'Ridiculous': Coalition lashed over plea to move parliament for the Melbourne Cup

The frontbench of the coalition has suggested Anthony Albanese change the time of parliament on November 5 so MPs can fly to Melbourne for the race.

“It is the race that stops the nation, and the fact that it will stop the nation everywhere, apart from the 151 elected representatives of the nation, is beyond a joke,” Tehan said today.

Question Time on Melbourne Cup day commences at 2pm in Canberra and usually runs for over an hour.

The horse race famously kicks off at 3pm.

Labor MP and assistant minister to the PM Patrick Gorman lashed the coalition’s plea for Melbourne Cup to take precedent over Question Time.

“That’s ridiculous. The people of Australia didn’t elect us to go down and sip champagne in some fancy marquee in Melbourne. They elected us to do our job in Canberra,” he said during a doorstop interview today.

“If Mr. Dutton and his frontbenchers think that we should change the dates of Parliament so they can go to the Melbourne Cup, well, they should come into Parliament today and move that motion.”

Gorman said he “dares” the Liberal frontbenchers to take this issue to parliament today.

He warned the Australian people won’t have the bandwidth to care about politicians’ right to watch the Melbourne Cup in person.

“If they really think the Australian people would have any patience at all for the idea that you would change the dates of parliament just so a bunch of senior politicians in the Liberal Party and the National Party can go down and put the fascinator on and polish up their shoes in a fancy suit,” he added.

“They’ve got something else coming.”