Labor Faces Calls to Reveal ‘Secret Manual’ for Avoiding Senate Questions

Senator Simon Birmingham during debate to Fair Work Amendment Bill 2021 in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on March 18, 2021. (Photo by Sam Mooy/Getty Images)

With support from the crossbench, the Coalition has urged the Labor government to distribute the document issued by the Prime Minister’s Office to departments. This document instructs them on handling questions on notice from Senate estimates.

Simon Birmingham, leader of the Opposition in the Senate and South Australia Liberal Senator, said the document represents a “severe form of contempt for the Senate” and asked for “scrutiny, explanation, and correction” from the PM.

Question time is crucial in checking the government by scrutinising bills, legislations, and policies, and representing the interests of Australia’s six states and two territories.

In 2023, information obtained during Senate estimates resulted in an audit of Chinese-made surveillance cameras in the Australian government’s buildings. This has led the Australian parliament to order the removal of Chinese surveillance cameras and intercom systems from almost 100 federal politicians’ ministries.

Mr. Birmingham argued that the Albanese government’s manual, which advises departments and agencies on how to avoid answering Senate questions, demonstrated a “severe form of contempt for the Senate.”

“It is disturbing to think that the Prime Minister may have approved this document before its distribution knowing full well it would distort the procedures of a democratic parliament,” Senator Birmingham said in a media statement on May 14.

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“The revelation of this secret manual brings into question Labor’s ability and willingness to perform the minimum requirements of government.

“What Labor had promised was greater transparency, however, what it has delivered is secrecy of the highest order.”

Mr. Birmingham said Labor needs to retract the document from departments and provide full answers to the Opposition and crossbench or “risk setting a dangerous precedent.”

Labor Answers 43 Percent Fewer Questions Than Former Coalition Government

In 2023, the Coalition also accused the government of “avoiding parliamentary scrutiny.”

In a media release in December 2023, Paul Fletcher, Shadow Minister for Science and the Arts, said the Albanese government took 43 percent fewer questions from the opposition during Question time than the Morrison government.

According to data from the House of Representatives Procedure Office, in the period from July 31 to Nov. 31, 2023, Labor took 177 questions compared to 311 questions answered by the former Coalition government, Shadow Minister for Science and the Arts Paul Fletcher said in a media release in December 2023.

During the same period in 2021, the former Coalition Government answered 311 questions from the Opposition.

Mr. Fletcher alleged that the Prime Minister is “cutting question time as short as he thinks he can get away with.”

“This is on top of Mr. Albanese’s more blatant actions to avoid parliamentary scrutiny, such as scheduling very light sitting timetables and cancelling sitting weeks from the timetable,” Mr. Fletcher said.

He noted that upon taking office, Mr. Albanese issued a sitting timetable that saw the parliament sit for only 40 days in 2022, compared to 67 days in 2021.

“He has scheduled only 17 sitting weeks in 2024, a very light program by historical standards,” Mr. Fletcher added.

The PM also cancelled a sitting week in September 2022, citing the death of Queen Elizabeth II as the reason, and cancelled a sitting week in October 2023, citing his overseas travel plans.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office for comment.