Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. If you allege that, then why did Mr Howard, Mr Downer and Mr Ruddock whip up so much hysteria about the incident as it was reported in the papers at the time? If they knew the facts about it, why didn’t they clarify that at the time? Why didn’t they come in and make a statement to parliament? Why didn’t they ensure that the record was clear? Because it seems that they did not.