Upper House President rejects request to investigate privilege breach claim over details of Seroja funding

An Opposition request to refer Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson for breaching parliamentary privilege by giving “potentially inaccurate and misleading information” about cyclone Seroja recovery funding has been rejected by the Legislative Council president.

Shadow emergency services minister Martin Aldridge has claimed the Minister, knowingly or not, tried to pass money from donors off as the government’s own funding by including more than $8 million from the Lord Mayor’s Distress Relief Fund, which is funded by donors, in $25.42 million the Minister reported had been spent in the cyclone Seroja relief effort.

On October 25, Mr Aldridge asked for a breakdown of how much of the $104.5 million disaster recovery arrangements for the cyclone had been spent, which the Government responded to with a breakdown of the $25.42 million which included the Lord Mayors Distress Relief Fund.

Mr Aldridge announced on November 22 that he had requested these answers be referred to the procedure and privileges committee.

President of the Upper House, Labor MLC Alanna Clohesy, stated on November 23 the response was not false or knowingly misleading, and told Mr Aldridge there were other avenues for seeking further clarity on the issue such as lodging a freedom of information application, or writing to the standing committee on estimates and financial operations.

Mr Dawson stood by his comments, stating the information was an accurate breakdown of the funding provided for the program.

“This is clearly another example of the National Party trying to politicise the Government’s recovery program,” he said.

Mr Aldridge said he still believed the Minister’s response lacked transparency.

“It is not appropriate for the Minister to claim credit for more than $8 million in donations provided by everyday Western Australians through the Lord Mayor’s Distress Relief Fund as part of his answer, and I encourage him to correct the record on this matter,” he said.

“The Minister for Emergency Services has distorted his answers to Parliament in a poor attempt to disguise the slow funding rollout for cyclone Seroja recovery.”