Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (14:03): Of course I am aware of statements made by Kathy Jackson. Kathy Jackson is a union official. Unions, are, of course, the organisations that the Leader of the Opposition wanted to put out of business as part of the Work Choices agenda. On the issues that he has raised about the member for Dobell, can I say this to the Leader of the Opposition: another day and he digs himself deeper into the mud of hypocrisy on this question. Can I remind the Leader of the Opposition there is only one member of the federal parliament who has been charged with a criminal offence. That is a Liberal Party senator who has been charged with an offence against a person and an offence against property, and those charges are obviously coming to trial and going through appropriate criminal processes. It is not appropriate in respect of that Liberal senator for conclusions to be drawn about her innocence or guilt beforehand. The Leader of the Opposition said that. He said: The matter is now before the courts where I understand it will be contested and she should be extended the presumption of innocence. That is in relation to a criminal charge and I repeat again: the only member of this parliament facing criminal charges is a Liberal senator. On the question of the matters involving the member for Dobell, as is well known, there is a Fair Work Australia investigation in progress and I believe it is appropriate to wait for the outcome of any such investigation. Mr Pyne: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Prime Minister was asked a question about the member for Dobell, who has no case before the courts at this stage. The Prime Minister is answering on the basis of a Liberal senator who has been charged with an offence. That is obviously an entirely different case and she therefore can answer the question. The SPEAKER: Order! The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The point of order was not relevant to the question but, if the point of order is direct relevance, at the point in time that the Prime Minister was interrupted she was being directly relevant, and I highly encourage her to continue to conclude her answer in a directly relevant manner. Ms GILLARD: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and I thank the Manager of Opposition Business for confirming what I have said to the parliament—that there is only one member of parliament charged with a criminal offence. For the member for Dobell, people know there are Fair Work Australia investigations in process and the appropriate thing to do is to wait for the outcome of those investigations. Can I also remind the Leader of the Opposition not only is he mired in the hypocrisy of applying a completely different standard to a Liberal senator than any standard he extends to the member for Dobell; he is mired in hypocrisy in that when in government he was the first one as Leader of Government Business to get to this dispatch box to defend Liberal members who were in various scrapes and to say that they should be extended the presumption of innocence and that people should not act or draw conclusions until investigations came to an end. I remind the Leader of the Opposition that at that time he sat behind Prime Minister Howard, who said—and I specifically adopt these words as my own: … a lot of people who are under investigation end up having nothing to answer for. He was talking about a police investigation dealing with three Liberal MPs. He went on to say: It's a police investigation and the appropriate thing for me to do is to let the police investigation run its course and then if it is appropriate I will have something to say. Prime Minister Howard was right then. I adopt those words now in relation to the member for Dobell and the Fair Work Australia investigation.