Speaker Michelle O’Byrne has cautioned political figures against editing and posting parliamentary broadcasts on social media, warning that it could be considered a breach of privilege.
O’Byrne’s warning came after several instances of the official broadcast being “edited or doctored and placed on social media”, which she said misrepresents proceedings.
“This is a misrepresentation of the proceeding of the House because the clips no longer represent a true account of the proceedings of the House,” she said.
The Speaker emphasised that deliberate or reckless misrepresentation of House proceedings remains contempt and said such incidents would be “a matter for the House to pursue”.
“I note that putting a disclaimer at the end of a post in no way changes the risk of breaching parliamentary privilege,” O’Byrne said.
Around 12 hours after the warning was issued in Parliament on Tuesday, Braddon Independent Craig Garland confessed to sharing the clips.
Garland, a first-time MP, said he has been “learning and developing” since being elected and apologised for “not keeping the standards expected”.
“In placing an edited version of that broadcast on my Facebook page, neither I nor my office intended to deliberately misrepresent the evidence given before the Committee during a public hearing,” he said.
“By not reproducing the broadcast in absolute chronological order, along with partially overlaid the video with additional content intended to engage Facebook followers, I accept that this placed the evidence out of its context and on reflection was misleading.”
He said he is “still coming to grips with how Parliament works” and will “take this opportunity to learn from a mistake”.
“I hope Members can find it in their hearts to give me a little grace and I ask for the forgiveness for not fully grasping the requirements of the responsibility of a Committee Member,” he said.
