Labor MP Julian Hill suspended from parliament after accusing government of ‘killing my constituents’

A question on Australia’s rescue mission in Afghanistan led to a Labor MP’s ejection from the parliament for ‘unacceptable behaviour’.

A Labor backbencher has been suspended from parliament after he let loose at Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, accusing her of killing his constituents.

Julian Hill — who represents the seat of Bruce in Melbourne’s southeast— was booted from the House in extraordinary scenes.

It started when Ms Andrews was asked by a Coalition colleague about the government's continued effort to evacuate Australian citizens and Afghan visa holders from Kabul.

When Ms Andrews stood to take the question, Mr Hill lost his cool: “You are killing my constituents,” he yelled across the chamber.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews spoke about Australia’s rescue mission. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Mr Hill did not go silently. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Mr Hill, was promptly booted from the House for an hour under standing order 94a. However, that did not stop him from continuing his statement.

“There are thousands of Australians and their loved ones who are only in Afghanistan because you haven’t processed their visas for years and now you are leaving them to die,” he yelled.

Ms Andrews continued unfazed: “The situation in Afghanistan remains unpredictable and dangerous,” she told the House.

In a since deleted tweet, Mr Hill posted of his outburst, captioning it: “True. I did say this.”

Earlier this week, Mr Hill told the House many of the Afghan-Australians in his electorate were terrified every call home “may be the last”.

“My community has more Afghan Australians than any other in this parliament. They talk to me about phone calls hourly to their wives, daughters, sons, sisters, mothers, brothers — crying, knowing that every call may be the last,” he said during an impassioned speech on Monday.

“The government was warned for years about the risks of these delays, and no amount of prime ministerial spin and marketing and blame-shifting can cover up his government's moral failure to issue the visas and bring these people to safety.”

Speaker Tony Smith spoke with Peter Dutton and Tony Burke after Mr Hill’s tirade. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Following the end of question time, Speaker Tony Smith “named” Mr Hill – a process that allows the House to decide on the consequence for poor behaviour.

“His behaviour on leaving was completely unacceptable,” Mr Smith said.

“I will not repeat everything he did other than to say that when members are asked to leave under 94a they must do so immediately without comment or abuse to anybody.

“The cause of action I’m taking, I’m making very clear. I am going to name the member for Bruce now and the matter will be dealt with one way or the other by the House and we can get on with the business.”

The House then voted 25-14 to suspend Mr Hill from the chamber for 24 hours.

It’s just the second time the Speaker has “named” MP in the 46th parliament – the other being Labor MP Nick Champion.

The South Australian MP was booted in 2019 after he drew the ire of the Speaker for ignoring his requests to stop interjecting.

Originally published as Labor MP Julian Hill suspended from parliament after accusing government of ‘killing my constituents’