Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

What an extraordinary set of circumstances this parliament finds itself in. We have no more clarity from the answers given to us about the constitutional chaos that we find ourselves in by the government in question time today. You could, sadly, drive a truck through the answers given to questions. I note that Senator Fifield sought cause to reflect in his answer straight back to his earlier statements to the chamber today. So, in debating answers to questions, I will reflect on his answers earlier today.

Senator Fifield said to the chamber he could not be definitive as to when Senator Parry started to reflect on his own particular circumstances. I put to the chamber that he must have reflected on it when referrals were made to the High Court, because they were referrals he made as President which ultimately reflected his own circumstances—in that the reason that Senator Parry was found to have citizenship by descent was in the same way that others who have left this place were also found to have. So we are expected to believe that while Senator Parry was participating in these matters as President he told no-one else of any importance within the government.