Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that over recent times, the Senate has witnessed:

  (i) Senator Hanson wear a burqa in the Senate chamber, with the purpose to ridicule a religious community,

  (ii) Senator Leyonhjelm use sexism to attempt to belittle and intimidate a fellow parliamentarian, and

  (iii) Senator Anning use racism and hate speech, including language from the Holocaust, to incite hatred against the entire Muslim community;

(b) seeks to ensure that hate speech and intimidatory behaviour do not go unfettered in the Senate under the name of parliamentary privilege;

(c) notes that the Member for Indi, Ms McGowan, has tabled a motion in the House of Representatives to develop a code of conduct for members of Parliament and their staff;

(d) agrees that, as a Parliament, we must stand up against unacceptable behaviours; and

(e) gives in-principle support to include in the Senate standing orders a code of conduct, with the aim of preventing a senator behaving in such a way, or using language, which is discriminatory or incites hatred towards a community.

Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition will not be supporting this motion from Senator Di Natale. We have made clear our position on the actions of others in this place who have sought to use race as an instrument of division and who have conducted themselves in a way that does not conform with the standards the Australian people expect of us. Labor has led the charge in encouraging parliamentarians to express their support for a voluntary commitment to inclusion and race ethics. The invitation from the Leader of the Opposition to the Prime Minister for government members to join all opposition members in signing this statement remains open.

We welcome the support across the chamber for Senator Wong's motion yesterday. Further, we fully support the comments of the President in his statement to the chamber on Monday this week. Consistent with our past actions and the recommendation of the Senate Standing Committee on Procedure, the opposition does not support the inclusion of a code of conduct in the standing orders of the Senate, recognising that standing orders 193 and 203 already regulate conduct in the chamber.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We should be held to a higher standard than the standard that we set within our community, not to a lower standard. If it's hate speech outside the parliament; it's hate speech inside the parliament. People will tell you it's not appropriate to be wearing a burqa to completely belittle a religious community. People will tell you it's inappropriate to use sexist, misogynist language directly against a member of this place. People will tell you it is not appropriate to invoke the Holocaust to support your racist views of the world. It is no good to simply say, 'We condemn the behaviour,' when then you go ahead and vote against a censure motion, as the government and the ALP did yesterday. They now won't back up their words with serious action. It is long overdue that this parliament had a code of conduct that defined what was acceptable behaviour and that we all stuck to it.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion moved by Senator Di Natale be agreed to.