Parliament's privileges committee has been called to an unscheduled meeting on Thursday by its chair to discuss how to handle a complaint about a leaked report.
By Jo Moir of RNZ
On Wednesday the Speaker, Gerry Brownlee, told MPs in the House he had received a letter from National MP Tim Costley "raising as a matter of privilege the divulging of a draft report of the Governance and Administration Committee contrary to Standing Orders".
The complaint was in regards to a story published in The Post titled, "Leaked FENZ inquiry report rips into leadership dysfunction, calls for board replacement".
Brownlee said publishing the leaked report was "a serious matter, not merely a technical one".
"The unauthorised release of confidential select committee proceedings has previously been considered a contempt. It is essential that the confidence of proceedings is respected to enable committee members to work together. Furthermore, the House is entitled to be the first recipient of the finding of its committees," Brownlee said.
The matter was referred to the Privileges Committee – Parliament's court equivalent – and with just three sitting days remaining of this parliamentary term it has prompted the committee's chairperson, Chris Bishop, to call a meeting.
"The matter's been referred to the privileges committee, and we we are having our initial meeting, because you know Parliament rises very soon, so we don't have very much time," Bishop told reporters on his way into Question Time on Thursday.
"We've got to get on with it, so I called a meeting for this afternoon. It'll just be largely a process-based meeting, we just have to consider what we do next."
One of the options being considered is carrying the issue over to the next term, "because there may not be enough time to deal with the matter".
"I just want to see the complaint and work out what the next steps are, so I don't want to get ahead of the committee, and I'm just one member, I'm just the chair, so we'll just work our way through that," Bishop said.
The Speaker noted in his comments to the House "it is unfortunate that the Parliament has just over two weeks left until dissolution, but the timing of this matter was not a choice made by me or the House."
"However, it cannot be overlooked, and I encourage the Privileges Committee to meet as soon as possible," Brownlee said on Wednesday.
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