Monash City Council Granted Rare 'Right of Reply' in Parliament in Response to Allegations Made by Inga Peulich M.P.
3 September 2009
History was made today when Monash City Council and three of its councillors were granted a Right of Reply in the Victorian Legislative Council in response to comments made in June by Mrs Inga Peulich MLC, Member of Parliament for Southern Eastern Metropolitan Region.
It is only the eighth occasion in the 158-year history of the Victorian Legislative Council that a Right of Reply has been extended to a member of the public or to an organisation from outside the Parliament.
The Right of Reply follows a range of allegations made by Mrs Peulich under the protection of parliamentary privilege concerning events she claimed occurred between 4 and 10 years ago.
Speaking after the Right of Reply was incorporated into Hansard today by the President of the Legislative Council, the Hon Bob Smith MLC, Monash Mayor Cr Paul Klisaris said he was pleased that the Parliament had allowed the opportunity to correct the erroneous and defamatory record created by Mrs Peulich.
"Mrs Peulich either deliberately or, at best for her - negligently, misled the Victorian Parliament and the wider public on a number of matters in relation to the City of Monash for her own partisan political purposes. As a result she has unreasonably impacted on the reputations of the City of Monash and three of its councillors including myself," said Cr Klisaris.
"Parliamentary privilege is a precious right which deserves better treatment than to be wielded in the grubby manner in which Mrs Peulich has employed it.
"Mrs Peulich must now apologise for misleading Parliament."
The Right of Reply is attached: Right of Reply (PDF document, 569 kB)
Published: 3 September 2009
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