Page 2003 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 7 June 2017
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It is with great regret that I have to move dissent from your ruling, but if it was good enough for Mr Hanson to withdraw the word “dodgy” it is good enough that you require Mr Rattenbury to withdraw the word “grubby” when the word “grubby” was clearly directed at all the members of the opposition. I had just finished asking a question, so I could have taken exception in that it was directed more to me than to anybody else. On that basis you should have acted in an impartial way and you did not. Therefore reluctantly I have to move dissent from your ruling.
MR BARR (Kurrajong—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development and Minister for Tourism and Major Events) (3.34): Madam Speaker, I did not expect that we would find agreement on one element of Mrs Dunne’s contribution. Yes, it is true that Mr Hanson is a serial irritant to anyone who sits in that chair. It is true, Madam Speaker, that the comments that he was asked to withdraw were repeated and were very clearly directed at members on this side of the chamber, and went to suggestions of improper behaviour and conduct. That, Madam Speaker, together with your identification of at least four other occasions previously where that word was required to be withdrawn, and the clear intent that Mr Hanson had in making those statements—not once but repeating them ad nauseam—demonstrates why they should have been withdrawn. Even then, when asked to withdraw, there is always the song and dance and theatrics that come with that. That is a pattern of behaviour that those of us who have been in this place over the past nine years with Mr Hanson have witnessed.
You were perfectly entitled to do that, in spite of the position taken by those opposite who took multiple points of order against that ruling. In this instance, Madam Speaker, you are entitled to make a ruling as chair, and you have the support of the majority of Assembly members, it would appear, from the statements that have already been made. It is regrettable that question time has been delayed now by nearly half an hour, interrupted by nearly half an hour, purely on the basis of a stunt; a stunt from an individual who, in spite of feigning reluctance, has been all too eager to pursue this path. We all remember the four years we lived through the Dunne speakership and the exact issues that we lived through, and this question of having a particular view of one set of members as opposed to another. The irony is not lost on those of us were in this place over the past four years, Madam Speaker, and we will be supporting your ruling.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (3.37): We will not be supporting the dissent motion. I think that you, Madam Speaker, Mrs Dunne, I and other members who have sat in that chair have an appreciation of the difficulty, particularly in question time. Given the unruly nature of a number of members of this chamber, it is very difficult to make those judgements on the spot. I think that some degree of maturity could have been exercised here and a private conversation later may well have sufficed to resolve this matter, as has been done on occasion.
I certainly know that there were times in the last term where I felt that Mrs Dunne had got it wrong. There are decisions in my own time as Speaker that I think, on reflection, I would have made differently. From my time in this chamber, I know that the nature of being in the Speaker’s chair in particular is a challenging one, certainly in what can
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