The deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, says the Coalition makes “no apology” for its “passion”-filled performances in question time as parliamentary workplace behaviour is once again in the spotlight.
A new parliamentary workplace sanctions body is on the horizon after the Albanese government unveiled its proposed Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission (IPSC) on Wednesday.
The body, which Labor hopes will be up and running by October, will investigate allegations of misconduct against politicians, with the power to hand down consequences.
Punishments can include a fine, ranging between 2 and 5% of their annual salary, suspension from parliamentary committees and mandatory training or professional development.
It means a backbench MP’s salary could be docked as much as $11,682. Other sanctions could include being discharged from a parliamentary committee or even a suspension from Parliament.
It comes as several crossbench MPs call for an end to bad behaviour in question time, accusing the opposition of “condescending”, “aggressive” and “often misogynistic” performances in recent weeks.
There is no suggestion the ejections from parliament are related to the behaviour alleged by the teal crossbench MPs.
Guardian analysis on Wednesday revealed Coalition MPs accounted for more than 80% of the nearly 200 occasions this parliament an MP was ejected from question time. Thirty-six ejections were Labor MPs, while a Greens MP was booted out once.
Ranking first in the number of times ejected from the 47th parliament is the shadow NDIS minister, Michael Sukkar. He is followed by Barker MP Tony Pasin with 20 ejections, and LNP colleagues, Garth Hamilton and Henry Pike, who have both been thrown out 12 times.
But while teal MPs, Zali Steggall, Kylea Tink, Zoe Daniel, Allegra Spender and Sophie Scamps, joined together on Wednesday to condemn the shouting, heckling and name-calling that has become a hallmark of each question time, their frustrations were largely dismissed by the opposition.
Ley told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that passions and frustrations run high in the hour-or-so question time – especially when questions are left substantively unanswered. The deputy opposition leader, who has been ejected from the chamber 11 times since May 2022, said the liveliness reflected the “passion” that politicians bring to the job.
“We bring that passion into the chamber. It’s not just me, lots of us do. We bring that passion, we bring that sense of debate at the strongest possible level, and we make no apology for that,” she said.
Ley accused Steggall of launching “personal and particularly nasty attacks” against the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, last week during a debate about visas for Palestinians fleeing the Israel-Gaza conflict.
During the heated debate, Steggall, who had the floor, told an interjecting Dutton to “stop being racist” before withdrawing the comment. The opposition leader later called her a “zealot” with “extreme views” while Steggall doubled down on an allegation his stance was racist in an interview with Guardian Australia. Dutton denied his stance was racist.
Ley on Wednesday said if the crossbench wanted to be treated with respect, they needed to “consider their own behaviour”.
“[The comments] were not professional. They were not responsible, and they were repeated inside and outside the chamber,” she said.
“So I’m waiting to see what the independents, the Teals, are going to do to address the behaviour of their fellow member, Zali Steggall. Because none of them have called her out on this.”
Earlier in the day, Steggall described the question time conduct as “mob mentality” and suggested the introduction of term limits could improve behavioural standards.
“[Dutton is] the first to turn around in those situations and yell out and heckle and the MPs under him, the coalition MPs, take their cue from his leadership and that is unacceptable,” Steggall said while highlighting she had experienced similar behaviour from Labor MPs.
Tink had also alleged the conduct of “some Coalition MPs” was misogynistic.
The IPSC will be used to enforce behaviour standards and codes applying to all federal politicians and staffers, adopted following the release of the landmark Set the Standard report.
The codes include a commitment to treat all with “integrity, dignity, safety and mutual respect” as well as a total ban on bullying and harassment, sexual harassment and assault, and discrimination in all forms.
However, the body would not be able to investigate any comments made under parliamentary privilege – meaning the mud-slinging between politicians during question time would most likely be exempt.
Complaints made to the new body will be assessed by a single commissioner to determine whether an investigation should commence. Three commissioners would then decide whether the breach occurred and could refer serious misconduct to the privileges committee.
While the principles of the sanctions body were negotiated in a cross-party taskforce, it will still need to pass both houses and avoid being referred to a committee for further inquiry.
Ley said she and the opposition would consider the bill “carefully”.