Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the House. Obviously, the action I took in suspending the sitting was a last resort, as members would know and have witnessed. I wondered whether we could plough on in the extraordinary circumstances and I made a judgement that we could not. Our purpose here is to conduct the business of the House and, for the period of time we have been suspended, it is very clear we were unable to do that. The dignity of the House would have been severely compromised had we continued. I just say that to members and I think we can resume.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—Mr Speaker, on your statement, obviously this is a very serious occurrence today. This is the most serious intrusion into the parliament since the riots organised by the ACTU in 1996, for which I was in the parliament.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a statement of fact.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members on my left and right will cease interjecting!

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 1996, the ACTU organised a barbecue on the lawns of Parliament House which resulted in a riot and the invasion of the parliament. Those people who were in the parliament would remember it very well—a drunken riot. This is the most serious intrusion in—

Opposition members interjecting—

Obviously the members of the ALP do not think this is a serious matter—is that right? Members of the ALP think it is not a serious matter.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House will proceed.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would love to proceed without interruption, Mr Speaker. This is obviously a very serious matter—the intrusion of the parliament and the shutting down of question time, which, of course, is a courtesy extended to the opposition and to the crossbenchers by the government.

Mr Speaker, as the Speaker and as the person responsible for the House and the chamber, I would request that you conduct a thorough investigation because, obviously, if people are signed in from the public to the building and, in many cases, to the chamber, they are signed in by a member of parliament, in which case there may well be a trail of where the miscreants who disrupted the parliament came from. I think it would be important to determine that, and the government would also like to know what action might well be taken in the future about this matter. On behalf of the government, I would like to apologise to the rest of the members of the public who came to Canberra today to watch the parliament and had their question time disrupted. To the school students who are in Canberra to learn about their democracy, that is not the way democracy should behave. I ask you to conduct that investigation, Mr Speaker.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will respond to the Leader of the House first and then call the Leader of the Opposition. I thank the Leader of the House. Of course every aspect of today's occurrence will be investigated and I will report back to the House on the matter. I am glad the Leader of the House has raised that. It was something I was going to say at the end of question time, but of course every aspect of it will be investigated. I call the Leader of the Opposition on indulgence, and then we will move back to question time.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—First and foremost, I want to place on record our gratitude to our security staff and the people who handled those protesters. I also want to add that the reason why the Labor Party stayed in here today is that we will never give in to those who wish to shut this parliament down. No matter what the protest and no matter who tries it or what issue they think it is, this is the exact opposite of democracy. Do we reward those who would seek to stop this parliament operating by walking away from them and giving in to them?