Tuesday, 10 September 2024

Select Committee on the 2026 Commonwealth Games Bid

Inquiry into the 2026 Commonwealth Games Bid

David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:12): Pursuant to standing order 23.22, I table the select committee’s second interim report, Failure to Provide Documents under Legislative Council Standing Orders, on the inquiry into the 2026 Commonwealth Games bid, including appendices and extracts of proceedings. I move:

That the report be published.

Motion agreed to.

David LIMBRICK: I move:

That the Council take note of the report.

Just some background on this report: the committee has resolved to table this report to highlight to the house that the government has not followed the process for documents production orders under the standing orders of this Parliament. You will note that in the previous interim report that was published by the committee there were a number of documents that were requested by the committee from the government, and the government claimed executive privilege over those documents. As there is no mechanism through the committee to test executive privilege, on 1 May, earlier this year, I moved a documents motion through this Parliament, which effectively replicated the documents that were requested where the government claimed executive privilege in the interim report.

Since then, though, the government has in my view and in the committee’s view contravened the standing orders by not providing copies of these documents to the Clerk for inspection by me as required under the standing orders. What should happen is that the documents be provided to the Clerk and allowed to be inspected by me so that I can challenge any of those if I do not believe that executive privilege should apply. If there is a challenge, then an independent arbiter would be appointed to make an independent assessment of that claim of privilege. I would note that successive governments have continually contravened this process by refusing to provide documents as required under the standing orders. I would also note that other parliaments, such as the New South Wales Parliament, have a similar mechanism which is regularly utilised. I would urge people to read this report and consider it further.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (13:14): I want to, again, on the Legislative Council Select Committee on the Commonwealth Games and the interim report, Failure to Provide Documents under the Legislative Council Standing Orders, thank the committee staff for the work that they have done. Just so the community understands precisely what has happened here, the chamber at the request of the committee has sought documents from the Leader of the Government. The Leader of the Government has not provided those documents. They said that executive privilege applies to 350 of the 353 documents. It is a circus. It is a complete joke. And they did not make the documents available to the Clerk and the mover of the motion, which was Mr Limbrick, as required by the standing orders.

This is a matter of defiance of the house, and it should not occur in this way. It may well constitute a contempt. It may well be something that the house could take further action directly towards – the non-provision of these documents by the Leader of the Government. But the committee’s activities are clearly being frustrated by the decision of the minister not to provide the documents and the claims of executive privilege and the failure to use the standing orders of the Legislative Council, and it is an open defiance of those standing orders. It is wrong, and it is an attempt to cover up by this government. There is no question what is going on here. We ought to see those documents provided to the Clerk and Mr Limbrick, and if they need, they should be able to ask an independent arbiter, a respected lawyer, to look at those and to decide whether the government’s claims are justified or not.

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (13:16): I too would like to briefly comment on this interim report. I would also like to thank the committee staff for their speedy work pulling this report together, and I would just like to echo the sentiments of fellow committee members. The issue here is really the government’s failure to comply with the standing orders, which exist for a reason. This is a failure that not just is a feature of this Parliament but has been a longstanding practice of this government, and it should be a concern to everyone. Putting aside that this happens to be about the cancellation of the Commonwealth games, this is about a bigger principle here.

The government has every right to claim executive privilege over documents where it is appropriate; however, we have serious concerns about the broad application of these claims. The definition used with respect to executive privilege has been developed by the government, so they decide what executive privilege is and when to claim it and the Parliament has no means to test that. We do actually have means but the government refuses to follow them. They refuse to follow the standing orders, and this is really serious. If the government are confident in their claims of executive privilege, they should have no qualms about following the standing orders and going through the appropriate processes, because their claims of executive privilege should hold up to those processes. The fact that they are avoiding those processes suggests that they are not confident in the claims that they are making. This means that they are basically holding information away from public scrutiny, away from parliamentary scrutiny. That is a serious concern when it comes to the transparency and integrity of this government, and all Victorians should have concerns about that.

Motion agreed to.