Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Seniors) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I have a serious question to you concerning a possible breach of privilege. You will recall that, in his tabling speech, the Assistant Treasurer said of the superannuation bill attached to the mining package:

And this bill abolishes the superannuation guarantee age limit.

Of course, it does not. But the Assistant Treasurer has put a doctored version of his second reading speech on his website which says:

And this Government will abolish the Superannuation Guarantee age limit—

which is not what is in his tabling speech, which is the speech of record. Again, on 17 November, he went on Alan Jones's program and said:

We've got a bill which currently says that up to the age of 75 now you can get paid and, in my speech, when I was proposing that in the parliament, we have actually said we're going to amend it and just abolish it …

That was not what was said in the second reading speech at all. Alan Jones said:

If you're working, you're entitled to super—simple as that … I agree. Well done.

In other words, Mr Shorten is trying to continue to mislead people that that tabling speech, which is part of the legal record for a court to consider, has remained unamended. Yet the minister is out there in the public domain trying to say that he said a different thing in his speech. My question to you, Mr Speaker, is: how do we get the record corrected; and, if there is no way that it can be, should the matter be referred to the Privileges Committee as a contempt of the parliament?

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

Order! I will investigate whether a prima facie case of a matter of privilege has been presented to me. I will not make preliminary remarks. Suffice to say that I thought we had dealt with this matter when it was last raised. If the member for Mackellar wishes to provide me with the documents that she has quoted from, we will handle it in that way, and I will report back to the House in the normal fashion.