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Robust parliamentary debate

By Chris Lewis - posted Thursday, 30 September 2010


While minor parties and independents might not have much legislative success, given that Labor and the Coalition can unite to defeat certain proposals, they can give important public attention to issues that may encourage reform in the longer term by influencing public opinion.

Robust parliamentary debate can feed the media to reflect greater diversity of opinion to the public through newspapers, television and radio. This would also give the electorate and major parties something to think about come the next election. In other words, politicians would have to work that much harder to address more issues.

Minority governments can work. Notwithstanding the regular occurrence of minority (or Coalition governments) in Western Europe, aided by proportional voting systems, history has demonstrated that such governments can work in Westminster systems. For instance, the New South Wales minority government between 1991 and 1995 achieved some significant policy achievements when the four independents supported the Coalition on most major bills to guarantee “stability”, except where corruption or gross maladministration had been established.

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During this period, the NSW independents helped influence substantial reform: four-year terms, expanding the Speaker’s powers, extending sitting days, a bigger role for private members, increasing protection for whistleblowers, and establishing the Environmental Protection Agency. Most memorable was the role that one independent (Hatton) played in exposing organised crime which helped establish the Wood Royal Commission into the NSW police.

Even Premier Greiner had to resign (replaced by Fahey) after the Independent Committee against Corruption found he acted “corruptly” by seeking the appointment of a former minister, Terry Metherell, to a job in a government agency. (Charges of corruption against Greiner were later dismissed in court.)

And, during Australia’s first nine years after federation, prior to Labor forming a government in its own right, Australia experienced minority governments with the ALP part of alliances that introduced many policies perceived then by a majority to be progressive. This included the establishment of major institutions (High Court, the Navy and the Bureau of Meteorology); and legislation for an arbitration system and tariff protection.

In Britain, minority governments also introduced significant legislative measures: the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, which had protected landholders and kept the price of food high through tariffs; the Second Reform Act of 1867, which enfranchised the urban working class; and the abolition of the slavery trade in 1807.

So do we really need such an adversarial two-party system? No, if greater awareness about the complexity of policy trends is to be exposed, then we should encourage more members of parliament who are elected in accordance to the issues their electorates represent rather than merely accepting what the almighty party says. This is as true for middle-class electorates concerned about the environment, just as it is for rural electorates who feel they have been abandoned by the major parties.

After all, despite many still biased with their support for Labor or the Coalition for ideological or self-interested reasons, more and more Australians have eclectic tastes which should mean that more individual legislation is decided accordingly rather than based on a two-party division.

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I hope that the current minority government serves as a wake up call for Australia’s two major political forces. There are just too many issues that need greater attention but are often swept under the carpet with the current general acceptance of a policy status quo.

If not, then more Australians may avoid voting for Labor or the Coalition in the future, despite the number of non-Labor or Coalition MPs elected to the House of Representatives already increasing to 21 between 1990 and 2010 after just two were elected between 1949 and 1987.

While Labor and the Coalition remain Australia’s major centre-left and centre-right political parties most attractive in terms of adopting a broad policy mix, a greater number of independents and minor parties can enhance the House of Representatives, and thus government performance. At the very least, the current minority government can remind the major parties to lift their game.

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About the Author

Chris Lewis, who completed a First Class Honours degree and PhD (Commonwealth scholarship) at Monash University, has an interest in all economic, social and environmental issues, but believes that the struggle for the ‘right’ policy mix remains an elusive goal in such a complex and competitive world.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Chris Lewis

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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