Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

On indulgence, Mr Speaker: last night you reported back to the chamber on the behaviour of the member for Dawson outside of this place earlier in the week. The opposition has reflected on your words and considered them carefully. In the first place, in a more general area, you suggested that there should be consideration in this chamber about a code of conduct. Let me say this: whilst we would be interested to see where your suggestion heads, neither a code of conduct nor any legislation can prevent someone from acting stupidly. No code of conduct can prevent bad behaviour or irresponsible behaviour. I am satisfied that people on both sides of this House found the actions of the member for Dawson repugnant. I accept the apology from the member for Dawson but it does not matter that I or any other member of this chamber accepts it; ultimately it is the victim and his family who are the ones to accept it, because they are the people who have been most hurt by the taking and the sale of the photos. That is all that matters. In that regard, we are prepared to leave the matter where it stands.

The second matter is in relation to the member for Dawson’s statement that the photo was sold for a donation. Whilst we have received conflicting reports about the statement that there was no attempt to gain personally from the sale of the photo, we have to take the member for Dawson at his word that it was all about a donation. If any evidence arises that the member for Dawson sought personal gain as a result of the sale of the photo rather than the money going to charity, we will revisit the matter at the earliest possible opportunity.

Finally, I say this: in New South Wales yesterday the state Labor government referred a matter to the Legislative Council Privileges Committee in relation to Andrew Fraser. That may well have been an appropriate referral; I do not know. Whilst in this chamber from time to time there have been referrals to the Privileges Committee—and I, in one sense, share your exasperation at the fact that we need to have a safety valve for the reputation of the chamber and individual members of parliament, and the Privileges Committee has from time to time been that safety valve—ultimately we are all responsible for our own actions and, at the end of the day, the people we represent form a judgement about us. That is why I and others are reluctant to head down the path of codes of conduct or behaviour, because we will all be judged on how we treat each other and the people that we represent in this place. We are not seeking to gain any advantage out of this. It is a very, very sad incident, incredibly distressing for all of those involved, and the matter stands where you have laid it.

See this speech in context