Raven
Gold Member
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Australian Politics
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Is anybody surprised that the Morrison government has done something not seen since Federation?
Despite Speaker Tony Smith concluding there was a prima facie case for the committee to investigate further, the government used its numbers in the House of Representatives.
Smith concluded there was a case for the committee to investigate. Importantly, the decision “does not imply a conclusion that a breach of privilege or contempt has occurred,” Smith told the House.
The Speaker’s decision is meant to carry weight. Instead, the government, led by Leader in the House Peter Dutton, voted against it. Dutton said crowd-sourced donations used by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young in her defamation action meant Porter alone shouldn’t be referred. Hanson-Young maintains that most donations were actually under the $300 disclosure cap, and hence didn’t have to be declared. Make of that what you will.
Morrison doubled down on the argument that Porter shouldn’t be investigated because other people crowd-funded their legal cases.
“If others want to play politics, that’s their prerogative. I want to make sure the rules are right so the integrity is protected,” the Prime Minister said, right after his government had done exactly the opposite.
Once again Porter, who avoided an independent inquiry into a historic rape allegation, avoided that allegation being examined by the courts after he backed away from his defamation action, avoids scrutiny this time with government support.
This has never happened before. A referral to the committee is always respected. In 2017 former Liberal minister Bruce Bilson was referred to the Committee over revelations he’d been getting paid by the Franchise Council of Australia. The referral came from Smith. It was never blocked.
In 2014, former speaker Bronwyn Bishop referred disgraced former Labor MP Craig Thomson to the Privileges Committee, over whether he’d mislead Parliament by denying he’d misused a union credit card. Labor supported the Abbott government’s push.
What does Porter have on the government that it will resort to such an unprecedented move? Why go to such lengths to protect such a political liability? Or is it the Liberals protecting the unknown donor?
Either way the government’s actions have left open the door for MPs and Senators to evade scrutiny on their registers of interests (such as 5 of the 21 Nationals MPs and Senators who own shares in fossil fuel companies) which are a crucial transparency tool in a country where we have very few.
This government abhors transparency. And will fight tooth and nail to avoid scrutiny.
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