Family friendly hours were introduced at the Queensland parliament in 2018. (ABC News: Alexander Lewis)
The Liberal National Party has signalled it will dump family friendly hours at Queensland parliament if it wins the next state election, in a bid to give MPs more time to debate legislation.
The Labor government brought in family friendly hours in 2018, ensuring the parliamentary day usually finishes at 7.30pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 6.30pm on Thursdays.
Before the new sitting schedule was introduced, the parliament often sat well into the evenings and sometimes after midnight.
It also kicked off late on Wednesdays while committee meetings generally took place in the morning, however Wednesday parliamentary sittings now begin earlier in the day.
The government insists it still allocates appropriate time to debate key laws under the family friendly hours, but the Opposition has repeatedly hit out at the arrangements.
Manager of Opposition Business Andrew Powell argued the current hours were not really family friendly – especially for regional MPs who cannot go home to their families at the end of the day.
“For many of us from even regional South East Queensland, let alone regional Queensland, we’re not getting home to see our families each night,” he said.
“We’re down there [in Brisbane] often of a Sunday evening for committee hearings on Monday mornings and we don’t see our families until we get back to the electorate on Friday.
“We’re there [in parliament]. Let’s use those hours for the benefit of the people that we represent.”
LNP flags changes if it wins government
Mr Powell indicated an LNP government would be prepared to make MPs sit longer hours in the chamber to ensure more debate time for bills that go before parliament.
But he also said sitting days would not drag into the early hours of the morning.
“We won’t necessarily set an hour because it’s not so much about the hour the House rises. It’s about delivering the laws that Queensland needs,” he said.
“We won’t be sitting around the clock … like we have in the past, but a better balance so that we ensure we get the debate that’s really required, and we lessen the guillotine [on debate] that we currently see from the state Labor government.
“I believe it’s a government’s responsibility to ensure that parliament [has] got the opportunity to properly debate legislation.”
Labor backs in family friendly hours
The government’s Leader of the House Mick de Brenni stood by the existing arrangements.
He also branded the LNP as “lazy” because they had introduced one bill this parliament, compared to more than a dozen from the crossbench.
“The Miles government will always support modern and progressive workplaces, and the Queensland Parliament is no different,” he said.
“The parliament’s primary purpose is to introduce new laws that will better the lives of Queenslanders, and the Miles government will always ensure appropriate time is allocated to consider and debate key legislation.
“While the Oppositions spends its time whingeing, the Miles Labor government is using its time to deliver on what matters to Queenslanders.”
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