Opinion Piece – Parliament shake up: Time to Pop the Question.

KAP MPs (L-R): Shane Knuth for Hill, Robbie Katter for Traeger (KAP Leader), Nick Dametto for Hinchinbrook (KAP Deputy Leader).

14 April 2024

You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who is happy with Labor’s current performance and rightly so. With the LNP now considering themselves as an alternative government, people are turning to the Opposition for answers as the October election looms. Unfortunately, other than motherhood statements and one liner’s, most of us can’t decipher what they are cooking up for Queensland.

Now I can appreciate a good bowl of homemade gnocchi, but to be frank, after tuning into both Leader’s social media pages I can say I couldn’t care less how good or bad David Crisafulli’s cooking is or what Steven Miles is putting in kid’s lunch boxes. Like me I’m sure most swing voters are more interested in what policies we’ll be voting on this election. Currently Queensland Parliamentary Question Time is a cat hair short of being a complete waste of everyone’s time. Being only five months before Parliament will be dissolved, both sides are just running out the clock like two tired old football teams with mediocre questions coming from the opposition and a flurry of Dorothy Dickers from the Government back bench. But there could be a novel way to spice things up before we all head to the polls.

The Government could suspend standing orders and move amendments which could open the Opposition’s Shadow Ministry up to questions from the floor, and to make it fair they could even go a step further to allow questions to be asked of the Crossbench Members.  This close to what will be the most import State election in the last eleven years all Parties should be afforded the opportunity to prove their mettle and demonstrate their readiness to govern or have their polices tested.

If I was the Opposition I would be welcoming this idea with open arms. Labor Government Ministers get ample time to spruik their Government’s position during Ministerial Statements each sitting day. Dispose of the preloaded Labor questions volleyed around the Chamber between mates and replace them with legitimate policy questions directed at the Opposition Leader and Shadow Ministry so that they can demonstrate to us all how this government in waiting plans to solve our youth crime problems, address the cost-of-living crisis and reduce ambulance ramping.

While the ALP and LNP may cringe under scrutiny, KAP welcomes the chance to engage in meaningful dialogue and defend its policies in the crucible of parliamentary Question Time. The KAP is North Queensland’s opposition party. I could think of nothing better than being able to further display KAP’s policies that are unashamedly designed to directly benefit those seeking to develop and help struggling regional Queensland.

The LNP has already indicated that they are ‘lite’ on when it come to putting meat on the policy bone in fear that their ideas would be snapped up by the Government before the election, this indicates that they are either void of ideas that weren’t first floated by KAP, or their idea of Government is exactly what we have all been fearing and that’s “LABOR LITE”.

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