Albanese government 'on a parliamentary go-slow' - The Australian

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The Opposition has criticised the Albanese government for wasting time with its new sitting calendar, which includes just eight more sitting weeks for the remainder of the year.

Opposition spokesman for Business in the House Paul Fletcher said the draft sitting timetable, released on Monday, was “remarkably light on”.

“The Albanese Labor government is on a parliamentary go-slow,” Mr Fletcher said on Monday night.

“Total sitting days for the House of Representatives for 2022 will be just 40. This is a dramatic drop from 67 in 2021 and 58 in 2020.”

Mr Fletcher said the average number of sitting days across the previous three election years – 2013, 2016 and 2019 – was 48.

He said parliament must be reconvened within 30 days of the return of the writs but Labor was “just scraping in”.

“The latest day for return of the writs is 28 June and Labor is just scraping in within the 30 day period by reconvening Parliament on 26 July,” Mr Fletcher said.

“This is entirely at odds with Labor’s claim that they do not waste a day.

“At the last transition of government, the Coalition Government wasted no time in reconvening Parliament. In 2013, the first sitting day was a mere 11 days after the final writs were returned.”