NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong ordered to leave question time after clash with Speaker

Australian Community Media

NSW Speaker Greg Piper asked Newtown MP Jenny Leong to leave parliamentary question time after she demanded people be let into the public gallery. It follows a previous incident where question time was interrupted by Palestine conflict protesters.

Transcript

00:00 I appreciate we need to be aware of security and concerns around that.

00:04 I absolutely respect that, Speaker.

00:06 But I also think that it's problematic that there are members of the public sitting in

00:11 the foyer right now who are being told by the parliamentary staff that the gallery is

00:16 full when it's very clear the gallery is not full.

00:19 Member for Newtown to resume her seat and I will give an explanation as to what has

00:22 occurred there.

00:24 It was reported to me that there were two members of the public who were seeking access

00:28 to the chamber today into the Speaker's gallery, which is at my behest and my behest only to

00:35 be able to do that.

00:36 And I was told that they were identified as two of the protesters that I ordered removed

00:43 from this chamber yesterday.

00:45 I believe if that is the case, then I am not going to just move on to the following day

00:54 and allow those people in.

00:56 They can perhaps seek to speak to me, not necessarily through yourself, Member for Newtown,

01:02 but they can seek an audience with me and make some explanation, maybe even an apology.

01:10 But my issue here is about the safety of this House.

01:14 Member for Newtown will resume her seat.

01:16 I am not going to entertain this.

01:19 There are eight people out there, Speaker.

01:21 I respect that you have identified two, but there are eight people out there.

01:26 And I have no way of identifying that.

01:28 Member for Newtown will resume her seat.

01:30 I am taking this action for the safety of this chamber.

01:34 The Member for Newtown will resume her seat or she will leave the chamber herself.

01:39 I absolutely respect the idea that there may be people that have been identified that were

01:46 a part of yesterday's protest and I absolutely respect your right to not allow those people

01:51 into the public gallery.

01:52 But it is a dangerous precedent to set that there are other people that are not being

01:57 let in as a result of that.

01:58 I will accept that you can give me that advice if that is your opinion, but I will not change

02:03 my mind.

02:04 I cannot discern who those people are right now, but I know they are associated with people

02:07 like me.

02:08 So how did we discern these people in the gallery versus those people up there, Speaker?

02:09 The Member for Newtown will remove herself—

02:10 How did we discern those people to those people?

02:11 The Member for Newtown will remove herself from the chamber—

02:12 Was it based on what they looked like?

02:13 —understanding what the 2498 was?

02:14 Until the end of Question Time.

02:29 [End of Question Time]

02:29 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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