CHRIS GORDON spent a day (or half a day, to be accurate) at Parliament House with Hume MP Angus Taylor. Here's what he saw.
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It’s 6.30am on a cold, grey and foggy Goulburn morning and it’s a sitting day in federal parliament. Angus Taylor's parliamentary staff are just getting into their cars for a workday that won’t end for another 12 or more hours yet.
Living so close to Canberra, Angus either commutes to the nation’s capital on sitting days (which tacks another hour onto either end) or stays over at a motel in Canberra. On the days he commutes, he joins an estimated 7000 other residents of Hume who work in Canberra and drive on the Federal and Barton Highways each morning and afternoon.
It’s a time in which he can’t write speeches, meet with people or be distracted by constantly changing schedules, and in that respect is a welcome opportunity to collect his thoughts for the day ahead. When time permits he tries to catch up on constituent calls, or listen to podcasts like the ABC’s “The Insiders”. Failing that, he listens to music… mostly (but not always, he emphasises) from the 80s.
The schedule, a tentative and flexible document as it turns out, lists morning interviews with Chris Hammer from Fairfax and Kieran Gilbert from Sky News, constituent interviews, anything up to three speeches, a weekly teleconference with staff from his Goulburn, Cowra and parliamentary offices and a bunch of other meetings in the afternoon.
I arrive at Parliament House just before 8am. The main doors are closed to the public, so Angus’ media and communications advisor Sarah Bucknell has to come down and help get me through security.
Camera Bag, tripod, wallet, watch, phone… it all goes onto the conveyor belt that feeds into the X-ray machine. The security checks are solid and a bit slow, but you’d want them to be. Senator Bill Heffernan might have been able to get a mock pipe-bomb into the place to prove a point but I couldn’t even sneak in a packet of chips (a packet of low fat chips,if my wife's reading this).
We grab a pass for me to wear from the security desk and it’s off to the press gallery catacombs (if catacombs can be above ground).
The “gallery” isn’t just the bunch of seats the media occupy overlooking the Senate and the House of Reps on sitting days, and it’s not just the people who fill those seats, although the journos located at Parliament House get called that. The press gallery is a series of rooms located along a number of corridors housing all the major news services.
Getting there is a bit like following the instructions to find the Hekawi tribe on F Troop:
“You take a right at the rock that looks like a bear, then a left at the bear that looks like a rock.”
Everything looks the same… corridor after corridor, row after row. If you didn’t know your way around, you’d get lost. My guides, Sarah and Angus, DO know their way around though, and we’re soon in the modest room that serves as the Fairfax on-site studio.
On any given day a handful of topics will grab the attention of the press gallery and today those topics include the political crisis in Victoria, Tony Abbott’s visit to Indonesia, Malcolm Turnbull’s dinner with Clive Palmer and ongoing stories about reactions to the budget.
First cab off the rank is an interview with Chris Hammer from Fairfax. Chris’ video interviews appear on the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age along with links to the entire Fairfax Regional network. This interview focuses on whether there is a budgetary crisis and whether drastic or gradual action is required.
Angus has become an experienced media performer in his time in parliament. I’d like to think that’s a result of the highly rated and critically acclaimed Ask Angus video series (official cross-promotional plug: here’s the link to the latest ASK ANGUS) but, in any event, he is receiving a growing number of invites to speak on television and radio.
As a backbencher, that takes some of the load off ministers and senior politicians while providing valuable experience to a junior member, but it’s a two edged sword. The interviews are recorded for posterity and, depending on the popularity of their content, are often online and on the airwaves instantly. It takes just one slip up or poorly chosen expression for an MP’s comment to BECOME the story, and for that MP to be banished by his party to media Coventry. But there were no slip ups today.
The second scheduled TV interview at a little after 9.00am is with Kieran Gilbert from Sky News for the network’s AM Agenda. It’s a shorter interview touches on the Prime Minister’s Indonesian visit, climate change and direct action - the last two of which are favourite discussion points for Angus.
That done with, it’s back to his office and the route takes us past more look-alike corridors, more stairs and out to the far edge of the house of representatives’ side of parliament house where backbenchers are located. If I ever go back, I'm taking a compass and a water bottle.
It’s a good-sized office. Not as big or well -appointed perhaps as the Goulburn electorate office but more than roomy enough for the three staff on deck today – Sarah, Vanessa and Maddie – and Angus. The staff aren’t additional to the electorate staff and are drawn from the Goulburn and Cowra offices. They staff the parliamentary office only on sitting days which typically amounts to a commitment of four days a week for about a third of the year.
There’s already a constituent waiting to see Angus when we get there. Most MPs conduct their constituent interviews at electorate offices, but given the proximity of Parliament House to his electorate, and the fact there are about 7,000 of his constituents working in Canberra every day, he’s seeing an increasing number of them at Parliament House. Today he has four constituent interviews with residents of Goulburn, Murrumbateman and Wallaroo.
Another part of the week for members of parliament is preparing and reading speeches. Sometimes it’s in question time but there’s a hell of a lot of other meetings, speeches and activities going on in this building outside of that one hour mix of pantomime and vaudeville. Some of the required speeches include 90 second statements (mostly about constituent matters), 3 minute Constituency Statements and 15 minute speeches that together constitute the debate in the reading of a bill.
In this week, Angus expects to make three speeches, although just when they’ll be is a moveable feast. There’s a list in the office of the Government Whip, Phillip Ruddock that you put your name on and cross your fingers and hope to find out when you’re speaking.
Office manager Vanessa Toparis makes the trip along the corridor, down the stairs then across to the Whip’s office multiple times a morning to check the ever-changing schedule. Her job requires quick thinking and a lot of lateral vision and it’s a feat of managerial gymnastics to keep the traffic moving, put constituents circling in a holding pattern and slide meetings backwards and forwards to fit in where they can
On this particular day, a fifteen minute speech in the debate on the second reading of the Appropriation Bill (trying saying that ten times fast) gets bumped forwards, then rebumped and finally bumped again with a triple somersault and pike.
While Angus is preparing one of his speeches, Vanessa takes me on a guided tour of parliament house, passing by the house of reps, the Speaker’s suite, the PM’s office (where apparently if you stop too long, a bunch of guys who talk into their wrists and wear ear pieces get edgy and surround you), the senators offices, ministerial offices, the canteen (at last) and the Great Hall.
Parliament House is huge. It's bloody massive At the time it was built it was the largest single building (in terms of footprint) in the southern hemisphere. How they ever fitted everyone into the old parliament house is a complete mystery (although we all spread out a bit when we get a new place I guess). I once asked how many people work there and was given the answer “about half of them.” But the actual number is about 5000 people on sitting days which swells to about 10,000 at budget time and reduces to 1800 the rest of the time.
There’s some good exercise to be had getting from place to place here and it amazes me that John Howard felt the need to get kitted up in his Wallabies track suite and go for a walk every morning with the distances involved here. Mind you, most of the meetings probably came to him and he wasn’t located out on the edge with, on a clear day, a view of Fyshwick like Angus and the other backbenchers.
There’s also a lot of art-work scattered around the place (including one piece by a Goulburnian that Vanessa mentions), a lot of green areas and even a kids play area. It’s strangely serene, given that inside most rooms there are people wishing they had some more red bull or valium handy.
We get back to the office in time for Angus’ first speech and make it down to the Federation Chamber only to find he’s been pushed back 15 minutes. When we get back to his office, the speech is scheduled back to where it started, and we’ve got enough time to turn around and head back downstairs again.
Now I’m sure each and every speech is riveting, and that every new comment about the budget has an audience all its own, but stack them altogether with a fair dollop of repetition between them, and it all becomes one big audio blur.
Mal Brough speaks before Angus and talks about the reducing lag time between an idea becoming a prototype, and then becoming widespread. Apparently Google has cars that drive themselves now and that’s just around the corner for us. There were 15 minutes of other words, including building our own body parts with a 3D printer, but I was still hung up thinking about how cool a self-driving car would be.
Angus gave his speech and linked the dangers facing Australia to what has already befallen Europe. If we don’t make changes now, he said, pack your bags, we’re going to Europe. It’s tough to come out with something new or a different angle on the budget, but Angus’ speech provided some fresh air with the extended European holiday metaphor listing the perils awaiting inaction rather than simply repeating the fairly tired tropes of what the last government did.
Next up was John Alexander. I’m sure he’s a swell guy and that his speech was absolutely tickety- boo but as it started to merge into a lot of what had already been said, I drifted into thinking how great it would be if his former tennis co-commentator Jim Courier became an Aussie and ran for parliament. HIS speeches would rock. Or maybe even John McEnroe… “No madam speaker, YOU’RE out of order.” And I wonder how much one of those self-driving cars is going to set me back?
Anyway, all good things (and John Alexander’s speech) eventually come to an end and it was time to get back to the office.
On Wednesday’s Angus and his staff usually have their teleconference to compare notes, plan for upcoming events and make sure they’re on the same page. It becomes an early casualty of the shifting schedule and gets pushed back to Thursday.
We shoot the next episode of Ask Angus in his office (about an hour later than planned but all in all, it’s great we found time at all) and it’s time for Angus to get ready for question time followed by a bunch of activities I can’t take part in.
I thank the staff and Angus for their time and Sarah takes me across for a quick video I was going to shoot at Ursula Stephens office. I mentioned West Wing to her earlier and told her I was going to make comparisons with West Wing... and I’m a man of my word, so Sarah is probably the CJ Cregg (media director) of the office, which would make Vanessa the Leo Magarry (chief of staff). I’m disappointed there was no Josh Lyman, but I’m open to offers.
Anyway, back to Sarah guiding me across to the senators rooms. It’s way over the other side of the building, back along corridors, down stairs, more corridors… hey, there’s that bear that looks like a rock again. When we get there I’m an hour late (and she only had an hour free) so that falls over. I apologise and head for home.
Of course, the day goes on for the Angus and the other pollies. Question Time starts at 2pm, then he has duty in the Chamber for the Matter of Public Importance (3pm), the Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue, which he is on (4pm-6pm), a Key Seat MPs Meeting (5.30 – 6.30pm) followed by a run around the parliamentary triangle (7-8pm).
Usually there’s an evening function to go to. If you try to ask anyone there what a typical day is, you’ll get told there’s no such thing as a typical day. Every day, like Forrest Gump’s life, is like a bunch of chocolates and you never know what you’ll get.
The day didn't exactly go as planned. I intended to get a Q&A done with him, including comments on how he's found being a member of parliament so far and some budget specific stuff. Plus I missed the video with Senator Stephens completely, but time just got away. That's just a day in the life in Canberra.
On the way home I reflect on the fact there’s a reason politicians always thank their staff when they get elected or quit office. There’s dedicated staff in all jobs, no risk, but to work for a politician has a few of its own unique twists. There’s not much room for ego with the external focus always on the MP. Your work schedule is unpredictable and your private life gets thrown into turmoil as a result. And on rare occasions, SOME staffers have been known to (metaphorically) take a bullet for the boss when they (literally) take the blame for something that wasn’t even have their fault, such is their loyalty to the local member and the cause. Now, there have been no bullets to dodge or blame to take here, and I don’t expect there will be, but it’s one of the potential realities of a job like this.
I also reflect on the number of people I saw already working when I left Goulburn at about 6.30am. Shop owners getting ready for the day, petrol station assistants, taxi drivers, council workers, police… you name it. Many of these people also have a long day ahead of them, and some have a second job or extra shifts waiting ahead of that. Politicians aren’t the only ones working long hours by any means, but they DO work long hours. In the midst of all the things that drive us nuts about politicians, perhaps it’s comforting to know that they're putting in the hours like the rest of us.
So that’s it for my day at Parliament House. Twenty years ago (20 years and one month to be exact) I did a similar yarn in Parliament House: A day in the Life of John Sharp. So at this rate I expect to be heading back to do it all again when I’m 68.
I hope they have hover cars and jet packs by then. I have to say I’ve been very disappointed with how little progress there’s been in that regard so far. The Jetsons and Marty McFly lied.
I guess I’ll have to settle for Mal Brough’s self-driving car.