Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Sorry. I took the interjection because Senator Sterle is also a Western Australian senator but a member of the Australian Labor Party. There is a very live contest in Western Australia. I note that Labor Party members of the state upper house, the Legislative Council, have voted in support of the privileges committee's recommendations, against the wishes of the Premier, and quite rightly so. The first task of a parliamentarian is to stand up and protect the parliament and the rights and privileges of that parliament. So I applaud them for doing that. I might also sing the praises, in this particular moment and on this particular issue, of the Legislative Council member for the South Metropolitan province, Kate Doust—who's also President of the upper house and the chair of that privileges committee—for the great work she's done in defending parliamentary sovereignty and the principle of parliamentary privilege.