Western Australia’s new parliament has had its inaugural sitting after Labor's state election win. New members have been sworn in and returning MPs have resumed their seats.
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00:00Well the new WA Parliament doesn't look too different to how it did before the state
00:07election because Labor has still got a huge majority in the lower house. It's a little
00:12bit different in the upper house they'll be sworn in soon it'll mean the government loses
00:16its total control and we'll have to go back to making deals to get its laws through. But
00:21really all eyes today were on the lower house as those members were sworn in. Labor returned
00:27to power a month ago today in a thumping win which defied even their expectations giving
00:33their federal colleagues a good morale boost ahead of the federal election and perhaps
00:37sending a bit of a warning to federal liberals. But today's not really about any of that it's
00:43about all the tradition and the ceremony that comes with that very special occasion of the
00:47opening of a new parliament. All of the lower house MPs have now been sworn in. The speaker
00:53has been dragged to his chair in a tradition dating back hundreds of years to the British
00:57parliament. The Chief Justice addressed the group after swearing in all 59 lower house MPs
01:04reminding them of the importance of their role particularly in today's world.
01:10We live at a time when in other western democracies with whom we share a common heritage public institutions
01:17such as ours are under significant threat and where public confidence in those institutions
01:23is deliberately sought to be undermined. Often those threats come from the very people who
01:30have been entrusted with responsibility to uphold those institutions.
01:34Beyond all of the tradition the government will soon start to implement its agenda. Top of
01:39the list which it wants to get through really quickly is changes to stamp duty exemptions and
01:44concessions here. That's a key election promise meant to address the housing issue. One of
01:48the major issues here in the west in both the state and federal polls. Beyond that there is
01:54still some more ceremony over the weeks ahead. Lots more opening speeches, valedictory speeches.
01:59So really the parliament won't get stuck into the government's agenda too heavily until we're
02:05on the other side of the federal election.