John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I seek the indulgence of the chair to add to an answer.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister may proceed.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Rankin asked me a question which basically suggested that I had misled the Australian people in 2004 in answer to a question. Not only was it not supported by the material that he quoted, but, on checking the transcript of the news conference, I find that the member for Rankin had left out a material phrase in my response.

This is what the member for Rankin said. He was not paraphrasing; he was purporting to quote me. In answer to the question, I allegedly said, ‘Well, we don’t ... they’ve worked pretty well ...’ What he left out was the phrase, ‘Well, we don’t at this stage, Mark.’ In other words, it was an eminently reasonable answer. Also, when quoting the journalist, the member for Rankin could not quite bring himself to quote even the full question. The full question was: ‘Do you think, in the interests of workplace flexibility’—but, of course, the great economic rationalist from Rankin could not bring himself to utter the words ‘in the interests of workplace flexibility’.