Via the ABC:
Tasmania’s Opposition is considering referring the Greens leader to the powerful Parliamentary privileges committee after her defence against accusations of racism led to a fiery exchange with the Speaker.
Greens MP Cassy O’Connor stormed out of Tasmania’s House of Assembly on Thursday evening after Speaker Sue Hickey cut short an impassioned speech.
Ms O’Connor was on her feet responding to a Tuesday missive from Labor MP Ella Haddad in which the Shadow Attorney-General repeatedly referred to the Greens leader as “having an unconscious bias against China” when she was ordered to sit down by Ms Hickey.
Ms O’Connor has been outspoken about human rights abuses in China as well as alleged Chinese Communist Party interest in Tasmania.
She recently confused Victorian developer Hui Wang, who has plans for an apartment complex in Hobart, with Xin De Wang, a Buddhist monk with an extensive property portfolio in the same city.
Ms O’Connor has repeatedly apologised for the mistake, which Ms Haddad on Tuesday suggested contributed to issues with racism.
When an emotional Ms O’Connor responded late on Thursday, telling the Lower House she was responding to a “lie” and had been wrongly accused of the “most grotesque motives”, the Speaker asked her to sit down.
“I think it’s a personal attack and I am not comfortable with it,” Ms Hickey said.
Ms O’Connor shot back that she would return to the Lower House to demand an apology from Ms Haddad, pointing her finger at Ms Hickey and slamming her books on her desk.
The Speaker responded: “Who do you think you are? Sit down”, adding that she thought the comments were “unparliamentary and disgraceful”.
Ms O’Connor then left the Lower House after yelling “how dare you” several times at Ms Haddad.
“I still do not know why or on what grounds, and no grounds were provided under the Standing Orders by the Speaker, as is required in the House,” Ms O’Connor said.
“The Parliament of Tasmania is a place where all members should have the opportunity to speak freely, and particularly on human rights abuses.”
Ms Hickey declined to comment.
In a statement released after Parliament, Ms O’Connor said she believed she was responding “in the proper form” to allegations made against her on Tuesday before she was “shut down by the Speaker”.
‘Intimidating and unacceptable’: Labor
A Labor spokesman suggested the party could refer Ms O’Connor to the privileges committee, which looks at MPs’ behaviour in Parliament against the legislation governing its processes.
“Cassy O’Connor’s conduct was ignorant and dismissive of the Speaker and entirely unparliamentary,” the Labor spokesman said.
The last MP to face the committee — former Braddon MHA Adam Brooks — resigned before hearings were held.
Ms Hickey, Ms Haddad and Ms O’Connor are all members of the privileges committee.
Cracks between Labor and the Greens have widened in the past year, with both parties working hard to distance themselves from the other through various motions in Parliament.
Prison and/or fine possible punishment
Standing Orders dictate that if Ms O’Connor was found guilty of contempt under the Parliamentary Privilege Act 1858, the Lower House could ask a fine of up to $40.
If unpaid, she could be imprisoned for up to two weeks by the Sergeant-at-Arms with $4 owed for each day detained.
Contempt against the Commons could also be prosecuted in the Supreme Court, where people found guilty would face two years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $20,000, according to the Tasmanian Parliamentary Library.
The committee has not inquired into an MP in several decades — despite threats to do so.
Classic gaslighting:
- provoke with racism label;
- get a reaction then declare it inappropriate.
Cassie O’Connor should know better than to be goaded by Labor’s China borderlines.
Yet, in the end, this only adds to the great pile of evidence that Labor cannot be trusted to rule because it remains in thrall to the CCP. Very said for it and for the country given it leaves us entirely in the hands of the deeply corrupt Morrison Government.
And while we’re at it:
BREAKING: Brisbane’s second largest university QUT sets five security guards on Brisbane Hong Kong students protesting outside QUT’s Confucius Institute @HKIAbrisbane pic.twitter.com/tYJIbOPbGp
— Drew Pavlou 柏乐志 (@DrewPavlou) August 21, 2020
Avagoodweekend.
