Labor’s wall of rabid MPs regularly maul the opposition, but is it bloodlust – or fair game?

Ever called a colleague a “nincompoop” – meant it from the depths of your soul – and got away with it? Were you being filmed at the time?

Western Australia’s MPs mostly spend their time in the chamber quietly shuffling pages or slouching and scrolling on their phones while one of them drones through legislation clauses, but there’s one point at which all hell breaks loose: usually the exact moment school students enter the chamber to observe.

It’s question time!

Liberal Leader Libby Mettam, Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti and WA Premier Roger Cook.Credit: Composite of supplied images

And question time debate has always been fierce, but for the past four years the tiny group of non-government MPs –just three Nationals and three Liberals – have copped an outsized mauling from the 53-strong wall of Labor MPs opposite.

With just five sitting days left in this parliament, the decorum of the lower house has again been thrust into the spotlight – this time by Liberal candidate for Churchlands and Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas, who was shocked at the treatment of Liberal leader Libby Mettam by Labor.

Zempilas is no stranger to crass language himself, but he told Radio 6PR that the way Labor spoke to his leader would not fly outside the four walls of Parliament House.

“[Premier Roger Cook] presides over a team who verbally assault in the parliament the female leader of the Liberal Party of Western Australia, and that should be unacceptable, but they get away with it because nobody sees it,” he said.

Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti hit back at Zempilas’ criticism and said debate was robust and, furthermore, was nothing to the abuse she had experienced over her 16 years in parliament at the hands of the Liberals.

“Many of us, and in particular me, have been treated very badly by the Liberal Party over many years,” she said.

“People always seem to get offended in relation to Liberal Party women, but not in relation to Labor Party women.”

Saffioti shared those experiences in detail the last time parliamentary decorum was scrutinised in June 2018.

During that debate, Saffioti said the Liberal Party under former premier Colin Barnett was relentless in its attacks on her, even as she was undergoing significant personal issues, including a miscarriage scare.

She pointed to an exchange recorded in Hansard, in which former Labor leader Mark McGowan had asked Barnett to give the pregnant MP a break, and Barnett had responded: “I can’t keep the dogs off her.”

The opposition has been scrutinised several times in the past eight years, including when former Nationals MP Vince Catania had a dig at former seniors minister Mick Murray over his hearing aid, and Cottesloe MP David Honey being labelled sexist after commenting on Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson’s fashion.

But after the 2021 election bloodbath, the dynamics in parliament changed significantly. With so many Labor MPs, WAtoday has observed belligerence toward the opposition that would wear down even the most hardened parliamentarian.

McGowan himself delivered some of the most stinging insults, labelling Honey a “moron” and “first-rate idiot” in October 2021, and describing a Nationals MP as a “nincompoop” in May 2022.

This tone has continued since his departure; last month, Saffioti said Honey reminded her of a Halloween decoration.

Mettam is seemingly on the receiving end of most of Labor’s anger, with MPs often sighing theatrically as she asks supplementary questions.

She is also the bane of Speaker Michelle Roberts’ existence thanks to her incessant interjections, which stall debate. From this perspective, the groans may be understandable.

Mettam herself says she is unfazed.

“Labor are welcome to throw all the insults they want, but I’m focused on delivering the priorities outlined in our Building a Better Future blueprint,” she told WAtoday.

After Zempilas’ comments on Mettam’s recent treatment, however, WAtoday took an extra-close look at last week’s question time.

Perhaps the renewed scrutiny on parliamentary decorum had them on their best behaviour, but in our observations the government played the ball, not the man, for that week.

Mettam was again subject to laughter and groans during her interjections, and at several points Roberts had to rein her in, much to the delight of Labor MPs.

Notre Dame politics expert and long-time WA political observer Professor Martin Drum said it was often difficult to disentangle robust parliamentary debate from demeaning and poor conduct.

“There’s a performative element of question time that we always can’t get away from,” he said.

“It gees-up your own troops so you use as a motivating factor for your own team, and we’ve got an election not that far away, so it’s part of that and part of it is putting pressure on your opponents.

“Overall, I think actually, parliamentarians do behave like children and should improve their behaviour but on the whole, you know, there is an element of robust parliamentary debate that we should just expect.”

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