Robert McClelland Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
3:15 pm
Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.
David Hawker Speaker
Does the honourable member claim to have been misrepresented?
Robert McClelland Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
Yes, I do.
Robert McClelland Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
In an answer earlier today the Minister for Defence quoted me in a context that suggested I favoured breaking up our Overwatch Battle Group in southern Iraq before its withdrawal. That is not the case. I refer the House to several statements that I have made indicating that is not the position of the federal opposition.
Kevin Andrews Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.
David Hawker Speaker
Does the honourable member claim to have been misrepresented?
Kevin Andrews Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
Yes, I do.
Kevin Andrews Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
In articles published in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age on 27 August David Marr claimed that I was not the co-author of three books. He is wrong. Each book comprises a series of chapters, each written by a different author. I table the chapters which I authored in each of the books. I also table a foreword to one of the books, Rights and freedoms in Australia, which refers to ‘the 25 authors’ of the book, and the acknowledgement page, in which the editors thank ‘the authors’ for their work.