November 29, 2023
Mike Kelly, who regained the NSW electorate of Eden-Monaro at the July election, has delivered his second maiden speech to the House of Representatives.
Kelly, 56, previously represented the seat from 2007 until 2013. He served as a Parliamentary Secretary in the Gillard government from 2010 and was the Minister for Defence Materiel in the Gillard and Rudd governments in 2013. Prior to entering parliament, he had a long career in the Australian Defence Force as a military lawyer.
When the new House of Representatives meets for the first time on August 30, it will have 39 new members, 26% of the chamber’s 150 members.
The ALP will have 23 new members, the Coalition 15 and the Nick Xenophon Team 1. There are 25 males and 14 females.
The ALP will have 23 new faces, exactly one-third of its 69 MPs. This includes 16 members in seats the ALP won from the Coalition and includes two returning members, Mike Kelly in Eden-Monaro and Steve Georganas in Hindmarsh. The other 7 new members have replaced retiring sitting members.
The Liberal Party will have 11 new members (19.7%), including Julia Banks, the member for Chisholm, who represents the only seat the Coalition took from the ALP in the election. Ted O’Brien regained the seat of Fairfax from the Palmer United Party. Nine other Liberals replace retiring members.
Gillard government ministers continued their attack on the opposition today over its involvement in the Slipper-Ashby sexual harassment case.
Ministers repeatedly called on the Liberal National Party in Queensland to disendorse Mal Brough in Slipper’s electorate of Fisher.
The Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, Mike Kelly, described the affair as an “Australian Watergate”.
On social media, the Australian media was repeatedly attacked for its coverage of yesterday’s decision by the Federal Court to dismiss the case as an abuse of process and a conspiracy to damage Slipper politically.
This video was posted on YouTube by Twitter user @geeksrulz: