The sun has set on the first week of Federal Parliament’s return. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Federal Parliament has had a triumphant return, with all the reprimands, ejections, backdowns, undermining and skulduggery to which the Australian people have become accustomed.
Certainly, there has been plenty of legislation introduced in the House of Representatives to ensure parliamentarians get straight down to business.
Labor has come out all guns blazing to avoid being accused again this term of what it was thrown at it during the last – that no one really knew what it stood for in government or what it was achieving.
This week saw the introduction of several significant bills, including those on student debt relief, child care protections and penalty rates, to name a few.
There were inspiring first speeches by some of the newly elected MPs, as well as encouraging words of wisdom from leaders.
But as the sun sets on the first week of the 48th Parliament, we can safely say it was also full of high-stakes drama.
The public witnessed a Greens senator attempt to draw the Governor-General into a political debate by holding a protest sign in the Senate chamber during the vice-regal opening speech to parliamentarians.
For the Greens, the new parliament began with that senator, Mehreen Faruqi, being sanctioned for the stunt.
Parliament’s opening week ended on another sour note for the minor party, with its leader, Larissa Waters, having to field questions about the expulsion of Australian Greens’ co-founder, Drew Hutton, now 78, for daring to stand up for free speech.
No free speech allowed in the Greens if it’s about trans people.
Despite former leaders Bob Brown and Christine Milne coming to Mr Hutton’s defence, the party’s governing body cut him loose, and Senator Waters is fine with that, saying something flimsy about “governance processes” and no one is above the rules.
It all allowed Mr Hutton to publicly declare that the great environmental movement he was so pivotal in harnessing into the Australian Greens political party has now been taken over by a “trans cult”.
Labor faced a dilemma of its own this week over one of its former leaders, wondering what to do about the picture of Mark Latham hanging up in the caucus room alongside all the others.
Mr Latham, now an independent MP in the NSW Upper House, has long been an embarrassment to the ALP over his behaviour and views.
He is currently wading through accusations of domestic violence, as well as the photographing of women MPs without their consent.
Opinion is divided inside the federal Labor caucus over whether to keep or remove the Latham portrait.
A compromise was reached – it’s staying up, but with a disclaimer perched beneath it that reads: “In 2017, Mark Latham was expelled from the Australian Labor Party and banned for life. His actions do not accord with Labor values and fail to meet the standards we expect and demand.”
Two former National Party leaders (two former Deputy Prime Ministers, in fact) couldn’t wait to undermine not just their current leader but also the new Opposition Leader, in a disgraceful move that betrays any claim to unity within the depleted Coalition ranks.
Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack made a big song and dance about net zero and a private member’s bill to repeal the legislation.
The pair laid out their “look at me” plan through media interviews and press conferences on the very day Sussan Ley was preparing to ask her first question as Opposition Leader of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
It was a big opportunity for the first female leader of the Liberals to stamp some authority during parliamentary Question Time.
But Barnstorm and Mick Mack (as they are affectionately known) had other ideas.
While on the subject of party leaders, One Nation boss Pauline Hanson set a dubious example for her team on day one of the new parliament by turning her back on Aunty Violet Sheridan’s dignified Welcome to Country in the Great Hall opening ceremony.
Senator Hanson and her fellow One Nation senators spent the rest of the week childishly turning their backs when First Nations acknowledgments were being offered in the Senate chamber.
And speaking of about-faces, did the government end the week turning its back on a rock-solid promise that Australia’s biosecurity restrictions on beef imports wasn’t up for negotiation in trade talks with the US?
It certainly looks that way, but not according to Labor’s sell.
Australia has indeed lifted restrictions on beef imports from the United States, in an effort to avoid or reduce Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Agriculture Minister Julie Collins insists the decision has not compromised Australia’s biosecurity.
A “rigorous assessment” has taken place over the past decade, she said.
“This decision is based on science,” was her repeated line when facing the media on Thursday.
Nationals Leader David Littleproud nailed it when pointing out the timing of it all.
“It looks as though it’s been traded away to appease Donald Trump, and that’s what we don’t want,” he said.
It also looks like the Federal Parliament never went away at all.
With all of this taking place in the first three days, including the Speaker already ejecting a shadow minister over unruly interjections (and reprimanding an actual Minister right from the get-go), the 48th Parliament is very much business as usual.
