PENALTY RATES CONTINUE TO PLAGUE BOTH MAJOR PARTIES AS CANBERRA BREAKS FOR A FORTNIGHT
Thursday, 2 March 2017
Summary
The final day of the sitting week for the House of Representatives saw further robust exchanges on the penalty rates issue. The Prime Minister decided to ‘take the matter on’ electing to conduct a doorstop interview as well as appear on ABC Radio with Sabra Lane and 2WS with Amanda Keller and Brendan Jones. The Opposition Leader, the Hon Bill Shorten MP, appeared before the media at CIT Trade Centre in Canberra with his Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Hon Brendan O’Connor MP, in a bid to continue to press the Government on this issue.
The Opposition used all 34 of their questions this week in Question Time to pepper the Government over the decision by the Fair Work Commission to reduce some weekend penalty rates for some sectors. The Government, while playing on the defensive over penalty rates, sought to continue to attack the Opposition’s ideology, namely over the energy debate in South Australia and the liberalisation of trade and markets for Australian exporters.
1.The Opposition successfully personalised the penalty rates issue again today with three Members using constituent stories of anticipated hardship and grief. This effort to humanise the ruling is an attempt to give weight to the Opposition’s cause in a sympathetic community that is currently experiencing stagnant wage growth across all sectors.
2.Member for Moore, Mr Ian Goodenough MP, used a Government Dixer to ask his West Australian colleague and Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, a seemingly innocuous question on exports and trade. Given the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Hon Steven Ciobo MP, is a more than capable performer in the House, it was disappointing the answer from the Minister focused on a partisan critique of the West Australian Opposition Leader, Mark McGowan MP, who faces the voters in nine days time, rather than trade issues.
3.Independent watchers of Question Time would continue to be impressed by the impartiality of the Speaker, the Hon Tony Smith MP. Having given five Members an early mark to catch flights home to their electorates under standing order 94, Mr Smith also found time to publicly and professionally bemoan the constant interjections from his own Manager of Government Business, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP. The rebuilding of public confidence in the Speakership continues under Smith since the former Speaker and former Member for Mackellar, the Hon Bronwyn Bishop MP, resigned in 2015.
4.The Prime Minister was a notable casualty today after an intense sitting week with an audible grasp and croak in his throat. Given he had to respond to the Opposition Leader moving the suspension of standing orders in Question Time over the penalty rates issue, the Prime Minister would be wise to drink plenty of honey and recover so that his oration and conviction can be heard once more!
1.The Shadow Minister for Human Services, the Hon Linda Burney MP, has today written to the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Mr Andrew Colvin APM OAM, referring the conduct of the Minister for Human Services, the Hon Alan Tudge MP, in an attempt to uncover if any laws were broken when personal information of Centrelink clients was leaked to the media. The Guardian Australia reports the office of the Minister for Human Services mistakenly sent a journalist internal departmental briefings about a welfare recipient’s personal circumstances, which included additional detail on her relationships and tax history.
2.The Victorian Liberal party faces an internal power struggle as Michael Kroger and the Hon Peter Reith nominate to contest the job of state party president. Mr Reith, a Minister in the Howard Government, has confirmed he will formally nominate to challenge the incumbent Mr Kroger, seizing on frustration among some of the rank and file membership over Mr Kroger’s leadership.
3. Free from his Parliamentary role as Chief Nationals Whip, Mr George Christensen MP has said the Government’s failure to act on the issue of any reform to section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act amounted to a “breach of faith” with the Australian public.
4.Fairfax reports the US Attorney-General, Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, spoke twice last year to Russia’s Ambassador to the United States when he was a Senator. Worryingly for Sessions, during his confirmation hearing to become Attorney-General, it appears he did not disclose these meetings when asked about possible contacts between members of President Donald Trump’s campaign and representatives of Moscow.
Today’s legislation focus included:
1.National Disability Insurance Scheme Savings Fund Special Account Bill 2016
2.Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Measures №1) Bill 2017
3.Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Digital Readiness And Other Measures) Bill 2016
4.Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan) Bill 2016
