Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.

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

Does the honourable member claim to have been misrepresented?

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I do—by the Prime Minister.

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

Please proceed.

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In question time the Prime Minister made some remarks about an article in the Adelaide Advertiser. I wish to put on record my answer to the question the journalist posed to me about my thoughts on the Olympic Dam expansion, when I said:

Look, Paul, good question. But what I want to do is spend time visiting branches where I can. I’ll go through a process of consultation with colleagues and party members. If we do that, that process begins this year, we’ll start to bring forward what we think are things for comment and consideration.

There is nothing exceptional in the views that I put in that particular article.

Secondly, in relation to the Prime Minister’s comments about answering hypotheticals, a Sky News journalist put a question to me which was a hypothetical question. I responded, ‘I don’t expect to start answering hypothetical questions’—a practice that the Prime Minister quite often follows as well.