Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, on a point of order under standing orders 91 and 92: on social media, the members for Moreton and McEwen have been reflecting on the chair, on the impartiality of the chair. I point out to you that the member for McEwen is the Second Deputy Speaker and that it is what I would regard as disorderly conduct.

Ms Macklin interjecting—

So the member for Jagajaga thinks that reflecting on the member for McEwen is the same as reflecting on the Speaker, does she?

The member for McEwen has a higher level of responsibility. On social media, on Twitter, during the division and during the debate, the members for McEwen and Moreton were reflecting quite improperly on the chair and your impartiality. I ask you, as the Speaker, to consider whether this is disorderly conduct and what action you might like to take. I do not wish to take it to another level of privilege, for example. It might well be because of the inexperience of the members and their lack of knowledge of opposition. I would certainly ask the Manager of Opposition Business in the House to counsel members about reflecting on the impartiality of the chair. But I ask you to consider it rather than acting immediately—unless you choose to act immediately—to consider whether it has been a reflection on the chair and therefore is disorderly conduct and how you might like to deal with it.

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