Darron CharlesworthAustralians Not Being Represented
April 17th 2010 09:50
Category: No Category
An article from Adelaide which appeared in The Advertiser yesterday reported that the State’s politicians will be sitting in Parliament for a whopping 32 days this Calender year. For a government who was barely re-elected following massive voter disenchantment and a promise of change this does not on the surface send a positive message.
Most concerning for the voter is the lack of accountability that such a low number of days shows. This is an important function for the electorate and for opposition parties. The one real chance that those on the opposite benches have to challenge the government and bring it to account is during Question Time. The less days the government sits the less chance there is for them to be brought to account for what they have done and what they are planning to do. What also needs to be considered is that Budget estimate hearings etc are needed which will further reduce the SA Governments ability to be questioned. Although, on past history this probably something that the Rann Government would relish.
In the past years the Rann Government has generated a history of distracting from questions asked, blatantly not answering questions or putting them off for another day. Between 2007 and 2009 the Rann Government had 693 questions remaining unanswered. This is not accountable government. The public of South Australia deserves better from its government and the opposition members from all parties are paid by South Australians to keep the government accountable. By refusing to answer questions the government is treating the South Australian public with contempt.
The article in The Advertiser went on to compare the SA sitting days with the British House of Commons. This started a small research project to ascertain if South Australia was unusual in Australian parliaments. The table shown below is a result of that research. The information was sourced from State and Federal Archives, the US Library of Congress and the British Parliamentary website. Not all year data was available with South Australia being the least forthcoming with historical information. Some current data is missing – Tasmania and the House of Commons – due to recent and upcoming elections. The results are very interesting.
What was discovered is that Australian State and Territory parliaments’ average less than 50 sitting days per year: a poor result by International comparisons. Northern Territory is the worst performer with a 36 day average. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) fares little better at 41 sitting days on average. Federally the result is not much better, a mere 70 sitting days per year on average. By comparison the British House Of Commons sits on average 110 days and the US Congress 129 days. This means that the Australian Federal Parliament sits on just over half the number of days that of the US Congress does.
The results of this study show that Australian are poorly represented across the nations with little improvement shown between States and Territories and the Federal tier. The US Congress gives the American people much better value in terms of time in their parliament. This would give the opposition much more opportunity to question the Government on their conduct, policy and proposals.
The Australian people deserve much better from their elected representatives. It is time that this country’s politicians started being more accountable to the people for what they do particularly at the State level.
Most concerning for the voter is the lack of accountability that such a low number of days shows. This is an important function for the electorate and for opposition parties. The one real chance that those on the opposite benches have to challenge the government and bring it to account is during Question Time. The less days the government sits the less chance there is for them to be brought to account for what they have done and what they are planning to do. What also needs to be considered is that Budget estimate hearings etc are needed which will further reduce the SA Governments ability to be questioned. Although, on past history this probably something that the Rann Government would relish.
The article in The Advertiser went on to compare the SA sitting days with the British House of Commons. This started a small research project to ascertain if South Australia was unusual in Australian parliaments. The table shown below is a result of that research. The information was sourced from State and Federal Archives, the US Library of Congress and the British Parliamentary website. Not all year data was available with South Australia being the least forthcoming with historical information. Some current data is missing – Tasmania and the House of Commons – due to recent and upcoming elections. The results are very interesting.
The results of this study show that Australian are poorly represented across the nations with little improvement shown between States and Territories and the Federal tier. The US Congress gives the American people much better value in terms of time in their parliament. This would give the opposition much more opportunity to question the Government on their conduct, policy and proposals.
The Australian people deserve much better from their elected representatives. It is time that this country’s politicians started being more accountable to the people for what they do particularly at the State level.
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