Time to get serious: let's have an independent Speaker

Appointing a Speaker as political “pay-off” only worsens the public perception of parliamentary standards, and of the government of the day - as Paul Keating discovered years ago.

And what does question time currently mean to the casual observer? “Dorothy Dixers” are staged to extol the wonders of the government or the deplorable policies of the Opposition. Ejections and suspensions of members for rowdiness or unparliamentary language are usually not meted out against ministers, despite the fact that they are often among the worst offenders.

Some ministers ramble on for far too long. Standing Orders should be tightened so that clearer rulings can be made on what is relevant to a “question without notice”.

No government in its right mind makes matters more difficult for itself in Parliament than it has to. Consequently reforming the Speakership would be a significant challenge. The British approach is a model we could follow.

Many people think of Parliament as being a farce, a bore, or an irrelevance. The members themselves often feel the same way - rarely going into the chamber to listen to one another’s speeches, and frequently preferring to just read from a sheet prepared by a member of their personal staff.

Against the background of a tame Senate, and large lower-house majority, a few tough questions asked of the government wouldn’t go astray.