Senator Roberts Response to Criticism of PHON Cash Ban Win
Dec 7, 2020 19:25:13 GMT 8
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Post by NFA on Dec 7, 2020 19:25:13 GMT 8
[Private email response, reformatted for dictates of this forum software]
Hi Denis
Thank you for passing this through, some people just don’t want to see PHON credited with a win!
A couple of points in relation to the commenters statement:
‘the Senate doesn’t get to decide what it will or won’t vote on’:
Thank you for passing this through, some people just don’t want to see PHON credited with a win!
A couple of points in relation to the commenters statement:
‘the Senate doesn’t get to decide what it will or won’t vote on’:
The Senate controls the conduct of its proceedings and decides whether to go ahead with voting on legislation independent of the House of Representatives.
Some legislation from the House of Representatives remains on the Senate books for years, not being brought forward for a vote because the Government fears it will lose the vote in the Senate.
Generally however, legislation from the House of Representatives is brought to a vote for efficacy’s sake.
The majority of the legislation that comes before the Senate is of course spawned in the House of Representatives, but the Senate and Senators are able to spawn their own legislation to vote on (with the exception of spending bills).
If successful this Senate legislation must of course go back to the House of Representatives for agreement.
‘the business list only runs until the end of the year’:
This is incorrect, the business list runs until the Parliament is dissolved at the next election not at the end of this year.
Now that it has been discharged, the government is prohibited from bringing back the same bill in this Parliament (which exists until the next election).
‘it was never going to be voted on anyway, this year’:
This could be true but the reasons are more complex.
As mentioned above, the Government will be hesitant to bring legislation to a vote if it is worried it will lose that vote.
After being passed in the House of Representatives, the public outcry and One Nation’s strong opposition to the bill led to second thoughts in government ranks, with some government politicians even threatening to cross the floor behind closed doors.
If the government believed it could win the vote, it most likely would have been voted on already.
We have seen bills pass into law from the House of Representatives and then the senate in just a couple days before.
If it wasn’t going to be voted on this year, One Nation’s opposition had a lot to do with that.
‘it doesn’t have to be passed by the senate before the government implements it’:
This is inaccurate in respect to this area of legislation.
A change of this type requires statute, not regulation.
Statute must pass through the Senate to become law.
There are however, a number of ways to achieve a cash ban, and Senator Roberts will be on the lookout for any government attempts to do so.
‘changing one number once in the whole legislation to make the "cash payment limit" whatever the government wants it to be, right down to a single dollar’:
This is absolutely correct and one of the reasons Senator Roberts has been opposed to the legislation from the start.
There was too much freedom to clamp down on cash payments on whatever whim the Government saw fit.
‘once passed it will probably be made retrospective’:
this is an option available to the government, but retrospective legislation is generally opposed by most corners of politics for good reason.
It is unlikely that the government would attempt to do this as it would receive much more widespread opposition.
As outlined above, this bill has been discharged which means it has gone away at least for this parliament.
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Some general comments,
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Some general comments,
to the extent the statement says that it is possible for the government to try and ban cash in other ways that is very true.
That is why Senator Roberts is closely monitoring any moves by the government that indicate they may try it again.
If they do, Senator Roberts will be ready to take up the fight again.
Regardless of that however, having this attempt discharged is a great win, and represents a big backdown from the government in light of One Nation’s strong opposition to the bill from the beginning.
Having attempted to ban cash, the government has been sent packing with its tail between their legs on this occasion.
Please feel free to reach out if any further information can be of assistance.
Please feel free to reach out if any further information can be of assistance.