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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