PUP to vote with Motoring Enthusiast party only ‘where practicable'
Version 0 of 1. Clive Palmer’s deal with the Australian Motoring Enthusiast senator-elect Ricky Muir requires the two parties to vote together in the upper house only “where it is practicable”. The memorandum of understanding between the Palmer United party (PUP) and the Australian Motoring Enthusiast party – released at the weekend – sheds light on the extent of co-operation planned between the two entities when the new Senate sits in July. The publication of the agreement comes nearly three months after Palmer and Muir fronted the media to announce a deal to vote together on legislation. The new Senate will include at least two senators from the PUP – Jacqui Lambie from Tasmania and Glenn Lazarus from Queensland – and possibly a third, depending on the outcome of the dispute over Western Australian results. The PUP-Muir voting bloc will be powerful in deciding the fate of government bills that are opposed by Labor and the Greens, which lose their combined ability to block bills when the new Senate sits. But the agreement makes clear the two parties are not compelled to vote together on all legislation. “Each of the parties intends to work together and where it is practicable to vote together in the Senate. Each of the parties express a desire to co-operate and assist each other as may be appropriate,” the brief document says. “This memorandum does not require any party to vote for legislation that is against his or her party’s policies and principles, or against their conscience.” The agreement says each party “wants to ensure that they contribute to an orderly operation in the Senate” and the co-operation is intended to last until the completion of the 44th parliament. “Each party will make their own media announcements or comments on behalf of their own party in respect of this memorandum,” it says. Legal experts had previously pointed out the document would not be legally binding even if it did clearly state the parties must vote together on all pieces of legislation. Independent South Australian senator Nick Xenophon, who has long criticised the arrangement, questioned whether the document was complete given the first paragraphs were marked A, B and D, and the second part was numbered 1, 2, 4. The release of the document followed a day of public sledging between Palmer and Xenophon on Friday. Xenophon had accused Palmer of failing to fulfil his promise to release the deal by Christmas, but Palmer claimed to have opened his office on Christmas Day to make it available to anyone who visited. Palmer said Xenophon “was too busy unwrapping his Brylcreem at Christmas” to fly from South Australia to Queensland to pick up a copy of the agreement. The make-up of the Senate is crucial to Tony Abbott’s hopes of securing parliamentary approval to fulfil his pledges to repeal the carbon and mining taxes. Labor and the Greens hold the combined power to block legislation until July when a more conservative crossbench will be the key to passage of government bills. But Newspoll results published at the weekend show the Coalition government is at risk of losing one of its Liberal senators-elect if Western Australians are sent back to the polls for a rerun of the Senate race. The high court is considering how to deal with the discovery that 1,370 ballot papers went missing during a recount of the WA Senate votes. Initial counting gave the fifth and sixth WA Senate positions to PUP’s Zhenya Wang and Labor’s Louise Pratt but the controversial recount awarded the seats to the Sports party's Wayne Dropulich and the Greens' Scott Ludlam. The Australian Electoral Commission has petitioned the court for a new WA Senate poll. The Newspoll, published in the Australian newspaper, shows the Coalition’s primary vote in Western Australia has fallen by 10 percentage points, from 51.2% at the election to 41% in recent months, while Labor’s has risen from 28.8% to 36%, along with a bounce for independents and minor parties. This translates to 50% each for the Coalition and Labor after preferences, compared with the Coalition’s 58.3% to 41.7% two-party vote at the September election. The results raise the prospect of a loss for Liberal senator-elect Linda Reynolds in a fresh Senate election, making it harder for the Coalition to get legislation through the Senate. The Australian newspaper reported the government “canvassed all options when the threat of a fresh Senate poll become real”, including withholding public funding “to scare off independent and minor-party candidates”. Candidates or Senate groups are eligible for about $2.50 in taxpayer funds per vote if they attract at least 4% of the first-preference vote. “But it was soon realised such a move would be impossible without amendments to electoral laws, which would be blocked in the Senate by Labor and the Greens,” the newspaper stated. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |