NSW Upper house President to deliberate on arrest warrants on staffers who failed to appear before committee

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The President of the New South Wales upper house is deliberating on whether to ask the supreme court to issue warrants for the arrest of five staffers who failed to appear before an inquiry this morning. The committee is examining whether the government misled the public when it passed hate speech and protest laws in light of the dural caravan plot.

Transcript

00:00Empty chairs and questions unanswered.

00:06Mr James Cullen, Mr Edward Ovadia, Ms Sarah Michael.

00:16The Premier also avoided questions.

00:18Why are you refusing for your staff to appear before the cabinet?

00:21Sorry, we've just held a big fat. Thank you.

00:23Nice to meet you. Have a great day.

00:25Despite illegal summons, three staffers from his office

00:28and two from the police minister's office

00:31failed to appear before an upper house inquiry.

00:34For any witness, not a member of parliament,

00:37to decline to appear before a committee,

00:40having been properly summonsed to do so,

00:42is an extremely serious matter.

00:45The committee is examining whether the government misled parliament

00:48and the public when it rapidly passed legislation

00:51after explosives and a letter referring to key Jewish institutions

00:56were found in Dural.

00:57That legislation tightened hate speech laws

01:00and restricted protests outside places of worship.

01:03The community is very concerned about the rising number

01:08of anti-Semitic attacks in our community

01:10escalating to the point where there was a mass casualty event.

01:15Police later revealed the incident was not a genuine terror threat,

01:19but a con job by organised criminals.

01:22The inquiry wants to know whether the Premier and police minister

01:25knew that before passing the legislation.

01:28The staffers wrote to the committee yesterday.

01:30It is the minister who is accountable to the parliament

01:33and the public, not their staff.

01:35Yesterday, the Premier criticised the inquiry,

01:38arguing it's a waste of time.

01:39This is the definition of a fishing expedition.

01:43If Chris Minns has nothing to hide,

01:45why won't he front up to the inquiry?

01:47I'm asserting that the Premier is aiding and abetting

01:50and encouraging his staff to break the law.

01:53This is a very, very bad look.

01:55Over the weekend, Upper House President Ben Franklin

01:58will consider whether to apply for the arrest warrants.

02:01That would be an unprecedented move,

02:03meaning the staff could be held in custody

02:05until they're brought before the inquiry.

02:07If Mr Franklin decides against that,

02:10the Upper House could vote to remove him as president

02:12for defying the committee.

02:14Look, that's always a possibility,

02:15but that's something that's never even been canvassed

02:17or discussed at this point in time.

02:19Caught between the Premier and the parliament.

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