Page 757 - Week 02 - Thursday, 10 March 2011
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down and give out as good as anybody else—probably worse than anybody else—in this chamber on a fairly regular basis. You get into the gutter in the way that you did this week, and then you expect people to take you seriously when you sit in there. And when Mr Doszpot says almost nothing—and whatever was said was just about inaudible—you expect us to take you seriously.
You make the sorts of comments that you made to Mr Smyth during the week in the rough and tumble of debate and then you come there and single out Mr Doszpot for a warning; it shows that you do not understand the gravity of the seat and the position that you occupy.
This is a terrible impasse, a terrible situation to come to; but it is one that is necessary because of the partisan way in which you behave. This Assembly and my colleagues in this Assembly no longer have confidence in you conducting yourself appropriately, and your behaviour here today demonstrates that. It is with regret that we have to do this, but it is something that we have to do to get the way that this place is administered back on the tracks. I commend the motion to the Assembly.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Minister for Energy and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (2.54): Mr Speaker, there is no credence in the arguments made by Mrs Dunne in her motion of dissent today—no credence whatsoever. In all of the argument we heard from Mrs Dunne, there was not a single reflection on the Liberal opposition’s behaviour this week or on their behaviour over the last few sitting weeks. It was almost as though it was not their fault that they were drawing your attention to them. They did not seem to have any cognition that perhaps it was their behaviour that was requiring your intervention. It really does highlight, Mr Speaker, the deluded world in which they are operating where they believe that you are acting in some partisan or favourable manner towards one side of the house over the other.
The government does not agree—does not agree at all—with the suggestion being made by Mrs Dunne. Mr Speaker, I would challenge any member of this place to reflect on the fact of how many times you have had to warn members of the opposition not just this sitting week but in the last sitting weeks for the period of this year. You have warned members of the opposition on repeated occasions—repeated occasions—of the fact that their behaviour was disorderly, and you have drawn to their attention the fact that if they continue you will have to take further action. It is to your credit, Mr Speaker, that you have not taken further action; indeed, the government would say that you have been more than lenient with those opposite in relation to those matters, in that you have chosen not to take the matter further. That is obviously a matter for you to determine.
I think it is a bit rich for those of us to claim they are getting harsh treatment when you can see someone like Mr Hanson, someone like Mr Seselja or someone like Mr Smyth warned repeatedly—warned repeatedly—on sitting days and then no further action being taken against them. If anything, Mr Speaker, I think it would be fair to say that they have been treated very favourably indeed. They should know, Mr Speaker, that warnings from you—repeated warnings from you—indicate that they are reaching the end of your tolerance when it comes to the matter of order in this place.
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