Now, take us through exactly what happened inside the House today, and ultimately where much of this legislation and indeed where these amendments sit right now.
Pyne:
Well, the Government as we know have mishandled the schedule of sittings for the year with only 17, if you can believe it 1-7 sitting weeks this year. As a consequence they haven't got enough time to deal with their legislation. So they dropped in the Senate last Wednesday night very technical amendments to the National Broadband Network that would, for example, exempt the National Broadband Network company from the strictures of the ACCC, the freedom of information laws and proper parliamentary oversight, and they tried to force those through in 24 hours. They eventually got them through the Senate on Friday night and the Parliament sat today and we've sat for nine hours in the chamber today where the Government has rammed through these amendments from the Senate.
The really shocking part about this afternoon is that the Opposition believed it had an agreement with the Government to pair a certain number of members who were returning to their electorates, who had planes to catch to get home to Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. The Government reneged on that agreement and as a consequence the Opposition was about ten votes shy of what it should have been on the final votes of the day.
Greenwood:
And had the pairing arrangements been in place, and remained in place, as you imagined they were going to, what would have the votes looked like then?
Pyne:
Well, Ross, that's the moot point, we'll never know, we'll never know what the votes would have been like if the pairing arrangements had been in place, because they weren't. This is the first time in this Parliament, it's the first time that I can remember in 18 years that a government has reneged on pairing arrangements. It means that that the Opposition can not rely on pairing members if they choose to return to their electorates late on a Monday night like tonight when the Parliament is not sitting and that it's a whole new ball game.
Greenwood:
So does that imply, because remember that the Speaker was chosen only because of agreements about the pairing arrangements, so that's Harry Jenkins himself, does it raise questions about the role of the Speaker in the House in the future?
Pyne:
Well what it raises questions about is, quite frankly, why should the Opposition abide by pairing arrangements with the Government when the Government doesn't abide by pairing arrangements with the Opposition. It makes it very hard for the Parliament to operate and obviously I'm going to have to revisit this subject when the Parliament sits again in May, if you can believe it we're not sitting until May now. The Government has a very long break because of course it wants to sit when the Greens control the Senate because it feels that it will be able....
Greenwood:
This is after June 30 and so the longer that they can wait until after June 30 and push the legislation through after June 30 the more likely they're going to get a comfortable package through the Senate.
Pyne:
That's right, because the Government is in Coalition with the Greens. Once the Senate is dominated by the Greens, they will feel more comfortable because they will be able to get their legislation through the Senate virtually unamended and Senator Brown will of course have the whip handle.
Greenwood:
Yes, never a dull day, I've got to tell you, but that's a more amazing day, remember the Parliament was recalled, it was an unscheduled sitting day, it was scheduled to only last until 4 o'clock, it went until almost 7 o'clock tonight. Christopher Pyne, the leader of Business in the House for the opposition, we appreciate your time here on money news tonight.
