Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I want to correct the record. Senator Hanson-Young was in the chamber when that comment was made. She was not in the chamber when I first moved her motion, but she came directly in as I was on my feet, so she was here when Senator O'Sullivan was making his statements.

I know that Senator Di Natale did not make his decision to not withdraw very lightly. No senator in this place, I would think, wants to get suspended. But that is how strongly Senator Di Natale feels about what has been happening in this chamber, about what we have been enduring in this part of the chamber. It is not just the usual banter—and we all engage in that usual banter. It is not the usual banter. As a woman, I can say that I was extremely offended by what I heard Senator O'Sullivan say—which I will never repeat. It was an awful thing for him to say. But the senator gets to withdraw an awful, disgusting statement that we've all heard, and that's it.

That is not good enough, and that's the point that Senator Di Natale was making. To utter those statements—and it's not the first type of awful statement that we have heard at this end of the chamber, which I acknowledge, Mr President, you don't always hear. That's because it's said at this end of the chamber and because of the acoustics. We have endured that. It is not acceptable. But somebody gets to say that and then withdraw it. That is the point that Senator Di Natale is trying to make. That is not acceptable behaviour. We have been enduring it for a long time. I agree with you that things have to change. It needs some leadership for it to change. But I hope never to hear somebody say that type of thing again in this Senate.