Australian parliament revokes ban on 'Mate'

Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday said it was 'absurd' to require security guards at the country's Parliament House to stop addressing visitors and lawmakers as 'mate' and one of his predecessors called it rampant pomposity.

Latest reports said that the ban was revoked on Friday morning.

The ban was imposed this week among guards and attendants at the building in Canberra, Australian media reported.

"These things are all a matter of context, and that's why it's impractical and absurd to try and ban something," Howard, who in the past has used the term to describe US President George W Bush, told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.

"There are circumstances where a more formal address is appropriate," he said. "But in the same conversation you might start off calling somebody you've just met 'sir' or 'madam,' but as you become more familiar with your conversation and your exchange, you might end up saying 'mate'."

Hilary Penfold, secretary for the Department of Parliamentary Services, said the ban was intended to ensure staff does not offend visitors.

But Howard said it was not necessary and even he often uses the term of endearment with people he barely knows.

"People will ring me up and I might start off saying `yes sir' as a matter of courtesy, which I normally do, and then we lapse into it, we might say `mate'."

Former Labor Party prime minister Bob Hawke was enraged by the ban.

"It's pomposity gone mad," Hawke told ABC radio.

Hawke a former union leader famous for his down to earth approach and for holding a beer drinking record while studying at Oxford University, said the term had been useful to him at official functions.

"It gets you out of all sorts of embarrassing situations," he said. "It's got a nice neutrality about it. I mean, it doesn't imply any intimacy, it shows a reasonable level of respect. I think it's one of our great words."