Deputies say they don’t have the support a major party offers its MPs and the library can’t offer the kind of personalized advice an employee does, let alone be so quick with attendance or available all day. .
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Crossbench senators make another case. In a chamber where the government is a minority, their votes matter more than those of the lower house cruisers, where Labor will have the numbers.
This applies especially to someone like Pocock who, with the Greens, is expected to secure the government’s majority in various laws. On the gross numbers, the Greens have not reduced the staff, but the party will only have the same number to serve a total party hall that has gone from 10 to 16.
When he returns from abroad, Albanese will address the complaints. Your choice is to be tough (the public wouldn’t care) or buy a little goodwill with a conciliatory gesture.
The staff dispute has sparked immediate controversy. But in this new parliament, which meets for the first time on July 26, there will be more fundamental issues around cruises.
The cross bench is, of course, diverse. In the lower house are the greens, the new green greens (obviously individuals in their own right) and other independents, as well as the idiosyncratic Bob Katter, from the deep north.
In the Senate, the cross bench goes from the Greens to the two Hansonites and Ralph Babet, elected from Victoria by the UAP.
The greens have a lot to match, after their high-profile campaigns. They are different from many other MPs. They have not been members of the political staff nor have they come out through the party’s sophisticated internal machines (although a couple come from well-known political families). They talk about doing politics differently. But without the balance of power in the House of Representatives, will they be able to drive significant changes in the way things are done?
And what of the political substance can the green greens of the lower house achieve? They have to prove that they are relevant.
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Without hard power, they can only operate through influence and defense. This is possible, though difficult. For example, in former independent parliament Helen Haines, the publication of a private member’s bill for an integrity commission increased public pressure. She (and others) will be eager to have a voice on the issue as the government moves forward with its legislation.
One of the problems of the blue-greens is that the Albanian government will address the basic issues they campaigned on, in particular climate change and integrity. It was easy enough for them to criticize the Coalition before the election, but things get harder when they are (essentially) aligned with the government on these issues.
They may say that workers should go further (although there may be no mileage) and there will be room to suggest amendments to the legislation.
Recent history indicates that once crossbenchers are chosen, they delve deeper into them, but they are not invulnerable (as Kerryn Phelps found in Wentworth). Green greens will have to show over the next three years that they represent what we might call “value for votes”. And if the government meets the climate, integrity and women’s issues, the Greens will have to renew their own agendas for the 2025 election.
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The government has some interest in the survival of the green men, because they provide a firewall. They hold the seats Labor cannot win in the hands of the Liberals. So it may seem to give them a few modest political victories.
The Greens-Labor relationship will be more powerful and creepy. The two sides are fierce competitors and there is no lost love.
But Labor will require the Greens (plus one more vote) to get legislation challenged in the Senate. The Greens will push for change. It will probably often be a game of lantern and counterlight.
The Greens ’party hall is politically diverse, a testament to Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe’s radicalism that questions the legitimacy of parliament itself, so there could be some robust internal battles.
Greens MP Lidia Thorpe.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
The Greens say their position on labor climate legislation will be to improve, not block. The first test will come soon, when the government introduces a bill to enact its emission reduction targets.
Since the Greens cannot achieve a more ambitious position, if they follow their own maxim, they would support the legislation.
Finally, Pocock’s position is interesting. He will not be the only person in government to get that extra vote in the Senate. Jacqui Lambie and her newly elected colleague in the Senate would be candidates.
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But Pocock will be in the spotlight regularly. For his part, while reflecting his progressive views, he will have to remember that he is sitting in a traditionally liberal seat. He won in large part because the former incumbent, deeply conservative Zed Seselja, was so unpopular. So if he wants to keep his place in the long run, Pocock might have to do a balancing act.
Michelle Grattan is a professor at the University of Canberra. This article first appeared in The Conversation.