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

My question is to the Prime Minister. In the Senate today the Attorney-General said about the WA kickback scandal 'there was never any agreement or understanding', so why on Friday did The West Australian newspaper report, 'Senator Brandis told Mr Gleeson an understanding had been reached between the Federal and WA governments,' and why is the Treasurer of Western Australia insisting that there was an understanding agreement between the Western Australian and federal governments? Who is telling the truth? (Time expired)

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Based on his track record, there is absolutely no prospect that the Leader of the Opposition is telling the truth. He has no regard for it. It is, as I said, a simple coincidence whether one of his statements is true sometimes. It may be he gets the date right or the day of the week right, but in any matter that relates to his political self-interest he will prefer to say what suits him rather than what is factual.

The reality is this: the Attorney-General has dealt with all of these matters in a very lengthy statement in the Senate and he has tabled the correspondence, which is not as represented by the Leader of the Opposition. But the Attorney-General's statement speaks for itself. It is comprehensive, it deals with the issues and the Leader of the Opposition should stop misleading the House and focus on the factual matters set out by the Attorney.