Eva Lawler’s expulsion from Parliament sparks dissent against Speaker Mark Monaghan

NT Treasurer Eva Lawler has dredged up comments about French champagne to explain an outburst that led to her being booted from parliament.

Treasurer Eva Lawler has pointed to comments made by the Opposition Leader more than two years ago in an attempt to explain an outburst that led to her being kicked out of parliament on Wednesday.

Ms Lawler was booted for an hour by Speaker Mark Monaghan after a spat with Lia Finocchiaro, prompting Labor’s Ngaree Ah Kit to turn on colleague Mr Monaghan and raise a motion of dissent against his decision.

In a personal statement to parliament late on Wednesday, Ms Lawler said she was referring to comments Mrs Finocchiaro made in August 2021 when she praised an outgoing staffer’s journey from “a Bundy drinker ... to a Veuve Clicquot drinker”.

“When Angie and I first started out in the Drysdale office she was a Bundy drinker - if I knew that before I hired her I would not have … I am pleased to say she left the Spillett electorate office a Veuve Clicquot drinker. I am very proud of that transition for you, Angie, because it has been a long road from Bundy to French champagne,” Mrs Finocchiaro said at the time.

On Wednesday afternoon Mrs Finocchiaro had been talking about the cost of living biting for Territorians, when Ms Lawler interjected three times to say the Opposition Leader was “out of touch - drinking Veuve”.

In reply, Mrs Finocchiaro said: “I think the minister just said she was out of touch and drinking Veuve. I would believe that. I would absolutely believe it.”

Ms Lawler asked the Speaker to scratch the comment from the record, saying “She is the one ... Can she please withdraw?”

Mr Monaghan told the Treasurer to sit down and that there was “nothing offensive in what she said - it might have been unkind, but it was not offensive”.

After two more interjections from Ms Lawler, Mr Monaghan ordered her to leave for an hour.

Others in the Labor party stood in her defence against the Speaker, calling for Mrs Finocchiaro’s comment to be scratched and Ms Lawler to be allowed back into the chamber, but Ms Ah Kit’s motion of dissent was not followed up.

Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro told parliament she would believe Minister Lawler was ‘out of touch and drinking Veuve’. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Hours later, back in the chamber, Ms Lawler reiterated: “I did not say that I was out of touch and drinking Veuve. When Mrs Finocchiaro spoke on 12 August, 2021 she was the one who was talking about Veuve”.

“I want the line ... to be expunged from the Parliamentary Record,” she said.

Mrs Finocchiaro’s comment has not been removed.

Independent MLA Robyn Lambley slammed the “unbelievable” display.

“It was absolutely horrendous, disrespectful, showing a lack of courtesy to the Speaker and to the processes of this Parliament,” she said.

“The unhinged behaviour of people from the government side of the chamber yesterday was really quite astounding.”

Nov 29: Champagne spray: Government turns on own Speaker after Veuve row

CAMDEN SMITH

The Northern Territory Parliament descended into chaos late Wednesday when the Labor Government turned on Speaker Mark Monaghan after a row over Veuve Clicquot.

Moments earlier, Mr Monaghan had expelled Treasurer Eva Lawler from the house after an unruly parliamentary outburst prompted by a comment from Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro.

Witnesses said Ms Lawler, during a speech to Parliament by Ms Finocchiaro, interjected in the Assembly that CLP members were “out of touch” and drank Veuve Clicquot.

Ms Lawler erupted when Ms Finocchiaro quipped back that Ms Lawler was out of touch, at which point witnesses said the Treasurer began angrily shouting across the Parliamentary Chamber at the Opposition Leader.

Speaker Mark Monaghan Picture: (A) manda Parkinson

After several warnings, Ms Lawler’s outburst was ruled out of order by the Speaker and he expelled the NT Treasurer from Parliament for an hour.

It’s unusual for a senior government minister to be booted from the Parliament and Ms Lawler’s parliamentary colleagues immediately wrapped around her, with deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison, Infrastructure Minister Joel Bowden and Remote Housing Minister Selena Uibo speaking against her expulsion.

Veuve Clicquot Champagne, is one of the most well-known Champagnes.

A dissent motion against the Speaker was moved by the Parliament’s previous speaker Ngaree Ah Kit who, in an embarrassing irony, had to ask Mr Monaghan what Standing Order she should use to move the motion.

Standing Order 48, Dissent from Ruling, states that if an MLA objects to a Speaker’s ruling, the objection must be expressed immediately and a motion of dissent must be submitted in writing and then moved by the member who expressed the objection.

NT Treasurer Eva Lawler before being punted from Parliament. .

It then requires a seconder and the motion will take precedence over all other Assembly business.

The dissent motion brings question the confidence the government has in its own Speaker.

Ms Lawler’s hour-long expulsion from the Chamber ended shortly after 4pm but she did not immediately return to Parliament after the ban was lifted.

It’s the first time in at least 15 years a dissent motion has been lodged against a Parliamentary Speaker in the NT, but nobody spoken to by this masthead could ever recall a government rounding on the speaker it appointed.

Even former Labor MLA Mark Turner weighed in, pointing out on social media “the Treasurer lost her cool (yet again) and was ejected from the Parliament for an hour”.