3742 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Wednesday 26 June 2002 ______ The President (The Hon. Dr Meredith Burgmann) took the chair at 10.00 a.m. The President offered the Prayers. AUDIT OFFICE The President, tabled, pursuant to the Public Finance and Audit Act 1983, a performance audit report entitled "e-Government User-friendliness of Websites", dated June 2002. Ordered to be printed. BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Precedence of Business Motion by the Hon. John Della Bosca agreed to: That on Thursday 27 June 2002 Government Business take precedence of General Business. M5 EAST MOTORWAY Motion by the Hon. Richard Jones agreed to: 1. That, under Standing Order 18, there be laid on the table of the House by 5.00 p.m. on Thursday 27 June 2002 and made public without restricted access: (a) any document created since 28 March 2001, and not previously provided to the House, in the possession, custody or power of the Cabinet Office, the Roads and Traffic Authority (referred to as RTA), the Premier's Department, the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning (referred to as DUAP), the Environment Protection Authority (referred to as EPA) and the Department of Health, including related ministerial offices, relating to: (i) the M5 East tunnel ventilation or ventilation in existing and proposed road tunnels, (ii) air quality data from local monitoring stations established at Turrella, Earlwood, Bardwell Valley and Undercliffe, and any comparative analysis with other Sydney monitoring stations for the same period, not already publicly available on the RTA web site, (iii) predicted and actual air dispersion, air quality, cumulative and local health impacts, and compliances and exceedences of air quality goals relating to the M5 East tunnel and stack, (iv) predicted and actual traffic volumes and flows of the M5 East tunnel, (v) the operation of fans in the M5 tunnel or the fan station at Turrella, or to the emission of tunnel exhaust from the tunnel portals, (vi) the management of regional air quality in the areas affected by the M5 East tunnel, (vii) complaints relating to air quality impacts from the M5 East tunnel or the M5 East stack, (viii) compliance with approval and licence conditions for the operation of the M5 East tunnel or the M5 East stack, (ix) communications between the RTA and its contractors such as Baulderstone Hornibrook Belfinger Berger (BHBB) or consultants such as Hyder Consulting, Holmes Air Sciences, Flagstaff Consulting Group, the Connel Wagner group or the CSIRO relating to air quality in or on the M5 East motorway or other tunnels, (x) any video relating to air dispersion modeling including that presented by Hyder Consulting to the M5 East Central Community Liaison Group on 21 October 1999, (xi) any cost benefit analysis, or the provision of electrostatic precipitators or other air treatment of filtration systems to the M5 East or other tunnels, 26 June 2002 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 3743 (xii) communication between the RTA and manufacturers or designers of tunnel filtration and treatment equipment or overseas government authorities regarding tunnel ventilation and filtration and treatment equipment, (xiii) visits to countries such as Norway to investigate tunnel ventilation and filtration and treatment equipment, (xiv) any research, conferences or seminars on air quality standards, issues, health impacts of vehicle emissions or issues relating to ventilation in road tunnels, (xv) the report, recommendations and evidence of General Purpose Standing Committee No. 5, dated July 2001, into the M5 East ventilation stack, (xvi) the M5 East Property Value Guarantee granted on 1 December 1997, the offer made on 13 February 2001, and any similar offers made to individuals likely to be affected by emissions from the M5 East or other tunnels, (xvii) any legal agreement between the RTA and Residents Against Polluting Stacks in December 2001, (xviii) communications between the departments and authorities and the State member for Rockdale, Mr George Thompson, and the State member for Canterbury, Mr Kevin Moss, or other members of the Parliament relating to the M5 East motorway, (xix) communications between the departments and authorities and local government councils, community organisations and media organisations relating to the M5 East motorway, (b) any document in the possession, custody or power of the RTA which records or refers to the production of documents as a result of this order of the House. 2. That an indexed list of documents tabled be prepared showing the date of creation of the document, a description of the document and the author. 3. That anything required to be laid before the House by this resolution may be lodged with the Clerk of the House if the House is not sitting, and is deemed for all purposes to have been presented to or laid before the House and published by authority of the House. 4. Where it is considered that a document required to be tabled under this order is considered to be privileged and should not be made public or tabled: (a) a return is to be prepared and tabled showing the date of creation of the document, a description of the document, the author of the document and reasons for the claim of privilege, (b) the documents are to be delivered to the Clerk of the House by the date and time required in paragraph 1 and: (i) made available only to members of the Legislative Council, and (ii) not published or copied without an order of the House. 5. (1) Where any member of the House, by communication in writing to the Clerk, disputes the validity of a claim of privilege in relation to a particular document, the Clerk is authorised to release the disputed document to an independent legal arbiter, for evaluation and report within five days as to the validity of the claim. (2) The independent legal arbiter is to be appointed by the President and must be a Queen's Counsel, a Senior Counsel or a retired Supreme Court judge. (3) A report from the independent arbiter is to be tabled with the Clerk of the House, and: (i) made available only to members of the Legislative Council, (ii) not published or copied without an order of the House. TABLING OF PAPERS The Hon. Michael Costa tabled the following report: Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal Act 1992—Report of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal entitled "CityRail and STA Buses and Ferries Public Transport Fares (Determinations Nos 2 and 3, 2002), from 1 July 2002", dated 24 June 2002. Ordered to be printed. 3744 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 26 June 2002 COMMITTEE ON THE INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION Report The Hon. John Hatzistergos, as Chairman, tabled the report entitled "Review of the ICAC: Stage III—The Conduct of ICAC Hearings", dated June 2002, together with minutes of proceedings and transcripts of evidence taken before the committee. Report ordered to be printed. PETITIONS Local Government Boundary Changes Petition praying that the House conduct a public inquiry into the proposed local government boundary changes and ensure that a plebiscite takes place before any boundary changes are made, received from the Hon. Peter Breen. Freedom of Religion Petition praying that the House retain the existing exemptions applying to religious bodies in the Anti- Discrimination Act, received from Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile. BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Withdrawal of Business Private Members Business Item No. 79 outside the Order of Precedence withdrawn on motion by Ms Lee Rhiannon. STANDING COMMITTEE ON PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE AND ETHICS Report: Person Referred to in the Legislative Council (Mr T. Bidder) The Hon. HELEN SHAM-HO [10.10 a.m.]: I move: That the House adopt Report No. 16 of the Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics, entitled "Report on person referred to in the Legislative Council (Mr T. Bidder)", dated June 2002. I will not read my statement. I commend to the House the recommendation of the Committee. Ms LEE RHIANNON [10.10 a.m.]: The Greens recognise and respect the citizen's right of reply process. It is important that citizens who feel they have been wronged have an avenue to express their views. Used responsibly, parliamentary privilege is a powerful tool for bringing to light events which could not otherwise be aired. It is an important component of our machinery of democracy. The citizen's right of reply is a counterbalance to parliamentary privilege, but likewise must be used responsibly. We are in somewhat uncommon territory with this debate. Mr Bidder is, to my reckoning, only the fourth citizen to seek a right of reply since 1999. It is worth noting that our procedures have been modelled on the right of reply procedures operating in the Australian Senate. On 9 April this year I made reference in a speech in this House to certain worrying events concerning Warringah Council. It has been an ongoing issue for both me and the Greens. On 20 May the President received correspondence, I understand, from Mr Tim Bidder requesting the incorporation into Hansard of a response to my comments. The President, following the accepted protocols, forwarded the correspondence to the Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics, which in turn has passed it on to this House by means of the motion now before us. It is important to understand that the role of the Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics is not to adjudicate on the accuracy of a reply. Either the citizen has a right of reply or has not. And it is not for the committee to decide what is right and what is wrong. The committee is simply a channel. This is a fair process. There is, however, an appropriate time and place to address the accuracy of the reply—and that is now, in this debate.