Privileges Committee Chair Calls Urgent Meeting Over Leaked FENZ Report

Jo Moir
Political editor

The
powerful 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.

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 the publishing
of 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 chair, 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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