3 December 2013

Parliament to sit too long for the good that it does?*

| johnboy
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The ABC has a warning to all those Canberrans who feed the beast that Parliament might be made to death march through the holiday period to put some heat into the Coalitions debt ceiling and carbon tax plans:

He [Tony Abbott] raised the prospect of bringing Parliament back on December 16 for an extra week of sittings and keeping it sitting until his legislation was approved by the Senate.

A Coalition source said Mr Abbott told the party room that if that meant keeping the Parliament sitting “we’ll just have to do it”.

Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke says the Opposition has not been consulted about the extra sittings.

It’s worth noting these threats are made far more often than they are carried out.

*You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately… Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!
Oliver Cromwell’s Address to the Rump Parliament (20 April 1653)

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brilliant, a way to put a little back into the soon-to-be-ailing canberra economy after the axe is finished felling its dead wood; nice one, tony, nice one…

Oh diddums. The pollies might actually have to do some extra work?
Perhaps it could give them an insight into how the rest of us work. Of course they’d be billing an obscene amount of $ for their time right?

madscientist9:00 pm 03 Dec 13

The government can threaten to keep parliament in session, however:
a) the bills that the government want passed will be stuck in the Senate, and
b) the Senate dictates its own sitting pattern, if it so chooses.. and seeing as how the government doesn’t control the Senate, I think most senators will be departing Canberra as scheduled…

The government can keep the house of reps in Canberra all it likes, but I suspect that won’t do much to advance the progress of its legislative agenda.

I only feel sorry for the parliamentary staff. the politicians should be in parliament more than they are now.

There is nothing that motivates our members of parliament more to make a decision than a thursday afternoon flight to catch.

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