Carbon tax tops agenda of new parliament

The carbon tax will be atop Tony Abbott's agenda when the 44th parliament formally opens on Tuesday. Source: AAP

ABOLISHING the carbon tax will be atop Prime Minister Tony Abbott's agenda when the 44th federal parliament sits for the first time next week.

The parliament will be formally opened by Governor-General Quentin Bryce on Tuesday before the political battle kicks off in earnest on Wednesday morning.

Mr Abbott will be flanked by 89 coalition colleagues, having reduced Labor to 55 members at the September 7 election.

Newly elected MPs, billionaire Clive Palmer (Fairfax) and Victorian farmer Cathy McGowan (Indi), will be joined on the crossbench by Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt (Melbourne), Bob Katter (Kennedy) and Andrew Wilkie (Denison).

But the crossbenchers will have less time to conduct private member's business in the new parliament with the coalition planning to turn back the clock on changes to standing orders made by the previous Labor government.

The government will propose veteran NSW MP Bronwyn Bishop for speaker and Nationals MP Bruce Scott for deputy speaker. Labor's Rob Mitchell is set to take up the second deputy speaker role.

Both the Labor caucus and coalition will meet in Canberra on Monday evening to discuss tactics and the legislative agenda.

The opening will start with a 9am (AEDT) indigenous welcome to country in the parliament forecourt before Ms Bryce outlines the government's agenda in the Senate chamber at 3pm (AEDT).

This will pave the way for the carbon tax repeal bills to be introduced first thing on Wednesday.

So far, the Australian Greens oppose the bills outright. Labor is open to scrapping the fixed carbon price if the government caves in - which is unlikely - and moves to a floating price emissions trading scheme.

The government will also introduce laws to increase penalties on corrupt union officials, set up a Registered Organisations Commission and reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

Also slated are bills to take the debt ceiling to $500 billion and repeal the mineral resources rent tax and its related measures, such as superannuation top-ups for low paid workers.

A number of parliamentary committees will be set up and one of the most watched will be the joint standing committee on electoral matters.

It will examine the conduct of this year's federal election and could recommend changes to the Senate voting system.

A federal police investigation is already under way into how votes went missing in the WA senate election recount and there's concerns preference deals between so-called micro parties distorted the overall senate result.

The first question time of the new parliament, on Wednesday afternoon, is expected to be dominated by questions about the budget and economy and the government's commitment to tackling climate change.

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Jeremy Clarkson pondering run for Parliament?

Jeremy Clarkson, the outspoken host of Top Gear, may be pondering a run at the UK's Parliament, according to a tweet he posted over the weekend. Of course, the note, which has now been retweeted over 4,400 times, comes from a man whose penchant for hyperbole is legendary, so take this musing with the usual grain of salt. There's been no further mention of his political aspirations since the original tweet went up, leading us to assume that it was just idle banter.

Even so, Clarkson has no issue being controversial, but it's where he's apparently thinking of running that's adding fuel to the fire – Doncaster North. Located in southern Yorkshire, the area is currently represented by the leader of the liberal Labour Party, Ed Miliband, according to The Independent. Were Clarkson to depose Miliband, it'd be like Nancy Pelosi losing her seat in Congress to an ornery Jay Leno.

Clarkson's bluntness and utter disregard for decorum - he once called former prime minister Gordon Brown a "one-eyed Scottish idiot" and has a habit of routinely insulting other countries - run counter to what we normally think of when it comes to British politics. But the 53-year-old presenter has never been quiet about his political views, both on Top Gear and in his regular newspaper columns. And as we've shown before, he's quite popular in the UK, having at least one petition started for him to assume the position of Prime Minister. British friends, would you vote for Clarkson as your MP? Let us know in Comments.

I'm thinking I might stand in the next election as an independent for Doncaster North, which is where I'm from. Thoughts?

- Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) September 14, 2013

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UPDATE 2-German parliament backs Cyprus bailout

* Of 602 lawmakers, 487 vote in favour of Cyprus bailout
* Surprise vote by Cypriot lawmakers stokes uncertainty
* German opposition attacks government for first Cyprus plan
BERLIN, April 18 (Reuters) - Germany's lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to grant Cyprus a 10 billion euro bailout that is designed to avert bankruptcy for the tiny Mediterranean island nation and keep it in the euro zone.
Of the 602 lawmakers in the Bundestag chamber, 487 backed the rescue, under which Cyprus has agreed to impose major losses on depositors, shutter its second largest bank and raise its corporate tax rate.
Separately, German parliamentarians also backed seven-year loan extensions for bailout victims Portugal and Ireland.
The Cyprus vote was not in doubt given widespread support from within German Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right coalition and backing by many opposition lawmakers from the Social Democrats and Greens.
However surprise news on Wednesday that the fractious Cypriot parliament is also likely to vote on the deal stoked new uncertainty over the fate of the rescue.
Before the vote, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned lawmakers that a failure to offer Cyprus aid would unleash contagion across the 17-nation single currency bloc.
"Step by step we are winning back confidence. If you look at the markets, there is still nervousness and uncertainty. But it is considerably less than three years, two years or one year ago," Schaeuble said in a speech.
"The aid for Cyprus secures the successes we've already achieved in the euro zone. We must prevent the problems in Cyprus from unleashing new problems in other euro zone countries."
He said that if Cyprus were allowed to go bankrupt, there was a "significant risk" of contagion to Greece and other vulnerable euro zone member states.
Responding to Schaeuble, the leader of the centre-left Social Democrats in parliament Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his party would support the bailout, but attacked the government for initially backing a plan to hit small savers in Cypriot banks.
That proposal was scrapped after a major backlash and the new bailout only hits people with deposits over 100,000 euros.
"Mr. Schaeuble, whether you asked for this or simply joined others in supporting it, it was a huge mistake. It stoked fear and insecurity in Europe," said Steinmeier.

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