Ian Causley (Page, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Would the minister advise the House of the outcomes of Exercise Eleusis, which tested Australia’s capacity to manage an outbreak of bird flu? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies?

Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Page for his question. In October last year the government coordinated Exercise Eleusis, which simulated an outbreak of avian influenza. It brought together industry, a hospital and state governments to assist our preparedness in the event of an actual outbreak. I am delighted to be able to release the government’s final report on Exercise Eleusis, which evaluates the exercise and makes recommendations on how we can do even better in the future. I commend it to all members of the House as a new and original document. Just bear in mind those words, ‘new and original’.

I am asked about alternative policies. A keen and enthusiastic member of my department told me the other day that there was an impressive and creditable paper issued on avian influenza from the opposition side—namely, by the member for Griffith, who, as we know, has many interests. I did not know pathogenic disease was one of them, but he prides himself above all else on being an original thinker. So I accessed his document, which is published by the Labor Party on Labor eHerald, which is the ALP’s national online magazine.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is on avian influenza and I am asked about alternative policies. So I start reading it and at first glance it does look incredibly scientific and creditable, but somehow the words begin to sound familiar. The more I read it, the more I realise that these are phrases that have been brought to my attention previously. These marked paragraphs will be of great interest to the House. So what I find is that, of a 600-word policy, 400 words are plagiarised.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Grayndler is warned!

Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Two-thirds of this document comes from five different international surveys.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Albanese interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Grayndler will remove himself under standing order 94.

The member for Grayndler then left the chamber.

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, we have had endless interjections from people on that side of the House when we’re asking questions, but it’s only we who get suspended. When is there going to be a bit of even-handedness?

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the minister.

Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So the words had a familiar ring, and I find when I research the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States that there are several sentences and paragraphs contained in the honourable member’s paper.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: you have ruled on a number of occasions in the past when members of the opposition have held up documents that that is disorderly—and indeed you have threatened members with suspension from the House before. You ought now to warn the minister and suspend him from the House if he does it again.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume her seat. The minister is reading from papers. He will not wave them around.

Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The first influence on the Labor Party’s policy was an American centre for disease control. The next one was the World Health Organisation. The next one is the Parliamentary Library. The next one is WWF Hong Kong and—wait for it—they have plagiarised the minister for health’s own website. Just to add insult to injury, they plagiarised Tony Abbott!

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, you just warned the minister not to keep waving documents around. He did. He ought to be warned if you want to keep your own standards—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume her seat. The Manager of Opposition Business will not reflect on the chair.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I am certainly not reflecting on the chair; I am just seeking some consistency in rulings.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He was reading from a document, and he held it up to read it, so I call the minister.

Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So in the Labor Party document there are no footnotes, there is no attribution and there is no notation. The original thinker, the member for Griffith, is parading other people’s work as his own. Bill Shorten would not do it. No, Bill would not do that. And, worse still, this is quite deliberate, because different sentences are cut and pasted with other sentences, and paragraphs from the five different sources are mixed up. There is a deliberate deception in the drafting of this document. This is no accident. This is not taking information from one source and making it a whole slab; it is all cut and pasted by this supposedly original thinker. So it is deliberate plagiarism. The only thing worse than having no Labor policy is having a plagiarised Labor policy, and I table all of the documents for members to reach their own judgments.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, for the purpose of clarification, can I ask if the Parliamentary Library report tabled was the one that was removed from the website of the Parliamentary Library at the insistence of the Secretary to the Department of Health and Ageing?

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume her seat. If she wishes to ask a question—that is a question? Okay, I call the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, to the best of my knowledge.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I ask that the minister specifically clarify that point and, if he has misled the House, that he then clarify that immediately—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume her seat. The minister has finished his answer. The honourable member for Riverina.