Television cameras show Opposition Leader Tony Abbott running for the exit at Parliament House yesterday.

WHOLE families lie slaughtered in Syria, rape and pillage continues in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 5.5 million have died, the world averting its face since a war began in 1998, millions are suddenly unemployed in Europe, manufacturing jobs are collapsing in Australia … and what has us riveted in our Federal Parliament?

The Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues all but fall over themselves in a risible rush to escape voting in the House of Representatives.

Was there an Australian who could still bear to watch what passes for the national political debate who did not throw up their hands in despair at the televised revelation of this unprecedented spectac

Manager of Opposition Business Christopher Pyne is suspended from Question Time by Acting Speaker Anna Burke. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Here was a wretched vision for the world: politicians in struggling Ukraine might brawl for the cameras, but in Australia, the world’s strongest economy, they run from the democratic process.

Tony Abbott, the leader of an opposition in the ascendancy, a man who once won a boxing blue at Oxford, couldn’t flee fast enough. He didn’t make it out of the doors before they were locked, and, as he hammered vainly upon the unyielding exit, he found himself ordered to resume his seat by the Deputy Speaker, Anna Burke.

The manager of opposition business, Christopher Pyne, who has famously described himself as wearing a skin as tough as a rhinoceros, managed to burst free. When asked later about his getaway, he joked that he was as fast as a gazelle.

Thomson’s gazelle, perhaps, a nervy creature from the African plains given to springing and high-speed zig-zagging at the merest shadow of menace.

It was, of course, a Thomson, Craig, who provoked the opposition’s stampede.

Thomson, little more now than a broken crossbench exile from Labor, had done nothing more than to offer his vote to the Coalition on a matter of next-to-no import. The opposition wanted to wail, as usual, about Australia’s debt, something most nations would offer their first-born to enjoy, and the government wanted to gag the debate.

Thomson, still with a surprise or two up his sleeve, felt moved to join the other independents in their customary opposition to government gags.

It was too much for Abbott and his colleagues.

They might normally embrace any extra number that could grant them advantage, but they were desperate to escape the ignominy of being associated with Thomson’s vote, which comes loaded with the baggage of a union credit card that allegedly found its way into places even less salubrious than today’s Parliament.

Abbott has been thumping the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, for accepting what he considers is Thomson’s tainted vote and crowing that he’d never accept such a thing.

Now it was being foisted upon him.

He, Pyne and a clutch of equally flighty colleagues couldn’t imagine anything more creative than running for the doors to ensure Thomson’s vote would effectively mean nothing.

Abbott, who retreated to his office to avoid further voting once he could get out of the House, later accused Thomson of indulging in a stunt. Pot. Kettle.

Unsurprisingly, question time later devolved into a spiteful contest shedding little light and less honour upon anything and anybody.

Burke became so exasperated and dispirited she reminded MPs to remember Greg Wilton, a Labor backbencher who committed suicide 12 years ago. She said she had visited the late Mr Wilton’s sister at the weekend, and had found the family distressed at the current level of political discourse.

”I’m just cautioning us all to be a little more considerate,” Burke said.

It was the single moment of the day that Australia’s political practitioners had the wit to appear abashed.

IT IS a peculiar electoral arithmetic that has given NSW a government with a huge mandate and a clutch of fringe parties a blocking position in the State Parliament’s upper house. In the short term, there is nothing to be done but to deal with this reality. So the price of raising $3 billion for the state coffers is allowing gun fanciers to blast away at feral animals for their fun.

The Shooters and Fishers Party have traded their vote for the power sell-off, in return for recreational hunters being allowed to shoot pigs, deer and other feral animals in 79 of the state’s 879 national parks and reserves. Licensed shooters will have to apply for permission to shoot in these areas, which are not to be near metropolitan areas, certain types of wilderness or be world heritage sites. As such animals are already subject to culling by professional shooters in national parks, the hunters may actually augment the conservation effort – assuming they stick to the rules. The real outcome, of course, must be carefully monitored.

What is more significant is that the Premier, Barry O’Farrell, is ready to swallow some repeated promises to the public – never to allow shooting in national parks – in order to stick steadfastly by another: that he will privatise the state’s electricity generators. Given the state’s major infrastructure investment requirement, these ends justify these means. The state government’s has struggled to get traction with its micro-economic reforms. This deal with the Shooters is a welcome sign, albeit small, that Mr O’Farrell can stay the course.

The $3 billion from the sale of Eraring Energy, Delta Electricity and Macquarie Generation is certainly handy. Combined with the long-term leasing of Port Botany for $2 billion and the sale of the Sydney desalination plant, it allows NSW to cut its debt in preparation for the financing of badly needed new infrastructure.

But we know it’s not nearly enough. Australia was ranked 34th in a recent World Economic Forum study on the quality of national infrastructure in 2010-11, two spots worse than Slovenia. Infrastructure within NSW is grossly inadequate for the region that expects to be the pacesetter for the nation.

Yesterday’s deal is billed as a power selloff but the truth is barely that. With the power retailers previously sold, this tranche affects only the electricity generators. The refusal of the government to contemplate the more significant privatisation of the electricity distribution network until a second term means more than $30 billion of taxpayers’ monies will stay tied up in the poles and wires. Its stubbornness on this point has soured relations with the business community at a time when the private sector stands at the ready to invest in these assets. The government’s stance also means that Infrastructure NSW will continue to lack the funds to invest in the rebuilding of the state.

Mr O’Farrell is yet to devise a full agenda for funding our infrastructure needs in the absence of his political will on powerlines. As Infrastructure NSW and Transport for NSW near completion of their long-term plans, time is nearing for the Premier to lock in his funding plan and use his mandate. Yet his privatisation commitments remain small, his reform of the efficiencies in state bureaucracies remains modest and his commitment to opening up public services such as transport to contestable management contracts appears stuck in the depot.

The NSW economy has long benefited from having a mix of public and private service providers, whether it be in energy, motorways, health, freight rail companies, bus companies or port operators. More than ever it is clear the government has no role in funding assets and services where the private sector does better. The sale of assets such as power generators and more like it are essential if we are serious about investing in the state and national economies of tomorrow.

Barry O’Farrell. Photo: AFR

National parks in NSW will be opened up to recreational hunters as part of a deal between the Shooters and Fishers Party and the government to ensure passage of its electricity privatisation bill.

The decision, announced by the Premier, Barry O’Farrell, this morning, represents a significant backdown by the Premier, who has repeatedly ruled out allowing shooting in national parks.

The government’s electricity privatisation bill has been stalled in the NSW upper house because of a lack of support from Shooters and Fisher’s Party MPs, who share the balance of power.

It needs the support of at least one of the MPs to pass legislation opposed by Labor and the Greens.

The government announced today that the Game and Feral Animal Control Act will be amended to allow shooting of feral animals in “a limited number of areas under strict conditions” but not near metropolitan areas or wilderness or world heritage areas.

Mr O’Farrell said the power sale would deliver about $3 billion.

He said the government met the Shooters and Fishers MPs last night to hammer out the deal.

He said he and the Deputy Premier and leader of the NSW Nationals, Andrew Stoner, met the Shooters and Fishers MPs last night to hammer out the deal.

Under the changes, licensed shooters will be able to apply for access to 79 of the state’s national parks to hunt feral animals including pigs, dogs, cats and goats and deer.

Mr O’Farrell said culling of feral animals already occurred in some national parks by professional shooters, including the Royal National Park.

Hunters will require written permission and need to be licensed by the Game Council of NSW, which regulates recreational hunting.

Access conditions will be established by the Environment Minister, Robyn Parker, he said.

But the Opposition Leader, John Robertson said the decision was “completely outrageous” and one that would compromise safety.

“National parks are recognised as being iconic in the protection of flora and fauna,” he said.

“Barry O’Farrell was emphatic: he promised that in no circumstances would he allow hunting in our national parks.”

The Labor environment spokesman, Luke Foley, said it was of concern that Ms Parker would be in charge of the process, given her comments to a budget estimates hearing that logging protecting koalas.

“The Environment Minister who sent the loggers in after koalas [will] now send the shooters in to finish the job,” he said.