Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence, I wish to raise a matter of privilege under standing order 51. The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, JSCEM, has authorised me on its behalf to raise the following matter of privilege in the House of Representatives.

I wish to report to the House that in the course of the committee's inquiry into the 2016 election (a) the committee considers that GetUp! has provided false and misleading information to the committee; (b) the committee considers that the provision of false and misleading information substantially obstructed the committee in the performance of its functions in relation to the inquiry; and (c) the committee has authorised this matter to be raised in the House of Representatives as a potential contempt of parliament and requested that the matter be referred to the Standing Committee of Privileges and Members Interests.

Principally, this involves GetUp!'s misleading responses over more than a year and a half to questions from the committee about its 2016 election Vision Survey. The survey asked participants to prioritise 10 issues. Five times GetUp! failed or refused to provide the full results of the survey, instead providing misleading and, on one occasion, false information while giving implausible reasons for this refusal. All of this misled the committee about the high priority survey participants gave to the issue of dismantling offshore detention. Ultimately, GetUp! only provided the full results under a threat of summons. I will table a document that details the pattern of misleading responses to the committee. To conclude from the train of events that are reflected in the document I will table that GetUp!'s repeated obfuscation and prevarication constitutes a clear pattern of behaviour which has impeded the committee in its work is impossible to ignore or condone.

In relation to its 2016 election Vision Survey, it is clear that GetUp! fashioned its public announcements about the top three priorities purportedly voted by its members to eliminate the issue of dismantling offshore detention and for over a year and half prevaricated and misled the committee in response to questions about the full results of the survey, including tinkering with the results in order to give the impression that dismantling offshore detention was less important to the respondents than it actually was.

This was a serious and calculated persistent cover-up which impeded the committee's efforts to establish the truth about the results of their 2016 election Vision Survey for over a year and a half and therefore impeded the ability of the committee to reach conclusions on the inquiry. The committee was impeded in reaching conclusions on item 4 of its terms of reference—namely, the extent to which expenditure by third parties is conducted in concert with registered political parties. This is because instead of campaigning strongly on dismantling offshore detention, in line with its members' priorities, GetUp! campaigned on hospitals funding, thereby dovetailing with the campaign of one of the major political parties. GetUp! has also impeded the committee's examination of donations from Stan Sharkey and the Australia-USSR Friendship Association.

The question of whether an organisation aligned with, directed by or potentially funded by Russia has sought to fund a particular GetUp! campaign is a substantive one, deserves a definite answer and goes directly to the committee's examination of item 2 of its terms of reference, relating to examining donations from foreign sources, person, entities and foreign owned subsidiaries to political parties, associated entities and third parties. These are very serious matters that, because of the pattern of deliberate misleading and obstruction, substantially interfered with the committee undertaking and completing its work on the inquiry. They amount to an improper interference with the work of the committee and constitute a contempt of the committee and the houses. It is important that the House make it clear that such contempt for the authority of our committees will not be tolerated.

I ask you, Mr Speaker, to consider giving precedence to a motion to refer the matter to the House Standing Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests for inquiry and to report to the House. I also advise you that I have a statistical analysis of other answers given in response to GetUp!'s 2016 election Vision Survey which will corroborate this submission and which I can provide to the Standing Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests if the matter is referred. To assist you in your consideration of this matter, I table my letter to JSCEM which formed the basis of its resolutions.

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

I thank the member for Tangney for raising this matter. I note that the matter has been considered by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters and that the committee has come to a position on it, as the member outlined. Therefore, I will not, as is practice, ask the committee to further consider the matter. I will, as required by the standing orders, give consideration to the matter raised by the member for Tangney and the supporting information that he has just tabled. I will get back to the House as soon as possible. That will be some time next week.