Angus Taylor has been criticised for his response to the alleged attack on Helen Haines, with crossbenchers Monique Ryan and Zali Steggall labelling a speech by the opposition leader “tone deaf” and saying he did not “read the room”.
Parliament returned in Canberra on Monday, a week after an alleged attack outside the Indi MP’s northern Victorian electorate office, which led to her losing both legs. A 43-year-old man has been charged and the incident continues to be investigated.
The episode has sparked debate about the safety of MPs and the state of the political environment, including the culture of parliamentary debates.
But the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, and the One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce have rejected calls for a change in practice to cool Australia’s political debate.
“In the past week, it has been suggested by some there is a causal connection between robust parliamentary debate and political violence,” Taylor said. “I disagree with this view.
“The Westminster system is about settling differences through robust and rigorous debate, not violence.
“Importantly, we debate with adversarial vigour, but we never allow that vigorous parliamentary debate to spill over into violence. People who resort to intimidation and violence cross a line that must never be crossed.”
He said Labor had been correct to call out far-right extremism in Australia but called for all extremism to be rejected. He said judges should “come down harder” on people found guilty of intimidation or violence.
“Another thing we must do is celebrate Australia more readily. Too many Australians have been taught to feel guilty and shame about our country and about our history.
“Is it any wonder that some feel deep animosity towards our democracy, our institutions, and our nation?”
Joyce told News24 his thoughts and prayers remained with Haines and her family, calling the alleged attack “so unAustralian”.
“Unfortunately what we’re seeing in Australia and around the world is a change in dynamics,” Joyce said. “I think parliament has got its part to play but I don’t think it’s going to be a solution to the problem.
“The issues, such as the Palestinian march across the [Sydney Harbour] Bridge, the vindictive, arsenic type of rhetoric that we see in the public realm, these are all part of it.
“I think it’s foolish to think if question time changes, Australia changes. Not necessarily, in fact highly unlikely.”
Steggall, the independent Warringah MP, who sits next to Haines in the lower house, said she was personally disappointed by Taylor’s speech.
“There is a link between our words and actions,” she said.
“I did not feel that Angus Taylor read the room when it comes to the lesson that Helen would like us all to learn.
“To make what’s happened to her, the utter tragedy of it, make sense to all of us, make sense for Australia, then we have to be able to take responsibility for the impact our words and our debate has beyond the walls of parliament.”
She said the same caution should be applied to media reporting, election advertising and social media posts.
Steggall referenced conversations with Haines’ husband, Phil Haines, in Canberra on Monday.
“His words to us, asking us to raise the bar so that when Helen does come back to this place, there’s been a meaningful shift in how we can have a respectful debate,” she said.
“We can disagree respectfully, but words matter and have an impact.”
Ryan, the Kooyong independent, called Taylor’s response “tone deaf” and “hugely disappointing”.
“If Angus Taylor doesn’t think that the words that we use matter, I don’t understand how he aspires to lead a political party,” she told ABC TV.
“If we can’t rise to the occasion now after something as unthinkable as what happened to Helen and think about how we behave in the house and in the public space … we’re never going to do that.”
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