The Albanese government has been accused of attempting to avoid scrutiny under new standing orders which could take questions away from the opposition during Question Time.
During parliamentary sitting weeks, Question Time gives politicians the chance to ask questions of government ministers on matters of importance.
However with the Labor Party’s new supermajority, Leader of the House Tony Burke moved to change the rules on Wednesday, which may strip the opposition of questions.
The revised order follows Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s blunt post-election message to his opponents to “Get out of the way”.
Manager of opposition business Alex Hawke has since warned that the Question Time Changes were “anti-democratic”.
“On the veneer of increased transparency and democratic operation, we have some anti-democratic measures that the government is proposing,” he told the chamber.
“In its first term, this government under prime minister Anthony Albanese reduced the number of questions that we have in question time.
“The average number of questions asked by the opposition went from ten in the 46th parliament… to just seven in the 47th parliament.
“These changes that are proposed by the Leader of the House do something very sneaky.”
Under sessional order 65a, the crossbench will be allowed to ask questions 5, 13, 17 and 21 while the opposition will receive 1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 15, 19, 23, 25, 27 and 29.
However, because the average number of questions only reached 18 in the last term, this could mean the opposition will get just five questions in before the session ends.
Mr Hawke said that the government re-ordering the numbers of question time would lead to less democratic scrutiny.
“When things are going badly for the government, the prime minister routinely guillotines Question Time, as is his right,” Mr Hawke said.
“So there will be less opposition questions in this parliament. As there was last parliament. And there will be less crossbench questions during Question Time.
“That in our view is a sneaky attempt to … reduce questions bit by bit by bit by bit.”
With 94 seats of the 150-member House of Representatives, the Labor Party dominates the chamber and its members occupy three-quarters of the seating layout.
“We have a clear mandate,” Mr Albanese said at a press conference just days after the May 3 federal election.
“The message from Australians is to get on with it. If you want more housing, more jobs, more reform — then get out of the way and let us build it.”
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has rejected Mr Albanese’s call to get out of the way and promised to hold the government to account.
“Now Mr Albanese is giving interviews, and he’s suggesting that we should just get out of the way,” Ms Ley told her party room on Monday.
“Well, we won’t be getting out of the way.”
The first Question Time of the 48th Parliament of Australia begins at 2pm on Wednesday.
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