The week in the House Everything’s coming up roses

Press, 18 September 1976, Page 2

The week in the House Everything’s coming up roses

By CEDRIC MENTIPLAY i Parliament was a morej pleasant place to work in! this week, mainly because the pressures engendered by confrontation across the I House had tended to ease ! themselves. It may have ■been an unrelated circumstance that two of the prin- 1 ■ cipals in the confrontation were absent for most of the sitting time. The Speaker (Sir Roy Jack) was in London for a! Parliamentary occasion, and! the Leader of the Opposition! (Mr Rowling) left on Tues-| day, on a month-long world! trip. In the speaker’s chair,; Mr J. R. Harrison was firm! but not unbending. The Op-1 position gave away nothing' discernible, but the House' business went forward smoothly, with fewer points of order. On Tuesday and , Wednesday, quite remarkably, the complete schedules of Ministerial replies to oral questions were completed. On nine ques-

tions were dealt with in less than 20 minutes remaining; after the introduction of three bills, and on Friday; I morning the House swept I through no fewer than 18! 'questions in the allotted half-hour. The fact that 11 'questions were left over, and Iwill not now be dealt with I orally, was no reflection on the conduct of the House, it. . any earlier sitting day this session, progress through more than half a dozen questions in the allotted time would have been unlikely. The general bonhomies extended to the introduction ■of bills, possibly to the exi asperation of Sir Roy Jack Iwhen he returned to the 1 chair on Thursday. The introduction of the Social Security Amendment Bill very quickly developed into what members and others have complained about — an; effective second reading de-1 I bate, with long comparisons'

jof competing superannuation forms and patterns. ; The Speaker intervened ; mildly, poihting this out. But the Prime Minister also intervened, siding with the acting Leader of the Opposition (Mr Freer), and suggesting that he was of one mind with the Opposition in having this kind of debate at this stage, The Speaker gave way, with a mild comment on this “meeting of minds,” and the debate went for its full permitted hour. Another I Speaker could have sat both ; principals down, and insisted on the letter of the Parliajmentary law’s being ob- | served. But 10, the unpredici table happened. The disputed bill was admitted, with two I face-saving divisions, and ;two more were also allowed in and read a first time beIfore Parliament rose for dinner at 5.30 p.m. The 'bounds of precedence, courtesy, and Opposition pugnacity were never less clearly denned. On Friday they were back at it, hammer and tongs, but there was an over-all atmosphere of good humour. The second Imprest Supply de-

bate of the session was taken under the usual urgency. Very quickly it became the “You did, we didn’t” sort of exchange we have grown to expect. The

Opposition persisted with its theme that in 1975 everyone was in good heart and exports were increasing, because of the Labour Government’s policies. The Government developed its thesis that what it has been doing is a rescue operation designed to salvage the economy from the disasters after Labour mismanagement. It is fairly obvious by now that “never the twain shall meet,” but at least the savagery seems to have departed from the contest. Perhaps, after all, what was needed was a short break from the endless four-day-a-week confrontation across the Parliamentary floor. For this, the Opposition has Mr Muldoon to thank, though it will never admit the fact. If the Government caucus forced the Prime Minister to change his plans, this will never be admitted either.

Parliament will not sit again until Tuesday, September 28. On that day there will be oral questions, followed by the discussion of more estimates — those of the Minister of Labour (Mr Gordon) and the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Talboys). It is hoped the present good humour will outlast the return to the Parliamentary chamber.