George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Acting Deputy President, on the point of order: with respect, you should rule against that point of order for this reason: it appears to be an attempt to invoke standing order 193. Subrule (3) says:

A senator shall not use offensive words against either House of Parliament—

the senator was not using offensive words against the House of Representatives—

or of a House of a state or territory parliament—

which obviously is inapplicable here—

or any member of such House …

Then it goes on to refer to other things as well. That standing order, as I am sure the Clerk will advise you, has always been understood to prohibit reflections on individual named or identifiable members of the House of Representatives or of other parliaments. If, for example, I were to say the Australian Labor Party is full of scoundrels that would not be unparliamentary, but if I were to say a particular Labor member of the House of Representatives was a scoundrel that would be. Senator Boyce was referring in general categories to members of the House of Representatives in aggregate, not identifiable members of the House of Representatives. Therefore, the standing order does not apply to her.