THE WEEK IN WHICH DEMOCRACY DIED IN THE SENATE

December 5, 2011

An article by Senator Chris Back

The Australian community has every right to express its anger at the performance of the Australian
Parliament last week. The antics of the government in the House of Representatives in destroying the Speaker Harry Jenkins had all the hallmarks of Rudd Mk II. But the stifling of debate in the Senate and the
forcing through of important legislation was equally a disgrace.
It was conceived with the complicity of the Australian Labor Party and the Greens political party:
more than 20 bills were rammed through the Senate without debate, scrutiny, consideration of
amendments or ultimately decisions based on sound judgment.
We were denied the very purpose for which we are elected.
This is not what the people of Australia expect of the Senate and it is certainly not what the
parliaments of states and territories intended when they sent us to Canberra.
This was lawmaking at its worst.
Should there ever be a challenge to the High Court of Australia by parties aggrieved by the
consequences of legislation passed in the last sitting week in the Senate, then the failure for these
Bills to be properly scrutinised should surely be the subject of close scrutiny.
Most hypocritical of all has been the action of the Australian Greens political party, now in alliance
with the Labor government. This is the party, through the voice of its leader Senator Bob Brown,
which has railed most loudly and most often in the past against the use of “time management” to
deny senators the capacity to fully debate Bills and make Laws.
How cheaply were they bought to abandon this principle?
From Bob’s Brown own mouth, here are some thoughts on previous attempts to guillotine debate:
"The guillotine will fall but the shadow of this process this week with this government abusing
parliament […], will never, ever be eradicated." 13 August 2007, or
"Its decisions should be open to independent scrutiny. Removing the parliamentary check, and the
ability for public debate, is bad for democracy." 9 May 2011
Forget the nonsense of the term “time management”. The President of the Senate correctly
identified this despicable process as the “guillotine”.
So cheaply has Senator Brown sold his principles and those of the Greens to deny debate, to impose
the guillotine, to “manage time” and in so doing make a mockery of democracy in the Senate.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED??
On November 22nd the second reading debate on the Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family
Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2011 proved to be a moment of note in the history of the Senate.
This Bill amends the Family Law Act 1975 to protect children and families at risk of violence or abuse
by: prioritising the safety of children in parenting matters; including harmful behaviour in the
definitions of ‘abuse’ and ‘family violence’; requiring family consultants, family counsellors, family
dispute resolution practitioners and legal practitioners to prioritise the safety of children; placing
additional reporting requirements on certain parties to provide evidence to courts; and state and
territory child protection authorities participating in family law proceedings where appropriate; and
Bankruptcy Act 1966 and Family Law Act 1975 to make technical amendments.
By any measure, this Bill is of significant national importance. As Senator George Brandis remarked,
it is a sad fact of life that virtually every one of us will either have a first‐hand experience or have
someone within our family or close circle, who will have contact with the Family Court. It is also a
sad fact of life that family law disputes are among the most intractable matters that come before a
court, often in a context of extreme personal bitterness and too often occasioned by violence and
abuse.
The quality of debate was superb across the chamber. We heard from a new Greens Senator who
had worked professionally in this field prior to joining the Senate. She spoke of her intention to
move amendments which would further strengthen the legislation.
Then the debate was curbed: the guillotine was invoked.
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT Order! The time allotted for consideration of this bill and the four other bills
listed on today's Order of business has now expired. The question is that this bill be now read a
second time.
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: The question now is that amendments (1) to (6) on sheet BT208 circulated
by the government be agreed to.
Senator Ian Macdonald: I was raising the point of order that we are being asked to vote on some
amendments moved by the Greens. I have not heard the Greens move the amendments. I do not
know what the arguments are. I fancy that I may want to vote for them but I have not heard them
debated. How can I possibly vote for an amendment that I have not heard debated.
Bills on which votes were then taken with no debate on the Bill itself or related amendments,
included;
• The Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2011, which deals with issues of systemic
corruption;
• The Aviation Transport Security Amendment (Air Cargo) Bill 2011,
• The Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Participants in British Nuclear Tests) Bill 2011;
and
• The Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Amendment (Oils in the
Antarctic Area) Bill 2011.
The guillotine, otherwise known as the limitation of debate on bills has been used previously, most
notably in the recent debate over the NBN.
I, for one, disassociate myself from this process.
I hope that we never see such an abuse of the democratic process in the Australian Senate again.
It is highly ironic, that in a week in which Labor and Greens Senators were so willing to trash the
democratic process, we also saw the best of parliamentary democracy in action.
The passage of the Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation (Fair Protection of Firefighters) Bill 2011
with unanimous support was exactly the outcome the majority if not all Australians would expect of
the Senate.
I am proud to have been the deputy chairman of the Education, Employment and Workplace
Relations legislation committee which conducted the inquiry, heard the evidence, negotiated with
our respective parliamentary colleagues and arrived at a just outcome for both career and volunteer
firefighters.
The ultimate act of bastardry played out at 11.30am on Friday 25th November when the ALP and the
Greens combined to deny the Senate its right to pursue the legislative agenda by continuing to sit for
the final week, as per the scheduled sitting program.
Regards   CHRIS BACK