Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Speaker’s ruling be dissented from.

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

Does the Manager of Opposition Business have the dissent in writing?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do. This is the first dissent motion in your speakership—

Government Members:

That is not right!

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

that I have moved, because we on this side—

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

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

Order! Members on my right! The Manager of Opposition Business has the call. He will be heard.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know that this is a desperate government. What we have seen in the last two days is a government that has been prepared to engage in any tactic other than to debate the future of the nation. We saw the Prime Minister yesterday in the House say very clearly about the Leader of the Opposition:

... when you know you are lying through your teeth ...

Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: is the member putting forward a dissent or a party-political speech? If he is dissenting from your ruling, he has a responsibility to address the issue.

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

The member for O’Connor raises a valid point of order. The Manager of Opposition Business is raising a dissent against a ruling. He will stick to the ruling.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Absolutely, to the core—

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

The Manager of Opposition Business will keep to the point.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

which is the inconsistencies in your ruling. We come into this chamber and we know that they have a majority. We know that they can use that majority. We know that everything is stacked against us in the standing orders and in House of Representatives Practice. But what we expect on this side of the chamber, and what the public expect, is a fair go. But when we raise with you, in consecutive points of order and in questions to the Speaker after question time, the Prime Minister saying ‘when you know you are lying through your teeth’ and you rule him in order, we do not expect you today then to exclude the member for Melbourne from representing his seat for 24 hours after he has used the exact same words and then, on the basis of an interjection, to exclude the member for Gorton for one hour. It is the inconsistency that has this side of the parliament fed up, because we expect a fair go.

The inconsistencies go on. On 25 June 1996, to use just one example, the Minister for Foreign Affairs said about someone on this side of the chamber:

You’re just lying through your teeth …

The foreign minister was asked to withdraw that remark, and he withdrew, as he should of—

Government Member:

Should have.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As he should have. Every person on this side of the chamber who is asked by you to withdraw does so out of deference to you and out of respect for this parliament. But what we see are two different sides: on the one hand, this is reminiscent of what happened to the member for Lalor when the Leader of the House showed his leadership on parliamentary standards when he referred to ‘snivelling grubs’. What we saw then was this parliament being brought into disrepute.

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

Order! The Manager of Opposition Business has moved a dissent motion. He will speak to the motion. He will not reflect on the chair.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Maybe, Mr Speaker, you should comprehend that the nature of a dissent motion is that, if it is carried, you lose your job. This goes to the heart of whether this parliament has confidence in you. But what we have seen over the last couple of days is an orchestrated attempt by a government that is out of touch and out of time and does not want to debate the issues so engages in disruptive behaviour. We saw it in response to the Leader of the Opposition’s first question yesterday, where we had an orchestrated attack from those opposite. We had the Prime Minister and the pretender without courage—Chicken Man—yesterday and the day before giving the finger to the Leader of the Opposition and to those opposite as if that were acceptable. That is the sort of behaviour that we have to put up with time after time.

When we raise points of order, what we get is reminiscent of The Castle—Denis Denuto being asked, ‘Why are rulings being made in the High Court?’ You sit there and you say, ‘It’s the vibe.’ We never get to an actual point of order or to any substance. What we simply get is: ‘That’s the majority, and it’s right. This is the minority and you’re wrong.’ It simply is not good enough. We know that it is sporting finals time, and everyone who follows sport knows that the home team usually gets a bit of an advantage from the umpire, but the figures this year show that 52 Labor members have been ejected and only two—one of which was yesterday—from the coalition. That is a penalty count of 52 to two. But, to be fair, that is consistent because you have excluded more members of parliament than any Speaker before you since Federation. You have excluded 175 Labor members from the House and only five members from the coalition. That shows, Mr Speaker, just how unreasonable the rulings have been.

You ruled question No. 1 today out of order, that the Special Minister of State did not have to answer it, even though standing order 98(c)(ii) makes it very clear that a minister is responsible for answering questions about administration. He is the Special Minister of State. He employs not just all his staff but every staff member in the parliament. He is responsible for it. But you, when there is a difficult question, say that it is optional whether ministers answer them.

Let me tell you that Mr Phelps has put out a press release and in it says, ‘Dr Phelps is the chief of staff to the Special Minister of State but was attending the meeting in a private capacity.’ The only problem is that the media contact, Dr Peter Phelps, uses 0419261416, the phone number paid for by the taxpayer. He is sitting in the office there. He did radio interviews this morning but you ruled that it was somehow optional whether he be accountable to this parliament or not. It is simply the case that those of us on this side of the House do not expect to get an advantage. But we do expect, when there is a clear parallel less than 24 hours apart—such as the Prime Minister’s statement and the statements from the member for Melbourne and the member for Gorton—that you will make a consistent ruling and treat people the same.

We are all accountable to our electorates, and you are accountable to this parliament. Whenever we raise difficult questions to you, you never refer to standing orders; it is just, ‘No, no, the government’s right.’ I have to say that you have a hard job, because the Leader of the House is probably the worst offender in the parliament when it comes to breaching standing orders. Not once has he ever got to that microphone at the dispatch box and referred to standing orders or House of Representatives Practice. That is because the members of the government do not care. Their arrogance is out of control. It is arrogance because they got a Newspoll result that was the same as the Newspoll two polls ago. How arrogant are they going to be if they are re-elected at the election later this year?

That is what we are seeing from this government. It is an arrogant government, out of touch, out of control and out of time. But they do not want to call an election because when you call an election you cannot abuse standing orders in this House, you cannot abuse the advertising budget and get the taxpayers to pay for all your party political advertising. This is a government out of control, and you have a responsibility, Mr Speaker, to be fair dinkum and make consistent rulings so that they are brought back into line. You have failed to do that, Mr Speaker. That is why we are dissenting from your ruling and that is why this dissent motion should be carried, and everyone in parliament knows it should be carried. (Time expired)

Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I certainly do not intend to reproduce the venom and the spleen that we have had from the Manager of Opposition Business here—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! The member for Oxley has already been warned.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

because this was a censure of the government. It was not even a motion of—

Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Ripoll interjecting

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

The member for Oxley has been warned. I reminded him that has been warned. He continues to interject. He will exclude himself under standing order 94(a).

The member for Oxley then left the chamber.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was not even a motion of want of confidence in you, Mr Speaker; it was a motion of dissent to one of your rulings and it should have been handled forensically, but unfortunately it was not. What we got from the Manager of Opposition Business was a shrieking rant that was unbecoming of this House. It was certainly not the sort of thing that we should have had from an opposition which is talking about new leadership and from an opposition leader who claims Dietrich Bonhoeffer as his inspiration.

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Downer interjecting

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Albanese interjecting

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

The Manager of Opposition Business has had his turn.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For the benefit of the Manager of Opposition Business, let me put his mind—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The minister for Foreign Affairs has made an offensive remark across the chamber—the same one that the member for Melbourne and the member for Gorton have been excluded for.

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

If the Minister for Foreign Affairs has made an offensive remark he will withdraw it.

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw in the meantime, Mr Speaker.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the Manager of Opposition Business is going to be taken seriously, he should tell the truth. In the course of his contribution he made two statements that he knows to be untrue. First of all, he claimed that if this motion of dissent is carried you are out of a job. He knows that that is not true. There have been many motions of dissent. Some have been passed in this House and the speakers against whom they have been passed have not lost their jobs. It is only a motion of want of confidence in the Speaker that has the effect that the Manager of Opposition Business claimed. But a more important untruth is that he claimed in his contribution that more people had been suspended from the House under your speakership than ever before. That is absolutely untrue. It is completely untrue. He knows it is untrue and he should not make that kind of misleading statement before this House. This Manager of Opposition Business has no regard for the truth. He has no regard for parliamentary standards. The motion that he has moved cannot be taken seriously by this House.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a point of order. Could you bring him back to order?

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

The Leader of the House is responding to the motion moved by the Manager of Opposition Business. He is entirely in order.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The bad temper of members opposite began with a perfectly reasonable ruling by you. Just to indicate how reasonable your rulings were in respect of questions directed to the Special Minister of State, let me refer the House to page 545 of House of Representatives Hansard, at which it says:

Questions critical of the character or conduct of other persons must be in writing. Although this rule is generally applied to named persons, it has also been applied to unnamed, but readily identifiable, persons. Such questions may, however, be placed on the Notice Paper. The purpose of the rule is to protect a person against criticism which could be unwarranted. A question in writing...

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What page of Hansard is that?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have certainly read it into Hansard, but it was from House of Representatives Practice. Your ruling, Mr Speaker, was in fact if anything a generous extension of the traditional practice of this House. Far from being some kind of oppressor of the opposition, you are someone who has extended every courtesy to this opposition. In so doing, you have actually extended the traditional practices of this House.

Mr Speaker, if I may say so, the conduct of the Manager of Opposition Business been quite contrary to the standing orders of this House. I refer you, Mr Speaker, to standing order 94(a):

The Speaker can direct a disorderly Member to leave the Chamber for one hour. The direction shall not be open to debate or dissent ...

That is exactly what was dissented from. The Speaker dismissed the member in question from the service of the House. This is the issue that has excited the Manager of Opposition Business. But standing order 94(a) says:

The Speaker can direct a disorderly Member to leave the Chamber for one hour. The direction shall not be open to debate or dissent ...

This is yet another example of the Manager of Opposition Business abusing the forms of the House.

It is very clear that members opposite have had a very bad day. The Leader of the Opposition has been exposed as totally ignorant when it comes to tax. Yesterday, they were exposed as not having a clue about dental policy. We are supposed to believe that this motion of dissent was spontaneously triggered by your ruling when the Manager of Opposition Business plainly came well armed. But what has in fact triggered this motion of dissent is not just the opposition’s embarrassment over their failed dental policy; it is not just the opposition’s embarrassment over their lack of tax policy; it is the fact that the Leader of the Opposition’s question time attack today has completely collapsed.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. The minister is not in order. He is not addressing the standing orders and he is not defending you.

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

The member for Lilley will come to his point of order.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He is not defending you, he is not relevant and he is not in order.

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

The member for Lilley will resume his seat and I will rule on his point of order. The Manager of Opposition Business in moving this motion gave a fairly wide-ranging speech. The Leader of the House is responding and he is entirely in order.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, they have moved this dissent because the Leader of the Opposition’s attack over the OECD report has turned out to be utterly and totally groundless. He did not have any questions, just as he did not have any knowledge of tax policy and just as he did not have any real understanding of dental policy. That is why this motion has been moved: to rescue a failing and floundering Leader of the Opposition.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on the same point of order raised by the member for O’Connor, which you upheld: the question of relevance to a motion of dissent.

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

I say to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition that the only time I interrupted the Manager of Opposition Business was when he was reflecting on the chair. He was allowed to complete his address. The Leader of the House is responding to the points raised by the Manager of Opposition Business.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on the same point of order, it has been a difficult day and you may not recall that you upheld a point of order on relevance from the member for O’Connor. I am raising the same point of order.

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

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition has made her point.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, in conclusion, let me say that you have been a model of courtesy; you have been a model of forbearance. Members opposite walk around this chamber. The Leader of the Opposition deliberately turns his back on speakers. Even after he has asked questions of ministers, he deliberately turns his back. For someone who claims to model himself on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he is a pretty sad reflection of the decency and courtesy of that man. (Time expired)

Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the Leader of the House thinks that the problem is that we do not have any more questions, do not cut off question time after this motion; let it continue. You only let us have seven yesterday; so far, we have only had five. If you think we have not got any more questions, let question time go ahead. We challenge you to let it go ahead and see what happens.

Mr Speaker, what we should be talking about in here is education, but because of the pattern of your rulings—which have been inconsistent and in our view entirely unreasonable—we have been led to this situation of a dissent motion. The most fundamental obligation of the speaker is to show impartiality. House of Representatives Practicethis is this book, Tony; this one here: House of Representatives Practicesays absolutely clearly on page 164:

The Speaker must show impartiality in the Chamber above all else. A Speaker should give a completely objective interpretation of standing orders and precedents, and should give the same reprimand for the same offence whether the Member is of the Government or the Opposition.

We have never had a clearer case of a failure to implement that part of House of Representatives Practice than today. Yesterday, the Prime Minister, as reflected in Hansard—he did not bother to try and change it—talked about ‘lying through your teeth’, and you said it was in order. The member for Melbourne said the same thing, and you called on him to withdraw and said it was not in order. The member for Gorton said the same thing, and you threw him out. The Minister for Foreign Affairs said the same thing, and you asked him to withdraw. That pattern of inconsistency has provoked this point of order, because it has provoked this opposition beyond acceptance, beyond reasonableness. I know, Mr Speaker, that the government behaves so badly that your job is very difficult. We accept that and try to make allowances for it because you have the foreign minister, who has never obeyed the standing orders in 10 years, and the Leader of the House, who does not know what they are and has not referred to them in 10 years.

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

The member for Fraser is talking to a motion of dissent on standing order 94(a).

Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Absolutely. I was trying to say that you have sometimes been inconsistent in your rulings, and thank you for proving it, Mr Speaker. But what I was actually at the point of making—

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

The member will not reflect on the chair.

Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I am describing your behaviour.

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

The member will not reflect on the chair.

Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I am describing your behaviour. If you think it is a reflection, it is your interpretation, not mine. I am simply describing it accurately, because it has been inconsistent and unreasonable. We find it entirely unacceptable, and that is what has provoked this point of order.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. This is a motion of dissent. It is not a motion of censure, and the member for Fraser should certainly not be reflecting on you in the way that he consistently does.

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Snowdon interjecting

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

Order! The member for Lingiari is warned!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He should be called to order and, if he refuses to do so, he should be dealt with in your usual fair and impartial way.

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

The Leader of the House raises a valid point of order. A motion of dissent is not an opportunity for members to reflect on the chair. The member for Fraser, as an occupant of this chair, should be well aware of that. I ask him to come back to the motion.

Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not think I have ever done anything in the chair that warranted a motion like this. The reason we are dissenting—

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. This is a further reflection on the chair. It is open defiance, and it should be dealt with.

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

The member for Fraser should be well aware that he should not be reflecting on the chair in a motion of dissent, and, if he continues to do so, I will sit him down.

Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The reasons we are dissenting from your ruling are, firstly, that, in our view, it is a wrong and improper ruling and, secondly, it comes as the culmination of a pattern of behaviour. (Time expired)

Question put:

That the Speaker’s ruling be dissented from.

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

At a noisy time during question time yesterday, members may not have heard the words which are being complained about today. Firstly, I urge all members to have a look at the Hansard and, secondly, I point out that a member was not expelled for using those words; a member was expelled for 24 hours for defying the chair.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.