Suspend Abbott, not Parliament!

Abbott must pay the bill if he continues to treat our democracy with contempt.

If you’ve tuned into question time on ABC TV this year you may have noticed a new trick. Nearly half of the sitting days have ended or been disrupted by Opposition leader Tony Abbott moving Suspension motions.

Holding democracy hostage

So why does Abbott cut short question time with his motions to suspend standing orders? Shouldn’t he as Opposition leader be using the total time available to he and his colleagues to ask the tough questions of the Gillard Government?

It seems he just doesn’t take democracy seriously! Totaled up seven full question times have been lost due to this stunt like exercise. It simply gives Abbott a chance to take to the dispatch box and rant and rave without having to ask a proper question, offer up a policy alternative or present himself as a viable alternative. Question time is a defining factor of a democracy. How many times did Saddam or Stalin face the tough questions from the opposing side?

What makes this all worse, putting aside he is not doing his job, is that we the tax payer are footing the bill for this nonsense. So if Abbott wishes to turn parliament house into his own centre stage, where the glorification of his own ego and the sound of his own voice is more important than the governing of Australia – Then he must foot the bill!

So hence forth, every time Abbott moves a frivolous motion to suspend standing orders he pays the bill. Not just his own wage, but the total cost of the wasted hours of parliament. Staff wages and the wages of other politicians, electricity and energy costs, telecommunications costs and even those crystal clear glasses of water presented to politicians must be paid for by Abbott for every second of parliament’s time he wastes.

Wasting time in the House is nothing new to Australian politics, but Abbott has now made a mockery of our democracy and a lesson must be taught. It is unacceptable that in a time Australia and its people face so many tough challenges that the alternative Prime Minister treats our place of democracy as his own self serving, brain numbing, ego driven, soap box!

Put up or shut up, that is the message!