A group of Coalition MPs have been reprimanded after injuring a female House attendant while trying to avoid a vote on Tuesday afternoon.
It’s been reported that the incident occurred when the group barrelled their way towards one of the exits of the House of Representatives as the lower house had been voting on a government bill on income-management policies.
Speaker of the House Milton Dick said he’d ordered the doors to be locked according to procedure during a parliamentary vote, but that some Opposition MPs decided to force their way through the doors anyways.
A female House attendant trying to close the doors had her arm injured in the scuffle.
“The most serious aspect of this incident is that members physically pushed their way past the attendant to get out of the chamber, resulting in them getting hit in the doorframe and hurting their arm,” said the Speaker, adding that he is “particularly disgusted by this behaviour” and “will not tolerate it”.
Speaker of the House Dick said he’d received a written report about this incident, and on Wednesday morning, each of the Coalition MPs involved in the attendant’s injury stood to issue an apology after being read the riot act.
Members of this reprimanded group were Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor, Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie, Shadow Immigration Minister Dan Tehan, Shadow Climate Change and Energy Minister Ted O’Brien, former deputy Speaker Llew O’Brien, and backbenchers Zoe McKenzie and Sam Birrell.
Amongst the apologies, Andrew Hastie said, “I particularly regret any issues with the staff member involved, and I apologise to her unreservedly.”
Former deputy speaker Llew O’Brien also said, “Our staff here in the chamber do an incredible job — and one of them is not crowd control — and I apologise to them for that.”
In having the Liberal MPs apologise, the Speaker said he’s committed to making the building and chamber “safe and respectful places of work for all”.
“For a staff member of this place to be treated in this way, when they are simply doing their job, is disrespectful and a very serious matter.”
“We all know that members are busy, however I’m sure we would all agree that no member’s time is worth more than a staff member’s safety.”