As the winter fog settles over Canberra and the nation’s politicians return to their electorates, there could be no more relieved Australians than the people of Queanbeyan.
Sitting just across the border from Canberra, the city’s small businesses have become a daily stage for the Leader of the Opposition to perform his stunts.
Usually directed against the proposed price on carbon, the hyped-up vitriol is mirrored in broader attacks around the country on anyone who doesn’t support his views whether they be scientists, economists or everyday Australians who dare to believe that dealing with climate change is necessary and urgent.
The unnatural and unrelenting opposition to everything does a great disservice to our democracy. The Australian people deserve a considered Opposition that intelligently analyses Government policies and holds it accountable. We are not seeing this in Australia today.
Let me give you an example. As Leader of the House, I am responsible for managing the daily business of the House of Representatives and making sure that legislation successfully proceeds through to the Senate. With majority Government, this is fairly straightforward because the result of the vote is predictable.
In a minority Government the outcome is far less certain. The only way to achieve majority support is by developing constructive relationships with the cross-benchers and involving them from the outset, particularly if it’s a controversial bill.
The success of this approach can be seen with the multi-party committee to fix a carbon price, which is chaired by the Prime Minister and includes Bob Brown and key Independents.
Yet the Opposition has not managed to stop one of the Government’s Bills passing the House. So while it purports to be the alternative Government, not once has it managed to attract enough support from the cross-benchers to block our legislative program.
By the end of this Budget session, more than 160 Bills had been passed since the re-election of the Gillard Government.
This compares favourably with only 108 bills by the Howard Government in its entire first year. Among our legislation have been major pieces of reform including the structural separation of Telstra, NBN, national health reform, improvements to higher education and the flood and cyclone reconstruction levy.
Even the Budget, which the Opposition denounced so thoroughly in the media when it was brought down in May, passed with barely a whimper. So although it was a great media stunt to cry poor on behalf of families earning above $150,000, the Opposition didn’t even bother to follow this through by opposing the legislation.
Another stunt which undermines the health of our democracy is Tony Abbott’s near daily trivialising of Question Time by moving a suspension of standing orders.
Normally, such a procedure is only used for genuine matters of public importance. In the last year of the Howard Government, this occurred on only seven occasions on issues such as the Iraq War, use of nuclear energy in Australia and care for the elderly.
However, half of all Question Times this Parliament have been cut short by the Leader of the Opposition. In minutes lost, this is the equivalent of nearly seven entire Question Times, or 136 questions that could have been asked.
Question Time is the forum to hold the Government accountable. I would argue that forgoing this opportunity in favour of a time-wasting stunt is an ominous path to walk down.
While the Opposition might be shirking its responsibilities, the opportunity has not been wasted by other MPs. Since last year’s election, almost 220 hours have been allocated so far to Private Members’ business and for the first time in a decade, two Private Members Bills have passed the House.
While the Opposition might favour stunts and personal attacks over sound policy analysis, we will not stop doing what Labor Governments have done through history which is to govern for the long term.
The old age pension, universal superannuation, Medicare, Native Title, and protecting the Daintree, Kakadu and the Franklin River were all fiercely opposed by conservative governments.
Important reform is almost always difficult to achieve. If we had sought a simple life, we wouldn’t be connecting the nation via the NBN. We would not be taking on the big tobacco companies by being first in the world to introduce plain packaging.
Nor would we care about future generations and the health of the planet by tackling carbon pollution. But we are prepared to fight for what it right for the long term benefit of all Australians.
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