Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement of no longer than one minute.

Leave granted.

To put this on the record: this reference to the Senate Standing Committee on Privileges is about the issue of metadata domestic preservation orders and the chilling effect that such orders can have on the provision of information to members of parliament in order to enable them to carry out their functions. This is not about the executive arm of government. The issue of privilege and the work of parliamentarians ought to be a matter for the Senate to determine, and that is why this reference to the privileges committee is so important.