Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Hansard source

I say this in all collegiality, but I thank the Manager for Opposition Business for giving me the chance to go to the precise quote. The member for Fadden, at page 4,220, says:

They were the numbers from the department based on the working approach to how the program was being run. They were the accepted figures by government to use. And as a dutiful cabinet minister, ma'am, that is what you do.

And the commissioner replies, 'Misrepresent things to the Australian people?'

The evidence was very idiosyncratic for the member for Fadden. The story that was being put in the royal commission last week was that there was a doctrine of collective ministerial responsibility that allowed the previous government to mislead the people.

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