Cartoons of the Week

 

This month in the Australian Parliament.....

Glen LeLievre

Cathy Wilcox

David Pope

By May 2025 will this particular Australian House of Representatives near, match or exceed the standing order suspension records of the parliaments which went before it?

 

On Wednesday, 21 August 2024 the Albanese Labor Government introduced a Bill to Parliament to establish the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission (IPSC) as, in the words of the Minister, an independent workplace investigation and sanctions framework that will enforce behaviour codes for Parliamentarians, MOPS staff and other people who work in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces.

On a first reading, the bill does not appear to intend to capture the type of disruptive behaviour common in the House of Representatives' Questions Without Notice (Question Time). Perhaps intending to leave it to The Speaker's discretion to decide if a referral to the IPSC is warranted.

According to The Guardian on Wednesday, 21 August 2024 new research shows that in the Australian House of Representatives elected members of parliament have been ejected from the Chamber by The Speaker a total of 198 times in the 47th Federal Parliament, as of 20 August.

It appears that:

• 161 of theses instances were as a result of bad behaviour on the part of Opposition Coalition MPs (103 being identified as Liberals, 9 as Nationals, 43 as Liberal-National, with another 51 not differentiated in published media articles);

• 36 instances were the result of Government Labor MPs behaving in similar fashion; and

• in a single instance one Greens MP also lost the plot and was sent out.

There are another nine months left before this parliament ends and, one suspects that the Coalition Opposition will become more vocal & disruptive as the 2025 federal general election draws nearer.

Will this particular House of Representatives near, match or exceed the standing order suspension records of the House during the eight of the nine parliaments between 1996 and 2022?

Recent history in the House of Representatives

Across four terms of the Australian Parliament beginning in 1996 with the 38th Parliament followed by the 39th, 40th & 41st (Howard Coalition Government), there was total of 513 instances where The Speaker named & suspended or sin binned members of the House of Representatives. Beginning with double digit numbers which grew into the hundreds by the third & fourth terms. [personal research]

During the 42nd Parliament (Rudd & Gillard Labor Government) there appears to have been 168 instances in which The Speaker named & suspended or sin binned members of the House of Representatives. [personal research]

During the 43rd Parliament (Gillard & Rudd Government) there were three Speakers, Harry Jenkins from 14.09.2010 to 24.11.2011 Peter Slipper from 24.11.2011 to 9.10.2012 and Anna Burke from 9.10.2012 to 5.8.2013.

In the period of their collective speakerships there appears to have been 278 instances where MPs were named & suspended or sin binned [personal research based on available data].

During the 44th Parliament  (Abbott & Turnbull Coalition Government) the Speaker ordered members to leave the House of Representatives on 524 occasions, an increase of 88.5 per cent from the 43rd Parliament when 278 members were ejected. On eight occasions members were named and suspended, 515 were ‘sin binned’ (ordered to leave the Chamber under SO 94) for one hour, and one was ordered from the Federation Chamber for 15 minutes. The 44th Parliament saw a record of 18 members ejected on a single day (Thursday 27 November 2014) and the ejection from the Federation Chamber was the first on record.....

The vast proportion of disciplinary actions were ‘sin binnings’, accounting for over 98 per cent in both the 43rd and 44th parliaments. Most disciplinary actions occurred during and after Question Time in the period from 2 pm to 4 pm...

Opposition members, irrespective of which party they belonged to, have always accounted for the largest proportion of disciplinary actions across all parliaments since Federation, at a rate of about 92.5 per cent.....

The 44th Parliament was presided over by Speakers Bishop and Smith. Under Mrs Bishop’s speakership, 402 members were ejected at a rate of about three per day, the highest of any speakership.

During the 45th Parliament (Turnbull & Morrison Coalition Government) the Speaker imposed sanctions against disorderly behaviour by directing members to leave the HoR on 415 occasions under SO 94(a). This is a decrease of 20 per cent from the 44th Parliament, when members were ejected from the House 515 times for one hour.

The 415 ejections involved disorderly members being ‘sin binned,’ or ordered to leave the Chamber for one hour but no members were named and suspended for 24 hours under SO 94(b). On two occasions members were directed to leave the Federation Chamber for 15 minutes under SO 187(b).....

the majority of suspensions (sanctions against disorderly conduct) occurred during Question Time.

During the 46th Parliament (Morrison Coalition Government) the format was changed to 28 periodic review reports produced between 10 July 2019 and 1 April 2022. These reports no longer included a section titled "Suspensions".

NOTE: My yellow highlighting throughout this post.

Trying to bring probity and ethics back into the ranks of the Australian Public Service in 2023

 

The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit is constituted by the Public Accounts and Audit Committee Act 1951. The Committee initiates its own inquiries into public administration matters and can conduct inquiries into matters referred to it by either House of Parliament.

The breakdown of the current membership of the Joint Committee is:

Five Upper House Senators – 3 Labor, 1 Liberal, 1 Nationals; and

Nine Lower House MPs – 6 Labor, 1 Liberal, 2 Liberal-Nationals.

This new inquiry into probity and ethics within the Australian Public Sector was referred to the Joint Committee by the Department of the House of Representatives.

Inquiry into probity and ethics in the Australian Public Sector

On 27 June 2023, the Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Audit adopted an inquiry into probity and ethics in the Australian Public Sector, with a view to examining whether there are systemic factors contributing to poor ethical behaviour in government agencies, and identifying opportunities to strengthen government integrity and accountability.

The inquiry will have particular regard to any matters contained in or connected to the following Auditor-General Reports:

• No. 30 of 2022–23, Probity Management in Financial Regulators — Australian Prudential Regulation Authority

• No. 36 of 2022–23, Probity Management in Financial Regulators — Australian Securities and Investments Commission

• No. 38 of 2022–23, Probity Management in Financial Regulators — Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

• No. 31 of 2022–23, Administration of the Community Health and Hospitals Program — Department of Health and Aged Care

• No. 18 of 2022-23, Acquisition, Management and Leasing of Artworks by Artbank — Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.

The Committee invites submissions to the inquiry addressing the terms of reference by Friday, 25 August 2023.

Committee Secretariat contact:

Committee Secretary

Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit

PO Box 6021

Parliament House

Canberra ACT 2600

Phone: +61 2 6277 4615

jcpaa@aph.gov.au

Images for the 2022 Photo Album

Snapshot of former Australian prime minister & Liberal MP for Cook (far right) with his former deputy prime minister & Nationals MP for New England Barnaby Joyce (far left) belatedly swearing the Oath of Allegiance in the House of Representatives on Monday, 1 August 2022. IMAGE: Snapshot of House of Representatives video segment.

Liberal MP For Cook, Scott Morrison, takes his seat on the backbench in the House of Representatives on Monday 1 August 2022. IMAGES Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Days later.....

Sleeping on the job?
IMAGE: via @BronwynHill1