Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, it is a serious matter of order that ministers, if they make an error, have to correct it at the earliest opportunity. I appreciate that prior to today it has not been possible for the foreign minister to do so. But the foreign minister has waited until the end of question time when there is no opportunity for further scrutiny, when the foreign minister could have done so at an earlier opportunity. It is a serious matter that goes to whether the sort of questioning that was being corrected could have been continued today.

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