Rudd doesn't respect the Senate: MPs

10/03/2010 | 07:42 PM

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been told he must learn to respect the Senate if the government wants to get its legislative program through the parliament.

An increasingly frustrated federal government hit out at Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on Wednesday, accusing him of delivering the "most obstructionist Senate in 30 years".

A growing list of Labor legislation has been blocked by the upper house, including its emissions trading scheme, a means test on the private health insurance rebate and changes to youth allowance.

But crossbench senators claimed Mr Rudd had to shoulder much of the blame for failing to get his policy agenda through the parliament.

They accuse him of being less willing to engage with the crossbench than his predecessor John Howard.

Without opposition support, Labor needs the backing of all seven crossbench senators - five Australian Greens, independent Nick Xenophon and Family First senator Steve Fielding - to get laws through the Senate.

Greens leader Bob Brown told reporters that Mr Rudd had to do better negotiating with the crossbench.

"The prime minister's got to recognise the Senate is an equal house under the constitution in determining outcomes and that means keeping good relations with the other parties in the Senate," he said.

"It takes two to tango. I think the attitude of the government may be a little too much 'winner takes all'."

Senator Xenophon believes Mr Rudd needs to be willing to communicate with other parties.

"The prime minister needs to choose whether he wants to legislate or dictate," he said.

Unlike Mr Howard, who courted the Australian Democrats and Tasmanian Brian Harradine to pass important bills, Mr Rudd is accused of ignoring the crossbench.

The government was keen, however, to sheet home the blame to Mr Abbott.

In an extraordinary move, five cabinet ministers - Lindsay Tanner, Penny Wong, Nicola Roxon, Stephen Conroy and Jenny Macklin - fronted the media on Wednesday to attack the coalition for blocking key legislation.

The Senate on Tuesday night torpedoed the government's attempt to means test the private health insurance rebate, handing Labor another trigger for a double dissolution election.

On Wednesday, Mr Abbott flagged the coalition was unlikely to support the government's planned paid parental leave plan.

Mr Tanner, the finance minister, accused Mr Abbott of sabotaging the government's economic and fiscal strategy.

"Tony Abbott's vandalism in the Senate is a threat to Australia's economic recovery," he told reporters.

"His irresponsibility in the Senate shows that he and the Liberal Party cannot be trusted to manage Australia's economy and public finances in very challenging circumstances."

Opposition Senate Leader Nick Minchin rejected Labor's claim that the coalition was the most obstructionist in decades.

"We have not been nearly as obstructionist or oppositionist as the Labor party was during the Howard years," he said.

"They voted against everything at every opportunity."

Despite the rhetoric, the government's parental leave scheme is far from dead in the water.

The Greens and Senator Xenophon are amenable to supporting the scheme but with some changes.

Senator Fielding is undecided.

On Sky News, Families Minister Jenny Macklin sidestepped questions on whether the government was open to compromise.

"I think what's important is to recognise that this is not a thought bubble by the government," she said.

Senator Brown suggests a deal is likely.

"I don't think they will refuse to budge. They didn't on the stimulus package," he told Sky News.