By Robert Hart, Parliamentary ReporterSENATOR BURCHELL Whiteman said yesterday that the Government had avoided imposing sanctions on questionable radio talk shows in its drive to maintain participatory democracy within society.
"We have resisted all efforts, and there have been many, to impose any sanctions against even those who persist in what some would describe as seditious incitements," Minister Whiteman, Leader of Government Business in the Senate, said while making his contribution to the 2004/2005 State of the Nation debate.
The Information Minister's comments came in the framework of a liberal communications environment in which harsh criticism of public, and to some extent, private figures has become regular fodder for listeners to the airwaves.
However, the Senate Leader warned that private citizens, as well as individual parliamentarians, can go to the courts in situations where they have been libelled. "And some of them have exercised their rights under the law," he added.
During his presentation, Minister Whiteman also addressed the perceived unruly behaviour of parliamentarians as they carry out their duties in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
"Despite the various efforts which have been made, parliamentarians continue to get negative reviews from the public as a result of what the public sees of their behaviour in the Parliament, (therefore) I propose quarterly reviews of parliamentary practice," he said.
Minister Whiteman noted that such reviews would allow parliamentarians to become more familiar with the Standing Orders and develop their own codes of conduct in the House.
The call for reviews of parliamentary practice comes in the wake of several incidents during the 2003/2004 legislative year, in which parliamentarians flouted proper procedure as prescribed in the Standing Orders for the House and Senate.
In one notable incident Dr. Paul Robertson, the Minister of Development, walked out of the House of Representatives while being questioned by a member on the Opposition side, leading to what even House Speaker Michael Peart later described as "pandemonium".
Opposition member Edmund Bartlett was seen by television viewers across the nation handling the symbolic mace, which is traditionally only held by the House marshall.
