MPs in PJs as Senators stay up all night in marathon debating session
THE Senate was up all night wearing PJs and telling fart jokes, doing everything except the one thing they were meant to.
IT IS an unbecoming marathon debate in which senators have told fart jokes, worn pyjamas into parliament, and given sneering fashion commentary.
They’ve done just about everything except complete the single task they set out to complete on Tuesday — vote on changes to the way we elect senators.
They began this period yesterday morning and as Australians woke for work today were still talking.
The shambles was still underway at 6am and drowsy senators were battling sleep deprivation and the prospect of widespread condemnation from members of the public who believe Parliament should be better run.
And, even with a final vote in the Senate the legislation ordeal is not over. The amended legislation also goes to the House of Representatives for approval.
At issue overnight, were nine amendments to the legislation aimed at giving voters greater control of the preference flow from their ballots for senators cast in federal elections.
By 6.24am just four had been accepted when Special Minister for State Mathias Cormann moved that numbers five to nine be considered as a block.
No ground was given in what has been labelled with the hashtag #senatesleepover. A division was called wherever possible.
“Not game to shower yet in case the bells ring, but time to iron a shirt & be ready for the end of #SenateSleepover,” tweeted Education Minister Simon Birmingham.
Woah they just moved FIVE AMENDMENTS AT ONCE BRACE YOURSELVES FOR THE BREAKNECK PACE #SenateSleepover
— Je Suis Paris (@DavidParis) March 17, 2016
There had better be a pillow fight at the end of #SenateSleepover or I’m cancelling my subscription.
— Stilgherrian (@stilgherrian) March 17, 2016
Senator Cormann said the changes would give voters the power to choose their own preferences, rather than having them directed via backroom deals.
“The only people who get advantaged by this reform are voters.” He said the government was confident the changes would be constitutionally sound.
The legislation was supported by the Government and the Greens, and opposed by Labor and six of the eight micro party cross benchers who fear they would be handing a big electoral advantage to the Coalition.
Labor has been filibustering — speaking about anything but the matter at hand, and at length — to fend off conclusive votes. They want the Government to gag debate and use its numbers to force through the legislation.
This would weaken the moral legitimacy of the new laws and help Labor claim the legislation was a political device primarily intended to boost the Government vote in a double dissolution election.
Independent senator Nick Xenophon supported the legislation but also made clear his view on the extended sitting by turning up for a vote in his pyjamas, which had monkeys and bananas all over them, and slippers. He was tossed out and told to change.
Which led Labor’s Doug Cameron to quote from Monty Python: “I fart in your general election.”
His colleague Stephen Conroy maintained a running commentary on a GQ magazine fashion shoot by Greens leader and clothes horse Richard Di Natale. Di Natale wore a black turtleneck for the photo shoot which, at the time, launched a thousand jokes and it continued overnight.
“What a pair of pants they were. Most people liked the skivvy but I liked the pants,” said Senator Conroy.
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