Robert Ray (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Numerous rights of reply have been accorded to offended individuals by this chamber. I would point out that, just as it is the practice of this chamber to allow a right of reply to anyone who thinks they have been defamed or otherwise affected, a similar right exists in the House of Representatives. I do not know how many rights of reply we have allowed—perhaps 50, 60 or 70—but the House of Representatives have allowed only one. I think that is a pretty miserable attitude of theirs. Not only do we allow a right of reply in the Senate but we also have a tradition to allow a very robust right of reply. In other words, this chamber takes the view, down to the last person, that if we dish it out we will cop it back. I think that is very healthy.

There is a particular issue between Commissioner O’Callaghan and Senator Johnston. I do not want to try to arbitrate on who is right or wrong in this particular case. However, one aspect raised by Senator Johnston concerns me, although I do not necessarily say he is right or wrong in this specific instance. What worries me is the fact of police leaking against public officials and politicians when the latter err in some particular way. I do not argue here and you will never hear me argue that politicians should be above the law or above exposure when they breach the law—of course they should not.

But we in this chamber all know that state police forces love having politicians in the headlines with a speeding offence, a drink-driving offence or any other such thing. This happens ‘somehow’—we never find out exactly how. When these offences occur, the media is informed. The TV cameras are out there on a particular individual. It is also true that this occurs with other people in society that are well known, but it should not be allowed to occur. I am not, as I have said, arguing that politicians should be a protected species. A colleague of mine in this chamber, also from Senator Johnston’s state, committed an error through speeding. I was picked up for speeding years ago when I was a cab driver. I wonder how many people in this chamber might have been too.