House debates Questions to the Speaker
Parliamentary Behaviour
Kate Ellis Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment Participation and Childcare
3:07 pm
Mr Speaker I seek clarification on the point that the member for Hume made earlier—
Kate Ellis Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment Participation and Childcare
It is a question to you, if you would like.
Opposition members interjecting—
Okay, I have a question to you. Do you think it would be appropriate in this House that we set a standard that (1) we try and lessen the insults and (2) we say that it is totally inappropriate to have gendered insults continually thrown across the chamber and, on a day when we are all saying we are encouraging respect for women, we stand up against it.
Peter Slipper Fisher, Liberal Party
As the Speaker, I am the arbiter of what is parliamentary and what is unparliamentary. I would counsel all honourable members on both sides to observe civilities because, if that does not occur, our chamber might often appear to have a lot fewer than 150 members.