Christian Porter has signalled to Labor advice will need to be sought to ensure that all statements are covered by parliamentary privilege if MPs are allowed to contribute via video conferencing during the pandemic.
In correspondence to the manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, seen by Guardian Australia, Porter expressed a number of concerns about the reliability of technology, and said it would be important to establish clear criteria to ensure MPs didn’t use remote conferencing “as a convenience rather than a necessity”.
Porter said the Speaker of the House, Tony Smith, had told him video conferencing could work “based on recent experiences of virtual contributions in parliamentary committees”. But Porter, the attorney general and manager of government business, expressed scepticism.
“Perhaps this would be a rare occasion where the first use of an IT communications solution on a scale and in a context previously untested occurs seamlessly and without incident,” Porter said. He cited a recent hearing of a parliamentary committee where the proceedings were plagued by drop-outs and poor connections.
Porter said that rather than rushing to make a definitive announcement before the resumption of parliament on 24 August about “the availability of a new facility to any member from any place who meets certain criteria – which in any event would need to be developed and agreed upon – the government proposes that we engage best endeavours to make such a facility operational in the latter part of the first week of the next sitting fortnight”.
He said the remote facility should allow contributions to debate, but not voting or presence for quorum. In relation to privilege, Porter said: “I am unaware that any substantive work has been undertaken on how privilege would operate for statements made virtually through this particular process, which I’m sure would need to be the subject of inquiry and advice to any member before they made any decision to use the facility.”
Burke said Porter’s concerns about the potential lack of privilege were “alarming” because if there was doubt as to the availability of privilege for comments made remotely “then the parliamentary committee system has been seriously compromised for many years”. Witnesses routinely appear before committees via video-conferencing.
In a reply to Porter, seen by Guardian Australia, Burke wrote: “If you have legal advice to this effect then it is incumbent on you as leader of the House to share this with all committee chairs as a matter of extreme urgency.”
Burke also pushed back on the suggestion that MPs might opt out of attending in person for reasons of convenience, rather than conforming with social distancing requirements.
“I note the concern expressed in your letter about a large number of parliamentarians outside of Victoria potentially wishing to use this facility for their convenience,” Burke said.
“It would be unexpected if significant numbers of members outside of Victoria chose not to attend parliament, given voting rights only exist for those who attend and the acceptable reasons for the granting of pairs are strict. It would be surprising if members who did not qualify for the pairing arrangements still stayed away for their convenience.”
Burke suggested Porter’s concerns about the reliability of technology amounted to stalling. “While I accept that any videoconferencing system will need to be thoroughly tested to ensure its reliability, the nearly two weeks between now and the next sitting day provide ample opportunity to test the technology and make it available for members.
“It is also important to note the video link is only proposed for the person who has the call at any point in time. This means there would only be one person with a live audio link to the chamber at any point in time.”
The parties have been wrangling over parliamentary sittings because scheduled sessions have been cancelled on medical advice. The exchange of letters is the latest salvo in that process.
After a sitting fortnight scheduled for early August was cancelled, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate president agreed to chair a working group to help determine how and when the federal parliament should sit, given the risks of Covid-19 infections.
Labor has been frustrated by the cancellations, and has been pushing for the government to agree to remote working arrangements ensuring that parliamentarians can conform with health advice while allowing the chambers to sit.
Burke told Porter there was a resolution of the House allowing the managers of business to agree to necessary changes without amending the standing orders, so the parties needed to come to terms quickly. “Therefore, I propose we begin the work required to reach the necessary agreement,” he said.
A number of Victorian MPs and Victorian-based electoral staff are already in Canberra, self-isolating before the upcoming sitting.
