Politicians’ performances in Federal Parliament may finally be used for the purposes of satire, if a bill introduced this week by independent Senator for South Australia, Nick Xenophon, is passed.
Senator Xenophon introduced amendments to the Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Act 1946 to allow pollies to be ‘sent up’ over their behaviour in Parliament.
Under the existing legislation, the Joint Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings can impose conditions under which proceedings can be rebroadcast or extracts used by the media.
Programs such as ABC’s The Chaser, The Project and Gruen Nation have in the past been banned from using video recordings of parliamentary sittings.
Xenophon’s amendments, if passed, would prevent the Joint Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings from prohibiting the satirical use of the parliamentary broadcast. Senator Xenophon says the situation itself was “deserving of ridicule”.
“It is both pompous and precious to expect to be above reproach, and it also demonstrates an unwillingness to own up to mistakes, gaffes or just plain stupidity,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
“Quite frankly, it’s time to lighten up and open our parliament to the sharp knives of satirists everywhere,” said the senator.
“The reasons behind this are more than just a belief that politicians shouldn’t be above reproach. It is also based on the fact that satire has become a valid source of news and information for many people.”
Meanwhile, the senator introduced a further bill to reform the Senate voting system – aimed at preventing parties and candidates making “backroom preference deals”.
The bill proposes a system that will enable voters to number more than one square above the line on the ballot paper, or at least six squares below the line. Voters would also no longer have to number all the squares if they decide to vote below the line.
“A lot of voters were dismayed by what happened in the last election,” said the SA senator. “There were a record number of candidates, and complex preference deals between the parties meant you didn’t really know who you were voting for.”
In the recent federal election, two candidates – including Ricky Muir of the Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party – were elected to the Senate with less than one per cent of the primary vote and relied on preference deals that were incomprehensible to voters.
“This isn’t about pushing minor parties out of the system, far from it,” said Xenophon. “But it means no one, including the major parties, can rely on preferences to get them over the line.
“Under this system, if candidates want your vote, they’re going to have to go out and get it.”