Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Does the honourable member claim to have been misrepresented?

Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, most grievously.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Please proceed.

Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

During a debate in the Senate yesterday, New South Wales Senator Arbib very selectively edited out words from parts of two of the more than 40 radio interviews I gave in December and January. These were interviews to do with Labor’s changes to border security policy and the new wave of people smugglers. After leaving out my references to Labor’s abolition of temporary protections visas and the contraction of resources, Senator Arbib claimed that I was indicating that there was no difference between the government’s and the coalition’s border protection policies. This was a blatant misrepresentation of the facts and my statements in those interviews.