Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a personal explanation in relation to comments made by Senator Ludwig and Senator Mark Bishop.

Leave granted.

During question time Senator Ludwig used comments made by me earlier today in relation to the inquiry into the Mohamed Haneef affair and sought to imply that those comments were direct support for the Labor Party’s investigation launched today and announced by the Attorney-General. Senator Bishop followed that up by using the same comments again, no doubt from briefing notes provided by Senator Ludwig. There are two things that Senator Ludwig should have thought of before using those comments. One was the timing of my comments, which were made prior to the announcement by the Attorney-General—