledged by the current Speaker, the Hon Tony Smith MP, as a guest in the gallery. While there are generally warm cheers and approving nods from both sides welcoming former colleagues back to the House, it was clear from the awkward silence, that Slipper, in Canberra for the unveiling of his official portrait, is still a person that divides opinion.