Page 714 - Week 02 - Thursday, 23 February 2012
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“Oh well, you know, these things happen.” We heard it again this morning. Saying that he is a larrikin is not an excuse. It might be what he is, but it is not an excuse. “It is foot in mouth disease.” It is not foot in mouth disease; it is who he is. It comes back to how he uses who he is in this place; it should not be excused, it should not be accepted and he should not be in that chair. The sorts of attitudes expressed have no right to be in this place, for a start, but they particularly have no right to be in that chair.
As Mr Hanson said when he started, the Assistant Speaker is a representative of this place. The House of Reps talks about the dignity of this place and the people that fill that position. The right thing to do would be to simply stand aside. That is what the motion is asking. If you accept that you have got it wrong, then truly prove that you understand that what you have done is wrong, you understand the depth of what you have done wrong and you resign as Assistant Speaker.
Part of the defence for Mr Hargreaves was that it would be unfair because the Labor Party would be under-represented. The Labor Party has got two reps. The Greens have got two reps who can sit there. The Liberal Party has got one. If there is a case for under-representation in this brave new world, the new paradigm that we have where all are equal, the Liberal Party is under-represented.
But it is not about representation on the seat. It is about the ability to do the job, to hold yourself up with dignity and say, “When I represent this place, I will be respected by the community for my judgements.” Mr Hargreaves said, “I can be fair.” He got kicked out one day by Mrs Dunne. The very next day, for just a word, Mrs Dunne got kicked out—for a single word. Such is life; that is politics. But don’t stand here and say that you respect the place when it is quite clear that you do not.
This is an important matter. It was an important matter yesterday when I spoke about the dignity of this place. The Assembly has struggled for years. There is still resentment out there that we have self-government in this place. Every time we have these events, it reinforces or reconfirms for people that this is not a place to be respected.
This motion today is about respect for the Assembly. It is bigger than all of us combined. But when it comes to the crunch, the only thing the Labor Party are concerned about is themselves. The only thing the Labor Party stand for is themselves. The only thing the Chief Minister is interested in is herself and her reputation. She did not stand up for the Tuggeranong Community Council and she did not apologise in her letter. She did not stand up at the sexist remarks. She did not take action on any of the other incidents except to shrug her shoulders and say, “Oh well.” Well, Chief Minister, “oh well” is not enough. It is never enough, because it is never leadership.
It is time that we reinforced the value of the processes of this place to those outside who watch us. This morning on the radio stations there were texts about this place saying, “What are they up to in there?” This is a chance for Mr Hargreaves to do the right thing by the Assembly—not by his party, but by the Assembly that he professes to care so much about as a parliamentarian—and say, “Yes, it is bigger than me and it is time that I stepped down.”
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