Page 2005 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 7 June 2017
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Madam Assistant Speaker then referred to a point of order from Ms Burch. Ms Burch asked that that be ruled as unparliamentary. So you then asked whether it was unparliamentary or not.
We have other examples, going to 2011, when there were points of order. Mr Barr said:
… I will withdraw the word “grubby”.
Mr Barr at that stage understood and acknowledged a ruling that “grubby” was unparliamentary. There are more examples. This one involves Mr Rattenbury with regard to “grubby”, in 2016. Madam Assistant Speaker—I am not sure which Madam Assistant Speaker it was—said:
I ask you to withdraw your word “grubby”, Mr Rattenbury, in keeping with previous rulings by the Speaker, including you on several occasions.
Mr Rattenbury has, on a number of occasions, as with all speakers, assistant speakers and deputy speakers in this place, considered referring to other members as grubby to be unparliamentary. Mr Rattenbury then withdrew.
Madam Speaker, I do not understand how it is that, when the opposition says something that arguably is or is not—we stand up in this place; I accepted your ruling and withdrew. We moved on with Mr Rattenbury despite the fact that just in the brief research I have been able to do in the last five minutes I have found numerous examples, including an Assistant Speaker saying that Mr Rattenbury had ruled on this on a number of occasions, including examples where you have called it unparliamentary and including examples where Mr Barr has withdrawn because it is unparliamentary. Because in this case it is the opposition—now you sit there as Speaker—that asks that it be withdrawn, you let it go.
It is massively inconsistent. It is hypocritical. Mrs Dunne is right to dissent from your ruling.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management and Minister for Urban Renewal) (3.43): I will be supporting your ruling in this matter, Madam Speaker. I want to put a few facts on the table. Firstly in regard to the direction of comments from Mr Hanson across the chamber, they were directed at Minister Ramsay. Madam Speaker, when you made your ruling on that word—“dodgy” was the word—and you asked Mr Hanson to withdraw, he did withdraw and then he sat down and yelled out across the chamber, “Dodgy Ramsay razor gang”.
I also want to talk about your consistency in ruling, Madam Speaker, in that you chose not to rule against Mr Rattenbury’s terminology in the same way that you chose not to rule against Mr Hanson not more than 10 minutes ago when he said seven times, “grubby”. You did not pull him up.
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