Upper House shutdown must end Labor deal making

Commenting on the Labor shutdown of Upper House business in the NSW parliament, Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has called on Premier Nathan Rees to instruct his Labor Ministers to stop doing deals with Shooters Party MPs and Rev Fred Nile.

"With the government's old alliances in the Upper House under threat it must now rely on the quality of its legislation rather than deal making to get legislation passed," Ms Rhiannon said.

"This new situation creates an opportunity to allow the Legislative Council to perform its proper function as a house of review where legislation is closely scrutinised and improved.

"This could be a good week for democracy if the Premier instructs his Ministers to develop quality legislation and negotiate for its passage.

"Premier Rees needs to give leadership after the debacle created by Labor Ministers in the Upper House last night. 

"Labor paralysed the workings of the Upper House because it no longer had control of the numbers and lost a number of votes.

"For years Labor has relied on the votes of Rev Fred Nile and the Shooters MPs to pass much of its unpopular legislation.

"The era of Labor doing deals with conservative MPs to gain support, reflected in the Shooters' Party bill to allow hunting in national parks, must end.

"The Premier started the week off well by refusing to support the hunting in national parks bill put up by the Shooters Party.

"This was a significant rebuff to the Shooters MPs and they retaliated by voting against the government on most key issues this week.

"Today all Upper House MPs should be debating the government's legislation on a range of issues including renewable energy, state emergency services, and national parks.

"But the Upper House will not sit because Labor Ministers spat the dummy and shut down the House.

"Clearly this presents the government with difficulties in mobilising the numbers to support its unpopular legislation," Ms Rhiannon said.

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