Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Resources, Forestry and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, my question to you goes to the application of the standing orders—specifically standing order 64, which requires members, in referring to other members, to refer to them by their ministerial office, their parliamentary office or their electoral division. This is a very serious issue going to the management of this House. I go to House of Representatives Practice and, at page 500, in referring to the application of the standing order, it says:

The purpose of this rule is to make debate less personal and avoid the direct confrontation of Members …

It then goes on to say:

A degree of formality helps the House remain more dignified and tolerant when political views—

are expressed.

In answering a question today, the Treasurer appropriately referred to a member by his constituency name and then added the term ‘Mr Gilligan’. On the basis of your failure to act, is it therefore appropriate in the future when posing a question to the Minister for Foreign Affairs that we simply pose it to the member for Mayo, ‘Dolly,’ or to the Treasurer as the member for Higgins ‘Dog’ or ‘Chicken’? If this is unacceptable, I ask you to reflect on your failure to take action with respect to the requirement and also require the Treasurer to apply the standing orders.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Batman and the spirit in which he raises that question. He raises a very valid point and, as he would be aware, occupiers of the chair repeatedly pull members from both sides up for not observing that particular standing order. In relation to the point that he specifically raises about question time—I have to say, I did not catch it at the time and it would also help if members raised those points at the time—it is too late to deal with now, but I remind all members that they are expected to uphold the standing orders, including the one that the member for Batman has just raised.

Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Resources, Forestry and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Further to your ruling, Mr Speaker, I did seek to raise this question in an informal way by drawing your attention to it during the Treasurer’s response. I was led by your failure to take action to believe that the manner in which the Treasurer answered the question is now appropriate. If not, I ask you to reflect on your failure to act and make it clear to all members of the House at the start of question time tomorrow that this is the way you expect all members of the House to conduct themselves.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Batman for his question. I remind the member for Batman that today’s question time was particularly noisy. It would assist the chair and it would assist all members if we were able to conduct question time with fewer interruptions.