Cabinet minister suspended from parliament for a week

Labor's Environment Minister Penny Sharpe was escorted from the NSW upper house on Tuesday afternoon by the Usher of the Black Rod after a motion to suspend her by former federal Labor leader turned renegade independent MP Mark Latham was successful.

Mr Latham accused Ms Sharpe, who is also leader of the government in the upper chamber, of defying the will of the House for failing to provide a statement given to police by now-premier Chris Minns about an allegation of sexual harassment against the former NSW Labor general secretary Jamie Clements, who is a close friend of Mr Minns.

Mr Clements was accused of trying to kiss former staffer Stefanie Jones in the office of Campbelltown MP Greg Warren in 2015 but was never charged over the incident.

Tuesday marked the third time Ms Sharpe has been censured by the upper house over the incident.

"If Chris Minns has done nothing wrong and his statement is completely innocent, factual and fair, he should produce it," Mr Latham said in parliament.

"What is the government hiding, time after time, to the point where we now have to suspend the leader of the government for a third time for being in contempt of this house?"

The government has always maintained it cannot provide the documents Mr Latham and others are seeking because of legal advice received from the Crown Solicitor.

The premier's statement had a "strong relationship" to the transcript of court proceedings brought against Mr Clements but later dropped, Ms Sharpe said in parliament on Tuesday.

"(Mr) Latham seeks to undermine every public servant that he does not agree with, whether it is the Crown Solicitor, the Electoral Commissioner, the ICAC or anyone he decides to go after," she said.

The coalition and the Greens voted in support of Mr Latham's motion, leading Ms Sharpe to be escorted from the House.

The last NSW government minister to be suspended from parliament was Liberal Arts Minister Don Harwin in 2015, when he was reprimanded for failing to produce documents about a controversial grant program.

Australian Associated Press