❓ Hon Michael Mischin questions the Attorney General's delay in answering a question regarding the State Solicitor's Office's document identification process, alleging potential frustration of accountability or incompetence. The Leader of the House attributes the delay to an administrative error.
AnsweredQoN 1399Legislative Council
Asked
22 November 2019
Member
Portfolio
Leader of the House representing the Attorney General
QuestionView source ↗
STANDING COMMITTEE ON PROCEDURE AND PRIVILEGES —
FIFTY-FIFTH REPORT —EMAIL ACCESS — STATE SOLICITOR'S
OFFICE
1399. Hon MICHAEL MISCHIN to the Leader of the House
representing the Attorney General:
I refer to my question of 4
September 2019 concerning the Attorney General's earlier refusals to
disclose the process by which the State Solicitor's Office identified
documents subject to parliamentary privilege, which the Attorney General asked
to be put on notice—it was question on notice 2458—and which he
finally answered on 19 November.
(1) Given that
his answers of 19 November merely refer to the fifty-sixth report of the
Standing Committee on Procedure and Privileges, which was tabled on 4
September, precisely why did it take him 10 weeks to provide an answer that
gives no more information than was available on the date of that tabling?
(2) Was the delay due to —
(a) a desire on his part to frustrate
or delay accountability to Parliament;
(b) incompetence on his part or that
of his office; or
(c) some other reason; and, if so,
precisely what?
The PRESIDENT : Leader of the House,
I am not sure whether you really need to respond to the latter part of that
question. It was seeking an opinion, I think.
FIFTY-FIFTH REPORT —EMAIL ACCESS — STATE SOLICITOR'S
OFFICE
1399. Hon MICHAEL MISCHIN to the Leader of the House
representing the Attorney General:
I refer to my question of 4
September 2019 concerning the Attorney General's earlier refusals to
disclose the process by which the State Solicitor's Office identified
documents subject to parliamentary privilege, which the Attorney General asked
to be put on notice—it was question on notice 2458—and which he
finally answered on 19 November.
(1) Given that
his answers of 19 November merely refer to the fifty-sixth report of the
Standing Committee on Procedure and Privileges, which was tabled on 4
September, precisely why did it take him 10 weeks to provide an answer that
gives no more information than was available on the date of that tabling?
(2) Was the delay due to —
(a) a desire on his part to frustrate
or delay accountability to Parliament;
(b) incompetence on his part or that
of his office; or
(c) some other reason; and, if so,
precisely what?
The PRESIDENT : Leader of the House,
I am not sure whether you really need to respond to the latter part of that
question. It was seeking an opinion, I think.
AnswerView source ↗
It is, but I have an answer.
The PRESIDENT : I am sure you
do.
Hon SUE ELLERY : I am happy to
give it.
(1) I signed Legislative Council question on notice
2458 on 31 October 2019 and my office submitted a hard copy on that day, but due to an administrative error,
it was not submitted electronically until 19 November 2019.
(2) (a) No.
(b) See the answer to (1).
(c) Not applicable.
The PRESIDENT : I am sure you
do.
Hon SUE ELLERY : I am happy to
give it.
(1) I signed Legislative Council question on notice
2458 on 31 October 2019 and my office submitted a hard copy on that day, but due to an administrative error,
it was not submitted electronically until 19 November 2019.
(2) (a) No.
(b) See the answer to (1).
(c) Not applicable.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.