Gary Nairn (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

Absolutely. At no point did I or my office make any comments about what the Electoral Commission can or cannot do or say. They are a very independent body. I deal with the Electoral Commission almost every day of the week, as the Australian Electoral Commission and the Electoral Act come under my responsibilities as Special Minister of State. As the Electoral Commissioner’s statement indicates, they are independent and they certainly received absolutely no direction whatsoever. I say once again to the member for Bruce that the Electoral Commissioner could not be clearer than he was in the statement in this regard. There were no questions, muddying or anything like that. The statement that he made was absolutely clear cut. The continual questioning of this by the member for Bruce simply says to me that he does not accept the statement made by the Electoral Commissioner—and he should.

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