14 May | NSW Parliament Summary
OVERVIEW
Following a six week recess, NSW Parliament has just completed a sitting fortnight. In terms of legislation and Government Business, it was a fairly uneventful period—in part due to the Upper House being crippled by infighting over the Presidency of the chamber—meaning that legislation and Government Business was delayed until they could agree on a new President.
Read on for more news:
Upper Hunter by-election
President of the Upper House
Minority Government
Upper Hunter by-election
This was the last sitting period before the hotly contested Upper Hunter by-election. Michael Johnsen, the former member for Upper Hunter, resigned in late March following a police investigation into sexual assault allegations dating back to 2019.
There are 13 candidates contesting in the Upper Hunter, including The Nationals, Labor, Shooters Fishers and Farmers, One Nation and the Greens.
Despite the history of by-election swings against the Government and the Upper Hunter’s marginal seat status, the Nationals have run a strong ground campaign capitalising on the Government’s COVID response, and the popularity of the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Commentators believe this could see the Government retain the seat on Saturday 22 May.
The electorate of Upper Hunter has been a Nationals seat since 1932 and is considered an economic engine room of NSW.
The key candidates for the Upper Hunter
Two-party-preferred vote in the Upper Hunter for the years 2007 - 2019
President of the Upper House
John Ajaka's resignation sparked a round of elections for the highly sought after Presidency of the Upper House.
Much outcry took place after the Government’s candidate, Natasha Maclaren-Jones, took to the Chair on the basis of independent legal advice, despite the Clerk of the Legislative Council saying otherwise. Ms Maclaren-Jones won two separate elections by a margin of 20-14, but was unable to win an outright majority of the legislative council votes.
As a result, subsequent elections were held with Labor and crossbenchers supporting rogue Liberal MLC Matthew Mason-Cox for the Presidency, who ultimately won. President Mason-Cox was subsequently expelled from the Liberal Party for his disloyalty.
Mr Peter Polous has been appointed to fill the vacant spot made by John Ajaka in the Upper House.
Minority Government
In other news, the Berejiklian Government has been pushed further into minority Government.
The now-former Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services, Gareth Ward, has stepped aside from the Ministry and moved to the crossbench after being alerted to an investigation into him by NSW Police relating to an allegation in 2013.
He denies any wrongdoing.
