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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-06-18 Daily Xml
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Members' Behaviour

Ms LUETHEN (King) (16:03): Recently, I called upon members of the South Australian parliament to reflect on our own behaviour in this place and endeavour to find ways to act more respectfully. I suggested that it is time to set a more respectful leadership example for our community and our younger generation. One reason I feel this is important is that the disrespectful behaviour in here is often viewed by school students, parents and community members.

Secondly, aggressive behaviour in this workplace could deter people from sharing their thoughts openly, and it could obstruct community-focused debate, which would not be in the best interests of our community. I appreciate the Speaker's speech that followed my Tuesday 4 June speech. Our Speaker said that both sides of this house should take heed of my comments and reflect, and you asked for cooperation of all members to maintain order—

Mr BROWN: Point of order: it is disorderly to quote from Hansard during the same session of parliament.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order, member for King. You are not able to quote directly from Hansard in this case, so just rephrase things a bit.

Ms LUETHEN: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I agree with our Speaker that we are all privileged to be elected to this place and that with that privilege come the responsibilities of acting with respect and consideration and being role models for our community. It is time. Just as a parliament before us several hundred years ago decided to ban members wearing swords, it is time now for us to ban aggressive and disrespectful behaviour.

On the radio Spin Cycle, I heard Mike Smithson say that throat-cutting gestures have been around forever, but that does not mean that, just because it has been acceptable in the past, these types of violent gestures are acceptable today. They are just not.

Last week, I had the privilege of leading four school tours from Our Lady of Hope Catholic School in Parliament House. I would like to commend these classes of grades 5, 6 and 7 students, as their behaviour was exemplary. We spoke about parliamentary process and the standing orders in parliament and how they guide our respectful behaviour so that we can best represent our constituents' views. I asked if any of the students had seen politicians behaving badly, and I was not surprised when so many hands went up. The problem with this is that these children are only 10, 11 and 12 years old, yet they know that the behaviour in this place and federally is not as they would like to see.

I was pleased when a teacher from Our Lady of Hope School reiterated to students the importance of respecting each other's views, and this was certainly demonstrated when the students confidently took turns debating their nominated bills. The students chose to debate a bill to ban plastic straws in SA. Some students chose a bill to ban mobile phones from classrooms. Not surprisingly, every student crossed the floor to vote against the ban on mobile phones from classrooms. Amusingly, a repeated argument they put forward on why mobiles were needed was the need to call for help if a teacher passed out on the job.

We know that too many South Australian children are growing up witnessing violence. If a child is unfortunately growing up in a household where there is disrespectful and violent behaviour between parents, we must work together to make sure that, when these children come into this place and watch us in parliament, we are definitely not reinforcing that disrespect or aggressive behaviour is the norm.

We need these children to see that there is another way. We can show these children a respectful way of disagreeing. We can show these children a respectful way of negotiating to get the best outcomes. We play an important role in helping to break the cycle of abuse when we teach children by our example to be more respectful and caring. It is time for us not only to call out disrespect but to stop being bystanders if we see it.

On this front, it has been pleasing to read that Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the federal opposition leader have said that union leader John Setka should resign from his position at the construction union. The Advertiser reported in 2017 that Victorian police charged Setka with the alleged harassment of a woman, recklessly causing her injury. You would think this would be enough to call for this person to step down.

David Penberthy wrote, 'John Setka has been calling people dogs and maggots (and worse),' words that I did not want to say in this place, 'for years'. We must all stop being bystanders to behaviour that supports aggression, harassment and violence. I call on all members to condemn this behaviour, too, even though it has been quiet on the other side.

My King community have told me repeatedly that they expect better behaviour from politicians. I look forward to our working together to set a new respectful standard of behaviour in line with our community's expectations. On this side, I can see that, in the last sitting week and this week, we are off to a great start to stop it at the start.


At 16:09 the house adjourned until Wednesday 19 June 2019 at 10:30.

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