L"In1 Nicholls MP L.C;1Dtt of !Lie Opp(Lsirion '.->Lwduw Ivlini:-.Rn for Arts :1Ml J\1:1Jor En:·Nr~
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l"in1 Nicholls MP l.c;1dtT of !lie Opp(lsirion '.->lwduw Ivlini:-.rn for Arts :1ml J\1:1jor En:·nr~ J\ li ncr,d I lou;,<' 11 ( ll <>rgr )ll'L"t'I l >i-i,ha1w (~ I d -l (HlU I'( l Bo.\ I <;p5- { 'it1 I ; ,t Qld -l flO~ li:l..:phrnll' n-· )!:U8 ()-(>--, I: mail r ~c tpr11>1 1(0 op1)<>,itiu11 .q ld.µ.n1 -. ,1 11 1 December 2016 Hon Pete r Wellington MP Speaker Parliament House Cnr Alice and George Street F3R ISBANE OLD 4000 Ta hkd, by lcaye R · 11 ;,i11 dcr incorporated. ' lt.·~n <.~ ! _.,..~·· .,..,.... J- ....._ I 1 Dear Mr-Speaker i I • r. ' I a11 writing to you today to request t11 e referral to the Ethics ' mrnittee of a matter wrich I believe to be a deliberate misleading of the Parliament by the Member for Ashgrove and Minister for Education and Minister for Tourism and Major Events. Hon Kate Jo11es MP (llcnceiorth referred to as "the Member"], during Question Tirnc on 30 November 2016. THE EVIDENCE • In response to a Government Question Without Notice "the Mernbe( . is recorded in Ha•1sard on 30th November 2016 p 469 7 as stating the following 7h ey pro111ised //Je people of Queensland a recluclion of $330 in their fJOwer /Jtlls anc! we saw a 43 percent increase. ·· • I atta ch a copy of LNP's policy docun1entafon referred to by 'the Member' and draw Mr Speakers attention to an accurnte listing of the components which comprised the $330 quan+um referred to by 'the Member" namely: ·Lovver the co st of living /.Jy freezing car 1ego. 1efom1ing electricity tariffs and reducing Ifie cost ofvvate1 lo save QueenslwuJ fun11lies up lo $330 a year" CONSIDERATION OF THE EVIDENCE Mr Speaker consioerat on cf the evidence outlined above draws the fo ll owing logical conclusions. Firstly. with rega1·d to the statement made by '·the Member " in [I] I contend ir making this statement ·'the Member' clearly at\en1pted to have the House believe the LN P's $330 ·Cost Of Living .. election cormnit'llent related solely to electr·icrty tariff pricing Secondly the text of the LNP policy documentation outlined 1n [2] clearly attributes such savings to a number of policy reforms and as sucr1 is clearly not solely dependent upon electricity ta riff reform as ·rhe Mernoer' asserted to in her contribution to the House. MY CONTENTION Mr Speaker. I contend: • the evidence provided above clearly and defin1t1vely sl1ows 'tl1e Member" made a statement to the House which was both demonstrably false and deliberately sought to mislead the House - a clear breach of Standing Order 266 (2); and • accordingly, based on the substantial and incontrovertible evidence prnvided above this matter not only warrants investigation by the Ethics Committee. but based on the evidence provided it warrants a finding of nothing less tha n the deliberate misleading of the Parliament. Yours sincere ly TIM NIC HOLLS MP Leader of the Opposition ' ,11.~ r. · '· ~ .l'.. n 1~ ,.. ~ i " '>ti ~ :., ' I Office of the ~~rt Iv1inister for Education and 1=1u u11 ~ l:md Gnveimu enl Minister for Tourism and Major Events Lavol371WS 1 Williom Stroo l R111l>Me ~ OOIJ ro Ro• UOll ColV EAr~ OUtenslN>O ~002 llu1~e11 ~ Tolo11hunu •91 7 371 V7630 Emoll: e<[email protected] n1ni1terl o>t Qld.go'{.uu Hon Peter Wellington MP Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Allee Street BRISBANE QLD 4000 ~ DearM'fker, I refer to your correspondence dated 8 December 2016 and the attached correspondence from the Member for Clayfleld, Mr Tim Nicholls MP, received by your office on 01 December 2016. The Member for Clayfield alleges I deliberately misled the House on 30 November 2016 during Question Time, in relation to Queensland power bills. Mr Speaker, I strongly reject the Member for Clayfield's assertion. 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. I will deal with each of the elements In turn. 1. The statement must have been misleading The statement referred to you by the Member for Clayfield is as follows: They promised the people of Queensland a reduction of $330 In their power bills and we saw a 43 percent increase. 2 Members of the LNP, including Mr Nicholls, have referred to a $330 saving to households arising from their electricity reforms. On 16 June 2011, the Member for Clayfleld and then Treasurer, stated in Parliament: "Under our plan, the LNP would be able to offer Queensland households lower power bills than Labor. Our plan, which Includes abolishing the ambulance tax and incentives for reduced electricity consumption, will save the average household around $250 and up to $330 a year - $250 to $330 a year in savings on electricity bills. II 1lenclosel herewith a copy of page 1962 of Hansard dated 16 June 2011 for your reference. Furthermore, I am aware that during the 2012 election campaign, the former Premier Campbell Newman distributed flyers in Ashgrove which contained the statement: ''The LNP will reform electricity tariffs, saving average Queensland/am/lies up to $330 a year." This direct quote from LNP campaign material was included in a media release put out by the former Minister for Energy and Water Utilities, Stephen Robertson, dated 30 November 2011. 1lenclosel a copy for your reference. The Member for Clayfield contends that I was seeking to have the House bell eve the LNP's 'Cost of Living' election commitment related only to electricity pricing. Mr Speaker, at no point did I refer to the "Cost of Living election commitment" nor did the context suggest that was my purpose in making the statement. Mr Nicholls has no basis for this assertion. It is well documented that the LNP, including Mr Nicholls himself in the Parliament on 16 June 2011, sought to lead Queenslanders to believe they would save $330 on electricity under a Newman Government, when in fact Queensland families saw an overall increase in electricity prices of 43%. I have !enclosed! the following media releases which document the 43% price rise: o 'Queensland Competition Authority releases final decision into regional electricity prices,' Hon Mark Bailey MP, 31 May 2016. o 'Power prices stability key focus of response to QPC report,' Hon Annastacia Palaszczuk MP; Hon Curtis Pitt MP; Hon Mark Bailey MP; 30 November 2016. The QCA Determination for 2016-17 shows the Pala szczuk Government's efforts to stabilise electricity prices are working. 3 Under the first two years of the Palaszczuk Government: o The average annual increase for households will be 1.2 per cent, which is below inflation and compares to an increase of 16% per cent under the full term of the LNP Government. o Electricity prices for large regional business customers have increased by 4-6 per cent per year on average, compared to 15 per cent under the full term of the LNP Government. o Electricity prices for agricultural customers hCJve Increased by 6.2 per cent per annum compared to 33 per cent over the full term of the previous LNP Government. In the context of the above material, I believe the statement I made to be true and I submit, Mr Speaker, is not misleading. 2. The member making the statement knew at the time the statement was made that it was Incorrect Mr Speaker, at the time of making the referred statement, I believed my comments to be accurate. Based on the material referred to above in relation to the factual accuracy of the statement, I was, and continue to be, of the opinion that the statement I made In Parliament is co rrect. 3. In making the statement, the Member Intended to mislead the House. Jn order to prove that a Member intended to mislead the House, It must be established that the Member deliberately made the statement, knowing it to be false with the intention of misleading the House. My intention in making the statements referred to you, Mr Speaker, was to demonstrate the former LNP Government broke its promise to deliver lower power bills to Queensland families. I had no intention of leading the House to "believe the LNP's $330 'Cost of Living' election commitment related solely to electricity tariff pricing", as put by the Member for Clayfield. My intention was to highlight the former Newman Government's record for broken promises and, in this case, higher power bills for Queensland families. I believed the statements to be tn1e, and had reasonable grounds for so believing. It Is my continued assertion that the statements I made were not factually untrue or misleading, and that I did not believe them to be misleading either at the time I made it or at the present time. Furthermore, I give my assu rance to you, Mr Speaker, that it was not my intention to mislead the House. 4 Based on the information I have provided, I again strongly reject the assertion that I have Intentionally mislead the House. I trust this Information assists in resolving this matter. Minister fo Tourism and Major Events Member for Ashgrove ·' 1962 Approp. Bills; Comm. Amb. Cover Levy Repeal & Rev. & O'r Leg. A'ment Bill 16 Jun 2011 An LNP government would immediately freeze the standard domestic tariff, tariff 11 , while allowing the fixed charge to rise in accordance with the QCA recommendation.