Why PM's Present Is A Future Reward

by Malcolm Farr - Daily Telegraph

John Howard, of course, won't be unwrapping his biggest Christmas present until next July.

That's when the senators elected on October 9 take their place and give the Government control of the Upper House.

The Prime Minister already knows what he's getting, but that hasn't dimmed the excitement at The Lodge or the residences of other Government leaders.

Senate control was a surprise on October 9 and continues to be one for the can't-believe-our-luck Coalition.

The magnitude of the gift must be appreciated.

The Coalition hasn't just won control of the Senate until the next election. It quite probably has it until the election after that which, if on schedule, means six years of the upper hand in the Upper House.

Even should the Coalition lose the next election, 2007, in the House of Representatives, it probably will still have its Senate majority. This is a gift which will keep on giving, and John Howard has only 21 more Senate sitting days before it is all his.

In legislative terms the Government is not expected to suddenly jam through a mass of unheralded, unprecedented laws.

Howard has said anything he asks of the Senate will be in accord with what the Government already has stated as policy.

So he will seek changes to industrial relations laws along the lines of Coalition election policy, and won't suddenly outlaw trade unions. No yet, anyway.

But there will be changes to the way the Senate has operated for the past eight and a bit years.

At present a piece of legislation is routinely sent off to a committee where it is appraised before the Senate votes on it.

However, Labor and the Greens in particular often also direct legislation to a reference committee -- a committee set up to deal with specific policy areas.

That can delay the passage of legislation and complicate the Government public argument for the proposed laws.

Which is why we can expect to see fewer and fewer of them after July.

The number of big inquiries is also likely to be reduced, possibly to zero.

It is relatively easy to draw up a list of Senate inquiries and names the likes of which will not be seen again -- A Certain Maritime Incident, SIEV X, Scrafton.

These inquiries have dragged a lot of important information onto the public record and embarrassed the Government in areas in which it needed to be embarrassed.

They have been one of the most potent weapons of the Senate.

However, it can also be argued that they were overtly political inquiries. The majority of committees were always made up of non-Government senators who rarely if ever found the Government had done the right thing.

The minority report of the inquiries, written by Government senators, had no hesitation in saying what a terrific job the Government had done.

After July, the Government will be able to block creation of these inquiries when it wants, and when one is allowed it will have a majority of Government members.

However, the store of public information might not be augmented as it should be.

It will be interesting to see the Government's approach to the future of estimates committees. These are merciless grilling machines which haul in ministers and senior public servants and grind out of them the amounts and reasons for public spending.

In its private heart, the Government no doubt would like to dismantle this machine, but would be wary of at least two consequences.

One would be the public response. Halting or restricting estimates committees would cause substantial protests and be used in an argument that the Government was being harsh and tyrannical with its new Senate power.

Second, Coalition figures would be aware that as splendidly as things are going at the moment, there is a chance they might not be in office in three, six or nine years.

If it disarms the Senate on its use of estimates committees, it will be robbing itself of firepower at a later date.

The longer it stays in power, the more likely it is to lose office and lose control of the Senate as well.

That prospect is not currently damaging the Coalition's festive spirit -- not with that July present waiting for them.