Speaker asked to weigh in on Brady complaints

Labour MP Louisa Wall has asked Speaker Trevor Mallard to weigh in on whether academic Anne-marie Brady might be protected from disciplinary action from the University of Canterbury over a paper she submitted to Parliament.

The letter raises the prospect of Mallard triggering a process that could find the university in contempt of Parliament were it to discipline her over the paper.

Brady, a China expert and professor at the University of Canterbury, submitted a paper to Parliament’s justice committee as evidence about the influence of the Chinese state on our democracy.

The paper was subsequently published on the website of the Wilson Centre, a US think tank, and drew several complaints that have alleged some assertions made in the paper are wrong.

The review has divided academics – with many saying it infringes upon academic freedom.

Brady has been warning for years about the increasingly pernicious influence of China’s Communist Party and its efforts to influence political and economic debates around the world. She did not respond to a request for comment.

The University of Canterbury launched a review of the paper on the back of those complaints.

Brady’s lawyer says that a disciplinary action could result from the review.

It’s this disciplinary action that could land the university in hot water with Parliament.

Standing Order 418 says that the House may treat ‘‘assaulting, threatening, or disadvantaging a person on account of evidence given by that person to the House or a committee’’.

An interpretation of this standing order is that a disciplinary action resulting from the review of Brady’s paper could put the university in contempt of Parliament.

Wall wrote to Mallard asking him to clarify whether he thought Brady’s case raised issues of privilege and contempt.

His decision could make it difficult – if not impossible – for the university to carry out a disciplinary action if the review decides it’s warranted. Mallard wouldn’t comment on the letter.

Wall and her National Party colleague Simon O’connor have been strident defenders of Brady. O’connor wrote to the university in September expressing his concern at what he perceived was an encroachment on Brady’s academic freedom.

The University of Canterbury said it was confident it had not breached privilege, because the review is technically being carried out into the paper that was published on the Wilson Centre website.