Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—First, can I thank you for the consideration you took with this matter, Mr President. I thank you for your comments, which, from memory, reprise comments you made after Senator Anning's unfortunate first speech, or something like that, where you did remind us that the standing orders set the outer limits of appropriateness. I would endorse those comments, and the Labor Party supports your comments and your ruling.

I would, however, make this point. This is a contest of ideas and at times a pretty hard political combat, but we ought, I think, to try to ensure that we remain respectful of the institution that we are part of and the positions that we occupy. As I said, I think, in Senator Cormann's valedictory, there is a no-go zone. There are rules of contained debate. There's a contained conflict. I think we should have outside of the zone of conflict personal reflections, particularly those that go to people's race. Senator Hanson yesterday did make some personal comments, including describing Senator Thorpe—I apologise that I'm going to repeat it, but I'm making a point—as a 'self-styled Aboriginal elite'. I think those sorts of comments are divisive and they are hurtful, and they really have no place in a debate which is about a very clear difference of views. I understand and respect Senator Thorpe's response to this.

I don't think anyone is suggesting in this place that I'm not prepared to have an argument and have a debate, but we all should observe some boundaries around that. We can only do that if all of us, or as many of us as possible, seek to observe those boundaries.