Jarrod Bleijiemp
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Jarrod BLEIJIEmp Member for Kawana Shadow Minister for Education and Shadow Minister for industrial Relations Manager of Opposition Business 16 July 2020 Hon Curtis Pitt MP Queensland Legislative Assembly Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Number: By email: [email protected] 1 3 AUS 2020 Xd Clerk's Signature:. I Dear Mr Speaker I am writing to ask you to refer the Premier and the Member for Bulimba to the Ethics Committee for misleading the House. This matter relates to a statement made by the Premier and the Member for Bulimba during Question Time on Wednesday 17 June 2020. i have attached submissions to assist you in making this determination. If you require any additional material, please do not hesitate to contact me. Jarrod Bleijie MP Member for Kawana Shadow Minister for Education and Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Manager of Opposition Business rtt Sunshine Central. 4/3 Nickiin Way, Minyama Qid 4575 8& PO Box 1200, Buddina Qld 4575 S 07 5406 3100 @ kawanaraparlianient qid.gov.atj B : ; i.. t t-:'-JB ■ ip ’ " ; SUBMISSIONS IN RELATION TO A MATTER OF PRIVILEGE RELATING TO A DELIBERATE MISLEADING OF THE HOUSE BACKGROUND 1. This matter arises from a similar claim made by the Premier and the Member for Bulimba in answers to questions without notice on 17 June 2020. Both Members alleged that the Newman Government cut Child Safety Officers. The Claim is untrue and misleading and the Members are aware of these facts as they have been the subject of the former Minister for Child Safety correcting the record to remove the same misleading claim from Hansard. THE FACTS 2. On 17 June 2020, at page 1259 of Hansard, the following is recorded: Ms PALASZCZUK: I am more than happy for the Leader of the Opposition to get up in this House and explain why 225 child safety officers were cut. Ms Bates: That is not true. Child safety officers weren’t. They were CSSOs, not CSOs. You have misled the House. Ms PALASZCZUK: It is on the record. 3. On page 1262, the following is recorded: Ms FARMER: Not only did he not deliver that $400 million; he ripped $200 million out of the system. We could not even start implementing the Carmody reforms until Labor came to government. Those opposite sacked 225 child safety officers. 4. The role of “Child Safety Officer” (CSO) is a position with a specific definition in the Child Protection Act 1999. It relates to specific group of staff. 5. It is a matter of fact that the number of CSOs increased between March 2012 and January 2015. 6. On 27 August 2015, the former Minister for Child Safety, Hon Shannon Fentiman MP admitted that a similar claim was misleading. I have attached page 37 from the Hansard of the Communities, Women, Youth, Child Safety and Multicultural Affairs committee from 27 August 2015. 2 I RELEVANT CONSIDERATIONS 7. Section 37 of the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 defines the meaning of "Contempt" of the Assembly as: 37 Meaning of contempt of the Assembly (1) Contempt of the Assembly means a breach or disobedience of the powers, rights or immunities, ora contempt, of the Assembly or its members or committees. 8. Standing Order 266 provides examples of Contempt to include, inter alia: (2) deliberately misleading the House or a committee (by way of submission, statement, evidence or petition); 9. In order for the allegation of a deliberate misleading of the House to be made out, three elements must be proven; a. the statement must, in fact, have been misleading: b. it must be established that the member making the statement knew at the time the statement was made that it was incorrect; and c. in making it, the member must have intended to mislead the House. 10, In determining whether each element is met, the standard of proof to be met is ‘on the balance of probabilities.’ APPLICATION 11. I will deal with each element in turn. THE FIRST ELEMENT - WAS THE MEMBER'S STATEMENT ACTUALLY MISLEADING? 12. As the facts above show, the Members were wrong to claim that the Newman Government cut CSOs. The former Palaszczuk Government Minister for Child Safety has confirmed to the relevant Estimates committee in 2015. that the allegation made by the Members is wrong and misleading and a similar claim was corrected from the record. THE SECOND ELEMENT- WAS THE MEMBER AWARE A T THE TIME OF MAKING THE STATEMENT THAT IT WAS INCORRECT? 13. The Members are aware that this matter has been the subject of contention previously in the House and at Estimates in 2015. There is no doubt that the Member for Bulimba was aware that she was being misleading as she receives Ministerial briefs on this subject. Further, the Premier was informed by the Member for Mudgeeraba in an interjection that she was being misleading and the Premier doubled down on her misleading claim. 14. I respectfully submit that the second element of the test is met. 3 THE THIRD ELEMENT - DID THE MEMBER INTEND TO MISLEAD THE HOUSE? 15. McGee'< provides that in order to establish the third limb of the test, reference is to be given to the nature of the basis of knowledge and the formality of the circumstances of the statement. 16. The Members made the misleading statements during Question time, a highly formal time in the business of the Parliament when the Executive are scrutinised. Moreover, the Premier was speaking about a matter that the basis of her knowledge was from the business of the Parliament. The Member for Bulimba, as the current Minister with responsibly for Child Safety, was aware of these facts owing to her Ministerial position. 17. In conclusion on this point, in light of these two considerations as provided by McGee, it must be assumed the Premier intended to mislead the house. CONCLUSION 18. I respectfully submit that this matter warrants the further attention of the house by referral to the Ethics Committee. * McGee, David, Parliamentary Privilege in New Zealand, Third Edition, Dunmore Pubiishing Ltd, Weiiington, 2005, p.654. 4 Estimates—Communities, Women, Youth, Child Safety and 27 Aug 2015 37 Multicultural Affairs Ms DAVIS: Minister, I refer to the answer to question on notice No. 2 in which you talk about a number of things but also about 225 full-time-equivalent positions in Child Safety being cut under the former LNP government. I have here an extract from Hansard, which I am happy to table, where the minister talks about 225 full-time front-line Child Safety staff being cut. Is the minister aware of anyone in her department or herself requesting a change to Hansard such that ‘child safety officers’ becomes 'Child Safety staff’? Is the minister aware that there is a significant difference between the two? How can we believe that the minister has any integrity if she cannot go back and retract what she knew was an error? CHAIR: Before the minister answers that question, the member needs to seek leave to table the paper. Ms DAVIS: I seek leave to table the paper. CHAIR: Is leave granted? Leave is granted. Ms FENTIMAN: The irony of the LNP asking about cuts to front-line staff! I changed the Hansard because I realised that I misspoke and, consistent with the Queensland Parliamentary Procedures Handbook, I corrected the remarks. It was an obvious error—from 'child safety officer’, which has statutory obligations under the act, to ‘Child Safety staff’. I did not seek to alter the point I was making. I am happy to make it again. With all respect to the member for Aspley, she was part of a government that told the Public Service that their jobs were safe, that they had nothing to fear— Ms DAVIS: Excuse me. Chair - Ms FENTIMAN:— and then in my department alone sacked 1,105 staff. CHAIR: One moment. Minister. Member for Aspley, what is the point of order? Ms DAVIS: My point of order is that I am simply seeking from the minister why she went to Hansard and had the record changed rather than coming into the parliament and retracting the statement. Why would the minister do that and not come back to deliver a ministerial statement to say, ‘I am sorry, I made a mistake'? It seems very underhanded and very tricky. Minister. CHAIR: One moment, member for Aspley. The minister is able to answer a question in whichever way she sees proper. I call the minister to continue answering the question. Ms FENTIMAN: I am answering the question. I do know the difference between child safety officers, who have specific legislative obligations under the act, and Child Safety staff. That is why I amended Hansard. I misspoke. It is consistent with the Queensland Parliamentary Procedures Handbook and I did not seek to alter the point I was making—that is, under the former government’s fiscal repair 225 staff from Child Safety were sacked after the LNP had told public servants they had nothing to fear. The member cannot change the fact that 225 positions were slashed. People whose jobs contributed directly or indirectly to child safety were cut on the member’s watch, and that is just the Child Safety area. Another 140 full-time-equivalent positions were cut in Communities. It does not end there. Some 362 community organisations had their funding cut, $60 million in grants across the department were slashed, and staff from the Office for Women and the Office for Youth were cut by 75 per cent. In 2014-15, as I have already said, the impact of fiscal repair on Child Safety was a $73 million cut and in Community Services a $63 million cut.