MPs on notice over social media posts following ‘cross your legs’ dispute

Queensland politicians are increasingly refusing to remove social media posts which breach parliament’s strict broadcast rules, drawing a rare rebuke from Speaker Curtis Pitt who signalled further action.

Queensland politicians are increasingly refusing to remove social media posts which breach parliament’s strict broadcast rules, drawing a rare rebuke from Speaker Curtis Pitt.

The MPs have now been put on notice and told to review their social media posts, with Mr Pitt signalling further action if they are no longer deterred by the current “informal way of dealing” with the issue.

The broad admonishment of parliamentarians comes amid an ongoing stoush between Health Minister Shannon Fentiman and her Opposition counterpart Ros Bates.

Ms Bates has demanded Ms Fentiman and the government apologise and retract their statements after posting a video of her across social media.

The video, a snippet of Question Time, focused on Ms Fentiman providing an answer on sporadic maternity ward closures in regional towns due to planned and unplanned staff absences.

Ms Bates can be heard on the audio, and as recorded in the official transcript, yelling out “cross your legs” - a phrase she later clarified was to suggest the government was seemingly telling mothers to hold their babies in while in labour.

Queensland Speaker Curtis Pitt. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

The video, shared widely by Labor MPs including Premier Steven Miles, went viral across social media platforms including X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and TikTok.

When the video was first shared it had been captioned “close your legs”, then later corrected to “cross your legs”.

Some government MPs were also promoting an online petition calling for Ms Bates to be sacked, as the Gold Coast MP copped a barrage of abuse online.

Mr Pitt, without referring to specific breaches or videos, said snippets of the parliamentary broadcast cannot be used for satire, ridicule, or commercial gain.

He said it also required proceedings to be “placed in context, so as to avoid any misrepresentation”.

Ros Bates denies she said “close your legs”, instead it was “cross your legs” referring to mothers about to give birth. Picture: Richard Walker

Shannon Fentiman shared the video online.

Mr Pitt said there had been increasing complaints about MPs using these materials on social media in a way that was “arguably misrepresenting proceedings”.

Currently the issue is being dealt with “informally”, with MPs approached by the Clerk or Speaker to take down the posts.

“In more recent times, members have been resistant to removing posts, or sometimes remove posts only to replace it with another similar offending post at a later time,” Mr Pitt said.

The factors driving this increase has been tied to the content curators of individual MPs who are “skilled in the art of social media and focus on what sort of posts attract views”, including shorter clips.

“The third party creators are not focused on the rules of the House, but rather focused on good copy,” Mr Pitt said.

“Thirdly, if a post is achieving a great number of views, there is a reluctance to remove the posts despite the informal guidance provided by the clerk or myself.”

Ms Bates slammed Ms Fentiman’s social media post as a “baseless misrepresentation” of her words.

“The comment was clearly not about the Health Minister, it was about the alarming Queensland maternity crisis, which continues to worsen on her watch and is putting women and children at risk,” she said.

“For her to mischaracterise my words for her own political gain and attempt to portray me as a misogynist is deeply offensive.”

Ms Fentiman has argued the phrase “cross your legs” was “equally as abhorrent” a phrase as “close your legs” to yell at her while she was on her feet providing a response in parliament.