MEDIA RELEASE - HALF YEAR FIGURES SHOW LABOR CONTINUES TO SYSTEMATICALLY WEAKEN QUESTION TIME

PAUL FLETCHER MP 

Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy 

Shadow Minister for Science and the Arts 

Manager of Opposition Business in the House

MEDIA RELEASE

Thursday, 4 July 2024

HALF YEAR FIGURES SHOW LABOR CONTINUES TO SYSTEMATICALLY WEAKEN QUESTION TIME

Question time is the most important mechanism of parliamentary scrutiny and accountability – but Labor has systematically weakened question time since coming to government, and the first half of 2024 saw a new low.

In the first half of 2024 (up to 27 June) Labor answered an average of 7.4 Opposition questions each sitting day before Mr Albanese shut down question time. This compares to 9.7 Opposition questions on average answered by the Coalition in government between 1 January and 24 June 2021.

Over this term the average number of Opposition questions per question time Labor answers has dropped:

 • Financial Year 2021-22 (Coalition in office): 9.5 

• Financial Year 2022-23: 7.5 

• Financial Year 2023-24: 6.9 

Before coming to government Anthony Albanese promised to “change the way that politics operates in this country”. 

And he has – but not in a good way. Instead, he has weakened the parliament, reduced scrutiny and accountability and debased question time. 

Mr Albanese has taken every opportunity to undermine the role and effectiveness of the House of Representatives:

Upon coming to government in 2022, Labor issued a sitting timetable which saw the parliament sit for only 40 days in 2022, compared to 67 days in 2021

• Labor scheduled only 17 sitting weeks in 2024, a very light program by historical standards. 

• The Prime Minister cancelled a sitting week in September 2022, citing the death of Queen Elizabeth II as his excuse.

• He also cancelled a sitting week in October 2023, citing his overseas travel plans as his excuse. 

• The Albanese Government answered 43 per cent fewer questions from the Opposition during question time in 2023 in the House of Representatives than the previous Coalition Government answered.