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

The guidelines were changed, Mr clever Leader of the House. The guidelines that I am tabling today make it absolutely clear—and I am happy to point out in the submissions to you, Mr Speaker, that the guidelines were changed in Investing in Our Schools to require that a member of the Australian Labor Party be given precedence in the opening of all Investing in Our Schools programs. That was not the case under the Howard government. The new guidelines require that the department be the people who run the events at schools and they require that the school should not invite the member or their local member directly. It is the first time; those guidelines are unprecedented.

They go on to say, ‘In 2008 an Australian government representative is a member of the Australian Labor Party.’ Putting aside the question of whether this is a breach of the Public Service Act—requiring that members of the Public Service be members of the Australian Labor Party—I do make the submission to you, Mr Speaker, that this is a breach of privilege. I ask you to consider giving precedence to a motion to refer this to the Privileges Committee forthwith.

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