#ThingsILearntToday
Pairing

Since Dec19, MP Coleman has been on personal leave from his seat and parliament. I know Parliament only sits part time under Morrison, but that’s 10 months. So I looked up what it all means.

While I couldn’t find when the practice of pairing started, in 1925 the speaker declared it was up to the MPs and he didn’t want to be involved. The act of pairing is an unofficial undertaking, should a member of parliament be unable to participate in a vote

The opposition offers a “pair” so the numbers are not uneven for that vote. I’m not sure who Coleman’s pair is, but that MP abstains from voting whenever Coleman is indisposed. On all motions. The pairings are often matched up by the party whips and is all documented

In the Book of Pairs (I’m not making that up) the pairs are recorded manually (there was apparently an incident of tampering of the book after a vote) In 2010, when the ALP had a minority, the Coalition refused to offer a pair.

During the carbon tax vote, Pyne refused to offer a pair for Thomson so he could be at the birth of his baby. In Vic parliament, 2 Liberal MPs were granted pairs for religious reasons for a Good Friday vote. They later voted, defeating the firefighters bill.

When Turnbull was in power, he had a one seat majority. Controversially Burke refused to offer a pair because Turnbull had claimed a working majority.
The people who benefit most from a pair, throughout history, are the Coalition or Liberals.

And they’re incredibly quick to deny one to the ALP. Over and over again. It’s time for Albo to grow a pair and refuse the pair. 10 months is long enough for them to sort it. If Albo can’t do it, get Burke in to do it. He knows how.