Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

We also propose that there be the creation of a backbench question session. One of the real problems in opposition is that we only have 10 questions a day, essentially, and most of those questions go to the front bench. They try to make political points and hold the government to account. But it becomes very difficult for backbenchers to represent their electorates on local issues. I am sure that is the case, too, for members of the Labor Party. A backbench question session would be held every day or every couple of days for half an hour or an hour. Ministers would have notice of the question. It would be a question on notice arrangement where, in the morning, those questions were provided to the ministers. The backbench question session would allow for a supplementary question on that local issue to be asked of the minister. That would be good for democracy and good for the parliament and it would include all the private members in the importance of question time every day. I think it would be a very useful change to the standing orders to make sure this place works better.

In summary, humour has been employed in this debate so far—and I am sure the Leader of the House will respond in kind—but parliamentary reform is a serious issue. The opposition has placed on the agenda a number of changes that, if they were serious about what they said in opposition, the government would pursue. I know the Leader of the House will say: ‘This is what you did. You weren’t any good so we’re just doing it back to you.’ I hope that the Labor Party and the Leader of the House will be better than that. I hope that they believe in what they said in opposition about parliamentary reform. Now, with the opportunity they have, they can actually try to follow through on the promises that they made before the election. (Time expired)

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