[War] Australia: Question Time

[Daniel Sanderson]

“Question Time”
Prime Minister Jack Decker
Parliament House, Canberra
Wednesday 16 July
Australia

The bell tolled through Parliament House announcing it was time for Question Time. Jack sighed, and rose from his desk, sticking a roll of fruit tingles in his pocket and heading out, grabbing his jacket on the way.

Lucas was waiting outside the door. “Here you go sir.” He said, handing over a sheaf of papers. “In case they ask.”

“Thanks.” Jack said, and then paused. “Oh, almost forgot.” He ducked back into his office and came back out with a battered copy of the Herald Sun, one of the two main Victorian papers.

“What have you got planned?” Lucas asked with a raised eyebrow.

“A way of shutting Taggart up if he asks what I think he’s going to ask.” Jack replied, and headed through Parliament to the House of Representatives. He made his way to his seat, on the left hand side of the central desk.

“Afternoon Jack.” His Deputy, and the Treasurer, William McDowall, said with a smile.

“Bill.” Jack said as he placed his things down on the table.

“Thinking about finals?”

“It’s only July Bill.” Jack said with a smile. He did his best to convert the members of his Cabinet from Queensland and New South Wales back to AFL.

“Eight games left in the season and only two losses?”

“We’re still rebuilding.” Jack replied as the room hushed as the Speaker of the House entered. After the normal preamble, the Speaker looked to Michael Taggart, the Opposition Leader.

“I call upon the Member for Wentworth.”

“Thank you Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Prime Minister. Could he please explain, to this House but also to the people of Australia, why he has committed us to a war in which Australia has no interest?”

Jack allowed himself a half smile as he got to his feet.

“Thank you Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Honourable Member for…I’m sorry Mr. Taggart, what’s your electorate again?” He paused for a moment. “Ahh, I’m sorry, that’s right. I thank the Honourable Member for Flip-Flop for his question.” There were calls from the Opposition, and members of the government seated behind Jack snickered.

“Quiet please.” The Speaker said into his microphone. “The Prime Minister will answer the question, but refrain from name-calling.”

“Of course Mr. Speaker, I apologise.” Decker said with fake sincerity. “I am merely trying to illustrate a point. I have here, in my hand, a copy of the Herald Sun newspaper from two weeks ago, and I’ll table it here as proof that the Opposition Leader’s questions about our involvement in Azerbaijan are ludicrous.” He flipped through the paper. “If I may read an excerpt of this article, Mr. Speaker. ‘Iran is trampling on the sovereignty of a free nation, and Australia stands by the United States and it’s other allies in saying that this in unacceptable.’” Jack closed the paper and looked over at the Opposition Leader. “Mr. Speaker, you will recall that we had unanimous support for our operations, especially following the bombings in Sydney. The Honourable Member,” he made quotation marks with his fingers, which caused another stir. “Is using the deaths of Second Lieutenant Christianson, and Trooper Devereux to paint the
 government as sending our troops over there to die, in a desperate attempt to grab some points in opinion polls, and it will not, it WILL NOT work.”

“The Prime Minister will answer the question.”

“Of course, Mr. Speaker. This government committed troops to the conflict in Azerbaijan because Iran is trampling on the sovereignty of a free nation, and Australia stands by the United States and it’s other allies in saying that this is unacceptable.” He gave a firm nod to indicate that he stood by his answer, and sat back down. Jeff Munroe, an old dinosaur of the Liberal Party, was on his feet and yelling out at the Prime Minister.

“The Member for O’Connor will resume his seat.” The Speaker warned. It didn’t work. “The Member for O’Connor, you are being put on notice, resume your seat please.”

Munroe resumed his seat finally. The next question went to a Labor backbencher.

“Thank you Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Member for Gellibrand. Could he please inform Parliament on where the Royal Australian Air Force is currently at with it’s F-35 purchase.”

Peter King rose from his position on the front bench. “Thank you Mr. Speaker and I thank the Member for his question. During the Prime Minister’s trip to Washington recently he discussed this matter with President Williams, and I am pleased to announce that the first F-35 will touch down in Australia on Friday. Despite the significant re-allocation of both US, and our own defence resources, allowances have been made for the US Air Force to provide long-range tanker support to help our F-35s get over here. Our pilots are now all fully qualified, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the US government, the Pentagon and the US Air Force for their assistance, it has been greatly appreciated.”

And so it went on, with the occasional flare-up, for the next hour.

--ACTIONS TAKEN—
1. Prime Minister defends Australia’s contribution to the Azerbaijan mission
2. Defence Minister publicly thanks the US for their work on getting Australia the F-35
3. Just some fun to-and-fro during Question Time, and an introduction to some of the more colorful members (Jeff Munroe,that's you!)





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