Western Australia's 42nd Parliament has officially been sworn in

ABC NEWS (Australia)

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.

Transcript

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.

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