Robert Oakeshott (Lyne, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is coming to the important point whether the parliament should force another member to make a statement or not based on media reporting and allegations that are made before being proved. I do not think that is my role or the parliament's role. Whether personally that individual member should make a statement for their own conscience and for their own reasons, that is a separate matter for us to deal with and for their own personal judgment and for the decisions of the party that they are a member of, but for the parliament itself to force and call for someone to make a statement to this House based on allegations and not based on proof I think is an abuse of the parliamentary processes.

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