Australian parliamentary security officers allowed to address members as 'mates' again

Sunday, August 21, 2005

The ban on using the term "mate" as a form of address for fellow Australian security officers has been overturned. The ban was previously reported here on Wikinews 3 days ago. A daily email brief sent to security staff revoked the "mate" ban and suggested that security officers use their judgement about how to address visitors, employees and Parliamentarians.

The edit said: "PSS officers are reminded to treat everyone in Parliament House with respect and courtesy, and to be sensitive to the expectations of visitors and building occupants. In particular, PSS officers need to be aware of when a degree of informality may be acceptable and when a more formal approach is required, and should not use colloquialisms where these might not be understood or appreciated."

The decision to ban the word "mate" provoked significant expressions of outrage from Australia's Prime Minister and many other Members of the Parliament.

Sources

Matt Price. "Mates Together Again" — The Australian/AAP, August 19, 2005

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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.