Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, let me congratulate you on your elevation to the job. I put myself down on the speaking list because I thought this was a serious motion. I support the advancement of democracy around the world including Pakistan. It goes on to talk about ministerial accountability and the Westminster system. That is something I feel quite passionate about.

I thought it was wonderful to see the Pakistan elections taking place without the spectre of the carnage that we have seen recently in that country. We do hope that what is going to emerge is a solid democracy over there. It does appear that it will be a coalition—I hope that it is not a coalition, a rabble, like the one over here. I hope that it is a more sound in that respect. But it will be a coalition of power that will be running the government in Pakistan and that is something to look forward to.

I also thought that the mover of this motion might want to talk about our youngest democracy in East Timor and the threat that that democracy has had in recent times, about attempts that were made on the lives of both the President and the Prime Minister of the country or about the fact that, presently, we have about 100 police and 1,000 troops in East Timor. I feel quite passionate about that, having regard to the fact that I was part of the original negotiations, negotiating Australia’s police contingent when it went to East Timor some time back. The efforts that are being performed by Australian servicemen and police officers in furthering the interest in democracy and fighting the challenges and the threats to democracy in what is one of our nearest neighbours and one of the world’s youngest democracies are highly commendable.

No, that is not what the member wanted to talk about. He wanted to get in and raise issues that we spent many hours debating during the first sitting of this parliament. I do not know whether or not people can remember—maybe they were comatose at that stage—but on the first day of parliament we sat through until 2.00 am. Most people on the other side of the House decided to participate in that debate. They put their position forward and they lost the numbers—they just did not win the motion. Now we have had question time after question time and all they want to do is to not talk about issues of state or issues affecting the interests of people in their electorates. All they want to talk about in a roundabout way is how they can possibly get out of being here on Fridays.

I do not mind being here on Friday. I do not mind being here with an opportunity to talk about the interests of the people of Werriwa or the people of Macarthur or, quite frankly, the interests of any other people in south-west Sydney that need some assistance or need to have their views ventilated in this place. I know there might be some difficulty for the member for Macarthur in expressing their views, as I understand he is now referred to as the ‘Mayor of Mosman’, but that might be something for the member for Warringah to deal with. This is what Friday sittings are about. They are primarily to allow backbenchers to discuss and bring forward matters concerning their local electorate.

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