Random Analytica

Tomorrow, on the first day back from the winter break the Coalition government will sit down and decide who will be the new Speaker of the Parliament after Bronwyn Bishop resigned from the role following revelations that she took a helicopter to a Liberal Party fundraiser at a cost of more than $5,000 to the tax-payer rather than choosing another, cheaper form of transport.

Here is an updated look at the charts for Parliamentary suspension during the Bronwyn Bishop era.

As Speaker of the Parliament, Bronwyn Bishop officially spent 130-days in the chair and suspended 400 Members of Parliament (the highest total on record) including 18 MPs in a single day (again, the highest on record). 393 (98.3%) of those ejections were from the ALP and seven were from the Coalition. Included in the total were six 94(b) Naming’s where MPs are suspended for 24-hours rather than just the hour as per the 94(a) suspension. They were Mark Dreyfus (twice), Wayne Swan, Ed Husic, Jim Chalmers and Andrew Laming (from the LNP). On the second 94(b) suspension for Mark Dreyfus he was suspended for the rest of the day and then a further three days.

Interestingly, during 2015 Bronwyn Bishop’s suspension average has moderated (as represented by the black line within the chart) but only slightly and it still stayed above 3 for the entire year.

Here’s a look at the Top 12 MPs who were suspended during Bronwyn Bishop’s time as Speaker of the Parliament.

The Member for Wakefield, Nick Champion continues to lead the count at 53 and is currently 12 suspensions ahead of his colleague the Member for Moreton, Graham Perrett (at 41). Coalition Members who have been suspended include Ewen Jones (twice), Michael McCormack, Luke Simpkings and Andrew Nikolic (twice) and Andrew Laming (94b).

A further 27 ALP MPs have been suspended ten times (or less):

Finally, a look at how the Speakers of the Parliament have stacked up in terms of suspensions during their tenure (and no surprises on who tops the list).

On a final note the Sydney Morning Herald did a very good analysis of the 29^th Speaker’s time in office which is worth a read. Bronwyn Bishop’s greatest hits (or misses) as Speaker of the Parliament. Click through for the mosaic of Bronwyn Bishop created using photos of MPs who were suspended from Parliament during her time in the chair.

Data Sources

[1] Parliament of Australia. Hansard. Accessed 9 August 2015.

We are now into the final week of Parliament for 2014 and the previous week saw a number of records broken. Via the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (published 27 November 2014). Bronwyn Bishop suspends 18 MPs from Question Time, breaks Federation-era record. Excerpt:

Federal Parliament has embraced the schoolyard tradition of an “end-of-year muck-up day” setting new standards in misbehaviour. In a raucous Question Time to end Parliament’s penultimate sitting week, the Speaker, Bronwyn Bishop, suspended 18 MPs – all Labor. With a massively depleted front and back bench behind him, a frustrated manager of Opposition business Tony Burke rose to inform the House “18 people in one Question Time is an all-time record since Federation”.

…

Bishop says claims she picked on Labor MPs ‘pathetic’ She broke the previous one-day record for suspensions which had stood at 12. The Speaker almost racked up 50 suspensions in one week, but fell short at 47. Ms Bishop’s personal total of suspensions for the 44th Parliament stands at 285.

During that week there were some discrepancies in 94(a) suspension counts. On 25 November Hansard detailed nine suspensions while the Sydney Morning Herald reported ten and The Australian reported 12. I put a request for clarification into the Australian Parliament and received a wonderfully detailed response from Assistant Director, Chamber Research Office, Department of the House of Representatives who confirmed 12 suspensions on the day. (Hat tip to the Australian Parliament).

Here is a look at the Standing Order 94(a) and Standing Order 94(b) suspensions for the 44^th Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia House of Representatives to the 27^th November 2014. It is also my intent to update these charts at the end of the last sitting week for 2014.

The 44^th Parliament of Australia Suspensions per Sitting Day details the total amount of suspensions with breakdowns by political party.

As noted in the ABC story the final day of the second last week was the most suspensions in a single day since Federation (1901). Those named under Standing Order 94(b) have also been noted in red (they are Mark Dreyfus, Wayne Swan and Ed Husic) and the Coalition members ejected have been included under different colours depending on which Party they belong to.

The 44^th Parliament Suspensions by Member details the top 12 ALP and the four Coalition Members of Parliament to have been suspended thus far.

The Member for Wakefield, Nick Champion continues to lead the count at 36 and is currently 11 suspensions ahead of his colleague the Member for Moreton, Graham Perrett. Ewen Jones, Michael McCormack, Luke Simpkings and Andrew Nikolic from the Coalition have also been suspended.

There have been a further 27 ALP Members suspended seven times or less. They are:

7-Suspensions: Anthony Albanese, Chris Bowen, Warren Snowden & Tim Watts.
6-Suspendions: Catherine King.
5-Suspensions: Jenny Macklin.
4-Suspensions: Tony Burke, Julie Collins, Michael Danby, Joanne Ryan and Matt Thistlethwaite.
3-Suspensions: Lisa Chesters, Tanya Plibersek and Wayne Swan.
2-Suspensions: David Feeney, Joel Fitzgibbon, Michelle Rowland & Kelvin Thomson.

Mark Butler, Jason Clare, Sharon Claydon, Andrew Giles, Jill Hall, Clare O’Neil and Melissa Parke all have one suspension each.

The final chart is Day of the Week for Suspensions.

The obvious data point and the one which is consistently pointed out by the media is that the final day of the sitting week (usually a Thursday) is the most often day where members are ejected. Interestingly, the difference between Wednesday and Thursday was much closer than the anecdotal evidence suggested. In total Mondays had 43 suspensions, Tuesdays 68, Wednesdays 80 and Thursdays 94. If the week commencing 24 November did not occur then it would have been 68/76 for Wednesday/Thursday.

For a bit of fun I split the data between Nick Champion (with 12.6% of all suspensions for the 44th Parliament) and the rest of the House.

Data Sources:

[1] Parliament of Australia. Hansard. Accessed 2 December 2014.

Updated Charts to Monday, 1st December 2014

* There were no Standing Order 94(a) or 94(b) suspensions on the 1st December 2014

Here is a look at the Standing Order 94(a) and Standing Order 94(b) ejections for the 44^th Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia House of Representatives to the end of the 14^th week (8 July 2014).

The first chart details the list of those ejected from the house under Standing Orders 94(a). At the end of the 14^th sitting week there were 144 ejections, of which 141 (98.0%) were from the Australian Labor Party, two (1.4%) were from the Liberal National Party and just the one (0.6%) for the National Party.

The Top-3 from the ALP:

Nicholas David “Nick” Champion MP (20-ejections) is the ALP Member representing the electorate of Wakefield (SA). He won the seat at the 2007 Australian federal election.

Mark Alfred Dreyfus QC MP (12-ejections) is the ALP Member representing the electorate of Isaacs (WA). He won the seat at the 2007 Australian federal election. He is the former Attorney-General, Minister for the Public Service and Integrity, Minister for Emergency Management, and Special Minister of State in the Second Rudd Ministry.

Pat Conroy MP (11-ejections) is the Member representing the electorate of Charlton (NSW). He won the seat at the 2013 Australian federal election.

From the Coalition:

Ewen Jones MP (2-ejections) is the Member representing the electorate of Herbert (QLD). He won the seat at the 2010 Australian federal election.

There have only been two Standing Order 94(b) ejections thus far. They are Mark Dreyfus (ALP) and Wayne Swan (ALP).

The final chart is a look at the Standing Order 94(a) ejections by sitting day. As you can see they tend to pick up in the second last week of each large sitting period or at the end of the calendar year. In this update I’ve been able to include some colour as three ejections have come from the Coalition.

Image Sources: Bronwyn Bishop’s image care of the ABC while photos of individual members are taken from their official Australian Parliament House photo.