Review of the Members of Parliament (Register of Interests) Act 1978
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law reform Committee LAW REFORM COMMITTEE reView of the MeMbers R E V i of ParliaMent (register E w o f t h of interests) act 1978 E M DeCEMBER 2009 em b er s o f Pa R l i a me n t ( R E g i s t er o f i n t ere s t s ) a c t 1 9 7 8 D e C e m b e r 2 0 0 9 law reform Committee Parliament of ViCtoria, melbourne ViC 3002 T 8682 2851 F 8682 2818 www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lawreform Review of the Members of Parliament (Register of Interests) Act 1978 Final report of the Victorian Parliament Law Reform Committee December 2009 ORDERED TO BE PRINTED by Authority Victorian Government Printer Parliamentary Paper No. 251, Session 2006-2009 Parliament of Victoria, Australia Review of the Members of Parliament (Register of Interests) Act 1978 Law Reform Committee ISBN – 978-0-9807201-0-5 ISBN – 978-0-9807201-1-2 (electronic) Printed on recycled paper This report is also available at www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lawreform Committee members Mr Johan Scheffer MLC Chair Mr Robert Clark MP Deputy Chair Mr Colin Brooks MP Mr Luke Donnellan MP Mr Martin Foley MP Mrs Jan Kronberg MLC Mrs Heidi Victoria MP Member from 4 June 2009 Mr Edward O’Donohue MLC Member until 2 June 2009 Staff Ms Kerryn Riseley Executive Officer Ms Susan Brent Research Officer Ms Helen Ross-Soden Administration Officer Mr Mahmud Begg Legal Policy Intern iii Functions of the Law Reform Committee The functions of the Law Reform Committee are set out in section 12 of the Parliamentary Committees Act 2003 (Vic). That section states: (1) The functions of the Law Reform Committee are, if so required or permitted under this Act, to inquire into, consider and report to the Parliament on any proposal, matter or thing concerned with — (a) legal, constitutional or parliamentary reform (b) the administration of justice (c) law reform. Terms of reference The following reference was made by the Legislative Assembly on 4 December 2008: That, under section 33 of the Parliamentary Committees Act 2003, the Law Reform Committee: (1) be required to undertake a review of the Members of Parliament (Register of Interests) Act 1978 to consider and make recommendations on amending the Act; and (2) present the report on its review six months from the date of this resolution. The reporting date for this Inquiry was extended to 31 December 2009 by resolution of the Legislative Assembly on 31 March 2009. iv Contents List of figures ............................................................................................................. ix List of recommendations .......................................................................................... xi Glossary..................................................................................................................xxiii Chair’s foreword ..................................................................................................xxvii Executive summary............................................................................................... xxix Chapter 1: Introduction............................................................................................. 1 1.1 The Act and Victoria’s parliamentary standards system........................... 2 1.2 The context for the review......................................................................... 3 1.3 The scope of the review............................................................................. 4 1.4 The conduct of the review......................................................................... 5 1.5 Outline of the report .................................................................................. 6 Chapter 2: Parliamentary standards and democracy ............................................ 7 2.1 The role of members of parliament in Victoria......................................... 7 2.2 Why are standards for members of parliament important? ....................... 8 2.3 Victoria’s experience of parliamentary standards..................................... 9 2.3.1 Parliamentary standards in Victoria.......................................... 9 2.3.2 Community perceptions of parliamentary standards .............. 10 2.4 The Committee’s approach to promoting parliamentary standards ........ 11 Chapter 3: The code of conduct.............................................................................. 15 3.1 The aims of codes of conduct.................................................................. 15 3.1.1 Institutional aims..................................................................... 15 3.1.2 Public aims.............................................................................. 16 3.2 Victoria’s current code of conduct .......................................................... 17 3.3 How is Victoria’s code performing? ....................................................... 17 3.4 Improving the code’s profile ................................................................... 19 3.5 Articulating values.................................................................................. 20 3.5.1 Codes of ethics and codes of conduct..................................... 20 3.5.2 What approach should Victoria take?..................................... 21 3.5.3 What values should be in the Act?.......................................... 22 3.6 Updating the code of conduct.................................................................. 26 3.6.1 Conflicts of interest................................................................. 26 Managing conflicts of interest............................................ 26 Defining a conflict of interest ............................................ 27 Should the code prohibit some conflicts of interest? ......... 29 3.6.2 Should the code of conduct address broader issues? .............. 33 Using public resources ....................................................... 35 Personal conduct ................................................................ 37 Handling personal information .......................................... 39 Upholding democracy ........................................................ 40 Respecting diversity........................................................... 41 3.7 Keeping the values and rules relevant..................................................... 45 v Review of the Members of Parliament (Register of Interests) Act 1978 Chapter 4: The register of interests........................................................................ 47 4.1 The aims of registers of interests ............................................................ 47 4.2 Victoria’s register of interests ................................................................. 48 4.3 How is Victoria’s register performing?................................................... 50 4.4 Types of registrable interests .................................................................. 51 4.4.1 Clarifying existing categories of registrable interests ............ 52 4.4.2 Should members have to register additional types of interests? ................................................................................. 55 Debts .................................................................................. 55 Political donations.............................................................. 55 4.4.3 Excluding interests outside the aims of the Act...................... 56 Small interests.................................................................... 56 Benefits from family and friends ....................................... 58 Estates ................................................................................ 59 4.5 Information about members’ interests..................................................... 59 4.5.1 Land and residential addresses ............................................... 60 4.5.2 Other interests......................................................................... 62 4.5.3 Should members have to register the value of their interests? ................................................................................. 64 4.6 Third party interests ................................................................................ 66 4.6.1 Interests of family members ................................................... 66 Should members have to register interests held by family members?................................................................ 66 Defining ‘family’ ............................................................... 68 4.6.2 Interests of private companies and trusts................................ 69 4.7 An up-to-date register ............................................................................. 71 4.8 Publication of the register ....................................................................... 72 4.8.1 Should the Parliament publish members’ returns or a summary?................................................................................ 73 4.8.2 Public access to the register.................................................... 75 4.8.3 Restrictions on publications about the register....................... 78 4.9 Maintaining the register .......................................................................... 79 4.9.1 Quality control and audit ........................................................ 79 4.9.2 An electronic register.............................................................. 81 4.9.3 Former members of parliament .............................................. 81 4.10 Keeping the register relevant................................................................... 82 Chapter