Era of consensus ends on day one

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has challenged the coalition to be more constructive as
she prepares to face her first serious test in a bitterly divided parliament.
As Australia's 43rd federal parliament was officially sworn in on Tuesday, Ms
Gillard renewed her call for cooperation from the coalition as bickering persisted
over a series of promised parliamentary reforms.
While an impasse over the role of the Speaker and the selection of the deputy and
reserve deputy speaker has been resolved, the coalition now accuses Ms Gillard of
walking away from other elements of the reform document, agreed to on September 6.
Last week, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott reneged on a deal on voting rights for the
Speaker, contained in the same document.
Now the stage is set for a fiery debate on Wednesday on draft standing orders.
These will include the reforms and testing the authority of the prime minister, who
was only able to form government with the support of three independents and one
Greens MP.
At least two of the independents - Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott - offered their
support to Labor conditional on guaranteed support for the new arrangements.
With the re-election of Harry Jenkins as Speaker, Ms Gillard will now preside over
Australia's first hung parliament in 70 years with a mere one-vote buffer.
Mr Jenkins was re-elected unopposed while Liberal Peter Slipper and National Bruce
Scott were elected to fill the roles of deputy speaker and reserve deputy speaker.
The prime minister followed her congratulatory remarks to Mr Jenkins with an appeal
to Mr Abbott to honour the spirit of the reform agreement.
She said both Labor and the coalition had a "remarkable opportunity to rebuild
parliament's standing in the eyes of the Australian people".
The prime minister warned Mr Abbott that taking a wrecking ball approach to the new
parliament would be a "mistaken reading of the election result".
"That some of the reforms outlined in the agreement have not been adhered to has
been a cause for regret," Ms Gillard told the parliament.
"But I do not regard the agreement or the spirit that engendered it as a lost cause.
Instead, I renew an invitation to the opposition to embrace the possibility of
reform that characterises this new parliament.
"As I say to my colleagues opposite, do not squander this moment whatever the
temptation.
"As we have seen in other political cultures, short-term tactical victories lead
only to longer-term strategic defeat as our system declines in public esteem."
Mr Abbott again defended his decision to break the deal on voting rights, or pairing
for the Speaker, insisting the parliament should continue to be one in which there
was robust debate.
The pairing agreement contained in the reform document would have preserved Labor's
two-vote majority in the lower house.
Despite contrary advice from the solicitor-general, the coalition maintains the deal
on pairing for the Speaker is constitutionally invalid.
"Yes this is a finely balanced parliament," said Mr Abbott.
"But the fact that it is a finely balanced parliament does not excuse the government
of its duty to keep its election commitments.
"This is an opposition which will hold this government to account. This is an
opposition which will expect of this government that it honours its commitments.
"And what this means Mr Speaker is that it will be a parliament of robust debate."
The coalition accused Labor of itself reneging on elements of the reform agreement.
Manager of opposition business Christopher Pyne said at least five of the reforms
had been omitted from the draft standing orders.
He claimed the orders did not include reforms such as making parliamentary
committees more representative of the parliament or a promise to review the changes.
Mr Windsor earlier described the continued squabbling over parliamentary reforms as
"unfortunate".
Despite its precarious position, Mr Windsor remains confident the Gillard government
will last the full three-year term.
"I'd say it's highly unlikely that any of the (six) crossbenchers are going to
support a frivolous no-confidence motion," he said.
The draft standing orders will be debated on Wednesday.