Newly-elected members of Australia’s lower house have gathered in the nation’s capital for a crash-course on parliamentary life.
Meeting in Canberra on Tuesday for the first time since the federal election, the newbies were introduced to their parliamentary roles by Speaker of the House Andrew Wallace.
The 35 new MPs join the ranks of only 1240 Australians elected to serve in the House of Representatives since Federation in 1901.
Among them is five-time Olympian and Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist Dan Repacholi who was elected in the Hunter following the retirement of Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon.
“I’ve had to compete with the best in the world and right here we have the best people in Australia working together to try and make Australia better,” the new Labor MP told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
The expectations placed upon MPs, parliamentary systems and procedures and how to navigate the 75,000sq m office that is Parliament House are being covered in the two-day seminar.
“It’s really good to see new people who have come from many different walks of life because the parliament should be a mirror of Australian society,” Mr Wallace told AAP.
The newly-elected members should not waste a second of their opportunity, Mr Wallace said.
Hitting the ground running is independent MP Kylea Tink, who won North Sydney from Liberal incumbent Trent Zimmerman.
Ms Tink met the nine other new crossbenchers, which include six independents and three Greens.
They will join the re-elected crossbenchers from the previous parliament to make a block of 16 members.
“There are no rules on how we should do politics as crossbenchers,” she told AAP.
“I expect we’ll work together to find areas of common ground … one thing we have in common is to be authentic representatives of our communities.”
Meanwhile, newly-elected Liberal MP Keith Wolahan represents an additional change in his Victorian seat of Menzies.
He was passed the baton by long-serving MP Kevin Andrews who retired after more than 31 years in parliament.
Although he’ll be taking a seat on the opposition benches Mr Wolahan is keen to get to know his parliamentary colleagues on all sides.
“One of the many lessons from the election is that none of us can take our seats for granted so you’ve got to make the most of every day,” he told AAP.
“We’re all going through a similar experience from learning how to turn the computers on … to how to live in Canberra from time to time.
“We’re all learning as we go and in that respect it’s just like the first day of school.”
Even members with political experience are challenged by the prospect of their new roles as federal members.
Establishing an office, hiring staff and soaking up the results of the election have kept independent MP Dai Le busy since May 21.
Elected for the NSW seat of Fowler after a surprising win over Labor, Ms Le told AAP she was focused primarily on her community.
“There will also be the government as well as the opposition that I will be sitting down with over the coming days to have conversations with,” she said.
The new MPs have learned about their parliamentary privileges, responsibilities and the importance of taking care of their mental health and building relationships, the Speaker said.
“The underlying purpose and rationale as to why we sit as a parliament is to hold the executive accountable … it’s a fundamental tenet that is lost on many people,” he said.
“It is important that the executive of the day – and I’d be saying this, no matter who was in government – is held to account by the parliament.”
