George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

Leave granted.

It has come to my attention that a number of this morning’s newspapers, in particular the Adelaide Advertiser, the Canberra Times and the Launceston Examiner, carry an item under the by-line of Paul Osborne concerning the selection of the replacement for Senator Santoro, which reports me as having said that there should be a ‘full preselection’. The article goes on to say—and the following words are those of the journalist, not a quote from me:

A full preselection would also mean sitting Senator Ian Macdonald ... would have to battle to retain his spot on the ticket.

This attributes to me a view that, when the Queensland division of the Liberal Party chooses its nominee to replace Senator Santoro, it should reopen nominations for all positions on its 2007 Senate ticket, not just that vacated in consequence of Senator Santoro’s resignation.

That is not a view that I hold or have ever expressed. It is based on a misunderstanding of my response to a question during an interview with Peta Donald on the ABC’s World Today program yesterday. The full text of my remarks, which gives the context of the misunderstood answer, makes it perfectly clear that I was speaking only about the replacement of Senator Santoro. The expression ‘full preselection’ is obviously a reference to the Liberal Party’s ordinary constitutional processes being fully observed. That is in contradistinction to any abridged process, such as selection by the management committee or by the party’s state council, which might in special circumstances, of which this is not one, be adopted.

What the journalist has done is confuse the expression ‘full preselection’ with a preselection for the full ticket. That is obviously not what I was saying. And I might point out that other news agencies that reported my remarks, including ABC radio news and this morning’s Australian Financial Review, did not make the same mistake.