CURTIS PITT MP
LEADER OF Of'POSITIOI~ BUSINESS
MEt,mER FOR MULGRAVE PO Bm( 15057, ChyEastQlD 4002 recertion(Qloppositlon.ald.gov.au (!Hi 3232 l'i767
Han Fiona Simpson MP Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Parliament House George Street BRISBANE QLD 4000
Dear Madam Speaker
Re: Hon Tim Nicholls MP; Hon Campbell Newman MP; Hon Jack Dempsey MP; Hon Steve Dickson MP; Hon Tim Mander MP; Mr I an Berry MP; Mr Trevor Watts MP; Mr Jon Krause MP, Hon Dr John McVeigh MP; and Miss Verity Barton MP
I wish to draw to Madam Speaker's attention a number of matters of privilege that have arisen during the course of Parliamentary Proceedings over the past couple of weeks.
The Premier, a number of Ministers and various backbench Members of Parliament have made statements relating to 'Labor's $80 billion debt'.
There are three elements to be proven in order to establish that a member has committed the contempt of deliberately misleading the House:
1. The statement must have been misleading; 2. The Member making the statement must have known, at the time the statement was made, that it was incorrect; and 3. In making the statement, the Member intended to mislead the House.
Section 37 of the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 sets out the meaning of contempt of the Assembly thus:
(1) Contempt of the Assembly means a breach or disobedience of the powers, rights or immunities, or a contempt, of the Assembly or its members or committees. (2) Conduct, including words, is not contempt of the Assembly unless it amounts, or is intended or likely to amount, to an improper interference with- ( a) the free exercise by the Assembly or a committee of its authority or functions; or (b) the free performance by a member of the member's duties as a member.
Standing Order 266 of the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly sets out examples of what might constitute a contempt of the Parliament and, whilst not limiting the power of the House to the matters contained therein, includes a reference, in sub-paragraph (2), to: deliberately misleading the House or a committee (by way of submission, statement, evidence or petition);
I will now set out the Statements which I allege are misleading and in breach of Standing Order 266, constituting a Contempt of the Assembly.
Hon Tim Nicholls MP
On 4 March 2014, the Treasurer made the following statement to the House: during Ministerial Statements:
Hon. TJ NICHOLLS (Ciayfield-LNP) (Treasurer and Minister for Trade) (9.48 am): 'It gives me no pleasure to report to the House that Labor's debt of $80 billion has seen our interest payments continue to rise. In the 19 days since we last sat in this place the interest bill on Labor's $80 billion of debt has accumulated another $205.2 million in interest payments. If it were not for this government's sound financial management, that figure would be even higher.'
This is reported at page 303 of the Official Record of Proceedings, which could be found here: htto://www.parliament.nld.nov.au/documents/hansard/2014/2014 03 04 WEEKL Y.pdf
Later in his statement, at page 304, he said:
'No wonder we are holding $80 billion of Labor debt', and then again he said, 'The level of growth we are experiencing is not enough to sustain us into the future while we are weighed down by the $80 billion debt those opposite left Queensland as their legacy.'
On 6 March 2014, during a Ministerial Statement on Queensland Economy, the Honourable the Treasurer said:
'What is holding us back? Labor's $80 billion black cloud of debt'.
This is reported at page 474 of the Official Record of Proceedings, which can be found here: htto:l/www.parliament.qld.nov.au/documents/hansard/2014/2014 03 06 WEEKLY.PDF
Later in his statement, at the same page of the Official Record of Proceedings, he said:
'It is time for all Queen slanders to consider the choices that we want to make to reduce our debt-to reduce Labor's $80 billion debt, to reduce Labor's deficit and to secure the state's financial future'
2 Later on the same date, in response to a Question Without Notice from Mr Anthony Shorten MP, the Member for Algester, the Treasurer said:
'And still the interest repayments on Labor's $80 billion worth of debt continue to grow.
On 18 March 2014, during a Ministerial Statement entitled Economic and Fiscal Challenges, the Treasurer, Mr Nicholls, informed the Parliament
'Since we last gathered in this House, Queenslanders have paid out another $129 million in interest payments on the $80 billion legacy of debt that the government inherited from those opposite.'
This is reported at page 563 of the Official Record of Proceedings which can be found here: htto:l/www.oarliament.qld qov.auldocumentslhansard/2014/2014 03 18 DAIL Y.odf
On 20 March, in a Ministerial Statement entitled Queensland Economy, the Treasurer said:
'Last week I held a number of consultations with community leaders in Cairns, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. To be honest, some of the people I have talked to have been shocked when confronted by the sheer size of Labor's $80 billion worth of debt and how it is holding Queensland back.'
This is reported at page 776 of the Official Record of Proceedings, which can be found at: http://www.oarliament.old.oov.au/documents/hansard/2014/2014 03 20 DAIL Y.odf
In the same Ministerial Statement the Treasurer established on the Parliamentary record that he knew that Labor had not left $80 billion in debt. The Treasurer said that:
'I hear the member for Mulgrave talking about the money we added. Let us have a look just to clear up the record because there are a few furphies being peddled by members over there. According to the state budget of 2011-12 and the midyear economic and fiscal review produced by that doyen of budgeting, former member Andrew Fraser, there was $36 billion worth of deficit. This was his last midyear economic update.'
And that:
'They can give, but they cannot take-except when it comes to taxpayers' dollars. Let us look at the borrowings. According to table 16 on page 34, under Labor and their last budget, where were they heading? What does the number actually say? This is what they produced.'
3 And then said:
'Where was it when they left? When they left, it was at $68 billion and every year it was going up.'
This establishes that the Treasurer was knowingly and deliberately misleading the house in relation to his claim that Labor left $80 billion of debt.
Furthermore, his statement that Labor left $68 billion in debt was also misleading and the Treasurer must have made this statement knowingly and with the intention to mislead.
When delivering this statement. the Treasurer was clearly reading from an official Treasury document- even going so far as to reference a page number and source table.
The table that he referred to is detailed below for reference and clearly sets out that Labor left revised 2011-12 gross debt of $62.352 billion. Nowhere in this table is there any reference to a debt figure of $68 billion or $80 billion as asserted by the Treasurer in the House.
· · · ·~'l'able1a· · ··. · No!l'finaoclal Public sector BalanCQ Sh~l' 20 1-12 1frl1-12 2012--13 2013-14 2014-15 Budg"'l Revist;:d ProjecUon Projectmn Prqt:d'!Gn S m\llior1 fi. million S million S million S million Assets Finandal Assets Cclsh and d<:poslts 1,996 2.080 2.316 2,5D9 2.687 Ar.!vances pa1d 1 7flfo 1,117 1.114 U11 1,128 lm•estrnems. luam; ;,mll pi
Non-flnam:lal Assets L;;r,r;. and other !\:.:ed a:soots 2-40.347 232.140 ?-13207 ,751.8.25 169 5:f5 O!her r~cn-fir.ancal assets 791 917 982 1.054 1,170 "Total Non-financial Ass.e\s :N-1.13.8 2J3.057 244,H>S 252.879 2:.'/_i}~T
Total AS'Se~S 282.59£ 275,156 :2!!7 .797 298.300 307.:mo
Liabilities Payables 4.123 4.657 4.795 4 881 4.984 '-''il:Ceo,-c;n."J\Z..:;.lc:•··J ilability 25,0:32 25{i?7 25,929 20.102 2fi, 12;' O!her employee bene1'its 5.598 5.723 6..122 6 542 B.B55 J)s;_:;::_,:;::-;s held 1D 23 26 28 30 Advan~e~ r NelWorth 177.023 171.282 171.271 173.719 178.195 Net Financial Worth (64.115) ~-£1.Ti5) l72.91B) {79,159) (82.602) Net Finanslal Liabi!ltleB £3,028 6D2G-l 71,407 n.Ma 80.991 Net Qgbl. 28..085 2-4.916 35.4115 4·L01fi 4:<..M1 i'~otes ' Numbws may no: add due t-J re~i:--rlhc-l.l (Source 2011-12 Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Review page 34- htto ://treas urv. aid. a ov .auloffice/knowledae/docslm id-vear·review/mid-vear·review·201 i ·12. odf) 4 The Treasurer had the opportunity to correct the Parliamentary record in relation to these statements but neglected to do so. in addition to the Statements made by the Honourable the Treasurer, there have been similar statements regarding a purported $80 billion debt by other members of the House, including the Honourable the Premier, Campbell Newman MP. Hon Campbell Newman MP On 4 March 2014, in response to a Question Without Notice from me, the Honourable the Premier said: 'He is correcting me; he volunteered to do it, and he volunteered to do it because there is a big problem: while this government has the economy going and while this government is getting very close to balancing the books in the next financial year, we still have the big, black $80 billion worth of Labor debt-$80 biilion wol1h of Labor debt and-' This is reported at page 310 of the Official Record of Proceedings, which can be found here: http://www.oarliament.old.oov.au/documents/hansard/2014/2014 03 04 WEEKL Y.odf This must be read in context of the Premier's further comment in response to that question which is reported at page 311: 'The conversation is that a government that has the economy going and a government that is balancing the books stiil has this overhang of $80 billion wo11h of Labor debt with $450,000 of Labor interest every hour that we have to pay.' He finished his response to the Question Without Notice with the following: 'We wiil do the right thing to solve the problem of $80 billion of Labor debt.' On 18 March 2014, in response to a Question Without Notice from the Member for Nicklin, the Premier said: 'At the current time in our state, the big problem is that we have been left with a legacy of $80 billion worth of Labor debt and we are paying $450,000 of Labor interest every single hour.' This is reported at page 576 of the Official Record of Proceedings, which can be found here: htto://www.oarliament.qld.oov.au/documents/hansard/2014/2014 03 18 DAIL Y.odf 5 Hon Jack Dempsey MP On 19 March 2014, in a Ministerial Statement entitled Emergency Services, the Minister for Emergency Services, the Honourable Jack Dempsey MP, said: 'For these vital emergency services to continue we need to have a stable funding mode/not just this year, but for the decades and future generations to come-future generations those opposite displayed a striking disregard for, leaving nothing but a legacy of $80 biliion in Labor debt. ' This is reported at page 686 of the Official Record of Proceedings, which can be found at: htlo://www.oarliamenl.qld.oov.au/documentslhansard/2014/2014 03 19 DAIL Y.odf Han Steve Dickson MP On 5 March 2014, in response to a Question Without Notice from the Member for Barron River, the Honourable Steve Dickson MP, Minister for National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing, said: 'What the opposition has given the people of Queensland is up to an $80 billion debt with people in this state paying $450,000 an hour.' This is reported at page 422 of the Official Record of Proceedings, which can be found at: htlo:llwww.oarliament.old.oov.au/documentslhansard/2014/2014 03 05 WEEKL Y.odf Hon Tim Mander MP On the same date, reported at pages 420-421 of the Official Record of Proceedings, in response to a Question Without Notice from the Member for Logan, the Honourable Tim Mander MP, Minister for Housing and Public Works said: 'The state of the housing system when we took office is symptomatic of the sort of mismanagement that left this state with $80 billion of Labor debt.' Mr ian Berry MP On the same date, reported at page 426 of the Official Record of Proceedings, during the debate of the Penalties and Sentences (Indexation) Amendment Bill 2013, the Member for Ipswich, Mr ian Berry MP, said: 'For instance, we have a Labor debt fast approaching $80 billion and an interest bill fast approaching $500,000 an hour, each Queenslander having a debt to pay of about $15,000 each.' 6 Mr Trevor Watts MP Then, during debate on the same Bill, reported at page 430 of the Official Record of Proceedings, the Member for Toowoomba North, Mr Trevor Watts MP, said: 'Effectively, if you committed a crime in 1992 that had a punishment punishable by a penalty unit fine and if you applied Labor's methodology of dealing with their $80 billion worth of debt and just have some patience and wail, in fact your fine would reduce in real terms.' Later in his contribution to the debate on the same Bill, which is reported at page 431 of the Official Record of Proceedings, Mr Watts said: 'That is the Labor way when it comes to finances. The state of Queensland's finances that we inherited, with Labor's $80 billion worth of debt and Labor's $450,000 interest bills coming our way per hour, shows exactly how they managed finances.' Additionally, on the 6 March 2014, during debate of the Fair Trading Inspectors Bill 2013, the Member for Toowoomba North also said: 'I hope that there are not more of these reviews and other pieces of legislation that might have taken 10 years to come to this place while we were expressing some patience when meanwhile we are watching the debt accumulate and get out of control-that is, up to $80 billion of Labor's debt.' This is reported at page 549 of the Official Record of Proceedings which can be found at: httos:llwww.parliamentold.oov.auldocuments/hansard/2014/2014 03 06 WEEKL Y.PDF Then, on 18 March 2013, during debate on the Youth Justice Bill 2013, MrWatts said: 'We are fixing up schools so that students can be proud of the schools that they are in and they can have an opportunity to learn in a nice environment. That was a $300 million backlog left to us by Labor, along with their $80 billion of debt.' This is reported at page 627 of the Official Record of Proceedings. Mr Jon Krause MP On 6 March 2014, during a Private Member's Statement entitled Beaudesert Electorate, Events, Mr Jon Krause MP, Member for Beaudesert, said: 'The government's careful management of the health system means that we are doing this despite having the black cloud of Labor's debt hanging over us. Labor's debt of $80 billion costs Queens/enders $453,310 per hour. ' 7 This is reported at page 532 of the Official Record of Proceedings. Hon Dr John McVeigh MP On the same date, reported at page 540 of the Official Record of Proceedings, during his Speech-in-Reply for the Biosecurity Bill 2013, the Hon Dr John McVeigh MP, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, said: 'Yes, I made some reductions, as did other ministers in this House, in my case to meet budgetary requirements, given the job of addressing Labor's $80 billion worth of debt.' Then, on 20 March 2014, reported at page 790 of the Official Record of Proceedings, Dr McVeigh also said: 'It was a panic sale of assets, without a plan, without proper consultation, because Labor continued to spend like there was no tomorrow, while we on this side of the House. as the Treasurer has outlined this morning, are left to deal with Labor's $80 billion of debt. ' The Official Record of Proceedings can be found at: http://www.oarliament.qld.oov.auldocumentslhansard/2014/2014 03 20 DAIL Y.odf Miss Verity Barton MP On 4 March 2014, in a Matter of Public Interest entitled Newman Government, Achievements, Miss Verity Barton MP, Member for Broadwater, said: 'When this government came into office there were challenges, one of which was the $80 billion of Labor debt. That challenge is $450,000 every single hour of every single day of Labor interest on the $80 billion of Labor debt.' Later in the same Statement, Miss Barton also said: '/ spoke about the $80 billion Labor debt. What we are paying in Labor interest is $4 billion a year.' To conclude her Matter of Public Interest, Miss Barton said: '/look forward to hearing what Queens/enders have to say as we deal with the $4 billion in Labor interest we pay every year on the $80 billion Labor debt that is their legacy that we will fix. ' These statements are reported at pages 323-324 of the Official Record of Proceedings, which can be found at: htto:llwww.oarliament.old.oov.au/documents/hansard/2014/2014 03 04 WEEf 8 As I raised earlier in this letter, there are three elements to be proven in order to establish that a member has committed the contempt of deliberately misleading the House. I will address each of these in turn. 1. The statement must have been misleading; Madam Speaker, the Honourable the Premier, the Honourable the Treasurer, and a number of other Ministers and Members of Parliament have all made statements referring variously to the '$80 billion debt' of the previous Labor Government. When Labor left Government in March 2012, it left a gross debt of $62 billion. Nearly half this gross debt was self-sustaining debt held by Government owned corporations (GOCs). The total State debt reflected $60 billion in infrastructure investment over a four-year period following the Global Financial Crisis and record flooding and natural disasters across Queensland. in fact, excluding the debt owed by GOC's, Labor left Queensland with no general government net debt. There was no $80 billion debt figure in the final budget update under a Labor Government which was the 2011-12 Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Review. The figure of $85 billion was the figure that, on the existing budget settings, the State's total debt, including that of Government owned businesses, was estimated to reach in 2014-15, should no change be made to Government policy. On 27 June 2012, I wrote to you, Madam Speaker, about a similar situation. In my correspondence, I alleged that Hon John McVeigh MP, Hon Bruce Flegg MP, Hon Mark McArdle MP, the leader of the House, Mr Ray Stevens MP and Mr Darren Grimwade MP had similarly mislead the Assembly by referring to a figure of $100 billion of debt. On 31 July 2012, Minister McVeigh and Mr Grimwade both corrected the record, stating that they were aware that the figure of $100 billion was the projected debt for 2018-19 should there be no changes to the Government's policies during that lime. They acknowledged that the State debt was in fact at that time $65 billion, and both Dr Me Veigh and Mr Grimwade apologised to the House. Then, on 21 August 2012, Mr Stevens and Hon Mark McArdle both also made the same correction, acknowledging that the audit commission's figure of $100 billion was a figure which was the projected debt for 2018-19, should no change be made to Government policy. They both acknowledged that the correct figure for the debt, at that point in time, was $65 billion. Mr McArdle also apologised to the House. Also on 21 August 2012, Minister Dickson outlined three occasions on 19 and 20 June 2012 where he had referred to a debt of $100 billion. Minister Dickson then made the following statement: 'I wish to correct the record in this regard. The $100 billion debt is projected for 2018- 19 as outlined in the audit report and not the current debt level, which today is $65 billion' 9 The Minister then apologised to the House for any misunderstanding his comments may have caused. On 22 August 2012, Madam Speaker made a ruling in relation to this matter. Madam Speaker found, in respect of Han John McVeigh MP, Han Mark McArdle MP, Mr Ray Stevens MP and Mr Darren Grimwade MP, that, as they had clarified that their reference to a $100 billion debt was in fact a reference to a projected figure, based on assumptions in the Commission of Audit, the matter would not be referred to the Ethics Committee. Given Madam Speaker's ruling, and the corrections, clarifications and apologies provided by those Members to the House in respect of the statements, it is clear that the actual debt of the previous Labor Government was not the figure of $80 billion, and any statement to that effect must necessarily be misleading. I move now to the next element to be considered. 2. The Member making the statement must have known, at the time the statement was made, that it was incorrect; All of the Statements made by the persons I have referred to above must necessarily have been made in the full knowledge that the statements were misleading. Given the corrections made by the four Members of the House in 2012, it is clear that, at that point in time, being July/August 2012, the gross Government debt was $65 billion. This was acknowledged by those Members, and the statements were made publicly in the House. Further, many members of the House have referred to this figure, and acknowledged that this is the true state of the State's finances when Labor left office in 2012. On 17 May 2012, in his first Ministerial Statement in this House as Treasurer, the Honourable Tim Nicholls informed the House that: 'This year, the state's debt will top $62 billion and we are headed towards a debt of $85 billion in 2014-15.' This statement is recorded at page 66 of the Official Record of Proceedings, which can be found at: http://www.parliament.old.oov.au/documents/hansard/2012/2012 05 17 WEEKL Y.ndf The Treasurer was well aware of the state of the State's finances at the time of making this Statement. He knew that at the end of the 2011-12 financial year, the last year ofthe previous Labor Government, that the debt was $62 billion. He was also aware that the projected figure of $85 billion of debt was contingent on there being no change in Government policy, and that this was projected for 2014-15, after the first term of the Newman Government. It could therefore never be referred to correctly as a Labor debt, and the Treasurer was well aware of this fact !0 On 7 June 2012, the Member for Broadwater made this statement during her contribution to debate of a Bill: 'It is their actions that have resulted in Queensland facing a current debt of $62 billion that is expected to increase to $85 biiiion. Words fail me when I actually try to understand how a government that was in the midst of a mining boom, a government that broke its promise on asset sales and garnered $15 billion in a fire sale, and a government that broke its promise on the fuel subsidy could actually rack up a debt of $62 billion.' This statement is recorded at page 661 of the Official Record of Proceedings, which can be found at: htto://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documBcn!slhansard/201212012 06 07 WEEKL Y.odf The Member for Broadwater was also well aware that the debt left by the previous Government was $62 billion. As she stated, this was the 'current debt', at a tirne when the Labor Government had left office. Therefore any later debt could not be a Labor debt. On 21 August 2012, the Assistant Minister for Finance and Member for Nanango said: 'I would remind the previous speaker that in its midyear fiscal review the previous Labor government projected a debt of $62 billion at the end of 2011-12 and an $85 billion debt by 2014-15, but the Commission of Audit report indicates that the debt will reach $64 billion in 2011-12 and it will reach $92 billion in 2015-16, escalating to $100 billion by 2018-19, if urgent action is not taken.· This statement is recorded at page 1565 of the Official Record of Proceedings, which can be found at: http://www.parliament.old.qov.au/documents/hansard/201212012 08 21 WEEKL Y.odf This statement makes it clear that the debt of the previous Labor Government was $62 billion at the end of 2011-12, and the other figures quoted would only be reached 'if urgent action is not taken'. Similar statements referring to the debt of $62 billion were made by the Member for Mount Coot-tha on 5 June 2012, on 6 June 2012 by the Member for Greenslopes, and on 7 June 2012 by the Members for Yeerongpilly, Whitsunday and Bulimba. The Leader of the Opposition spoke in the House during the budget debate on 13 September 2012. In her speech, she said: 'Labor left office with a state debt at $62 billion. Despite the Premier, Treasurer and others citing a figure of $65 billion, the budget papers confirm the $62 billion figure as set out in the budget update before the election.' On 14 September 2012, the Member for Algester said in the House: 'What did we find left by the former Labor government? $62 billion in debfl' I 1 The Member for Nicklin said, on the same date, said: I note the different opinions that have been aired during this debate about whether the new government took over a state debt of $65 billion or $62 billion, or however many billion dollars it was. I have also made a number of statements in the House setting out the facts in relation to the State's finances. I referred, on 10 July 2012, to a 'gross debt of $62 billion'. On 21 August 2012, I informed the House, 'As much as the LNP invents other figures to hide the truth, Labor left gross debt at $62 billion and net debt at $24.92 billion.' On 14 September 2012, after the members of the House had apologised and corrected the record in relation to the figure they had used of $100 billion, I informed the House: 'The first part of this political strategy has been to recruit a political mate Peter Costello to make up a debt figure. Already five members of this parliament have had to apologise for using this fictional debt figure of $100 billion. And now it has been revealed that the gross debt figure in the midyear review under Labor was correct at $62 billion, not $65 billion as made out by the Treasurer.' In order to make matters very clear, on 4 March 2014, I made the following Statement during a Matter of Public Interest: 'The Treasurer claims that Labor left him with a black cloud of $80 biliion in debt and interest costs of $450.000 per hour based on 'Labor debt'. These statements are untrue, just as the Treasurer's claims of a 'debt crisis' and $100 billion in debt were found to be untrue in 2012. The Treasurer's $450,000 interest figure is not based on Labor debt; it is based on total state debt after the Newman government increased debt by $14.6 billion. Labor left gross debt of $62 billion with nearly half of this self sustaining debt held by government owned corporations. The total state debt reflected $60 biilion in infrastructure investment over a four-year period, which kept Queensland out of recession during the GFC. Excluding the debt held by GOCs, Labor left Queensland with no net debt.' This statement is recorded at page 325 of the Official Record of Proceedings, which can be found at: http://www.parliament.ald.oov.au/documents/hansard/2014/2014 03 04 WEEKL Y.pdf The important point to note is that there was a gross debt figure of $62 billion when the Government changed. Any change after that time cannot be considered to be a decision of the Labor Party not projected figures, not revised figures and certainly not an additional $14.6 billion in infrastructure spending over two years by a new Government. 12 I will now turn to consideration of the third element: 3. In making the statement, the Member intended to mislead the House; The statements made by the Premier, the Treasurer, the Ministers and other Members of the House were untrue and the Members must necessarily have known that the statements were untrue. Members of this House could be under no misapprehension as to the state of the Government's finances at the time the previous Government left office. Some of these Members debated the Budget for 2011-12 and 2012-13 and the value of the gross State debt was repeatedly stated throughout these debates. It has also been extensively cited during debate on various pieces of legislation, and I have outlined a number of those occasions for the benefit of Madam Speaker. The only reason they could have, therefore, in citing figures they knew to be factually incorrect, was for a political purpose, and to mislead the House, and thereby the Queensland public, as to the true state of the State's finances when Labor left office. There is no doubt that the forward estimates clearly foreshadowed a figure of $85 billion as the projected debt for 2014-15. If members had made this very clear in their Statements, there could be no suggestion they intended to mislead the House. However, they were aware of the facts, and attempted to muddy the figures by referring to a $80 billion Labor debt to mislead members of this House and thereby the Queensland public, that this was the amount of debt left by the previous Government. It is difficult to imagine that a reference to a 'Labor debt' could be anything but a reference to the debt of the Labor Government. A number of the instances I have referred to above have been very serious incidences of misleading the House, and I would like to set out what I consider are circumstances of aggravation in relation to those matters. The Member for Broadwater has made a speech in the Parliament on 4 March 2014 where she referred to' $80 billion Labor debt' on three occasions in five minutes. This is despite having clearly stated, in a speech on 7 June 2012 that the debt was $62 billion at that time, at the end of the 2011-12 financial year, which was the last financial year for which the previous Labor Government had delivered a budget. This is a calculated and deliberate attempt to mislead the House, and to thereby gain political advantage by repeating something that she clearly knows to be untrue, but which could have the effect of damaging her political opponents. It is my further submission, Madam Speaker, that this is an extremely serious example of an attempt to deliberately mislead the House. Further serious examples of this alleged contempt relate to Statements by Ministers McVeigh and Dickson. 13 Minister Dickson told the House that 'the opposition has given the people of Queensland . up to an $80 billion debt'. Minister McVeigh referred to 'Labor's $80 billion of debt', and 'Labor's $80 billion worth of debt'. Both Ministers had, in 2012, corrected the record, and apologised for any misunderstanding their comments had caused, in relation to statements about a $100 billion debt. it appears that neither Minister has learned the importance of being very precise in the language that they use in the House in order to ensure they are not guilty of misleading the House. In addition to these matters, it is clear that the intention of all of the members referred to above is to cause a misapprehension in the minds of the Queensland public that the previous labor Government left a debt of $80 billion. The Honourable the Premier was asked a question without notice by me and by the Member for Nicklin. These are the only statements that I have referred to that were not pre prepared. It should be noted that, where a statement is made in the heat of debate, or when a member might be caught off guard by a question without notice asked by a non Government Member, there might be some leniency shown for a statement that might not be entirely accurate. On such occasions, a member should be given an opportunity to correct the record. However, where Questions Without Notice are asked by Government members, this will not be the case, as the responses have been prepared prior to the question being asked. in a similar way, statements made during a debate, where a Member has had time to clearly prepare their speech, such as in the case of Ministerial Statements, Matters of Public Interest, Private Members' Statements and during debate of legislation, the control over the accuracy of what is said in the chamber must necessarily be tighter. In Summary Madam Speaker, I have raised this issue with you because it has been with increasing regularity that these statements are being made. By referring the issue in relation to the statements about the $100 billion debt to you, prompt attention to the matter ensured that Members were very clear that it was unacceptable that such a misleading statement be made, and the issue was resolved. In a similar fashion, I am confident that, by drawing this issue to Madam Speaker's attention, clarification will be provided to members to ensure that the statements made about 'Labor's debt' accurately reflect what is found in the Budget papers. 14 I am not necessarily seeking, at this stage, for the Members to be referred to the Ethics Committee. It would be sufficient if the Members clarified the situation by correcting the record, and apologising for any misunderstanding that their comments may have caused. However, should the statements continue to be made, or if Members are not prepared to take such action to remedy the situation, I reserve my right to ask for these matters to be referred to the Ethics Committee. Should you have any queries in relation to this matter, or if you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. Yours sincerely Curtis Pitt MP Leader of Opposition Business Member for Mulgrave 15