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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3330 ..

MR SPEAKER (continuing):

Under the provisions of standing order 71, I must determine as soon as practicable whether or not the matter merits precedence over other business. If in my opinion the matter does merit precedence, I must inform the Assembly of the decision and the member who raised the matter may move a motion without notice forthwith to refer the matter to a select committee appointed by the Assembly for that purpose.

Assembly standing order 241 provides that proceedings and reports of committees "shall be strictly confidential and shall not be published or divulged by any member of the committee or by any other person, until the report of the committee has been presented to the Assembly". Standing order 241 and standing order 242 give certain provisos and exceptions to the rule, one being "any press release or public statement made by the Presiding Member of a committee relating to an inquiry". I also regard the rule as encompassing statements to the Assembly prepared and made pursuant to standing order 246A and discussion papers prepared pursuant to standing order 246B.

Under section 24 of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act the Assembly and its members and committees have the same powers, including privileges and immunities, as those for the time being held by the House of Representatives and its members and committees. The publication of draft reports of committees before their presentation to the House of Representatives has been pursued as a matter of contempt, and the publication of the draft report of the Select Committee on Estimates in 1993-94 to a reporter from the Canberra Times was considered to be a contempt of the Assembly by the then Standing Committee on Administration and Procedures in its December 1993 report on the matter.

As Speaker, I am not required to judge whether there has been a breach of privilege or a contempt of the Assembly. I can only judge whether the matter merits precedence. Having considered the article and Mr Osborne's complaint, I am prepared to allow precedence to a motion to refer the matter to a select committee. Alternatively, the Assembly may care to note the December 1993 recommendation and adopt the procedures for dealing with improper disclosure of committee evidence or proceedings utilised by the United Kingdom House of Commons and more recently by the House of Representatives. One further matter the Assembly may wish to take into account is the fact that Mr Hird is currently on leave from the Assembly and is not due back until later this week. Mr Hird's contribution to any debate on this matter may be of significance.

Mr Osborne: Mr Hird is not here today to defend himself. He is away on Assembly business. So I will not be moving any motion.

MR SPEAKER: I present, for the information of members, the 1996-97 report, including financial statements, and the Auditor-General's report, for the ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat.

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