BORDER MP Sophie Mirabella has received a warning after labelling treasurer Wayne Swan “a pathetic liar” in Federal Parliament yesterday.
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The Liberal member for Indi was rebuked by the speaker Harry Jenkins in the House of Representatives during a rowdy question time.
She had labelled Mr Swan “a pathetic liar” amid an uproar over a document submitted by the Western Australian Treasury to the Commonwealth Grants Commission in relation to the carve-up of the goods and services tax income.
“In question time today, Mr Swan was reading from a document — when we asked him to table that document, he interjected and told us to ‘get it from the internet’,” Mrs Mirabella said afterwards.
“He was then asked formally by the speaker if it was confidential and he said ‘yes’.
“He made a mockery of the parliamentary process by claiming that a document freely available on the internet was confidential.”
Mrs Mirabella was asked to withdraw her description of the Treasurer after Transport Minister Anthony Albanese demanded she retract the insult.
It was the second day in a row Mrs Mirabella had attacked Mr Swan, after being forced to withdraw her description of him as a “bag man” on Tuesday.
Mrs Mirabella said Mr Swan’s actions yesterday displayed a lack of ability.
“It just shows how ill-equipped he is to be the treasurer,” she said.
“He also made an extraordinary statement today that ‘business employs a lot of people’.
“If Labor introduces a carbon tax, business certainly won’t be employing as many as they do now.”
Mrs Mirabella’s behaviour in Parliament has previously attracted the attention of the speaker with warnings and an ejection in March on a day when she was joined by several other Coalition MPs.
In 2007 she became one of the few members to be ejected by a speaker from the same side of politics with the then Coalition speaker David Hawker ordering her to leave after defending herself against Labor attacks over a tobacco industry donation.
Mr Albanese, then the manager of opposition business, said: “If you’re a government MP, you’ve got to try really hard to be kicked out.”
