RIVERINA Upper House MP Wes Fang says a sitting of the NSW Legislative Council on Tuesday was an "absolute travesty" and a "stunt".
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But Lower House politician Helen Dalton said it was "about good government".
Mr Fang, who viewed proceedings online from his Wagga home, said it was unsafe to sit given Sydney's COVID outbreak.
He also said parliament's IT system was not capable of allowing regional MLCs to tune in without problems.
That concern was validated when the livestream from the chamber on Tuesday afternoon could not be accessed by all and it dropped out or froze for other viewers.
"This was the perfect example of why it does not work and until they improve things at parliament, which is an old building, and until they provide us a reasonable method of accessing parliament remotely then it will be impossible," Mr Fang said.
"It goes to show this was a political stunt that cost an absolute fortune to enable a few people to grandstand in the middle of a pandemic.
"It's an absolute travesty that isn't democracy."
Mr Fang criticised the Opposition and cross benchers for pursuing the sitting and called on Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party members such as Murray MP Helen Dalton to explain why they were willing to put the health of parliamentary staff at risk.
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Mrs Dalton responded by suggesting the government was trying to hide.
"I think the cross benchers and Labor want to sit, the only people that don't want to sit are the government and for good reason, they don't want to be scrutinised for what they're doing," Mrs Dalton said.
"I don't think it's any stunt, it's about good government."
Mrs Dalton noted parliament had not sat since June.
"The government is not consulting with anyone on decisions and some of those decisions are terrible, particularly along the border where people are split and financially strapped," she said.
The government's Upper House leader Damian Tudehope told the president on Friday that no ministers or parliamentary secretaries would attend the council this week, given the health risk.
"It should be noted a Legislative Assembly cross-party committee agreed to follow the health advice and postpone the scheduled sitting period in September," Mr Tudehope said.
Both houses are due to return on October 12.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has said he expects additional weeks will be added to the sitting calendar to replace those lost due to COVID conditions.
