Question time has always been a spectacle demonstrating just how badly our elected officials can behave and I’m glad someone is calling it out. Of course, it should come as no surprise as to which party is the worst:
Figures provided by the Speaker’s office show there have been 198 ejections during the 47th parliament as of Tuesday 20 August. Of those, a Guardian Australia analysis shows 161 have been Coalition members, 36 Labor and one from the Greens.
Not that I’m inclined to defend the Coalition, but I suspected that the ratio was due to them being in opposition, and the historical record would seem to indicate that’s a large factor: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/DisorderlyConduct#_Toc468869261
Non-government members, including crossbenchers, account for 92.8 per cent of all instances of disciplinary actions from 1901 to the end of the 44th Parliament in 2016—irrespective of whether Labor or the Coalition has been in Opposition (see Table 11).
Fair call. Both major parties need to lift their game!