Question Time (or, the adults go to work)

Writing from the Pancake Parlour Restaurant (tasty pancakes, horrifically slow wi-fi), where I’ve wasted the morning trying to submit my grades for the course I’ve been teaching and catching up on the political implosion back home in Canada. 

Actually, Australia’s as good a place as any to appreciate what’s been going on. Sometimes it takes some distance to see how childish, provincial and destructive our politics have become. It'll be interesting to see how far Harper is willing to go to avoid a no-confidence vote.

Which brings us to Question Time, Australia’s version of Question Period. As she mentions below, Natasha and I spent yesterday at Parliament House, including sitting in on the 90-minute Question Time. I know it’s a mistake to judge an entire country’s political process by listening to politicians talk for an hour and a half, but it was pretty impressive.

If our experience is anything to go by, at the very least, Australia seems to be governed by adults intent on tackling the important issues of the day. How very refreshing.

 Some brief highlights:

1. There was no clapping or pounding on desks. Instead, while some questions and answers attracted jeers from the other side, support was usually expressed via a quick “Hear, hear.” I’d never realized exactly how thuggish and goat-like our own MPs sound with all their hand-slapping and desk-thumping.
   
2. The set-up is pretty interesting, with the two main parties’ front rows sitting on benches, not at desks. Ministers, the Prime Minister and the main opposition leaders answer questions at a lectern on a table in the centre aisle. The Prime Minister and the opposition leader sit at the table, across from each other.
   
3. The questions were, for the most part, substantive, and the whole thing gave the impression of an opposition actually holding the government to account. Ministers either answered the questions (more or less) or were so obviously dodging the question that the effect was the same.
   
4. Canada made an appearance in an answer about the state of the Australian financial system. Apparently ours compares well with Australia’s, which apparently is in trouble but not near collapse. The big issue here: several Australian banks are not passing on the central bank’s interest-rate cuts. Not good.
   
5. Interestingly, on the news this morning, a panel discussion with a government Labour member and an opposition Liberal (actually conservative) member, Canada came up again, with the Liberal member using Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s widely discredited claim that Canada’s budget is going to remain in surplus to bolster his party’s attack on the government.
6. Bonus points: Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts (and former Midnight Oil frontman) Peter Garrett answered a question. (Ministers all seem to hold many unconnected portfolios.) He did not dance, but his answer (about the nationalization of a water basin [I think]) caused an opposition member to freak out so much that she was ejected from the House!
   
7. The Speaker always sounded pretty laid back, even when calling for order. Could be the accent. 
8. It was nice to see a Prime Minister (Kevin Rudd) who seemed both good-humored, at ease with himself and in command of his portfolio. We haven’t had one of those in Canada in a very long time.