Porirua comments may be contempt of House

Press, 12 July 1985, Page 26

Porirua comments may be contempt of House

PA Wellington A claim made in a Wellington community newspaper that the Porirua electorate had lost its voice in Parliament raised a question of Parliamentary privilege, said the Deputy Speaker, Mr John Terris. Statements in the article might be a contempt of the House, he said. The article has been referred to Parliament’s Privileges Committee for consideration. The Speaker and member of Parliament for Porirua, Dr Wall, vacated the chair

while Mr Terris (Lab., Western Hutt) read parts of an article in last Friday’s issue of the Wellington community newspaper, “Te Awa-iti,” headlined “Porirua still represented.” The article said: “The Porirua electorate, technically speaking, has lost its representative voice in Parliament. This comes about with Porirua M.P., Dr Gerard Wall, becoming Speaker of the House. “House rules require the Speaker not to take partisan activity which includes ‘no speaking on behalf of the electorate.’ In the strict sense of the word, Dr Wall

cannot represent Porirua in Parliament. “In actual fact, however, Porirua will continue to be officially represented, even if by proxy — a surrogate M.P. will take up the case for Porirua on behalf of Dr Wall,” the article said. Mr Terris said the article might constitute a constructive contempt of the House by containing incorrect statements which falsely represented proceedings of the House. He said it might also tend to obstruct members in the discharge of their duties by discouraging them from accepting office as Speaker.