Katina Curtis: Logjams and limbo gum up the business end of Albanese’s first term

Anthony Albanese warned his caucus colleagues this week they were approaching “the business end of this parliamentary term”. The Prime Minister has often lamented the shortness of a three-year term and for a government with a busy agenda, those calendar pages turn even faster. As he ticks things off his election manifesto, a pattern has emerged: the relatively easy things have been done and the bruising political fights are left. On pretty much everything before the parliament at the moment, Labor is getting torn between the Coalition and the Greens. Even for things you think should be easy — like this week’s crackdown on the CFMEU amid allegations of thuggish and criminal behaviour — both opposing parties are seeking to extract their pound of political flesh. The housing policy initiatives that were a big part of Labor’s 2022 campaign are stuck in limbo. That makes it tricky to go into the next election saying, “Look what we did and here’s our new plan” on one of the hottest political issues. Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ signature Future Made in Australia policy — aimed at driving jobs and industry’s green transformation — looks set to land in the same limbo with the Coalition opposing it in colourful terms and the Greens saying they are not yet convinced. The Government has dumped promised religious discrimination laws, abandoned elements of its electoral overhaul and put greater oversight of misinformation and disinformation spread on social media on the back burner. Multiple ministers have also run up against a logjam in the drafting of new legislation, privately expressing frustration at their changes getting stuck in limbo before they even reach parliament. It’s a combination of a new government with an ambitious agenda, every minister being sure their policies are the top priority and just plain not enough specialist legislative drafters. Tony Burke, then workplace relations minister, said last year while he was waiting to bring on the second tranche of IR changes that he was “always in the hands of the drafters” on the matter. “The hope of every minister in this building when you’re getting something drafted is it’ll be ready as soon as possible,” he said. Environment department staff hinted at the drafting backlog during estimates quizzing over the wait on that portfolio’s new laws. The Commonwealth’s Office of Parliamentary Counsel now employs 58 legislative drafters, all lawyers with the specialist skills needed to write the nation’s laws. By comparison, Queensland employs 30 drafters, WA has 28 (and has been on a hiring spree), Victoria has 22 and NSW has 20. Over the past two years the federal team’s work has included mammoth pieces of legislation to overhaul industrial relations laws, establish the National Anti-Corruption Commission and a new administrative appeals body, and the Nature Positive environment laws. The electoral law changes that are still coming are understood to run to more than 250 pages. The gambling advertising compromise currently upsetting some Labor backbenchers is also likely to involve complex changes. And that’s before you get to a mooted total overhaul of the childcare system. The OPC’s total staffing level had barely budged since 2017 but was beefed up over the past year. Former staff have also been brought in to lend a hand. Last year’s budget and mid-year update included an extra $21.7 million to hire more parliamentary drafters plus support staff. Everyone who has looked into what’s causing their hold-ups warns it’s not just a matter of hiring any old lawyer — not even one who has been working in a department issuing drafting instructions. New recruits are trained using an apprentice-style system where they are paired with experienced hands to learn the process, which can take several years. Esoteric as it may be, beefing up the parliamentary counsel will be a key, unseen ingredient to Labor delivering on this term’s agenda and setting up for its hoped second term. Ministers can see they’re running out of time, especially with the prospect of a March election that could mean no sitting weeks at the start of next year. That’s before they get hit with a wave of policy ideas from committee chairs who want to make a name for themselves. Against this backdrop of the business end of parliament, Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton are sharpening their attacks. The Liberals have shifted their language about the Prime Minister, switching up the punchline of questions from asking about a “weak” leader to using the term “tricky”. Labor is turning a Dutton line back on him, accusing him of saying one thing in WA and another in Canberra. Both believe the choice for voters is clear — but Albanese is not rushing to the polls just yet, not when there are still things to do.

Katina Curtis: Logjams and limbo gum up the business end of Albanese’s first term

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