Most debates if not all comprise a proposer, opposition and a moderator. The moderator adjudges the debate for its quality, presentation, etc, and selects the winner.
However, there are the parliamentary debates which are different as they are governed by Parliamentary Standing Orders with the Speaker being the moderator, whose main function is to ensure compliance with the orders and to announce the result of voting. In this case, whatever arguments or rebuttals, however sound, have been put forward, it’s the ‘ayes’ which always have it. In the USA, for example, the Democrats had a majority of one in the Senate, but they just lost it through a Republican replacement for the seat of the late Senator Kennedy.
Our budget debate is in progress and I believe that the electorate deserves to hear the entire debate, ie, both government and opposition arguments.
It is educational, despite the heckling, which is also not unusual in other parts of the world.
However, because of limited accommodation and cost constraints it is not possible to have it in its entirety, and all we get are some clips on the electronic media and reports in the newspapers. I was privileged to hear Winston Murray recently on CNS 6; he was making a very interesting contribution, but unfortunately no member of the government was there to offer a rebuttal.
The budget and the subsequent debate provide an opportunity for us the electorate to judge the performance of both the government and opposition and they should be afforded the importance they deserve.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
