The last time parliament sat for a fortnight the Libs spent the weekend lying to journalists claiming Labor was going to block a wage subsidy. So I thought I’d get in early before they start the next set of lies about the sitting fortnight that starts on Monday.
#auspol
#auspol
The wage subsidy lie was particularly odd given we had originally called for wage subsidies at the start of the pandemic and the Liberal Government described them as very dangerous.
What ended up happening was the government didn’t even list the wage subsidy for debate and Labor had to move to bring the debate on, otherwise it wouldn’t have happened.
As we go into the next fortnight the PM will have to participate by video link because he is isolating and we’ve agreed to that. So that’s locked in.
I’ve separately been arguing that every member of parliament should be allowed to vote. Because of social distancing this would mean expanding the defined area of the floor. Strangely we don’t have agreement from the government on that yet.
I’m not sure why the government thinks it’s controversial for democratically elected MPs to be allowed to vote. But, that’s where we are up to at the moment.
So the PM will definitely get to appear by video link but democratically elected MPs might be blocked from voting.
So they may well claim that we would breach social distancing rules by insisting everyone entitled to a vote is allowed to vote. If they claim this, it would be, you guessed it: another lie. Here’s why 👇🏼
The way we’ve been observing social distancing in the chamber is by expanding the definition of what constitutes the “floor” of the parliament.
If you look at the standing orders (which the government rarely does) you’ll see a map of the seats of the chamber. We’ve added extra floor space for extra seats so everyone can sit further apart. We haven’t amended the standing orders. It’s been common sense during a pandemic.
We have flagged with the government every member who has been constitutionally elected should be allowed to vote. All we have to do is keep expanding what we consider to be the floor of the chamber.
I’ll safely predict the government is trying to convince some journalists that demanding something as radical as democracy means an end to social distancing.
It doesn’t. It’s a lie.
It doesn’t. It’s a lie.
Every MP who has been elected should be allowed to turn up and vote. We’ve co-operated to make sure the PM gets to appear by video link. It will be the height of arrogance if the government tries to stop elected MPs from voting.
And just to be painstakingly clear: this can be easily done by allowing extra places for MPs to vote and still observe social distancing.
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