By Michelle Grattan
The Senate has censured two of its own, Lidia Thorpe and Ralph Babet, both of whom were absent when the votes were taken because of problems with their flights to Canberra.
Thorpe, a crossbencher who defected from the Greens, was condemned for her disruption of the parliamentary reception during King Charles’ visit.
Babet, the sole parliamentary representative of Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party, was condemned for a disgusting social media post.
The censure against Babet went through on the voices. That against Thorpe was carried overwhelmingly, but the Greens, ACT Senator David Pocock and Nationals Matt Canavan voted against.
Canavan spoke on both motions, objecting to their being considered in the senators’ absence. Pocock didn’t speak but had a similar objection.
The motions were moved by Senate leader Penny Wong and supported by the opposition.
Thorpe said after the vote that her flight had been delayed, and “I was denied my right to be in that chamber whilst everybody else voted to shut me down”.
Thorpe said she didn’t “give a damn” about the censure. “In fact, I’m going to use it for kindling later on in the week.”
Senator Fatima Payman, previously a Labor senator but now on the crossbench, condemned the government for proceeding with the motion against Thorpe despite the fact her plane was delayed.
The censure against Thorpe said her protest had been “disrespecful” and “disruptive”.
It called on all senators to refrain from “inflammatory and divisive actions” both inside and outside the chamber.
It said in light of her conduct, it was not appropriate for Thorpe to represent the Senate as a member of a delegation during the rest of this parliament.
Babet had shared a clip from Andrew Tate, and posted “In my house we say phaggot [sic], retard and n—-r. We are sick of you woke ass clowns. Cry more. Write an article. Tweet about me. No one cares what you think”.
The motion censuring Babet condemned him for “his inflammatory use of hate speech designed to drive division for his own political benefit”.
The notion “assures all Australians that no matter their race, religion, gender, sex, or sexuality that they are valued, welcome members of our society”.
It said there could be “no tolerance for hate speech in the course of parliamentarians’ public debate.”
It called on “all senators to engage in debates and commentary respectfully, and to refrain from inflammatory and divisive comments” at all times.
Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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