Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (3 December) . . Page.. 4461 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

office of Speaker by allowing yourself to become part of a political agenda being prosecuted by the Government, by acting at all times on the nod of the Chief Minister in this place. It is the role of the Chief Minister to prosecute political objectives; it is the role of the Speaker in this place to uphold consistent standards of order.

Mr Speaker, among the other problems being faced by members in this place is the inconsistency of rulings. On one day, a very high standard is applied in relation to disorderly conduct; yet, on other occasions, a very low standard is applied in relation to disorderly behaviour. I well remember my first speech in reply to a budget two years ago, when Mrs Carnell wilfully and deliberately interjected all the way through that speech without ever being called to order by you, Mr Speaker, because in your party room, in the Liberals' party room, that was the tactic that had been decided upon and you, Mr Speaker, abused your position as Speaker in order to prosecute that Liberal Party party room decision to interject all the way through a speech.

So, Mr Speaker, there is no consistency. Just as you, on that occasion, ignored interjections because your party room had told you to, today you came in with an intention of naming a Labor Party member, and preferably Mr Berry, because that is what your party room had told you to do. It is no coincidence, Mr Speaker, that, after the Labor Party got all over the Government yesterday in question time, today you came in and warned no fewer than four members of the Opposition and named Mr Berry. Mr Speaker, what we are talking about is a Government with a glass jaw that cannot cop some vigorous scrutiny from the Opposition. At any time that the Opposition is seen to be getting ahead of them, they send you in here with orders to shut us down, to tie us up, so that we cannot do our job. That is not your role as Speaker in this place. You degrade the office of Speaker and you degrade this Assembly as well.

Mr Speaker, your conduct as Speaker in this place has also been characterised by some very weak and inconsistent performances in relation to upholding the standing orders. Earlier this year, we had the spectacle of you allowing a series of questions under standing order 116, clearly in breach of the standing orders. In fact, Mr Speaker, it was not until those questions started to impinge on the Government that you decided that perhaps you ought to do something about it, and you went away to get a ruling on standing order 116. We had inconsistent rulings on collective insults, where one day when collective insults were applied to the Liberal Party they were out of order and people like Mr Kaine were able to get up and complain about how they had been insulted by some collective insult hurled at them by Mr Osborne and Mr Osborne was ruled out of order; yet a few months later a collective insult applied to the Opposition by the Government was ruled in order because, Mr Speaker, you cannot be consistent; because you are biased; because you insist that your job is to look after the Liberal Party and not to look after good order in the place; because you think your job is to defer to the Chief Minister, not to uphold the standing orders and not to uphold the interests of all members in this place, as is your job.

Mr Speaker, perhaps the most serious - maybe not the most serious, but the most irritating - among the offences that you perpetually perpetrate from the chair is your habit of abusing your position as Chair to editorialise on the proceedings in parliament, to pass comment on questions asked in parliament, to pass comment on speeches given in parliament, to give advice to Government Ministers on how they might answer questions in parliament. Mr Speaker, that is not your job. It is not your job to advise the

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .