Tuesday, 7 March 2023

Building and Planning Legislation Amendment Bill 2022

Royal assent

The PRESIDENT (12:05): Second message, dated 28 February:

The Governor informs the Legislative Council that she has, on this day, given the Royal Assent to the undermentioned Act of the present Session presented to her by the Clerk of the Parliaments:

1/2023 Building and Planning Legislation Amendment Act 2023

David Davis: On a point of order, President, a number of us over the last week or two have become aware that a letter was provided by the former IBAC Commissioner the Honourable Robert Redlich to the then President and, I understand, to the Speaker, and I ask: would you be prepared to distribute that letter to members?

The PRESIDENT: Mr Davis, you know that is not a point of order. I am ruling out the point of order. But, as you know, I see it as my role to be as helpful to this chamber as I possibly can be. A letter was sent to the Presiding Officers. I sighted the letter. The author of the letter did not request that this letter be shared in any way with anyone. There was not a verbal request from the author of the letter; for that matter there was not a verbal request from IBAC either. Every letter we get we take as confidential. If the letter did ask me to distribute it far and wide to all MPs – and it did not – what I would have done is contact the author with links to every MP of this state and invite them to distribute that letter themselves.

I am finding this all a bit weird and quite offensive. As you know, if there is going to be an allegation against a sitting member’s integrity, it can be done through a substantive motion, and you have got more than a right to do that. I am not taking any more points of order on this. But, as I said, you have got a right to move a substantive motion.