MINERALOGY ARBITRATION —
STATE SOLICITOR'S ADVICE — BRIEFING NOTE
803. Hon PETER COLLIER to
the Leader of the House representing the Premier:
I ask this question on behalf of Hon
Michael Mischin, who is on urgent parliamentary business.
I
refer to the Premier's answer of 18 August 2020 responding to Hon Michael Mischin's question about his informing the
Legislative Assembly that the then responsible minister had been given advice
to appeal.
(1) How did the existence of the
2014 advice ''come up in discussion'' and with whom?
(2) Was the
purpose of having the details ''formalised in a briefing note''
so it could be tabled; and, if not, what was its purpose?
(3) When was it
decided to table that note, marked by the State Solicitor ''Privileged
and Confidential'', in response to a question to be asked by a government
backbencher?
(4) Why is the
State Solicitor informing the Premier, orally and in a briefing note, that
advice had been given in 2014 to appeal not a disclosure of advice contrary to
the convention ''by which advice and documents provided to previous
governments is not disclosed to incoming or future governments without the
consent of the Leader of the Opposition''?
(5) Was the
Leader of the Opposition's consent sought before that information was
provided to the Premier and the Attorney General; and, if not, why not?
(6) If the
Premier does not know to whom the advice was addressed or whether the then minister
saw it, why did he confidently assert to Parliament as a fact that the ''advice
was not followed by the government of the day at ministerial level''?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
I do not have the answer here, and
I do not recall signing off on an answer, so in the absence of anything else, I
will give the member an undertaking to make sure that there is an answer
tomorrow.