Unexpect Political Ally Saves Carbon tax

RICKY Muir has split from the Palmer United Party in preventing the Federal Government from bringing on an urgent vote to axe the carbon tax.

The Coalition tried to gag debate when the Senate began sitting this morning, in a bid to have a vote on its carbon tax repeal legislation bills.

But its attempt failed when the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party’s Ricky Muir sided with Labor and the Greens to stop the guillotine.

The PUP Senators, Jacqui Lambie, Dio Wang and Glenn Lazarus, who he has a loose alliance with, voted with the government.

THE Abbott government has suffered an embarrassing setback to its bid to fast track repeal of the carbon tax through parliament.

THE Senate on Wednesday rejected a government move to force an urgent vote on its legislation.
The loss turned on the vote of Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party senator Ricky Muir who split from his Palmer United Party allies by voting with Labor and the Greens.

He was joined by two other cross benchers Nick Xenophon and John Madigan to tie the vote 36-36.

veya_victaous wrote:Umm
that is nothing...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Australia
we have
Australian Sex Party
Future Party
Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party
Pirate Party Australia
The Wikileaks Party
Bullet Train for Australia
Coke in the Bubblers Party

just to name a few

Of course Tony would want to punch downwards at those less powerful than he, since stupid dumb jerk democracy is being totes mean to him in Parliament at the moment.

When the Coalition was in opposition the Senate was a house of debate and of review, but when they got into power obviously the responsibility of the Senate changed overnight to "shutting up and passing everything because mandate".

Yet, to Abbott's great sorrow, the Senate is disobediently failing to rubber stamp whatever legislation the government wants to pass, and this makes Tony sad in his feelings-hole.

because of those people - those anti-Australian democracy-loving communists - that Tony is waking this morning to a world still plagued by the Carbon "Tax".

See, in the last couple of days the government has attempted to pass bills repealing the tax, killing the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (aka ARENA) and increase taxes on low income earners. These are obviously laws that Australia desperately needs, since they bravely take on our nation's two biggest foes: the environment and poor people.

Sure, there's a report on the Carbon "Tax" repeal coming out next week that will examine the precise effects on pricing carbon, but the government doesn't want to waste time reading some nerd report by egghead scientists with their so-called "data" and "evidence" and fancy book-learnin'. So, responsibly, it attempted to gag debate on the bill and force a vote because that's what leadership looks like.

However, like recalcitrant children, the Senate was having none of it.

Motoring Enthusiast Party senator Ricky Muir failed to vote for the gag order and immediate repeal that the Coalition demanded, joining Labor, the Greens and fellow independents John Madigan and Nick Xenophon to force further debate on the issue. Palmer United voted with the government.

That followed Muir's vote on Tuesday to block the abolishment of ARENA (along with Palmer United) and preceded the voting down of the repeal of tax cuts to lower income earners, where David Leyonhjelm was the surprise Senator that gave the nay votes victory.

So three key pieces of legislation went to the new Senate, and two were defeated and one delayed.

But what of this dangerous outbreak of sense?

This colourful, unpredictable blocking of key budget measures is now raising a troubling possibility about our new Senate: could it be that our cross benchers are not, in fact, barking mad?

See, this is looking awfully like Muir and Leyonhjelm looked at the legislation, had a think about the implications of the laws, and then made an informed and principled decision to support it or vote it down on what they perceived as its merits. And this is an unsettling precedent.

We're used to getting that from Xenophon, sure, but aren't our independents supposed to have a narrow range of largely crazy pet issues that they force the government to accept as conditions of their complicity the rest of the time?

That's what we've come to expect in our federal upper house - hell, that was basically the campaign slogan for Family First's Bob Day - and there's a danger that this new, seemingly rational approach may shatter our proud tradition of narrow-interest horse trading.

Could this herald a dark new period in which legislation has to be examined to ensure that it makes sense and, more terrifyingly, is in the nation's best interest?It's a sobering possibility, and one that is doubtless giving the front bench some sleepless nights. After all, if Parliament start applying those sorts of standards then the government's never going to get anything passed.

“The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees,” Scanlon wrote in the memo, which was read into the public record at a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. “Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them.”