Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business (House)) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Manager of Opposition Business from moving the following motion immediately—That the House:

(1) notes:

(a) the bill currently before the House is urgent and should be given precedence over all other items, other than question time and this motion, for the remainder of the day;

(b) at 11.23 am today the Minister for Home Affairs made a statement to the House in which he said, "On 26 March 2018, the shadow minister for immigration asked me a question, asserting I had granted a visa for a person to be employed by me and my wife as a nanny";

(c) however, on 26 March the actual question asked by the shadow minister for immigration, the member for Blair, made no reference to whether the minister had granted a visa to a person to be employed by him and his wife as a nanny. Instead it read: "I refer to concerns raised in the media today relating to the minister's use of his ministerial discretion to grant a tourist visa to an au pair. Was his decision based on departmental advice? If not, what prompted the minister to intervene? And will the minister undertake to provide the opposition with a department briefing at the earliest opportunity so that the facts can be made clear?";

(d) today the Minister for Home Affairs also stated, "On 27 March, the member for Melbourne, after a short preamble, asked me, 'Can you categorically rule out any personal connection or any other relationship between you and the intended employer of either of the au pairs?'";

(e) however, once again the Minister for Home Affairs changed the words of the question to make it look like he had not misled the parliament; and

(f) the question the member for Melbourne actually asked read: 'I note your recent statements in relation to your personal intervention to prevent deportation of two foreign intended au pairs. Can you categorically rule out any personal connection or any other relationship between you and the intended employer of either of the au pairs?"

(2) therefore resolves to provide an opportunity for the minister to act in accordance with the Ministerial Standards to explain why he provided the House with false information in his statement today when he next attends the House.

This resolution does two things. First of all, it declares the bill before the House as urgent. It would have the effect of suspending 90-second statements so that dealing with this motion now takes away no time from an important bill. But the second thing it does is deal immediately with the fact that the minister stood up today, allegedly to make it clear that he had not misled the parliament and, in making that speech, misled the parliament twice—twice—and not simply on matters of detail but on misquoting the Hansard. They have a history of wanting to change the Hansard.

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