Australian Legislator May Be Expelled For Oversize Lapel Pin reports PinsYourWay.com

New South Wales Council Could Oust Member For Dress Code Violations

San Francisco, CA (prHWY.com) November 10, 2012 - San Francisco, CA- In the New South Wales Legislative Council, a Green Party member says he might be expelled from the chamber for wearing a too large lapel pin. But, claims MP Jeremy Buckingham, he is winning the battle and will not back down.

Rules on standards of dress in the chamber set a maximum of 20 millimeters for a member's lapel pin. Wearing a larger pin than the standard permits could open a legislator to being ruled out of order. And if ruled out of order three times, a member of the chamber could be expelled by the chamber's president.

On his first run-in over the rule in September, Buckingham was accused of wearing a too large eagle badge, but opted to remove it rather than be cited as violating the rules. Then in mid-October, he was challenged by Peter Phelps, the whip for the province's ruling Liberal party, this time for wearing a lapel pin bearing an Aboriginal flag superimposed on a map of Australia.

The pin was the same height as the official lapel badge identifying the wearer as a member of the Legislative Council, but about five millimeters wider than the regulation pin. Council president Don Harwin sided with Phelps, ruling Buckingham was out of order for wearing the pin.

Buckingham responded with scorn, charging the lapel pin had drawn objections from the ruling party because of its message of supporting Aboriginal rights, rather than for its size. He told reporters in Sydney that many legislators routinely wore lapel pins larger than the rules allow. "To be thrown out ... because of a pin the size of a thumb nail ... what planet are we on?" he asked a press service writer. In defiance, he wore the same pin when he entered the chamber the next day, essentially daring the ruling party to move to expel him for violating the parliamentary dress code.

After no objection was raised by any member of the provincial parliament, Buckingham claimed he had backed the government down, saying that the province's premier Barry O'Farrell had "smacked down" Phelps and "told him to pull in his head." For added measure, Buckingham called for Phelps to be fired from his post as party whip.

Asked about the controversy, New South Wales Premier O'Farrell said although the ruling had been in line with the Council's rules, he disagreed with it. He added rules allowing expulsion of a Legislative Council member for wearing a lapel pin "need looking at."

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