Labor and Greens accuse the government of running scared of a vote on a banking royal commission before byelections return new members

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The government has cancelled the penultimate sitting week of the House of Representatives, in a move Labor and the Greens have blasted as a bid to shut down parliamentary scrutiny.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten said Labor’s shadow cabinet would come to work on Monday in Canberra regardless, a call echoed by Greens MP Adam Bandt and independent MP Bob Katter, who even suggested they should “sit on the garden lawn”, vote, and “make the laws of the land” – all without government MPs present.

In a statement on Monday the leader of the house, Christopher Pyne, said the government had asked the Speaker to cancel the sitting week beginning on 27 November, so the lower house will now return on 4 December.

Labor accepts that it is the Speaker’s prerogative to cancel the sitting week and did not join Katter’s call to protest against the move with a shadow sitting of parliament.

With government members threatening a backbench revolt on an inquiry into the banks and the Coalition missing two MPs with Barnaby Joyce and John Alexander facing byelections, the loss of the week may leave time to deal just with citizenship and marriage equality this year.

Pyne said the move was necessary because a marriage equality bill was unlikely to pass the Senate before 30 November.

Why the citizenship crisis feels even more farcical in Bennelong Read more

The week beginning 4 December was scheduled as the last sitting week of the year, but Pyne said the house “will sit until marriage equality is law and all citizenship issues have been dealt with”.

He said the motion for disclosure of foreign citizenship will now be moved on 4 December and set a deadline of 8pm on Tuesday December 5.

Pyne foreshadowed extra sitting days in the week beginning 11 December, warning that although it was possible to deal with citizenship and marriage in one week, members should be prepared to sit for “as long as it takes” to resolve the issues.

“Any referrals to the high court resulting from members’ disclosures will be debated after the passage of the marriage equality bill,” he said.

Shorten, accused the government of “running scared”.

Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) Turnbull is running scared from the Parliament. If you can't run the Parliament, you can't run the country.

At a media conference in Sydney, Shorten said the development was “an assault on democracy” because the government was “effectively locking the crossbench and opposition out of parliament”.

Shorten accused Malcolm Turnbull of being “frightened” of his party and the parliament, and said it was “shameful” to use marriage equality as an excuse when there were 53 other items of government business to discuss.

Bandt said the government was “terrified it has lost control of parliament”.



Adam Bandt 🏳️‍🌈 (@AdamBandt) Government is terrified it has lost control of Parliament. King Charles cancelled Parliaments and he lost his head. At this rate, Turnbull is not far from the metaphorical chopping block either.

The Turnbull government has held a minority of lower house seats since Joyce was felled by the high court’s citizenship seven decision and Alexander resigned over having dual British citizenship.

Labor and the Greens believe they and the crossbench have 74 votes to call for a bank royal commission or commission of inquiry to the government’s 73 but, at a media conference in Adelaide, Pyne said an absolute majority of 76 was needed to suspend standing orders and bring it on for debate.

A spokeswoman for National MP George Christensen confirmed he would vote to support a bank commission of inquiry after the New England byelection, to be held on 2 December.

Pyne said even with the changed timetable neither Joyce nor Alexander would be back in the week beginning 4 December.

However, if the house deals only with marriage and citizenship, the banking matter would be delayed until 2018, when the government may have the votes of Joyce and Alexander back.

Asked if the move was motivated by fears of a banking royal commission motion, Pyne said “what will be will be”, but that was not an item of business the public expected parliament to deal with in the remaining sitting weeks.

Asked if the government had lost control of the parliament, Pyne dismissed the claim as “political rhetoric” and accused Labor of wanting “constant chaos”.

The Nick Xenophon Team MP Rebekha Sharkie told Guardian Australia she shared the view the move was designed to avoid debate on a banking royal commission, describing it as “incredibly disappointing”.

“If the government is using its numbers to stifle debate on issues in the parliament, people would be rightly cynical about that,” she said.

Earlier on Radio National, the Nationals senator Barry O’Sullivan said he was committed to a banking inquiry, linking it to Dean Smith’s decision to introduce a marriage equality bill by saying he was “following in his footsteps” by pursuing a matter of importance to him.

“There could be as many as four [Coalition MPs supporting this],” he said. “There are a couple on the public record of course, George Christensen’s one, Llew O’Brien is another who’s indicated that he’s at 50/50 if you like.”

He said a similar bill produced by the Greens made its way through the Senate without any difficulty, so he would expect them to support his bill. He said he believed Labor was also likely to support it.

“I’m not taking advantage of a [this] position with weak government,” he said. “My government has allowed for new pathways with conscience votes on procedural matters, and I intend to take advantage of that, there’s no question about that.”