The shorter and shorter Parliament (II)

Over the festive season I did some math. Alas, a reader quibbled with the calculations, specifically that the inclusion of election years somehow did something to skew the results. In my stead, another reader helpfully stepped in to demonstrate that the trend still held. For the record though, and for those who don’t feel like doing the math themselves, here are the average number of annual sitting days for Parliament by decade, excluding years in which a federal vote was conducted.

1970s. 173.9
1980s. 158.6
1990s. 128.3
2000s. 121.2

As previously noted, the new decade will begin, assuming the government sticks with the schedule after March, with a 114-day year.