Matter of Privilege

Matter of Privilege

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (15:59): I rise on a matter of privilege. Yesterday, in question time, I asked the Premier, 'Other than the Property Council, can the Premier name another industry group that supports his latest version of his land tax policy?' In response to that question, the Premier answered, 'I am going to allow the opposition all the time they like during the committee stage.' This place—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I would like to hear the matter of privilege. The member for Lee is entitled to raise a matter of privilege, just like any other member in this place.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Minister for Transport, be quiet! I am trying to listen to this.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. We have just considered a guillotine motion in this place, where the Leader of Government Business moved that the committee stage of the Land Tax (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill only proceed for a further 30 minutes. There was then a vote on that motion. The government voted in favour of it, the opposition voted against it and a division was called.

Indeed, the record of that division will now show that not only did the government vote in favour of that guillotine motion to limit the amount of time that the parliament will now have to consider the committee stage of the bill to 30 minutes but that the member for Dunstan—the Premier himself, who had previously advised the house that in the future he would provide as much time as the opposition would like in the committee stage of the bill—voted against it.

Sir, your test for a matter of privilege has always been to apply the test previously applied by McGee—that is, whether the efforts of a member in their actions in the house did serve, or would serve, to obstruct or frustrate the business of the house. Clearly, the committee stage of this bill—

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Point of order, Mr Speaker.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am in the middle of raising a matter of privilege.

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee, there is a point of order; I will take the point of order. What is the point of order?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Thank you, sir. The member is presenting a matter of privilege. He is entitled to put the information before the house, which he suggests—not to have an argument or debate about it and not to debate the matter, but to put the information—and he has done that.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Thank you, Attorney-General. I am going ask members on my left and right to be quiet. If I hear any other interjections, members—I do not care if they are ministers or backbenchers—will be leaving the chamber. I am going to listen to the member for Lee's matter of privilege so that I can try to adjudicate it.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Mr Speaker, just before I continue my matter of privilege, on that point of order—

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee, I would ask you to stick to the matter of privilege, please, unless it is highly relevant, because I would to hear it and adjudicate on its merits.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: We have had a guillotine motion put by the government, it was opposed by the opposition and there was a division. The division recorded that the Premier himself—the member for Dunstan, the same member as Premier who gave the commitment to the house that in the future he would allow the opposition as much time as it liked in the committee stage of the bill—and his government have voted in exactly the opposite way. He and his government have voted to curtail the amount of time that he opposition has in this committee stage, and—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond and the Leader of the Opposition, I am going to ask you to leave while I hear the member for Lee. I warned you; I am now acting. I am listening to the member for Lee.

The honourable members for Croydon and Hammond having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: More to the point, at the commencement of the committee stage last night I had raised that I would be seeking to put to the government and on the record a number of queries during the committee stage that came from members of the community and constituents. It was clear to the government, after the Premier had given that commitment in question time, that in the course of the committee stage there was to be information put to the government and queries made of the government for response for the benefit of the opposition and those people the opposition represents. The fact that that commitment from the Premier was given barely 24 hours earlier and has now been broken absolutely impedes the business of this government. As I was saying previously, the test that has always been—

The Hon. V.A. Chapman: Parliament.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Parliament, sorry. As I was saying previously, the test that you have always applied, sir, is that test of McGee about whether a member's actions impede the business of the house. There can be no clearer example about how the Premier, the member for Dunstan, has said one thing and deliberately and consciously acted the other way.

Not only is he the Leader of the Government who moves that motion but he himself voted to ensure that the commitment he had given to this place was thwarted. That is clearly a matter of privilege which not only needs to be raised but needs to be found and agreed by you, sir, and I now furnish you with the relevant information from Hansard yesterday.

The SPEAKER: I thank the member for Lee. While the member for Lee is entitled to provide me with that background information, with great humility I say to the member for Lee that, whilst I appreciate any member's ability and availability to raise a matter of privilege, I do not believe that it meets the threshold required. However, obviously, that does not prevent the member for Lee from either dissenting from that ruling or also moving a substantive motion.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left and right, if you want to disagree with my ruling, there is a way to do it. I have pointed out that it is available for you to do that and now is the time to do it in a civil manner. I am making that available. I have taken advice. I do not believe it reaches the threshold; that is my ruling. I am in the house's hands.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I move to establish a privileges committee into the Premier's behaviour.

The SPEAKER: No. Because there is not precedence, I am informed that that is not able to be done. However, you could do it by substantive motion.