Alleged Intimidation of a Parliament

11 Jul 2014 12:27 PMMichael Hart

Mr HART (Burleigh—LNP) (9.31 am): I rise on a matter of privilege. On 9 April this year I received a message that Mr Jim MacAnally from the Palmer United Party had telephoned my office on an electoral matter. I returned Mr MacAnally’s telephone call briefly and he called my office back shortly after that. I lawfully recorded the subsequent conversation. For the benefit of the House, I table a thumb drive with a digital copy of that recording of that conversation and a transcript of that conversation.

Tabled paper: Transcript of telephone conversation with Mr Jim MacAnally of 9 April 2014 and thumb drive containing electronic recording of the conversation.

During that telephone call Mr MacAnally used language I interpreted as an open-ended inducement to me, as a member of parliament, to change my political allegiances. Mr MacAnally clearly stated that his purpose is to have me change political allegiances so the Palmer United Party can have sufficient members to become the official opposition in Queensland.

The offering or attempting to offer an inducement to a member, otherwise known as a bribe, to achieve an outcome that affects the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly—in this case, an attempt to change the recognised official opposition in the Legislative Assembly—is clearly a contempt identified by section 37 of the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001. I will be writing to you today, Madam Speaker, seeking to have the matter referred to the Ethics Committee.