Mr FINCH - 1994-08-25
Mr FINCH (Attorney-General): Mr Speaker, under standing order 83, I refer to you for your consideration, as a matter of privilege, the misleading of this House last evening by the member for Wanguri in that he claimed without question that he had received written advice from the Ombudsman that accused the Departments of Education and Law of being obstructionist in his proceedings. I do this on the basis of the Ombudsman's response to me this morning.
Quite obviously, the Ombudsman is embarrassed to have been drawn into this political arena. However, he states quite clearly that he has examined his correspondence to the honourable member and can find no record of his having so advised the member for Wanguri nor, in any conversation he believes, would he have led the honourable member to believe that he viewed the Department of Law or the Department of Education as being obstructionist. I table his letter.
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Mr BELL (MacDonnell): Mr Speaker, I seek leave to comment on the matter of privilege.
Leave granted.
Mr BELL: Mr Speaker, to take matters a little more calmly, I believe there is a logical first step before this matter is accepted as a matter of privilege - that is, that there be a debate on the floor of the Assembly about the 2 coronial inquests, the actions of the Department of Law, the reference to the Ombudsman and, most recently, this exchange of correspondence, the letter from the Ombudsman to the member for Wanguri and the letter to the member for Leanyer. I believe it is inappropriate to refer this as a matter of privilege before there has been some open debate on it in this Assembly.
Members interjecting.
Mr Coulter: Absolute garbage!
Mr BELL: Mr Speaker, in response to the interjection from the Deputy Chief Minister, I say simply this ...
Mr Coulter: He has misled the parliament.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BELL: I say simply this in response to the Deputy Chief Minister. Is he interested in shedding light on the particular public issues involved or is he interested in tying this matter up procedurally in the Privileges Committee for a few months with the effect that there can be no further debate about the matter?
Mr Coulter: He either has a letter that says that or he does not.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I will take on board the matter of privilege raised by the minister. I will consider it and report back to this Assembly as early as possible.
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Quite obviously, the Ombudsman is embarrassed to have been drawn into this political arena. However, he states quite clearly that he has examined his correspondence to the honourable member and can find no record of his having so advised the member for Wanguri nor, in any conversation he believes, would he have led the honourable member to believe that he viewed the Department of Law or the Department of Education as being obstructionist. I table his letter.
Page 97
Mr BELL (MacDonnell): Mr Speaker, I seek leave to comment on the matter of privilege.
Leave granted.
Mr BELL: Mr Speaker, to take matters a little more calmly, I believe there is a logical first step before this matter is accepted as a matter of privilege - that is, that there be a debate on the floor of the Assembly about the 2 coronial inquests, the actions of the Department of Law, the reference to the Ombudsman and, most recently, this exchange of correspondence, the letter from the Ombudsman to the member for Wanguri and the letter to the member for Leanyer. I believe it is inappropriate to refer this as a matter of privilege before there has been some open debate on it in this Assembly.
Members interjecting.
Mr Coulter: Absolute garbage!
Mr BELL: Mr Speaker, in response to the interjection from the Deputy Chief Minister, I say simply this ...
Mr Coulter: He has misled the parliament.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BELL: I say simply this in response to the Deputy Chief Minister. Is he interested in shedding light on the particular public issues involved or is he interested in tying this matter up procedurally in the Privileges Committee for a few months with the effect that there can be no further debate about the matter?
Mr Coulter: He either has a letter that says that or he does not.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I will take on board the matter of privilege raised by the minister. I will consider it and report back to this Assembly as early as possible.
Page 98
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016