Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak to the Parliamentary Privileges Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022 on behalf of the Labor government. I too would like to acknowledge Senator Lambie's deep commitment to the scourge of suicide in the ADF and the veterans community and her advocacy and support for that community. The death by suicide of any Australian is a tragedy, and it is a sorry fact that the rate of suicide among veterans of the Australian Defence Force is significantly higher than that across the broader Australian community. This country has lost more serving and former ADF personnel to suicide than it has in operations over 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq.

ADF members, veterans and their families are right to demand that this crisis be addressed. That is why, when in opposition, Labor joined with families who had lost loved ones to this crisis to call for the establishment of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. The former government resisted taking that step for quite some time, but Labor thought the need for this commission was obvious and absolutely compelling. We strongly supported its establishment, and we continue to support its work.

Labor welcomed the royal commission's interim report, and we released that report on 11 August 2022, immediately after we received it from the commission. We wanted the commission's recommendations to be able to be considered publicly at the earliest opportunity. The government has been closely considering the recommendations made by the royal commission in its interim report. We will, this very afternoon, release its formal response to each and every one of those recommendations to the parliament and to the public and indicate how the government proposes to address those recommendations. The defence and veterans communities, the royal commission, the parliament and the Australian public are entitled to see the government respond to the full swathe of recommendations made by the royal commission.

At this moment, I will not pre-empt that formal response by the government. However, I would like to make some brief observations about the bill that Senator Lambie has brought before the Senate. This bill deals with one particular recommendation in the royal commission's interim report. Recommendation 7 of the interim report recommends:

Where their terms of reference require an examination of government, Royal Commissions should be made exempt from section 16(3)(c) of the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 (Cth).

Parliamentary privilege is a fundamental feature of our democratic system and of our parliamentary tradition. Section 16 of the modern Parliamentary Privileges Act descends from article 9 of the UK Bill of Rights 1689, which declares:

That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament.

This principle is important not because it's very old but because it is essential, even today. None of us in this place could do our work, represent our communities or serve the country as parliamentarians without the proper and appropriate protection that is provided by parliamentary privilege.

As Senator Lambie noted in her second reading speech on this bill on 7 September 2022, it is parliamentary privilege that protects whistleblowers who wish to raise matters, including those that are the subject of this royal commission. It is parliamentary privilege that ultimately protects us, as parliamentarians, when we seek to advocate on behalf of the vulnerable, to take on powerful vested interests and to shine a light in some very dark places. Senator Lambie also says that parliamentary privilege should not stand in the way of the proper role of a royal commission. And I agree. I want to note, in respect of that, that the particular protection given to proceedings in parliament, the subject of section 16(3)(c) of the Parliamentary Privileges Act and of this bill, is quite confined, and that provision reads:

(3) In proceedings in any court or tribunal, it is not lawful for evidence to be tendered or received, questions asked or statements, submissions or comments made, concerning proceedings in Parliament, by way of, or for the purpose of:

…   …   …

(c) drawing, or inviting the drawing of, inferences or conclusions wholly or partly from anything forming part of those proceedings in Parliament.

The Australian Law Reform Commission has considered the effect this provision may have on a royal commission. The Law Reform Commission noted in a 2009 report:

The privilege of freedom of speech may prevent Royal Commissions or the—

recommended—

Official Inquiries from investigating allegations of misconduct made in Parliament. In practice, however, a number of inquiries have investigated such claims or conducted investigations touching on the proceedings of Parliament. Although courts have differed on this issue, it appears that Royal Commissions or Official Inquiries will infringe parliamentary privilege if they inquire into the motives, intentions or truthfulness of a speaker in Parliament, or allow witnesses to be cross-examined in relation to words spoken or documents tabled in Parliament.

In considering this present bill it is important to note, again, as Senator Lambie has already done in her second reading speech, that privilege does not prevent a royal commission from using the proceedings of parliament for other purposes that might be, for example, as background material or to establish matters of fact. Importantly, again, as Senator Lambie noted, it does not prevent a royal commission from obtaining its own evidence on matters put before parliament, for instance, by seeking evidence from witnesses who have previously given evidence to parliamentary inquiries.

Royal commissions are very serious affairs, and this royal commission, in particular, is conducting an inquiry into an issue of the utmost seriousness for our country. We must make sure that both royal commissions and the parliament are able to do their work. As I've said, this government will be formally responding to the recommendations made by the royal commission and its interim report this afternoon. We will work with Senator Lambie, and indeed all senators, in addressing those recommendations and doing what we must to tackle the crisis of suicide in the defence and veterans community. Deputy President, I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted.