Renegade senator slammed for 'appalling' shouting match

A senator who forced the chamber to adjourn late at night after continuing to scream over another speaker has been slammed for being unruly.

The Senate moved to end earlier than expected on Tuesday after independent Lidia Thorpe continued to interject and yell her speech over a Labor senator.

There was confusion about the order of speakers, with none listed in the first tranche showing up.

Senator Thorpe had been given a spot later on during the open-ended debate, the government said.

That clarity wasn’t provided, Senator Thorpe said.

The Indigenous senator tried to speak about the death of her cousin Josh whose coronial inquest finished last week after he died in custody.

Delivering the speech on Wednesday, she read a statement from Josh’s mother.

“Josh entered the system as a baby, 32 years later that system took him from me forever,” she said

“His children will now grow up without their father, their trauma will be that their dad died crying out for help as prison staff ignored him.”

Senate President Sue Lines slammed Senator Lidia Thorpe’s conduct. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)

President Sue Lines slammed the senator’s conduct in a rebuke on Wednesday.

The president had ruled Senator Thorpe would no longer be heard but was ignored by the renegade independent, which forced the government to adjourn the chamber the previous night.

The president subsequently called the incident “appalling” and “unruly”.

“It is never in order to yell at other senators, and it is never in order to yell over the top of another senator,” she said.

“We are all responsible for our own actions in this chamber.”

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher branded Senator Thorpe’s actions “unseemly”.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher branded Senator Lidia Thorpe’s actions “unseemly”. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)

Adjournment speeches in the Senate allow anyone to speak on any issue before the chamber ends for the day.

There are no caps on the number of speakers on Tuesday nights.

Senators cannot be kicked out of the upper house by the president as MPs can in the lower house by the speaker, with a vote needed to remove someone from the chamber.