Page 1393 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 13 May 2014

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Having considered the matter and also the views of the committee, I have concluded the matter does merit precedence over other business.

Privileges—Select Committee

Proposed establishment

MR COE (Ginninderra) (3.26): I move:

(1) pursuant to standing order 276, a Select Committee on Privileges 2014 be established to examine the circumstances surrounding information obtained by Mr Simon Corbell regarding the inquiry into the Planning and Development (Project Facilitation) Amendment Bill 2014 by the Standing Committee on Planning, Environment and Territory and Municipal Services;

(2) the Committee shall report back to the Assembly by the first sitting week in August 2014; and

(3) the Committee shall comprise:

(a) one member nominated by the Government;

(b) one member nominated by the Crossbench; and

to be notified to the Speaker by 4 pm this sitting.

The opposition has real concern with the leaking of information from one of the standing committees. As we saw in this place last week, it was somewhat worrying to hear about the committee’s activities from the minister before this place had heard from any member about that conduct. We heard from the minister, who spoke at length about the committee’s conduct, including the opposition members’ voting habits, clause by clause. As I said last week, that information had not been stated in the chamber and had not been published.

When this concern was raised in the Assembly the story subsequently changed several times. Minister Corbell initially said that the information was in the minutes and, in effect, that a review of the minutes suggested that opposition members had supported motions clause by clause. We then heard the minister say, no, it had been said in a speech. Then it was said that it was discussed in the party room and then we heard that it was not discussed in the party room. It was Mr Rattenbury who said:

There is some—I am searching for the right word—murkiness about the rest of it. I think probably the Chief Minister has given the truest account of what actually happened in the situation here.

The Chief Minister said:

… this is what happened this morning. It is not as exciting as you would have it believed, but it is what happened. We had a discussion about how the committees are working, or not working. We wanted to get a copy of the report, so we resolved to move a motion.

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