00:00Parliamentary privilege is an important part of democracy. It allows MPs to speak freely
00:10in Parliament with special legal rights and immunities, but it can also be a roadblock.
00:16It makes it almost impossible to investigate a Member of Parliament or a Member of Parliamentary
00:20staff unless they fully comply and consent rather than being compelled.
00:27The Integrity Commission has been investigating two Members of the Tasmanian Parliament for
00:32over two years. It says one of these investigations has effectively stalled because of Parliamentary
00:38privilege. Investigators can't access Parliamentary emails of MPs or their staff.
00:44It's not a desirable situation. The public are entitled to know that Members of Parliament
00:49and Parliamentary staff are subject to the same requirements as other Members of the
00:56Parliament. The Commission was able to investigate Adam
01:00Brooks over misconduct allegations because he voluntarily allowed investigators to access
01:06his emails. The Integrity Commission can't just look
01:09at every single email. It needs to be able to pick out the ones that are relevant for
01:14its investigations and for two years it's been trying to develop a protocol to allow
01:18that to happen. That could involve an independent arbiter deciding which emails it can access.
01:25But that process also appears to have stalled. We need to move on that and get back to working
01:31with the Integrity Commission to develop a protocol that will bring us into line with
01:35a number of other states. We are having that dialogue around what the
01:39Integrity Commission's scope is, how it goes about fulfilling its role, which is an important
01:44and independent role, and making sure that it's funded appropriately to do that.
01:48A step that could add more oversight while maintaining the sanctity of Parliamentary
01:53privilege.
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