Clive Palmer criticised for attack on Senate clerk Rosemary Laing over advice on carbon tax repeal amendment
Updated
Independent senator Nick Xenophon has accused Clive
Palmer of being a "bully and a coward" and called on him to apologise
for his attack on a senior Senate official.
Members of the Upper Palmer of being a "bully and a coward" and called on him to apologise
for his attack on a senior Senate official.
House have leapt to the defence of Senate clerk Rosemary Laing after Mr
Palmer said she should "get out of that job" if she was not prepared to
act on his instructions.
The Government's attempts to pass the
carbon tax repeal legislation suffered a setback last week after the
Palmer United Party (PUP) withdrew support, following advice about an
amendment from Dr Laing.
She had informed the party that a PUP
amendment to the carbon tax repeal legislation was unconstitutional -
advice that Mr Palmer disputed.
The legislation will go before the Senate for a third time today, with strong indications that it will pass.
Senator Xenophon says advice from the Senate clerk is always "impeccable" and Mr Palmer should be ashamed of his comments.
"These are the remarks of a bully and a coward and Clive Palmer ought to apologise," he said.
"He
simply doesn't know what he's talking about and he is diminishing
himself rather than diminishing the institution of the Senate.
"His
attack on the clerk of the Senate - someone who cannot defend herself
because of the protocols attached to that position - is nothing short of
cowardly."
Palmer compares Laing's actions to Stalinist Russia
Mr Palmer denies he yelled at Dr Laing last Thursday, but says he threatened to seek a High Court injunction."She
can't interfere and stop them from doing it - that's what it boils down
to. Otherwise you get a bureaucrat being able to veto legislation and
we don't want that. That's what happens in Stalinist Russia," Mr Palmer
said.
"We don't seek her advice - we seek to put things to the
Senate and she's inconsequential to us as to what she thinks. It's what
the Australian people think and what they've elected us to do.
"Our party will always want to put things that we decide, not what the clerks decide.
"She's
not a member of our party, she hasn't been elected to Parliament, she's
employed by the Parliament to draft legislation in accordance with
instructions and she can't really refuse those instructions."
Mr Palmer added: "If that's her job, well, she has to get out of that job".
It
is an extraordinary attack from a member of the Lower House on the
respected position of Senate clerk - especially when the new PUP
senators are likely to need the advice.
Dr Laing is not commenting
on Mr Palmer's remarks, and Senate president Stephen Parry is not
commenting on reports that a complaint has been made about Mr Palmer's
behaviour.
Palmer's behaviour is 'unacceptable'
"In myexperience it doesn't matter what your politics are, the Senate staff
are incredibly professional, they're helpful and they're impartial,"
said Greens leader Christine Milne.
"It's unacceptable for Mr
Palmer to be calling for the resignation of the clerk of the Senate
because she was providing advice that he did not want to take."
PUP
said it would support the scrapping of the carbon tax if an amendment
was passed that required power companies to pass on savings they made
from the carbon tax repeal.
Companies that failed to pass on the
savings within the first year would be forced to pay a penalty of 250
per cent of the savings to the Commonwealth.
However, the Senate clerk informed PUP senator Glen
Lazarus that the penalty could be seen as a tax, and would therefore
have to pass the House of Representatives before it could be put to the
Senate.
"The advice that was given to Mr Palmer was that he could not do what he wanted to do," Senator Milne said.
"The clerks are not there to be directed by senators if it is outside the rules of the Senate - that is the fact.
"These
people are professionals. They are helpful, they are impartial and they
are certainly not there to be abused by senators if they won't do as
the senators direct them to do when it is obviously against the rules."
Democratic Labour Party senator John Madigan also heaped praise on Dr Laing.
"Rosemary
Laing and her staff are, I'd say, impeccable. I've only ever found them
to be helpful and professional, they're a credit to the Senate," he
said.
"I'd suggest play the issue not the person. The staff of the
Senate are not to be attacked and I think it's a low blow. It does Mr
Palmer no credit to attack the staff of the Senate in such a way."
Senate would be 'lost' without clerk's staff
Labor senator John Faulkner spoke in the chamber yesterday to send a message to all members of the Upper House."We
are lucky that the Senate clerk's office provides such a professional
and impartial service to all senators - government, opposition, minor
party and independent in this place, because I would say without their
integrity we would be lost," he said.
Senator Faulkner has spent 25 years in the Upper House and he singled out the past week for special mention.
"This
is the worst, the worst, most amateurish and ham-fisted chamber
management I've seen since I've been here," the veteran said.
But that has not stopped senators blaming each other for last week's extraordinary scenes in the Upper House.
- Government hopes carbon tax repeal will be third time lucky
- Greg Hunt warns Clive Palmer of voter anger if tax not scrapped
- Abbott blames Labor for 'difficult' Senate week
- Carbon tax Senate confusion worries business
- Tony Abbott says Senate chaos 'situation normal'
- Palmer stymies carbon tax repeal, walks out of interview
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