Bandt checks his privilege in pursuit of Morrison

by Mark Sawyer | Sep 5, 2022 | Lobbyland

When he’s not abjuring the Australian flag, or colonial history, or the nation itself, Greens leader Adam Bandt has a canny eye on the rulebook under which the nation’s legislators operate.

On Monday he tried to have Scott Morrison referred to the privileges committee of the House of Representatives over his extra portfolios jape / threat to our democracy (strike out whichever does not fit your point of view).

The move was rejected by the Speaker, Labor’s Milton Dick, although the House may yet take this action. Morrison’s secretive conduct is the subject of an inquiry headed by former High Court judge Virginia Bell.

Privileges committees are a feature of parliaments that operate under the Westminster system or were inspired by it. Malta has one, so does Malaysia. ”The Committee of Privileges and Members’ Interests is established under standing order 216 of the House of Representatives,” the Australian parliamentary website tells us.

Its function is generally tied to the reality of numbers on the floor of the House, which is why a push to refer former attorney-general Christian Porter to the committee was voted down by the Morrison government last year.

The Greens maintain a slightly ambiguous relationship with the parliamentary system they seek via election to infiltrate. Yonks ago, in the spirit of collectivist consensus, they toyed with the idea of not appointing a leader. Their attitude changed, perhaps upon discovering that extra perks were due to party leaders.

Their most vocal ”infiltrator”, Lidia Thorpe, muttered sarcastically about ”coloniser” Queen Elizabeth while being sworn in to the Senate. (She was made to recite the oath  properly). Max Chandler-Mather referred to ”so-called Brisbane” in his inaugural speech, while breaking with tradition in ignoring the provenance of his electorate of Griffith (Samuel Griffith was a white male from the 19th century).

But the wicked, colonialist structure is handy for hunting the enemy, it seems.

Mark Sawyer is a journalist with extensive experience in print and digital media in Sydney, Melbourne and rural Australia.

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