The dramatic vote in the House of Representatives today left Peter Slipper hanging by a thread. There is no doubt his position is untenable – the numerous text messages and continual rorting bring great dishonour to the institution of the Speaker and the Parliament itself.
I doubt that any person would survive in any job – private or public sector – with such a record. Could you imagine a departmental secretary or chief executive being allowed to stay in the job if behaviour less scandalous became public? Mark McInnes was thrown out of David Jones for far lesser offenses.
Yet we have great hypocrisy on show in the House of Representatives – from the Labor members (including Craig Thomson), from Rob Oakeshott, from Tony Windsor and from Adam Bandt. They have shown they will not stand up for the victims of sexual harassment or against obnoxious behaviour if it doesn’t suit their political interests.
Clearly the likes of Tanya Plibersek and Nicola Roxon consider that the behaviour of Peter Slipper is acceptable. The same people who claim Tony Abbott has a ‘women problem’.
What standards do they wish to set – do they think it is acceptable if ministerial staffers spend their time sending sexually laden text messages?
The Speaker should be above any suspicion. As the House of Representative Practice (quoting the House of Commons practice) states:
The Speaker . . . is the representative of the House itself in its powers, proceedings and dignity. The
Speaker’s functions fall into three main categories. First, the Speaker is the spokesman or
representative of the House in its relations with the Crown, the House of Lords and other authorities
and persons outside Parliament. Second, the Speaker presides over the debates of the House . . . and
enforces the observance of all rules for preserving order in its proceedings. Third, the Speaker has
administrative responsibilities.
We have a Speaker whose bahaviour has been so disgusting, yet quoting the House of Representatives again
In the Commonwealth order of precedence the Speaker is ranked directly
after the Governor-General, State Governors, the Prime Minister, and a Premier within that
Premier’s State.
This is an absolute disgrace.
The dissembling by Labor that a Court case needs to conclude is rubbish. The Constitution does not require, nor allow, a Court to decide the position of Speaker (that’s separation of powers). Only the Members of the House of Representatives decide who has their confidence as Speaker. By voting for Slipper, the following people have brought the institution of the House of Representatives to its knees and have expressed their confidence in Slipper as Speaker:
(UPDATED – this is the record from Hansard)
She is on her way out.
Mike of Marion
9 Oct 12 at 4:39 pm
They should be stripped of their “Honourable” honorific.
Gab
9 Oct 12 at 4:42 pm
She shall forever be known in my house as “PM Salty Mussel Meat”. Apparently it’s fine to say that.
Gibbo
9 Oct 12 at 4:45 pm
It’s also fine to refer to women as c–ts. It’s been endorsed by the female PM.
Gab
9 Oct 12 at 4:47 pm
Can the media ever refer to her “muscling up to the opposition leader” ever again?
Viva
9 Oct 12 at 4:50 pm
Samuel J misses the key point.
The issue is not who voted, nor which way they voted.
The issue is who didn’t vote… a certain Bob Katter.
He could have produced a very different result had he bothered to stroll down to the chamber.
marlene nguyen
9 Oct 12 at 4:50 pm
No, Marlene, Katter voted against Slipper.
There were 74 votes on each side (with Slipper and the Acting Speaker not voting), and then the Acting Speaker voted in favour of Slipper.
Samuel J
9 Oct 12 at 4:56 pm
How dreadfully sad it is to see such honourable men and women as Crean, Ferguson and Burke (to name but three of many I admire in that list) be reduced to this, all for the sake of a few months more of the tawdry baubles of power.
Can they not see the damage they do?
mct
9 Oct 12 at 4:58 pm
The key point is twofold – (i) not just Labor, but (ii) the Green and the two so-called independents voted for this act of self-preservation at any cost.
They are revealed.
blogstrop
9 Oct 12 at 4:59 pm
should boycott the delegation. It is a waste of money anyhow.
Samuel J
9 Oct 12 at 5:00 pm
The only argument directed to the Coalition reasons was that ‘we should wait and see what happens in the Federal Court’. This is obviously specious. Suppose Rares J throws out the Ashby suit – even finds that the evidence of the two offending e-mails was irrelevant – how would that remove the stain on Slipper’s character?
Dreyfus appeared to suggest that we don’t know whether the e-mails are somehow reflective of what Slipper said. This is close to dishonest. He knows (he said so) that the evidence was admitted in the abuse of process case, which has now finished (apart from Rares judgment). Slipper did not challenge the veracity of the e-mails in this proceeding and he must be taken to accept that he did create them.
rafiki
9 Oct 12 at 5:02 pm
A truly offensive word that Gab, and a truly offensive clutch of rotten women in this gummint who endorse its ready use by the grubs with whom they work.
Do they not see that there are a hell of a lot of decent people watching all of this unfold, who are not at all impressed by their complete surrender of any pretence to polite, mature behaviour?
Mick Gold Coast QLD
9 Oct 12 at 5:03 pm
Good to see Dr Andrew Leigh show up for a vote – the sniveling rodent.
Keith
9 Oct 12 at 5:12 pm
We witnessed the end of Australian ‘feminism’ today.
“Leave me alone – I’m a girl. DADDY – waaaaaaah!”
C.L.
9 Oct 12 at 5:12 pm
I blame the union background, I’m sure there are honourable and honest Union officials but what we’ve learned from the AWU Wilson/Blewitt scandal and the HSU Williamson charges is that self interest and self promotion supersedes the interest of those you’re meant to be protecting
In other words stuff the huddling masses
That’s what the current Govt is showing, self interest coupled with self preservation is above everything. It’s more important than a duty to govern in the interest of the Australian people.
The Unions have bred these people
val majkus
9 Oct 12 at 5:12 pm
and mct Crean, Ferguson and Burke were not tied to their seats
val majkus
9 Oct 12 at 5:14 pm
Fair Work Australia – you can’t be sacked even when you make a right mussel of yourself.
Note that only 2/70 were from WA. Secession now!
Infidel Tiger
9 Oct 12 at 5:15 pm
You can be a dreadfully pompous blowhard, Samuel.
Surprise surprise, Abbott called for a suspension of standing orders for the umpteenth time, shutting down question time for the purposes of a stunt which was always going to fail. It’s his only tactic. It became boring years ago.
There was never any substance to the Ashby case, it was set up by the Liberal Party from the outset as a weapon to use against the government. Today was a continuation of the strategy by the faceless men of the right to undermine the institution of the parliament, using a trumped up grab-bag of charges that will not survive scrutiny in the current court case. Their agenda is to force an early election by attacking parliamentary and/or judicial process, anything to get the AEC involved before the opinion polls turn against them for good.
By the way, why would Abbott double down on the “dying of shame” phrase? Hasn’t he spent days trying to distance himself from Alan Jones, only to use his exact phrase again today? How stupid is he?
m0nty
9 Oct 12 at 5:19 pm
Ah, monty’s received the latest Musselini talking points.
Gab
9 Oct 12 at 5:23 pm
So why did bedraggled hausfrau and shampoo hater Roxon pay him $50k then?
Infidel Tiger
9 Oct 12 at 5:23 pm
Clearly not as stupid as you footy fanboy.
Have you and your lot been out celebrating Hugo’s recent win?
DavidJ
9 Oct 12 at 5:24 pm
The sad fact is you actually believe that pile of shit you’ve just written, mOnt.
harrys on the boat
9 Oct 12 at 5:24 pm
If there “was never any substance to the Ashby case”, why did the Commonwealth) who were sued on the basis that Ashby’s claims were true, settle with him by paying $50,000 and undertaking to provide some sort of re-education of MPs? There is also the yet unexplained withdrawal of Slipper’s lawyers. Did they tell him that his case was hopeless? I don’t know, but maybe.
rafiki
9 Oct 12 at 5:27 pm
I don’t think Nanny Roxon, Plibersek, Ellis, Macklin have any respect for the Parliament or the office of Speaker.
By the time you join the ALP Federal caucus you have a long history of just holding your nose and voting the way you are told to.
H B Bear
9 Oct 12 at 5:33 pm
Uber beta Andrew Leigh is on the list supporting Slipper. Lol
This is the little creep who suggested on Lateline last Friday night Abbott has a problem with women because he refers to the Lying Slapper as “she” sometimes.
Men, real men have a problem with Leigh. He should not ever be considered a male member of the species as he’s an embarrassment.
JC
9 Oct 12 at 5:47 pm
Honest Question:
Is Leigh on Emily’s List?
JC
9 Oct 12 at 5:48 pm
If nothing else, the use of his work phone to send explicit texts to a colleague would, in any other workplace in the country, bring instant suspension and a full internal investigation.
And if it was a set up by the Libs then it only proves how dumb the Government is in that it has not managed to prove that. Perhaps you should contact The Red-Headed Dunderhead and offer your clearly superior investigative services. Don’t break your crystal ball on the way to Canberra.
Monty, brain permanently in power saving mode.
Megan
9 Oct 12 at 5:51 pm
I’m actually pretty sure there aren’t.
Carpe Jugulum
9 Oct 12 at 5:51 pm
He was the bright new intellectual ALP hero and future PM.
The Lying Slapper has destroyed not just the ALP brand but everyone who serves under her.
Like moronic lemmings they follow her.
It’s an indictment of the medja as well.
Apparently though 40% of the population have not eyes to see.
That fact is what is so deeply depressing and will continue to be even when the Coalition slaughter this malignant crew at the next election.
Leigh will be a definite survivor because of his Canberra electorate.
JamesK
9 Oct 12 at 5:59 pm
Slipper, poet to the parliament;
Could Joyce have done any Better!? Look at Yeat’s paltry efforts:
Still, despite Slipper’s wondrous image it is hardly unique; the vagina has often been compared to food from the sea or otherwise:
bearded clam, bearded oyster, beef curtain, fur burger, fur pie and the ham wallet.
Credit where credit is due, we haven’t seen this sort of flair since Keating went senile; and Pickering has created another memorable dickless wonder out of Slipper.
In terms of value for money Slipper is right up there in the pornographic vista which is our federal government.
Send him to the UN I say.
cohenite
9 Oct 12 at 6:00 pm
He’d fit right in at the UN. He’s got all the right corrupt and perverted credentials.
Cato the Elder
9 Oct 12 at 6:12 pm
Perhaps Jones should launch a petition against the ‘Speaker’
Rousie
9 Oct 12 at 6:16 pm
m0nty, you must be trying to make hammymussel look sane. You are a deadset fuckwit of a troll…
Skuter
9 Oct 12 at 6:26 pm
Does Labor honestly think Australia will be happy to have Slipper back as Speaker? Most of us know that in any job in the community texting what he did to Ashby would see him lose his job! Everyone had a mother, some have partners and sibling girls etc, and I suspect the rage at this abomination of the integrity of our parliament will see Labor’s stocks sink again.
The woman who must be called PM behaves as a right royal guttersnipe in her personal attacks that she uses when she tries to defend the indefensible.
Today she was almost out of control she was so desperate! Like Thomson, like Slipper,rubbing our noses in their contempt for anything traditional and fine and good and forcing us to stomach more grubbiness!–so when are we going to get justice for the AWU rorts of the 90′s???
Jazza
9 Oct 12 at 6:27 pm
Wow. A new conspiracy theory. Is Abbott behind it all?
Pell?
And kind of odd, yes, that the government gave 50,000 to Ashby because he was going to win.
C.L.
9 Oct 12 at 6:29 pm
Well that’s all sorted.
Did he decide for himself, or did someone from the grubbernment have a word in his shell-like.
lotocoti
9 Oct 12 at 6:30 pm
Slipper resigns.
Cold-Hands
9 Oct 12 at 6:32 pm
Turnbull for speaker?
SteveC
9 Oct 12 at 6:32 pm
Today was a masterclass in political rope-a-dope from Abbott.
He knew Gillard had to support Slipper and he knew that she’d do so by raving on about sexist sexism again. Finally, he knew that all the evening news bulletins would show Gillard screeching about being a victim again – and this in defence of the Speaker she chose (who believes women are c—ts).
He being a Rhodes scholar and she being a sacked ambulance chaser, she of course walked straight into it. Duh.
C.L.
9 Oct 12 at 6:33 pm
I bet Oakeshott will be putting up his hand.
Cold-Hands
9 Oct 12 at 6:33 pm
And to top it all off, after she spends a good few hours defending Slipper, he resigns, leaving Gillard red-faced that for all her efforts the mussel up and left.
Gab
9 Oct 12 at 6:35 pm
Samuel, Katter refrained from voting coward that I think he is. There is a post from someone who contacted his office and was told that fact, on (www.michaelsmithnews.com)
Seems “he doesn’t consider the parliament a courtroom”,but apparently no word on why it has all these customs where votes can be taken to DEDUCE THE OPINIONS OF MEMBERS” on all kinds of matters,not accepting any one member’s opinion as that of the parliament as a whole!
Jazza
9 Oct 12 at 6:36 pm
Now to see Grattan spin this as a triumph of the feisty Red Dalek rather than the embarassment that it is…
Cold-Hands
9 Oct 12 at 6:38 pm
What a great investment the gaffe machine made today in her future legacy.
Yes, there will be pub quizes in 20 years where they ask…
…which PM stood in question time for 2 hours and defended a speaker known at “the mussel-man” and gave a vote of confidence in his calling women “c**ts”?
I’m sure I’ll be that guy writing that quiz.
Token
9 Oct 12 at 6:39 pm
And so ends another Gillard master-stroke.
Medicare Gold all over again.
H B Bear
9 Oct 12 at 6:39 pm
I’m sure she will, and to stay classy she’ll throw in a quip about Margy Abbott cooking a roast.
Token
9 Oct 12 at 6:40 pm
And Slipper has just resigned as Speaker. At least he had more integrity than the Government!!
Glen
9 Oct 12 at 6:47 pm
Daily, I stand with bowed head and in humble awe at the mighty and splendid inverse political genius of the Lying Slapper.
The look on her face as Slipper quit was priceless.
Mk50 of Brisbane
9 Oct 12 at 8:33 pm
I object to the term Honorable given to these scrub ticks. There is NOT one ounce of Honour between the LOT of them. Labor and LNP. Except for Barnaby Joyce. The only decent politician in Australia. BARNABY for P.M.
george tipp
9 Oct 12 at 10:35 pm