Motion: Government Business Program

MOTION

‘GOVERNMENT BUSINESS PROGRAM.’

Tuesday 27 August 2024.

Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (12:16):

The Coalition will be opposing the Government Business Program.

I will tell you why. The Government Business Program has become a joke. It has become an absolute joke. Whatever is written on the Program will bear no resemblance to what the Government actually deals with in a week.

We saw only last week the Government rush through an urgent bill that came into the Chamber – ‘We have to get this bill through today. We have to introduce this Bill, get it through the lower house and through the Council on Thursday’ – until the Government voted against bringing their own Bill on on Thursday in theCouncil. They voted against bringing their own Bill on despite saying it was a matter of extreme urgency. What an outrage. It just shows how fake the Government are and how their Government Business Program is a complete
waste of paper.

What we also know is that the Government this morning gave notice that the house would be dealing with the Youth Justice Bill 2024 Amendments – the Council Amendments – first up today. Well, we skipped over that, didn’t we? What happened to that? What happened to the Government’s own Notice Paper for today?

Roma Britnell interjected.

James NEWBURY: Again, chaos. We have skipped over it. I am not sure whether The Leader of the House forgot or whether the Government was embarrassed by the youth crime crisis that is actually occurring on our streets. I tell you what, it is happening on Church Street in Brighton.

We saw that on Friday. There was a knife fight on Church Street in Brighton – a full Church Street, kids going up and down the street – and chairs were being
thrown and bottles were being thrown at 3:45 in the afternoon. It is no wonder, is it, that the Government has skipped over dealing with the Council Amendments on that Bill, because they are embarrassed.

We might see that item come back to the Chamber today. How would we know? All we have to rely on is the daily program where it is listed, and it was skipped, just like the Government Business Program last week. We had a Business Program written down in black and white, but it bore no resemblance to what was actually dealt with in the week.
When it comes to the Parliament the Government is in chaos.  In both Chambers the Government is in chaos, because the Government tries to push the items it
wants through the Parliament, and then they sit in the Upper House until it can trade away and do a deal with the crossbench and get enough votes to get them through that place.

They bring these items through the lower house and call for urgency, call for immediacy, in terms of getting these Bills through. Then they sit there in the upper house waiting for the horse trading to occur, waiting for Members’ votes to be bought off until there are enough votes for the Government to get their bad legislation through the Council. It is obvious for the world to see.

That is why the Coalition will be opposing the Government Business Program. I do note the Government has given notice again – and here I am standing up for the Labor Members again – of dealing with the Budget Motion. Last week we saw the Government allow 1 hour of debate on the Budget Motion – the embarrassing budget that the Government wants to hide. No wonder they want to hide it.

Every single week the Government lists and will allow debate on the Budget Motion, and yet there are some 20 Members on the Government benches who have not had a chance to speak on it and about a third on our side have not had a chance to speak on it. We know what we want to say. We want to say that we have been neglected.

We want to talk about the fact that we have been neglected and our communities have been forgotten year on year on year. But for the Government to ignore their own backbench – no wonder the Premier is wandering around the room shoring up her numbers. It is because the Members are being neglected by their own Government in the Parliament.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, a contribution on the Government Business Program is not an opportunity to sledge the Government.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Member for Brighton will come back to the Business Program.

James NEWBURY: The truth hurts.