Why is crossing the floor such a novelty?

Senator Judith Troeth recently crossed the floor to vote with the Government in support of their plan to stop charging asylum seekers and immigration detainees for their mandatory detention.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans lauded her for her decision.

On the same day, three ALP MPs endorsed a petition calling on the government to retain the prohibition on parallel importation of books.

It will be interesting to see if they cross the floor should the Government decide to remove the ban.

It is not often that ALP members cross the floor. This is because party rules prevent it.

In particular, Rule 5 says (in part):

d. The Federal Parliamentary Labor Party shall have authority in properly constituted Caucus meetings to make decisions directed towards establishing the collective attitude of the Parliamentary Party to any question or matter in the Federal Parliament, subject to:

i. at all times taking such action which may be possible to implement the Party's Platform and Conference decisions;

ii.on questions or matters which are not subject to National Platform or Conference or Executive decisions, the majority decision of Caucus being binding upon all members in the parliament; and

iii. no attitude being expressed which is contrary to the provisions of the Party Platform or any other decision of National Conference or National Executive

The existence of this rule in particular weakens the role of all Australian parliaments.

In Westminster, party whips divide votes into three categories.

In very trite terms:

a ‘one line whip' tells members what the party line is, however, there is a degree of discretion as to whether the line is followed;

a ‘two line whip’ is a debate in which a member is expected to vote in according to the party line, unless there is a strong conscientious objection; and

a ‘three line whip’ is a debate where the member should simply follow the party line.

However, all that said, there are many circumstances in which members of the House of Commons have 'rebelled' from the Whip and voted against party, notwithstanding the declaration of a three line whip.

Ask yourself: how often do you see an ALP member 'cross the floor' in Parliament? The answer is 'seldom' - and when they do, they are usually disciplined.

In that case, it is hardly surprising that the alternative political grouping becomes as rigidly controlled - if they weren’t, common sense tells you they would never win a parliamentary vote.

There are many circumstances where party discipline means that MPs are voting for a proposal against their better judgement.

The best way to ensure that legislation is appropriate is to ensure that there is a properly functioning parliament with members making decisions according to their conscience and not their party whip.

Matters may very well be assisted if the ALP abolished its rule.