Peter Slipper should stand aside from the Speakership until both the matters he currently faces have been resolved.
Slipper has appropriately stood aside while issues relating to his use of travel expenses are resolved. But he should not return to the Speakership until allegations made about his behaviour toward a staff member are finalised.
This is not to call for a blanket rule that any MP involved in litigation should stand aside from their political or parliamentary role; that would plainly be problematic, particularly given the possibility that vexatious litigation could then be used as a political weapon.
But the allegations made against Slipper by a staff member, which he rejects, relate to his performance as Speaker, not to issues involving his private life or outside interests. In addition, the Speakership is a key role in Australian democracy and in the Constitution. A higher standard should apply to it than other parliamentary or governmental positions.
It might also shed further light on the issue of bullying and harassment in political workplaces, an issue that politicians of all parties have an incentive to sweep under the carpet. Even if the allegations are not proven, Slipper’s standing aside during their investigation would send a signal to people in politicians’ offices everywhere that claims of office bullying will be taken seriously — more seriously than they currently are.
What you are arguing should be connected are 2 unrelated points.
Yes, complaints of this sort should be treated seriously and if that is happening then something should be done about it.
But to argue that special rules should apply to this particular situation “to send a message” seems a dangerous precedent. Even if not to send a message, it as step too far and a bit of a slippery slope. Who decides where the line is drawn? Should it apply in all walks of life? At all levels in the workplace?
How do we know that this complaint against the Speaker isn’t ‘vexatious’? It hasn’t been tested yet.
The timing and source prompt me to be just a trifle suspicious. Godwin Gretch rings a bell.
@ David Allen 1.50pm,
Exactly what I have been thinking with reminiscences of Gretch.
But, should Slipper be removed, there’s a SA Liberal who may yet cause Abbott further angst.
Correction: according to the ABC News website Patrick Secker has denied he would be interested in the Speaker’s position.
Bullshit, not one person has ever stood aside over a small civil claim.