DALY ON RISING SENATE TENSIONS

CCNTV6

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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