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  • 4 months ago
Senior Counsel Martin Daly, a former Independent Senator for nine years, is weighing in on the recent attacks against the Independent Bench of the Senate.

He also weighs in on statements made by Senator Anthony Vieira, who said the criticisms took an emotional toll on the late Senator Deoroop Teemal.

SC Daly was speaking on the TV6 Morning Edition on Tuesday.

More from Nicole M Romany.
Transcript
00:00Independent Senator Anthony Vera has reportedly stated that unfair attacks on members of the
00:06independent bench have had a negative impact on the health of now-deceased Senator Diorup
00:12Timal. However, his remarks drew strong criticism from the government, which accused Senator
00:19Vera of politicising Senator Timal's passing, as well as masquerading under the cloak of
00:25independence. Today, Senior Counsel Martin Daly tells the TV6 Morning Edition he might have taken
00:33a different approach in responding to Senator Vera's statements. Well, I wouldn't have approached
00:38it like that either. I might have adopted a mild rebuke, but I didn't think it was necessary to
00:45say he was politicising anything. He disclosed something I was told him in a private conversation
00:51as part of trying to make a broader point about the stress that Senator Timal may have felt serving
00:57in a public office where you are subject to sustained personal attacks. Senior Counsel Daly says one of the
01:04major issues is that the Senate is no longer functioning as a space for consensus and
01:10conciliation. He believes it has become a mirror image of the House of Representatives, where
01:16confrontation takes precedence. And what is ignorant about all of these attacks? It is assumed that
01:22the independent senators are there to do somebody's bidding, but they're not. They're intended to be a
01:28backstop against the overreach of executive power. The Senior Counsel acknowledges that there is some
01:34merit in the concerns raised by both Senator Vera and the government. What I am saying is that Vera is largely
01:43right that the Senate is a place where the debate should be more respectful and less antagonistic.
01:50He's largely right. I don't agree with Vera about many things. And the UNC may have a point in the sense
01:57that they are largely right when they say there may be some aspect or some undermining of trust and
02:03confidence in the appointment of independent senators by someone who is in active politics on the part of
02:09one political party. Nicole M Romany, TV6 News.
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