One day this week I was home from work early, decided to rest on the couch and watch some tv and came across Australian parliament Question Time. I would normally go to great lengths to avoid watching this, but I decided that as a federal government employee and an Australian citizen I should probably take a little more interest in the workings of parliament in this country. And so, despite cringing even from the very beginning, I watched it.
While I still don't know a lot about parliament, I learnt a little bit about the running of question time, including the role of Mr Speaker. Thank goodness there is a Mr Speaker or parliament would turn into a group brawl. His job is to decide who is speaking when and for how long. He can interrupt the politicians, tell them to sit back down, or to keep their remarks relevant to the question. A bit like a judge in a court case perhaps.
The trouble is, the parliament members do a terrible job of adhering to his instructions. The day I watched they seemed to do okay towards the start, with even the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, obliging when she was told to stop talking and take her seat. But they seemed to get worse and worse, even continuing to talk (rather loudly, might I add) over Mr Speaker, who was asking them to stop speaking, even after repeated attempts.
This display of very childish behaviour led me to think about what improvements could be made in parliament question time, and what I would love to do if I were Mr Speaker (or Ms Speaker?). Here's a few ideas I thought of:
1. I would tell the members of parliament to stop shouting at me, as that is very disrespectful and rude. When does that happen, you ask? Often members of parliament direct their remarks to Mr Speaker, even though they are really talking to and looking at a member of the opposing party, and being quite antagonistic in their remarks some members even resort to shouting instead of speaking. So if they kept using my title in such a tone of voice I would abruptly remind them that I am not deaf and I do not appreciate their shouting.
2. I would install a mute button for the speakers' microphones and volume control, so that instead of having to speak over the member to ask them to stop (which they often ignore whilst they keep on shouting), I can mute their mic, and up the volume on mine to say in a booming voice "The Honourable <insert name/title> will cease speaking!"
3. I would introduce the 3-level behaviour control system. You know the one - step 1 is the warning, step 2 is a direct request to stop the behaviour, step 3 is time out for the rest of the session. As I was watching, so many parliament members were being horribly disrespectful to Mr Speaker in continually ignoring his directions and warnings. I really think if more discipline was enforced, like it is in schools, we would have more order and productivity in question time.
I noticed that Mr Speaker already acted like a teacher at times, such as trying to give directions amongst shouting between several members of parliament at once, and instead glaring at them and waiting for them to listen before continuing.
Seriously. A room full of yelling, shouting adults, not adhering to order, but instead choosing to do lots of "I'm right!" "No, I'm right!!" type yelling at each other.
Wow, such dignified professionals. I'm glad we're paying them so much.
This display of very childish behaviour led me to think about what improvements could be made in parliament question time, and what I would love to do if I were Mr Speaker (or Ms Speaker?). Here's a few ideas I thought of:
1. I would tell the members of parliament to stop shouting at me, as that is very disrespectful and rude. When does that happen, you ask? Often members of parliament direct their remarks to Mr Speaker, even though they are really talking to and looking at a member of the opposing party, and being quite antagonistic in their remarks some members even resort to shouting instead of speaking. So if they kept using my title in such a tone of voice I would abruptly remind them that I am not deaf and I do not appreciate their shouting.
2. I would install a mute button for the speakers' microphones and volume control, so that instead of having to speak over the member to ask them to stop (which they often ignore whilst they keep on shouting), I can mute their mic, and up the volume on mine to say in a booming voice "The Honourable <insert name/title> will cease speaking!"
3. I would introduce the 3-level behaviour control system. You know the one - step 1 is the warning, step 2 is a direct request to stop the behaviour, step 3 is time out for the rest of the session. As I was watching, so many parliament members were being horribly disrespectful to Mr Speaker in continually ignoring his directions and warnings. I really think if more discipline was enforced, like it is in schools, we would have more order and productivity in question time.
I noticed that Mr Speaker already acted like a teacher at times, such as trying to give directions amongst shouting between several members of parliament at once, and instead glaring at them and waiting for them to listen before continuing.
Seriously. A room full of yelling, shouting adults, not adhering to order, but instead choosing to do lots of "I'm right!" "No, I'm right!!" type yelling at each other.
Wow, such dignified professionals. I'm glad we're paying them so much.
I hate watching question time...they are seriously so annoying! I think you're onto some things here :D
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