Former minister Michael Ferguson has accused Labor’s Josh Willie of publishing a “fictitious” quote in a media release, saying it made him question whether he’d actually said it.
Speaking in the House of Assembly on the final sitting day of the month, Ferguson said he was left “very concerned” after reading Willie’s March 12 statement.
“Then this afternoon, exiled former Treasurer Michael Ferguson has sensationally admitted that under the Liberals, Aurora Energy has been on the market for 11 years,” Willie wrote in the release.
The statement, which remains unchanged on the Labor website, went on to directly quote Ferguson as saying: “It has been for sale (Aurora Energy) the entire time.”
Ferguson claimed that wording didn’t appear in the official Hansard transcript. Instead, the wording that does is: “It has been prepared for the sale this entire time.”
“For a member of the House to issue a public statement that contains fictitious words as a direct quotation is particularly concerning,” Ferguson said.
“It follows that it is reasonable for a member of the public or the media to assume those words within quotation marks were in fact said by me.”
Speaker Michelle O’Byrne said misrepresentation of the House’s proceedings was “quite serious”, warning that “deliberate or reckless misrepresentation of the House’s proceedings can constitute contempt”.
“I don’t want to see members using Hansard inappropriately. You can use it cleverly, we have all seen that over the years, but inappropriately is not okay,” she said.
Willie later admitted he had left a word out of the quote in his statement.
“I did, in a press release, say that he said it has been for sale the entire time. I have missed out the word ‘prepared’ for sale, so I will correct the record there,” Willie said.
“I think that this is a minor thing and he should grow a thick skin.”
