Suck it up: Pauline Hanson on family-friendly hours

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has slammed Liberal National Party president Gary Spence’s push for family-friendly federal parliamentary sitting arrangements to encourage more women into politics, saying politicians need to “suck the hours up”.

But Mr Spence’s proposal for a “root and branch” overhaul of ­federal parliamentary practices — which would see MPs start work later in Canberra on Mondays and more committee work done by videoconference — has received qualified support from some of his political opponents.

Of the Queensland LNP’s 21 federal MPs, just three are women, and only one of its five Queensland senators is female. By contrast, Labor — which introduced quotas in the mid-1990s — has 48 per cent female representation in the House of Representatives.

Senator Hanson said she was raising children when she first ­entered parliament — in 1996 as the independent MP for the Queensland seat of Oxley — and it was easier now her children had grown up.

“But there’s no other job in this country that has the flexibility of work hours outside of sitting weeks,” she said.

“The Senate sits for 15 weeks this year and I think parliament and their parties need to suck the hours up.

“With the amount of legislation before the parliament, we don’t need less hours, we need less games played in the chamber and more productivity.”

Mr Spence’s suggested reforms are aimed at allowing MPs and senators to spend more time working in their electorates and close to their families, to encourage more women and people with young families to stand for the LNP.

Queensland Labor senator Murray Watt — who has two children aged 10 and seven with his wife — said Mr Spence’s suggestions could be good for politicians’ families, but warned the LNP had bigger challenges to ­encourage more women into its ranks.

“Anything you can do to better manage time away from home would be very welcome for politicians’ families, and we should be thinking about later starts on Mondays so people can fly down that morning,” Senator Watt said. “Increasing the use of video­conferencing is a good idea, and would be cost-effective, as well as being family-friendly.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has slammed Liberal National Party president Gary Spence’s push for family-friendly federal parliamentary sitting arrangements to encourage more women into politics, saying politicians need to “suck the hours up”.

But Mr Spence’s proposal for a “root and branch” overhaul of ­federal parliamentary practices — which would see MPs start work later in Canberra on Mondays and more committee work done by videoconference — has received qualified support from some of his political opponents.

Of the Queensland LNP’s 21 federal MPs, just three are women, and only one of its five Queensland senators is female. By contrast, Labor — which introduced quotas in the mid-1990s — has 48 per cent female representation in the House of Representatives.

Senator Hanson said she was raising children when she first ­entered parliament — in 1996 as the independent MP for the Queensland seat of Oxley — and it was easier now her children had grown up.

“But there’s no other job in this country that has the flexibility of work hours outside of sitting weeks,” she said.

“The Senate sits for 15 weeks this year and I think parliament and their parties need to suck the hours up.

“With the amount of legislation before the parliament, we don’t need less hours, we need less games played in the chamber and more productivity.”

Mr Spence’s suggested reforms are aimed at allowing MPs and senators to spend more time working in their electorates and close to their families, to encourage more women and people with young families to stand for the LNP.

Queensland Labor senator Murray Watt — who has two children aged 10 and seven with his wife — said Mr Spence’s suggestions could be good for politicians’ families, but warned the LNP had bigger challenges to ­encourage more women into its ranks.

“Anything you can do to better manage time away from home would be very welcome for politicians’ families, and we should be thinking about later starts on Mondays so people can fly down that morning,” Senator Watt said. “Increasing the use of video­conferencing is a good idea, and would be cost-effective, as well as being family-friendly.

“But the LNP has a range of other issues if they are serious about getting more women into parliament; something needs to be done about their culture.

“There’s no doubt quotas have made a difference for Labor, and were critical for breaking down the boys’ club that politics had been on the Labor side, but the LNP still has that boys’ club.”

At a state level, the LNP ­opposition recently opposed the Labor government’s move to ­introduce family-friendly sitting hours in the Queensland parliament.
“But the LNP has a range of other issues if they are serious about getting more women into parliament; something needs to be done about their culture.

“There’s no doubt quotas have made a difference for Labor, and were critical for breaking down the boys’ club that politics had been on the Labor side, but the LNP still has that boys’ club.”

At a state level, the LNP ­opposition recently opposed the Labor government’s move to ­introduce family-friendly sitting hours in the Queensland parliament.