Labor pledges to press Angus Taylor over Clover Moore allegations

Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke believes Angus Taylor misled parliament when he attacked the Sydney lord mayor, and will pursue the issue this week.

Federal Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor.

Federal Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor. Source: AAP

Federal Labor will continue its pursuit of Energy Minister Angus Taylor for allegedly misleading parliament, when the House of Representatives sits for its final two weeks of the year.

Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke says all the public evidence points to Mr Taylor having misled parliament in his attack on Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore when he accused her council of spending millions of dollars on travel, when it was in fact a few thousand dollars.

Mr Burke said the minister has since said the document with the fake information was drawn from the website of the council, but metadata produced by the council shows it never changed the document.
Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke.
Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke. Source: AAP
"Now it's for him (Taylor) to go to the parliament and either explain that he gave information that was wrong and apologise or somehow explain that there is a piece of evidence here that everybody else has missed," Mr Burke told Sky News on Sunday.

"But on the face of it, he's misled the parliament and you don't get off the hook for misleading the parliament of Australia by writing a letter to Clover Moore."

Mr Taylor apologised to Ms Moore in his letter.
Mr Burke has written to the minister reminding him of his obligations on the floor of the House and saying his explanations to date on the matter have been "far-fetched".

"Deliberately misleading the Parliament is both a contempt of the Parliament and a breach of the Ministerial Standards," Mr Burke wrote.

"Your obligation to deal with questions relating to this matter at the first available opportunity is obvious, and you are required to honour that obligation as an elected Member of Parliament and as a Minister."


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Published 24 November 2019 11:12am
Updated 24 November 2019 12:51pm


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