Pauline Hanson says Jacqui Lambie should take her own advice before calling for Senators to show greater respect.
A desperate plea for politicians to show each other more respect has been shut down by Pauline Hanson who has one message for Jacqui Lambie.
Pauline Hanson has shot down a desperate plea for politicians to show each other more respect after an ugly week in Canberra.
The One Nation leader ridiculed Jacqui Lambie for making the public call, saying the firebrand senator should follow her own advice.
Senator Lambie on Thursday said she wanted to see her Senate colleagues have the courage to call out bad behaviour when it occurs.
“I can tell you it is actually getting quite nasty up here, and it is not on. The stuff that's going on when your microphone is turned off, it is going way too far, and it is starting to get out of control,” she told Nine.
But One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said it was a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
“When Jacqui Lambie starts taking her own advice, I might start taking her seriously,” she told the NCA Newswire.
Senator Hanson also defended President Slade Brockman, insisting it wasn’t up to him police off mic behaviour: “He can only rule on what he hears himself.”
The back and forth caps off a unruly final week of parliament where Senator David Van apologised after being accused of dog growling at the Tasmanian, and a now retracted comment from Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe that Senator Hollie Hughes keep her legs shut.
Senator Thorpe on Thursday issued an apology to Senator Hughes who had interpreted the remark to mean “had I kept my legs shut [then] I wouldn’t have a child with autism”.
In a statement, she apologised “unreservedly” but rejected any suggestion she “directly or indirectly referenced Senator Hughes’ family”.
The One Nation leader told the NCA Newswire Senator Thorpe’s behaviour was vile and agreed with Senator Hughes assessment that the Greens had lost the plot since the departure of Richard Di Natale.
“Isn’t it ironic when (criticism) is put back on (the Greens) they don’t say anything.”
Earlier on Thursday, Senator Lambie broke her silence on the dog growling incident, telling Nine while she didn’t hear the comment at the time, she appreciated Penny Wong and Sarah Hanson Young calling it out.
“That's the way it should be. You need to pick these things up and call them out straight away. When you have got behaviour like that going on up here in parliament, what it does is say to the rest of society, ‘Hey, this behaviour is okay’, and I can tell you it is not okay,” she said.
The poor conduct on the floor of the Senate followed the release of a major inquiry by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins, which
stressed parliamentarians should show greater respect while undertaking their responsibilities.
The review found over half of people currently working in a parliamentary workplace had experienced at least one incident of bullying, sexual harassment or actual or attempted sexual assault.
Senator Lambie said the need to change the culture in parliament is long overdue.
“We have got to make change. We don't have a choice. I tell you what, by putting through Jenkins’ recommendations as soon as possible, that will help,” she told Nine.
“Every time we come in and change things, that should help. And we have got to stand up and call the abusers out. That's what we need to do. We need to have the courage to do that.”
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