‘Tone it down’: Senators put on notice in disorderly question time debut

A disorderly Senate stumbled through its first question time as politicians were ordered to “tone it down” and stop acting like “entertainers”.

A promise to do politics better was not passed onto the Coalition in its “disorderly” debut on the opposition benches.

Interjections flew thick and fast across the chamber on Wednesday as new Senate president Sue Lines struggled to maintain control of the upper house.

It drew the ire of a surprise source, One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts, who called on Senator Lines to bring order to the upper house.

“The behaviour we’ve seen this afternoon in question time shows a complete disrespect to the people of Australia; we’re here as representatives of the people, not as entertainers,” he said.

Senator Malcolm Roberts quizzed the new Senate president over the handling of question time. Picture: Gary Ramage

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt felt the brunt of the opposition’s attack and was asked repeatedly about the government’s biosecurity controls amid Indonesia’s foot and mouth outbreak.

What is usually a typical back and forth (in the Senate, each question receives two supplementary questions) lasted 15 minutes as Senator Watt and Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie locked horns over the arrivals from Indonesia.

Senator Watt was initially unable to tell the chamber how many people had arrived from Indonesia since July 5 – when it was first reported the disease had hit popular tourist destination Bali.

But after a text from a staffer, he stood up to reveal over 44,000 people had passed through Australian airports from Indonesia, a majority from Bali.

His texting led to sledges from the opposition that he was the “minister for google searches”.

Senator Murray Watt felt the brunt of the opposition’s attacks. Picture: Kym Smith

“Cut him some slack, it’s his first day,” Senator Canavan interjected.

Being put through her paces for the first time in the chair, former Senate president Slade Brockman at one point stood up to ask Senator Lines to take control as the government dodged questions.

Unlike in the House of Representatives, the Senate president is unable to eject members of the upper house without a vote from the chamber.

Tensions boiled over between the president and senator James McGrath, and came to a head when she asked him to “tone it down”.

Later, Senator Watt was forced to withdraw a comment he made about Michaelia Cash when answering a question about the government’s decision to abolish the building construction watchdog – although, what comment exactly, was never made clear.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for those on the government benches, who were told they needed “dixer training” after a series of lacklustre questions.

Originally published as ‘Tone it down’: Senators put on notice in disorderly question time debut