CABINET CONFIDENTIALITY
94. Hon MICHAEL MISCHIN to the Leader of the House:
I refer to the Leader of the House's
call upon the Leader of the Opposition, Hon Liza Harvey, MLA, to waive cabinet
confidentiality and produce certain papers and other information.
(1) What are the
criteria and principles by which the Leader of the House believes that cabinet
confidentiality ought to be waived so that a future Liberal government will
know what standard of disclosure to expect from her?
(2) Is this based
simply on political opportunism, and will the Leader of the House respond to
requests on the part of the opposition and other members of this house to waive
cabinet confidentiality?
The PRESIDENT: Leader of the
House, it is up to you how you respond to the first part of the question. I think
the second part of the question might have been seeking an opinion.
Hon SUE ELLERY replied:
I thank the member for the
question.
(1)–(2) The
''Cabinet Handbook'' sets out the broad principles that should
apply in respect of releasing cabinet papers of a previous government. I do not
have the ''Cabinet Handbook'' at hand. However, it goes to weighing up the balance of public interest versus
the need to protect, for example, information that might be
commercial-in-confidence. I can give the member an example. When Hon Eric
Ripper was the Leader of the Opposition and I
had the shadow portfolio of child protection, there was a request to Hon Eric
Ripper to release information. He released the relevant cabinet submission.
Hon Michael Mischin: What
was it about?
Hon SUE ELLERY: I am trying
to remember. I cannot remember specifically what it was on, but I know that it
was an area in my shadow portfolio and that he was the Leader of the Opposition
at the time. So it has been done, but the principles are set out in the ''Cabinet
Handbook''. If the honourable member is interested, I will check those
principles and provide an answer in due course.