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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-12-02 Daily Xml
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Matter of Privilege

Matter of Privilege

The SPEAKER (17:14): I make this statement about the matter of privilege raised by the member for Morphett in the house earlier today but, before addressing the matter, I wish to outline the significance of privilege as it relates to the house and its members.

Privilege is not a device by which members or any other person can seek to pursue matters that can be addressed by debate or settled by a vote of the house on a substantive motion. McGee in Parliamentary Practice in New Zealand makes the test for whether or not a matter is a matter of privilege, defining it as a matter that can, quote:

…genuinely be regarded as tending to impede or obstruct the House in the discharge of its duties.

An essential aspect of privilege is to ensure that each member can speak without fear or favour, but at the same time be able to rely on the accuracy of the statement made in the house by any member.

I refer to the matter raised by the member for Morphett, where he alleges that the Minister for Emergency Services has knowingly misled the house, as the minister's answers to questions in the house on 18 and 19 November 2015, while consistent with each other, are inconsistent with what the member for Morphett believes to be the minister's intentions, which he deduces by reference to information contained in public documents not before the house.

In response to questions from the member for Morphett about the incorporation of the SES and CFS volunteer charters into legislation or regulation, the minister on 18 November this year on page 3591 of Hansard is quoted as saying:

I will be engaging with the volunteer sector and all volunteers who are involved in emergency services. The commitment I gave at the beginning of the process last year was that it would be an enforceable regulation…

Further, on 19 November, at page 3721 of Hansard, the minister is quoted as saying:

…yes, there will be a head of powers in the act itself, and I talked about regulation. In fact, there was some discussion as to whether or not it should be a regulation around the volunteer sector. I said that a regulation would suffice, and elevate it from being a policy, which it is at the moment.

The member for Morphett refers to the Emergency Services Sector Reform Environmental Scan and SWOT analysis report, wherein at page 10 it states:

…throughout the reform engagement process the minister has committed to elevating the charters into legislation in a similar manner to the volunteer charter in the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 in Victoria.

The member uses this reference and, more specifically, reference to the word 'legislation' to allege that the minister in indicating to the house that volunteer charters will be incorporated into regulation and not the act is misleading the house.

The member for Morphett's contention is that any reasonable person would understand that when a minister talks about legislation that means incorporation into an act of parliament, not a regulation to that act. It is the perceived inconsistency between the minister's reference to the charter being incorporated into regulation and not the act that the member for Morphett alleges that the minister has misled the house.

As previous Speakers have stated, an inconsistency between words used by a member in the house with those previously used in the house or elsewhere, or words spoken that are inconsistent with the text of a document, is not itself misleading and therefore not a matter of privilege. Although it may be unfortunate that the word 'legislation' in the extrinsic document could be construed to be inconsistent with information provided to the house by the minister, as the minister clearly noted in his answer to the house on 18 November, 'First of all, regulation is legislation.'

As both answers provided by the minister are consistent with each other, there is nothing to suggest that the information provided to the house by the minister was misleading. Accordingly, I do not propose to give precedence which would enable any member to pursue the matter immediately as a matter of privilege. This decision does not prevent the member for Morphett or any other member from proceeding with a motion on the specific matter by giving notice in the normal way.

I would just add that it seems to me that the member for Morphett fundamentally misunderstands the idea of privilege, and the matter of privilege is of so little merit that if the member for Morphett raises one like this again I will name him.

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