Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
3:31 pm
Mr Speaker, I also would like to make a personal explanation.
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
I do. It goes to the establishment of the NDIS Fraud taskforce, which was established on 24 July 2018. It was one of the first things that I did as Minister for Social Services. I did it in conjunction with the Hon. Michael Keenan and the Hon. Angus Taylor. We put out a release. I won't read the whole release, but it says this:
The Taskforce will have 100 dedicated personnel to tackle fraud through combined law enforcement efforts, increased information sharing and analytics and—
Milton Dick Speaker
I'm sorry to interrupt, but you haven't explained who misrepresented you and how. You've just started reading the press release. Just explain to the House, like the member for McPherson did, what happened and why it was wrong.
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
I have been misrepresented by the Minister for Social Services the Hon. Bill Shorten—
Amanda Rishworth Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services
I'm the Minister for Social Services!
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
Sorry, and the Minister for the NDIS the Hon. Bill Shorten when he said that not one coalition member—
Milton Dick Speaker
The Minister for the NDIS, not the Minister for Social Services.
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
Yes, the Minister for the NDIS. He said that not one coalition—
Government members interjecting—
It's very hard because of the noise and the interjections.
Milton Dick Speaker
Just continue. If members on my right would assist the House and show respect to the member for Wannon. You may continue.
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
I note the Leader of Opposition Business is the one who's also yelling, and he should know better.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
He should. He's behind you!
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
The Minister for the NDIS said that not one coalition member had put out one single press release in relation to fraud. He said, 'Nada, nothing, fraud.' This is what this press release said:
The Government takes fraud very seriously, and people who commit fraud against the NDIS are taking money from Australians with a disability—which will not be tolerated.
This is a very serious issue. Someone has misled the House grievously, and it should be corrected.