Labor members of a parliamentary committee chaired by Andrew Laming are calling on the prime minister to sack the controversial Queensland MP, saying his position is “untenable”.
In a letter sent to Scott Morrison on Wednesday, the opposition members of the employment, education and training committee expressed “deep concern” about the conduct of Laming, saying the Liberal MP’s behaviour towards women had been “completely unacceptable”.
“Maintaining his appointment as chair of a parliamentary standing committee is a privilege he simply does not deserve,” the letter, signed by MPs Lisa Chester, Ged Kearney and Joanne Ryan, states.
“Worse, he diminishes the committee, the house and the parliament each day that he remains in that office. We do not feel comfortable travelling with Mr Laming on committee business. We fear witnesses will be reluctant to appear before the committee while Mr Laming remains in that role.”
In response to questions about the letter, Laming said that “all the recent media accusations had come from ALP campaigners and had either been categorically denied or thrown out by police.”
“These hearings have dates, a quorum of attending MPs and plenty of witnesses. It’s up to Labor MPs to show they care about adult illiteracy and show up.”
The letter outlines the MPs’ concerns that even though the prime minister previously described Laming’s behaviour as “disgraceful”, the government has still supported him as chair of the committee, which adds an extra $23,000 to his annual salary.
Laming returned from personal leave early last month after undertaking counselling and empathy training, prompted by a string of complaints alleging online abuse against his own constituents.
During this time the Liberal MP was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which Laming claimed explained his erratic behaviour.
In a statement on 27 March, Laming said he would “step down from all parliamentary roles effective immediately” but has since claimed he never promised to permanently resign from his extra-parliamentary roles.
Defending Laming after he returned to parliament, Morrison said he had “never made comments” on whether Laming should stand down from his role as committee chair.
“But [Laming] has formed a view since then that the issues that were the subject of complaints made against him have now altered and there have been new facts that have come forward,” he said.
“He’s done many good things while he’s here as part of the government and I expect him to keep working hard for his electorate all the way to the next election.”
The Labor MPs say that since returning to parliament, Laming has shown “no regret nor acceptance that his actions were reprehensible.”
“Indeed he has tried to justify his abhorrent behaviour,” the letter to Morrison states.
“The house standing orders empower you to appoint the chair of each standing committee. We ask that you listen to your parliamentary colleagues, protect the reputation of the parliament and promote respectful behaviour by immediately removing Mr Laming as chair of the standing committee.”
In March, Laming retracted and apologised for comments made to two constituents, Alix Russo and Sheena Hewlett. But in an email to Liberal National party members, Laming reportedly suggested some of the allegations made against him were “petty” and part of a “carefully choreographed” campaign against him.
In parliament, Laming described Russo and Hewlett as “highly regarded individuals” but in the email, first reported by the Australian, he described his critics as “long-time political opponents”. He defended his actions as “replying to their trolling”.
“It is extraordinary that I am left to prove my innocence, based on petty allegations trumped-up to be criminal in nature,” Laming reportedly said, an apparent reference to complaints levelled by Hewlett and the state MP Kim Richards about him photographing them in a park.
He also claimed he was vindicated by police who cleared him of any legal wrongdoing over a photograph he took of a woman who was bent over while stocking a fridge.
Laming said the “ridiculous” allegation that led to calls for him to be dumped from the party was that a photo he had taken at a Queensland business of a woman stocking a fridge had been inappropriate.
“The police have examined that,” he said. “This was a broad workplace photo of the entire workplace. We mutually agreed they didn’t want to use that photo. So we just deleted it and that was the end of the story.”
The woman who was photographed, Crystal White, made a formal complaint to police alleging it was a “really inappropriate” photograph.
Laming claimed White had not seen the photograph.
“After an interview, police threw out the entire complaint 30 minutes after receiving my written statement,” Laming said.
