Members

Parliament Workplace Cultural Review Project, President's Statement

The PRESIDENT (14:21): The council resolved yesterday to request me to urgently progress the SA parliament workplace cultural review project under the auspices of the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity. As members will be aware, the letter and proposal presented by the commissioner asks for the full cooperation of the authorities of both houses of parliament. The resolution passed by the council yesterday was a resolution solely of this house and did not seek nor did it obtain the concurrence of the House of Assembly.

As the issues to be considered in any review will necessarily involve matters of privilege for both houses as well as management and administrative responsibilities for the Presiding Officers and Clerks of both houses and the Joint Parliamentary Service Committee, just as the previous president wrote to the previous Speaker, I have written to the current Speaker of the House of Assembly informing him of yesterday’s resolution of this house and provided him with a copy of the commissioner’s letter and proposal and advised him that I look forward to discussing this matter.