Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Leader
Braddon Liberal MP, Roger Jaensch is wilfully misleading over Parliamentary practice in the last term of government in order to deflect from the fact that the Liberals have to date asked 261 self-congratulatory Dorothy Dixers in Question Time.
Mr Jaensch has only experienced the arrogance of majority government and was not a Member of the previous Parliament so he could be forgiven for not understanding how a Balance of Power Parliament works.
Greens MPs, Tim Morris, Kim Booth and Paul O'Halloran were not government members and they daily asked questions of government Ministers, very rarely of Green Ministers.
The Hansard record will show that these questions to Labor were genuinely questions of scrutiny. Labor Ministers were given no advance warning of the questions or their topics.
The two Greens Ministers were asked a total of 25 questions by Green MPs over the four year term and always on a matter of policy substance. The Liberals rack up almost that number in two sitting weeks.
Surely, it is not that hard for Mr Jaensch to understand how Balance of Power Parliaments work when they are working well?
The Liberals in government have allocated themselves a third of Question Time for self promotion and propaganda.
This is unhealthy for democracy and shows a lack of commitment to transparency and accountability.