The pomp and ceremony of yesterday's opening of Parliament was a colourful affair. It started with the MP's and senators gathered together at the front of Parliament House for the 'welcome to country' ceremony by the local Aboriginal people of Canberra. Then everyone moved inside where the bizarre old-world ceremonies were carried out. Our first indigenous member of the House of Reps MP Ken Wyatt wore a kangaroo skin cloak and Ed Husic became the first MP sworn in with his hand on the copy of the Koran.
But there were broken promises flying around. Tony Abbott went back on a deal he struck with the independents before he knew which party they would go with. He agreed to give the speaker a "pair" so the Government wouldn't lose a much needed vote. Then he changed his mind.
Peter SlipperJulia Gillard also broke a promise. She announced that a committee would be formed to find out how to cut our emissions. But on the run up to the election she said "There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead." So they both have short memories.
But there was a real turn up for the books which must have stunned Tony Abbott. Out of the blue, Liberal MP Peter Slipper was elected Deputy Speaker of the House of Reps. Nominated by the Labor Party, he beat his own leader's candidate - Nationals MP Bruce Scott by 78 to 71 in a secret ballot. I can't imagine what this man is thinking, he must be insane - they will eat him up and spit him out. People got a bit suspicious when Mr Slipper didn't attend the Coalition party room meeting, they rightly speculated that he might be doing a deal with Labor about the Deputy Speaker's job. The deputy is normally drawn from the government's ranks.
So it was an interesting first day with lots more to come. Who said politics was boring?
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