Liberal Andrew Laming banned from chamber for pouring oil on hands
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Version 0 of 1. Liberal backbencher Andrew Laming has been booted from the chamber in parliament for a day for pouring flammable bunker fuel on his hands during a speech. Laming was named by speaker of the House of Representatives Bronwyn Bishop during question time on Wednesday for the stunt, meaning he will be banned from the chamber for 24 hours. The MP for Bowman had poured the thick, black liquid on his hands on Tuesday night while supporting a motion urging cruise liners to use cleaner fuel. “In his remarks, the member himself acknowledged the dangerous nature of the material,” Bishop said. “Setting aside the member’s offence in making use of props, it is highly disorderly to bring dangerous and flammable substances into either of the chambers.” “I consider the member’s actions to be totally disorderly, disrespectful of the house and the federation chamber and potentially dangerous to the health and safety of members of and staff of the federation chamber.” Bishop said that parliamentary staff were working to clean up the mess left by the fuel, and asked Laming to apologise. He did, but was thrown out anyway. “I thank the member for that apology but nonetheless I consider the offence to be so serious and of such disorderly nature that I name the member for Bowman,” the speaker said. “I move that the member be suspended from the service of the house.” The motion to punt Laming was carried on voices. Laming released a statement shortly afterwards, appearing to back away from his apology. “If Australian families have to breathe it, I don’t back down bringing it to parliament to make the point. With other developed nations banning it in ports, it’s long overdue to do the same thing in Australia,” the statement said. Tony Burke, the manager of opposition business, brought up the statement with the speaker before question time finished, saying: “I ask in context of disorderly conduct, privilege and contempt of the parliament that you investigate these matters and report back to the house.” Bishop said she would investigate the statement. Laming faces a ban of three consecutive sitting days if he is named again by the speaker. The backbencher tweeted a photo of himself with fuel-stained hands two days ago, suggesting that the stunt had been in the pipeline for a while. Laming was one of the most outspoken critics of Tony Abbott before a spill motion on the prime minister’s leadership was defeated earlier this year. |