Australia’s Parliament resumed work on Monday with increased security and paid tribute to lawmaker Helen Haines who was critically injured last week in an alleged act of political violence.
Security screening measures were enhanced at Parliament House in the first session since Oct. 19, when authorities allege a driver rammed an SUV into Haines twice outside her electorate office.
She remained in a Melbourne hospital on Monday in a serious but stable condition after both her legs were amputated.
A 43-year-old man has been charged with offenses including intentionally causing serious injury. Police have not revealed a motive.
Australian prime minister leads tributes to Haines
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was the first of several lawmakers to pay tribute to Haines, a respected independent. He proposed a motion expressing the Parliament’s wish for her recovery and support for her family. Her husband Phil Haines looked on from Parliament’s public gallery.
“While the investigations go on, we must not rush to conclusions. But nor can we shrug off the very real rise in anger that distorts and corrodes our public discourse,” Albanese told Parliament.
“Enabled by the anonymity and speed afforded by social media, we are seeing rage and aggression increasing, not just in politics, but toward workers in hospitality, in retail, in schools and in hospitals, toward police, paramedics and other officials,” Albanese added.
Albanese described a “normalization of the language of grievance and violence.”
“We must not conflate the robustness of Australian democracy with this rising tide of rage,” Albanese said.
Police link threats to lawmakers with language used between political rivals
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Sunday threats against lawmakers were evenly spread between male and female politicians. But threats against women were more “personalized.”
Barrett said there was a “direct correlation” between the language political rivals use against each other and threats and abuse directed at lawmakers from the public.
Critics of Australian politics often complain that language that lawmakers sometimes use against each other would not be tolerated in any other workplace in the country.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor told Parliament he disagreed with those who saw a “casual connection between robust parliamentary debate and political violence.”
“We never allow that vigorous parliamentary debate to spill over into violence,” Taylor said.
Lawmakers suggest colleagues make a civility pledge
Speaker Milton Dick noted that some lawmakers had suggested colleagues sign a so-called civility pledge in response to the alleged attack on Haines.
“This is a personal decision and I encourage all Members (of Parliament) to continue these discussions to decide the best way for themselves” to respond, Dick told Parliament.
Two months ago, Haines became the first Australian lawmaker to make such a pledge, advocated by a think tank established last year, Compassion in Politics Australia. Around six federal and state lawmakers have since committed to sign.
Independent lawmaker Kate Chaney said she intended to follow Haines’ example by making such a pledge.
“I think there’s something really symbolic about the fact that Helen was the only federal M.P. (Member of Parliament) to have signed this,” Chaney told the ABC.
“It is a very simple thing. It just says ‘in my political life, I pledge to act with honesty, respect and compassion.’ And that feels to me like a simple and poignant way to honor the contribution Helen’s made to the Parliament,” Chaney added.
The think tank’s director, Jonathan Granger, said Haines approached his organization to sign the pledge in August after a media launch of the civility pledge attracted little attention. The pledge was a concept adopted from Compassion in Politics United Kingdom.
More Australian lawmakers had approached the organization to make the pledge than had been added it its website, Granger said. The organization was hoping for many more, given the focus in Parliament on Monday.
“It’s just sad that it had to happen like this. … What happened to Helen Haines was just a tragedy,” Granger said.
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