China-raided MP must hand over documents

NSW parliamentarian Shaoquett Moselmane will be forced to hand over to police 107 documents seized in a raid in June.

Former Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane at NSW Parliament. Picture: John Feder.

NSW parliamentarian Shaoquett Moselmane will be forced to hand over to the Australian Federal Police 107 documents seized in an alleged foreign influence raid in June.

The documents are part of 119 items of evidence currently held by the NSW Clerk of the Parliament in a locked room pending an investigation by an upper house committee over whether parliamentary privilege would prevent them being handed over.

Mr Moselmane was suspended from the Labor Party after his home in Rockdale, Sydney, and Macquarie Street office were raided by the AFP on June 26. The MP, who has been a strident supporter of China, has strenuously denied that he is an agent of influence. His staffer, John Zhang, who was also raided by the AFP, has taken High Court action seeking to challenge the warrants.

The AFP was prevented from taking copies of the documents while the NSW Legislative Council privileges committee has examined what should be done. A report released on Tuesday recommended 107 documents be handed over while 12 documents, which included speeches, drafts of notices and Hansard extracts, be returned.

The report said the documents to be handed back satisfied the first step of the Breen Privilege test, which is used to determine if a document attracts parliamentary privilege.

The report said if Mr Zhang’s action in the High Court were successful the documents currently held by the Clerk of the Parliament would need to be returned to him.