Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It's a matter of consistency. As the member for Maribyrnong rightly said at the time:

… the police have concluded their work, they have made their decision and now I think it's appropriate to draw a line under the matter and that's what I'm going to do.

That position was supported by then Prime Minister Abbott, who said:

Apparently it's been dealt with by the police and I don't think there's really anything more to say about it … so it seems that it is at an end.

Then I quote the member for Sydney herself: 'We should now be able to draw a line under it.' On this matter, the police have concluded their dealings with this matter. As a result, I have applied exactly the same approach to this matter as was applied to the member for Maribyrnong.

The double standards that the Labor Party is seeking to apply here are simply quite galling. The member for Maribyrnong was right to say that then, but the member for Sydney says that it's not right for others to say it now. This is a clear demonstration that the Labor Party is not engaging with this issue in good faith; the Labor Party is simply trying to exact political opportunity from the terrible trauma and circumstances that staff face in this office. Even now, the Labor Party knows that there are allegations—

Ms Murphy interjecting—

Ms Coker interjecting—

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