Has Bronwyn Bishop the intellectual capacity and political balance to do justice to the office of Speaker in the Australian House of Representatives?

One of a growing number of instances where Bronwyn Bishop’s own behaviour raises doubts about her fitness for the role of Speaker.

The Question Without Notice on 19 November 2013:

Mr EWEN JONES (Herbert) (14:50): My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

Firstly, I would like to thank the minister for visiting an Afghan family in Townsville who had spent 24 years in refugee camps before coming to Australia as part of our humanitarian visa program. How are the government's border protection policies supporting the integrity of our humanitarian program?

How the Speaker chose to hear this this question:

The SPEAKER: I thank the Manager of Opposition Business for his nice reading. But I call the minister and I would point out that when he is asked about the position of people who are coming with permanent visas and the 20,000 versus the 13,750 he is entitled to say, as he has done, that the difference between 13,750 and 20,000 constitutes information that the House would find directly relevant to the question. I call the Leader of the House

The ensuing exchange between the Speaker and members of the Labor Opposition:

Mr Burke: Madam Speaker—

The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business on a matter that is not relevance.

Mr Burke: I am seeking to understand how a ruling can make relevant material that was irrelevant to the question.

The SPEAKER: You have just said that your point of order is relevance and we have already had one and you are only entitled to one.

Mr Burke: Madam Speaker, it is with respect to how your ruling is now enforced given that we are dealing with material that you have now said is part of the question which categorically was not.

Ms Plibersek: You have just rewritten the question.

The SPEAKER: The question was one that was pertaining to numbers, as clearly was indicated by the questioner. But I would ask the minister to be relevant to the question as asked.

Not only did Bronwyn Bishop as Speaker rewrite the question, from the Chair she entered into the Hansard record an unsolicited statement which supported the political position of the party in which she is a member.

The Lies Abbott Tells - Part Four

LIE

Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Prime Minister) (14:55): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. The budget update will be released as part of the MYEFO in mid-December, which is roughly the time when members opposite released MYEFO in years past. [House of Representatives,Hansard,13 November 2013]

FACT

Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) release dates:

2007-08 MYEFO 15 October 2007 Coalition Government

2008-09 MYEFO 5 November 2008 Labor Government

2009-10 MYEFO 2 November 2009 Labor Government

2010-11 MYEFO 9 November 2010 Labor Government

2011-12 MYEFO 29 November 2011 Labor Government

2012-13 MYEFO 22 October 2012 Labor Government

2013-14 MYEFO yet to be released Coalition Government

President Yudhoyono tweets his displeasure and Prime Minister Abbott puts his foot in his own mouth yet again

 

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the 4 million plus people following his Twitter account exactly what he thought of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott:

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

Since news broke reports of US & Australia tapping on many countries, including Indonesia, we have expressed our strong protest. *SBY*

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

Foreign Minister & gov. officials have taken effective diplomatic measures, while demanding clarification from the US & Australia. *SBY*

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

Today (18Nov) I instructed Minister Marty Natalegawa to recall Indonesia's ambassador to Australia. This is a firm diplomatic response.*SBY*

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

Indonesia also demands Australia for an official response, one that can be understood by the public, on the tapping on Indonesia. *SBY*

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

We will also review a number of bilateral cooperation agenda as a consequence of this hurtful action by Australia. *SBY*

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

These US & Australian actions have certainly damaged the strategic partnerships with Indonesia, as fellow democracies. *SBY*

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

I also regret the statement of Australian Prime Minister that belittled this tapping matter on Indonesia, without any remorse. *SBY*

On 19 November 2013 Prime Minister Abbott rose to his feet in the House of Representatives and added more fuel to the fire:

Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Prime Minister) (14:01): by leave—......I regard President Yudhoyono as a good friend of Australia—indeed, as one of the very best friends that we have anywhere in the world. That is why I sincerely regret any embarrassment that recent media reports have caused him.

The immediate Indonesian response was widely reported in the Jakarta Post and elsewhere:

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Tuesday that Australia not Indonesia should be embarrassed following the disclosure of a document suggesting that Australian spies had wiretapped the personal phones of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and First Lady Ani Yudhoyono.

"I don't get it. Why would the President of Indonesia be embarrassed?" Marty said in an exclusive interview with Channel News Asia.

By 21 November in a The Sydney Morning Herald article the outcome was becoming clearer, the situation having been moved along by hostile tweets from Abbott's political pollster and adviser, Mark Textor and unhelpful remarks by former Coalition Foreign Minister AlexanderDowner: 

The President spoke warmly of the relationship with Australia, but said he had ordered the suspension or review of several areas of co-operation, particularly on information sharing and the exchange of intelligence.

"I have also asked my military to temporarily stop the joint army and navy exercises and also to temporarily stop any co-ordinated military operations, the joint patrols,'' he said.

"As you know, the people-smuggling issue has troubled both Indonesia and Australia, so we have co-ordinated military operations or co-ordinated patrols in the ocean, but until this issue is all clear it will be stopped."...

Is this the royal 'we', Madam Speaker, or are you inviting the Abbott Government to consent to your ruling?

The Australian House of Representatives Hansard of 13 November 2013 highlights the ambiguity in language used by The Speaker, the still active member of the parliamentary wing of the Liberal Party Bronwyn Bishop:

Mr Pyne: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Standing order 100(d)(ii) indicates that 'argument' should not be included in questions. I know that a wide definition has been permitted for questions, particularly from oppositions, over the years, but the phrase 'betray the Australian people' is clearly an argument and I put it to you that that part of the question should be ruled out of order.

The SPEAKER: I think on this occasion we might give a little leniency to the Leader of the Opposition and let his question stand. [my red bolding]

UPDATE

The problem concerning language used by the Speaker is now on the Hansard record.

Hansard 21 November 2013:

Mr BURKE (Watson—Manager of Opposition Business) (12:46): I move:

That the Speaker's ruling be dissented from......

I must say it is the first time I can recall that I have had a Speaker refer to the government's position using the pronoun 'we'. That was an extraordinary part of the way you sought to explain yourself to the chamber. If it was not enough for us to have a Speaker physically brought to the chair by a Prime Minister and a Leader of the House, to then have rulings that are governed by the term 'we' referring to yourself and the government as one, changes the role of your chair entirely and changes the role of the high office you occupy entirely.....

The SPEAKER: I ask you to withdraw the reflection on the chair that was made.

Mr BURKE: I withdraw.... 

However, Ms. Bishop took exception insisted Mr.Burke withdraw that part of his dissent motion.

 Ms.Bishop apparently also took exception to this tweet on the subject by an Opposition MP:

Rob Mitchell ‏@RobMitchellMP
Speaker makes ruling citing WE as in Govt Independence of chair gone

6:10 PM - 20 Nov 13 

Diving into the pool of ignorance

Letter  to the Editor in The Daily Examiner 14 November 2013:

Pool of ignorance

WE IGNORE history at our peril. Whenever science makes advances which challenge long-held beliefs the reaction is always the same.

Enthusiastic vociferants emerge from the pond of general ignorance to rubbish the findings and pillory any person who should speak out on behalf of the science.

But what would the world be like if the deniers/sceptics had been correct?

1. The world would be flat.

2. The sun, planets and stars would circle the earth.

3. The earth would be less than 10,000 years old.

4. Fossils are the result of recent catastrophic occurrences.

5. Biodiversity is not the result of evolution.

6. The continents are fixed in position.

7. The Holocaust is a Zionist fabrication.

8. Tobacco products are good for your health.

9. The moon landing was filmed in the Arizona desert, and so on.

So will time also relegate our climate deniers/sceptics to the wheelie bin of history where they would join the flat earthers and the geocentrists? Maybe they will find some solace in that history also shows that often deniers/sceptics are long since passed on, leaving their descendants to ponder 'How could they have ignored the bleeding obvious?'.

Ted Strong
Seelands

Prime Minister rejects lease on $2.8 million house in Forrest, ACT

It would appear that either Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott really enjoys the company of young police cadets in his current academy digs or is determined to keep his family as far away from Canberra as possible for most of the year, because at the outset he rejected the house leased for him at 34 Arthur Circle, Forrest, ACT, just minutes away from Parliament House.

It has lain empty since sometime in September this year and is reportedly costing taxpayers $3,000 a week. The Prime Minister apparently preferring to house his wife in their own million dollar family home at 32 Lady Davidson Circuit, Forestville, NSW rather than with him when Parliament is in session or when he is otherwise officially engaged in Canberra.

The house in Arthur Circle.........