Page 3214 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 16 August 2011
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Assembly functions properly and that the democratic rights of the people of the ACT are adhered to. And we cannot have that and that cannot work whilst we have a Speaker who will not condemn illegal and criminal acts.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (11.16): I move the following amendment to Mr Corbell’s proposed amendment to Mr Seselja’s motion:
Omit paragraph (1), substitute:
“(1) censures the Speaker for his comments, which may be perceived as supporting unlawful protest;”.
The question really comes down to what is the role of the Speaker. When you become Speaker, you become the representative of this place. Anyone in the population would be entitled to take the view that when you speak, you speak on behalf of the Assembly and that what you say is what the Assembly believes. And I think that is the nub of the problem that we face here today.
It says in the Companion to the Standing Orders of the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory, in paragraph 5.1:
The Speaker of the Assembly presides at meetings of the Assembly, is responsible for the maintenance of order and rulings on questions of order in the Assembly, and speaks for and represents the Assembly in dealings with outside bodies and personages.
What do you do? You represent us. You speak on behalf of the Assembly. And that is the dilemma for a Speaker who is a Speaker and a spokesperson for a political party. The two roles are incompatible. We can fool ourselves and we can talk about the new paradigm and we can say, “This is another way of doing business,” but at the heart of it, it goes to the dignity of the house. The dignity of the house, in many ways, is what sets us apart.
If you go to House of Representatives Practice, there is a chapter on the Speaker, chapter 6. It says:
The Speaker … is the representative of the House itself in its powers, proceedings and dignity. The Speaker’s functions fall into three main categories. First, the Speaker is the spokesman or representative of the House in its relations with the Crown, the House of Lords and other authorities and persons outside Parliament.
And that is why this is different. It is different for Mr Pratt. It is good to see the Greens hiding behind Mr Pratt. Mr Pratt was not the Speaker. Mr Rattenbury is the Speaker. And that is where it differs. House of Representatives Practice goes on to say:
The role the Speaker plays by virtue of the office requires the position to be filled by a dedicated, senior and experienced parliamentarian. The qualities required in a Speaker have been described in the following ways:
It is parliamentary rather than legal experience …
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