Page 1936 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The bill I present today seeks to avoid similar problems emerging here in the ACT and to reduce the possibility of disputes arising between the Legislative Assembly and its members, the Integrity Commission, heads of public sector entities and others who may be regarded as holding information that is potentially protected by parliamentary privilege.
The bill makes provision for a class of information termed “Assembly information”, a class that is sufficiently broad so as to encompass material that is likely to be protected by parliamentary privilege. Under the bill, Assembly information includes information that is created for or by, or received by a committee of the Legislative Assembly; the Office of the Legislative Assembly; or a current or former member of the Legislative Assembly in the course of their parliamentary duties. It also includes information that is otherwise created for or by the Legislative Assembly or received by it. The bill establishes particular arrangements for handling such information in relation to the exercise of the following powers and functions by the commission: requests for information from heads of public sector entities, preliminary inquiries, search warrants and examination summonses.
Proposed amendments to the act have been included in the bill to address a problem that potentially arises under existing provisions whereby it is possible for the commission to request the provision of potentially protected information from the head of a public sector entity in the public service, such as the Head of Service or their delegate, on the basis that the person is regarded as holding the information.
As an example, a request could be made of the Head of Service for a member’s emails or other digital documents stored on the ICT system under the administrative control of the Head of Service. In such a case, the prospect of a contempt of the Assembly arises, were the information to be provided to the commission not in accordance with relevant standing orders and resolutions of the Assembly or where it was later found that the information was covered by parliamentary privilege.
The proposed amendments under the bill provide that the commission may ask the head of a public sector entity for information, other than Assembly information, held by the entity. The commission may ask the Speaker for Assembly information held by a public sector entity. If the Speaker receives an information request from the commission about a current or former member, the Speaker must give the member or former member a copy of the request. It would then be open to the member to make a claim in relation to parliamentary privilege, in line with continuing resolution 4A.
Amendments under the bill will also provide that the head of the public sector must not disclose any Assembly information held by the public sector entity to the commission unless the Speaker has authorised its release. This would prevent, for instance, the Head of Service from providing information relating to a member or an Assembly committee that was held on an ICT system administered by the regular public service without the Speaker’s authorisation.
Importantly, as a servant of the Assembly, the Speaker would only authorise the disclosure of such information in a manner that was consistent with relevant
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video