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Speaker 1: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: the thirty first of March. My name is Zara Seidler,

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Speaker 1: and helping me make sense of today's news is Sam Koslowski.

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Speaker 1: Making news today, New South Wales allegations.

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Speaker 2: The start of the George Floyd trial, some.

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Speaker 1: Good news about Wales and.

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Speaker 2: A breakdown of what a minority government is. He is

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Speaker 2: Today's Daily Digest.

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Speaker 1: New South Wales Deputy Premier John Barrelaro has called for

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Speaker 1: the immediate resignation of National ZMP Michael Johnson following reports

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Speaker 1: Johnson offered to pay a sex worker one thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: to attend New South Wales parliament. This comes just days

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Speaker 1: after Johnson moved to the cross bench after it was

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Speaker 1: revealed he was the subject of a police investigation into

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Speaker 1: a rape allegation made by the same woman. Johnson has

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Speaker 1: denied the rape allegation.

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Speaker 2: Canadian authorities have suspended the use of the astrosenica vaccine

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Speaker 2: on people under the age of fifty five following concerns

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Speaker 2: it might be linked to rare blood clots. We talked

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Speaker 2: about the concerns in the EU a few weeks ago.

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Speaker 2: Doctor Shelley Deeks who's the vice chair of the National

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Speaker 2: Advisory Committee on Immunization, said yesterday there is substantial uncertainty

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Speaker 2: about the benefit of providing astrosenica COVID nineteen vaccines to

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Speaker 2: adults under fifty five, given the potential risks.

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Speaker 1: Over to the US now, where a trial has begun

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Speaker 1: for the former police officer accused of the death of

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Speaker 1: George Floyd. This is the case that sparked black Lives

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Speaker 1: Matter movements all across the world. So Derek Chauven has

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Speaker 1: been charged with second degree murder, third degree murder, and manslaughter.

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Speaker 1: On the opening day, prosecutor Jerry Blackwell played footage to

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Speaker 1: jurors telling them that it was nine minutes, twenty nine

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Speaker 1: seconds that was the amount of time Chauvin had pinned

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Speaker 1: Floyd onto the ground in May last year. Chauvin's, interestingly,

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Speaker 1: is the first trial to be live streamed in Minnesota,

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Speaker 1: after Judge Peter Cahill ordered that cameras be allowed into

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Speaker 1: the courtroom due to the pandemic.

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Speaker 2: And today's good news, scientists are pumped after a newborn

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Speaker 2: blue whale was spotted in westerns Sustralia. The species doesn't

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Speaker 2: have a breeding ground in Australian waters and that means

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Speaker 2: it could be the very first blue whale born in

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Speaker 2: Australian seas. Marine biologist Brady Elston said, it's very rare

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Speaker 2: to find a blue whale in those shallow waters close

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Speaker 2: to shore is incredible.

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Speaker 1: So over the last couple of weeks we have seen

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Speaker 1: a lot of headlines around minority government, and every day

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Speaker 1: I think about talking about this as an explainer and

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Speaker 1: then decide not to because I'm really bad at maths

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Speaker 1: and I actually just don't want our listeners to know that.

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Speaker 1: But it's getting really hard to ignore now with minority

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Speaker 1: government looking possible or even likely in more than one

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Speaker 1: jurisdiction in Australia. So let's do a deep dive.

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Speaker 2: So a control f on the news for minority government

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Speaker 2: is going to show up with two key results. The

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Speaker 2: first one is on a federal level where we're talking

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Speaker 2: about it because of Andrew Lamming, and the second is

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Speaker 2: in New South Wales where we're discussing Michael Johnson, who

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Speaker 2: we talked about earlier in the show.

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Speaker 1: Before I start rambling, if you've got ten seconds, the

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Speaker 1: key takeaway that I want you to have from this

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Speaker 1: podcast is that a Minority government is when the government

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Speaker 1: does not hold the majority in the House of Reps

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Speaker 1: and therefore contentious legislation becomes difficult to pass and the

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Speaker 1: government can face a no confidence vote. Okay, so let's

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Speaker 1: just separate those two and start federally. So in the

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Speaker 1: federal Parliament, there are one hundred and fifty seats in

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Speaker 1: the House of Representatives and the government is formed in

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Speaker 1: this house. So it's really really important to have a

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Speaker 1: majority government in the House. You need a minimum of

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Speaker 1: seventy six.

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Speaker 2: Seats, which is half plus one.

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Speaker 1: Good math, Sammy. So right now, the Prime Minister holds

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Speaker 1: seventy six seats. Speaker Tony Smith traditionally doesn't vote, so

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Speaker 1: they effectively hold seventy five seats. And this is after

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Speaker 1: Craig Kelly moved to the cross bench last month, and

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Speaker 1: we're reported on that at the time. Let us know

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Speaker 1: if you need a refresher. So that puts the Morrison

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Speaker 1: government in a really interesting position because if Andrew Lamming

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Speaker 1: was to resign or be forced out of the government,

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Speaker 1: the government would be reduced to seventy five seats, and

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Speaker 1: without a speaker seventy four seats. The Labor Party has

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Speaker 1: sixty eight seats and there are four independents and three

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Speaker 1: minor party MPs, so combined the Labor Party, Greens and

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Speaker 1: minority parties could have up to seventy six votes.

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Speaker 2: Lots of numbers floating around. Why does this magic seventy

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Speaker 2: six number matter?

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Speaker 1: It matters for two reasons. So the first is that

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Speaker 1: if the government doesn't have a majority in the House,

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Speaker 1: there can be a motion of no confidence brought on

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Speaker 1: which could lead to an early election or force an

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Speaker 1: early election.

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Speaker 2: Rather, what's a vote of no confidence.

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Speaker 1: That there is no confidence in the government and therefore

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Speaker 1: the government dissolves and goes to an election. In reality,

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Speaker 1: that's extremely unlikely. We know that Craig Kelly has said

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Speaker 1: that he won't do that, and he's guaranteed confidence and

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Speaker 1: supply to the government. And if Andrew Lamming were to

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Speaker 1: move to the crossbench before he resigns at the next election,

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Speaker 1: we'd expect him to do the same because as ex liberals,

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Speaker 1: it just wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to

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Speaker 1: me bring down the government. So that matter of not

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Speaker 1: holding a majority isn't really relevant here. The part that's

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Speaker 1: important to the Prime Minister and to the government is

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Speaker 1: that on contentious legislation the Prime Minister would need both

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Speaker 1: Craig Kelly and Andrew Lamming to support them. As I

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Speaker 1: understand it, that's why the Prime Minister isn't keen to

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Speaker 1: push Lamming out of the party despite some quite disturbing

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Speaker 1: allegations against him.

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Speaker 2: So let's say Andrew Lamming does go to the cross

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Speaker 2: bench tomorrow. What happens next? What happens in Australia if

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Speaker 2: there's a minority government.

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Speaker 1: Well, the world keeps spinning. Julia Gillar presided over a

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Speaker 1: minority government and she could still govern. Most recently, when

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Speaker 1: Scott Morrison lost his majority in the House after Malcolm

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Speaker 1: Turnbull resigned, the cross Bench had a really really significant

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Speaker 1: power in the House and that's when we saw Karen

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Speaker 1: Phelps's medivac legislation pass through the Parliament despite the Government

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Speaker 1: not supporting it. So what can happen if the government

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Speaker 1: starts to use more numbers in the House is that

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Speaker 1: legislation that the government doesn't agree with can actually end

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Speaker 1: up going through the House. I know that a lot

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Speaker 1: of this stuff can be really jargon heavy, so please

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Speaker 1: feel free to dm us on Instagram if you have

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Speaker 1: any questions. We, especially as we approach the next federal election,

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Speaker 1: really want to help you make sense of our political system.

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Speaker 1: So let us know what your thoughts are, what your

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Speaker 1: questions are, and what you want to know more about.

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Speaker 2: Our Instagram is where over ninety five thousand Australians get

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Speaker 2: their news every day, and we would love you to

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Speaker 2: become part of the community. You can also leave us

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Speaker 2: a review on iTunes or Spotify if you like this podcast.

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Speaker 2: Majority government or minority Government will still be here and

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Speaker 2: we will speak to you tomorrow