| Title | COMMITTEES Privileges Committee Reference |
| Database | Senate Hansard |
| Date | 12-08-2009 |
| Source | Senate |
| Parl No. | 42 |
| Electorate | Victoria |
| Interjector | PRESIDENT, The |
| Page | 4741 |
| Party | FFP |
| Status | Final |
| Speaker | Fielding, Sen Steve |
| Stage | Privileges Committee |
| Context | Committees |
| System Id | chamber/hansards/2009-08-12/0126 |
Senator FIELDING (Leader of the Family First Party) (5:13 PM)
âI seek leave to amend my motion by deleting paragraphs (a) and (c).
Leave granted.
Senator FIELDING
âI move the motion as amended:
That the following matter be referred to the Committee of Privileges:
Whether there was a manipulation of the evidence given before the Standing Committee on Economics at its hearing on 22Â October 2008 in relation to scripting of questions asked in evidence before that committee and, if so, whether any contempt of the Senate was committed in that regard.
In moving that, I make it absolutely clear that there was some indication from Senator Evans that linking the Senator Conroy laptop affair with the Grech affair was a concern for him.
Honourable senators interjectingâ
The PRESIDENT
âOrder! Senator Fielding is entitled to be heard in silence.
Senator FIELDING
âSo now that we have got the OzCar affair reference completed, clearly there is no way that Senator Evans can now claim that there is a link between the two. They can stand on their own merits. Again, there are serious concerns about the integrity of the Senate and the issue of manipulating evidence, and quite clearly Senator Conroy was caught on camera. This is an issue that needs to be resolved and it should also warrant going to the Privileges Committee. I urge senators to support this motion in its own right.
The PRESIDENT
âSo that no-one is under any misapprehension, we now have an amended motion before the chair, which essentially is just paragraph (b) of the original motion.