Points of Order — Assistant Speaker Simich—Ruling Questioned by Member

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I want to raise with you a point of order about questioning the decisions of the Speaker. We in the ACT party were surprised by this, and I am sure that other parties will be surprised, as well. On 2 December the Hon Jim Sutton wrote you a letter questioning the decision made by the Assistant Speaker Mr Clem Simich. It is a longstanding convention that a Speaker’s decision cannot be questioned. As I read the letter, it definitely questions the ruling of Assistant Speaker Simich. Not only that, it is written in a way that carries a veiled threat from a Minister of the Crown to the Speaker.

I notice that the letter states that the Minister approached the Clerk about what he considered to be a failure to have his honour protected. The Clerk advised that there was a proper procedure to follow. The Minister certainly was not advised that the proper procedure was to write a private letter to the Speaker questioning the judgment of an Assistant Speaker. I make the point that we learnt of this letter only because Mr Sutton’s office inadvertently sent it to Mr Eckhoff, and then—

💬 Simon Power: Outrageous!

💬 Mr SPEAKER: I did not hear any word said that was outrageous. [Interruption] If there is any more interjection, the member will leave.

The letter was sent to Mr Gerrard Eckhoff, and Mr Sutton’s secretary tried to retrieve it. Mr Eckhoff then wrote to you about what he considered to be an abuse of the process. You wrote back on 6 December and said that you actually encourage this!

We would like to know when it became a rule of the House that, when a Minister is upset with a decision of an Assistant Speaker, he or she can write a private communication to the Speaker complaining about it. I would like to know just how many of these letters you have had and whether you intend this process to continue.

Members are perfectly at liberty to write to me, and I have been written to often by many members. I have replied to Mr Eckhoff.

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: I presume this is about this matter.

It is about this matter. I am interested to hear that many members write you letters. As it is a matter of interest to the House, I invite you to table them all.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: I will not be doing that.

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: I am not taking this any further. I have made my ruling.

I seek the leave of the House to table the Hon Jim Sutton’s letter to you, Mr Eckhoff’s letter to you, and the letter that you wrote in reply to Mr Eckhoff.

Documents, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.

Ahmed Zaoui—Birthday