Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

But on the odd occasions that I do, Senator McKenzie, I am always happy to own up to mistakes that I made. In reference to the first part of your question, Senator Birmingham, I did this morning—as I had done on the Monday afternoon—go and talk to Senator Cox and indicate to her that I did not intend to make the comment in the way in which it was understood. I quickly spoke to her about it to apologise, and to any other person in the chamber who may have felt aggrieved by my comments. I repeated that today publicly on the record.

In terms of the other comments I made on Monday, I am a little bit puzzled by the obsession—as I would almost call it—by Senator Birmingham about the issues of the closeness of our allies. In this troubling time, when we see wars right around the world, we need very many close allies. Of course the United States are amongst our closest— (Time expired)