Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I am seeking your advice on a fairly serious matter of privilege. It goes to one of the oldest privileges of the parliament, which is the immunity for members of parliament when the parliament is sitting from having to attend the court.

We have an unusual situation today and tomorrow, in that tomorrow, when the House is sitting, it will not in fact be a sitting day. As far as the parliament is concerned, it will be an extension of Thursday's sittings. Hearings that are reported to be occurring in Melbourne may be tomorrow only or may drag on for subsequent days, which would then bear on the five-day rule as well. So I am seeking your advice as to whether or not tomorrow, while the parliament is sitting, does in fact count under privilege as a sitting day of the parliament.

Secondly, I want to indicate to the House that if any member does require an arrangement for a pair for a court appearance, it will be provided by the opposition.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Manager of Opposition Business for that. As with any issue that is raised of privilege, I will carefully examine the issue. In this case, I will report back as soon as I can. The Manager of Opposition Business has referred to a number of matters of practice which are important. If my calculations are correct, they could have operated with respect to last week as well. But that is a matter I can report back to the House on.

In terms of the rule: obviously, I reserve the right to give a more definitive statement, which I will do later. If the Manager of Opposition Business is making a point about a five-day rule—in the Parliamentary Privileges Act, I think—that would not turn on whether this Thursday's sitting continues tomorrow. But I thank him for raising the matters and I will report back. It sounds like we will have enough time to do that a little later.