Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister's answer in question time on Monday, when he said Senator Nash's chief of staff:

… was required to divest himself of a shareholding

in his wife's business.

I also refer to the Special Minister of State's statement in Senate estimates last night that Senator Nash's chief of staff was not required to divest his interest in a lobbying firm. Who has misled the parliament—the Prime Minister or the Special Minister of State?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The short answer is: neither. I know that there is likely to be a series of questions today from members opposite on this subject, but I can assure members opposite that on this particular issue there is Labor smoke but there is no coalition fire—there is smoke without fire. I wish to make two essential points. The first is that every action that this good minister has taken is eminently defensible, and within a couple of days of issues being raised the staff member in question did the right thing and he resigned.