Wednesday, July 29, 2020



Member's Day

Today is a Member's Day, the last of the Parliamentary term. First up is the second reading of Ginny Andersen's Holidays (Bereavement Leave for Miscarriage) Amendment Bill (No 2), which should go through easily. Second is Jacqui Dean's Local Government (Customer Focus) Amendment Bill, which adds random management-speak to the Local Government Act. Third is David Carter's Electoral (Integrity Repeal) Amendment Bill, which does exactly what it says on the label. This bill is a dilemma for the Greens, who supported Winston's protection scheme in violation of their principles to get along in coalition (and then got nothing for it). Hopefully we'll see them rediscover their principles, and vote it to select committee so the next Parliament can decide whether it still wants this law (also, it would be a nice parting "fuck you" to Winston, and payback for all the times he has abused their generosity in being good team players). Finally, there's the final stages of the joint Crimes (Definition of Female Genital Mutilation) Amendment Bill, which has broad cross-party support and will be whizzed through everything in one debate.

There should be a final ballot for one bill tomorrow, and that will be it for the term, as far as Member's Bills go.