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Chapter 6 - Senators
Conduct of senators
The standing orders of
the Senate prescribe rules governing the conduct of senators during their
participation in the Senate proceedings. As these rules relate mainly to the
conduct of debate, they are set out in Chapter 10, Debate, under Rules of
debate and Conduct of senators.
Matters relating to the conduct of
senators are also the subject of the Senate’s Privilege Resolutions (see
Chapter 2, Parliamentary Privilege). Resolution 6(3) prohibits senators asking
for or receiving any benefit in return for discharging their duties in any way.
Resolution 9 enjoins senators to exercise their freedom of speech in the Senate
with regard to the rights of persons outside parliament and not to make
statements reflecting adversely on such persons without proper evidence.
Resolution 5 provides for the publication by the Senate of responses by persons
who have been adversely affected by references about them in the Senate.
Senators are
subject to the contempt jurisdiction of the Senate, and may be adjudged guilty
of contempt (see Chapter 2, Parliamentary Privilege; for a Privileges Committee
inquiry into the conduct of a senator, see 7/5/1997, J.1855-6).
Senators may be censured by the Senate for misconduct (31/5/1989, J.1762-3; 4/10/1989, J.2083-5; 29/3/1995, J.3182-4; 2/10/1997, J.2618; 11/3/1998, J.3359-60; 19/3/2002, J.216-7 (a parliamentary secretary acting in a
non-government capacity)). For the censure
of ministers and members of other houses, see Chapter 19, Relations with the
Executive Government, under Ministerial accountability and censure motions. It
has been stated that it is not proper for a House to censure any member other
than a minister, but this alleged principle appears to arise from a
consideration of the situation in the House of Representatives and other lower
houses which are controlled by the government of the day, in that any
successful censure motion could only be moved by the government against an
Opposition member. If the question is considered apart from that difficulty, however,
it may well be concluded that a House properly so called may be justified in
censuring its own members, apart from ministers, for unacceptable conduct.
A senator may be
prosecuted for an offence which has also been dealt with as a contempt of the
Senate (cf US v Traficant, US Court of Appeals, 19/5/2004,
not reported; Supreme Court declined to hear appeal, 10/1/2005).
In 1992, following dispute over the “Marshall Islands affair”, in which
a minister was alleged to have sought improperly to influence the president of
that country, the Senate passed a resolution relating to the development of a
code of conduct for members of the Parliament and ministers (25/6/1992,
J.2610-3; 2616-8). No such code of conduct has yet been recommended to, or
adopted by, the Senate.
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