Australian democracy is dying by inches on the floor of the House of Representatives and the cause is the Hon. Bronwyn Kathleen Bishop MP

Excerpt from Australian House of Representatives Hansard of 10 December 2013, in which The Speaker Bronwyn Bishop has yet another ‘senior moment’, forgets parliamentary processes, gets snakey when she is reminded of the correct procedure and shows her intensely partisan nature:

Mr BURKE (Watson—Manager of Opposition Business) (21:16): I move:

That so much of standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Watson moving immediately:

That this House:

condemns the Government for failing to allow proper debate on legislation before the Parliament.

Mr BURKE: We are in the middle of a debate on important legislation about infrastructure—

The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the House.

Mr BURKE: and the cowardice of the Leader of the House—

Mr PYNE (Sturt—Leader of the House and Minister for Education) (21:17): I move:

That the Member be no longer heard.

The SPEAKER: The question is that the member be no longer heard.

The House divided. [21:21] .....

Question agreed to.

The SPEAKER: Is the motion seconded?

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler) (21:25): Indeed, Madam Speaker. I second the motion and I have nothing more to say.

The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the House.

Mr Albanese: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. With respect, Madam Speaker, now that I have concluded my speech, you need to put the resolution to the House before you give someone else the call.

Mr Pyne: The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Mr Albanese: Yes, well, you need to do that, Madam Speaker. The Manager of Opposition Business knows that.

Government members interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The former Leader of the House, who is now apparently the Acting Manager of Opposition Business, has given the chair advice. The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Honourable members interjecting—

Mr Pyne: Madam Speaker—

Mr Albanese: Madam Speaker—

The SPEAKER: Both the Manager of Opposition Business and the Leader of the House will resume their seats. If the Manager of Opposition Business is raising a point of order to resume his status, then it is acknowledged.

Mr Albanese: Let's be bipartisan! That is outrageous!

Mr Burke: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Madam Speaker, if you want to be an impartial chair, I ask that you withdraw.

Honourable members interjecting—

Mr PYNE (Sturt—Leader of the House and Minister for Education) (21:27): Madam Speaker, the government opposes the—

The SPEAKER: I recognise the Manager of Opposition Business and have already said that I acknowledge the Manager of Opposition Business. Now I call—

Mr Burke: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

The SPEAKER: The member will resume his seat.

Mr Burke: A point of order, Madam Speaker!

The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. There will be no further points of order acknowledged.

Honourable members interjecting—

Mr BURKE (Watson—Manager of Opposition Business) (21:28): Madam Speaker, I move:

That the Speaker’s ruling be dissented from.

You have just ruled that no other points of order will be heard. That is a ruling, and I move that the Speaker's ruling be dissented from.

The SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Mr Burke: No, Madam Speaker! There has never been an occasion when a Speaker has refused to allow a resolution for dissent to be heard. Your role and everything that is contained within Practice falls apart if you will not hear the dissent motion.

Honourable members interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The member will resume his seat.

Mr Burke: Madam Speaker, I don't need to. I—

The SPEAKER: Both members will resume their seats. You are asked to resume your seat; you will do so.

Mr Burke: I have asked that your ruling be dissented from!

The SPEAKER: You will resume your seat. You have said that you are dissenting from my ruling. Whether or not you consider I have made a ruling, I do not consider I made a ruling. However, I will entertain your dissent motion if you wish to pursue it.

Mr BURKE: Madam Speaker, critical to the role of Speaker in this House is the one principle that the Speaker will not engage in debate. The comments that you made with respect to me would have been reasonable interjections when you were in this House merely as the member for Mackellar—rules that were reasonable for any member to get up and try to make a half-funny, childish interjection. But you need to recognise, Madam Speaker, that you are meant to be impartial. You need to recognise, Madam Speaker, that the office you hold is

greater and more important than your own political rhetoric. You need to recognise, Madam Speaker, that we have not previously—

Mr PYNE (Sturt—Leader of the House and Minister for Education) (21:30): It is time this farce were brought to an end, and I move:

That the member be no longer heard.

The SPEAKER: The question is that the member be no longer heard.

The House divided. [21:34].....

Question agreed to.

The SPEAKER: Is the motion seconded?

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler) (21:40): Yes, Madam Speaker. A high degree of impartiality in the execution of the duties of office is one of the hallmarks of good speakership. That is what House of Representatives Practice—

The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the House.

Mr Pyne: I move:

That the member be no longer heard.

The SPEAKER: The question is that the member be no longer heard. A division having been called and the bells being/having been rung—

Mr Albanese: I am wondering, Madam Speaker, whether there is any precedent for a shutting down of a dissent debate in the Speaker of the House of Representatives since 1901, ever?

The SPEAKER: I do not know whether that is a point of order.

Mr Albanese: Because there has not been in the last 17 years.

The SPEAKER: It is not a point of order. There is no point of order.

The House divided. [21:44] ....

The rest of this sorry saga can be read from Hansard 10 December 2013 p. 107

The Lies Abbott Tells - Part Six

THE AIRBRUSHING OF AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL HISTORY

I've asked the Leader of the Opposition to accompany me, in recognition of the fact that governments of both sides of Australian politics campaigned for an end to apartheid...

[Prime Minister Tony Abbott in YouTube video produced by his media team, 8 December 2013]

THE INCONVENIENT FACTS

1952-1957

In 1952, Australia [Menzies Coalition Goverment] defended Pretoria at the United Nations during massive internal defiance campaigns. The Australian Foreign Minister [R.G. Casey] conceded privately that in 1957 he had made `as good a plug as I could for South Africa'.

1960-61

Liberal Party MP and Coalition Prime Minister of Australia Robert ‘Bob’ Menzies:

* Refuses to condemn the Sharpesville Massacre. South African Prime Minister Verwoerd informed him that he was the "best friend South Africa has".

* When South Africa’s apartheid policies threatened to split the Commonwealth advocated ‘non-interference’ on the grounds that it was an internal matter. 

1964

Coalition Prime Minister of Australia Robert ‘Bob’ Menzies:

* Prime Minister’s XI played visiting South African cricket team

1970

Former Coalition Prime Minister of Australia Robert ‘Bob’ Menzies:

* Regarded the cancellation of the South African cricket tour of Britain as “a great injury to cricket – a giving way to the threats a noisy minority...”.

1971

Liberal Party MP and Coalition Prime Minister of Australia William ‘Billy’ McMahon:

* Called the six Australian Wallabies footballers, who refused to play the South African Springboks when they toured Australia, “a disgrace to their country”.

Federal Minister for Primary Industry and Country Party MP Ian Sinclair:

* Called South Africa “a market of growing importance”.

Queensland Country-Liberal Coalition Premier Joe Bjelke-Petersen:

* Declared a state of emergency in order that a Springbok tour football game could be played at Exhibition Ground behind a high barbed-wire fence.

Victorian Liberal-Country Coalition Premier Henry Bolte:

* called the anti-apartheid protests “rebellion against constituted authority”.

1975-1977

It wasn't until the a Coalition Government led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser came to power that the Liberal and National parties took an anti-apartheid policy stance by supporting the UN General Assembly resolution on apartheid in sport in 1976 and became party to the Gleneagles Agreement in 1977.

1979

President of the Sydney University Students Representative Council Tony Abbott:

* allegedly objected to student union funding “groups such as International Socialists, South African terrorists,....ultra militant feminism, homosexual proselytism and environmentalism gone to crazy lengths”. 

Across the kitchen table my mother smiles....

Something to ponder on.......

http://youtu.be/zQucWXWXp3k

How to eradicate pre-election sound bites

Glen Le Lievre via @mmechomski 

Liberal Party's Alex Hawke drinks the Murdoch Cool-Aid

News Ltd added more colour to the Abbott Government’s attempt to demonise GM Holden Ltd in this article in The Australian on 10 December 2013:

ONLY $150 million a year will save Holden? Rubbish. The Holden Enterprise Agreement is the document that has utterly sunk Holden's prospects. It defies belief that someone in the company isn't being held to account for it.

Holden's management masks a union culture beyond most people's comprehension. Employment costs spiralled way beyond community standards long ago. Neither "pay freezes" nor more money will save Holden, but getting the Fair Work Commission to dissolve the agreement and put all workers on the award wage might be a start....

It would appear that Liberal Party Member for Mitchell, Alex Hawke, drank some of that Murdoch cool-aid:

Leaving aside the rather dodgy stab at the actual amount GM Holden receives each year in subsidies, what would Mr. Hawke’s desire to trim wages mean to the weekly pay packets of ordinary workers?

The basic wage for non-trade employees at GM Holden’s Elizabeth plant ranges from $892.75 to $1,194.50 per each 38 hour week to be worked on the basis of 152 hours within a work cycle, according to the current Holden Enterprise Agreement 2011. While wages for cleaning maintenance workers range from $803.95 to $976.29 per week for 38 hours to be worked over the seven days of the week within the spread of twenty-four hours of the day, according to the current Resolve FM-Holden Enterprise Agreement covering its Elizabeth SA plant.

So it would appear that Mr. Hawke would like to see wages for these two groups of Holden workers reduced to between $267.98 and $398.16 per week. 

As the minimum award wage for workers engaged in manufacturing cars is from $484.40 to $822.50 per week, according to the Vehicle Industry Award 2000, he also seems to be advocating  a breach of industrial relations law.

Alex Hawke’s own base salary is $195,130 per annum or around $3,752 per week, having received a generous 2.4 per cent wage rise on 1 July 2013.

General Motors in Detroit was not amused by Abbott, Hockey and Truss

Apparently the three amigos pictured above had a plan to force General Motor’s hand – no increase in motor industry funding and get the bad news over before Christmas.

It worked.

So its Merry Christmas! to GM Holden workers at Elizabeth, Dandenong and Port Melbourne from an ungrateful Abbott Government they helped elect just 98 short days ago.

How it played out in the media........

The Australian 7 December 2013:

Holden sources said Mr Abbott's comments were an "extraordinary" attempt by the Coalition to "bully" GM into an announcement before Christmas.

The Sydney Morning Herald 10 December 2013:

Holden strategists suspect the Coalition wants the car maker to pull the pin as soon as possible to put as much distance between the announcement and the South Australian state election it is hoping to win...

Tony Abbott has already pre-empted his own Productivity Commission to some extent by declaring there will be no more money for Holden above that already on the table...

News.com.au 11 December 2013:

THE Prime Minister's flagship fleet of high-security Holden limos is expected to be replaced with bomb and gas proof BMWs after Government sources claimed Holden had failed to bid for a lucrative $4 million plus contract to replace the ageing convoy of armoured cars.

The Sydney Morning Herald 12 December 2013:

It was the text message that sounded the death knell for Holden as a manufacturer in Australia. 

''Are you seeing this question time attack on Holden?'' read the text message, sent by a company insider. ''Taunting [Holden] to leave. It's extraordinary.''

It was sent by one of the company's key strategists at 2.30pm on Tuesday, as Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss and Treasurer Joe Hockey were ripping the car maker to shreds during parliamentary question time...

While listening to the words of Mr Hockey and Mr Truss, the Holden boss was on the phone to Detroit, where it was after 10pm.

Mr Devereux informed GM headquarters of the events in Australia. The decision was swift. Detroit pulled the pin...

UPDATE

The Age 13 December 2013:

The top-of-the-line Holden Caprice was recommended by the Attorney-General's Department in 2012 as the preferred option for a fleet of nine specialised blast-proof VIP vehicles to be used by the Prime Minister and other dignitaries, according to confidential government documents.

The revelation appears to contradict reported Abbott government sources as saying Holden had not even submitted a bid in the tender because the car-maker simply ''was not interested''.

Holden viewed that claim, which appeared in a News Corp newspaper on Wednesday, just hours before the US-owned car maker announced its withdrawal, as part of a deliberate negative backgrounding campaign by Coalition ministers to make Holden look uncommitted to Australia.

The report also cited government sources revealing the multimillion-dollar contract to replace the ageing fleet of Caprices, was about to be filled with ''off-the-shelf BMW High Security 7-Series vehicles'', worth $525,000 each.

Part of a confidential ministerial brief from the Attorney-General's Department to then Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has been shown to Fairfax Media.

Dated 12-12-12, and headed ''Protected Vehicle Acquisition - an update on progress'', its summary advised Ms Roxon that after a lengthy evaluation process through 2012, a bid by BAE Systems in conjunction with Holden was successful - outpointing several European options.

It said the successful bidder had been chosen from a shortlist of four, which also included two German automotive manufacturers - Audi and Mercedes-Benz - and another Holden joint bid by a company called Integrated Design and Engineering Solutions. BMW, however, was not mentioned and it is understood from the documentation that the Bavaria-based auto giant had not even been shortlisted.
It remains unclear why the Holden-BAE recommendation was not acted on, but a government insider from the time said the then-prime minister Julia Gillard had been concerned about negative publicity if Labor was seen to be spending $7 million of taxpayers' money on limousines in the lead-up to the election. The internal departmental documents from December 2012 raise questions as to how BMW came to be considered given it was not shortlisted and was not the successful bidder....

Does Federal Nationals Member for Page Kevin Hogan start his political career with potential conflicts of interest?

The House of Representatives Register of Members Interests has been updated to reflect the composition of the 44th Australian Parliament.

Newly elected Nationals Member for Page, Kevin Hogan, has an investment portfolio which includes shares in two gold mining companies, Newcrest and Citigold.

His wife and/or young children have shares in these same companies, as well as in Lion Selection Group (specializing in direct investment in mining/exploration companies, including YTC Resources Ltd with interests in the Taronga Tin Project/EL 7348 in the Emmaville district of north-east NSW), Aurizon (a freight rail company specialising in QLD/NSW bulk coal & WA iron ore haulage), and Teltra (a telco currently re-negotiating with the federal government in relation to the sale of its copper wire infrastructure to the government-owned National Broadband Network) and a company whose name is indecipherable on the member’s submitted document.

I’m sure voters on the NSW North Coast will follow his parliamentary voting history with great interest.

Members Interests Statements can be found here.