The Solicitor General on Pairs

Its just as well the Solicitor General does not charge independently for his opinions more particularly when all he does is state the bleeding obvious.

It has always been the right of an elected Member to ABSTAIN from a vote deliberately or accidentally it is not allowed however to coerce an MP to not exercise their vote and only Labor Party rules apply sanctions upon any of their members who" cross the floor" In my 30yrs my only recollection of that happening in the Labor Party was when Graeme Campbell did so (coincidentally) to oppose the introduction of a tax on Gold Miners.

I doubt however that there are any Coalition MPs who would volunteer to abstain and on the type of issues involved I would advise members new and old against being the "patsy " who is recorded in Hansard as virtually supporting a view CONTRARY to their conscience or the stated position of the Party Room and above all the views of their Electorate.

Tony Abbott and his leadership team should eschew any ideas of providing Pairs to anyone at any time. The Members of his Party were elected to vote accordingly along Policy lines and none should be denied the right to do so.


Wilson Tuckey