State Parliament has been thrown into yet more chaos, after Labor attempted to test Speaker Ken Smith’s control of the lower house – resulting ultimately in a suspension that will last until November 26.
Rather than risking a vote against his authority, Mr Smith instead suspended Parliament in the opening minutes of the session, and had at one stage on Thursday morning left the building.
Labor MPs antagonised the speaker at the opening of Parliament on Thursday but Mr Smith refused to eject them for poor behaviour.
He said he would return to the Speaker’s chair – but he also said if MPs continued to misbehave, he would continue to suspend the entire lower house rather than eject individuals. That could mean Parliament is halted repeatedly throughout the day.
Then Parliament was shut down for the third time by the Speaker after two suspensions of the house in chaotic scenes.
Mr Smith said Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews’ conduct was appalling and then suspended Parliament while the chamber calmed down.
Less than two minutes after parliament resumed, Mr Smith suspended the sitting for a second time after Labor MP for Bendigo Jacinta Allan attempted to move a point of order. She told Mr Smith “you are not the Speaker”.
Mr Smith is hamstrung because Labor will challenge any ejection, which would force a vote that Mr Smith is not guaranteed to win.
On Tuesday independent MP Geoff Shaw said he has lost confidence in the Speaker.
If Mr Smith loses a formal vote, convention dictates that he should resign.
Mr Smith said it was up to opposition MPs to improve their behaviour and that he had done all he could to uphold order.
He said he has the support of the Premier and the government but stopped short of saying he had the support of the Parliament.
Mr Smith said Labor’s attempts were contrived and an attempt to make the Speaker kick them out.
He said Mr Shaw’s comments yesterday were not significant.
“What Geoff Shaw said isn’t a big deal. The guy is an independent, he can do and say what he likes. If he doesn’t like me that is just unfortunate.”
Mr Shaw said he approached Mr Smith about referring his altercation with taxi protesters on the steps of Parliament to the privileges committee.
“The Speaker needs to make sure workers get there safely,” he told the ABC.
Mr Shaw briskly walked out of the back of State Parliament and caught a train to Frankston after the chaos in the Legislative Assembly chamber this morning.
The Frankston MP said he had not been asked to leave by government MPs in order to resolve the suspension deadlock.
“I am not really wanting to help anything. You know my thoughts with regards to the speaker you have seen what he has left in there, it’s a rabble, he hasn’t got the support of the majority of the Parliament.”
He said Parliament was a farce and it was time to go back to Frankston to do some work.
“Nothing is happening in there, I’m getting a bit tired of it and I need to get back to my area where people vote for me.”
He said resolving concerns about the Speaker was not his issue.
“My job is to lookafter Frankston. What happens in there doesn’t affect the people out here what I do in my electorate in Frankston is what really matters.”
Mr Shaw denied he’d left the parliament after making any deal with the government.
Mr Smith said he had no reason to test the numbers.
“If the opposition carry on, the public are going to be made very much aware of their behaviour which has been ongoing for the past three years. They are just pushing.”
“If the behaviour of the opposition improves then we will be able to get back into the Parliament.”
“They want to get me to a position where I’m going to have to name them, I’m not going to do that I will just suspend the sitting of the parliament.”
Liberal MPs were seen during the suspension holding talks with Mr Shaw.
After sitting in the MPs’ private cafe, the Speaker left parliament through the front door.
