Senator ROBERT RAY (10:49 AM) —I present the 99th report of the Committee of Privileges, entitled Possible unauthorised disclosure of a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Securities, together with a Hansard transcript of proceedings, a volume of submissions and documents compiled by the committee, and a volume of documents provided by the Australian.

Ordered that the report be printed.

Senator ROBERT RAY —I move:

On 27 June 2000, the Senate referred the following matter to the Senate Standing Committee on Privileges, on the motion of the chairman of the Joint Statutory Committee on Corporations and Securities, Senator Chapman:

The President gave precedence to the matter on 26 June 2000. Between 12 and 14 February 2000, the Weekend Australian and the Australian featured articles by its national business correspondent on an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, ASIC, into a company known as Yannon. No prosecutions had resulted from the long-running investigation. The Joint Statutory Committee on Corporations and Securities sought and received a confidential briefing on the investigation. The briefing was preceded by a written submission from ASIC which the committee agreed, on 7 February 2000, to receive on a confidential basis. This submission formed the basis of the articles.

The Senate Standing Committee on Privileges conducted an intensive inquiry into the matter, including a public hearing on 25 May 2001. All details of these proceedings are included in the report and the accompanying transcript and documents. The committee was unable to discover the source of the disclosure, not least because neither the journalist nor his publishers revealed the identity of the person or persons who divulged the information. As the committee made very clear early in its dealings with the Australian, it understood the journalist's need to keep his source confidential. It is a pity that news organisations do not have a comparable understanding of the need for parliamentary committees to protect their own informants.

The committee has nonetheless concluded that the disclosure to the journalist was improper and probably deliberate. The committee has no doubt that the improper publication of the articles in the Weekend Australian and the Australian, based on the confidential submission to the Joint Statutory Committee on Corporations and Securities, was deliberate. These conclusions have led to seven formal findings, which are set out in paragraph 60 of the report, and culminate as follows:

Given the serious nature of these contempts, the committee has recommended the following penalties:

In light of these findings and penalties, the Joint Statutory Committee on Corporations and Securities is required, under standing order 82, to give at least seven days notice of a motion to determine that a person has committed a contempt or that a penalty be imposed. I therefore now seek leave to give notice of a motion.

Leave granted.

Senator ROBERT RAY —I give notice that, on Monday, 17 September 2001, I shall move:

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.