Independent MP Helen Dalton has declared women at New South Wales parliament are working in a "toxic" environment while moving a motion to condemn a male MP for saying she should be "clocked".
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MLC Robert Borsak made the comment about Ms Dalton two weeks ago in the upper house, ahead of a vote on flood-plain harvesting.
Ms Dalton — who is a lower house MP — had entered the chamber to hear the debate concerning her own electorate, which prompted One Nation leader Mark Latham to criticise her for "dividing communities".
Ms Dalton then got up and appeared to move towards Mr Latham before being told to stop by others in the chamber.
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MLC Mark Banasiak then criticised the Legislative Council chair Chris Rath for being "too soft" when trying to defuse the situation, which prompted Mr Borsak to say: "He should have got up and clocked her."
Mr Borsak has told the ABC he does not wish to comment on the situation.
On Wednesday afternoon, Ms Dalton put forward a motion in the lower house to classify Mr Borsak's comment as dangerous workplace behaviour.
"[Domestic violence] can happen to anyone … and this is endemic across our society," the member for Murray said.
"How can we still have men walking the halls of parliament who think nothing of suggesting a woman should have been "clocked" to keep her in line?
"And what is the ramification? Deafening silence."
Ms Dalton argued that, in any other workplace, the comment would have resulted in instant dismissal and inappropriate behaviour should no longer be ignored or "wished away" in Macquarie Street.
"How does this parliament even dare to pretend it can set the rules and standards for the rest of the state when we are, in fact, working in a toxic environment ourselves?
"If we don't call this out — if we don't pull up these misogynists before they infect everyone around them — we will remain part of the problem."
Several members from all sides of government spoke in support of Ms Dalton and backed her call for Mr Borsak to apologise.
Greens MP Jenny Leong — who represents Newtown — said Mr Borsak's comment clearly incited violence and, if that's what he did in front of cameras, she was worried about what he did elsewhere.
"What does he think is acceptable then?" she asked.
"Less than a third of members of this parliament are women and we have so much to do to address this."
Independent member for Sydney Alex Greenwich said Ms Dalton was brave for calling out the "disgraceful" comments, which sent a poor message to women wanting to enter politics.
"The blokes in this place need to do better," he said.
In August, Premier Dominic Perrottet vowed to end workplace harassment after the release of an investigation into the culture at New South Wales parliament house.
The review — by former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick — found one-in-three respondents had experienced bullying or sexual harassment in the past five years and many had low confidence in the structural protections to prevent bullying.
Mr Greenwich said that, since the Broderick review, there appeared to be a "shrinking rump" of ultra-right-wing men emboldened to behave worse than ever.
"It's important that this chamber sheds light on [Mr Borsak's] character and his openness to encourage violence against women, something I know is a growing concern in regional and rural New South Wales," he said.
Liberal MP for Port Macquarie Leslie Williams and Labor MP for Port Stephens Kate Washington also spoke in support of Ms Dalton and the motion passed with unanimous support.
On Tuesday, in the upper house, Labor's Greg Donnelly was accused of sexism after claiming the minister for women, Bronnie Taylor, was "howling" and "screaming" and should "tone it down a bit".
Ms Taylor claimed Mr Donnelly would never say that to a man.
On Wednesday, Ms Washington revealed that Mr Donnelly had since apologised for his comments.
