The covert Legislative Council hearings for logging and mining executives on the anti-protester legislation, without other witnesses being told of the arrangement, requires a public explanation, former Tasmanian parliamentarian Bob Brown said today.

“It is unconscionable that MMG, for example, was offered this facility but community groups and individuals were not. Other witnesses were not told that MMG was eavesdropping on their testimony or that by special, secret arrangement, MMG was able to provide a point by point rebuttal of their testimony. In this fraudulent process, it appears that MMG’s covert response misled the members of parliament,” Brown claimed.

“MMG was able to make concocted, misleading and contestable claims about the forest defenders with no due opportunity for rebuttal. For example, MMG indicated to Councillors it had not polluted the Stitt River catchment near Its Rosebery mine even though this is manifestly false.”

“This is a very serious miscarriage of proper parliamentary procedure. Logging and mining corporations should not be given priority treatment over Tasmanian Aboriginal or other social or environmental interests in testimony to our parliament. The President of the Legislative Council must explain how this process went so wrong, take those who arranged it to task, and assure the public that it will not happen again.”