Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I have a serious issue to raise with you, and I feel it is best that it be raised at the first possible opportunity. Yesterday in the House, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition took objection to, and indeed gave a personal explanation on, the suggestion made by the Treasurer at question time that she had plagiarised a Wall Street Journal article. Today in the Age it is reported that:

Ms Bishop later conceded to The Age that many of the words in question had been taken only from The Wall Street Journal article and not from Mr Paulson. But she said she was not wrong in her explanation to the House.

If you examine the words of what the Deputy Leader of the Opposition actually said to the House, as checked against the tape, you will find that she said, ‘In my speech I was referring to the United States’s plans. In fact, the words I used were the technical explanation from the US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, which have been published widely.’ When I checked the Hansard this morning, I found that it records the Deputy Leader of the Opposition as saying something very different.

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