Senators have warned of impending chaos when parliament resumes this month to debate industrial relations bills, flagging that Labor and the crossbench will use all tools available to disrupt proceedings.
Last month Malcolm Turnbull last month recalled parliament from 18 April to debate the re-establishment of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, paving the way for a double-dissolution election on 2 July.
The Liberal Democratic senator, David Leyonhjelm, warned that Labor could vote to delay debate. “Don’t go reporting this as fact,” he told reporters at the National Press Club, “but if Labor moved a motion on the 18th or 19th of April to adjourn the Senate until 3 or 10 May, I reckon most of my crossbench colleagues would support it.”
A fellow crossbencher, Nick Xenophon, wants the debate to continue as planned, saying a procedural delay “would not be helpful”.
“I will continue to sit,” he said. “I think it is important. We are paid to deal with legislation, one way or the other. The government wants legislation dealt with. We either vote for it or against it and we deal with it. That is what we are being paid to do.”
Glenn Lazarus also vowed to debate bills that were brought before the Senate in the next sitting period.
None of the three crossbenchers shifted their positions on the ABCC bill. Both Leyonhjelm and Xenophon will support it until the second reading stage, while Lazarus will only support it if it is expanded to become a national corruption watchdog for all industries rather than just the building industry.
Their positions make it unlikely that the bill will pass, as both Labor and Greens also oppose it. It has been rejected once before, and if it is rejected again – or fails to pass the Senate – then it becomes a trigger to call a double-dissolution election.
“There is no point hanging around [the Senate] if the end result is obvious,” Leyonhjelm said. “Minimal debate, failure to pass, bring on the double dissolution.
“I don’t believe the prime minister will care. Malcolm Turnbull has shown little interest in the ABCC bill beyond using it as a stick to beat Labor and the crossbench.”
The leader of the house, Christopher Pyne, flagged that the House of Representatives might only sit for two days while the Senate nuts out industrial relations bills.
“There’s no final decision been made yet, but obviously the House of Representatives doesn’t have to sit because the Senate’s sitting,” he said. “The House of Representatives has already passed the ABCC bill and the registered organisations commission bill. So we’ve done that job.”
Turnbull’s desire for a double dissolution to clear out the crossbench might backfire, Leyonhjelm warned.
“The crossbench might be reduced after a double-dissolution election but it will still hold the balance of power,” he said. “Given the quota, crossbench parties could win representation in every state.”
In a double dissolution, all positions are vacant, meaning all senators are up for re-election. In a normal election, only half are elected, as they hold six-year terms. The doubling of elected positions halves the threshold for which election takes place.
Monday’s Newspoll had Labor ahead of the Coalition on a two-party-preferred basis for the first time since Turnbull took the leadership from Tony Abbott in September. The result has caused marginal Coalition seat holders to fret over their electoral changes and has ramped up pressure on the prime minister.
The Liberal National party MP Michelle Landry, who holds the Queensland seat of Capricornia on a margin of 0.8%, wants the government to sell its successes better. “It’s been portrayed in the media that we are not focused,” she told the ABC on Wednesday. “It’s coming across that we are wishy-washy.”
Turnbull told reporters later on Wednesday that he had not spoken to Landry but if he had he would “encourage her to be more upbeat”.
At least one of the government’s upcoming bills – the decision to delay the implementation of orders on minimum pay for truck drivers – looks set to pass both houses of parliament.
At least six of the eight crossbenchers – the magic number to get legislation passed without the support of Labor and the Greens – back the freeze, which they say unfairly targets owner-drivers.
Lazarus, Xenophon and Leyonhjelm, and their crossbench colleagues Dio Wang, Ricky Muir and Bob Day, all support the government’s road safety remuneration tribunal bill. The independents Jacqui Lambie and John Madigan are still consulting before locking in their positions.
Lazarus was blunt on his assessment of the decision to set a minimum wage, labelling it “bullshit”.
