![Opposition whip Jeremy Hanson has condemned a short 2022 sitting calendar agreed to by Labor and the Greens. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong Opposition whip Jeremy Hanson has condemned a short 2022 sitting calendar agreed to by Labor and the Greens. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/35sFyBanpD896MKnAH5FRtj/59d6f240-1dc6-49f0-9bae-daf8c74ee7e9.jpg/r0_273_5338_3286_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The ACT has a "lazy leftie government" keener to go on holidays than be subject to parliamentary scrutiny, the opposition has claimed as the Legislative Assembly agreed to a shorter sitting calendar for next year.
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The Assembly will sit for 35 days in 2022 across 12 sitting weeks, but there will be two sets of annual reports hearings.
The opposition whip, Jeremy Hanson, sought to add an extra sitting week to the 2022 calendar, arguing the government did not have the excuse of COVID-19 to shorten sittings.
"I've tried to really establish whether this is just a deliberate attempt by the Labor Party and the Greens to reduce scrutiny on the government. Certainly that seems to be the case. You've certainly seen that with the whole committee fiasco with the estimates fiasco this year," Mr Hanson said.
"Or whether it's simply laziness, if what we have here is a bit of a lazy leftie government that doesn't want to sit, it wants to knock off on what will be the first of December next year to get away on holiday. Unless there's a rational explanation, why not - what is this reason for this historically low number of sitting days?"
Mr Hanson said the Legislative Assembly sat for 14 weeks a year a decade ago, and had sat for 15 weeks in 2009.
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The manager of government business, Mick Gentleman, said the sitting calendar for 2022 was broadly consistent with previous sitting patterns and it balanced the need for parliamentary scrutiny and committee work.
The proposed sitting calendar was agreed to with support of the Greens, whose whip, Andrew Braddock, pointed out an extra set of annual report hearings next year would make up the shortfall in sitting days.
A sitting week was cancelled during Canberra's lockdown earlier this year, after all members agreed to delay the sessions amid the city's COVID-19 outbreak.
The Assembly will rise for its summer recess on Thursday, December 2 and not sit until Tuesday, February 8.
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