Former parliamentary Speaker Peter Slipper says a fraud case against him is an abuse of process and could breach parliamentary privilege.
Mr Slipper has pleaded not guilty to three charges of dishonestly causing a loss to the Commonwealth by using Cabcharge vouchers to pay for trips to local wineries during his time as an MP in 2010 and before he became Speaker.
When the trial opened in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday, Mr Slipper's counsel Kylie Weston-Scheuber asked for a permanent stay of proceedings.
Ms Weston-Scheuber said the case was inherently unfair against Mr Slipper, because the rules of parliamentary privilege would make it impossible for her to question key witnesses about discussions with Mr Slipper and his activities during the trips.
"The proceedings would constitute an abuse of process as Mr Slipper would be unable to receive a fair hearing," Ms Weston-Scheuber said.
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She said prosecutors would need to prove the trips to the wineries were not parliamentary business, even though the parliamentary travel rules do not define parliamentary business.
Ms Weston-Scheuber said the only way to determine if the trips complied with Mr Slipper's parliamentary duties would be to question staff members who were with him at the time. But she said the court had no power to question Mr Slipper's staff about the issue.
She said the rules of privilege preclude the court from forming a view about what constitutes parliamentary business.
Ms Weston-Scheuber said Mr Slipper had no right to waive the privilege, as it was the privilege of the federal parliament.
Prosecutor Lionel Robberds told the court he would need more time to consider the application.
Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker adjourned the hearing until Tuesday morning.
She also ordered the Australian Federal Police to provide defence counsel with new copies of about 30 pages of significance on the case, as the original copies provided to Mr Slipper's legal team were illegible due to poor photocopying.
Mr Slipper lost his seat at the September 7 elections and is no longer in parliament.
