Federal parliament to resume on Tuesday

Federal parliament resumes in Canberra on Tuesday with the nation’s politicians meeting the day after Governor-General Quentin Bryce admonished them to be nice to each other.

It may not happen.

The opposition is tipped to launch an attack on the government on two issues – the protracted investigation of Labor MP Craig Thomson and the Australia Day tent embassy debacle.

Mr Thomson, Labor MP for Dobell and former secretary of the Health Services Union, is being investigated over allegations he misused union credit cards for prostitutes and cash withdrawals between 2002 and 2007. He denies the allegations.

The opposition has also called for a police investigation of how a media adviser to Prime Minister Julia Gillard came to inform a union official that Opposition leader Tony Abbott would be at a function with Ms Gillard just a short distance from commemorations of the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal tent embassy.

The first sitting for 2012 comes as Labor MPs met for a planning session at Parliament House on Sunday, with talk of Julia Gillard’s future leadership in the headlines.

This will also be the first full sitting week with new Speaker Peter Slipper in the chair, having left the Liberal National Party last year to sit as an independent.

Some 200 MPs and Senators attended a function at Government House on Monday night where Ms Bryce gently reminded them that Australians understood parliamentary life was demanding but still expected integrity from all who served in public office.

“And as you begin the Parliamentary year they look to each of you to show respect for our national Parliament, the institution, its processes and, and above all, respect for each other,” she said.

“In the daily cut and thrust, this can get lost.”

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