Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

In adopting the program, it's important for members to know exactly what the program for next year looks like. You would go a long way in history to find a year where there are so few sitting days in the first half of the year. This is effectively a sitting calendar designed for a parliament that meets as rarely as possible between now and the next election.

In the month of January: no parliamentary sitting—unsurprising. In the month of February: seven days. Seven days! Then you think, 'Maybe they make up for it in March.' In the month of March: three days. Those three days are budget week, and they've been making clear that their intention is to go to an election following the budget. If it's a May election like they've been saying, that means we would not come back in June, because of the time it takes for ballots to be declared, and after that we next sit in August. On that basis, over December, January, February, March, April, May, June and July there will be 10 sitting days of the federal parliament. Ten days when the parliament will sit over all of that time from the end of this week through to 9 August next year. Ten sitting days!

I admit, 10 sitting days is enough for the government to get through their whole agenda! I get that. But, in terms of scrutiny and in terms of a government being accountable, this is a calendar for a government that wants to hide from scrutiny. This is a calendar from a government that will do anything to avoid answering questions. Next year's calendar is a calendar from the sort of government that has made a decision that on its watch there will never be an anticorruption commission. In those 10 days, three of them are budget week, and they're saying they're not going to introduce an anticorruption commission this year. That means on their watch there will never be an anticorruption commission. This calendar is that decision in colour coded form. That's what they've decided. That's what's being put to the House.

We won't vote against the calendar, because that would mean parliament wouldn't meet at all, but can I make absolutely clear: if there were ever an active moment that the government gave up, this is it.

Question agreed to.

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