Carr crash a new level of manipulation

Return to video Video feedback

Use this form to:

Your feedback was successfully sent.

Video will begin in 5 seconds.

After being officially sworn into the Senate, former premier Bob Carr unleashed on the Opposition.

Remember the old days when cabinets were chosen from Parliament?

A big difference between government in Australia and America is the way a cabinet is chosen. The US president can choose from an unlimited pool: a Wall Street executive to become treasurer; a retired general to be secretary of state. Academics are often chosen to take senior cabinet positions. In Australia, the pool is more limited because cabinet is chosen from Parliament.

Well, that used to be the case until Julia Gillard reached outside the Commonwealth Parliament to appoint retired NSW premier Bob Carr as her foreign minister. Carr will have to enter Parliament to hold the office, but Labor has made ingenious use of the constitutional provisions that allow a political party to fill a casual vacancy in the Senate. From now on, the Prime Minister can choose any minister from outside Parliament so long as her political party can manufacture a Senate vacancy to accommodate the new entrant. The only limit is the number of senators willing to retire at the disposal of the party machine.

Advertisement: Story continues below

There is nothing to prevent a treasurer being chosen from outside Parliament. True, treasurers have always been members of the House of Representatives, but there is nothing in the constitution that specifies this must be the case.

Read more:
Carr crash a new level of manipulation