Australia’s 47th Parliament: probably boring, hopefully productive

Australians were used to turning to Parliament for a bit of entertainment — politicians with props, cleverly worded insults, dissent among parties. But the 47th Parliament promises something different — and something much more boring. 

For democracy, this is of course a good thing. For entertainment and TV grabs, not so much. 

This morning, Leader of the House Tony Burke introduced standing orders to address long sitting hours and the useless gridlock on debate. To make Parliament more family-friendly, there’ll be no votes or quorum checks after 6.30pm and no sitting days during school holidays. Parliament will start half an hour earlier — at 9am on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Question time questions will be kept under 30 seconds, and Burke is pushing for debate to be more frequent but shorter and controlled.