ACT Speaker Vicki Dunne "tainted" an independent investigation over a Liberal election flyer, leaving investigator Ken Crispin in an impossible position, Labor says.
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Mrs Dunne rejected a draft letter from Assembly clerk Tom Duncan. Instead, she wrote her own referral to Dr Crispin, telling him that she had reservations about a complaint against Liberal leader Jeremy Hanson and was referring it to him only so as not to appear partisan.
Dr Crispin, a former judge, found the complaint by Labor backbencher Joy Burch against Mr Hanson should be dismissed.
Ms Burch accused Mr Hanson of using quotes from former emergency department clinical director Michael Hall in an election pamphlet without Dr Hall's permission.
But in his report, Dr Crispin said Dr Hall had commented on the need for a new emergency department as a public official. Comments by public officials were often cited in public debate and that was"entirely appropriate" and an important part of democracy.
"As a former public official once prone to making public statements that others sometimes found controversial, I understand that it may be disconcerting to find that one's earlier comments have been revisited, but, in the absence of some issue of copyright, one has to accept that others are entitled to refer to them and to debate the merits of the views expressed," Dr Crispin judged.
"The imposition of some obligation for members to forewarn current or former officials of their intention to cite their earlier statements would inevitably hamper, if not restrict, political debate about matters that may be of real public importance."
Dr Crispin also noted the flyer was authorised by Liberal campaign director Daniel Clode, and said nothing in the politicians' code of conduct required them to take responsibility for the actions of others.
But Labor backbencher Jayson Hinder says Mrs Dunne tainted Dr Crispin's investigation by "editorialising" in her letter to Dr Crispin, which looked like an "attempt to compromise the commissioner's reasoning".
As Speaker, Mrs Dunne refers complaints to Dr Crispin unless she judges them vexatious or only for political advantage, and providing there is sufficient evidence. Mrs Dunne apparently believed the complaint failed both tests, saying Ms Burch had not established the offence, nor that Mr Hanson had been responsible.
"I consider Mrs Burch's allegations may be vexatious or only made for political advantage," Mrs Dunne told Dr Crispin.
But "if I were to rule definitively that this complaint should be disregarded as motivated exclusively by partisan political interest, it might be suspected that I was myself acting out of partisan interest", she said in her letter to him.
Ms Burch said it was "completely inappropriate for Mrs Dunne to dictate how any investigation should progress".
"Mr Hanson disrespected the privacy of a public servant and caused them distress," she said. "Mrs Dunne's interference and bias is clear."
Mr Hinder said Mrs Dunne's letter put Dr Crispin in an impossible situation.
"The Speaker ... has analysed the facts, given evidence herself and stated how the evidence and complaint should be treated," he said.
Mrs Dunne said the rules required her to act as the gatekeeper and while she had decided that Ms Burch's complaint did not have merit she had referred it because of the heightened political environment given the election.
The commissioner's investigations are a sore point for Labor, with the only two investigations to date concerning Ms Burch's handling of the Menslink affair and leader Andrew Barr's video endorsement of a private company. While clearing both Ms Burch and Mr Barr, Dr Crispin judged both issues serious and warranting investigation.
