Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Niceties aside, my question is to the Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator Farrell. During question time on Monday, Senator Farrell made comments in response to a question from Senator Cox. He subsequently withdrew the comments and, this morning, apologised for the comments. The minister, also during question time on Monday—it was a busy one for the minister in terms of such statements—made another controversial statement, unnecessarily and erroneously remarking that he 'was not sure the United States is our most trusted ally'. To date the minister has made no public statement to clarify these remarks, despite clarifying his other controversial statements from question time on Monday. Will he now take this opportunity to correct the record and apologise for those comments?