Scott Ryan says ‘decency cannot be codified’ but warns against abuse based on gender

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Senate president, Scott Ryan, has rebuked David Leyonhjelm over what have been widely criticised as sexist comments made to the Greens senator Sarah-Hanson Young, warning against abuse based on gender in the Senate.

The comments, which Hanson-Young has condemned as slut-shaming, are the subject of defamation proceedings. The Greens said on Monday the party would move to censure Leyonhjelm in the Senate over the issue.

At the start of Senate proceedings, Ryan addressed the exchange between the senators on 28 June, warning that “personal abuse has no place in this chamber – particularly if it targets personal attributes such as race or gender”.

“Nor does the use of abusive epithets or labels,” he said. “The use of such language does nothing to facilitate the operation of the chamber and free debate within it, and we are all capable of vigorously arguing our case without resort to it.”

When Senator Leyonhjelm told me to ‘stop shagging men’, I had to speak up | Sarah Hanson-Young Read more

Ryan said the Senate was “the prime deliberative chamber of the parliament” and it was better to attract “positive attention” to it.

“On several occasions in recent times, this has not been the case,” he said. “The standing orders and rules of this place are limits, not guides. Just because something can be said or done does not mean it should be. Common decency cannot be codified.

“It depends on all of us considering the impact of our behaviour on others. While this isn’t a workplace like a normal one, it is still a place where we all must work together, even across issues of profound disagreement.”

Leyonhjelm told Guardian Australia he does not accept Ryan’s comments were a rebuke because he “interpreted them as a general comment about parliamentary and unparliamentary language”.

Leyonhjelm said he “didn’t see they were any more directed at me than at Hanson-Young”, noting Ryan could also have been referring to her calling him a “creep” in the exchange.

Hanson-Young clearly disagreed, welcoming the statement “in relation to the derogatory, defamatory and sexist comments made by Senator Leyonhjelm”.

Sarah Hanson-Young💚 (@sarahinthesen8) I welcome the Senate President’s statement today in relation to the derogatory, defamatory and sexist comments made by Senator Leyonhjelm.

I hope that the President’s statement can be a message to make both the Parliament and all other workplaces in Australia better for women

Earlier, Ryan warned that he would “take a strict line on the use of such language to uphold the dignity of the chamber”.

Ryan explained he had not heard the comments, but said if they occurred in Senate proceedings “there is no doubt that the chair would have required certain comments to be withdrawn”.

Leyonhjelm has never apologised for the remarks. He has explained he made them because he thought Hanson-Young had said something to the effect of “all men are rapists”, implying that men were collectively responsible for violence.

David Leyonhjelm is milking this moment, rallying his supporters with offence | Katharine Murphy Read more

Leyonhjelm said he would seek vindication through his defence to Hanson-Young’s defamation suit but “if they want to [bring a censure motion] I’ll have plenty to say about Sarah”.

The Liberal Democrat senator labelled accusations his remarks amounted to slut-shaming, sexism and harassment “lies” and “fairy stories”.

The Labor Senate leader, Penny Wong, congratulated Ryan, agreeing that “the reference to race or gender has no place in debate”.

The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, labelled Leyonhjelm’s conduct “disgraceful”, saying it was “designed to humiliate and to intimidate a fellow senator”.

“The men who use sexism to belittle or intimidate women should never be tolerated in a decent society, let alone in this parliament.”

Di Natale said the Greens would seek to censure Leyonhjelm’s actions “in the strongest possible terms” to ensure the behaviour was not tolerated in future.

The Justice party senator, Derryn Hinch, said he would support the censure motion and noted that Leyonhjelm had left the chamber telling Cory Bernardi he was “walking out very proudly”.

“He has learned nothing,” Hinch said. “His comments, earlier in the session, were disgusting, and he compounded them all by going on Sky News and gloating about what he had said and why he would not apologise.”

Sky News and presenters Rowan Dean and Ross Cameron apologised for broadcasting the comments but Leyonhjelm refused to do so.

Di Natale also took aim at the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, for an incident in 2017 when she wore a burqa to Senate question time as another low moment for the Senate and an attempt to “exploit racism for her own personal gain”.