Department officials claim they were unaware changes were made to the Hansard record over incorrect speeches handed down last week after the budget.
Create a free account to read this article
or signup to continue reading
Labor has questioned the process of parliamentary proceedings after errors within budget speeches were tabled to both the Senate and the House of Representatives and not correctly amended by Hansard.
ACT Labor Senator Katy Gallagher on Monday grilled Department of Parliamentary Services officials about who amended the parliamentary record with an altered speech and did not properly seek a correction.
Neither the heads of the department nor the Senate president had any knowledge of who altered the speech to the official record.
Last week, speeches delivered by assistant treasurer Michael Sukkar in the House of Representatives and Superannuation Minister Jane Hume in the Senate had claimed the budget included $10 in cost reductions for a number of prescribed medicines on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme.
It has since been revealed the budget measure was ditched at the last minute. However, the speeches on record had not been updated when each minister gave their speeches on Wednesday.
The speeches were then later altered with the updated version.
Senator Gallagher said the change to Hansard should have been a "holy dooley", where proper correction to the official proceedings was sought.
"I can't see why you wouldn't be aware of it," she said to the panel representing the department.
"It's a pretty big thing that happened last Wednesday. Are you saying to me that you haven't been briefed on this?"
DPS secretary Rob Stefanic said he had not become aware of the speeches to Hansard being altered until it was aired on ABC's Insiders on Sunday.
Mr Stefanic said the issue did not prompt him to investigate within his own department.
Senate president Slade Brockman said he was unaware of the factual error following the tabling of the documents.
READ MORE:
Liberal Senator James Paterson hit back at Senator Gallagher, brandishing her line of questioning as a ploy to get another TikTok social media video.
"I'm sorry to interrupt Senator Gallagher's TikTok video but it's really unfair to say officials or the president should voluntarily return as if they are unwilling or unable," he said.
Department officials took the question on notice regarding who had altered the Hansard record with the updated speech.
Senator Gallagher said there was need for these questions to be answered imminently given the election was likely to occur in the next month.
"I'm worried about the precedent of a committee allowing this matter which is essentially that significant changes have been made to the recordings of the ... parliamentary proceedings, with nobody being able or prepared to answer questions about it. And no commitment about when to come back," Senator Gallagher said.
Committee chair Claire Chandler intervened and said DPS would take the questions on notice.
"They are entitled to do that," Senator Chandler said in relation to the question being taken on notice.
"This is not unusual and I think it's unfair to characterise it."
