The complaint comes a month after Ms Trad denied she had "bullied" Mr Pyne. Credit:Glenn Hunt "It was completely improper and an unacceptable expletive-laden attack by a Deputy Premier, minister and member of Parliament. I believe I was intimidated and bullied by the Deputy Premier. It was full-on abuse which then became a verbal attack on me personally when the Deputy Premier went on to call me a disloyal c--- on more than one occasion. "I briefly informed [supporters] Lyn O'Connor and Jason Ward of this phone call from the Deputy Premier, where I summarised it by saying 'she is a woman, but she ain't no lady'. "These were the poetically correct words I had chosen to use publicly to explain the improper verbal assault by the Deputy Premier. "The Deputy Premier was very angry, threatening and intimidating and the way she expressed this for the duration of the phone call was totally improper.

"I was also insulted by the swearing of Deputy Premier Trad using the language 'disloyal c---' ". But Ms Trad "completely refuted" Mr Pyne's claims "that I referred to him in such a manner". "I dispute Mr Pyne's claims relating to this alleged incident of more than six months ago, which is why I personally referred this matter to the Parliamentary Ethics Committee some time ago," she said in a statement. "It is established parliamentary practice that allegations such as these are properly dealt with and tested by the Parliamentary Ethics Committee."



Mr Pyne also accused former government Whip turned Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni of "blocking my entrance to the House" while Ms Trad was making a statement to the Parliament in response to some of Mr Pyne's concerns regarding local government, as well as "verbally intimidating" him and "physically blocking" his path on the way to a media conference. "To be very clear about this, I had to force my way past Mr de Brenni MP in my wheelchair and he had to get out of my path," he said regarding an incident on December 3.

Mr Pyne also made mention of the "microphone incident", when Mr de Brenni was alleged to have pushed Mr Pyne's microphone out of his way when he attempted to make a statement in response to Ms Trad's statements on local government issues, accusing the Springwood MP of "directly and maliciously improperly interfered with my properly activated microphone by turning it off and pulling it away from me". "The physical interference of my activated microphone by Mr de Brenni was a terribly disruptive act that caused me instant and deep distress," Mr Pyne said in his complaint. "I was proud to be able to collect my thoughts and deliver a reasonable personal explanation despite being completely disheartened and shocked by the extremes Mr de Brenni MP, not only himself acting improperly but acting in concert on the floor of the House with Deputy Premier Trad and others, had gone into in the previous 24 hours in particular, in both physically and verbally intimidating, bullying and threatening me concerning my rights and obligations as a member. "These are some of the more public displays of misconduct and contempt that the Palaszczuk Labor government have turned a blind eye to and these actions and subsequent inaction by those in authority has certainly contributed to my inability, as an MP, to keep calling the Labor Party my home." Mr Pyne had previously said he would not make a complaint, but said he felt compelled to add his side to the Ethics Committee investigation "on my own terms".

He also called for three Labor MPs sitting on the Ethics Committee, Don Brown, Craig Crawford and Linus Power, to be excused from hearing his matter, accusing them of having a conflict of interest, requesting that Nikki Boyd not replace any of them. Loading In asking for his complaint to be referred, Mr Pyne echoed former Army boss David Morrison in telling Parliament that "the standard you walk past is the standard you accept". Speaker Peter Wellington will consider the matter before making a decision on the referral.