Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to refute a statement made recently in this place by Senator Scarr, who sought to impugn the integrity of a former parliamentarian without any basis. On 3 February, Senator Scarr did not name the former federal member for Fremantle, Melissa Parke, but he precisely identified her nevertheless and proceeded to accuse her of telling vile lies about events that occurred when Melissa was working as a lawyer for the UN in Gaza in 2003. One of those events involved a Palestinian refugee woman being forced by an Israeli soldier to drink a bleach-like cleaning fluid. If the senator had been concerned about facts rather than about engaging in a smear campaign, he might have ascertained that the precise—