Points of Order — Chamber, Lobbies, and Galleries—Use of Social Media in Chamber

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am asking you this question more for you to reflect on than to give an immediate answer. I have become aware that during the course of the afternoon there has been a disreputable reference made to you via Twitter. That tweet had to have been circulated by the person who owns the account whilst seated here in the House. Clearly, if someone stood up and made such a reference, then the whole House would have quite a condemning approach to that being done. The question becomes one of how you deal with people making disreputable comments by way of Twitter. Should we, in fact, pursue it with the Privileges Committee so that we can get a ruling on this at some point, or could we perhaps discuss it later this afternoon in the Business Committee? I think it would be a very unfortunate trend if members thought they could sit in this House and commentate on proceedings in a way that was derogatory to the Chair.

The Minister raises a very interesting challenge, I think, for this Parliament. This would not be the first time that I have seen a Twitter comment expressing some unhappiness with decisions that I have made. My job is to attempt to maintain the dignity of the House, and I assure all members that I do this to the best of my ability in a completely unbiased fashion. I think the member’s suggestion that it is a discussion worthy of the Business Committee is one we should follow through with. It is probably something further that the Standing Orders Committee could also look at before its review is finalised. There is a difficulty there in interpretation of the current Standing Orders and the ability of members here to use relatively modern technology throughout question time. I will give it further consideration.