Sue Lines (President) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to make a statement on a matter of privilege. By letter dated 24 October 2022, Senator Thorpe has raised an issue of privilege—the question: whether her failure to declare a friendship with Mr Dean Martin in hearings or meetings of the Joint Committee on Law Enforcement amounted to an improper interference with the work of the committee. Senator Thorpe has asked that the matter be referred to the Standing Committee of Privileges for investigation as a possible contempt. It is unusual for a senator to seek to self-refer a matter to the Privileges Committee. Senator Thorpe's letter does not go to her reasons for doing so and does not provide additional detail about the allegations or her responses to them. Senators would be aware of the media reports on the matter.

Where a matter of privilege is raised, my role is to determine whether it should have precedence in debate. In doing so, I am guided by the Senate's privileges resolutions, which seek to preserve the Senate's contempt powers for matters involving substantial obstruction to the Senate and its committees or to senators performing their duties. Privilege resolution No. 6 provides guidance on the types of acts which may be treated as a contempt and, relevantly, provides that a person shall not improperly interfere with the free exercise by a committee of its authority. The Senate has also declared that a senator shall not sit on a committee if the senator has a conflict of interest in relation to the committee. I have, therefore, concluded that the matter meets the criteria I am required to consider.

The usual practice, when allegations of misconduct arise in committees, is to see that the allegations have first been investigated by the committee concerned. There are some advantages in doing so. That committee will have access to relevant records and its members will generally be well-placed to determine whether the alleged conduct involved, or risked, substantial interference with the committee's work.

While I have considered writing to the joint committee, I have concluded that there are some mitigating factors—in particular, the committee in question was a committee of the previous parliament, with different membership and a different chair. As I have noted, it is also unusual for a senator to seek to self-refer a matter of privilege. In those circumstances, I have concluded that the Senate should be given the earliest opportunity to determine whether the matter warrants investigation by the Privileges Committee. If the Senate refers the matter to the Privileges Committee, no doubt it will follow its usual practice of seeking submissions from those affected by the allegations, which will necessarily require it to seek information from Senator Thorpe and from the joint committee.

For completeness, I also remind the Senate that I was a member of the joint committee during the last parliament. I can assure senators that that has not influenced my determination in this matter. I have, therefore, determined that it would be appropriate to grant the matter precedence as a matter of privilege. I table the correspondence and call on Senator Thorpe to give notice of a motion. Senator Chisholm?