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The Echidna is excited. Only a few more sleeps and the 47th Parliament will begin sitting. And when that happens, we will know if the Labor mantra - "Change the government and you change the country" - will begin to bear fruit or whether the reality of government in difficult circumstances will require our expectations to be scaled back.
Already, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned his economic statement, to be delivered in this session ahead of the October budget, will be confronting, that there are tough times ahead for Australian households. His style is markedly different from that of his predecessor, Josh Frydenberg, who tended to talk up the good news while skating over the bad.
This first session of the new Parliament will also be dominated by Labor's climate agenda. It wants to legislate its 43 per cent by 2030 emissions reduction target but in the new left-leaning Senate, it will need the support of the Greens, who want a more ambitious target and a freeze on new coal and gas developments, and at least one other crossbencher. There have been some public spats between Anthony Albanese and Greens leader Adam Bandt over the legislation but behind-the-scenes negotiations are no doubt taking place and are hopefully a little less combative. And that leads us to the most exciting aspect of the new Parliament: Albanese's pledge to change the way politics is done in this country.
The make-up of the new Parliament tells us voters were fed up with the old ways of doing business. The collapse in the primary vote for the major parties revealed a fatigue with the old Holden-Ford dichotomy, while the election of the most diverse Parliament yet said the days of old, predominantly white silverbacks chest-thumping around the dispatch box were ending. We're a much more sophisticated country and we've elected a Parliament that reflects that.
Labor has a slim majority in the House of Representatives. It's just two by-elections from losing its majority but in its favour is caucus discipline. Under its rules, crossing the floor means being punted from the party. Still, it will have to recognise and respect the mandate handed to the teal independents, whose election in traditionally conservative seats sealed the fate of the Coalition. There's a bit of repair work to be done there after Albanese slashed staffing numbers for the independents. Leader of the House of Representatives Tony Burke says he won't budge on staffing but has pledged that the crossbench will be afforded due respect and given the opportunity to ask questions in Question Time and make speeches during other debates.
It all sounds civil enough but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. We'll get our first taste next week.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you expect better behaviour from this new Parliament? Have we finally said goodbye to the old tribal way of doing politics? Are we setting ourselves up for disappointment thinking politicians can be civil, mature and respectful? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- "A 'climate trigger' must be included in a shake-up of environmental protection laws, ACT independent senator David Pocock has said, after a damning report exposed the toll of global warming on Australia's wildlife and natural surrounds. Senator Pocock has also called for a coordinated plan to tackle invasive species, which have been identified among the main culprits for a startling decline in the state of Australia's environment.
- Treasurer Jim Chalmers has taken aim at petrol companies not passing on wholesale price drops to consumers as Australia again stares down an energy crisis. Dr Chalmers says he's been working with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to monitor bad behaviour and retail price gouging.
- Viral fragments of foot and mouth disease and African swine fever have been detected in pork products at a Melbourne retailer. Australia remains free of the diseases as the live virus was not detected, but Agriculture Minister Murray Watt reiterated the importance of biosecurity measures. The products, believed to be imported from China, were detected in the Melbourne CBD as part of routine surveillance and have been seized.
THEY SAID IT: "Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use." - Emily Post
YOU SAID IT: Echidna asked about the State of the Environment Report, which the previous government kept hidden for months before the election.
Ross said: "Paleontologists have long told us that some 95 per cent of all fauna and flora that ever existed was extinct before mankind came on the scene. What does it matter if some of the current species are wiped out?" Not sure our koalas and, ahem, echidnas would agree.
Terry said his focus was on the Murray-Darling: "Stop the practice of levee bank storing of flood water in the upper Darling. We don't want to see millions of dead fish again and towns downstream having to truck water in just to survive."
Heather was not surprised the report was kept from the public: "No surprise here. There will be much more graft, corruption and incompetence uncovered. The LNP were never fit to govern."
Richard said Morrison and Ley should quit politics: "Well, given that ScoMo (he must have known too) and Sussan Ley kept the report hidden until after the election; the least the two of them can now do is resign from Parliament. What a disgusting stain on the Liberals' time in government. This alone would have cost them the election let alone the crap they put us through as well. Get rid of the pair of them."
Chris took issue with the Black Summer being described as the worst single wildlife event in recorded Australian history: "More Furphy about the bush fire. They are not the worst recorded in living memory. The reason the fire was so bad was the fuel build up. We didn't have any fire of note in the central west of NSW, we had same conditions but lacked fuel."
Arthur said the focus should be on feral pests: "Destruction of foxes, feral cats and cane toads would make a huge difference to preservation of endangered species. Programs to rid the country of these vandals get no more than casual mention instead of being of high priority. And, yes, politicians, no matter what persuasion, can be utterly trusted to do anything to win votes at an election."