Yes, let's talk about her. Bronwyn Bishop, self-styled expert on the Standing Orders, always bringing up points of order to other Speakers, is now in the Speaker's chair, and a more biased and partisan Speaker has yet to be seen.
In the Westminster system, the Speaker is supposed to be above party politics - in London, I have heard, the Speaker doesn't even sit with members of their own party in the dining-room. Not our Bronnie - she announced on day one that she would still be attending Liberal Party meetings, an absolute no-no, and it was a warning shot. Not once in the two sitting weeks to date has she granted a point of order to Labor, and she allows the government members to veer way off topic as they please, refusing all attempts by Labor to bring them back to the question. She also seems to have trouble hearing, often asking Labor MPs to repeat their questions, and quite often can't remember which constituency members are in - that includes the LNP as well.
Yesterday, with the introduction of the repeal of the carbon tax legislation, she referred to the government as "we", a blatant disregard of all the rules of non-partisanship. If she was disliked by the Left before, she is hated now. But, of course, the evil is that her open partisanship is allowing Abbott and his cohorts to do what they like, and she has effectively tied the hands of Labor MPs. It has been suggested on social media that the Opposition all walk out of the parliament, but that would serve little purpose. Perhaps calling for a no-confidence motion in the Speaker every sitting day, while doomed to fail on numbers, would make a point,
Of course, you won't read about it in the news, because the Murdoch press reports nothing that would put the government in a bad light. Not even Abbott all but declaring war on Indonesia - that's all the fault of the Communist ABC anyway.
2016 seems so far away ...
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