Labor is attempting to pressure Coalition backbenchers in marginal electorates for voting to shut down debate in parliament, arguing MPs have been more active in silencing the opposition than passing bills.
Ahead of the resumption of parliament on Tuesday, Labor has sought to directly target Coalition backbenchers over “Trumpian” chamber tactics that are decided by more senior government colleagues.
Guardian Australia understands the opposition has contacted hundreds of media organisations – including print, online and radio – in 22 Liberal and National-held seats to highlight the incumbent members’ voting records.
The tailored press releases or letters to the editor from the manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, attempt to tar the MPs for being “part of a government obsessed with shutting down democratic debate and silencing its opponents”.
In one example of the genre, Labor issued a targeted release to media in the seat of Leichhardt in north Queensland, held by veteran MP Warren Entsch on a margin of 4.2%, saying he had “voted more often to silence his critics than he has to make laws – nearly 14 times more often”.
“Since the start of the 46th parliament in July 2019, Mr Entsch has voted only 13 times to actually pass government legislation at the second reading stage – but he has voted a staggering 179 times in support of gag motions that prevent non-government members from speaking in the chamber,” the statement said.
The Morrison government has a majority in the House of Representatives, meaning divisions on proposed bills are rarer than in the Senate, where the outcome is often contested.
But the Labor move reflects a determination to tar individual MPs for the government shutting down debate, including by moving that the member “be no longer heard” when the opposition seeks to suspend standing orders during question time.
Tony Abbott, when opposition leader, pioneered the concept of seeking to pause question time to move motions condemning the government of the day over its handling of issues.
But the current government often shuts down the debate before opposition speakers have had a chance to make the case, which tends to trigger a round of procedural retaliation from Labor in a way that has irritated Coalition MPs.
For example, Labor last year called for quorums – checking the minimum number of MPs are in attendance – in the federation chamber or in the House of Representatives, which has disrupted or delayed speeches from backbench Coalition MPs in which they can talk about what is happening in their communities.
Labor last week began targeting 22 seats that are either marginal or seats that the party might be able to make marginal at the next election, which will be held in the second half of this year or the first half of next year.
Burke said Coalition MPs could not “pretend to their electorates that they’re the sort of people who listen – and then spend all their time in Canberra silencing voices they don’t like”.
“These MPs are helping Scott Morrison trash the conventions of the people’s house by silencing criticism and refusing to debate important issues,” Burke said.
“Is this what they came to Canberra to do?”
Burke said the issue was not about opposition MPs “getting their moment in the sun”, but instead was about millions of Australians who didn’t vote Liberal or National.
“Those people deserve a voice in our parliament but this is a government that doesn’t want to hear any voices but its own. Their approach shows contempt for the parliament and the public.
“These MPs should be urging Mr Morrison to ditch these Trumpian tactics in 2021 and let parliament – and Australian democracy – function as it was intended to.”
When asked for a response on Monday, the attorney general and leader of the house, Christian Porter, said the parliament was “not all about Tony”.
“The government has focused over the past year on ensuring the passage of critical pieces of legislation to help Australians deal with the economic and health impacts of Covid-19,” Porter said.
“Mr Burke, like the Labor party, is still focused on himself. Government business time in the house is for just that – government business. Mr Burke and Labor’s constant effort to disrupt the program pointlessly will be dealt with in the normal way.”
Burke has long complained about the shutting down of Labor speakers.
Last week Burke released figures to the New Daily that indicated there had so far been about 538 divisions in the lower house since the 2019 election, including 233 that had occurred to prevent opposition MPs giving speeches.
He said that included 30 occasions when the government had prevented the opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, from speaking.
But the Labor campaign to target individual Coalition MPs had flown largely under the radar.
In NSW, the targeted seats are Reid (held on a 3.2% margin), Robertson (4.2%), Lindsay (5%) and Banks (6.3%). In Victoria, Labor has targeted Chisholm (0.6%), La Trobe (4.5%) and Deakin (4.8%).
Together with Leichhardt, the Queensland list includes Longman (3.3%), Dickson (4.6%), Brisbane (4.9%), Herbert (8.4%), Petrie (8.4%), Forde (8.6%), Flynn (8.7%) and Capricornia (12.4%).
The WA seats are Swan (2.7%), Hasluck (5.4%) and Stirling (5.6%). Labor is also targeting Boothby (1.4%) in South Australia, and the Tasmanian seats of Bass (0.4%) and Braddon (3.1%).
While the seats are largely held by lower profile MPs, the group also includes several cabinet members, such as the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, and the minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt.
