Parliamentary privilege relating to documents
Subsection 16(2) of the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 provides inter alia that the formulation, making or publication of a document, including a report, by or pursuant to an order of a House or a committee, and the document so formulated, made or published, is included in the term ‘proceedings in Parliament’— that is, it is absolutely privileged.
Section 2 of the Parliamentary Papers Act 1908 empowers the Senate, the House of Representatives, a joint sitting or a committee to authorise the publication of any document laid before it or any evidence given before it. Under section 3 (now redundant), when one of the above bodies has ordered a document or evidence to be printed, it is deemed, unless the contrary intention appears in the order, to have authorised the Government Printer to publish the document or evidence. Section 4 of the Act provides inter alia that no action or proceeding, civil or criminal, shall lie against any person for publishing any document under an authority given in pursuance of section 2 (or deemed by section 3 to have been given). Section 4 of the Act also provides that the production of a certificate, verified by affidavit, stating that a document has been published by authority of either House shall immediately stay any proceedings, criminal or civil.
Documents presented to the House
All documents presented to the House are authorised for publication by standing order 203 and their publication is thus absolutely privileged.
This automatic authorisation was inserted into the standing orders (by amending former S.O. 320) in 1997. Previously, where a document was ordered to be printed, the protection of the Parliamentary Papers Act was considered to apply only to the document printed by the Government Printer pursuant to the order to print (that is, the parliamentary paper copy) and not to the document’s prior publication. If a wider protection was sought, for example, for a document printed other than by the Government Printer, publication was separately authorised. The publication to Members by parliamentary staff of presented documents not ordered to be printed or authorised for publication was specifically protected by section 11 of the Parliamentary Privileges Act. For further details of the former practice and status of documents not ordered to be printed or authorised for publication see pages 575–76 and 577–78 of the 3rd edition.
Committee documents
Privilege in relation to committee documents is discussed in more detail in the Chapter on ‘Committees’. In brief, publication of a document is absolutely privileged if its publication has been authorised by a parliamentary committee. Such authorisation is given by a motion of the committee, and is not automatic.
Hansard
During the second reading debate on the Parliamentary Papers Bill in 1908 the Attorney-General, in answer to queries regarding statutory protection for the publication of Hansard, informed the House that the publication of Hansard was protected at common law. However, during the following 27 years questions regarding the authority for publication of Hansard and the protection of those who published it were consistently raised. As a result the Act was amended in 1935 to establish the legal basis for the official character of Hansard, and to place beyond cavil its privileged position, with a provision that each House shall be deemed to have authorised the Government Printer to publish the reports of its debates and proceedings.
In 1993 the House and the Senate passed resolutions, with continuing effect, authorising the publication of the Hansard record of their respective proceedings. This action removed any doubt that might have applied to the status of the Hansard report when published by anyone other than the Government Printer (a particular consideration being distribution in electronic form).
Votes and Proceedings
Although the Clerk had always been required under the standing orders to record all the proceedings of the House, explicit authority for the publication of the Votes and Proceedings came only with the resolution of 1994 declaring the Votes and Proceedings to be the record of the proceedings of the House of Representatives. Current standing order 27 now contains similar words, stating that ‘The Clerk shall keep and sign the official record of the proceedings of the House, the Votes and Proceedings’.
It is considered that the actions of the Clerk of the House and others responsible for the preparation and publication of the Votes and Proceedings would be protected by parliamentary privilege, as these actions would fall within the ambit of section 16 of the Parliamentary Privileges Act. Before the enactment of that law, it had been considered that the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives was probably a publication within the meaning of the Parliamentary Papers Act and that therefore the Clerk of the House and the printer would probably have the complete protection of parliamentary privilege in respect of the publication of the Votes and Proceedings.
Notice Paper
Although the standing orders acknowledged the existence of the Notice Paper and provided for what may be entered on it, there was until recently no explicit authority for its publication. However, as the Notice Paper is an essential part of the proceedings of the House, the Clerk of the House and the printer, in arranging for the printing and distribution of the Notice Paper to Members and others concerned with the business of Parliament, are performing an essential function of the House and, consequently, protection was afforded them by virtue of Article 9 of the Bill of Rights. In so far as the wider distribution of the Notice Paper was concerned, the Clerk and the Government Printer would have had at least qualified privilege. It is also likely that section 16 of the Parliamentary Privileges Act has removed any residual doubts in this matter. The position was further strengthened on 1 May 1996 when a standing order was agreed to providing that ‘All business before the House shall be set down on the Notice Paper … and the Notice Paper shall be published’. In explaining the new standing order the Leader of the House stated ‘This will ensure that all matters in the Notice Paper, including questions on notice, whether in printed or electronic form, are covered by parliamentary privilege’. Current standing order 36 gives similar authority by stating that ‘Business before the House shall be published on the Notice Paper for each sitting’.