Coalition and crossbench MPs say they are being threatened with punishment after a stunt in the Senate yesterday where they teamed up to pressure the government on transparency.
The Coalition, Greens and crossbench teamed up yesterday afternoon to back a motion led by independent Senator David Pocock that gave them an additional five questions at Question Time each day until a key transparency report was released.
A report on government appointments to public boards, dubbed an investigation into “jobs for mates”, was meant to be released in late 2023 — but it remains secret.
Non-government senators voted yesterday to pressure the government to release the report, extending Question Time each day in their favour until that was done.
This morning Coalition frontbencher James Paterson said it was now being threatened with retribution over the stunt.
“We’ve seen an utterly extraordinary and petulant response from the Albanese government today,” Senator Paterson said.
“They’re saying they’re going to strip deputy chair committee positions from the Opposition in the House of Representatives.
“That’s an extraordinary response, and not one that a democratic government should engage in.”
Decisions over lower house committee positions, which can attract a salary bump of several thousand dollars for MPs, rest with house leader Tony Burke.
The federal government has claimed the report remains under cabinet consideration.
Senator Pocock said that “excuse” was not good enough.
“The grounds they are trying to claim of cabinet in confidence … doesn’t stack up,” he said.
“Jobs for mates is a real problem in this place and we’ve even seen that over the last couple of years.
“We’re ratcheting up the pressure until they release it.”
Labor eats into debate time with its own purported stunt
Meanwhile in the Senate chamber this morning, senators erupted again after their limited “private senators” time was eaten into by the government calling quorum three times.
Labor called quorum three times while Senator Hume attempted to speak. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Senator Jane Hume, whose speech was repeatedly interrupted by calls for quorum, claimed in the chamber that Labor senators were leaving the Senate in order to force a quorum call, taking time out for debate.
“Not only are they hiding, they are playing games in the chamber,” Senator Hume said.
“Labor are refusing to produce a document that we have been requesting to see for two years … which ironically is a review into jobs for mates.”
The drama is the latest in a series of criticisms of the federal government’s commitment to transparency.
Its recent attempts to reform freedom of information laws were widely panned, and the government was criticised for cutting MP staffing allocations at the beginning of this term.
The Centre for Public Integrity recently named this government one of the least transparent in decades.
The centre concluded that six months into its second term, the Albanese government was “leaning into a culture of secrecy”.