Malcolm Turnbull has agreed to move a motion suggested by the Labor leader Bill Shorten underscoring the federal parliament’s support for racial tolerance and a non-discriminatory immigration policy in the September sittings.
Shorten used the opening of the new parliament to float a tolerance motion, similar to one moved by John Howard and Kim Beazley in 1996. At the same time a breakaway group of Coalition and crossbench senators openly defied the prime minister’s direct exhortation to focus on bread-and-butter issues, resolving to reopen the divisive political debate over protections in the Racial Discrimination Act.
The first official day of the 45th parliament saw 20 senators, including the entire Coalition backbench, bar one, line up behind Liberal Cory Bernardi’s private senator’s bill that would remove the words “insult” and “offend” from the Racial Discrimination Act. Bernardi will introduce his bill this week.
Against that backdrop, and implicitly referencing the election of a bloc of senators representing the One Nation party, Shorten said on Tuesday morning he believed it was an important gesture for the major party leaders to send a signal to the electorate about racial harmony.
The Labor leader said he was prepared to move the motion, or step aside and allow the prime minister to lead the debate. A spokesman for the prime minister confirmed late on Tuesday that the prime minister would move a motion along the lines suggested by his opposite number during the September sittings.
Shorten also lined up with the new crossbenchers in the House of Representatives to suggest amendments to the standing orders, including an overhaul of question time procedures to allow for supplementary questions, and broadening the representation on parliamentary committees, including the selection committee that determines daily business.
Shorten wrote to the prime minister suggesting the changes would ensure the 45th parliament was more constructive and cooperative than its predecessors.
In other developments on the first day of the new parliament:
- The governor general outlined Malcolm Turnbull’s agenda for the coming parliament, including a commitment that the government would “work with the 45th parliament to achieve a strong budget position, and to ensure that funding is sustainable over the long term”;
- But in the first test of that commitment, wrangling continued over a $6.1bn “omnibus” savings bill, with Labor signalling it could resist some proposals because they did not directly reflect the opposition’s budget repair commitments during the recent election;
- After days of mounting political pressure over the fate of the marriage equality plebiscite, Labor signalled it would attempt to drag the matter back for consideration by the parliament, proceeding with a marriage equality bill;
- The Greens and crossbenchers also flagged the introduction of a separate cross-party marriage bill now that the plebiscite appears doomed;
- Nick Xenophon said if the Bernardi bill gained the numbers to be considered by the Senate, he would back an inquiry into section 18C of the RDA, even though he did not support watering down existing protections.
Labor is gearing up for the resumption of normal parliamentary business on Wednesday and Thursday, which is likely to include procedural interruptions.
While the government will be keen to get on with business, it appears likely Labor will test the narrow majority in the new parliament.
The opposition may move to suspend the standing orders to try and bring on the marriage debate, or force consideration of separate motions it wants to pursue related to its proposal for a royal commission into the banking industry.
The government has listed many of its major bills for introduction in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, including the register of organisations bill, and the “omnibus” savings bill.
