Australian federal politics erupted into a disciplinary fight on Tuesday after Liberal MP Angie Bell said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Small Business Minister Anne Aly should be “shamed and stoned in the square” over the Australian Taxation Office’s decision to stop accepting credit-card payments for tax debts.
Bell made the remark while speaking in support of a Coalition bill that would reverse the ATO ban. Leader of the House Tony Burke rose to object, describing the wording as “physically violent imagery.” Bell withdrew the comment on the floor, but the exchange had already spilled into a broader argument about racism, misogyny and the safety of Muslim women in public life.
What Bell said and how the House responded
According to broadcasts and transcripts of Tuesday’s sitting, Bell framed the tax office move as an attack on households and urged extreme public punishment for the government’s most senior advocates of the policy. Burke’s intervention forced a withdrawal under standing orders rather than a formal censure, yet the clip spread quickly on social media.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor told reporters it was appropriate that Bell withdrew the statement. Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Ted O’Brien said on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that she “did the right thing” by pulling the words back. The Coalition is nonetheless continuing to press the underlying tax-policy fight, arguing the ATO’s ban hurts small businesses that rely on cards for cash flow.
Aly’s response and security concerns
Aly, the first Muslim woman elected to the federal parliament, posted a video saying Bell’s language was racist and misogynistic and “stands against our Australian values.” She said she had received 19 death threats on social media in the past week alone, and that earlier threats had used similar wording invoking stoning.
Aly did not allege that Bell had incited those messages, but she argued that violent metaphors in the chamber normalize harassment against women, particularly women of color. The government has faced repeated questions about MP safety after a series of protests and vitriolic online campaigns targeting ministers.
Policy dispute behind the rhetoric
The immediate policy dispute is narrower. The ATO announced it would stop accepting credit-card payments for tax liabilities, citing merchant fees that can exceed 1 percent on large balances. The government has extended other payment options and, in some cases, delayed implementation for affected taxpayers until mid-2027, but the opposition says the ban should be scrapped outright.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and the ATO have defended the change as a cost-saving measure that still leaves direct debit, BPAY and instalment plans in place. For Bell’s critics, however, Tuesday will be remembered less for tax mechanics than for language they say should never have been used about a colleague.
Parliamentary privilege protects MPs’ floor speeches from defamation suits, but party leaders still face pressure to show whether withdrawn comments carry consequences beyond a single sitting day. Bell has not indicated further apology beyond the withdrawal Burke requested.