Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] Today I withdraw my 25 March parliamentary apology. It's now obvious the accusations against me were fabricated. My apology at the time was to anyone genuinely upset by my electorate communication, but none of those televised in March were genuine. My electorate work is always in the interests of the residents of Redland City, and that local record remains online, unaltered and defended 100 per cent. Serious accusations deserve to be the subject of a formal complaint, and, apart from one thrown out just minutes after I provided a written statement, no complaint has ever materialised despite my public and repeated requests. The caper is now pretty clear: run to the media but assiduously avoid laying any form of complaint, lest it be exposed as baseless.

Anyone feeling upset has formal channels available to them. Deliberately avoiding that process for trial by media is not and should never be rewarded. That's why the ALP suspending the House's operations on no fewer than 25 occasions was disappointing political opportunism, and the ABC refusing to apologise for months and stooping to trawling my electorate for mildly annoyed critics to join the pile-on in the form of a bizarre 7.30 report was disappointing. I don't believe there are any exceptional circumstances at play to justify the national broadcaster's conduct, nor at any time was this ever an honest mistake of the ABC—which they continue to maintain to this day.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded.