John-Paul Langbroek Ivip Leader of the Opposition Leader of the LNP
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John-Paul Langbroek Ivip Leader of the Opposition Leader of the LNP 8 October 2010 Paper No.: / c Hon John Mickel MP Date: 6/iO Speaker Queensland Parliament Parliament House BRISBANE QLD 4000 Incorporated. Remainder incorporated, by leave h% !Save Clerk at the Table: I refer to my letter to you of today's date dealing with the ise'of possible Contempt of the Parliament by the Premier. As I indicated, I respect and fully comply with your ruling as mentioned in that letter. I fully appreciate that the words in question "I am further advised that there are no more of these" were removed from the Hansard record in accordance with the standard practice of Hansard staff. However, as is apparent from the material that I have forwarded to you, whilst Hansard did not include the comments by the Premier because they thought that she had spoken them in error, the Premier herself has confirmed that she did in fact say them at a subsequent Press conference. This confirms that her words in the Parliament were not in error and that it was her intention to state that she had been advised that there were no more examples. Accordingly I would suggest that the Hansard record for 6 October 2010 should now be amended to properly record the statement that the Premier did actually make in the Parliament on that date. Yours sincerely JOHN-PAUL LANGBROEK MP Leader of the Opposition Address: Parliament House Alice Street Brisbane Queensland 4000 Australia Telephone: (07) 3406 7997 Facsimile: (07) 3221 1496 Email: [email protected] John-Paul Langbroek MP Leader of the Opposition Leader of the LNP 8 October 2010 Hon John Mickel MP Speaker Queensland Parliament Parliament House BRISBANE QLD 4000 I refer to the Matter of Privilege that I raised yesterday. I take note of and respect your ruling as recorded in Hansard [Page 3724] in relation to the issue of alteration of Hansard proofs. A further issue however arises out of this matter. At Page 3710 Hansard records the Premier making the following statement: "Ms BLIGH: Mr Speaker, I rise to a point of order. The words that the member is referring to were words made by me at a press conference yesterday. You will find that in the transcript of the press conference and that is why it is reported in media reports. I made absolutely no change to Hansard." I attach for your information a copy of an audio recording and a transcript of words uttered by the Premier in Parliament at 11.40am on 6 October 2010. Whilst not recorded in the Hansard record for 6 October 2010, as explained in your ruling, nevertheless these words were said in the Parliament and not in a Press Conference as claimed by the Premier on 7 October. Accordingly, I submit that the Premier has deliberately misled the Parliament thus constituting contempt of the Parliament in accordance with Standing Order 266 particularly paragraph (2). I therefore urge you to give consideration to referring the Premier to the Integrity, Ethics and Parliamentary Privileges Committee for consideration as to her prima facie contempt of the Parliament. Yours sincerely OHN-PAUL LANGBROEK MP Leader of the Opposition Address: Parliament House Alice Street Brisbane Queensland 4000 Australia Telephone: (07) 3406 7997 Facsimile: (07) 3221 1496 Email: [email protected] JOHN-PAUL LANGBROEK, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION 06 October 2010 PART TRANSCRIPT OF PRIVATE MEMBERS' STATEMENTS MINISTERIAL STATEMENT Further Answer to Question; Public Expenditure, Advertising Hon. AM BLIGH (South Brisbane-ALP) (Premier and Minister for the Arts) (11.40am), by leave: `Mr Speaker I am further advised that there are no more of these, I've directed that no more of these are to be distributed and that the material is to be withdrawn from the Department of Transport website.' [Ends] 1 HON JOHN MICKEL MP SPEAKER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF QUEENSLAND 13 OCT 2010 Mr John-Paul Langbroek MP Leader of the Opposition Parliament House George Street BRISBANE QLD 4000 Dear Mr Langbroek I acknowledge your correspondence dated 8 October 2010, and audio file, relating to matters of privilege. In accordance with Standing Order 269(5), I will be seeking further information prior to determining whether to refer the matter to the Integrity, Ethics and Parliamentary Privileges Committee. Should you have any queries regarding this matter, or require further information , please contact Joe Begley (email: Joe. Begley(c^parliament. gld.gov.au; telephone: 3406 7170). Yours sincerely k3 ' JOHN MICKEL MP Baker Parliament House, George Street, Brisbane, 4000 Phone: (07) 3406 7374 ♦ Fax: (07) 3406 7308 ♦ E-mail: sneaker03pariiament.gld.eov.au + Website: www.par(iamenc.( l.eov.au ,Spraker's Room., HON JOHN MICKEL MP SPEAKER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF QUEENSLAND 13 October 2010 Hon Anna Bligh MP Premier and Minister for the Arts PO Box 15185 CITY EAST QLD 4002 Dear Premier I have received two items of correspondence dated 8 October 2010 from the Leader of the Opposition, relating to a statement made by you on 6 October 2010. Standing Order 269(5), allows that in relation to the procedures for raising and considering complaints, the Speaker may request information from the member the subject of the complaint. Accordingly, I am seeking further information from you, regarding this complaint, prior to determining whether or not to refer the matter to the Integrity, Ethics and Parliamentary Privileges Committee (IEPPC). In connection with this matter , I enclose a copy of the member's letters and audio file. To assist me in determining whether or not to refer the matter to the IEPPC, I invite you to provide a written submission providing any evidence or information which you believe is relevant to this matter by Thursday 21 October 2010. Should you have any queries regarding this matter , or require further information, please contact Joe Begley (email: Joe.Begleyaparliament .gld.gov.au; telephone : 3406 7170). Yours sincerely HON JOHN MICKEL MP /Speaker /f Enc Parliament House, George Street, Brisbane, 4000 Phone: (07) 3406 7374 ♦ Fax: (07) 3406 7308 ♦ E-mail: [email protected] ♦ Website: www.parliament.gld.eov.au Premier of Queensland io O gaS rh rB fli For reply please quote: ODG/SF- TF/10/24821- DOC/1O/138683 PO Box 15185'Ci'fy"Eas't' Queensland 4002 Australia Telephone +617 3224 4500 2 0 OCT 2019 Facsimile +61732213631 Email ThePremiera(?premiers.gtd.gov.au The Honourable John Mickel MP Website www.thepremier.gld.gov.au Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Parliament House George Street BRISBANE QLD 4000 Thank you for your letter of 13 October 2010 where you provided copies of letters from the Leader of the Opposition alleging that I misled the Parliament and also requested that the Hansard record of 6 October 2010 be amended. As you are aware, the Leader of the Opposition rose on a matter of privilege on 7 October 2010 and alleged that I had amended the Hansard record by removing certain words from a Ministerial statement on 6 October 2010 about advertising material. As I did not know of any words being removed from the Hansard record in relation to this matter, and also because I had only just been asked about the advertising guidelines at a lengthy press conference on 6 October 2010, the only conclusion I could draw was that it was my words from the press conference that the Leader of the Opposition was referring to. The Hansard record was not amended by me or anyone from my office. The record was amended by Hansard staff in accordance with their own procedures and this was later confirmed by you in a statement. As you outlined, the reason for the editorial amendment to Hansard was because it was considered that I had made a `false start' and that I then corrected myself, thus under internal editorial policies making the first sentence redundant. I also refer to the request to you by the Leader of the Opposition for the Hansard record of 6 October to be further amended to include the sentence, 'I am advised there are no more of these'. I have no objection to these words being added to Hansard but, as the decision to remove these words was initially made by Hansard, I consider this to be a matter for the Parliamentary service to determine. Queensland Government I trust this information is of assistance to you in deciding whether this is a matter that needs to be referred to the Integrity, Ethics and Parliamentary Privileges Committee. Thank for the opportunity to make my submission. Yours sincerely ANNA BLIGH MP PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND Page 2 of 2.