Leyonhjelm vs SHY: Senate president targets gender ‘abuse’

Senate president Scott Ryan attempts to tighten rules around language following a bitter feud between David Leyonhjelm and Sarah Hanson-Young.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, left, and Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm. Picture: AAP

Senate president Scott Ryan has warned “personal abuse has no place” in the chamber as he attempts to tighten rules around language following a bitter feud between Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

The Greens will attempt to censure Senator Leyonhjelm tomorrow after he told Senator Hanson-Young to “stop shagging men” during a debate in June about arming women with weapons for their safety.

Senator Leyonhjelm claimed he made the comment because Senator Hanson-Young had implied “all men are rapists” — an assertion which she has rejected.

Senator Ryan told the Senate had had no authority as president to force an apology or sanction a senator and noted any controversial language that the chamber wanted to be dealt with must be raised at the time of the incident.

He will write to the chamber’s procedure committee to ask it to consider changing protocols so that matters that occur but are not part of formal proceedings or raised immediately, such as Senator Leyonhjelm’s comments, can be handled.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, left, and Senator David Leyonhjelm, far right, listen to the Senate President speak this morning in the Senate Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

“This is rightly a place of vigorous debate, but personal abuse has no place in this chamber — particularly if it targets personal attributes such as race or gender. Nor does the use of abusive epithets or labels,” Senator Ryan said.

“The use of such language does nothing to facilitate the operation of the chamber and free debate within it, and we are all capable of vigorously arguing our case without resorting to it. I intend to take a strict line on the use of such language to uphold the dignity of the chamber and to ensure it is a place where all senators representing the people of their states and territories are able to freely contribute to debate and deliberations.”

Senator Hanson-Young has lodged defamation proceedings in the Federal Court for comments Senator Leyonhjelm made in follow up interviews on Sky News, 3AW radio and the ABC.

Senator Leyonhjelm has said he was confident Senator Hanson-Young’s claims were “without merit” and he would seek costs accordingly.

Wong says gender, race has ‘no place’ in Senate debates

Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong said her party supported Senator Ryan’s move to change chamber protocol and agreed race or gender had “no place” in debate.

“Our approach has been, primarily, to think about how it is that we make this chamber a better place, particularly for all women, and how we make this a better place for diversity,” she said.

“We certainly don’t want to get into individual partisan politics when dealing with these matters. I’m sure that all of us, at times, can behave better, but our focus will always be on how do we make this a better place for women to be involved in and for people from diverse backgrounds to be involved in?”

Greens leader Richard Di Natale said it was the duty of senators to “behave in a manner sets a standard for respectful behaviour and decency in this country”.

“The behaviour we witnessed from Senator Leyonhjelm towards his colleague Senator Sarah Hanson-Young during the last sitting week was disgraceful. It was designed to humiliate and to intimidate a fellow senator,” he said.

“The men who use sexism to belittle or intimidate women should never be tolerated in a decent society, let alone in this parliament. Yet in the parliament it seems that anything goes.”

Senator Leyonhjelm alleged Senator Hanson-Young had made a “disgraceful” characterisation of men having “collective responsibility for the rape and murder of Eurydice Dixon in Melbourne” during the parliamentary debate in June.

He said her alleged comments were “clearly designed to denigrate and humiliate men”.

“There was nothing sexist about what I said - I oppose misandry and misogyny on the same terms. To do otherwise, as Miss Hanson-Young does, is sexist,” Senator Leyonhjelm said.

The Liberal Democrat alleged Senator Hanson-Young had “invaded my personal space” and “called me a creep”.

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