May 2021 Parliamentary Political Report.

The Labor Upper House team had a very effective and busy May sitting. With the resignation of the President of the House, the Government wanted Liberal MLC Natasha Maclaren-Jones to be elected.

Labor and most crossbenchers believed that Ms Maclaren-Jones would be beholden to the demands of Premier Berejiklian and would not maintain the independence of our house. The President makes many decisions that significantly impact our effectiveness in progressing Labor’s agenda in the Legislative Council.

The Government tried to force its candidate for the role of the President upon the House against its will. Adam Searle MLC was able to ensure that Labor was able to elect a member of the Government, Matthew Mason-Cox who believes in the independence of the Presidency and is not beholden to Premier Berejiklian. It was a humiliating loss for the Government and the Premier, with her hand-picked candidate being thrown out of the role after illegitimately occupying the Chair of the Presidency.

 Orders for Papers

Orders for Papers are a crucial instrument of accountability for the Upper House, where if we win the debate in the House, the Berejiklian Government is compelled to produce documents related to certain issues we specify.  I was able to lead Labor on some successful Order for Papers during the May sitting.

The Minister for Local Government was shown to be missing in action when it comes to the Liberal Property Developer Mayor of Strathfield, Antoine Doueihi who is facing NCAT, accused of misconduct. The Liberals have been exposed for accepting banned donations from their property developer Mayor.

And despite this being widely reported; the Liberals have sat on their hands.

It is in the public interest to have further information about investigations or allegations relating to the breached code of conduct and misconduct.

My successful motion will now see the Berejiklian Government produce this information.

Please read the debate here or take a look at the videos below of me leading the debate:

Please see the Sydney Morning Herald’s coverage on this issue.

During our November sitting of last year, the Berejiklian Government had to agree to my motion for an Order for papers regarding essential information for firefighters. A crucial report commissioned by the Government, which they admitted under questioning by me exists and was paid for, was not supplied in the return. I therefore once again had a successful motion during May obliging the Government to produce the report. It is essential that our firefighters are able to see the report as it assesses the adequacy of the fire services responses, and reviews state-wide call taking and dispatch. It’s important that our communities also know the information in the report relating to accuracy of operational systems and the reliability of information we are told.

The Labor team had a number of successful Orders for Papers, where the Government will now be obliged to produce documents on the following: Sydney Metro Western Sydney Airport Project, Sale of TAFE NSW campuses, iCare, Monaro Farming Systems, Demerger proposals for both the Snowy Valleys Council and the Cootamundra Gundagai Shire Council, Senior executive roles and remuneration, Emails from the Premier, issues with multiple schools and many more.

Calling for further resources for our Ambulance Service

In Parliament, I called for urgent action to address critical issues with our ambulance service to ensure that the residents of New South Wales get the medical attention they need and deserve. Our paramedics are under enormous pressure due to inadequate resourcing by the Berejiklian Government.

I highlighted that on Monday 26 April, our ambulance network went into complete crisis. People were left waiting for ambulances for 45 minutes when they required critical assistance. A cardiac arrest is considered critical and an ambulance is meant to be there within 10 minutes, not 45 minutes. Chronic underfunding and understaffing resulted in 60 incoming emergency 000 calls but only 14 ambulances were available to help.

Together the Health Services Union and I will continue to call for further resources of our health services and for our paramedics to get the pay they deserve!

Please read my speech here or take a look at the video below of my speech:

Please also see my Op-ed, where I call on the Berejiklian Government to resource our vital health services and a news report which highlighted my advocacy.

Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank our outgoing Leader Jodi McKay for working tirelessly for our cause over the last two years. I have witnessed her work ethic, integrity and passion up close and it has been a pleasure to serve under her leadership. As you know we now have a new Leader Chris Minns who I know will work equally as hard and I am confident has the vision and ability to lead us to victory. I would like to congratulate Chris on his transition to leadership and intend to do what I have always done – work as hard as I possibly can for a Labor victory in March 2023.

PS. Please follow my Facebook page and Instagram @mark.buttigiegmlc to see my latest updates.