This week was the first week back at school for Parliament. It was a sombre and surreal start for the year.
We started sadly with a day devoted to remembering the late Senator Jim Molan. Jim was the living embodiment of what it is to be a great Australian. Jim was a soldier, a rural firefighter, a pilot, a family man and in the latter part of his career a Senator.
Jim loved Australians and Australians loved Jim. Jim received a record number of direct votes as a Senate candidate, 137,000 of them.
In his final years in the Senate, Jim spent most of his time warning that Australia was not adequately prepared for the risk of conflict with China. He was concerned about the lack of urgency in defence procurement, and he bemoaned our lack of support for the manufacturing industries that could help support our defence.
Unfortunately, Jim became somewhat of a prophet in his own land. A big Chinese balloon flying over the US this week has proved him correct, even if his warnings fell on deaf ears for many years.
This first week has been surreal too. Canberra feels much further away from Rockhampton than the 4 hour flight time.
While I have been home for the past 2 months, I have heard from real people concerned about the cost of living, rising crime and a lack of health services. None of these issues feature on the government’s legislative agenda.
Despite the many challenges facing Australian families, on our first day back the Government listed just two bills for debate.
The first was to give tax deductible status to some organisations, including the “Yes” case for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. There was no equivalent tax deductible status given to the “No” case.
The second bill was to give grants to universities.
No cost of living relief for families. No measures to help address the shocking violence in Alice Springs. No measures to return health services to regional Australia.
Because these two bills were not complex they did not take much time. So the government then had to list the “Address-in-reply” debate. This is a debate in response to the Governor-General’s address which opened Parliament 7 months ago. It is basically a time filler when you have nothing else to do.
The Labor Government is fast turning into the Seinfeld Government – a government about nothing.
That might be a little unfair because the Government has one item on its mind. Labor does seem obsessed by the Voice to Parliament as is the rest of Canberra.
The Canberra Circle’s focus on the Voice ironically demonstrates that they are not willing to listen. No one back home has ever raised the Voice with me. It is not something that affects people’s lives. They would much prefer their politicians to focus on things that matter to them.
So what is the point of a Voice if the politicians are not even willing to listen?
Parliament sometimes reminds me of school. We are locked in the building. The bells ring to tell you where you need to be. There is bullying and name calling. But the Australian people deserve better than schoolyard antics.
Rising interest rates and power prices show this will be a challenging year for many Australian families. It is time the Government lift its game and help Australian families meet those challenges.
