New parliamentarians should try not to get involved in the tradition of interrupting and heckling speakers during House of Assembly debate, according to senior statesman Quinton Edness.

Mr. Edness, who was a United Bermuda Party Cabinet Minister for almost 16 years before losing his seat, said that new MPs should work at commanding respect when they give a speech to their colleagues.

?The one thing that a backbencher must learn to do is not to become a part of the fray,? Mr. Edness said.

?Number two, when they are going to speak on a subject, they should know their subject having researched it thoroughly so when they speak, the House becomes familiar with the fact that they have something to say. You command respect and you are not a part of the hoo-hah of the House ? the nonsense that goes on with interpolating and making off the cuff comments when others are speaking. You become a respected speaker. And once you reach that stage you become a speaker who commands the silence of the House whenever you speak and that actually adds to the decorum of the House. In fact it is the responsibility of all members ? and backbenchers should be taught this ? to contribute to the good decorum of the House, and not abuse it.?

Mr. Edness said that in his day, backbenchers were given an orientation which comprised of ?familiarity sessions? and then mentoring until they could stand on their own feet.

?Older members would just sit with them and have a session to familiarise them with the basic procedures in the House,? he said.

?We would give them the basics and a rule book and tell them to study the rule book. And we would guide them until they got to the stage where they could take a bill through the House or a motion.?

Another essential guide book was May?s Parliamentary Procedures which, Mr. Edness described as ?the bible of parliaments around the world?

?It?s something our Speaker should be doing now. The House is in disarray because the Speaker is very weak.?

Mr. Edness did not substantiate his charges against House Speaker Stanley Lowe but said that he followed House proceedings regularly and that he felt that both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker Jennifer Smith could do a better job in presiding over debates.

People are prevented from speaking on certain issues for invalid reasons, he said. ?I have to go to the House with you one of these days and I will show you every occasion when the Speaker does something incorrectly.?

The backbencher?s first allegiance is to his constituency, he continued. And that meant speaking up for constituents if Government is making proposals that will adversely affect them.

?He doesn?t have to toe the government line blindly. (But) I don?t think it happens very often these days ? I think that the controls that are put on them is taking away from the backbenchers? individuality. And we?ve had some issues that have demonstrated that recently. There were divisions everywhere on this GPS thing, but the whip was on.?

New backbenchers should continually develop their skills if they wanted to be effective, he advised.

?They have to teach themselves how to make a good speech. I had to get books on speech making, I had to emulate and listen to good speakers elsewhere and try and emulate them,? Mr. Edness continued.

?I had to stand in my mother?s kitchen and practice making a speech. I had to take a newspaper and practice and pretend I was making a speech in Parliament. The way to become an effective member of Parliament is to become a good speaker so you can get your point over. That?s something that new members must do.?