Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the House:

(1) notes the legal action taken in the Federal Court of Australia by ClubsNSW against Mr Troy Stolz, known as Registered Clubs Association of New South Wales v Stolz;

(2) notes the report of the Standing Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests on its inquiry into whether the legal action raises issues of parliamentary privilege or contempt such that the House should formally claim privilege and intervene in the court proceedings to assert the protection of parliamentary privilege;

(3) considers that email communications relating to ClubsNSW between the office of the Member for Clark and Mr Stolz, between 17 December 2019 and 1 December 2020, are likely to fall within the definition of 'proceedings of Parliament' under subsection 16(2) of the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 (the Act);

(4) notes the restrictions placed by subsection 16(3) of the Act on the treatment of proceedings in Parliament;

(5) acknowledges that interpretation of the Act, and therefore determination of the application of parliamentary privilege in court proceedings, is a matter for the courts; and

(6) authorises the Speaker to take steps to ensure that the interests of the House are represented in this matter before the courts, such that parliamentary proceedings are appropriately protected as provided by the Act.

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