Coalition storms out of parliament over Nazi slur on Peter Dutton

The government blocked a push to call out Mark Dreyfus’ attack on Peter Dutton for not condemning Nazis at an anti-trans rally.

Peter Dutton came under attack from Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The Coalition, led by opposition leader Peter Dutton, has walked out in protest after a request was denied for the government to withdraw an attack on Mr Dutton for not condemning the Nazis who attended a Melbourne anti-trans rally at the weekend.

Manager of opposition business Paul Fletcher requested Speaker Milton Dick retrospectively make the call on Wednesday despite the Coalition not calling for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to withdraw his comments on Tuesday.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus during Question Time on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“When it was revealed that Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming had attended the protest the Victorian Opposition Leader (John Pesutto) moved he would expel Ms Deeming from the Liberal Party. But what have we had from those opposite, in particular, their leader? Complete silence … We all know that bigotry and hatred breed in silence,” Mr Dreyfus said.

Following the outburst on Tuesday, Coalition MP Dan Tehan rose with a point of order rather than a formal request to withdraw.

“What the Attorney-General said was absolutely false,” Mr Tehan said.

On Wednesday, after Mr Fletcher made the formal request, leader of the house Tony Burke said: “Tough things are said in this chamber.”

“There has been, for a long time, a gap between things being said that members find unacceptable and things that have been allowed to be said in the parliament and not being viewed as unparliamentary, and if it’s anyone who has examples of that, it’s the leader of the opposition,” Mr Burke said.

The Coalition rebuked the claim saying the comments made by Mr Dreyfus “went beyond any reasonable standard,” Mr Fletcher said.

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus ravages Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for being “invisible” on the Nazi salute issue that arose in Victoria despite being the “most senior Liberal in Australia”
🧨💥🔥 #QTpic.twitter.com/sCnTjrpwS3

— stranger (@strangerous10) March 21, 2023

The Speaker found Mr Dreyfus’ comments were critical but not “unparliamentary”.

Following that decision, all Coalition MPs rose, except 10 members, and stormed out of the chamber in protest.

It was the first “walk out” of the federal parliament under the new Speaker.

The last time the Coalition stormed out of the house of representatives occurred back in 2015 when then opposition leader Bill Shorten called on the then Coalition government, led by Tony Abbott, to reverse $500m in budget cuts during a speech regarding Closing the Gap.

The issue of extremism was high on the Coalition’s agenda on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Mr Dutton moved to suspend standing orders in an effort to introduce amendments to the criminal code act to outlaw the Nazi flag and salute.

His motion was defeated.