Excerpt from Australian House of Representatives Hansard of 10 December 2013, in which The Speaker Bronwyn Bishop has yet another ‘senior moment’, forgets parliamentary processes, gets snakey when she is reminded of the correct procedure and shows her intensely partisan nature:
Mr BURKE (Watson—Manager of Opposition Business) (21:16): I move:
That so much of standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Watson moving immediately:
That this House:
condemns the Government for failing to allow proper debate on legislation before the Parliament.
Mr BURKE: We are in the middle of a debate on important legislation about infrastructure—
The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the House.
Mr BURKE: and the cowardice of the Leader of the House—
Mr PYNE (Sturt—Leader of the House and Minister for Education) (21:17): I move:
That the Member be no longer heard.
The SPEAKER: The question is that the member be no longer heard.
The House divided. [21:21] .....
Question agreed to.
The SPEAKER: Is the motion seconded?
Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler) (21:25): Indeed, Madam Speaker. I second the motion and I have nothing more to say.
The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the House.
Mr Albanese: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. With respect, Madam Speaker, now that I have concluded my speech, you need to put the resolution to the House before you give someone else the call.
Mr Pyne: The question is that the motion be agreed to.
Mr Albanese: Yes, well, you need to do that, Madam Speaker. The Manager of Opposition Business knows that.
Government members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The former Leader of the House, who is now apparently the Acting Manager of Opposition Business, has given the chair advice. The question is that the motion be agreed to.
Honourable members interjecting—
Mr Pyne: Madam Speaker—
Mr Albanese: Madam Speaker—
The SPEAKER: Both the Manager of Opposition Business and the Leader of the House will resume their seats. If the Manager of Opposition Business is raising a point of order to resume his status, then it is acknowledged.
Mr Albanese: Let's be bipartisan! That is outrageous!
Mr Burke: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Madam Speaker, if you want to be an impartial chair, I ask that you withdraw.
Honourable members interjecting—
Mr PYNE (Sturt—Leader of the House and Minister for Education) (21:27): Madam Speaker, the government opposes the—
The SPEAKER: I recognise the Manager of Opposition Business and have already said that I acknowledge the Manager of Opposition Business. Now I call—
Mr Burke: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order.
The SPEAKER: The member will resume his seat.
Mr Burke: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. There will be no further points of order acknowledged.
Honourable members interjecting—
Mr BURKE (Watson—Manager of Opposition Business) (21:28): Madam Speaker, I move:
That the Speaker’s ruling be dissented from.
You have just ruled that no other points of order will be heard. That is a ruling, and I move that the Speaker's ruling be dissented from.
The SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.
Mr Burke: No, Madam Speaker! There has never been an occasion when a Speaker has refused to allow a resolution for dissent to be heard. Your role and everything that is contained within Practice falls apart if you will not hear the dissent motion.
Honourable members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The member will resume his seat.
Mr Burke: Madam Speaker, I don't need to. I—
The SPEAKER: Both members will resume their seats. You are asked to resume your seat; you will do so.
Mr Burke: I have asked that your ruling be dissented from!
The SPEAKER: You will resume your seat. You have said that you are dissenting from my ruling. Whether or not you consider I have made a ruling, I do not consider I made a ruling. However, I will entertain your dissent motion if you wish to pursue it.
Mr BURKE: Madam Speaker, critical to the role of Speaker in this House is the one principle that the Speaker will not engage in debate. The comments that you made with respect to me would have been reasonable interjections when you were in this House merely as the member for Mackellar—rules that were reasonable for any member to get up and try to make a half-funny, childish interjection. But you need to recognise, Madam Speaker, that you are meant to be impartial. You need to recognise, Madam Speaker, that the office you hold is
greater and more important than your own political rhetoric. You need to recognise, Madam Speaker, that we have not previously—
Mr PYNE (Sturt—Leader of the House and Minister for Education) (21:30): It is time this farce were brought to an end, and I move:
That the member be no longer heard.
The SPEAKER: The question is that the member be no longer heard.
The House divided. [21:34].....
Question agreed to.
The SPEAKER: Is the motion seconded?
Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler) (21:40): Yes, Madam Speaker. A high degree of impartiality in the execution of the duties of office is one of the hallmarks of good speakership. That is what House of Representatives Practice—
The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the House.
Mr Pyne: I move:
That the member be no longer heard.
The SPEAKER: The question is that the member be no longer heard. A division having been called and the bells being/having been rung—
Mr Albanese: I am wondering, Madam Speaker, whether there is any precedent for a shutting down of a dissent debate in the Speaker of the House of Representatives since 1901, ever?
The SPEAKER: I do not know whether that is a point of order.
Mr Albanese: Because there has not been in the last 17 years.
The SPEAKER: It is not a point of order. There is no point of order.
The House divided. [21:44] ....
The rest of this sorry saga can be read from Hansard 10 December 2013 p. 107
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