The infrastructure minister, Catherine King, has alleged in a speech to parliament that Liberal backbencher Tony Pasin filmed a conversation between them on a GoPro, asking that her claims be referred to the parliament’s powerful privileges committee for investigation.
On Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for Pasin denied the allegations.
Making the claims in the House of Representatives on Wednesday night, King said Pasin – the member for the South Australian seat of Barker – had attended her ministerial office earlier in the afternoon for a “drop-in session” that the minister regularly holds to allow politicians to speak to her about infrastructure issues.
King said Pasin and a staff member visited her office on Wednesday afternoon, where the politician gave her a letter. King said Pasin, also the shadow assistant minister for infrastructure and transport, had “wanted me to know about a project in his electorate”.
“I started an interaction with him, but he left very quickly,” King told the chamber.
“As he was leaving the office, my staff observed that he had been filming the interaction on a GoPro in my ministerial office, and I asked one of my staff to go around to the member for Barker’s office to confirm this was the case.”
King said her staff member followed Pasin and his staffer back to his office, where her staffer “saw that they were downloading a film on to a laptop”.
“My member of staff said, ‘Have you been filming, did you film that interaction with the minister?’ The member of staff confirmed that it had been filmed and that filming had been undertaken in the ministerial corridor,” King alleged.
Guardian Australia contacted Pasin’s office for a response to King’s claims. A spokesperson responded that Pasin “denies the accusations levelled against him by minister King and intends to respond to them in parliament when he returns from leave”, but did not address specific questions about the alleged incident.
“Mr Pasin is on pre-arranged leave from parliament today owing to the declining health of a family member,” his spokesperson said.
Pasin has not yet addressed the claims in parliament or on social media. On Thursday afternoon, he posted on his Facebook page about a road safety forum in his local electorate.
King’s office also declined to comment further on her claims or the alleged incident.
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King went on to claim in her speech that Pasin’s alleged behaviour was “a significant breach of the rules”, asking that the speaker of the house, Milton Dick, consider a referral to the privileges committee.
King complained in her speech about “the discourtesy that’s been shown to me and my staff by the member for Barker, and the seriousness of the breach”.
Dick said he would consider King’s statement and claims, and report back to the chamber.
“I reserve the matter for further consideration, and, once considered, I’ll report back to the house as soon as possible,” he said.
The matter is expected to be discussed in parliament again next week. If the speaker is satisfied that an issue of privilege exists, the issue and whether it should be referred to the privileges committee can be put to a vote of the House of Representatives.
The committee itself cannot impose penalties, but can compel witnesses and information to be produced to aid in its inquiries.
