Industry groups given chance to give private briefing to Council

An independent Tasmanian MP said forest and mining groups were given a chance to give the state's Legislative Council confidential briefings ahead of the debate on controversial anti-protest laws.

The legislation that would impose harsher penalties on protests that affect a business's operations was debated by the Legislative Council last week.

While a representative from mining company MMG sat through briefings provided by environmental and civil groups, the room was cleared when mining and forest industry representatives made their case to members of the Legislative Council MLCs Nelson independent MLC Meg Webb, who will vote against the legislation, but she said she could not recall such confidential briefings happening at other times during her three years on the Legislative Council.

She said that legislative council briefings were not formally recorded, but were usually open to the public.

We checked back to say that is anything that's been provided here that is unable to be discussed in the chamber and as part of our debate, and the answer was no, Ms Webb said.

Ms Webb said it was unusual that the MMG representative was dialled into all briefings electronically without the knowledge of the MLCs.

I just felt uneasy that an industry representative would be given the opportunity to sit in a special way for these briefings without being initially identified or the MLCs being made aware that it just doesn't feel quite right, she said.

According to the Legislative Council business leader Leonie Hiscutt, industry groups were not given special treatment ahead of the debate on the proposed laws.

Some industry groups requested that their briefings were in-camera because they included footage of workers and protesters, and they didn't want individuals identified publicly, Ms Hiscutt said.

Some companies were worried that their businesses would be targeted by protest action. It is not uncommon for briefings to be in-camera when requested. She said MMG staff were not able to attend in person, so they had to be dialled in.

An MMG spokeswoman said people were not required to declare themselves when attending public briefings.

She said the company had sent MLCs further information based on the briefings provided by the Bob Brown Foundation, which is campaigning against MMG's mine in Rosebery on Tasmania's West Coast.

A final vote on the legislation will be held when the Legislative Council returns in mid-August. Its passage could depend on a single vote.

The principle of the legislation is supported by the independent MLC Ruth Forrest of Murchison, whose electorate includes the MMG mine. She said she would seek greater protections for workers taking industrial action.

She said her preference was for briefings to be open and recorded where appropriate.

While briefings are useful and I appreciate the government arranging them, there is no record of them and it makes it really difficult because if I say, I hear so and so say this in a briefing, they could challenge that, Ms Forrest said.