Chapter
2 - Parliamentary Privilege: immunities and powers of the Senate
Freedom of speech in state parliaments
In 1985 the Senate
Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs examined an opinion of
the Commonwealth Solicitor-General which suggested that a valid Commonwealth
statute, by express provision, could override the privilege of freedom of speech
in state parliaments. The committee rejected this opinion, and expressed the
view that freedom of speech in state parliaments is an essential part of a
state constitution and cannot be overridden by a Commonwealth law (Report on
Commonwealth Law Making Power and the Privilege of Freedom of Speech in State
Parliaments, PP 235/1985).
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