Privilege — Disclosure of Select Committee Proceedings—Voting on Natural and Built Environment Bill

Members, I have received a letter from the Hon Eugenie Sage raising as a matter of privilege the disclosure of committee proceedings by Simon Court on the consideration of the Natural and Built Environment Bill. A disclosure was made by way of a press release.

The committee has attempted to resolve this matter but has been unable to do so. Mr Court admitted making the press release informing the media of the outcome of a vote taken during the committee’s consideration. However, he took the view that the proceedings could be disclosed under Standing Order 243(3)(a) because they did not relate to any business or decision still before the committee.

The onus is on the member who divulges proceedings to check whether they may do so. If there is any doubt, they should seek clarification in the committee or discuss with committee staff whether disclosure is permissible. The confidentiality attached to committee proceedings apart from public evidence was relaxed in 2003 to enable members to disclose procedural decisions such as the appointment of advisers or a decision not to initiate an inquiry. Because these procedural matters do not reflect the potential findings of a committee or indicate the direction of its consideration, there is no difficulty in divulging them before the committee reports to the House. However, discussion and voting on substantive matters before the committee remain strictly confidential until the committee reports to the House.

I do not consider that the matters disclosed by Mr Court are the sort of procedural decisions that the Standing Orders Committee contemplated being able to be divulged before a committee reports to the House. I have considered the degree of importance of the matter. It is essential that committees are able to consider matters freely and deliberate on them in strict confidence. They are obliged to inform the House of their findings first. Therefore, I find a question of privilege arises. The question stands referred to the Privileges Committee.