Federal politicians are used to the public and pundits scrutinising their every word, but now AI has joined the long list of watchdogs keeping tabs on our elected officials in Canberra.
AMPLIFY, styling themselves as an independent community-led organisation working to rebuild broken political promises, analysed how MPs in Melbourne’s north and west spent their parliament speaking privileges.
According to the data, veteran MPs Andrew Giles and Rob Mitchell spent more than half their time engaging in partisan attacks or spruiking their own party’s accomplishments.
As skills and training minister and Scullin MP, Mr Giles spent 54.6 per cent of his time on political theatre, while Mr Mitchell spent 51.5 per cent doing the same on behalf of the McEwen electorate.
Mr Giles said it was a privilege to speak on behalf of the people of Scullin in the parliament.
“As a MP, I use my voice to celebrate the best of the community, highlight how our government is delivering for Scullin, and progress the work I do as minister for skills and training,” he said.
Chief government whip and Lalor MP Joanne Ryan was a distant third at 40.6 per cent.
When it came to discussing actual policy, Assistant Treasurer and Fraser MP Daniel Mulino came out on top with 59 per cent of time at the lectern spent discussing legislation.
Hawke MP Sam Rae also fared well in this regard, spending 54.8 per cent of his time on policy.
Mr Mitchell (25.4 per cent) and Gellibrand MP Tim Watts (25.7 per cent) spent the least amount of time on this category.
Recognition, defined by paying tributes, community recognition, shout outs and promotion, was another category measured.
Mr Watts emerged as the region’s master of the shout out, using 36 per cent of his time to praise others.
First-term MPs, Maribyrnong’s Jo Briskey (29.3 per cent) and Calwell’s Basem Abdo (26.1 per cent) were the next likely to give acknowledgements.
AMPLIFY’s report also scanned for bad behaviour, based on what was perceived as personal insults, attacks or heckling.
Compared to the rest of the country, all MPs across the north and west were relatively well-behaved.
Out of the pack Bendigo MP Lisa Chester was the worst behaved, spending 2.9 per cent of her time feuding, while Mr Rae was the best at only 0.1 per cent.
First-time Gorton MP Alice Jordan-Baird’s split was 36.2 per cent on policy, 38.4 per cent on political theatre, 23.5 per cent on recognition, 1.1 per cent on bad behaviour and 0.7 on formalities.
“When I’m in parliament, I’m fighting for the issues that matter most to our wonderful community in Melbourne’s western suburbs,” She said.
“I’ve spoken in parliament about the need for improved infrastructure in the west, including upgrading Calder Park Drive interchange and the Western Freeway – because westerners deserve to spend less time on the roads, and more time at home with their families.”
AMPLIFY used AI to categorise more than 625 hours of speeches from mid-July 2025 and December 2025 to compile the data.
Mr Mitchell, Ms Ryan, Dr Mulino, Mr Rae, Mr Watts, Ms Briskey, Mr Abdo and Ms Chesters were contacted for comment.
Details: https://www.amplifyaus.org/our-work/housemonitor
