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Gillard supports idea of an independent Speaker

31 August 2010 23:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. JULIA Gillard will support an independent Speaker in the lower house of parliament in a bid to secure the backing of crossbenchers, APA reports quoting theaustralian.com.au website.
The Prime Minister said yesterday parliament should be overhauled and an independent House of Representatives Speaker appointed.
Tony Abbott has previously promised "root-and-branch parliamentary reform". Now he has advocated keeping Labor MP Harry Jenkins in the role, taking a crucial vote from the ALP.
Labor’s leader in the house, Anthony Albanese, said the Speaker did not have to come from Labor ranks. "No, we’re not necessarily talking about a Labor MP," he said. "It could be just an MP who would be independent of the process."
Mr Jenkins had moved to the view that an independent Speaker was an "inevitability".
"Over time, there have been a whole list of pros and cons about this notion, and at differing times I have agreed with those," he said.
"I probably have moved towards the view that this was an inevitability and the present circumstances the house finds itself in mean now it’s more likely."
Ms Gillard has given the three rural independents a paper outlining Labor’s plans for reforms to deliver a more consensus-based parliament. As Labor or the Coalition are likely to get only 76 seats at best, and from that number supply a Speaker, the house could be tied at 75 MPs each once the independents make their decisions.
Then, for the government of the day to be assured of a majority, both sides concede the opposition or the cross benches could be asked to provide an independent Speaker.
Independents Tony Windsor and Andrew Wilkie have ruled out becoming Speaker.
Ms Gillard told the National Press Club the government was discussing a variety of reforms with the independents. "I think it would be good to have an independent Speaker, not necessarily a Speaker who is an independent," she said.
"I do want to see more access for private members.
"I do want them to be able to initiate and have substantively considered private members’ legislative proposals."
Much better use could be made of parliamentary committees.
Without reform, the hung parliament would "quickly look more like Washington than Westminster", she said.
She wanted more opportunity for independents to introduce legislation and have it properly considered. She also proposed four-minute limits on question time answers and a review of "relevance" to make ministers more accountable. A limit of one minute was proposed for questions.
She also flagged the option of supplementary questions.
Mr Abbott has written to Ms Gillard proposing the establishment of a parliamentary reform committee of senior MPs from both sides, but Ms Gillard wrote back yesterday saying she could not support that plan at this stage.
She was willing to consider the idea once negotiations with independent MPs were finalised.