Parliament has returned for the year, with bad economic news for the government and the Opposition being mocked. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Federal Parliament returned for its first full week this year on Tuesday (3 February), the very day the Reserve Bank of Australia hiked interest rates for the first time in more than two years.
But while the Opposition tried its best to capitalise on the unwanted news for the Federal Government, Labor was able to make merry with the chaos the Liberals and Nationals still find themselves in.
The RBA increased the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.85 per cent, up from 3.6 per cent.
It also signalled there could be more interest rate rises to come.
The Coalition, which is not currently a coalition, used Question Time to grill the Federal Government on its economic management and the “cost-of-living crisis” facing many Australians.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, however, was able to mock the Nationals, who have been forced to sit on the crossbenches since divorcing themselves from the Liberals.
“I can’t hear you back there,” Dr Chalmers kept repeating from the dispatch box to Nationals leader David Littleproud, no longer on the Opposition front bench, who was demanding answers.
Neither the Liberals nor the Nationals could land a blow on Labor during QT because it was too easy for the government to highlight the “Coalition’s” infighting.
Last month, three Nationals frontbenchers – Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald – were dumped from Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s front bench for breaching shadow cabinet solidarity rules and crossing the floor to vote against hate speech laws.
The Nationals then quit the Coalition en masse, with Mr Littelproud saying he couldn’t work with Ms Ley.
Shortly before Question Time began on Tuesday, Leader of the House Tony Burke moved a motion to reallocate some of the Opposition’s questions to the crossbench, now that the crossbench was bigger at 28 seats.
With the Nationals now on the crossbench, it comprises half of the non-government members in the House of Representatives.
Mr Burke said such a scenario had not been seen since the 1930s.
“It has not happened since then that we’ve had a situation where the crossbench has managed to rival the Opposition in this house,” he said.
The Manager of Opposition Business, Liberal MP Alex Hawke, defended the Nationals and accused Mr Burke of mischief-making.
“Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean that you should do something,” Mr Hawke said.
“It’s purely a government trick to define them [Nationals] as crossbenchers.
“It’s purely a government position to say that the Nationals aren’t sitting as their own party. They are their own party, and they sit together as their own political party.”
And so it went throughout the rest of the first day back at parliament – the Liberals and Nationals trying to talk about the economy, while the government laughed at their disunity.
But while the divorced parties sat uncomfortably next to each other, Ms Ley had offered the Nationals a way back into the Coalition that would allow everyone to save some face.
Mr Littleproud has insisted that the initial three dumped Nationals be returned to the Opposition’s frontbench as a condition of the junior party returning to the fold.
Ms Ley offered a compromise that would keep the three floor crossers on the backbench, but only for six months.
Mr Littleproud is considering the proposal.
“As per media reports, the Nationals have received a written offer from the Liberal Party,” he said in a statement.
“We will take our time to consider the details.
“The negotiations are ongoing, and we will always be constructive and act in good faith.
“It’s important we take the time to get the settings right.”
Meanwhile, Liberal MP Angus Taylor, who remains on the Opposition’s front bench, is still frantically working the numbers to mount a challenge to Ms Ley’s leadership.
