Welcome to another busy week in politics, where parliament will sit, crossbenchers will compete for the limelight, and journalists will gather for the Midwinter Ball.
The parliament will sit for four days this week and four days next week, starting today. Labor expects a bill to protect weekend penalty rates to pass before the end of the sitting fortnight. The legislation has been foreshadowed for months, and business groups have been putting up something of a fight. As the Australian Financial Review reported in July, some business leaders have been seeking to link the penalty rates issue to working from home entitlements, which the outlets described as a “key battleground in the [country’s] productivity debate”. If you want to dive deeper into the working from home debate, check out our politics editor Bernard Keane’s argument from earlier this month that governments should butt out.
The government also expects to progress a bill to make medicines cheaper.
But the most talked-about parliamentary debate is likely to be Barnaby Joyce’s private members bill to scrap several climate-related laws. As ABC News reports this morning: “Labor will seek to maximise pain over internal Coalition divisions on whether to keep or scrap its net zero emissions commitment, allowing debate in the chamber today on Barnaby Joyce’s bill to repeal climate laws.”
To catch up with the never-ending climate wars, read Crikey reporter-at-large Charlie Lewis’ recent recap of what he called the Coalition’s “decade of bullshit on climate”.
Independent MP Zali Steggall is among those pushing back. The Warringah MP will introduce a bill to bolster climate resilience, saying Canberra ignores “some of the biggest dangers to Australia’s economy”, as NCA NewsWire reports. Her bill seeks to make sure independent national climate change risks assessments are handed down every five years.
Another independent MP, Andrew Wilkie, will move a bill today that demands the well-being of welfare recipients be considered before they’re subjected to debt recovery action. The Clark MP told the Australian Associated Press the protections were needed to make sure robodebt doesn’t happen again.
“It’s been two years since the royal commission and, shamefully, we are yet to see any meaningful legislative change from this federal government,” he said.
On Thursday, independent ACT Senator David Pocock will hold a press conference with Australian cricket great Usman Khawaja, seeking to pressure the prime minister to meet him for a discussion on gambling reform and the war in Gaza. Pocock and Khawaja will address reporters at 9am, before two roundtables: one hosted by the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine, and one dedicated to the gambling issue, the senator’s office said.
Hopefully Canberra’s political reporters won’t be too dusty to be there — the night before, many of them will attend the Midwinter Ball. Hosted by the Parliamentary Press Gallery, the annual dinner usually draws both top politicians and reporters. Crikey’s Daanyal Saaed will be in attendance.
On Sunday, a motley crew of protesters will organise marches against what organisers call “mass migration”. As The Sydney Morning Herald reports this morning, some of the organisers have been “trying to distance [the event] from the neo-Nazi and conspiracy theorists who are claiming to hold leadership roles”. Crikey contributor Scobie McKay wrote last week that the divisions among the activists planning the rally have “exposed deep fractures in the pandemic-era coalition of anti-lockdown and nationalist groups”.
If you want to go really deep into those movements, why not check out Crikey associate editor Cam Wilson’s new book Conspiracy Nation, written with Guardian investigative reporter Ariel Bogle?
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