“This is why the Australian community doesn’t like politicians,” Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie told the ABC this morning, and it was hard not to agree. The federal government released its parliamentary sitting schedule for 2019 last night, and, according to Labor, the parliament is now likely to sit for only 10 days in the first eight months – the lightest workload for the legislature since federation, claims the manager of Opposition business, Tony Burke. Manager of government business Christopher Pyne disputes Labor’s figures, which assume sittings after the April 2 budget will be prorogued ahead of a mid-May election. The West Australian’s Shane Wright describes it as a part-time parliament. As Sharkie suggests, the voter’s view would be less kind, and is probably best summed up in a devastating August skit by the ABC’s axed Tonightly program, which aired after the Coalition adjourned the House of Representatives for the first time in living memory to dispatch former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. Headlined “A message from all Australians” the message of the skit was simple: “do your fucking jobs!”

Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese accused the Coalition of “running from democracy” today, and he is right that this is not just another inside-the-beltway issue, for three reasons. Firstly, the parliament’s pared-back schedule betrays the Morrison government’s fear of losing its majority on the floor of the house, following yesterday’s defection of Julia Banks, the possible defection of Craig Kelly, and the very real chance that Peter Dutton will be referred to the High Court. Secondly, the limited schedule reveals that the government’s legislative agenda is threadbare. As Liberal MP Andrew Laming told the ABC: “Most of our work isn’t here.” Which begs the question – where is it, if not the legislature? And that leads to the third reason: for most Australians, the fact that the parliament only sits 17 weeks a year is galling already. Two sitting weeks in eight months is beyond a joke.

Both Burke and Pyne did interviews on ABC’s RN Breakfast this morning, but the tedious argument will be lost on most voters. Already the government is facing a legislative logjam before parliament shuts down at the end of next week. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, for example, is hoping to rush encryption-cracking legislation through the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, and both the house and the Senate. Then there’s the real work that should be happening, like the prospect of bipartisan agreement on the National Energy Guarantee, which Labor held out again last week and which former foreign minister Julie Bishop backed yesterday, or legislation to evacuate children off Manus Island which independent MP Kerryn Phelps is proposing. The government is not only avoiding parliamentary scrutiny, and therefore accountability to the people, it is clinging onto power without any reason for being there. The parliament, simply, is not doing its job.

since this morning

The New Daily reports that independent MP Kerryn Phelps will introduce new laws next week to force the evacuation of the remaining children from Nauru and the medical evacuation of adult asylum seekers. Billionaire philanthropist Judith Neilson will donate [$] at least $100 million to create a journalism institute based in Sydney, The Australian reports. In Victoria, The Age reports that Matthew Guy has stood down as Liberal leader, four days after the Coalition’s disastrous election loss. Fairfax Media reports that two companies owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia, Securency and Note Printing Australia, pled guilty and were fined a record $21.6 million in 2012 for their criminal conduct. in case you missed it

Deputy Liberal leader and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has cancelled a planned trip to the G20 economic forum in Buenos Aires this week amid the chaos engulfing his party and the federal parliament. Earlier it was confirmed that US president Donald Trump would not meet [$] with Scott Morrison. Kerryn Phelps has said she won’t be intimidated after the Morrison government threatened to refer her and other MPs to the High Court if the parliament moves on Peter Dutton. Greens Leader Richard Di Natale was suspended from the Senate last night after calling Liberal senator Barry O’Sullivan a “pig” over “sexist filth”. In an interview on the ABC’s 7.30 program last night, former prime minister John Howard urged federal Liberals not to panic over the drubbing in the Victorian state election, and has declared that there is no prospect that the party will split. by Helen Sullivan The Nation Reviewed Saving Jabiru What happens when a Northern Territory town reaches its mandated expiry date? by Miriam Cosic Art William Kentridge at the Art Gallery of NSW This exhibition gives rare insight into the boundlessly curious artist’s process