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Category: Government and Politics / Federal Government / Pauline Hanson / Industrial Relations

Brandis hopes One Nation will play ball on ABCC

Thursday, 4 Aug 2016 15:53:36 | Julia Holman And Tom Iggulden

Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts are expected to help pass ABCC laws. (AAP Image: Dan Peled)

The Government's leader in the Senate says he is hopeful Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party will help pass controversial workplace relation laws in a joint parliamentary sitting.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called a double dissolution election when the last parliament failed to pass the Registered Organisations and the Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation.

Attorney General George Brandis, who is also the Government's chief crossbench negotiator, said Ms Hanson and her three fellow new senators might get the legislation over the line.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself here, obviously a number of senators have just been elected for the first time, but we will be seeking to persuade those crossbench senators that in a joint sitting that it is in the national interest that these two bills be passed," Senator Brandis said.

In order for legislation to pass a joint sitting of Parliament, the Government requires 114 votes, and currently it is eight votes short.

Family First's Bob Day and the Liberal Democrats' David Leyonhjelm have already indicated their support for the legislation.

If One Nation and Nick Xenophon's senators also support the bills they will pass a joint sitting.

Today Nick Xenophon said he wanted amendments to the ABCC legislation if he was to consider supporting it.

"I'm hopeful when it comes to the Senate for the first time, as it must, under our constitutional framework, the Government will be sympathetic to a number of those amendments, which are sensible and lead to more certainty in the construction sector," he said.

One Nation 'easier' to deal with

The Government will need support from both the Nick Xenophon Team and Pauline Hanson's One Nation in order to pass legislation via the Senate crossbench.

But George Brandis argued the task would not be as difficult as getting legislation through the last crossbench.

Who's who in the new Senate?


The new Senate includes 11 crossbenchers. Who are they, and what do they stand for?

"Our preliminary view of the crossbench is we think, actually, this crossbench — at least the independent and minor party component of it — will be perhaps somewhat easier to deal with than the crossbench in the last parliament which contained people like former senator Glenn Lazarus who was frankly impossible to deal with," he said.

He said the new crossbench was more politically aligned to the Coalition.

"There's one fewer left-wing senator, with the loss of a Senate position by the Greens in South Australia, and no new left-wing senator has been elected to the crossbench," he said.

But Senator Brandis admitted legislation would still need to be vigorously negotiated if it was to pass through the Parliament.

"I'm not saying anyone is going to be easy to deal with," he said.

"The onus is on us as the Government to persuade the independent and minor party senators why each particular piece of legislation is in the national interest."

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