This morning in the Senate, Senator Conroy, referring to my meeting with Mr Dagger about the change.org petition, made the statement: 'The Assistant Minister for Defence was so dismissive of this petition he said "it was not as big as others in support of beer and aspirins,"'

What I actually told Mr Dagger was that the two largest petitions in history have been for GST on beer and for non-pharmaceuticals in Coles and Woolies.

It just goes to show that petitions make a difference. They are important to the Australian people and I encourage them to continue to use them.