Subjects: Bob Day, Tony Abbott
E&OE …
NEIL MITCHELL:
Special Minister of State Scott Ryan, good morning.
SENATOR SCOTT RYAN:
Good morning Neil.
MITCHELL:
Is the Senator able to adjudicate if it is one-down?
SENATOR RYAN:
The business of the Senate will continue. We now have 75 members, following Bob Day’s resignation yesterday. There is a unique situation around that. But normally if a senator resigns, or sadly might pass away in office, as has happened, the Senate continues about its business just with one less senator.
MITCHELL:
What happens for a replacement? How will that be decided?
SENATOR RYAN:
Because of the issue that has come to the Government’s attention over the course of the last couple of months – and we got expert, independent legal advice that came to us last Thursday evening – we informed the President of the Senate that Senator Day may have been ineligible to stand for Parliament, and therefore ineligible to sit as a senator. That’s a matter for the Senate to determine, whether or not to refer to the High Court to adjudicate. We will be moving, next Monday, in the Senate, for that matter to be referred to the court. But the Senate goes about its business as it normally would, just with one less senator.
MITCHELL:
But who replaces that senator?
SENATOR RYAN:
That will be a matter, if the Senate refers it, for the High Court. They may determine that there was no breach of the Constitution. The advice to the Government was that there is, and what the court does then, in the past it has ordered, effectively, a recount of the Senate, which involves the commissioner effectively pressing the button again on the computer program for the Senate ballot papers, but that’s a matter for the court to determine, if the Senate refers it there.
MITCHELL:
If that button is pressed is there a possibility Labor could get the extra seat?
SENATOR RYAN:
I don’t want to go into those issues because this is a serious issue that I became aware of upon coming into this portfolio. I conducted various inquiries, sought internal advice, and then, on October 7, I terminated the lease on Senator Day’s electorate office and advised him that I would be seeking independent expert advice, in this case, from David Jackson, who is universally regarded as one of the country’s leading constitutional lawyers. That advice came to us on Thursday evening and we informed the President of the Senate that there was a matter for him to consider first thing on Friday.
MITCHELL:
I’m getting the point about why it is important. You’re saying the Senate is not paralysed, it continues to work.
SENATOR RYAN:
The Senate works. We have sat before, when a senator has resigned, with only 75 senators and the Senate goes about its business.
MITCHELL:
In political terms though, you could end up in a situation where your Government has to get more crossbenchers supporting stuff to get it through.
SENATOR RYAN:
We deal with the Senate that the people elected. We have compromised on a number of issues thus far. We plan to put our legislative program to the Senate, that includes everything from the Australian Building and Construction Commission to the plebiscite that we promised. But I might say, the only reason that the crossbenchers matter is because, in this case, Labor despite outrage after outrage by the CFMEU, refuse to vote for it.
MITCHELL:
Is this a hiccup or a broken leg?
SENATOR RYAN:
I think what this is reflects that we have taken a very strict process to ensure that when the Government became aware of something, we acted appropriately to ensure that the Constitution and the law was complied with.
MITCHELL:
All right. Thank you for very much. Oh, by the way, Tony Abbott, your old mate, is he going to be back in the ministry?
SENATOR RYAN:
You serve at the pleasure of the Prime Minister and the people of Australia, and one of the things I’ve learnt is that you don’t provide public advice to the Prime Minister. I will leave that matter alone.
MITCHELL:
Are you going to share that with Tony Abbott? He tends to give plenty of public advice.
SENATOR RYAN:
Well look, members of our parliamentary party who aren’t members of our ministry are free to comment on issues as they see fit. That is one of the great things about the Coalition and the Liberal Party and I think that is an important freedom that our Members of Parliament have. Appointments to the ministry are a matter for the Prime Minister. It is an honour to serve and I am not going to provide public advice on any of that.
MITCHELL:
Thank you.
(ENDS)