Federal Parliament
Theatre review by Max Lane

Readers may or may not be aware that the seat of government and assembly of representatives of the people -- i.e. the new parliament -- was sworn in and began sitting last month. “Sitting” -- what an apt description.

The parliament once again became a forum for the clash of ideas and programs. For example, the honourable new speaker of the House of Representatives launched the idea of a “sin bin” for members who disturb the peace. This major socioeconomic and political reform stirred public debate for at least a day before attention shifted to the major question of ... what was it? ... oh, yes:

Day after day, parliamentarians clashed swords over whether or not the lottery to decide which millionaire would get to make more millions out of pay TV had been administered properly. Was pay TV going to bona fide millionaires? Or were they fake or, even worse, upstart millionaires?

As if that weren't enough excitement for a whole session, the government also got out the information about the progress it is making. For example, a searching and no doubt surprise question from Honourable Labor member Griffin to Honourable Labor industrial relations minister Brereton on industrial disputes elicited the reply that the latter Hon was “delighted” to report the number of disputes at the lowest level in more than 30 years.

Presumably, the drop in disputes is due to wages going up all the time, workers' needs being met, and therefore there being no need for strikes.

Meanwhile, the ACTU decided not to pursue the long overdue and inadequate rise of $8 per week, meaning the vast majority of workers' real wages will drop again. This kind of decision is, of course, too important to be brought to parliament -- and in any case, the parliamentarians were too busy contemplating their own behaviour and whether/how to improve it.

Such decisions are made in behind the scenes deals between ACTU bureaucrats and government ministers, following guidance from another assembly of representatives, the Business Council of Australia. If Parliament had to regularly vote to cut real wages for the majority of workers, the idea that it is there to represent the majority's interests would seem even less credible than it already is.

But the PM has been thinking of us, the public. He has been trying hard to get the message out to us. Another searching question from Honourable Liberal Senator Alston managed to fish out the information that during the last 18 months the PM's office has distributed 7776 copies of speeches and 26,818 copies of media releases to keep us all informed. Just imagine: that kind of “public information effort” is being repeated over and over by virtually every minister and shadow l and state level. That's parliament doing its real job: making sure we believe we have a democratic institution that represents us.

This article was posted on the Green Left Weekly Home Page.
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