Function and purpose
On 3 December 1947, the House of Representatives referred to the Privileges Committee, for report and inquiry, allegations made by the Member for Lang, Mr Daniel Mulcahy, as to the wrongful use by the Member for the Northern Territory, Mr Adair Blain, whilst a prisoner of war in the hands of the Japanese, of his Parliamentary privileges. [1] The referral was prompted by a motion put by the Member for Indi, Mr John McEwen.
The Committee conducting the inquiry consisted of Mr JP Abbott, Mr JJ Clark, Mr HV Evatt (Chairman), Mr EJ Harrison, Mr T Sheehan, Mr PC Spender and Mr TF Williams.
The Committee met on 20-21 January and 7 April 1948. The Committee called upon and examined Mr Blain and Mr Mulcahy.
On 8 April 1948, the Committee presented to the House their report entitled Report from the Standing Committee of Privileges on its inquiry into the allegations made by the Honourable Member for Lang as to the wrongful use by the Honourable Member for the Northern Territory, whilst a prisoner of war in the hands of the Japanese, of his Parliamentary Privileges, together with Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee, and Appendices [2].
The Committee found that:
(a) Member did not wrongfully use parliamentary privileges as a prisoner of war;
(b) There was no impropriety in Member's use of his parliamentary pass while a prisoner; [and]
(c) No breach of privilege of the House had been committed by the Member.[3]
This series comprises one item only. This item appears to be the only Privileges Committee file extant for this particular inquiry.
Relationships with other records
The item in this series was registered into A1842 Correspondence Files, Two Number Series. This series has been registered as a separate series since the Privileges Committee records were maintained as a distinct physical entity by the Privileges Committee secretariat.
Finding aids
The item in this series in the custody of the National Archives as at December 2000 has been entered onto RecordSearch.
Access conditions
The records in this series were authorised for publication on 1 January 2001 by a motion passed by the House of Representatives on 7 December 2000. They were authorised for release to the public by the Speaker of the House of Representatives on 20 December 2000.
End notes
1. Votes and Proceedings, Session 1946-48, p.440-1.
2. Votes and Proceedings, Session 1946-48, p.506. The report was not printed and so is not available in the Parliamentary Papers. The report consulted in the preparation of this note may be found in Item 1 of this series.
3. Report from the Standing Committee of Privileges on its inquiry into the allegations made by the Honourable Member for Lang as to the wrongful use by the Honourable Member for the Northern Territory, whilst a prisoner of war in the hands of the Japanese, of his Parliamentary Privileges, together with Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee, and Appendices, Canberra, 1955, p.5 as in Item 1 of this series.
Sources
LM Barlin (editor), House of Representatives Practice (3rd edition), Canberra 1997 as published online at www.aph.gov.au December 2000