Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, under standing order 51, I wish to raise a matter of privilege. This is the first opportunity I have had to raise it since the member for Hinkler brought to my attention a specific instance of his privilege being breached due to the actions of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Education. I am raising it on behalf of the coalition because I wrote to the Speaker about this matter Thursday week ago. The Speaker returned my letter and I am happy to table—in fact I will table without any leave being required—the letter I wrote to the Speaker on 11 February, the letter I wrote to the Deputy Prime Minister on 11 February, her letter to members and the outrageous questionnaire that she also sent out, the 2007 guidelines for Investing in Our Schools and the 2008 guidelines for Investing in Our Schools.

The Speaker returned my correspondence today indicating that he wished to have a specific instance where a member had been unable to carry out their duties as a member of parliament because of the change of guidelines and the potential breach of privilege. It is the view of the opposition and my own view that the participation ticking box requirement of the Deputy Prime Minister and the changes to the Investing in Our Schools guidelines are a breach of the privileges of the House. They are unprecedented, and they have been changed. I ask you respectfully under standing order 51 to consider the submissions—

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