from Sunshine Coast Daily
Boris Johnson’s House of Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg has no time for those who believe the coronavirus pandemic is a reason for sidelining parliament.
“Parliament’s role of scrutinising government, authorising spending and making laws must be fulfilled,” he said recently.
The only question for Rees-Mogg is how parliament can sit in the current circumstances. To that end, he is now “considering every technological solution available”.
PM Scott Morrison sees the role of the Australian parliament very differently. He’s dismissed the need for regular parliamentary sittings during the current coronavirus crisis on the basis that MPs “have got a bigger job to do out
there in their communities than they would have [in Canberra]”.
His Attorney-General, Christian Porter, has gone further, declaring “we’ve got better things to do” than “set down a regular sitting schedule”.
But parliamentarians serve their communities by representing them in parliament; there is no bigger job. It is through the parliament that MPs can ensure that the needs and interests of their communities are being addressed by the Government.
Fundamentally, that is the job they are elected to do.
When the parliament sat on 23 March, Mr Morrison shut it down for five months. He was forced to reconvene parliament again after reversing his position on wage subsidies but if he has his way, we won’t sit again until August.
That is not how parliamentary democracies work. Parliament is more than a group of MPs who are brought together whenever the government of the day needs approval for its latest legislation, however worthy that legislation may be.
It is not the Parliament’s job to serve the interests of the Australian Government. Its job is to serve the interests of the Australian people. That vital function must not be placed into hibernation during a time of crisis.
Disturbingly, Mr Morrison does not appear to think that his decision to shutdown the parliament is particularly significant.
But it is a momentous and unprecedented decision. Our federal Parliament continued to sit during World War I, the 1919 Spanish flu, and World War II. The mother of our parliament, the British House of Commons, even found ways to sit during the Blitz.
And as research produced by the Parliamentary Library has confirmed, Mr Morrison’s decision to shut down our parliament is not a decision that is being replicated in similar democracies such as the UK, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.
Over the next five months, the Morrison Government will make decisions that will have extraordinary repercussions for millions of Australians and for the social and economic fabric of Australia for at least a generation.
The parliament passed extraordinary powers to respond to the current public health crisis. It is absurd and dangerous to suggest that the parliament now has no role in ensuring that these emergency powers are being exercised in the best interests of their constituents and of our nation.
Of course the national parliament may need to alter the way it sits to protect the health of its members and the general public. There are many ways this can be done, such as by having reduced numbers of MPs attending in person and through the use of technology.
The sheer scale the current crisis should also prompt us to consider the adoption of additional accountability mechanisms.
The New Zealand parliament, for example, has tasked a special cross-party parliamentary committee with scrutinising the actions of the Government during the current crisis. The committee is chaired by the Leader of the Opposition, sits remotely and its proceedings are live-streamed to the public.
A number of prominent Australian judges have called for a similar model to be adopted here and this is certainly worthy of debate – in the parliament.
When parliament does reconvene to consider the Government’s proposal on wage subsidies, Mr Morrison should not try to shut it down again after he gets what he needs.
Instead, the Prime Minister must allow the parliament to continue to perform its vital democratic functions during the current crisis.
Goodday Hannah we don’t pretend to oppose anybody. We actually do oppose the pretend governments as you would see if you cared to search this post for the past eight years. You haven’t been blocked by us so do your best. Editor
Are my comments all blocked from your website? Tell me so I don’t waste my time giving comments now that it is clear to me of your role as control opposition for the tyrannical government you pretend to oppose.
Please feel free to send this to other world governments. Previous letters have been sent and discussed even in the British Parliament as well as circulated among the opposition of Canada, and Australia just to mention a few. This is an all out battle. We must not shy away from the fight.
–> https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrongeconomics101/opinion/forward-this-letter-to-president-trump-to-everyone-your-can-overseas-governments/
You need to and can do more than pray you need to stand up for your rights and your freedoms as they are currently being eroded on a daily basis wake up and take action.
Before the only way to stop it and go back from the brink physically leaves us no other option but confrontation.
Wake up people they are making themselves a dictatorship out in the open now right in front of your eyes this is madness and must be stopped before its too late to reverse direction we are quickly falling into the communism and the Nazi system of government of world war two Germany and poll pot and every other dictator in history people wake up and stop the madness.
Morrison & all politicians . should resign . this simply highlights that there is no need for Oz politicians . they are just order takers . from the UN . a satanic organization . HQ for the Anti Christ! . finally the NWO is working in the open!. PRAY HARD AUSTRALIANS!