Agriculture minister says ‘minor edits’ were made without his knowledge after Labor accused him of misleading parliament

The agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, has admitted his staff changed Hansard records without his knowledge after Labor accused him of deliberately misleading parliament.



The Hansard record had been changed to correct an error Joyce made on Monday 20 October regarding the government’s drought assistance package. In the speech, Joyce referred to “over” 4,000 people applying for drought assistance. His office changed that to read “nearly” 4,000. They also added a qualifier line that wasn’t originally in the speech, saying that “recipient[s] of the Interim Farm Household Allowance” would also receive the assistance.

Joyce set the record straight in parliament after question time on Monday, saying the “minor edits were made to Hansard by my staff without my knowledge. My staff have been counselled. Consistent with standing orders, I have asked that the changes requested by my office be removed from Hansard before Hansard is finalised.”

It’s not unusual for Hansard records to be submitted to MPs’ offices so staff can check names, spelling and other small facts. But the manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, said the changes went beyond the normal alterations made by politicians and their staff members.

“Of all the things that you can do in this parliament that carry a penalty, the greatest gravity is reserved for deliberately misleading the house,” Burke said. “Whether it was him or his office, somebody appears to have deliberately doctored the official record of what was said in parliament.”

The matter has been referred to the powerful privileges committee.

Burke raised the issue during question time and asked the Speaker, Bronwyn Bishop, to step in after both a censure motion and motion to suspend standing orders failed.

“I ask that you review the tape of question time Monday of last week and compare the tape to the official record in Hansard, with a view of being able to report back to the house at a later hour as to whether the matter is headed under misconduct,” Burke said.

Bishop agreed to review the tape.

Burke said the government had “silenced debate” by not allowing the house to explore the censure motion.

“Normally the parliament would have allowed a debate. That’s what should have happened, and Christopher Pyne was wrong in his role as leader of the house for denying leave for the debate and then shutting down the speeches.”

Labor’s agriculture spokesman, Joel Fitzgibbon, said Joyce was not across his own portfolio.

“Now we know, really there are three victims as the minister has provided another statement to the parliament today claiming he had no knowledge of the doctored Hansard,” he said. “So we have the parliament, its rules and standards, but more importantly, Australia’s drought affected farming families and the minister’s staff who may have been trying to make sense of their minister’s original answer.

“In Barnaby Joyce’s case, the cover-up is worse than the crime. It was bad enough that he misled farming families, but his cynical attempt to hide his misleading statement is an absolute disgrace.”

Pyne’s and Bishop’s offices have been contacted by Guardian Australia for comment.