Five up, 82 to go...

Press, 13 August 1976, Page 1

Five up, 82 to go...

PA Wellington The former Acting Speaker, Mr J. L. Hunt (Lab., New Lynn) was yesterday referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee—the fifth member of Parliament to be referred in recent weeks. The decision followed a ruling by the Chairman of Committees and Deputy Speaker (Mr J. R. Harrison, Hawke’s Bay) that Mr Hunt had committed a prima facie breach of privilege in criticising the Speaker (Sir Roy Jack) in a radio interview on Wednesday. Mr Hunt will now join the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rowling), the Under-Secretary for Trade and Industry (Mr K. R. Allen, Tauranga), Mr C. J. Moyle (Lab., Mangere), and Mr M. J. Minogue (Nat., Hamilton West) who have also been referred to the committee for consideration of various allegations of breaching privilege. Making his judgment, Mr Harrison—who dealt with the complaint because

the Speaker was directly involved—said that Mr Hunt had said:

“The first thing of course is to change the Speaker” . . . and . . . "the Speaker should have been stronger.” He had also accused the Speaker of being weak. Mr Harrison cited British precedents from the late nineteenth century which showed that it was not necessary to suggest that the Speaker was not impartial in order to breach privilege. He quoted the Parliamentary authority, Erskine May, as saying: “Reflections upon the character or actions of the Speaker may be punished as breaches of privilege. His action cannot be criticised incidentally in debate or upon any form of proceeding except a substantive motion.”

Last year the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) —then Leader of the Opposition—was found guilty of breaching privilege after he had sharply criticised the then Speaker, the late Sir Stanley Whitehead.