Page 3020 - Week 10 - Thursday, 16 August 1990
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I know that Mr Collaery will be uncomfortable about having this matter referred to the Administration and Procedures Committee, and I, too, would be nervous on that score, because such an allegation is a serious matter and members ought to be deeply concerned about the protection of the rights they enjoy as members of a legislature. The privilege that members of this Assembly enjoy is not to be scoffed at. It is to be protected and, wherever there is a question of a breach in relation to this matter, it must be dealt with properly. It would be dealt with properly by members of the Administration and Procedures Committee, who themselves enjoy a level of privilege which would ensure that this very important matter is dealt with and reported on to this Assembly in due course.
Mr Speaker, in my speech I have made out that this is an important issue, but it requires the attention of the Administration and Procedures Committee and it requires the support of all the members of this Assembly. With that I will sit down, but I urge members opposite to support this matter being referred to the Administration and Procedures Committee as a matter of urgency.
MR MOORE (5.03): Mr Speaker, in my short comment I would like to quote from the 3 May 1990 Hansard, page 1628. I take great joy in quoting the words of Mr Jensen:
In these early days of the Assembly, I believe it is appropriate that any possibility that a member has breached parliamentary privilege be fully investigated and the issue put to rest. This will ensure that the appropriate procedures are established as soon as any potential problem arises.
This is exactly what I suggest here and I agree with Mr Jensen. I presume Mr Jensen has not changed his mind since uttering those words that I have just quoted, and he will, of course, support this matter going to the Administration and Procedures Committee in order to ensure that we have the appropriate conduct established by this Assembly.
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (5.05): Mr Speaker, I follow this debate, like most of the debates that are initiated by the ALP in this place, with a certain feeling of deja vu. We have the spectacle of the Opposition attempting to make mountains out of molehills and, to add another metaphor, whipping up storms in teacups.
I note from the copy of House of Representatives Practice that I have that it refers on page 672 to protection in legal proceedings - the sort of privilege we are talking about in this debate. It says:
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