House debates

Thursday, 1 November 2012

Privilege

3:12 pm

Photo of Christopher PyneChristopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I refer it to you, Madam Speaker, so you can deliberate on whether it is a prima facie case of breach of privilege. And of course because it is question time I had assumed that the member for Eden-Monaro would still be in the chamber at 3.10; that is why I did not raise it with him beforehand. Madam Speaker, the member for Eden-Monaro made this speech this week in which he told an entirely false story about the then Minister for Foreign Affairs making an entirely false statement to him in the cafeteria at DFAT after Australia had lost its first campaign to win a seat on the UN Security Council. The evidence that this statement is false is that, in fact, the then Minister for Foreign Affairs was in India on the date when he was supposed to be seeing the member for Eden-Monaro at DFAT. That is a very serious breach of privilege and the member for Eden-Monaro has form on making these kinds of matters up.

Mr Albanese interjecting

You cannot be in contempt of the parliament by making up stories.

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