House debates

Wednesday, 28 May 2014

Personal Explanations

3:15 pm

Photo of Bill ShortenBill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.

Photo of Mrs Bronwyn BishopMrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Does the honourable member claim to have been misrepresented?

Photo of Bill ShortenBill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

Yes.

Photo of Bill ShortenBill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

During question time the Prime Minister claimed I was responsible for a cut to the budget at CSIRO equal to the Prime Minister's recent cuts. This claim is wrong. The facts are that over the course of the last Labor administration the budget increased from $675 million to $757 million, a 12 per cent increase. In addition, overall science and innovation spending over the course of the Labor government increased by 30 per cent. Lastly, the CSIRO is funded through the industry portfolio, not the education portfolio, which I held.