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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-06-04 Daily Xml
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Matter of Privilege

Matter of Privilege, Speaker's Statement

The SPEAKER (11:02): I rise to make a statement in regard to a matter of privilege that was raised in the final minutes of the last sitting week. I make the following statement with regard to the matter of privilege raised by the member for West Torrens in the house on 16 May; however, before addressing that matter, I wish to outline the significance of privilege as it relates to this 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 the vote of the house on a substantive motion. As we have touched on in the past, McGee in Parliamentary Practice in New Zealand, in my view, makes the test for whether or not a matter is a matter of privilege by defining it as a matter that can 'genuinely be regarded as tending to impede or obstruct the house in the discharge of its duties'.

Generally speaking, any act or omission which obstructs or impedes the house in the performance of its functions, or which obstructs or impedes any member or officer of such house in the discharge of his or her duty, or which has a tendency, directly or indirectly, to produce such a result, may be treated as a contempt and therefore be considered a matter of privilege even though there is no precedent of the offence.

I refer to the matter raised by the member for West Torrens in relation to an answer given by the Premier to a question in the house on 16 May. More specifically, the Leader of the Opposition asked the following question to the Premier: 'Has the Premier stripped all funding from Brand SA?' The Premier, in responding to the question, made a few preliminary remarks and, after being directed back to the question, stated:

I refer the Leader of the Opposition to the answers that we have provided in the Legislative Council.

The member for West Torrens then referred to the following question asked in the other place on 16 May to the Hon. David Ridgway, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, by the Hon. Kyam Maher:

…as part of the Joyce review, which the minister mentioned, will he rule out that Brand SA has been stripped of its funding?

The Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment provided the following answer:

As my colleague the honourable Treasurer said earlier, we are not going to play the rule in, rule out game. It's a game the opposition has played. We are not going to play the rule in, rule out game. We have a budget on 18 June, and that's when all will be revealed.

The member for West Torrens then went on to quote a letter the opposition was in receipt of, dated 16 May 2019, from the Premier to the chair of Brand SA, Mr Peter Joy. The member for West Torrens indicated that the letter was delivered to Mr Joy before question time on 16 May. Without quoting from the letter, its contents reveal that, following a review, the government had decided that funds previously provided to Brand SA to promote the state will be reallocated.

The member for West Torrens contrasts the content of the Premier's letter to Mr Joy, together with the date and time of receipt of the letter by Mr Joy, with that part of the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment's answer in the other place that, 'We have a budget on 18 June, and that's when all will be revealed.'

The member for West Torrens refers to the answers provided by the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment in the other place, attributed those answers to the Premier, and alleges that the Premier has misled the house as to when a government decision would be announced in relation to Brand SA funding.

The member for West Torrens has provided me with further information about a subsequent announcement made by the Premier on this matter at a media conference held on 20 May. The member for West Torrens states:

On Monday, 20 May 2019, the Premier made further statements at a media conference in relation to that matter stating that he had personally signed, before question time and therefore before he provided his answer to the House of Assembly of 16 May 2019, a letter to Mr Peter Joy of Brand SA announcing that the South Australian government had made a decision to not continue to fund Brand SA.

Further, the member West Torrens goes on to say:

The Premier has now confirmed publicly that he knew before question time on 16 May 2019 that his government had decided not to fund Brand SA and that the Premier had prior knowledge of that decision and, indeed, he had personally signed correspondence to Brand SA announcing his government's decision before he made his statement to the House of Assembly in question time.

The member for West Torrens alleges that the acknowledgement by the Premier that he had signed, before question time on 16 May, a letter to Mr Joy concerning the fate of Brand SA funding was synonymous to the Premier 'announcing that the South Australian government had made a decision to not continue to fund Brand SA'.

I have read the answers provided in the other place by the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment and I cannot find any reference in those answers that indicate there was going to be an announcement or that any information would be provided in the form of an announcement prior to the release of the budget papers on 18 June. At the time the answers were provided to the Legislative Council and referred to by the Premier, there was nothing to suggest that the government's intention was to make an announcement about ongoing funding to Brand SA.

The fact that Mr Joy chose to disseminate correspondence he had received concerning the government's movements on Brand SA funding cannot, in my opinion, be considered sufficient enough to be regarded as the government's announcement in relation to Brand SA's funding. In my opinion, it would be reasonable to assume that the Premier's correspondence to Mr Joy was sent as a courtesy, informing him in his role as chair of Brand SA of sensitive, early advice—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens and the member for Kaurna can leave for five minutes for laughing during my finding.

The honourable members for West Torrens and Kaurna having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: In my opinion, it would be reasonable to assume that the Premier's correspondence to Mr Joy was sent as a courtesy, informing him in his role as chair of Brand SA of sensitive, early advice ahead of any official government announcement or the release of the budget papers.

In the Chair's opinion, whilst I can understand the merits of this submission, this is not a matter of privilege for the reasons I stated earlier. In the Chair's view, the matter could not 'genuinely be regarded as tending to impede or obstruct the house in the discharge of its duties'. Accordingly, I do not propose to give the precedence that would enable any member to pursue this matter immediately as a matter of privilege. This decision does not prevent the member for West Torrens or any other member from proceeding with a motion on the specific matter by giving notice in the usual way.

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