Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Cormann is trying to justify a lie in a campaign by a former Liberal leader. ‘Never, ever’ means not this election, not the one after that and nor the one after that. There seem to be two rules that those opposite live by. If it is a lie told on their side, it is all right; you can find a way to justify it. But if someone else says something that they seek to portray in that fashion there is no coming back from it. We have to look at the behaviour of this opposition and what occurred when they were in government. Frankly, it was not just Mr Howard who told a lie.