Function and purpose

 On 20 April 1971, the House of Representatives referred to the Privileges Committee, for report and inquiry, the commitment to prison of the honourable Member for Reid, Mr Thomas Uren.  The referral was prompted by Mr Gordon Bryant, Member for Wills, who raised the matter in the House on 20 April 1971.

The Committee conducting the inquiry consisted of Mr E N Drury (Chairman), Mr A W Jarman, Mr N A Brown, Mr H J McIvor, Mr D M Cameron, Mr J E McLeay, Mr F Crean, Mr W G Turnbull, Mr A D Fraser and Mr E G Whitlam.

The Committee met on 20, 22, 28-29 April and 4-6 May 1971.  At these meetings, the Committee called upon and examined Mr Alan Turner, Clerk of the House of Representatives; Mr Clarence Harders, Secretary, Attorney-General’s Department; Mr Patrick Brazil, Senior Assistant Secretary of the Advisings Branch, Attorney-General’s Department and Professor Geoffrey Sawer, Professor of Law, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.

On 6 May 1971, the Committee presented to the House their report entitled Committee of Privileges Report relating to the commitment to prison of Mr T. Uren, MP together with Minutes of proceedings of the Committee.

The Committee found:

(a) That the commitment to prison of the honourable Member for Reid (Mr T. Uren) constituted a breach of Parliamentary Privilege.

(b) That the Committee, having regard to the complexities and circumstances of the case, recommends to the House of Representatives that the House would best consult its own dignity by taking no action in regard to the breach of Parliamentary Privilege which has occurred.

The series comprises fourteen items.  These appear to be the only Privileges Committee files extant for this particular inquiry.

Finding aids

 The items in this series in the custody of the National Archives as at October 2001 have been entered onto RecordSearch.

Access conditions

 The records in this series were authorised for publication on 1 January 2002 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 in October 2001.

Sources

 The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Parliamentary Paper 40 of 1971 - House of Representatives Committee of Privileges:  Report relating to the commitment to prison of Mr T Uren, MP together with minutes of proceedings of the committee, Parliamentary Papers, 1971 Session, Volume 11 Parliamentary Committees (continued), pp. 255-304