Richard Marles Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence
3:22 pm
Mr Speaker, I would like to raise a matter of personal explanation.
Tony Smith Speaker
Does the honourable member for Corio claim to have been misrepresented?
Richard Marles Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence
I do.
Richard Marles Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence
During question time the Minister for Defence referred to paragraph 44 of the draft ALP platform, which provided Labor's commitment to a two per cent spend on GDP. He asserted that this being contained in the draft platform indicated that I'd had a win and that the absence of this in the final platform suggested that I'd had a subsequent loss. Whilst it is true that paragraph 44 has been changed in the final platform of the ALP, paragraph 49 of the ALP platform states:
Labor is committed to achieving and maintaining spending on defence at two per cent of GDP.
So I would like to assure you, Mr Speaker, and, through you, the Minister for Defence, that the win was sustained.
Honourable members interjecting—
Tony Smith Speaker
Members on both sides! I thank the member for Corio for correcting that. No doubt, he and the Leader of the House can discuss it on Friday.