Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I accept your admonishment, Mr President. I will be directly relevant to the question. The source of this question is an inaccurate report in the Age newspaper. While I admit it is not the paper of choice for those opposite, it is unfortunately not an accurate representation of any discussions that took place. There have been some very lively discussions around the issues of the antisiphoning list. There have been claims from one group, claims from another group and claims from the sporting associations. Some of that has been ventilated recently in the newspapers. But to try to quote and claim that a report in one newspaper is an accurate depiction probably does not stand up to scrutiny when, clearly, what is going on in this debate is that some players in this debate have been trying to influence the outcome by going to the newspapers. I am not going to have a discussion about private discussions. If other people choose to go to newspapers and put misreports in them that they think help their case then so be it; they are welcome to. But I will not be drawn into a discussion about private discussions around sensitive issues in the public sphere. I will continue to maintain a dignified approach by not describing what goes on it private meetings.