Two Privileges Committee reports

The Privileges Committee has reported back to the House on two issues.

The first is around the fiasco around the GCSB report leak. It sets out four principles:

  1. There should be a presumption that information held on parliamentary information and security systems should not be released. 
  2. Individual members should retain complete control over the release of any information that relates to them. That is, material relating to individual members should only be released where that member specifically agrees to its release. 
  3. Journalists working in the parliamentary precinct should retain complete control over the release of any information that relates to them. That is, material relating to a journalist or group of journalists who work in the parliamentary precinct should only be released with their specific authorisation. 
  4. For information requests that do not relate to an individual member, the Speaker of the House of Representatives should be the ultimate decision-maker.

They seem very sound principles.

They also report back on issues around Police and SIS access. Mainly just a series of clarifications.