Prime minister to set the scene for the new session of parliament as Coalition prepares to grapple with the uncertainties surrounding several urgent areas

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Malcolm Turnbull has urged non-government parliamentary participants to meet him in the “sensible centre” and focus on “bread and butter issues” as the federal parliament prepares to resume next week after the hiatus following the 2 July election.



In a speech in Brisbane on Saturday, Turnbull will signal the government’s intention to proceed with efforts to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) and apply stronger governance rules to trade unions, reiterating the option of a joint sitting if the Senate fails to pass the proposals.

The government will need the support of One Nation to achieve that change but, through the week, Pauline Hanson said she was not going to be “railroaded by the government, or the unions” on the ABCC.

Trade unions have focused some of their lobbying efforts on the Hanson bloc, hoping to persuade her to look after the interests of blue-collar workers who voted for One Nation in 2016, and vote against the ABCC.

On Saturday, Turnbull will make a pitch to the party base, saying: “This legislation, blocked by the Greens and Labor to protect their union mates, was the reason we went to a double dissolution election.

Pauline Hanson on fence over support for ABCC Read more

“If the Senate fails to pass them, we have the option of taking them to a joint sitting,” the prime minister will say.

In a public intervention on Friday, the former prime minister Tony Abbott declared that sorting out the ABCC “should be the least politically difficult reform of all”.

Abbott said the government had an absolutely unambiguous mandate for the ABCC, after taking it to the 2010, the 2013 and now the 2016 double dissolution election, and “even this parliament should finally do the right thing”.

“It’s not a leap in the dark but the restoration of a body that’s proven to be effective,” Abbott said.

The government enters the first sitting week of the new parliament with most issues in flux – continuing negotiations around superannuation, uncertainty around other key budget measures, the same-sex marriage plebiscite looking decidedly wobbly, and continuing internal pressure to amend the Racial Discrimination Act.

Turnbull will use the speech on Saturday to set the scene for the new session. He will tell his Brisbane audience that the coming parliament will be about honouring the Coalition’s election commitments. “We have a long to-do list, with budget repair at the top,” he will say.

The prime minister will criticise the Labor leader, Bill Shorten – who used a National Press Club speech this week to float a superannuation compromise and set out alternative proposals for budget repair – for being “tactical” in the lead up to the resumption of parliament.

Bill Shorten offers Malcolm Turnbull compromise on superannuation changes Read more

“Mr Shorten says that Labor will oppose the government’s important flexibility measures on superannuation – particularly the carry-forward provisions on unused concessional contributions which will benefit around 230,000 Australians, including women who have experienced interrupted work patterns,” Turnbull will say.

“That he has revealed Labor’s superannuation policies the week before parliament resumes, rather than subjecting them to scrutiny during the recent campaign, exposes his tactics as being just that – tactics.”

Turnbull will say that Labor should pass the omnibus savings bill the government intends to bring forward, and desist from raising alternative revenue-generating proposals the Coalition ruled out in the recent election campaign.

But with that said, the prime minister will urge parties to adopt a flexible and pragmatic approach, saying Shorten, Labor and all the parties need to meet the government “in the sensible centre”.

“To act otherwise would badly misread the mood of the vast majority of Australians who want us to work together to secure their future,” he will say.

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“This term must be about the bread and butter issues that occupy people’s thoughts when they get up in the morning and when they lay down at night: their jobs, their health and education, whether they can pay their bills, their opportunities to get ahead, their security.”

The prime minister says he’s prepared to work constructively with the Senate.

“In the last parliament there were eight crossbenchers, six of whom had been newly elected at the 2013 half Senate election. Had there been a half Senate election this year, instead of a double dissolution, we could have reasonably expected another six crossbenchers being elected for a total of 12,” he says.

“We have had constructive discussions with all the crossbenchers and we are confident that we can find common ground with them in order to achieve our objectives.

“Of course there will be negotiation and compromise. That is what parliaments are for and it has been ever thus in the Senate.”