Liberal party rules out following NSW Labor’s ‘booze ban’ in parliament
An entire party of state MPs have been slapped with a booze ban ahead of next year’s election. They’ll be not drinking alone.
NSW
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The NSW Liberal Party appears unlikely to follow Labor’s booze ban slapped on its MPs, with a senior Minister saying handling their alcohol was “a matter for individual MPs”.
It comes after Labor leader Chris Minns handed down a directive in a caucus on Tuesday prohibiting MPs from drinking in parliament during sitting weeks.
The Daily Telegraph spoke to multiple MPs who confirmed the ban, with several voicing frustration over the measure – which they said was a reaction to Labor MP Anna Watson being accused of getting “paralytically drunk” in parliament by One Nation MP Mark Latham during estimates.
“What we expect is individual MPs to conduct themselves to be in line with the highest standards and that’s certainly what the expectation of the public is and that’s certainly what the expectations of MPs should be.”
Mr Latham welcomed the news, saying: “Chris Minns has seen a problem similar to what I identified and has acted on it”.
Multiple sources said they were angered they now couldn’t enjoy a glass of wine after a long sitting day.
“What’s the bigger issue here – someone having a glass of wine or someone using parliamentary privilege to attack a candidate?” one said, referring to Labor frontbencher Tania Mihailuk who launched an attack on party candidate Khal Asfour late on Tuesday night.
Other Labor MPs backed the measure, particularly in the wake of the Broderick Review, an independent report handed down last month which detailed multiple accounts from staff alleging alcohol contributed to harmful behaviour in parliament including bullying and sexual harassment.
“There’s a need at this point of the electoral cycle to be really disciplined and careful,” the MP said.
Another added: “(The conversation went like) we’re in a good spot and we don’t want to jeopardise it”.
The measure comes in the wake of One Nation MP Mark Latham stating in budget estimates that he saw Ms Watson “as drunk as anyone I’ve ever seen in my long time working in a Parliament House” and that she was “screaming into her phone: ‘you’re too effing good for him, you’re too effing good for him’.”
In a statement, Ms Watson said she “did turn to alcohol to deal with the stress … during a particularly difficult period of my life where a close family member was experiencing a personal crisis”.
The revelation comes a day after Ms Mihailuk used parliamentary privilege to allege Mr Asfour, who has been endorsed by the party’s Right faction to run for the Legislative Council next year, of “unprincipled actions in furthering the interests of developers and identities”.
In a statement, Mr Asfour accused the Bankstown MP of a “cowardly attack” under parliamentary privilege.
“I challenge her to repeat those outrageous and unsubstantiated claims outside the parliament”, Mr Asfour said.
NSW parliament has 15 sitting days left before the end of the year.
Mr Minns has been contacted for comment.
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