Extract from ABC News
Analysis
For a government that won in 2019 without the burden of an extensive agenda for the following three years, there does seem to be an almighty rush in this final fortnight of parliament before the late-March Budget springboards us into another election campaign.
The rush can in part be put down to COVID overwhelming everything else for the past two years. And it can in part be put down to a failure to resolve internal differences between moderates and conservatives much earlier when the government was in stronger shape politically.
Whatever the reason, it's hard not to liken the Prime Minister this week to a moguls skier, hurtling over the bumps and jumps towards a fast-approaching finish line at the bottom of the hill. Although unlike Australia's gold medal-winning Jakara Anthony, Scott Morrison appears to have only one ski and is juggling a chainsaw or two.
Consider the past 48 hours. An apology to Brittany Higgins in parliament. A date set to open the international border. Military personnel finally deployed to help with the aged care crisis. Rapid antigen tests made tax-deductible. ABC funding unfrozen. Ministers blitzing the airwaves to insist Scott Morrison is not, in fact, a liar or a hypocrite.
It's an all-out effort to scrape off problems and potential campaign headaches ASAP.r volume.
But there's not always an easy fix
Some problems, however, can't be fixed by the Prime Minister alone. And it's the solutions requiring a high degree of Coalition unity that are proving the most difficult to land. The Religious Discrimination Act and the Commonwealth Integrity Commission, in particular, were promised before the last election, but remain bogged in division with time to secure parliamentary approval fast running out.
Divisions between moderates and conservatives, of course are nothing new. John Howard famously described the Liberal party as a broad church. The former prime minister would usually manage to resolve the most damaging internal splits by giving the moderates just enough to keep them onside and, importantly, by winning elections. Give some ground, trust the boss and stay in government.
Today's Liberal moderates can't be so sure right now of Morrison's ability to win a second election. They can be sure they will face a fierce contest from socially progressive independent candidates in inner-city seats. If they're seen to have done nothing as the government weakened the rights of the LGBTQI community with its Religious Discrimination Act, they will be handing their independent challengers a campaign gift. If they're seen to have done nothing about a long-promised anti-corruption body, they'll be delivering another.
On both issues, however, the Prime Minister appears more focused on the fight with Labor in the suburbs than the march of the teal independents in inner-city seats.
He once called the push for a National Integrity Commission a "fringe issue" and doesn't appear to have changed his view. Morrison has technically left open the option of a vote in parliament before the election, but few believe he'll bother. As things currently stand, the government's draft model for an anti-corruption body would struggle to win support in either house. The Prime Minister will likely go to the election without having even introduced a bill for an integrity commission at all.
Labor not taking the bait
On religious discrimination, however, the Prime Minister appears determined to push through and deliver something before the parliamentary clock runs out. Delivering for people of faith has become an article of faith. And it's clear which marginal seat voters are in Morrison's sights.
"I know the communities of suburban Melbourne", the Prime Minister taunted Labor in Question Time yesterday, "the Hindus or the Muslims of Sydney and Melbourne … the Christians of north-western Sydney or Queensland or southern Tasmania or northern Tasmania."
He threw down the challenge: if you want to support multiculturalism, support the bill.
So far, Labor isn't taking the bait. Aware of its own divided constituencies on the issue of religious freedom, it's chosen not to weigh in. But this is a conundrum it cannot avoid.
Late yesterday, the Coalition party room held a special meeting to settle its position. MPs agreed to press ahead with the Religious Discrimination Bill, while at the same time amending the Sex Discrimination Act to remove the power for religious schools to expel gay students. Schools would, however, still have the right to expel trans students, with this issue to be referred to the Australian Law Reform Commission for further review.
Some Liberal moderates have reluctantly accepted that outcome. At least two have not. They won't support any right to continue discriminating against trans kids.
Trent Zimmerman told the party room meeting he reserved his right not to support the bill. Bridget Archer went further, telling parliament last night she was "completely gobsmacked" the bill is even being considered. Without the support of Archer and with the prospect of losing Zimmerman as well, it's now up to Labor to decide the fate of the bills.
The opposition is likely to move amendments, which would further delay proceedings, but is aware of the difficult decision it will soon have to make. It doesn't want to alienate people of faith or the LGBTQI community.
The rush to the finish line this parliamentary fortnight could leave a few contenders looking bruised by the end of the race.
David Speers is the host of Insiders, which airs on ABC TV at 9am on Sunday or on iview.
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